Tibet.

Chapter 1400: Disaster in Central Plains
At night, both sides of the East Gate of Bukhara were filled with dozing soldiers. In fact, the gate was very narrow, with layers of buildings on both sides and stone slabs on the ground. The soldiers leaned against the buildings to sleep.

At this moment, five hundred Arab warriors flashed out from the alley, rushed forward, and slashed at the dozing soldiers with swords. Unfortunately, more than a hundred soldiers became victims under the swords before they could react.

The city gates of Sogdia were not like those of the Tang Dynasty. Their gates were not connected to the city walls. They just used a few iron bars as bolts and could be opened directly.

The Arab warriors opened the city gate and the leading warrior waved a torch.

Sabah, who was a mile away, saw it clearly. He was overjoyed and brandished his sword, shouting, "We will take Bukhara tonight. Charge into the city!"

With a shout, 15,000 soldiers followed Sabah and rushed towards Bukhara.

The defenders on the city wall discovered something unusual and immediately rushed down to fight for the city gate, but they were blocked by the Arab warriors. The two sides fought in the streets below the city.

At this time, Sabah rushed in on horseback, holding a scimitar in his hand, and killed a general with one blow. Countless soldiers rushed in behind him.

Sabah raised his knife and shouted to the defenders on the city wall: "Go home quickly! I won't kill you."

Many soldiers knew Sabah. They were terrified and fled back home, abandoning their weapons and armor.

Inside the palace, King Amman was woken up by a guard, who said in horror, "King, Sabah is coming into the city!"

"what?"

Amman was stunned. He suddenly turned around and said to his wife, "Leave the palace quickly and find a place to hide with our daughter. Sabah will definitely kill you."

The queen hurriedly put on her clothes, took some jewelry, and left the palace with her daughter from the back to find a place to hide.

Amman rushed out of the palace with a group of guards and met the defeated soldiers head-on. He asked anxiously, "How did Sabah get into the city?"

"King, there is an accomplice in Sabah, rumor has it that he is a Arab warrior!"

King Amman felt his scalp tingling. How could there be Arab warriors in the city?

At this moment, Sabah led thousands of soldiers to rush towards the palace and happened to see King Amman. Sabah said nothing and rode his horse to kill King Amman. King Amman waved his sword to block, but Sabah slashed him on the back of the neck with a backhand. Blood spurted out and Amman fell to the ground dead.

The other guards were so scared that they ran away. Sabah pointed his knife at the palace and said, "Go into the palace and kill all the king's family members. Don't spare a single one!"

Thousands of soldiers rushed into the palace like wolves and tigers.

The news of the fall of Bukhara spread quickly, but the first to respond were the 30,000 Arab troops. Sabah had already been in contact with the Governor of Khorasan, Ziad, who sent 30,000 Arab troops from Murug to ambush at the banks of the Amu Darya River. As soon as they received the news, the 30,000 troops immediately headed towards Bukhara.

The next person to receive the news was Prince Ambrey of the Kingdom of An. Upon receiving his father's request for help, he immediately led an army of 20,000 from Samarkand to Bukhara, but halfway he received the news that Bukhara had been captured and his father had been killed.

Ambre was filled with grief and indignation, and immediately led his army to seek revenge, but was persuaded by General An Tingyu to stop. After waiting for two days, they received the news that 30,000 Arab troops had arrived in Bukhara. Ambre was horrified and led his army back to Samarkand.
King Constantine of Kangguo was very frightened by the Arab army's attack on Bukhara. On the one hand, he ordered the six-nation alliance to prepare the army, and on the other hand, he immediately sent people to Shiguo to ask for help from the Tang army.

Although they were also afraid of the Tang army, at least the Tang army did not destroy the Shi Kingdom, but only sought wealth. The Arabs wanted to annex the countries in Central Asia and force them to convert to Arab religion. At this time, the Tang army became their only lifeline.

In the Tang Dynasty, a severe drought shrouded the Central Plains. From spring to now, no rain had fallen in the thirteen states of the Central Plains. The drought became more and more serious, the rivers dried up, and the price of grain had risen to 150 wen per dou of rice. This was the result of suppression by the imperial court, otherwise the price of grain would have skyrocketed.

Rain-praying ceremonies were being held all over the Central Plains. Incense was curling from all the major temples, and monks were chanting sutras and praying to the Buddha to bless them with early rain.

But the people did not pray for rain, but instead prayed for overwhelming locusts. While the drought was raging, a locust plague also broke out. It first started in Ruzhou, and soon swept through Ruzhou, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou and Henan Prefecture.

