Tibet.

Chapter 1403: Danger in Dongcao
"Did the other party mention the garrison location and the amount of support for the 10,000 troops?" asked King Slytherin of Shih.

Constantine nodded. "There are two garrison locations. One is in Samarkand, with about 5,000 soldiers, and the other is in Aral Sea City, also with 5,000 soldiers, all cavalry. The supply is nine gold coins per person per month, which is 90,000 gold coins, and then there is food for 10,000 soldiers and horses."

All the kings could accept 90,000 gold coins. The key was that the amount was not large. They could cut down their own troops and the situation would basically be balanced.

Of course, 90,000 gold coins are equivalent to 180,000 strings of money, which is equivalent to one month's salary for 30,000 Tang troops. This actually includes the salary of the 10,000 troops stationed in Suiye and the 10,000 troops stationed in Beiting.

This is equivalent to a disguised protection fee, and the imperial court's finances no longer bear the military expenses of the Hezhong region and Beiting.

Slytherin was a little worried and asked, "Are 10,000 Tang troops too few? Can they stop the Arab army?"

Constantine smiled slightly, "Don't worry, everyone. In fact, the Tang army has 30,000 troops stationed in Hezhong and 10,000 in Shiguo, stationed in Tuozhi City and Juzhanti, and supported by Shiguo, because Shiguo has no army of its own and completely accepts the protection of the Tang Dynasty. Everyone, Princess Qianquan will become the concubine of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Shiguo and our path are different.

There are still 10,000 Tang troops stationed in Suiye. If the Arabs march east again, including the 20,000 troops stationed in Anxi and the 30,000 troops stationed in Hezhong, there will be a total of 50,000 Tang troops to meet them. I don't think there is anything to worry about."

Constantine then handed the garrison agreement to everyone for review, in duplicate, written in Chinese and Sogdian.

"Everyone, take a look! If there is no objection, all of us will sign and seal it on behalf of our respective countries. After handing it over to Special Envoy Li, the 50,000 Tang troops of Shiguo will be dispatched immediately. As for how to distribute the support for the 10,000 Tang troops, we will discuss it internally. We can use population as the basis for distribution. I think it is fairer."

Once the specific distribution of support is mentioned, it involves the interests of everyone and everyone starts talking about it.

Of course, the agreement was signed without any deviation, and Constantine immediately sent someone to deliver the agreement to Li Chenghua.

Li Chenghua left Samarkand overnight and returned to Shiguo.

The 50,000-strong Tang army gathered at Juzhanti, and the Shiguo Tuozhi City was temporarily stationed by Guo Xin with 5,000 troops.

At this time, Bai Xiaode received a notice from Li Chenghua that an agreement had been signed with the Sogdian countries.

Bai Xiaode received news that the State of Dongcao was under attack by the Arab army and the situation was critical. He immediately led an army of 50,000 through the Juzhanti Gorge and quickly marched towards the State of Dongcao 300 miles away in the west.

The Black Caliphs launched the Battle of Talas in the second year after the Abbasid Caliphate established its empire, and were ultimately defeated by the Tang army. The Governor of Khorasan, Abu Muslim, was also killed.

He had to temporarily withdraw his attention from Transoxiana and Tocharistan and began to concentrate on attacking Egypt.

It was also fortunate for the Transoxiana region that when the Tang Dynasty fell into the An-Shi Rebellion, Rahman, the only survivor of the Umayyad family, fled to Spain and re-established a new dynasty, forcing the Black Caliphs, who had just conquered Egypt, to continue to conquer Spain.

This temporarily saved the Central Asian region from disaster.

The conflicts between the Holy Maiden Society and the secular kingdoms intensified, and internal strife continued, which gave the Black Caliphate new opportunities. After more than ten years of preparation, they had stationed a large number of warriors and merchants in the Central Asian region and collected various intelligence. The conditions for the Khorasan Governorate to attack Central Asian region again were gradually ripe.

Three months ago, the Arab Caliph Mansur issued an order to march north.

The Arab army needed an opportunity to attack the Central Asian countries. The best opportunity was for the Tang Dynasty to retaliate against the Central Asian countries, causing panic in the Central Asian countries and asking the Arabs for help. This was why Sabah's army attacked Suiye, which led to the Tang Dynasty's revenge on the Central Asian region.

But this strategy completely failed after Li Chenghua visited Samarkand.

The Arab army then waited for the second opportunity, and the Sabah army attacked and occupied Bukhara.

