Tibet

Khorasan has a vast territory. The core area is mainly in the northeastern part of today's Iran. It is bounded by Yaoshashui. To the east is the Hezhong area where the nine Sogdian kingdoms are located. However, Khorasan in a broad sense also includes the Hezhong area and the Spitfire area. In the Luo region, these small countries surrendered to the Tang Dynasty on the one hand, and also surrendered to Bai Yi Dashi on the other.

But it was also the decline of the white-robed eaters that made these small countries have the idea of ​​​​breaking away from the control of the great eaters and fully turning to the Tang Dynasty, but the most important reason was for religious reasons.

The Tang Dynasty was tolerant and did not interfere with their beliefs, but the cannibalism was different. Especially after the rise of the cannibalism, Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism in Persia were almost wiped out. In order to protect themselves, the Zoroastrian forces and fire-breathing forces in the Hezhong area Buddhist forces in the Luo area strengthened their ties with the Tang Dynasty.

The Governor's Palace of Khorasan is located in Mulu, the easternmost part of Persia. It is relatively close to the Transoxiana region and the Tocharian region, making it easy to control the two regions. Mulu is a famous ancient city located in a semi-arid area with abundant water resources. Lack of vegetation, few plants, surrounded by endless loess hills, strong winds blowing, flying sand and rocks, and yellow dust all over the sky.

But there is a precious large river flowing next to Mulu, called Karakum River. It is the mother river of the Khorasan region and feeds tens of millions of people. Therefore, it is also called the Khorasan River. This winding river , then passed through the Karakum Desert, and finally flowed into the Amu Darya River. The Amu Darya River was called the Yaosha River in the Tang Dynasty, and was the territorial boundary of the Tang Dynasty in a broad sense.

Therefore, the Hezhong area and the Tocharian area belonged to the territory of both the Tang Dynasty and Dashi. Both sides regarded this area as their own sphere of influence and their own territory in a broad sense.

In fact, Dashi had deeper control over the nine Sogdian countries. They stationed tax officials in Sogdian countries and levied heavy taxes on them. The Sogdian countries had to spend money to avoid disasters. Even though the taxes were heavy, they could only endure it silently.

The Tang Dynasty had almost no substantive control over the nine Sogdian kingdoms, and it was only a nominal relationship between monarch and minister.

In Mulu City, Khorasan Governor Abu Muslim received the Flying Eagle message from the Stone Kingdom. His expression suddenly became very anxious. The Tang army actually occupied Talas City. The crude silver in Talas City and the nearby silver mines, That was the thing in his pocket, the fat meat that he had coveted for a long time, but Tang Jun took advantage of it first.

Abu Muslim also secretly complained about the Caliph. If he had not attacked Egypt and transferred most of his troops away, he would have occupied the river area long ago.

Now that the Egyptian campaign has come to an end, it is time for the Khorasan army to return.

He paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his hands, secretly thinking about how to persuade Abbas to bring back the army. After much deliberation, the only way to break through was finance. Although Abbas established a new dynasty, the extravagance and debauchery of the Umayyad dynasty, The treasury has already been squandered.

After the establishment of the Abbasid dynasty, they also faced financial constraints and had to rely on plundering Egypt to maintain various huge expenses. Then the silver deposits and silver mines in the Stone Kingdom were the best excuse to impress the Abbasid Caliphate.

Abu Muslim was also deceived by the Kundu Stone. He always thought that the stone country's treasury was used to manufacture various siege equipment and purchase and equip various weapons, but it had been exhausted by the Kundu Stone.

But after the coup in Shi Kingdom, several close ministers of Kundushi fled to Mulu. Only then did Abu Muslim know that Shi Kingdom also had a national-protection bank, which contained hundreds of thousands of kilograms of silver. Not only that, Talas City and There is also a large amount of crude silver in the silver mines.

This news made him very angry and regretful. He tried several times to send troops to Shiguo to snatch silver and coarse silver, but he was held back by the rebellion in Bukhara.

The reason why the Dashi Army stationed a large number of troops in Bukhara was not because the Tang army was ready to conquer it. It was just a coincidence that the time was close.

The real reason was that the people of Bukhara broke out a large-scale rebellion against Dashi. They destroyed the temples of the Dashi religion, drove away the tax collectors, and robbed the taxes handed over to Dashi by the Sogdian countries. Abu Muslim was extremely angry and immediately mobilized the fire to seek revenge. The country's 5,000 Sogdian food army and Mulu's 10,000 army, a total of 15,000 people, quelled the rebellion in Bukhara.

