Han Hai Tang Ergui

Once the planning is done, the next step is to start fighting.

This is also what Zhang Xianyu is most concerned about. Zhang Xiantai's big victory just stabilized the image of their brother Qianglong.

Whether he can really gain a firm foothold in the future, especially if Zhang Xianyu becomes the leader of the kings of Xia in Hezhong, depends on further progress.

To be precise, it is time to verify whether Zhang Xianyu's plan can be realized.

The first step of this verification is whether it can seriously defeat the Bwehi dynasty and seize Rai (Tehran), the second step is to enter Baghdad, and the third step is to withstand the counterattack of the big cannibal and stabilize the new Persian kingdom.

So what is the situation now?
The current situation is that although the Abbasid dynasty has not yet perished, the status of the caliphate is not as good as that of the Zhou emperor.

It is not even as good as Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. At least Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty still has the power of a rubber stamp, which can be used to coerce the emperor to order the princes, but the caliphate really only has symbolic meaning left.

After the Caliphate completely lost power, Dashi in the traditional sense was mainly ruled by three forces.

The Bwehi dynasty that ruled Iraq, Kuwait, eastern and southeastern Iran, and a small part of Syria.

Ruled most of Syria and most of Jordan in later generations.Hamdani Dynasty in Lebanon and a small part of Turkey.

The Yiheshidi Dynasty ruled later Egypt, all of Palestine, most of Lebanon and part of Jordan.

As for other countries such as the Asidor dynasty that ruled the Saudi region, and the Omani Patriarchate that ruled Oman, they can only be regarded as small countries with weak strength.

As for the Caliphate of Cordoba, which ruled most of Spain, they had already established themselves as emperors.

It is worth noting that these three major dynasties are all newly established within 100 years, and it can basically be said that they are all in their heyday.

Among them, Adud Daolai of the Buwehi Dynasty and Saifu Daolai of the Hamdani Dynasty are both outstanding emperors.

Well, they are not a surname, but the word Dao Lai, which is actually a title, to the effect that people who are blessed and blessed can represent the country.

Aduly Daolai means the humerus of the country, and Saifu Daolai means the sword of the country.

Both belong to honor titles, which have more than one meaning to Jiajiuxi and Mianshiyan in Chinese history.

And now the most difficult opponent Zhang Xianyu faces is the king of the Bwehi Dynasty, Aduly Dao Lai.

At present, the Buwehi dynasty has a population of more than 300 million, and Baghdad alone has a population of about 90, much more than Zhang Xianxi's estimated 40.

The province where Baghdad is located has a population of more than 700 million.

At this time, before Zhang Zhou's revival, Baghdad was the largest, richest, and most culturally prosperous city in the world.

Of course, after Zhang Zhou's revival, although the population of Shendu and Tokyo has not yet reached the height of Baghdad, other aspects have already caught up.

Facing such an opponent, of course one must be cautious, the last victory cannot be used as a standard at all.

Because the [-] army of the Buweixi Dynasty, which was defeated by Cao Bin in Mulu before, was just a temporary patchwork.

Even a large part of them are defectors drawn up in Rai (Tehran) and other places in Saman Persia, among which there are only a few elites of the Bwehi dynasty.

Moreover, with the size of the Bwehi dynasty, more than 3 people died in battle, which is far from being injured. To defeat them, bloody battles must continue.

. . . .

In the third year of Emperor Qianyuan of the Great Zhou Dynasty, 962 A.D., in September, after the discussions among the kings of Xia in Hezhong were completed, Zhang Xianyu took out the Jieyue given to him by Zhang Ting and set up a Hezhong camp in Kangju City of Jin Fan.

Zhang Xianyu was appointed as the deployment of the camp capital in Hezhong, and the general of the Zhuxia coalition army.Appoint Bai Congxin and Hu Guang to deploy, leave Bai Congxin to guard the river and stabilize the rear, and Hu Guang assists Zhang Xianyu in controlling the army.