This plan was successful. Ziad immediately announced the dispatch of troops. The 70,000-strong army was divided into two sections. First, General Apdi led 30,000 troops across the Amu Darya River and entered Anguo. After the front army gained a foothold, Ziad personally led 40,000 troops across the Amu Darya River and marched to the Sogdiana region in a mighty manner.

At this time, Anguo had gathered 85,000 Arab troops, including 15,000 troops of Sabah, who had become the new king of Anguo. But the Arab troops did not attack the Sogdian countries immediately. Ziyad had been paying attention to the situation in Juzhanti. He got intelligence that tens of thousands of Tang troops were gathered in Juzhanti, which made Ziyad alert. If he marched north, he would be easily cut off by Juzhanti's Tang troops.

The first to go into battle was Sabah's army, but he did not attack Kuzhanti, nor did he attack the He State which was closest to An State, but the Dongcao State.

The reason for attacking Tochou was Sabah's obsession and the hatred in his heart. The wife and two daughters of Anman, the former king of An, successfully escaped from Bukhara and fled to Tochou.

In addition, the merchant Anyiti who killed his son was also in Dongcao State. The hatred for his son's murder and his wife's abduction made Sabah lead an army of 15,000 to attack Dongcao State 500 miles away as soon as he became king.

Khorasan Governor Ziyad received the news, but he did not stop Sabah's actions. He also wanted to see how Sabah would perform against the Tang army.

The capital of the Eastern Cao Kingdom was called Urati, which is also an ancient city with a history of nearly a thousand years. There was originally a group of Arab warriors protecting merchants in this city. However, before the Sabah army attacked Bukhara, more than one hundred Arab warriors rushed to Bukhara.

As there was no Sabah's support from within Urati, it was not easy for his army to capture this fortified city.

Dongcao was a small country with only two cities in the country. One was the capital Urati, and the other was Kuzhanti. When Kuzhanti was occupied by the Eastern Legion of the Arabs, it no longer belonged to Dongcao.

The only city left in the Eastern Cao Kingdom was Urati, which had a population of nearly 200,000, accounting for nearly 80% of the country's population. The city walls were built relatively high and solid, and 20,000 troops were led by Prince Raj to defend the capital.

The combat effectiveness of the Dongcao army was very weak, but everyone knew that once Sabah's army broke into the city, the people in the entire city would suffer a devastating disaster.

He did not even spare the people of his own Bukhara, so he would not let go of the people of Tocca. Therefore, the military and civilians shared the same hatred of the enemy and defended the city to the death.

Sabah's army attacked for three days, suffered nearly two thousand casualties, and still failed to capture the city of Urati.

That morning, Sabah suddenly received news that a Tang army of about twelve to three thousand people was coming from the east, less than thirty miles away from them.

Sabah immediately gathered 13,000 troops to fight against the Tang army. His troops were all cavalry and were very good at fighting. Perhaps it was because of this that they easily captured Suiye City and killed 2,000 Tang soldiers.

They did not feel how powerful the Tang army was. On the contrary, they were salivating over the Tang army's equipment.

The spears, swords and armor of their three thousand troops all came from the Tang army of Suiye. Except for the helmets, everything else was exactly the same as the Tang army. It was obvious at a glance that they were obtained from the Tang army.

These 3,000 troops became Sabah's guards. If he could defeat the Tang army again and seize 10,000 sets of armor, he would be able to establish a Transoxiana Empire.

With only 13,000 Tang troops, Sabah saw an opportunity.

On the vast Gobi Desert, the ground seemed to be steamed and extremely hot. The Tang army had difficulty in setting up a large formation, consisting of 10,000 cavalry and 3,000 heavily armored infantry. The main general was Xi Wanli. Xi Wanli was afraid that Sabah would escape, so he compressed his troops to the minimum. Of course, there were still 10,000 cavalry who had cut off Sabah's retreat.

Sabah's 13,000 cavalry appeared three miles away. They were obviously better adapted to the hot and dry climate here than the Tang army. Everyone covered their faces to block the scorching sun.

Sabah saw that the Tang army was not adapted to the climate and would not be able to hold out for long before their physical strength was exhausted. He was overjoyed and waved his sword, saying, "All troops, attack, leave no one alive, and kill all the Tang army!"

At this time, Xi Wanli also issued an order to kill.

Sabah's cavalry attacked in an overwhelming manner, stirring up a cloud of yellow dust. They shouted loudly and charged towards the Tang army like a pack of wolves.

Xi Wanli gave a cold order: "Heavy armored infantry, meet the enemy!"

(End of this chapter)