Chapter 340: Setting Rules Again

The news of the killing of nine leaders spread the next day. Some Muslim hardline believers had riots in the morning, but without the organization of leaders, their riots seemed chaotic and each formed a formation. The number of people participating in the riots was much smaller. They either gathered in front of the Palace of King Kang, or rushed to the gates of the government offices to smash the government offices. Nearly a hundred people rushed out of the city without their lives to prepare to attack the military camp.

At this time, the Tang army was ready, and Li Qing'an ordered martial law again. The 20,000 fully armed Tang army began to brutally suppress the riots of some hardliners in the city of Samarkand. Li Qing'an issued an order to kill those who did not surrender without mercy. The Tang cavalry chased the rioters who ran away with wooden sticks and long swords in the streets and alleys. If they chased after them, they would kill them with knives, and they would never have any feelings.

In just one hour, the riots in the city were suppressed, more than 2,000 surrendered, and more than 400 stubborn protesters were killed. Finally, the center of the riots was concentrated in the Palace of King Kang, which was also the place with the largest number of rioters.

The Tang army surrounded the palace. More than a thousand rioters hid in the palace and confronted the Tang army and fought back with stones. The Tang army repeatedly informed them that the surrender was invalid. At noon, Li Qing'an issued an order to burn the palace. The Hezhong area was rich in tincture oil, and pottery jars full of tincture oil were thrown into the palace by a catapult. The entire palace was filled with pungent smell of tincture oil. More than a thousand people hiding in the palace finally felt the approaching of death. People began to surrender one after another. The tincture oil was still thrown into the palace. The entire palace was almost soaked in tincture oil. At this time, more than 700 people had surrendered, and nearly 600 people still refused to surrender.

"ignition!"

With Bai Xiaode's order, hundreds of rockets soared into the sky and shot into the palace. In an instant, fires in the palace soared into the sky, and a raging fire broke out. The fire rolled up the tongue of fire and engulfed the entire palace. The rolling smoke rushed straight into the sky, and the screams came from the palace. Nearly a hundred people covered in fire rushed out of the palace, crying and yelling, and fell to the ground and died after only a few dozen steps. The fire burned for three days and three nights, burning the palace, which covers an area of ​​nearly dozens of acres, into white ground. With the 580 most deadly anti-Tang people being burned to death, the palace fire also became a famous dividing line in the history of the river.

A hundred years later, some historians commented: This palace fire burned down the last hope of the Abbasid dynasty in the recovery of the river.

With the destruction of the Muslim hardliners in Samarkand, moderates gained the upper hand. The moderate leader Borodo wrote an "Open Letter to Muslims in the River", which called on Muslims to give up hatred and rebuild their homes. In response, Li Qing'an also issued an order to allow Zoroastrians to build new temples, but no mosques are allowed to be demolished.

At the end of February, the first batch of 50,000 stones of food arrived in Samarkand, and the food prices fell back to their original levels. The crisis in Samarkand was completely eased. Samarkand was the largest city in the river and the center of the entire river. The demonstration effect it played quickly spread to other countries. Some cities preparing to revolt and cause trouble also calmed down. In early March, the Tang army abolished the martial law in all cities, and the order in the river began to gradually recover.

Three days later, Li Qing'an arrived in Bukhara, the second largest city in the river. This city became a ghost town in the severe turmoil twenty days ago. It originally had a population of more than 200,000, but after a few days of bloody conflict, most of them fled from the city, either to the mountains and fields, or to other countries such as Samarkand and Nasebo.

As the situation gradually calmed down, the residents of Bukhara began to return home one after another. In Bukhara, because the hatred between the Zoroastrians and Muslims were too deep, Li Qing'an adopted Cui Ganyou's plan in the city, divided it and ruled it, and used a dense water tributary flowing through the city as the boundary. According to the main residence of the two factions, they were placed in the east and west of the city respectively. Muslims were mainly concentrated in the east and north of the city, so the east of the city was assigned to Muslims, and the north of the city was divided into two. The two sides were bounded by the river, so the west of the city was naturally given to the Zoroastrians.