Zhang Xiantai, the king of Shu, was also appointed as the deputy deployment of the battalion. The former commander of the army and the vanguard general replaced Shi Shouxin, who was guarding Anxi City by Cao Bin, as the deputy general of Zhang Xiantai.

Generals Cao Bin and Lu Ketu were the left and right envoys of the Chinese army, Luo Dingzhong from Suiye was the marching commander, and Jin Wang Li Congde was the commander of the battalion.

In order to at least achieve the goal of attacking Krai (Tehran), Zhang Xianyu even detained Zhang Xiantai who was going north to Xihai. On the Hezhong side, almost all the elite soldiers were sent out.

In October, the speed of mobilization was very fast thanks to the fact that all the Han people in the Hezhong area were driven out to be vicious.

On the fifth day of October, Zhang Xianyu's Western Expeditionary Army was mobilized.

There are a total of 6000 all-round heavy armored infantry, including [-] elite Mo Dao soldiers.There were [-] infantry archers in light armor, [-] cavalry in heavy armor, [-] hussars in light armor, and [-] cavalry without armor, for a total of [-].

On the eighth day of October, Zheng Fan mobilized three thousand infantry in heavy armor, two hundred cavalry in heavy armor, and one thousand hussars in light armor.

Song Fan of Suiye mobilized one thousand heavy armored infantry and three thousand elite chain mail crossbowmen.

Jin Fan mobilized [-] heavily armored infantry and [-] heavily armored Khotan cavalry.

On the tenth day of October, the Grand Duchy of Dinghai mobilized [-] lightly armored hussars and [-] unarmored archers.

The Han army in Saman Persia did not dispatch because it wanted to guard against repression.

As a result, the Allied Forces of the Xia in Hezhong mobilized a total of [-] heavy armored infantry, [-] light armored elite crossbowmen, [-] heavy armored cavalry, [-] light armored hussars, and two unarmored cavalry archers. Fifteen thousand.

Among them, there are 2 infantry, [-] cavalry, and a total of [-] infantry and cavalry.

Moreover, although the Saman Persian Han army was not dispatched, Zhang Xianyu appointed Mansur, who was renamed Ansu, as the rear army deployment. He himself has been moving closer to the Han culture, and he is willing to go to Baghdad to be the king.

This is Baghdad!Among the ethnic groups in the Hezhong area except the Han people, the name of Chang'an is louder than that of Chang'an.

Ansu feels swayed when he walks these days, and he still can't believe that the emperor can arrange for him to become king in Baghdad, so he can't wait to sacrifice everything.

And the Persians who have been firmly supporting Ansu, especially those who have converted to the Six Dharma Schools, are extremely excited after confirming that the emperor of the capital of the gods is indeed going to send them to Baghdad to establish the Persian Empire.

The entire Samanposian army was in full force, mobilizing 700 infantry and cavalry, including more than [-] armored soldiers.

It does look a bit shabby, but after Saman Persia was defeated in the fourth battle of Shiguocheng ten years ago, the men suffered heavy losses.

After that, Kangju City became the Jin Fan, and Khorasan and the Persian headquarters were eaten by the Buwehi Dynasty, losing more than 200 million people. Now it is good to be able to draw more than 1 troops.

However, although they have few troops, they have many civilian laborers. The Xia Kingdoms in the middle of the river only mobilized more than 4 civilian laborers, but Saman Persia mobilized a full 12.

On October [-]th, before the cold winter came, Zhang Xianyu ordered the army to set off, and rushed to Mulu City from various places in the river in four ways.

After Cao Bin defeated the Buweishi Dynasty in Mulu ten years ago, Saman Persia's rule in Mulu gradually stabilized.

In recent years, Cao Bin and Shi Shouxin, who held the military power in Saman Persia, or Pan Mei, who was temporarily acting as a substitute, have hoarded a large amount of food and grass in Mulu, just to fight against the Buweshi Dynasty.

