Tibet.

Chapter 1394: Easily Take the Thirst
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The deafening sound of war drums sounded, and the Tang army formed a large battle array under the city of Kesai.

The top of the city wall was filled with soldiers, holding spears in their hands, nervously looking at the overwhelming Tang army below the city.

Queen Adele of Bakhtagh was about thirty years old and very fat. She had layers of flesh on her chin and her neck was invisible. She sat on a golden sedan chair carried by eight people. She wore a golden crown on her head, a golden jeweled scepter in her hand, and a long robe made of gold silk.

She stared fiercely at the Tang army under the city and gnashed her teeth and said, "Spread my words to the whole army. Kill a Tang soldier and you will be rewarded with ten gold coins!"

A general came running over and said, "The Tang army is about to attack the city. Bows and arrows are blind. The top of the city is very dangerous. Queen, please return to the palace first!"

Queen Adele nodded and ordered, "Return to the palace!"

Eight strong men lifted her sedan chair and returned to the palace under the escort of hundreds of soldiers.

The Tang army built a mound 500 steps away from the city, facing the city gate. Bai Xiaode shouted, "Bring the mighty general here!"

Several soldiers carried up a bronze cannon. This was the cannon that the Firearms Bureau had just successfully developed. It had been successfully tested many times, and this was the first time it appeared on the battlefield.

A total of ten cannons were brought on this Western Expedition, and one of them was tested today.

The cannon was placed on a mound of earth and aimed at the city gate. Several soldiers who had come specially to operate it were busy filling the gunpowder, tamping it, and then placing the solid bullet into the barrel.

Bai Xiaode nodded, "It's ready to fire!"

The soldier lit the match, and the match burned into the cannon with a "hiss!" sound. Suddenly, with a loud bang, a cast iron cannonball was fired and hit the city gate. The powerful impact immediately smashed a big hole in the city gate.

Bai Xiaode was not very satisfied. It was far less effective than the Iron Fire Thunder. He immediately ordered, "Use the Arrow Thunder to blow up the city gate!"

Immediately, dozens of soldiers raised their crossbows and aimed at the city gate, shooting arrows at the same time. Dozens of arrows hit the city gate and exploded on it. "Boom! Boom!"

A series of explosions instantly blew the city gate to pieces.

The soldiers on the city were in chaos and ran down the city. These soldiers did not want to fight in the first place, and now the city was easily breached by the Tang army, which made them even more frightened. They took off their armor, threw away their weapons, and ran to their homes.

Bai Xiaode brandished his sword and shouted, "The army will enter the city. Those who surrender will be spared, and those who resist will be killed without mercy!"

Tens of thousands of soldiers shouted and charged towards the city.
The soldiers who could not escape in the city knelt down and surrendered. The Tang army did not kill them. Instead, they confiscated their weapons and armor and escorted them out of the city to await further action.

The army occupied the granary and the treasury. Another important treasury was the royal palace. Luyang led 10,000 soldiers to surround the palace of Bukhara.

Soon, a white flag was hoisted over the palace, and teams of guards came out to surrender.

Lu Yang pointed his sword and shouted, "Where is your queen?"

The head guard said with a sad face: "She has committed suicide by taking poison!"

This was unexpected. Lu Yang ordered the guards, "Go and bring your queen out!"

Soon, several guards carried out the disheveled body of the queen on a stretcher. Her face and body had turned black, exactly the same as the death of her brother Alorlie.

Many guards understood that the former king was poisoned by this woman, and the angry guards rushed over to punch and kick her body. Bai Xiaode arrived just in time, he stopped the guards and asked, "What are you doing?"

The guards burst into tears. The leading guard knelt down and cried, "Our king was just like her. When he died, his body was all black. She also said that he was poisoned by the Arabs. It turns out that she was the one who poisoned the king."

Bai Xiaode nodded, "This is what she deserves. Carry her body out of the city and bury her with commoner rites."

Dozens of soldiers carried the queen's body out of the city and buried her at the foot of a hill according to civilian funeral rules.

The Tang army captured the city of Kesai. The biggest feature of the countries in the Western Regions is that they have few cities and the people are concentrated in a few large cities. There are two main large cities in Bukhara. One is the capital city of Kesai, which concentrates 60% of the country's population, and the other is Kuzhanti, which concentrates 30% of the country's population. The remaining 10% of the population is scattered in various places.

Bukhara and Li Ye had a deep connection and were very friendly to the Tang Dynasty. Although the queen hated the Tang Dynasty, ordinary people still had feelings for the Tang Dynasty, so Li Ye's decision to incorporate Bukhara into the territory of the Tang Dynasty did not encounter fierce resistance.

The city of Kesai was officially renamed Ningyuan County, and Bakhchisar was also renamed Wanzhou because it was named after the historical Kingdom of Dayuan.

The Tang army incorporated 10,000 Bactrian cavalry into the Tang army, leaving 5,000 Tang soldiers to guard the city.

After three days of rest, the 45,000-strong army marched towards Qianquan City again.
The army of Qianquan City was the army of the Holy Maiden Society that had previously invaded Suiye. After losing nearly 5,000 people in the attack on Yibo City, the remaining 15,000 soldiers quickly withdrew from Suiye and are currently stationed in Qianquan City.

The commander of this army was Sabah, a native of Anguo. He used to be the general of Anguo, but was later dismissed from his military post by the king. When the Holy Maiden Society was planning to build an army, he ran to join them with hundreds of people. The Holy Maiden Society was overjoyed and immediately appointed him as the General of the East, with an army of 20,000 to garrison Shiguo and Bukhara.

This was a serious mistake made by the Holy Maidens. They did not investigate why Sabah was dismissed by King Anguo, but just heard of his reputation and promoted him.

The reason why Sabah was dismissed by King Anguo was that he secretly converted to the Arab Islam. After King Anguo confirmed this, he immediately dismissed him from all his military posts and drove him out of Bukhara.

Sabah brought hundreds of people to join the Holy Maiden Society. These hundreds of subordinates are all believers of the Arab religion. Currently, Sabah has placed them in various important military positions in the army. In fact, not only the three senior decision-making officers of this army are Arab spies, but all the generals in the army are believers of the Arab religion.

The Arabs had completely controlled this army. In order to provoke conflicts between the Tang Dynasty and the Sogdian countries, this army raided Suiye, causing heavy losses to the military and civilians of Suiye.

In a large tent, the main general Sabah was discussing countermeasures with his two deputy generals Maimana and Charan.

They had just received news that the Tang army had captured the city of Kesai with ease and Bukhara had fallen. The next target of the Tang army must be the Shi Kingdom.

They were stationed in Qianquan City, which was exactly what they bore the brunt of. When the Tang army attacked Shiguo, they were their first target.

"According to the intelligence I received, the Tang army has about 50,000 troops and is currently heading towards the Stone Kingdom. It is estimated that they will arrive at Qianquan City in two days. So we must make a decision now. Where should we retreat to? Should we go to Juzhanti or retreat back to Anguo?"

Deputy General Charan asked, "What is Governor Ziad's attitude?"

"He asked us to defend Juzhanti, but the Dashi Chamber of Commerce asked us to enter Anguo."

Maimana suddenly said, "The Arab Chamber of Commerce is following the orders of Baghdad!"

Sabah nodded, and the three of them immediately reached a consensus. For both public and private reasons, they all wanted to return to Anguo, overthrow the king of Anguo, and have Sabah become king himself.

As for the order from the Khorasan Governorate, screw it!

That afternoon, 15,000 troops with 10,000 camels left Qianquan City and marched towards Anguo in a mighty force.

(End of this chapter)