Under the leadership of the Tang army, after discussion between the two sides, they finally reached an agreement. Both sides sent people to each other's jurisdiction to demolish their respective temples and transport the materials back to their own jurisdiction to rebuild the temples.

When Li Qing'an arrived at the city, Tian Zhen, the commander of the Tang army who temporarily guarded the city, rushed to report to Li Qing'an.

Bukhara originally had 10,000 troops, all composed of Zoroastrians from the Hezhong area. When Li Siye and Tian Zhen, who were stationed in Shiguo, led 20,000 new troops to Bukhara, the original 10,000 troops were transferred to the east bank of the Amu River for defense, and the public security maintenance in Bukhara was transferred to the new troops.

"General, there are currently 30,000 Tang troops in Anguo. Siye led 20,000 troops to defend the east bank of the Amu River, and I led 10,000 Tang troops to be responsible for arranging the division of Bukhara."

Li Qingan nodded and asked again: "What is the situation of division and governance? What are the difficulties?"

Tian Zhen is a famous Modao Hand in the Tang army. She is ten feet tall and has a majestic figure. She is like a half-black tower. Although she is rough, she is extremely meticulous and very capable in doing things. He thought about it and said with a smile: "Maybe both sides are afraid of being killed. Everyone has always agreed to divide the governance. The progress is smooth. They each organized their own elders, all of which are composed of respected elderly people. The house allocation, population registration and temple demolition and construction in their respective jurisdictions are all completed by the elders. The Tang army did not interfere. The progress is very smooth and there are no disputes. However... there are difficulties."

“What’s the difficulty?”

Tian Zhen sighed and said, "The main thing is the ownership of the Bukhara Mosque. Both sides are unwilling to give in. Under my mediation, the dispute has been temporarily put on hold, but the problem will break out sooner or later. If it is not handled properly, I am very worried that it will be the source of turmoil in the future."

Li Qingan has also repeatedly considered the matter of the Bukhara Grand Mosque. He knew very well that if it was not resolved properly, it would sooner or later cause riots.

"Let's go! Let's go to the mosque and take a look."

Hundreds of cavalry turned their horses and guarded Li Qing'an toward the mosque.

The streets of Bukhara are in chaos. Now is the busiest time for residents to move. Donkey carts and horses can be seen everywhere, with items full of carts. Men are rushing in front, with a few children sitting on the roof, and women are following the cart, carefully guarding their meager property. Donkey carts gather together into a spectacular tide of carts, shuttle back and forth across the banks of Mishui River.

Tian Zhen thought very thoughtfully and ordered his soldiers to put two bridges on Mishui, ten miles apart, so that Zoroastrians and Muslims each could use one bridge. In this way, the two sides would basically not be mixed together, thus avoiding the risk of conflict.

The cavalry team walked among the crowd, with narrow and winding streets everywhere. The houses were all made of brick and tiled houses and adobe flat-roofed houses. They were similar to Samarkand, layered and spreading in the city. The mosque that Li Qing'an was going to was located in the north of the city, close to the river crossing Bukhara. It was an open square. The Bukhara Library, Islamic College, and the famous Bukhara Grand Mosque were all distributed around this square. This is the famous literary and artistic center in the Hezhong area. Every year, thousands of students and scholars come here to learn and spread knowledge, and enjoy a high reputation in the entire Islamic world.

Zoroastrians were not interested in libraries or colleges. What they cared about was the mosque, which was once the second largest main temple of Ahuramaz in the river region, second only to the Temple of Samarkand. After the Great Food Army occupied Bukhara fifty years ago, it demolished the temple and built the Bukhara Grand Mosque on the original site. Because the former spiritual leader of the Shiites buried in the mosque, the mosque became a holy place for Shiites.

But this mosque has also become the deepest pain in the hearts of the Zoroastrians. They have never forgotten this hatred for decades. When the Tang army re-occupied Bukhara, the Zoroastrians rose again and restored the main temple of Ahuramaz fifty years ago. It became the biggest dream of the Zoroastrians, but this dream became the source of the Bukhara riots.

Li Qing'an rode his horse into the wide square. The square was located on the east bank of the river and belonged to a Muslim area, but Zoroastrians did not admit it. Almost all the demarcation sides were confirmed, but there was a dispute between the two sides in this area.

