Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 561 Making a feint to the east and attacking in the west
When Muawiyah heard the news, he was stunned at first, and then he became furious.

What's the point of capturing the port of Silav now?
Liu Rengui was born a scholar. Even though he often talked about the moral principles of Confucius and Mencius, when he turned evil, he was much more hateful than those warriors who always shouted for killing.

Liu Rengui knew from the beginning that he had to retreat, so all the materials he used to reinforce the defense line were sourced locally within the city, and he directly demolished the buildings in the city without any hesitation.

Before evacuating, Liu Rengui pushed down the defense line he had built and even destroyed the port.

Liu Rengui destroyed 95% of the entire Silav Port, the most important water trade port in the Arab Empire.

To restore the original splendor of the Port of Silav is almost equivalent to rebuilding a new city.

The economy of the Arab Empire was in a mess due to the impact of this war. If the port of Siraf wants to be rebuilt, who knows when it will take.

Muawiyah had to temporarily abandon the port of Siraf, and because of this, they did not deploy any defenses in a dilapidated and almost deserted port.

At this time, the Tang army launched a counterattack and seized an abandoned port.

What's the intention?

Suddenly...

Muawiyah thought of Xue Rengui and cursed: "How dare you, you are so bold to bully us, the Arabs, because we have no one."

As soon as Muawiyah said this, the generals below also reacted.

Does Liu Rengui want to take Xue Rengui back?
This was like stirring up a hornet's nest, and many generals of the Arab Empire became indignant.

"I, the Arabs, have never been humiliated like this before..."

"They succeeded once while we were out. What? Are they really treating us like lambs?"

Originally, their collective interests were severely damaged because of their defeat to the Tang court, and Xue Rengui was furious, making the Tang court hate him to the core. Now, Liu Rengui, one of the culprits who caused all this, has come back again to rub salt into their wounds...

Even though Xue Rengui was a little weak after their attack, everyone knew that there was no way Xue Rengui could survive.

This kind of high-frequency and continuous fighting, this state of being behind enemy lines with no supplies or troops, will sooner or later lead to exhaustion.

They were not really afraid to fight, but they were afraid to fight when Xue Rengui was at his peak, and become someone else's wedding dress, thinking of eating meat and being the fisherman. Now Liu Rengui wanted to rescue the only fat meat trapped in this war with the Arabs, which was equivalent to lighting a powder keg and igniting everyone's anger.

Muawiyah could not sit idly by. Xue Rengui was his last fig leaf. Only by taking him down could he save the little face he had left.

"Sure enough!"

At this moment, Cassio suddenly spoke up and said, "Caliph, judging from the trajectory of Xue Rengui's appearances in recent times, the route has gradually shifted eastward. Previously, I thought he was just fighting a desperate battle and fleeing aimlessly. Now that Liu Rengui has appeared, it can be seen that Xue Rengui is moving towards the east with a purpose, and his purpose is to meet up with Liu Rengui. They should have had an agreement long ago..."

Muawiyah said: "That's a good idea indeed!"

Muawiyah did not hesitate any longer. He sent people to attack the port of Siraf and set up many barriers on the road leading to the port of Siraf.

Xue Rengui's subsequent actions seemed to confirm their speculation.

Xue Rengui's route of action was clearly heading eastward, and he had three conflicts with them.

The results of these three conflicts boosted the morale of the Arab Empire. The Tang army, which had always been invincible, suffered consecutive losses and retreated in a somewhat embarrassing manner.

The results of these three battles not only stabilized the morale of the Arab army, but also gave Muawiyah a way to figure out how to deal with Xue Rengui.

Fighting a small-scale field battle with a general like Xue Rengui, who possessed invincible courage, was no different from seeking death. In order to surround and kill him, they had been chasing him and fighting him, but they were all beaten into autism. Now that they had seen through Xue Rengui's purpose, they set up defenses on the necessary roads in advance and waited for Xue Rengui to attack. With the help of fortifications, Xue Rengui's personal bravery was greatly weakened. With thousands of tired soldiers in his hands, he could still rely on Xue Rengui's bravery to charge at him in the field. But as long as they were caught in an offensive and defensive positional battle, the trapped and tired Tang army would be greatly affected.

The most crucial thing is that the Tang army has no manpower supply at all. Every life lost on the battlefield will weaken its strength.

This would force Xue Rengui into a positional battle, which was the only way to deal with him.

Muawiyah immediately followed this idea and no longer insisted on encirclement to trap Xue Rengui to death. Instead, he engaged the Tang army in a positional battle.

This method really worked.

The Arab Empire had the upper hand in the following battles.

Xue Rengui obviously understood his own weaknesses and did not dare to attack by force. He retreated when he saw that the situation was not right.

The originally depressed morale of the Arab army gradually boosted, and they were all discussing how long Xue Rengui could hold on.

Muawiyah had an ominous feeling in his heart, but he couldn't tell what was wrong.

Until that night, Muawiyah was flipping through a book of military strategy that came from the East: As the influence of the Tang Dynasty expanded, various books were also selling well in the territory of the Arab Empire. In addition to the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, there were also ancient military books that were everywhere, but they were translated into the Arab language, and many things were not fully expressed.

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Even so, it gave Muawiyah great inspiration and he enjoyed reading it very much.

Until he saw a strategy in a military book: make a feint to the east and attack in the west.

For a moment, Muawiyah's head was shocked. In order to block Xue Rengui from going east to join Liu Rengui, they had transferred most of their troops to the east, leaving the west inevitably empty.

If the plan is to make a feint to the east and attack in the west, the west will now be in a weak defensive position.

"No, Liu Rengui is in Xilafu Port. What's the point of Xue Rengui going west?"

"Could it be!"

A trace of fear flashed in Muawiya's eyes. Was this Liu Rengui's plan? Was all this a falsehood since he came back?
"Hurry, go to Mecca..."

In fact, Muawiyah knew that the best way now was to inform Hussein in Medina, but if he really captured Xue Rengui, how could he keep his position as Caliph?
Even though he knew that there was a possibility that Xue Rengui would escape, and even that this was Liu Rengui's plan, he still decided not to inform Hussein. He would rather let the other party run away than encourage Hussein's arrogance.

At the same time, Medina!

Since Hussein returned to his territory, he lost respect for Muawiyah, the Caliph of the Caliphate, and took back the control of Medina and Mecca. Although there was no split in name, he no longer listened to any instructions from Muawiyah.

Hussein also paid close attention to Muawiyah's mobilization of troops to surround and kill Xue Rengui.

He also wanted to take Xue Rengui's life. Just imagine, Muawiyah, the Caliph of the Arab Empire, tried his best to capture Xue Rengui but failed, but he died at the hands of Hussein. That would greatly boost his prestige.

However, with the appearance of Liu Rengui, Xue Rengui continued to move eastward, and Hussein could only blame himself for his bad luck.

After being reminded by Li Ji, Hussein, sensing Muawiyah's murderous intent, did not dare to easily enter the territory controlled by the other party.

Just when he was thinking he was unlucky, he received a message.

"Governor, we have found Xue Rengui's whereabouts."

(End of this chapter)