king of ros

Chapter 558

Looking at the Seljuk troops passing by in line, a sudden strong sense of frustration flooded into the Seljuk Sultan Baki Yaluk who was watching the army.

Because compared to his father, even the Seljuk army at the end of the imperial civil war was in disrepair. Most of the soldiers had only a horse and a set of civilian clothes, with axes and spears in their hands, even He was wearing armor, and that armor was already rusted.

The Turkic nobles and leaders who were supposed to be the elite of the Seljuk army were not in good condition. Many even wore the old armor left by their parents, and even more wore simplified armor—that is, only one set of breastplate.

Moreover, they still lack entourage. In the past, even the smallest nobleman and headman had one or two fully armed companions as followers, but now most of them are gone.

As for the Persians and Arabs who were used as cannon fodder, because they had escaped several fierce battles, the equipment and condition of these locals were much better than those of the Turks.

This made the Sultan very worried. Although the Seljuks were full of Persian bureaucrats, the only ones he could really rely on were the Turks. He knew very well that if they had to choose, they would probably still want the Caliph of Baghdad.

This is the embodiment of the decline of the empire. Over the years, the empire has deteriorated day by day. Many courtiers and chiefs began to whisper, discussing whether the young sultan was cursed, which led to the decline of the empire.

For Baji Yaluke, the current situation facing the Seljuk Empire can be described as extremely bad, and the situation has been moving in a bad direction.

Since the death of his father, Malik Shah, the empire has experienced powerful ministers, brother-in-law and foreign invasions. Round after round of disasters have devastated the empire and made it more and more tired.

The emirs in the west are still ignoring the Sudan. As for the east, the local lords are also ready to move. Although they are still under control now, God knows what the future will look like?

Now he, the Seljuk Sultan, really controls Persia and Khorasan. As for Lianghe, due to the weakening of the empire over the years and the impact from Monomakh, many Turkic lords and officials of Lianghe lost their control. Power, the local people ascended from generation to generation, and the influence of the Abbasid Caliph began to increase. This former puppet began to compete with the power of the Seljuk Sultan.

However, the caliph named Mustazir obviously did not intend to overthrow the Seljuk Sultan. He did not take any radical measures, but was carefully and cautiously restoring power, and most of the time he was appealing to Mu. The forests fought against the heretics from the west.

But in Baki Yaluke's view, this was a bigger threat, because the caliph obviously planned to accumulate strength so that he could expel the Turks all at once.

And just when Baki Yaluke was thinking about whether to tear his face and teach the Caliph a lesson and restore the power of the Turks in Baghdad, two things happened.

One is far away from the empire. The emirs in Syria have encountered a comprehensive siege from the Crusaders, while the other is very close to the empire. Monomakh has captured Mosul and is approaching Baghdad.

The combination of these two events has had an extremely strong impact in the Islamic world. People see this as an all-out war of Christians against Muslims. Many people feel that their religion is under great threat. Under such circumstances, many jihadists began to gather spontaneously to Baghdad, no matter what they said, they had to keep the center of the Islamic world first.

The Mustazir Caliph took advantage of the situation to issue the jihad order, and expressed that he would persist in Baghdad until the last moment.

Against the background of Christians attacking from all fronts, this declaration had a huge impact even in the Islamic world, which had already collapsed, and the reputation of the caliphate also increased.

Bakiruk was very dissatisfied with all this. If the script continued like this, the caliphate would be out of their control sooner or later. This was unacceptable to Bakiruk, but even so, he had to go to aid Baghdad.

The source of the legitimacy of the Seljuk Sultan’s status is the Abbasid Caliph, which is the protection that the Turks can provide for the Islamic world. If Baghdad is not protected, and Baghdad is completely lost, countless careerists and fanatics will have to follow It's time to act.

So reluctantly, Baki Yaluke could only summon the Seljuk army to defend his caliphate, and he was relieved that only after this trip at least, the Turks could restore some of their power in Baghdad.

Just thinking that he was going to face that Monomakh, Baki Yaluke felt that he had no confidence. He had seen the power of Monomakh with his own eyes. He had always suffered from this guy. This time he could beat him?

