Time was urgent and Chang Sun Ze could not stay here for too long. After leaving behind a batch of supplies and 5,000 soldiers, Chang Sun Ze immediately headed towards Su Dingfang. There were about 500 miles between the two of them. If the road was built, these 500 miles would be no problem, but it was all Gobi Desert, which made it difficult to walk.
Everyone basically has experience walking in such places for a long time. When the sun is hottest during the day, find a place to squat down and rest. Use the evening and early morning to walk. Half of the day is spent on resting. If you work too much, there will be no enough water in your body to replenish.
With the reinforcement of these 5,000 people, Cheng Chuliang did not stay in this place. He commanded the entire army to immediately charge towards a city in the southwest.
Jalalabad.
This is the closest city to Cheng Chuliang. In fact, there are cities further north, but those cities can no longer be called cities. When the Arab Empire retreated, they had already taken away everything in the city. All the capable locals also retreated with the army, and those who were not capable could only become refugees on the spot.
Under the walls of Jalalabad are refugees who have fled from the north. They have exhausted their last bit of strength and finally arrived in Jalalabad. They thought that the Arab Empire would provide them with disaster relief, but who knew that what they were waiting for was endless scorching sun. Several city gates have been closed. If you don’t have enough entrance fee, then you have to wait outside the city honestly.
At the beginning, there were only a few hundred people, and then the number increased at a rate of thousands every day. Now, after these days, there are already tens of thousands of refugees outside the city. The rulers of the authorities have wanted to open the city gates many times, but the people below also told them that if you open the city gates, these tens of thousands of refugees will quickly pour in. Will we have enough food stored?
The city lord Ajalud looked at the refugees below and felt very sad in his heart. He also wanted to save these people, but the problem was that his personal ability was limited. The city itself was not big and there was not much food stored. If there were only one or two thousand people, and he mobilized the rich families in the city, maybe they could get through the difficulties together.
But now the number of people going out is dozens of times more, and many more come every day. If you dare to open the city gate, not only will you fail to save these refugees under the city wall, but you may also cause disaster to the city.
When people are extremely hungry, the law is just a piece of waste paper to them. When they can't survive, even if you are their relative, you may become food in their mouths. These things have happened before, so the city lord doesn't dare to open the city gate now, and even feels guilty for his previous thoughts. That approach shows that he doesn't care about the people in the city.
"Lord City Lord, the northeastern city wall has been repaired. Our men have patched the gap inside, but the refugees outside are still digging. If we don't suppress them, we will have to repair the city wall again tomorrow morning. If this continues for a long time, our city wall may not hold up. If the Tang army arrives, without the city wall, what will the people in the city do?"
An official said that the most important thing in the city now is that the refugees outside are trying their best to tear down the city walls. Their walls are not made of bricks and stones, but are all made of adobe. They look pretty good, but if you have tools, you can tear down the walls at any time.
The refugees now have no way to enter through the city gate, so these people found a relatively low place and took advantage of the night to dig up the city wall. A section of it collapsed last night. If the soldiers had not discovered it quickly, these people might really have run in through the gap. Even so, more than 50 people were killed last night, which frightened the refugees.
"They're all a group of miserable people. They used to have good lives, but when that bastard Sukhguman retreated, he took away all their remaining supplies, intending to create problems for the Tang Dynasty. But now that the Tang army has retreated, all these problems have fallen on us."
Ajalud said with some sadness that he also came from a poor family, but he was lucky. Due to various reasons, he finally embarked on the path of becoming an official.
After so many years, he finally made it through. Just when he was about to be promoted, he didn't expect such a thing to happen. The Governor's Office also issued an order, forcing them to defend the city. No matter whether it was the Tang Dynasty army or refugees, they were not allowed to pass through the city.
According to the city lord's idea, it is normal not to let the Tang army pass. Even if there is no order from above, they know what to do and will fight to the last moment to stop the Tang army from moving south.
But what about these refugees? What have they done wrong? These people were once our allies, and they contributed to this country in the north. Now, because you've robbed them of their property, they've become refugees. They've come so hard to reach this city, and you're preventing them from passing through here and heading south. Aren't you forcing them to death?
"Your Excellency is right, but we are now faced with a difficult problem. We must send soldiers to drive those people away. If we don't take action now, someone will try to break through the city wall tonight. We must get these people away from the city wall. They wouldn't dare to do anything during the day, but at night they will do anything. Once they enter the city, their fighting power will be even more terrifying than that of demons."
The official next to him had experienced a famine. At that time, the refugees didn't care about anything as long as they could fill their stomachs. No matter whether it was a government warehouse or a private warehouse, as long as they found it, they would immediately take everything out. If you didn't stop them, they wouldn't do anything to you. Anyone who dared to stop them would only die. There was no reason in front of hungry people.
The city lord still couldn't make up his mind. To drive them away, he must have shot arrows from the city wall, or poured boiling oil down there to prevent these people from staying under the city wall. However, doing so would inevitably result in a large number of casualties. But if he didn't do this, what would the people in the city do?