At this time, Abu Muslim couldn't sit still. He knew that if he didn't take action, the silver of the Shi Kingdom would be snatched away by the Tang army.

According to intelligence, there are not many Tang troops in Talos, only a few hundred people. This is an opportunity, and this opportunity must be seized immediately.

Abu Muslim immediately decided to attack on two fronts. On the one hand, he sent people to send an urgent message to Abbas to persuade him to transfer the Khorasan army. On the other hand, he sent Said, the leader of the Sogdian Army in Bukhara, and Ai, the deputy leader. Lot led five thousand Sogdian troops to rush to Talas, recapture the city of Talas, seize the silver deposits, and seize the silver mines.

Abu Muslim's information was correct. The Tang army did indeed occupy Talas City with 500 troops led by Pei Xiu. However, a few days later, Li Ye led 1,500 cavalry and also arrived at Talas.

The distance from Suiye to Talas City is about seven hundred miles.

Li Ye led his army all the way and arrived at Talos in six days.

Talas City is a solid military city built with large stones. It is very tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The city has a circumference of only eight miles. There are no people in the city, only a hundred Shiguo defenders. The will to fight is very weak. Pei Xiu led 500 soldiers. When the killing came, the defenders abandoned the city and fled.

As soon as Li Ye arrived at Talas, Pei Xiu reported a piece of news to him, which was beyond Li Ye's expectation. Li Ye also didn't expect that the Shi Kingdom had kept a secret. They had hidden a large amount of crude silver in Talas City.

Pei Xiu took Li Ye to a huge ore warehouse, which was filled with countless piles of black metal. Each pile weighed dozens of kilograms and had different shapes. They were piled up like mountains in the warehouse.

"The coarse silver was buried under the slag, and it was impossible to see it. A steward was afraid of death, so he told us the secret. We peeled off the slag, and the coarse silver was exposed."

Li Ye estimated in his mind that the coarse silver was at least 300,000 kilograms. He asked again: "Is there any record? How much is it and what is its quality?"

Pei Xiu scratched his head, "We can't understand what the other party said, nor can we understand the text!"

Li Ye immediately ordered: "Bring the steward here!"

Not long after, the soldiers brought a steward up. He knelt down and begged: "I still have children and an old father at home. I beg the general to spare my life!"

Li Ye said to him in Sogdian: "As long as you cooperate, we will not kill you and will let you go home soon!"

The steward thanked me repeatedly and asked, "What do you want to ask me, general?"

Li Ye pointed to the silver ingot and asked: "How much thick silver is there? I mean the weight, and what is the fineness of the silver?"

"It's 320,000 kilograms, and contains about 70% silver."

The weight of the Stone Kingdom was the same as that of the Tang Dynasty. Li Ye quickly estimated that if it contained 70% of the silver, it would be able to refine at least about 200,000 jins of pure silver, which was 3.2 million taels of silver. The Tang Dynasty's annual fiscal revenue was only Thirty-two million taels of silver, which is equivalent to 10% of the Tang Dynasty's fiscal revenue. No wonder Shi Guo was willing to give one million taels of silver to himself to atone for his sins. It turned out that there was still a large amount of wealth hidden here.

"Is there any rough silver at the silver mine?"

"Reporting to the general, half of the crude silver in this was shipped from the mine. The mine ceased production three months ago. The king ordered all the miners to be sent home. Even the roads to the mine were destroyed."

"Why?" Li Ye wondered why the King of Shi Kingdom would give such an order.

"I don't know the specific reasons. There are just some rumors."

"What rumors?"

"There are rumors that there was a riot in Anguo, and Dashi sent troops to suppress it. The king was worried that Dashi's army would come, so he stopped silver mining. This is what we guessed."

"There's a riot in Anguo?"

This news made Li Ye startled, "Is it true?"

"We don't know either. The news is very confusing right now. There are various rumors. There should be definite news from the king."

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "The Tang army occupied Talas City, will your king know?"

"Of course you will know. Before you came, the defenders got the news and retreated. Many officials also ran away. We have responsibilities and do not dare to retreat."

"I know, I'll let you go home in two days!"

The manager thanked him again and again and withdrew.

Pei Xiu asked Li Ye: "General, do you think the food army will get the news?"

Li Ye nodded, "Dashi has an intelligence point in Shiguo. The information about our capture of Talas will definitely be known to the other party's intelligence spies. Whether Dashi will send troops depends on their attitude towards Shiguo's silver mines."