To be honest, Baji Yaluke didn't know, but the thing to do was to do it, and there was no way to escape it.

When Bakiyaruk was worrying about the future of the empire, under the famous round city of Baghdad, Monomakh, the conqueror from the north, was looking at the city and sighing.

"God, this city is really magnificent. I never thought that one day I would face such a magnificent city..."

As the capital of the Arab Empire, Baghdad has experienced the construction of dozens of generations of caliphs. This city is no less than the existence of Constantinople, and now the caliphate is still the monarch here. No matter how arrogant the Turkic tribes are, Baghdad authority remains unchanged.

"A huge city that is as difficult to attack as Constantinople." Anton took Monomakh's words, "God knows when we will be able to take it down, and I heard that many fanatical pagans have entered the city recently Already, the next battle is probably not going to be easy.”

"Whether it's easy to fight or not, it has nothing to do with us. After all, from the very beginning, our goal was not this round city at all."

Oleg continued. He glanced at Anton with some displeasure. This guy really doesn't know the occasion when he speaks. As for Anton, he just shrugged and stood with Radko, who had always been taciturn.

Yes, the siege of the Round City of Baghdad was not aimed at taking the city from the very beginning. The key lies in the various armies attracted by the city, such as the main force of the Seljuk Sultan. Monomakh has defeated them several times. Not bad at all this time.

However, he did not relax because of this, after all, the direction of the war is never easy to say.

As long as the Seljuk Sultan's army is defeated outside Baghdad, the weak Abbasid caliph inside the city wall will naturally offer his loyalty, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't offer it. Once the water conservancy facilities are smashed, this giant city will soon have problems.

For this reason, Monomakh summoned almost all his troops this time, and the military strength assembled under the city of Baghdad has reached 5, which is already his mobilization limit.

Since we want to fight the capital of the Islamic world, we naturally have to play bigger.

"Anton, Radko, go and complete your mission, I need to talk to my brother."

Monomakh said suddenly, and the two left here without saying anything, but they took one last look at Oleg.

"Oleg, my brother, my kin, do you know why I attacked Baghdad?"

Monomakh said faintly, with an indescribable melancholy in his tone, Oleg paused, he knew what Monomakh meant, and he had already felt some things, and then he said all about himself. Think, "I have to do this if I think about it."

"Yeah, it has to be like this. I think back to when we just established our rule on this land. At that time, we only felt that all our actions came according to our own ideas. As a result, looking back now, it is that we have not followed our own ideas. They say they are practicing their own will, but more often they are pushed away.”

Monomacher's tone was full of bitterness. After recalling his military career in the south, his understanding of this fact became deeper and clearer.

"Originally, our goal was to earn a foundation here that would allow us to return to Ross, but in the end, we ended up rebuilding the Alexander Empire. Tsk, I thought it was my own decision at the time, but it turned out I found out that it was all caused by people around us, our loyal subordinates. So now I am trapped in the center of this vortex, and I want to come out but find that I can’t get out. It’s like gambling, hahaha.”

Oleg only answered him with silence. It is said that those who are in power are confused by those who are on the sidelines. In fact, he has already seen through the whole thing in Trabzonspor. It’s just that it’s not convenient to talk about it. People who fall into the abyss will not notice that they have slipped into the abyss, and only when they are in the abyss can they suddenly wake up.

Seeing that Oleg didn't speak, Monomakh didn't say anything, but continued, "Thinking about it now, many things I did were too rough. If it weren't for that, we wouldn't be in such a predicament."

Silence, the next thing is still only silence, there is still silence between the two Ruriks.

"In any case, we must at least win next."

Monomacher continued.

"Then what if you can't take it down? What if you lose the battle?"

By coincidence, Oleg said this sentence. It is not his style to ask this kind of question, but he finally asked it.

"If I was still alive at that time, then I would immediately gather all the troops I could muster at that time, and then attack north, to Kyiv, or die on the way back home. Then Oleg, will you come?"

Oleg didn't speak, and seeing this, Monomakh also understood his relative's choice. He didn't comment on it, but continued to look at the Round City of Baghdad, thinking about the strategies and tactics that could be used next.

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(End of this chapter)