Chapter 405: No fight

Khwarezm is located in the Aral Sea Delta in the lower reaches of the Amu River. It is surrounded by the Kizilkum Desert in the east and the Karakum Desert in the south. It is a dry area with very few green trees. However, the abundant water resources of the Amu River provide it with irrigation convenience, making Khwarezm a highly developed area with agricultural production.

Fifty-four years ago, the iron hooves of the Arabs conquered this land. The King of Khwarezm led some subjects and nobles to flee to other countries. The Arabs appointed the surrendered nobles as the new king. Two generations of kings have been changed. The current king is called Shifen, who has converted to Islam. They paid taxes to the Arabs every year and provided labor. The great cannibals also sent troops to station here, making Khwarezm a completely vassal state of the Arabs. The king was just a puppet. The national military and political affairs were controlled by the Governor of Khwarezm sent by the Governor of Khrasan.

Khwarezm was also known as the Huoxun Kingdom by the Tang Dynasty. During the Tianbao period, the Huoxun Kingdom sent envoys to Chang'an to pay homage, but their purpose was not to submit to the Tang Dynasty again, but to get trade benefits from the Tang Dynasty, and to rebuild the northern branch of the Silk Road that had been passed by the Huoxun Kingdom and to the Byzantine.

In politics, they perfunctory the Tang Dynasty and accepted the enthronement of the Tang Dynasty on the surface. In fact, they were unswerving servants of the Arabs. Even though the Tang army had occupied the entire territory of Hezhong, Khwarezm still refused to surrender. In fact, they could not surrender. The Arab governor controlled their destiny. They relied on the desert as a barrier and had not been attacked by the Tang army so far.

But as the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Arabs began again, Khwarezm could no longer stay out of the matter, and it became the center of the storm of the war. In mid-December, a team of 30,000 Tang troops began to sail towards Khwarezm.

In addition to the 30,000 Tang troops, this army that fought north along the Amu River also had a special army composed of 3,000 cavalry. They were the Roman Krim Legion and descendants of Khwarezm's exile abroad. Today, they will return to their homeland and restore the independence and dignity of Khwarezm.

Arslan was at the front of the team. He stared at the land and blue sky of his homeland, and greedily smelled the breath of his homeland. Even the vast desert became so golden and moving, as if it was made of golden sand. At this moment, he was completely intoxicated. He seemed to see himself sitting on the throne his father had once sat on, a golden throne inlaid with gems, a throne that his father never forgets until his death. He wore a crown and a scepter in his hand, and accepted the bowing of thousands of subjects.

At this time, a Tang cavalry rushed over and shouted: "His Royal Highness Arslan, my general invites you to come."

The cavalry's shouts interrupted his dream, and Arslan returned to reality, "I'll go now!" He did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly followed the cavalry toward the Tang army.

Li Qing'an was located in the middle of the Tang army. His expression was not so relaxed, and he seemed to have a hint of anxiety. He had just obtained information. The Tang army scouts found the main force of the Dashi Army on the northern edge of the Karakum Desert, with about 40,000 people, about 350 miles away from Khwarezm, but the 40,000 troops were only part of it. There were nearly 60,000 troops on the farther grassland. In other words, the main force of the Dashizm is 100,000, and they are also rushing towards Khwarezm.

However, the Tang army had only more than 30,000 people. Li Qing'an's strategy was to take the lead in occupying Khwarezm and force the Dashi Army to change its plan, but judging from the current situation, his strategy might be difficult to achieve. Now his only advantage is that they are less than 60 miles away from Khwarezm, and they are moving forward lightly, while the Dashi Army carried baggage and moved slowly. According to the current marching speed of the Dashi Army, they will arrive in Khwarezm in four days, leaving him with very urgent time.

At this time, Arslan came, and he bowed and said, "Salute to the General!"

Li Qing'an temporarily put down the army of Dashi and smiled slightly, "Your Highness, the King is about to arrive at your homeland. Fifty miles ahead is Shiva City. Have you made a decision for the choice I gave you?"

"Report to the general, I have made a decision."

After nearly half a month of careful consideration, Arslan finally decided the fate of Khwarezm.

"I decided to move to the west of the Amu River and establish my own new kingdom between the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea."

"Very well, I believe you made the decision by thinking carefully, so how are you going to win the trust of your subjects? How do you believe that you were the son of the former King Khwarezm?"

“I have a token.”

Arslan took out a golden crown with gems from the skin of the war horse and said, "This is the crown of Khwarezm, which is the token left by my father. When he left Shiva, he promised his subjects that one day in the future, he or his son will wear this crown and return to Khwarezm with it. I also have the royal family chart of Khwarezm to prove my identity."

Li Qing'an shook his head gently and smiled, "Dear King, if it happened last year, your crown and chart might be useful, but fifty-four years have passed, and Khwarezm has long become the most loyal servant country of the Arabs. How many people do you think will know the agreement fifty-four years ago?"

A confident smile appeared on Arslan's face, "General, this is not the first time I have come into contact with my hometown in fifty-four years. As the General said, my father and I have been sending people to contact several Zoroastrian elders in my hometown in secret. Last year they wrote me a letter hoping that I would return to my hometown as soon as possible."

