Such a big move by the Arab Empire naturally could not be hidden from the spies of the Tang Dynasty. Originally, there were more than a dozen spies of the Tang Dynasty near the capital of the Arab Empire, but now this number has increased several times.
Everyone knows how to judge the situation. Originally, the war was in the territory of the Governor-General's Office of Anton, which is too far away from here. If you want to ask someone to be a spy for you, you must have some ability.
Therefore, the spies of the Tang Dynasty were lurking in the dark and could not expose themselves. However, when our army came all the way from the north, the situation changed fundamentally. Too many people wanted to leave a way out for themselves, so they took the initiative to find the spies of the Tang Dynasty.
In the eyes of these people, the fact that the Tang army could reach a place 500 miles away from the royal capital was enough to show their strong combat effectiveness. At this time, if there were two brothers in the family, one would have to continue to stay on the side of the Arab court, and the other would have to find a way to establish contact with the Tang court. Only in this way could the entire family be guaranteed not to decline. Almost all of their big families thought so.
With the help of these people, transmitting intelligence has become a relatively simple matter. Originally, we didn't know how to establish this channel. Now, with the help of these defectors from big families, our intelligence can be transmitted back quickly. At this moment, Cheng Chuliang and Su Dingfang on the front line received the news.
"According to my estimation, Sukhkuman should have reacted at least half a month ago. It was during this half month that we captured over 30 cities. This was a significant loss for the Arabs."
Su Dingfang said while eating the roasted lamb leg. For this guy, he had long been unwilling to eat these things. He really wanted to go back to Chang'an to have a bowl of noodles with vegetables as the stew, which would be much more delicious than the roasted lamb leg in his hand. But unfortunately, in a place like this, it was already good enough for you to eat this. Maybe you would be able to eat it when you return to Li Xiang.
"Then what strategy should we adopt? Continuing with the previous strategy will definitely not work. Sukhguman's target should be the two of us. Moreover, this guy is well prepared this time. In addition to his own troops, he has also recruited a large number of soldiers from the royal city. We are no match for him."
Cheng Chuliang was not particular about food, but he had eaten too much beef and mutton recently, so this guy just ate flatbread with pickled vegetables on the side. Even eating this kind of food was much better than beef and mutton.
The two men were not together, but they were not far apart. After receiving the news, they began to move towards each other. Finally, after three days, the two armies were merged into one.
"If they don't want a decisive battle, we'll just stick to our previous strategy. Now that they do, we should wait for the main force. If we rashly clash with them, we're not afraid of fighting, but our logistics won't keep up. The gunpowder we have will only last for one high-intensity battle."
Su Dingfang said somewhat depressedly that they had already thought of logistics as a major issue at the beginning, and they had made many changes to logistics, but plans could not keep up with the changes. No matter how many changes you make, now you can only wait honestly for the transport convoy in the rear.
The territory of the Arab Empire is really too large. Our transport team has doubled in number and is much faster, but it still cannot support the consumption of the front-line troops. Fortunately, our food and drink do not need to be replenished from the rear. They are all replenished from the local city. If even these things have to be transported from the rear, then we might as well not fight. Each replenishment takes more than three or four months. After fighting a high-intensity war, we should immediately find a place to hide. This may be the most correct choice.
"My situation isn't much better than yours, but I've received news from the rear that the nearest military station is less than a thousand miles away. His Highness is under great pressure. This is the territory of the Arab Empire. You can imagine how difficult it is to build roads and military stations on their territory. They've already paid a huge price to build a road a thousand miles to our north. I don't think it's possible to make them go any faster."
Cheng Chuliang knew very well what the situation was like on Arab territory. Take their two armies for example. As long as their identities were exposed, one or two thousand people would immediately come to kill them. These people were not a formal army at all. They were just ordinary people around them.
But these civilians are also capable of fighting. They will not assess the gap between themselves and the Tang army at all. As long as they find the trace of the Tang army, they will immediately gather all the young and middle-aged laborers around them, and then launch a death charge against the Tang army. They don’t care how much they lose, but they must kill the Tang army. This is the belief in their hearts. Unfortunately, due to the gap in weapons and combat experience, these people can only waste their comprehensive national strength in vain.
Their purely combat team has encountered such great difficulties. Li Xiang's side is still half fighting and half building. The combat effectiveness of their army is definitely not as good as theirs. You can imagine how great the pressure Li Xiang and his team are under.
"Should we retreat or advance?"
Su Dingfang scratched his head, and Cheng Chuliang also had a speechless expression. Now both of them didn't know what to do. After all, according to the original plan, the Arab Empire should have run south, but they didn't expect that they were so bold as to send troops to the north.
Although the territory of the Arab Empire is vast, their capital is not an ordinary place. In addition to being the capital of a country, it is also the center of their faith. Therefore, no problems can occur here. Even if the Tang army is coming with great force, they must be stopped. Even if it costs a terrible price, they cannot give up their capital.
"As usual, let His Highness make the decision. We should separate for now. We'll be too big a target if we stay together. Let's not be too far apart and see who he goes after first."
Su Dingfang was used to such operations, and Cheng Chuliang nodded. If the two of them were combined, there would be nearly 20,000 people. The small boats were easy to turn around, and with less than 10,000 troops, they could do whatever they wanted.