Li Qing'an circled around and carefully looked at the terrain of this area. The Bukhara River, which is about ten feet wide in the distance, is an important tributary of dense water. It divides the entire city into two, and thus it has become the dividing line between the two sects. There was originally a bridge leading directly to the square, but it has now been demolished by the Tang army. There are several huge buildings on both sides of the square, namely the Islamic library and the college. A road is right in front of the road, which is the source of the riot, the Bukhara Grand Mosque, but the mosque has collapsed and was demolished by the Zoroastrians during the riot. At this time, martial law was already in place near the mosque, and nearly a thousand Tang army cavalry patrolled near the mosque and no one was allowed to approach.

However, groups of Muslims and Zoroastrians could be seen outside the martial law area. They were not at ease with each other and rushed to the nearby area to monitor.

"Did the general see it?"

Tian Zhen pointed to the two groups of people in the distance and smiled, "Those two groups of people are their respective elder groups. They sat together to negotiate yesterday, but today they don't know each other."

Li Qing'an looked at the curtain for a while, nodded and said, "Take them to the library and find a room. I want to hold a meeting with them to discuss the ownership of the mosque."

Dozens of cavalry galloped to lead the people, and Li Qing'an entered the library. The library was a completely closed rectangular building with a playground and open space in the middle. There were dense rooms around it, like a large prison. The difference was that scholars lived here. Many scholars lived here for many years. Bukhara had a long history and had been the cultural and artistic center in the river area for thousands of years, while Samarkand was the commercial center. It has a profound cultural heritage. Every year, a large number of scholars from Damascus and Constantinople studied religion, history, mathematics and calendar here. The playground in the middle of the building was their place for walks to find inspiration. After the Great Food Army occupied Bukhara, it naturally became the cultural center of Islam.

Despite the severe unrest in Bukhara and the mosque next to him was the center of the riot, hundreds of scholars living in the library did not escape. They locked the doors and packed hundreds of thousands of pampered rolls into the basement. They picked up their weapons and prepared to defend these precious cultural classics with death.

But they were also lucky. When the mosque collapsed, the thugs left the square and went to residents to rob and kill people, and no one was interested in these parchment rolls.

Led by the library director Ibrahim, Li Qing'an visited the largest cultural center in the river with interest.

Ibrahim is a scholar from Damascus. He has been in the library for thirty years. He devoted all his efforts to protecting cultural classics. He opened a room and introduced to Li Qing'an: "General, please look here. There are three thousand pampered scrolls here, mainly recording mathematics and history, from Damascus, India, and some are manuscripts from the Athenian Library."

In front of Li Qing'an was a large room with a height of about five feet high, with a huge bookshelves extending to the roof. Dozens of white-haired old scholars were burying their heads and copying parchment scrolls with quill pens, concentrating on them, and no one looked up at this side.

Ibrahim introduced: "They are all scholars from the West, and the shortest time is ten years. Many sheepskin books have a history of hundreds of years and are already broken, so they need to be rescued. They spend almost their entire lives copying books."

"A lifetime?" Li Qingan was a little surprised.

"Yes! Lifetime, including me."

Ibrahim sighed softly. The library had no source of funds, and it was entirely supported by the mosques next to her. Now that the mosques have been destroyed, they cut off their source of economy. Without economic sources, it means that there is no bread, parchment, and ink. They will not survive. But today, Li Qing'an accidentally came to the library, which brought Ibrahim a glimmer of hope. If he could get the support of the highest ruler in Anxi and even the Hezhong region, the library could continue and the culture would no longer be cut off.

He clasped his hands together and said to Li Qing'an with a hint of pleading voice: "General, we do not have any reward from Dinar. Everything we do is voluntary, just to pass these books on to future generations, just to not let history and culture be broken in our hands. We are willing to devote our lives, but we only have a little bread, a little ink and parchment to allow us to survive. But we have no source of funding, we only beg the General to give us a little funding and support the continued development of this library."