"There are still Zoroastrians in Khwarezm now?" Li Qingan asked in surprise.

"Yes, like the countries in the river, Khwarezm currently accounts for half of the Zoroastrians and Muslims each. However, the Zoroastrians have low status and poor living, while Muslims are generally rich, especially the aristocratic class, who enjoy the great cannibals' provisions...."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Li Qing'an. Li Qing'an had no time to listen to these sociological descriptions. He was concerned about the situation of the Khwarezm's army and the cannibalism. He knew nothing about these. Since the Tang army occupied the river, Khwarezm had never had any contact with the countries in the river, and no one of the Sogdian merchants had ever been there. It was like a forgotten country. Since Arslan knew the situation, he should tell himself these important information.

“I want to know the population and garrison of Khwarezm.”

Arslan nodded and said, "As of last year, Khwarezm had a population of more than 300,000, with more than 10,000 troops. There were also 3,000 Great Food Army stationed. The troops were mainly concentrated near the capital Shiva City, while the farmland was concentrated in the Delta area that was closer to the north."

"General, look, castle!" a soldier shouted in the distance.

Li Qing'an looked at the curtain with his hands. In the dazzling sunlight, he also saw that about six or seven miles away, in the middle of several crescent-shaped sand dunes, there was a towering castle. The castle was red and the tall castle pointed straight into the sky.

"That must be Red City!"

Arslan shouted excitedly, he saw the building of his homeland for the first time, and his father told him the castle more than once.

"My father said that when I entered Khwarezm from the south, the first castle I saw was Hongcheng, which is the Zhenbian Fort in Khwarezm."

Arslan's tone was full of pride, but in Li Qing'an's eyes, the appearance of this castle also means the beginning of the war of conquest.

"Tell me my order, this castle will be taken down by Ning Yuanjun!"

The 30,000 troops led by Li Qing'an were composed of the Tang army of Ningyuan, the Tang army of Shiguo and the Tang army of Samarkand, each with 10,000 people. Among them, the head general of the Tang army of Ningyuan was Li Fei Yuanli, the head general of the Tang army of Shiguo was Tian Zhen, and the head general of the Tang army of Samarkand was Bai Xiaode, all of whom were famous generals in the Anxi army.

Arslan was stunned. He suddenly realized that the first deal he had with his homeland was war. He suddenly straightened his waist. Yes, it was war! He wanted to use war to drive away the jackals occupying the land of his homeland, and he brought a just war.

"General, let's conquer this first castle!"

Li Qingan pondered for a moment and finally nodded, "Okay! The Krim Legion will capture the castle instead."

Arslan turned his horse's head and ran towards his army. His heart was filled with passion. The long wait of fifty-four years, hoped that he would melt him at this moment.

He took a deep breath and slowly drew out his sword. He rode his horse in front of the formation and hit the spear tips of the soldiers with his sword. His high voice trembled in the wind: "The warriors of Khwarezm, this is our first battle to restore our homeland. If we die in battle, let our blood be scattered on the land of our homeland!"

Three thousand young Khwarezm descendants raised their spears and shouted: "Die to restore their homeland!"

"Woo--"

The horn of the Khwarezm Legion blew suddenly, and a loud and loud sound passed through the sky. The war horses began to gallop, the spear tips flashed in the sun, and countless warriors left tears on their faces. At this moment, he would rather die on the land of his homeland.

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The Red City is also called Kazil Kara Fortress in Khwarezm. The castle is not big, with a length of forty steps each, with a double wall of four zhang wide and seven zhang high. It is divided into two layers. The lower level is a pillar foot of two zhang high. The city gate is built on high steps, so it is difficult to play a role in the attacking ram. The upper level is a towering castle. The entire castle is built with square stones, tightly buckled, extremely strong, and has a history of more than 700 years.

There are 1,000 troops stationed in the castle. According to a ratio of one to three, 300 major food troops and 700 local troops of Khwarezm. The main general is Hussein. His name is very ordinary and he is a low-level officer in the major food troops.

The defenders on the city had already seen the arrival of the vast Tang army. The overwhelming army made them tremble. The 700 Khwarezm local army had not encountered any war in two generations, and only a dozen of the 300 Great Food Army had participated in the civil war. The rest were farmers recruited from the northern part of the Great Food Army. Facing the Tang army that was pouring in like a tide in the Caspian Sea, for them, the gates of hell were opened.

Hussein participated in the battle of the Tigris River, saw war and blood, and although he was so scared that he could not even shake the stalkers, he felt slightly relieved when he thought of the strong castle.

The dark Tang army stopped advancing two miles away and left the opportunity to attack the city to the Krim Legion. However, the serious facts were placed in front of these warriors who were determined to restore their homeland. They were all cavalrymen and could not fly up to the towering city walls, so they could only shoot with bows and arrows.

