Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 563 Dish

Medina!
Hussein sat in somewhat frustrated silence.

Abu Abbas Tadmid stepped into the hall gently, looked at Hussein's expression at the time, and said softly: "Xue Rengui has already joined Liu Rengui. They are very fast and have evacuated Jeddah Port."

"understood!"

Hussein took a long while to reply, then asked, "Where is Muawiyah? Where is he now?"

Tadimide said: "The vanguard is approaching Medina."

Hussein's eyes flashed with a trace of relief, and he said helplessly: "He was right about all this..."

The "he" Hussein was referring to was Wang Yifang.

Hussein initially had no intention of letting Xue Rengui go. The temptation of successfully assassinating Xue Rengui was too great, as it would allow him to have a prestige comparable to that of Muawiyah, the Caliph of the Arab Empire, or even surpass it.

Xue Rengui made a feint to the east and attacked in the west, luring most of the troops of the Arab Empire to the east, and took the opportunity to retreat to the west.

Originally, the Tang army was a tired army trying to survive in the cracks. This time, they were running all the way to join Liu Rengui, which was a perfect opportunity to seize.

Hussein was also an experienced commander. He knew that he had the advantage in this battle and had already begun to mobilize troops to intercept.

However, just as he was preparing to send troops, Wang Yifang, an envoy of the Tang army, found him.

The situation at that time is still vivid in my mind: Wang Yifang was a short, plain-looking oriental scholar who was not very good at speaking, but every word he said was very straightforward and reasonable.

"I came here to ask the Governor to hold his troops in place and let General Liu take General Xue back to Chang'an."

Hussein still remembered that he just casually asked him why he came.

As a result, Wang Yifang did not make any transition and directly asked him to keep his troops in place.

Hussein didn't want to pay any attention to Wang Yifang at that time. If he didn't want to offend Tang Ting to death, he would have wanted to kill him.

Hussein immediately asked in a cold voice: "Xue Rengui killed tens of thousands of my generals and followers in my territory, and regarded my people as nothing. You want me to let him go? Did I hear it wrong, or did you say it wrong?"

Wang Yifang did not answer, but asked two questions: "What does the Governor think of Xue Rengui? What does the Caliph of your country think?"

Hussein said truthfully: "Xue Rengui is indeed the best figure in the world. If he had not been trapped for a long time, I would not dare to stand in front of him. As for the Caliph... he is also a powerful leader."

Hussein had mixed feelings towards Muawiyah. He hated him for killing his father, but he also admired his methods and admitted that he was more suitable for the position of caliph than his father. So he compromised with the facts, admitted and was willing to assist Muawiyah, and then strived to succeed Muawiyah as the caliph of the Arab Empire.

As a result, Muawiyah directly violated the succession law of the Caliphate and attempted to forcibly pass the position of caliph down through his own direct family, even resorting to despicable means.

Wang Yifang said, "That's true. General Xue is indeed a rare and capable general in the world. Even though our Tang Dynasty is full of talented people, there are very few people like General Xue. Our chief steward will definitely not watch General Xue being blocked by the governor. It is said that it is easy to get thousands of soldiers, but it is difficult to get a general, let alone a general like General Xue. Even if the casualties are huge, we must rescue General Xue."

Hussein was hot-tempered and could not stand this. He immediately turned cold and said, "Are you threatening me?" Wang Yifang still replied calmly, "It's not a threat, it's a foresight. Just as the governor said, your caliph is an extremely powerful leader. How long can he keep it a secret? I believe they are behind General Xue now... I have heard a little about the governor's bravery even though I am in the East. If the governor is determined to fight this time, it will be a situation where both sides will suffer losses. Who will benefit in the end? It must be the caliph who will come later. We will suffer heavy losses, but we can still return to the Eastern Tang Dynasty. What about the governor? Where else can we go?"

These words went straight to Hussein's heart.

If they really fight to the death with the Eastern Tang court here, Muawiyah will be the one who benefits in the end.

Wang Yifang pursued the enemy and said, "General Xue escaped from the Arab Empire. The real shame is not the governor, but the caliph of your country. There are hundreds of thousands of troops in his own territory, calling the shots, and he, as the ruler of a country, can do nothing about it. How can he be the ruler of a country if he is so incompetent? On the contrary, even if General Xue was doomed to die here, as long as it was not the governor's army who did it, it was under the command of the caliph to capture and kill the thieves who disturbed the Arab Empire."

Hussein remained silent, but was obviously moved.

Wang Yifang finally said: "It is better to ignore it than to do this. After all, the Caliph is incompetent. He has more than ten times the number of troops as the enemy, but he can't do anything to the bandits. As for the governor, at most he just thinks Xue Rengui is heading for the holy city of Mecca and is only concerned with protecting the holy city."

In the end, Hussein chose to remain in place and allowed Xue Rengui to leave his defense zone.

The fact that Muawiyah's vanguard troops arrived near Medina so quickly was just as Wang Yifang said. If they really fought to the death with Xue Rengui here, Muawiyah would benefit in the end.

But Xue Rengui was so arrogant that Hussein, as a Arab, felt very uncomfortable just letting him leave.
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South China Sea!

After a thorough cleaning, Xue Rengui has regained his former heroic spirit. Wearing silver-white armor and a white robe, he stands at the bow, gazing at the vastness of the sea. Matching his current mood, he is particularly excited.

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Liu Rengui appeared behind him and said, "If you want to control the Western Frontier, relying solely on land power is far from enough. Chen Xianggong proposed the idea of ​​dominating sea power. Land power and sea power should be used in tandem to consolidate the West."

After this battle, Xue Rengui had deeply realized the importance of sea power. He nodded and said, "Mr. Chen has a sharp vision and can win a battle thousands of miles away. This is admirable."

Liu Rengui said: "Mr. Chen intends to build a port for our Tang Dynasty in the South China Sea. Cochin is very important as it controls the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea in the west and the Bay of Bengal in the east. Mr. Chen means that we should leave part of the navy here to garrison, which will take some time. Will General Xue withdraw to Guangzhou first?"

Xue Rengui said without hesitation: "I am with the chief steward. How can I be left behind in the achievement of expanding the territory?"

Xue Rengui spoke very passionately, but soon he felt bored.

Because the country that controls the land of Cochin is called India.

The food of India cannot be described in words.

The entire history of India, apart from the fight between the weaklings, is a history of humiliation that has been repeatedly bullied by others. Even though they have been in turmoil for a thousand years and look like a fighting nation, no matter who invades, they will be crushed...

Xue Rengui had fought for half his life and had experienced many fierce battles, but this was the first time he had encountered such a weak opponent.

In just ten days, the Tang army wiped out all resistance forces in southern India.

Liu Rengui, who originally just wanted to take a port, suddenly didn’t know what to do?

(End of this chapter)