The summer grain in the Central Plains will definitely be ruined this year. A 30% harvest is good. The government is also desperately trying to provide disaster relief. First, they are digging wells to find deep groundwater. Secondly, they are reducing taxes in the thirteen states of the Central Plains this year. Thirdly, they are setting up porridge stalls in various counties to provide relief to the victims. The emperor Li Ye came to the Central Plains to inspect the disaster in person. Li Ye mainly inspected Henan Prefecture and Ruzhou. As long as he inspected the two hardest-hit areas, he would know the extent of the drought.

On the official road of Ruzhou, thousands of people surrounded the emperor Li Ye. In the fields in the distance, countless farmers were swatting locusts. The locusts did not care about the emperor's power, and swarms of locusts flew wantonly in front of Li Ye.

Li Ye frowned and turned around to ask Liu Yan, who was accompanying him on the inspection: "Have the white-necked ducks from Bashu arrived?"

They urgently transferred 30,000 ducks from Bashu to participate in the locust eradication. Liu Yan hurriedly said, "They have already arrived in Jiangling. They will be in Ruzhou in two days!"

Liang Fang, the governor of Ruzhou, said worriedly, "I am a little worried that the farmers will steal the ducks for food!"

Li Ye glared at him and said, "That's why I want you to increase the relief so that no one will starve. I also want to publicize it a lot. I think that as long as the farmers are not starving, they won't steal ducks!"

"Wei Chen understands!"

Li Ye said to another assistant minister, Zhang Hao, "I am most worried that after the drought there will be a flood. I require local governments to make flood prevention preparations in advance, relocate people from low-lying areas, and mobilize farmers to protect good farmland. Once flooded, the good farmland will be destroyed. It will take decades for the soil to recover its fertility."

Zhang Hao was urgently appointed as the Pacifier of Henan Province, with full responsibility for fighting the disaster. Zhang Hao organized relief and disaster relief in a swift and resolute manner as soon as he took office. For more than a month, he had not been able to eat or sleep well, and had lost a lot of weight, but he endured it all silently.

Zhang Hao bowed and said, "Your Majesty is right. I will mobilize all forces to prevent floods!"

At this time, several old farmers who were exterminating locusts were brought in. They knelt down to pay homage to the emperor. Li Ye waved his hand and said, "No need to be polite, old men!"

Several old men stood up, and Li Ye asked again: "The disaster is serious now. What are you most afraid of? What are you most looking forward to? Don't worry, just tell me the truth!"

The old man in the lead said, "Your Majesty, what we fear most is starvation. Now everyone is packing up. If the relief food runs out one day, we will have no choice but to go to the south to find a way to survive."

Another old man also said: "No one wants to leave their home, but when that day comes, there is nothing we can do!"

Li Ye nodded, "What about expectations?"

The leading elder said, "We heard that the government has organized ducks from other places to participate in the locust eradication. We look forward to it every day! Our necks are sore from waiting. This is our greatest expectation."

Everyone was talking at once, looking forward to the arrival of the army of locust-killing ducks.

Li Ye sent the old men away, and said to Zhang Hao and several officials earnestly: "The most important thing is to provide relief to the victims. As long as the victims are stable and do not become mobile hungry people, they can fight the disaster at home and minimize all the losses caused by the disaster.

I have already ordered the dispatch of 500,000 shi of wheat from the Hehuang Valley, 400,000 shi of grain from Silla, and another 300,000 shi of grain from Jiangnan. Now we have 1.2 million shi of grain in total, which should be enough to stabilize the disaster victims.

Jiangnan is also sending 100,000 ducks to participate in the locust eradication, and Hexi and Hedong will send 300,000 livestock. Minister Zhang, I have given you all the food and supplies, and the only thing left is the people. I grant you the Emperor's Sword. If any official dares to take advantage of the opportunity to enrich himself or fail to take action, you have the right to dismiss him directly. If the crime is serious, you can even publicly behead him to serve as a warning to others!"

Zhang Hao was excited and said solemnly: "Thank you for your support, Your Majesty. I will never let you down!"

Li Ye also told Liu Wutong, the deputy commander of the inner guards: "Move 3,000 inner guards to the Central Plains to assist Minister Zhang. They should obey Minister Zhang's command and monitor the officials in various places. If there is any situation, do not make decisions on your own. You must report to Minister Zhang and let him make the decision!"

Liu Wutong bowed and said, "I obey your orders!"

Li Ye inspected Ruzhou, then went to Xuzhou and Zhengzhou, turned back to Luoyang, and then ended his inspection and returned to Chang'an.

(End of this chapter)