The sound of the trumpet sounded again, and the Krim legion launched. Three thousand cavalry rushed forward like lightning. The besieged castle ran like a lantern. The arrows were like dense rain and shot towards the top of the city. At the beginning, they gained the effect. Dozens of defenders were caught off guard and were shot by bows and arrows, and they screamed and fell from the city. The joy of victory was inspiring in the hearts of the warriors. Their pegasus was faster and the arrows were denser, but they soon lost the effect. All defenders in the city hid.

Arslan was anxious and bit his lips white, but he had no choice but to rush to Li Qing'an and bowed and said, "Let my warriors charge forward! We have no choice but to deal with the castle."

Li Qingan had been observing for a long time. He smiled slightly and said, "In fact, there is no need to mobilize troops to win this castle. I'll show you how the Eastern soldiers defeated the enemy without fighting."

He immediately ordered, "Get off!"

The rumbling drum sounded, and the Tang army began to retreat slowly. Under the leadership of the Tang army, Arslan's army also gave up the siege and retreated southward, retreating ten miles away.

As the Tang army left, the soldiers guarding the city came out like groundhogs. They lay on the city wall and looked at the Tang army retreating in surprise, not knowing what had happened.

At this time, a team of about 300 Tang army infantry rushed forward. Each of them held four or five short spears in their arms and rushed up to fifty steps away from the city wall. They suddenly threw short spears up, but the short spears could not hit the city wall at all. They stabbed on the city wall and fell down one after another, causing a sneer on the city wall. They had never seen the Tang army. When the Tang army threw the spear in their way, their clumsiness showed made them frightened. They leaned out of the city wall and laughed wildly, deliberately giving their bodies to the Tang army, but the Tang army's flying spear could never shoot them.

Three hundred Tang troops threw away all the short spears, and then they retreated. Five hundred people came up, both of whom were acting clumsy. The defenders on the city wall humiliated the Tang army with the most vicious yelling and scolding, "You are not even as good as women, people from the East, did you grow up with breastfeeding?

The humiliation was due to failure to throw spears again and again. Three batches of 1,000 people were replaced in a row. Only one person threw the spear onto the city wall, but Hussein grabbed the spear and threw it back. It had a strong force and penetrated deeply into the sand, which scared the Tang army to escape with its head in his arms. This embarrassing situation attracted a lot of laughter on the castle.

Arslan followed far behind on horseback, and he had never seen the Tang army fight. Although he knew that the Tang army had defeated the powerful Arabs, the poor performance of the Tang army at this time made him frown.

Another team of 300 Tang army infantry came up, holding spears. At this time, Arslan suddenly discovered that the Tang army commander Li Qingan was actually mixed among the soldiers, and his eyes suddenly widened.

This time, the Tang soldiers did not step forward and threw their spears, but stopped far away 120 steps away. The defenders on the city wall looked at them in surprise, not knowing what they were going to do. At this time, one of the soldiers rushed forward and shot a white letter to the top of the city with an arrow fifty steps away. There was no arrow, and a letter written in Arabic was inserted into the shaft.

A soldier picked up the letter, ran to Hussein, and handed it to him. Just as Hussein took the letter, Li Qing'an's iron arrow was launched one hundred and twenty steps away. The arrow was like lightning, extremely fast. A black light flashed in the sunlight. A powerful iron arrow shot Hussein's face with an arrow. With a "puff!", the tip of the arrow came out of the back of the head. The powerful force pushed Hussein back a few steps and hit the back wall. The arrow shot in from his mouth. His eyes burst out, his mouth was wide open, his face was twisted, and his face was ferocious and terrifying. He was nailed to the city wall alive. The head of the city was silent, and everyone was frightened.

Arslan's heart was about to stop beating. He had never seen such a powerful and domineering archery technique. At this moment, he was filled with endless fear of Li Qingan.

"Dong!Dong!Dong!"

The Tang army's drums were ringing, which was shocking. Suddenly, 20,000 cavalrymen rushed over, like a tsunami, and dust covered the sky and the sun. The thrilling momentum also changed the color of the sky and the earth. The 20,000 cavalry swept into dust. Each of them had a cloth bag full of sand in their hands, which sped past the city wall and threw out the sand bag. The dust swallowed the entire castle. When the cavalry retreated, the dust fell to the ground, and a huge mountain of sand appeared close to the city wall, extending to the top of the city, and then rode a horse to rush directly to the top of the city.

At this moment, 20,000 cavalry suddenly burst out and shouted in Sogdian, "Surrender to avoid death!"

The dull sound of the skin drum sounded again, one after another, "dong!dong!" The drum sound was so oppressed that it almost made people's heart stop beating. Arslan fell to the ground weakly. The momentum of the Tang army had conquered him, and he would never forget the situation today.

The powerful psychological offensive of the Tang army completely collapsed the Khwarezm local army, which had not fought a war on the city wall, and no one could stop them. They threw down their spears, opened the castle gate, rushed out desperately, raised their hands and knelt on the ground, shouting, "Let us surrender! Surrender!"

Immediately afterwards, the three hundred food troops also surrendered. Most of them were the northern farmers who had never seen the world. Hussein's death scared their courage.
Chapter completed!