"There is no other way but to conquer!"
Tursun, the prime minister of the Abbasid Caliphate, looked at the military intelligence report sent back to the country from the Uyghur Black Tiger City in the Western Regions by his younger brother Turhong, and involuntarily recited this creed that was regarded as the guiding principle throughout the entire Abbasid Caliphate.
The history of the rise of the Arab Empire is essentially a history of conquest.
Therefore, when Turhong, as the Grand General of the Empire's Eastern Expedition, advocated annexing the Western Regions to confront the vast Tang Dynasty in the East, neither the Abbasid Caliph Safah, the supreme ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate, nor the Prime Minister Tursun showed any intention to oppose it.
On the contrary, it strongly supported the empire's eastern expedition.
After submitting his report, Chancellor Tursun reported to Caliph Safah: "Your Excellency, the caravan of my Arab Empire recently returned from trading with Charlemagne's Empire, bringing back a weapon developed by Charlemagne's craftsmen, named the 'Bronze Cannon';
"This bronze cannon, powered by gunpowder, possesses a range and power far exceeding that of the imperial army's current long-range weapons such as catapults and ballistae."
After a pause, Tursun continued, "I believe that since the Imperial Eastern Expeditionary Army has decided to engage the main force of the Tang Dynasty in a decisive battle with the Uyghur Khanate, it would be wise to transport this bronze cannon to the Uyghur front lines to bolster the army's morale."
"On the other hand, it can also reduce casualties among the Imperial Expeditionary Army on the battlefield!"
Um?
Upon hearing this, Caliph Safah on the throne raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh, so the Charlemagne Empire actually possesses such divine weapons. It seems that if my Abbasid dynasty wants to continue its westward conquest, it won't be as easy as it used to be?"
"Yes!"
Chancellor Tursun nodded and said, "Currently, the dynasty's main forces are concentrated in the countries along the Silk Road in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, leaving the empire with insufficient opportunities and military strength for westward expansion."
"Furthermore, the army of the Carolingian Empire has been equipped with a large number of new bronze cannons, and its combat effectiveness has been greatly improved. I believe that the dynasty should now concentrate all its forces to launch an eastern expedition against the Tang Dynasty and continue to maintain the status quo of non-aggression with the Carolingian Empire."
"Once the imperial army conquers the Tang Dynasty in the east, or after we can maintain a certain degree of peace with the Tang Dynasty, we can then plan a westward expedition!"
In order to wholeheartedly support his younger brother Turhong's eastern expedition against the Tang Dynasty, Tursun had repeatedly persuaded Caliph Safah in private to abandon the western expedition and focus all his efforts on the eastern expedition.
This was not only because the Abbasid Caliphate and the Carolingian Caliphate to the west had signed a non-aggression pact several years earlier and maintained economic and cultural exchanges, which temporarily ensured the security of the Abbasid Caliphate's western border.
Furthermore, when Turhun, the general in charge of the eastern expedition of the Arab Empire, was submitting a memorial to Caliph Safah, he also sent a secret letter to his elder brother Tursun.
The secret letter revealed to Tursun the current situation of the imperial expeditionary army: the Pamir Plateau corridor connecting the imperial expeditionary army and the interior of the Arab Empire had been controlled and occupied by a special force sent by the Tang Dynasty.
The 600,000-strong imperial army, which was still confronting the Tang Dynasty in the Uyghur Khanate, only had enough provisions to last for half a month. Turhong pleaded with his elder brother Tursun to persuade the Caliph to continue sending reinforcements to the Uyghurs without revealing the true situation of the imperial army, mainly to reopen the food supply corridor on the Pamir Plateau to relieve the army's urgent needs.
This is the main reason why Chancellor Tursun came to meet Caliph Safah today.
Um!
Listening to the words of Prime Minister Tursun, the Caliph on the throne nodded frequently, but did not express his opinion for a long time.
After a long silence, Safah finally spoke, "Since the Prime Minister's opinion aligns with that of the Imperial General of the Eastern Expedition, let's proceed according to your suggestion."
"but--"
Suddenly, Safah changed his tone, saying sternly, "I don't want to see a Pyrrhic victory like the Battle of Talas happen again. Although the Arab Empire has a large population and a strong military, it cannot withstand the kind of attrition where a thousand enemies are killed but five thousand of their own are lost."
"Let's give General Turhong another three months. If the war in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty cannot be ended before the end of the year, we will have to reconsider how to handle our relationship with the Tang Dynasty!"
After a pause, Safah continued, "The saying 'There is no other way but conquest' is indeed true, but the Abbasid Caliphate's territory is already large enough, and the Carolingian Empire is eyeing us covetously from the west."
"If this eastern expedition can bring the rich Western Silk Road into the Tang Dynasty's territory, that would be ideal. However, we must not allow it to drag the dynasty into a quagmire of war from which it cannot extricate itself."
"Your Excellency, do you understand what I mean?"
"Your Majesty, I understand!"
Tursun nodded hastily, indicating that he understood the Caliph's meaning.
