Shiguocheng
This is the easternmost outpost of the Arab Empire's army. They could not penetrate deep into here before. They only occupied this place after they fell out with the Tang Dynasty.
This place is on the ancient Silk Road, about 800 miles away from Samarkand, and is considered to be an intermediate area between Samarkand and Shule Kingdom.
At this moment, there are 7,000 soldiers from the Arab Empire stationed here, and more than 4,000 soldiers recruited from the local area. All of these people have betrayed the Tang Dynasty. Of course, this cannot be called betrayal. After all, the Tang Dynasty did not exercise much power here before. They just regarded themselves as citizens of the Tang Empire.
Most people in the world know that there is a powerful empire in the East, so when these people interact with others, they keep talking about their relationship with the Tang Dynasty. However, when the Tang Dynasty asks them to collect taxes, these people will run away and say that they have nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty.
To put it bluntly, they want to take all the benefits, but when it comes to fulfilling obligations, these people are really not willing to do so at all.
How could this be possible? The Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty was not set up for nothing. So when these people returned to their original place, the army of the Tang Empire began to pursue them, turning them into vagrants in the western desert.
Before, they were unable to fight against the Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty, so they could only wander around. Now that the people from the Arab Empire have come, they are like they have found their biological father, and they all gather around the Arab Empire army.
Shiguo City itself was a city that was about to be abandoned, but because of the war between the two countries, it became prosperous again, and the people nearby came to this place to trade some production necessities.
Therefore, the population here has increased rapidly, but some of them are unwilling to submit to the Arab Empire. They are just doing business here, and many people still pay taxes to the Tang Empire, so it is very easy to find some people who know about this place. At this moment, there are several of them kneeling in front of Cheng Chuliang.
"Get up, get up! You're not the enemy. I asked someone to call you here to understand the situation, not to arrest you for anything. There's no need to be so scared."
The identities of these people in front of us have been verified. They originally belonged to Gansu-Shaanxi Road. Some businessmen later tasted the sweetness of doing business in the Western Regions, so the whole family went to the Western Regions to do business.
"Thank you, General. I am Chen Liu. My family originally lived in Gansu and Shaanxi. However, while doing business with merchants from the Western Regions, I realized the profits here, so I brought my family here. However, I am definitely a Han Chinese and have never betrayed the Tang Dynasty. General, I have something to ask you."
An old man in his fifties said enthusiastically that when he was in the Tang Dynasty, he was just a small businessman, but as long as he was able to endure hardships and sell some things from the Tang Dynasty to the Western Regions, he could basically make a fortune. Now his family of nine, young and old, all do business on the ancient Silk Road, and his family wealth has reached tens of thousands of strings of cash.
This guy's reputation has spread in his hometown, and many young people who can't make a living are also ready to follow his old path. However, most of them don't know much about the situation in the Western Regions, so their business has failed. But there are also some people who follow him on this trade route, and their lives are getting better and better. This can be regarded as driving the prosperity of one side.
"You also know the recent situation in the Western Regions. Our Tang Dynasty is preparing to fight these Arabs. The first place we need to capture is Shiguo City, but we don't know much about the situation there. I heard that you came out of here half a month ago. Is that the case?"
Cheng Chuliang had someone bring him a cup of tea, so he wasn't polite. These people were trustworthy. According to the records of Anxi East Protectorate, this guy paid taxes every year and also donated a lot of cattle and sheep to our army. It was because he was lost in the desert and was brought out by our army, so he was trustworthy.
"General, you're right. I'm carrying five carts of tea to do some business. I can't say I know everything, but I know most of it. I'll tell you what I know first. If you want to know anything else, feel free to ask..."
This guy had been in the Western Regions for such a long time, so he naturally knew that intelligence work was very important, so he immediately told everything he knew.
At present, there are about 15,000 people in the entire city, including about 10,000 Arabs wearing black robes. They burn, kill, loot and do all kinds of evil. Anyone who comes here to do business must give them one-third of the goods. If you don’t give it, they will rob your family in an instant.
Therefore, all the businessmen doing business here know that they would rather trade thirty or forty miles outside the city than go into the city. Although the wind and sand outside the city are serious, at least it will not take away one-third of our goods.
There are also some people who were originally fugitives from the Western Regions. Under the organization of the Arab Empire, these people once again formed the Western Regions Coalition, hoping to rely on the power of the Arab Empire to fight against the Tang Dynasty. The people of the Arab Empire have already told them that they will be rewarded after they defeat the Tang Dynasty army.
The military leader here is called Rahman. I heard that he is a general under the prince, not from the Governor's Office of Anton.
"Wait a minute, you said these people came from the heart of the Arab Empire?"
Upon hearing this, Li Chengyi couldn't help it. He originally thought that there were only people from the Arab Governor's Office of Anton here. If a prince came, he would definitely not come alone. He would definitely bring an army with him, which means that our enemies have increased again.
"A few months ago, a prince from the Arab Empire came to this general. I think his name was Salaman. He was the third prince of their empire. It was he who ordered the people of Shule to be killed."
Chen Liu had been to the city once and knew a lot about the situation there. If he were asked to report it himself, he wouldn't know where to start. So this question-and-answer format was his favorite. After all, with so much knowledge in his head, who knew which one would be useful to the army?
Several generals looked at each other. It seemed that the other side also took this battle seriously. However, it didn't matter to us. We would just take on no matter how many people came. This is the confidence of our Tang Dynasty army.
The Western Regions will always be the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty!