However, when it was less than 40 miles away from Mulu City, Zhang Xianyu suddenly dispatched [-] fine riders, with Luketu as the commander, Liu Tingrang and Li Jixuan as lieutenants, and crossed the Wuhu River (Amu Darya) to the west. After six days and nights, they ran for eight hundred miles, and the soldiers came to Jiesu (Dushanbe) city.

In fact, at this time, Tocharo in a broad sense was still occupied by the remnants of the Anyuan Kingdom in the past. After Li Cunhui attacked Zhenyuan Kingdom, Zhang Bingzhong's tribe and some exiled Tubo people also gathered here.

Prior to this, Zhuxia in Hezhong had been fighting secretly, and no one had worked hard to deal with these people. On the contrary, they continued to harass the border of Jin Fan.

After Zhang Xianyu arrived, he always wanted to take them down, but these people were very vigilant, and since Jiesu City was located in the Gisar Basin, it was easy to defend and difficult to attack, so there was no chance at all.

It wasn't until the army made it clear that the chariots and horses were going to Khorasan to fight against the Buweishi Dynasty that the tightly sealed basin showed a little gap.

And it was such a small gap that immediately allowed Zhang Ting to stay in Roland City (Bamiyan) in Tocharo to check and balance Sadid.

When Sadid's power expanded, he took advantage of Rashid Saliman's death from illness and raided Roland City, causing Rashid Saliman's descendants to flee to the mountains.

Now that they found out that the Heavenly Soldiers of China had really come, they immediately took this opportunity to come out of the mountain to report the news and act as guides.

On October [-]th, the unprepared city of Jiesu was taken by the army, and more than [-] people were beheaded. The governor of Jiesu appointed by Sadid died in battle. After dispelling the Soviet Union, the army began to return.

Sadid, who lives in Xiliuzhou City (Kabul), was frightened out of his wits, and stayed on the mountain and dared not make any more changes.Zhang Xianyu then resolved the last worries.

Almost at the same time, after the Hezhong Zhuxia coalition forces arrived at Mulu City, Zhang Xianyu immediately ordered Zhang Xiantai, Shi Shouxin, Guo Shouwen, Cui Han and other generals to lead the army into Mashhad, an important town in Khorasan.

Located at the southern foot of the Kopet Mountains, Mashhad is a key city where the Persian capital enters the river through Khorasan. It was also the provincial capital of Persian Khorasan Province in history.

Persia looks big, but there are two large Gobi deserts on the Persian Plateau in the middle, the Kavir Salt Desert and the Lut Desert.

Therefore, the cities in Persia are basically distributed along the Kopet Mountains in the north, the Alborz Mountains and the Kukhrut Mountains in the southwest, relying on snowmelt water from the mountains to survive.

It presents a desert in the middle as a whole, and the surrounding foothills rely on snowmelt to form a peculiar geographical feature of the farming belt.

Therefore, to enter Persia from the river, you can only walk along the Kopet Mountains and attack these foothill cities one by one, especially Mashhad, which has the most dangerous terrain and the strongest city.

But now, this fortified and fortified city can hardly withstand the attack of the Allied Forces of Xia in Hezhong, even the [-] vanguards led by Zhang Xiantai, they can't resist.

This is because Khorasan and the Persian headquarters are not the territory of the Buwehi Dynasty, but they were torn from Saman Persia, and the full-scale rule did not last for ten years.

Even the rule is inaccurate, because although the Bwehi dynasty controlled Mashhad, the entire Persian headquarters and Khorasan were filled with a large number of Persians who were interested in the Saman family, and a large number of people who were forced to convert, but their hearts Remember the religious hatred of the once Persian upper class.

There are also the original Zoroastrianism and Manichaeists who were infiltrated by the Six Dharma Schools, and a large number of leading parties who were bought by Guo Xun'er with big money.

In recent years, the Saman Persia controlled by Guo Yuer and the Bwehi dynasty have never fought a big battle, but the small frictions of mutual penetration and bribery have not stopped at all.

