"Tell me the truth. What kind of situation have we reached now? Our entire empire is well aware of this, and you don't need to hide anything. If we continue like this, how long can we hold on?"
The Caliph said with some anger. Now he no longer cared about those polite words, because this guy knew very well that if there was no way to contain it, the entire empire would be in danger in an instant. Although the Arab Empire was large and powerful, the Tang Dynasty had now targeted their aorta.
Sukhguman has always been an important official of the country. If he were in the Tang Dynasty, even if he was not as good as Zhangsun Wuji, he would still be at the level of Li Jing. But now the tone of the Caliph already contained some accusations.
Of course, Sukhguman himself knew very well that he was in high spirits when he went on the expedition. He believed that he could inflict huge damage on the Tang army and even recover the territory of the Andong Governor's Office in one fell swoop. But now he has not achieved any strategic goals. Instead, he has carried out a long retreat. Not only did he retreat a long distance, but he also lost many cities in the north.
Of course, these things can be forgiven. After all, the Arab Empire is a big country with great power. They don’t care about this loss. After all, they have occupied the area around the Mediterranean and the land area is very large. But the problem is how to solve the refugee crisis?
When the refugees first appeared, the top leaders of the Arab Empire were praising Sukhgoman, believing that he had found a solution that was not a solution when there was no other way. This helped the Arab Empire overcome the difficulties. Although no one encouraged him at the time, he did receive a lot of praise in private.
But now these voices are gone. Everyone thinks that this guy did the stupidest thing. He turned the refugees into weapons of the Tang Dynasty. Instead of trapping them, the refugees began to reflect on us. One city after another was lost, and these refugees simply ignored everything in order to find food.
The army of the Arab Empire once went out of the city to encircle and suppress them, but the number of refugees was too large, not to mention that these people were once compatriots of the soldiers. If they were asked to kill these people, they would feel guilty.
It was precisely because of that act of kindness back then that these refugees are now even more powerful. They have crossed states and provinces and have almost spread throughout the entire central region. According to statistics from the Arab court, the number of refugees scattered between cities alone has reached five million. In today's era, this is a very terrifying number.
Seeing the furious Caliph, Sukhguman didn't know how to answer. If he told the two people the actual situation, they would definitely not believe it. If he didn't tell the truth, the current situation would continue to deteriorate. If it deteriorated to the point where it could not be handled, then the end of the empire would probably be here, and he would die even more miserably at that time.
"General, don't worry. If you have anything to say, just speak it out. The real Zhu will fool us into getting through this difficult time. The empire is now in danger. The Tang Dynasty is different from other enemies. It is even more powerful than the Franks we encountered before, so there must be no concealment."
Perhaps the Prime Minister saw Sukhguman's dilemma, so he immediately stood up and said, "Don't worry about anything else now. The most important thing now is how to solve the problem at hand." If we don't solve it properly, all of us may become prisoners in the future. They have heard of the great reputation of the Tang Dynasty. War with other countries has only one result, and that is the destruction of the country.
In fact, this is also very normal. Take the Arab Empire for example, they also conquered many countries. When you have the upper hand, will you suddenly withdraw your troops? This is simply impossible. You will definitely get the greatest benefits before you withdraw your troops. Now the situation has changed, and you have changed from the attacking party to the defending party. This is also very normal.
Suheguman took a deep breath and said, "The Prime Minister has said so. Since you want to know the truth, I will tell you the truth. If you can't accept it later, you can't blame me. I am also responsible for the entire empire."
"Judging from the current situation, if we can't contain these refugees, then according to my estimate, we will lose approximately seventy more cities. After these seventy cities are lost, perhaps the refugee crisis will subside, but the Tang army will also reach the central region of our country, less than five hundred miles from the imperial capital."
When Sukhguman finished speaking, both people present were shocked. They had expected the situation to be tense, but they did not expect it to be so tense. If it really became like this, then there would be no way they could live in the future. Do we have to flee as a country?
More than five hundred miles may sound far, but for the Tang army, it is just a moment. Although their movement speed is not as fast as that of the Arab cavalry, they can advance steadily. All the transportation, including the logistics of the troops, is done by naked horses. So in this situation, our crisis is also manifested in reality.
The Caliph was also stunned. He had originally thought that this was just a problem on the northern border, but now it seemed that it had spread to the central part...
I have known for a long time that the war situation is deteriorating, but I didn't expect it to be so bad. I thought that with the large number of troops of the Tang Empire withdrawn, the threat to us would not be so great. But why can only a small number of troops bring us such a big crisis?
When Khalifa raised this question, Sukhkuman answered honestly. When the refugee strategy was first proposed, it did force back a large number of troops of the Tang Empire. However, the small number of troops were not afraid of the refugee problem at all. If the refugees attacked their military camps, they could kill them directly if there were few of them, and they could let them run away if there were many of them.
To put it bluntly, your refugee problem is not a problem at all for Su Dingfang and Cheng Chuliang. They can solve the refugee problem very well.
So in this situation, there is nothing much to say. They can just retreat. As for whether you can catch up with them, look at those pale and skinny refugees. Who can they catch up with?