In fact, during the last Battle of Talas, General Turhun, with his 800,000-strong army, failed to annihilate the 50,000 troops of the Tang Dynasty's Anxi Protectorate. Instead, the Arab Empire suffered more than 200,000 casualties.
Although the Battle of Talas resulted in the surrender of 35 out of the 36 kingdoms of the Western Regions, excluding the Uyghur Khanate;
However, for Safah, the supreme ruler of the Abbasid Caliphate, the Battle of Talas was still a Pyrrhic victory, with the cost and reward being severely disproportionate.
This led to a situation where, even though Safah coveted the wealth and resources along the Silk Road in the Western Regions, he had to consider the practical problem that the Arab Empire, which was on an eastward expedition, could no longer withstand the massive war expenditures.
Therefore, while supporting the empire's eastward expedition, Safah also set a time frame, with three months being the limit he could accept.
Tursun, as the prime minister, was well aware of this, which is why, after finishing his conversation with Caliph Safah, he hurriedly went to the Ministry of War of the Arab Empire, which was in charge of military affairs, to dispatch elite cavalry, carrying a large number of bronze cannons, to the Uyghur Khanate to reinforce the imperial army that was on its eastern expedition.
At the same time, he also dispatched an urgent messenger overnight to the Uyghur Black Tiger City to inform his younger brother Turhong of Caliph Safah's decree and the news of the reinforcements' departure.
The next day.
A reinforcement of 20,000 Persian cavalrymen set off from Baghdad, the capital of the Arab Empire, and headed without stopping to the Warakhan Corridor in the Pamir Plateau, intending to retake the Warakhan Corridor from the Tang Dynasty army.
In addition, there was an Arab cavalry supply corps, carrying 200 bronze cannons purchased from the Charlemagne Empire, as well as a large amount of provisions and supplies, which followed closely behind the 20,000 Persian cavalry as they marched toward the Warakhan Corridor.
As the war between the two super-empires of the East and West intensified in the Western Regions, the weapons of both sides underwent a historic upgrade, moving from a purely cold weapon era to an era combining cold weapons and firearms, which can be considered a certain contribution to promoting the scientific development of the world today.
A few more days passed.
Turhun, the Arab Empire's Grand General of the Eastern Expedition, who was far away in the Uyghur Black Tiger City, finally received an urgent message from his elder brother Tursun, who was far away in the capital Baghdad.
The letter not only explained Caliph Safah's attitude toward the empire's eastern expedition, but also informed Turhong that reinforcements had arrived at the Varakhan Corridor in the Pamir Plateau with new bronze cannons. Turhong was instructed to send a surprise force to Varakhan to meet the reinforcements and coordinate with them to defeat the Tang army from within and without.
Hahaha!
After reading the secret letter, Turhong, who had been in a gloomy mood for days, finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Inside the central command tent, Turhong roared to the sky, "Heaven is helping me! Heaven is helping me!"
"Chen Huai'an, once my empire's new bronze cannons arrive, let's see what you'll use to contend with my empire's eastern expeditionary army, hahahaha!"
The reason why Turhong was so excited after receiving news of reinforcements;
On the one hand, the Arab Empire's eastern expeditionary army, which was trapped in the three places of Uyghur Black Tiger, Meijian, and Qadun, had less than ten days' worth of food and provisions left in its camps.
On the other hand, in the past few days, Turhong had sent small groups of troops to launch probing attacks on the Tang army in order to test the strength of the Tang army's fighting capabilities. In the end, however, they suffered heavy losses and did not gain any advantage over the Tang army at all.
The news that reinforcements, carrying new bronze cannons, are marching eastward to Warakhan and opening up a passage between the Arab army and their homeland is nothing short of a lifesaver for Turgun and the Arab armies trapped in various places.
Although Turhonglian didn't even know what that bronze cannon was;
However, he believed that with his elder brother Tursun's insight, the new cannons that he was willing to spend a lot of money to purchase from the Carolingian Empire were no ordinary items.
A crushing defeat of the Tang army is just around the corner.
Turhong immediately ordered, "Men, bring me Caesar, the Right Vanguard General of the Imperial Eastern Expeditionary Army!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
Soon, General Caesar, the Right Vanguard General, rushed into the central command tent, saluted General Turhong, and asked, "General, you were looking for me?"
Um!
Turhong nodded and said, "General Caesar, I have just received a secret letter from Baghdad. After learning of the current predicament of the Imperial Expeditionary Army, the Caliph has ordered the dispatch of Persian cavalry reinforcements to the Pamir Plateau to open up the Warakan Corridor occupied by the Tang army."
"Furthermore, a supply train carrying provisions and new bronze cannons purchased at great expense from the Charlemagne Empire has been dispatched to assist in the battle. I hereby order you to lead the Persian war elephants and camel cavalry to the Wallak Corridor immediately, to coordinate with the imperial reinforcements on their eastern expedition, and to retake the Wallak Corridor from the hands of the Tang army!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
......
At the same time, in the royal palace of Harabalgas, the capital of the Uyghur Khanate.