Therefore, Mashhad looks solid, but its interior is riddled with holes. Let alone defending the city with one heart, it is impossible to block the news from the outside world.

Zhang Xiantai led the attack for only about five days, and civil strife broke out twice in the city. Although the gate of Mashhad could not be opened, news spread continuously.

Second Brother Zhao, who is now also dressed in military uniform with a horizontal knife on his waist, immediately suggested to Zhang Xiantai to launch a heart attack after collecting the news.

Brother Zhao ordered someone to write the imperial edict of Shah Shah in Persian on the scrap paper, promising to support the Persians in Baghdad to restore the Persian kingdom in the future.

Then wrap the hard corn buns with these straw paper and tie them tightly, and send them into the city through various channels.

Even if it is not in wartime, food is precious. With the attraction of corn buns, it spreads all over the city in a short while. Even the lowest level Persians know that the Peach Blossom Empire in the east is coming to help The Persians are back.

Then Brother Zhao called Mansur and the Saman family to the front line, unfurled the banner of the King of Persia, shouted around the three sides of Mashhad city, and recruited the Persians in the city.

Finally, order people to create a large amount of smoke and dust in the distance, pretending that the army will arrive soon.

Sure enough, the defenders in the city couldn't bear it anymore, because the Bwehi dynasty also knew that Mashhad was difficult to defend. Their real stronghold in Persia was Rai (Tehran).

Mashhad actually exists as an outpost. Its main function is early warning. It is best to defend it. If you can’t defend it, you will have a decisive battle in Rai. If you put the main force in Mashhad, the Persians will turn against it It will be served in one pot.

At this time, in the city of Mashhad, there are only 20 cavalry troops and [-] Persian servants. Seeing that the people in the city are in panic, there is fear that more than [-] troops will arrive outside the city. The cavalry soldiers will not even dare to sleep at night. With the armor removed, morale has almost reached the bottom.

On the second day of November, thousands of Dashi defenders took advantage of the eve of the blizzard and robbed the horses in the city, leaving Mashhad to be guarded by the Persian servants, while they fled in the direction of Rai.

Although there were [-] of these Persian servants, they were just two devils. Once the big cannibal left, they couldn't hold on to the situation. As soon as the big cannibal left, the insiders in the city spread the news.

Zhang Xiantai immediately ordered more than [-] soldiers to attack the small gate southwest of Mashhad. The Persian servants saw the fierce attack of the Han army, and a large number of Chengzhi surrendered.

Zhang Xiantai did not rest after entering the city, and immediately ordered Cui Han to lead [-] fine horsemen to follow their footprints in pursuit.

The Dashi army did not expect the Han army to come so fast. They were defeated in several interceptions in panic, and they were still unable to get rid of Cui Han. They were chased by Cui Han for more than 700 miles. If it wasn't for the heavy snowfall, they would definitely Annihilated.

After Zhang Xianyu knew that the melee battle ahead was going well, he continued to adjust his plan through research and judgment.

A large part of the original source of soldiers of the Abbasid Dynasty, a big food in black, was recruited from Khorasan and other places.

This is also the consistent style of the big cannibals. The most powerful troops are often recruited from areas far away from the political center and operate in the form of slave troops. Even in later generations, Saudi Arabia and other countries still rely on Baba sheep's army as mercenaries.

After the Abbasid Caliphate lost power and princes from all over the country entered Baghdad in turn, the habit of recruiting troops from the Khorasan area began to weaken.

The teams used by these big food princes to replace the slave army are often members of their own tribes, so the Drams and Kurds who lived near the Caucasus region began to rise continuously.

Realizing that the Bwehi Dynasty could not immediately mobilize enough troops from the huge population, Zhang Xianyu immediately decided to rush and fight, and must march to the vicinity of Rai before the Bwehi Dynasty mobilized all its forces.

