Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 545 Doubt

The main tent of the Arab military camp.

Caliph Muawiyah threw the battle report in his hand to the ground. His face did not show the joy of victory, but rather a hint of murderous intent.

He thought for a moment, picked up the battle report from the ground, gathered his emotions, laughed and said loudly: "Haha, Hussein has the style of Ali. Spread his achievements and let everyone know about this great victory!"

Just yesterday, Hussein, who was in charge of the defense line downstream of the Yaosha River, suddenly crossed the Yaosha River and attacked the Tocharian camp on the other side of the river.

Hussein personally led his elite troops straight into the city, cut down the Tocharian royal flag, and returned calmly.

Tocharian was a large country in the Western Regions, adjacent to the Caliphate and on good terms with Persia. It was the most determined leader of the anti-Caliphate coalition.

The Tang court was unable to do anything about Persia and only gave nominal support. However, Tocharia had been supporting Persia with all its might, causing considerable trouble to the Arab Empire.

Hussein's ability to cut down the Tocharian royal flag and return safely was undoubtedly an inspiring feat.

But Muawiyah was not happy to see this.

This is related to the internal politics of the Arab Empire.

The Arab Empire was founded on religion, so it was not a empire ruled by one person.

Therefore, after Muhammad, the three people who inherited the Caliphate of the Caliphate were Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman.

After Osman's death, the theory of bloodline arose in the Caliphate, believing that the caliph should be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. As the Prophet Muhammad had no children, his closest person was his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib, who was also one of Muhammad's most capable assistants and was known as the "Lion of Allah". This faction is called the Shia...

With the support of the Shiites, Ali became the fifth king of the Arab Empire and was known as one of the four caliphs together with the previous three.

However, this sudden bloodline theory could not convince those meritorious officials who followed Muhammad to conquer the Caliphate, and three civil wars broke out. The first two were put down by Ali, and the third was the current Caliph of the Caliphate, the former Governor of Syria, Muawiya, who, with the support of Amr bin As, the Governor of Egypt and the commander of the Western Front, forced Ali to abdicate and replaced him.

Ali was later assassinated by a mysterious person, and the murderer is still unknown. But the finger is pointed at Muawiyah...

Feeling the pressure from the Tang Dynasty, Muawiyah was forced to give up a lot of interests to the Shiite nobles.

Although Ali died, he still had two sons, the eldest son Hassan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali. Hassan had no intention of entering politics, and in the face of Muawiyah's strong power, he took the initiative to give in in exchange for a special fund and a generous annuity, including a lifetime tax in a region of Persia and 5 million dirhams (the currency of the Arab Empire).

Hussein was ambitious, but he knew that he was young and far from being a match for Muawiyah. Therefore, he recognized Muawiyah's rule and acknowledged that Muawiyah was indeed capable of serving as the caliph, and gave up the idea of ​​competing with him. However, the Caliphate was not a family empire. The caliph was determined by elections, and the successor had to convince the people and win their hearts.

Hussein had his eyes on the position of caliph after Muawiyah.

Hussein was a man of great courage and bravery, and was very popular. He also had the support of the Shi'ite faction, and was indeed the only choice to succeed the Caliphate.

only……

This situation aroused Muawiyah's fear. He had gone through great pains to snatch the position of caliph from Ali and did not want to make things difficult for others.

Muawiyah wanted to emulate the hereditary rule of China and pass the position of caliph to his son Yazid. In this war, Muawiyah not only defeated the most powerful opponent that the Tang Dynasty had ever encountered, but also gave his son the prestige to succeed the caliph.

Now that Hussein had taken over the power, Muawiyah, the powerful Caliph of the Arab Empire, wanted to kill him.

However, in order to demonstrate fairness, Muawiyah was not stingy in praising Hussein.

"Father!"

Yezide strode into the tent with excitement on his face.

“There’s good news!”

Facing his father, Yezid could not wait to take credit for it: "Teacher's plan really worked. With the lure of a large sum of money, the Qarluk group actually found the place where the Tang army stored grain, in an abandoned earthen city southwest of Talas. They renovated it according to the terrain and built a huge granary."

He became more and more excited as he spoke, and his speech speed became faster and faster: "As long as we send elite soldiers to pass through the defense line of the Karluks during the war, attack the Tang army's granary, and burn all their food. Without food, no matter how powerful their soldiers are, what can they do? They will all die here and become nutrients to nourish the land of our Daqin country."

There was also a glimmer of excitement in Muawiyah's eyes. If this happened, Hussein would not even be qualified to carry his son's shoes.

only……

Muawiyah was a great leader and a suspicious person. When faced with this overwhelming wealth, he was skeptical and asked, "Is the source of this information reliable?"

Ye Qide said: "It should be reliable. I am acting according to the teacher's instructions. The Qarluk are used to playing between the two major forces. As long as we give more, they will choose to betray the Tang court. All this is within the teacher's expectations..."

Muawiyah was very excited. This war had cost the Caliphs a huge price. Starting from supporting Tibet, they had almost squandered all the wealth left by the four caliphs.

Being able to end the battle at this time, he took a big step towards his goal of turning the Arab world into a unified power.

Muawiyah remained cautious: "Did you tell your teacher?"

Ye Qide shook his head and said, "When I got the news, I immediately informed my father and didn't have time to tell the teacher."

Muawiyah nodded and said, "Go and invite him here, and we will discuss it together."

Soon Amur staggered into the big tent.

After hearing Yezid's explanation, Amur did not respond immediately, but closed his eyes and thought for a while before saying, "We should not act rashly. We can ask others to investigate the situation and confirm that the Tang court's granary is really there before we can take further action."

Yezide was a little confused and asked, "Teacher, do you suspect that the Karluk people are pretending to surrender?"

"No!" Amur shook his head and said, "There is no problem with their surrender. If the Tang court wins, the Qarluq are just one of the many grassland tribes and can only get a piece of meat at most. They helped us win, which is the main merit. The Qarluq can clearly distinguish the benefits and trade-offs in order to gain a big leg. I don't doubt the Qarluq, but I doubt the veteran Li Ji."

"Li Ji is a veteran general of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and his ability is no less than Chen Qingsi. Would he really reveal such a big flaw at this critical moment?"

(End of this chapter)