The original Uyghur royal palace had now become the temporary residence of Emperor Zhaowu of the Tang Dynasty and Chen Huai'an, the Heavenly Khan of the Western Regions. He calmly commanded and directed the million-strong Tang army in the Western Regions from the Uyghur royal palace.
In recent days, good news has been coming from the Tang army that is conquering the Western Regions.
To date, of the thirty-five kingdoms in the Western Regions that betrayed the Tang Dynasty, twenty-five have been conquered by the Tang army, and the remaining ten are also within the Tang army's grasp, with the fall of their cities imminent.
During this period, kings of various kingdoms in the Western Regions also sent envoys to Harabalgas in secret to meet with the Heavenly Khan, hoping that Chen Huai'an could give them a chance to repent and return to the Tang Dynasty as their suzerain state. They also swore to be loyal to the Tang Dynasty forever and never serve two masters again.
However, the request from the kings of the Western Regions, who had long been labeled as "three-surname slaves" by Chen Huai'an, was naturally not to be granted by the Heavenly Khan.
How could Chen Huai'an possibly miss such a golden opportunity to unify the Western Regions? Nor could he possibly erase this significant chapter from his journey to becoming an emperor for all time.
Therefore, he continued to adhere to his previous iron-fisted policy, annexing these small countries in the Western Regions and placing them under the control of the Tang soldiers he summoned from the system.
The next step was to implement a new policy of separating military and political power in the Western Regions after annihilating the Arab Empire's army that had launched its eastward expedition.
Meanwhile, as the Tang army continued to conquer cities large and small in the Western Regions during this period, Chen Huai'an accumulated a massive amount of points in the [Born to Be an Emperor] system, which could be used to exchange for food, supplies, military equipment, and weapons.
This time, he personally led a thousand cavalry to launch a lightning attack on the Western Regions. He did not bring the red-coated cannons and three-eyed guns produced and improved by the Firearms Bureau of the Ministry of Works of the Tang Dynasty. As a result, when facing the Persian war elephants and camel cavalry of the enemy army in these days, his Tang iron cavalry had to make up for the lack of individual quality with numbers.
Especially when facing the Persian war elephants, the Tang cavalry under their command seemed to be struggling to cope.
In order to deal with the enemy's Persian war elephants, Chen Huai'an had already made up his mind that once he had accumulated enough system points, he would immediately exchange them for naval warships and dismantle their cannons (the system does not allow direct exchange for the Red Cannons), so that the enemy's tough-skinned war elephants could experience the terrifying power of the Red Cannons.
On this day, inside the main hall of the Uyghur royal palace.
Alone, Chen Huai'an once again communicated with the [Born to Be an Emperor] system through his thoughts, summoning the system to exchange for naval warships and dismantle cannons.
[Ding!]
[The Innate Emperor System is Activating...]
As the familiar system voice appeared in his mind, a virtual 3D projection appeared in Chen Huai'an's mind once again. He easily found the military equipment exchange section of the system shop and chose to exchange for an entry-level naval warship without hesitation (each warship is equipped with 12 red cannons).
Chen Huai'an: "System, exchange for 20 entry-level naval warships!"
[Born to Be an Emperor System]: "Respected host, do you confirm spending 30 million points to exchange for 20 entry-level naval warships?"
Chen Huai'an: "Confirmed!"
[Born to Be an Emperor System]: "20 entry-level warships available for exchange..."
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, host! Exchange successful. (20 entry-level warships have been stored in the system space and can be withdrawn to any location as needed.)]
Accompanied by a familiar, cold, mechanical synthesized voice, Chen Huai'an's required 240 red-clad cannons were immediately exchanged.
"Report—"
"Your Majesty, urgent military intelligence!"
Just after Chen Huai'an finished exchanging for the entry-level naval warship, the voice of Xiao Po, the commander of the Golden Guard, suddenly came from outside the door.
Um?
Inside the room, Chen Huai'an raised an eyebrow and immediately said to the door, "Xiao Po, come in and talk!"
Soon, Xiao Po, fully armed, rushed into the palace to report: "Your Majesty, our scouts have just discovered the enemy's movements. The enemy's Persian war elephants and camel cavalry have assembled and left their camp, and are marching rapidly towards the Pamir Plateau!"
oh?
Upon hearing this, Chen Huai'an immediately became interested.
The next moment, he found the location of the Pamir Plateau on the huge battle map hanging on the back wall of the hall, and then focused his attention on the Warakhan Corridor, which connects the Arab Empire and the Western Regions.
Hahaha!
Chen Huai'an couldn't help but burst into laughter: "It seems that the enemy's commander-in-chief, Turhong, and the Abbasid Caliphate are already impatient with the food shortage and are eager to cooperate from within and without to reopen the Warakhan Corridor for grain transport!"
"That's perfect—"
With that, Chen Huai'an waved his hand and said sternly, "Since Turhong wants to put on a show of the mantis stalking the cicada for me, then I will play along and play the oriole behind him!"
"Xiao Po—"
"Your subordinate is here!"
"Immediately order the Imperial Guards to assemble and accompany me to Walahan to oversee the battle!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
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