Therefore, on November [-], more than [-] main force of the Zhou army and [-] to [-] civilian husbands set off from Mulu City and entered Mashhad.

After staying in Mashhad for less than ten days, the whole army braved the heavy snow and headed west, aiming at Semnan, which is only [-] miles away from Tehran.

Semnan is located at the southern foot of Mount Alborz, and the nearby small plain is a very fertile farming area, which produces a lot of food and fruits.

It is not only the southeast gateway of Rai (Tehran), but also the main production material supply area of ​​Rai city.

More importantly, there are several very large natural sulfur deposits in the Semnan Mountains.

This thing was not very useful in the eyes of the Persians before, but it was very important to Zhou Jun, because sulfur can be used to make gunpowder.

After ten years of development, Zhang Zhou's artillery technology has become more and more mature, and has reached the level of about the fifteenth century in history.

There are not only heavy artillery weighing several thousand kilograms, but also many medium-sized light artillery that can be placed on a carriage and quickly maneuvered.

There are also a large number of light firearms that weigh only a few tens of kilograms and can be operated flexibly, similar to the nine-section guns and large-lift guns of later generations, which are light firearms between artillery and muskets.

Of course, the current number of firearms is not widely used, mainly because the production capacity of steel and gunpowder cannot keep up. Zhang Zhou is now going through a period of great development, and he needs money everywhere.

In addition, the hundreds of thousands of iron armors kept in the country are enough to deter all parties. Before the military advantages of iron armor and fine cavalry disappear, we can't rush to push the guns to the stage of history, because that will weaken our own war Advantage.

Everyone is equal before bullets. A Han warrior wearing three layers of armor will not have much better defense than a barbarian wearing only single clothes.

Therefore, although firearms have begun to develop rapidly, under the constraints of various factors, Zhang Xianyu has no firearms team here.

However, when he was serving as the Deputy Privy Envoy, he had seen it with his father Zhang Tie, and he knew the power of firearms. He didn't have one but he could ask his father.

It is now necessary to mine and refine these sulfur ores and march into Baghdad.

On December [-]th, Zhou Jun's [-] troops braved the flying snowflakes and began to besiege Semnan City. Although there were no artillery, the old skill of blasting coffins was still remembered.

Zhang Xianyu personally led the army to attack for seven or eight days, and the defenders in the city were exhausted. Zhang Xiantai led more than [-] fine cavalry to defeat the reinforcements from the direction of Rai (Tehran) twice in a row, and plunged the city into despair.

In this mixture of exhaustion and despair, Zhang Xianyu sent the dead to carry dozens of small coffins filled with gunpowder, and rushed to the city at dawn.

Then, with an earth-shattering explosion, a portion of the city wall of Semnan City was directly blown down, and the soldiers of the Han army who had been waiting for a long time rushed in.

. . .

In the third year of Shaoming, 962 A.D., on December 21, Zhang Xianyu entered Semnan City, where the big cannibals had been wiped out.

Around this great king, there are fanatical low-level officers of the Han army. Many people are already excitedly talking about how many vassals can be sealed in such a rich place, and how energetic those captured blond Bodhisattvas are.

Not only the low-level officers are so enthusiastic, but the middle and high-level officers within tens of meters around Zhang Xianyu are very excited. They keep pleading with Zhang Xianyu, hoping to be the vanguard, and now take advantage of the snowstorm to surprise Rai.

In this frenzied atmosphere, Zhang Xianyu kept calm enough.

Because Semnan is already a thousand miles away from Mashhad, which is almost the distance from Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo to Chang'an.

So Zhang Xianyu resolutely stopped the rash advance of his generals, and began to build a reliable logistics supply line while fortifying Semnan City to hoard supplies.

In addition, it was widely publicized that the Han army came to let Mansur enter Baghdad to restore the Persian kingdom, so as to win over the Persians.

And it wasn't until this time that Khorasan was completely captured and the news that the Han army was approaching Rai reached Baghdad.