Li Qing'an didn't speak for a long time. He remembered the same ancient country in the East. The destruction of culture in the hundreds of years later, so that their descendants only had two hundred years left when they mentioned their history, and only a shameless braid. They forgot that they had the strong Han and Tang dynasties, and the extremely prosperous Song dynasties. They forgot that they had iron-blooded ancestors. Their swords and bows made the West tremble.

Perhaps, they just lack such a library that continuously records history.

"I understand. The Bukhara government will be established soon. At that time, they will allocate special funds to the library, or the special funds will be allocated by Saiye. Don't worry about this."

When Li Qing'an said this, he remembered something and said: "The Great Cannibal has learned papermaking from Chang'an. It will probably take a long time to spread here. You can select some young people and learn papermaking from Shuye. I hope it will be helpful to your library."

Ibrahim was overjoyed. He had seen the white hemp paper of the Tang Dynasty from the Sogdian merchants. If he could learn this papermaking technology, it would play an immeasurable role in the preservation of library classics.

"Thank you, General! Thank you, General!"

Ibrahim was so excited that he was speechless. Li Qingan turned around and said to the judge who accompanied him, Zhao Siyi: "The financial problems of the library and the learning of papermaking will be handed over to you."

Zhao Siyi quickly agreed. At this time, Tian Zhen walked over quickly and reported: "General, both of them have arrived. I arranged it in a conference room on the second floor and waited for the general to come."

"Okay!" Li Qing'an smiled and said to Ibrahim: "Thank you for taking me to visit the library. I still have some serious business, so let's go first."

After saying that, he followed Tian Zhen and headed to the second floor.

The conference room was temporarily changed from a reading room. Tang Jun combined the tables and chairs into two rows. Eight people came from each other and sat opposite each other. This was a negotiation method they had in the past few days. Both sides could express their requirements and ideas face to face and openly.

The conference room was surrounded by fully armed Tang soldiers. From a large window, you could clearly see the collapsed mosque opposite. This was Tian Zhen's deliberate arrangement, so that both sides could face reality more.

In addition to Li Qing'an, there is also the deputy king of Anguo. The Sogdian area is basically a dual king system, with the division of the king and the deputy king. The king of Anguo Yejie has been killed by Li Qing'an, so the deputy king of Anguo Luo Jiwang surfaced. Luo Jiwang was about fifty years old and belonged to the pro-Tang faction. He had a bad relationship with the king of Zheng and had been demoted at home for a long time. This time, he coordinated as an intermediary for the negotiations between the two elder groups.

Both sides did not speak. Although they were both Sogdians, their religious beliefs separated their brotherhood. They could reach an agreement on all issues, but the two sides could never reach a consensus on the ownership of the mosque, and no one was willing to give in.

At this time, footsteps came from outside, and dozens of Tang soldiers surrounded Li Qing'an and walked into the room. General Tian Zhen followed Li Qing'an. When the two groups saw him coming in, they stood up together.

"Please sit down everyone!"

Li Qingan smiled and waved his hand, asked everyone to sit down, and he also sat down and said to everyone: "I want to thank everyone for their rationality and mutual tolerance so that there will be no conflict in Bukhara. Today we are sitting here in the hope of completely eliminating the root cause of the conflict."

Li Qing'an pointed to the mosque outside the window, "It's it, I hope we can complete today's negotiations with the greatest sincerity."

At this time, an old Muslim man stood up and said, "General, we have talked about the ownership of this temple three times, but none of them have been agreed. We are willing to buy this temple for 500,000 Dinar, but the other party refused to accept it. But no matter what, the mosque is on the east bank of the river, and it should belong to Muslims. We must not accept a Zoroastrian temple on the east bank of the river. I hope the general can understand it."

An old Zoroastrian man on the opposite side also stood up and bowed, saying, "Dear General Li, the original Ahuramaz temple has a history of 500 years. It is a holy land for the Zoroastrians in Bukhara and even the river. It originally enshrined the scepter of the Lord Ahuramaz, and like the Eye of Light, it is also a holy object of the Zoroastrians in the river. Since the Great Cannibal invaded Bukhara, they have destroyed the main temple and also destroyed the holy objects. We have endured this, but we will never allow the construction of a mosque on the temple. This is a blasphemy to the Lord God. We also ask the General to understand it."
Chapter completed!