"Hey! I didn't expect that the invincible Zhang Erlang could be scared sometimes? When you yelled at my uncle just now, weren't you very brave?"
Perhaps he had made a decision and no longer had to look forward and backward. Li Shengtian's mind suddenly became more flexible. He recalled that Zhang Zhao had pulled his sleeve and roared, and his face suddenly became a little confused.
"I see you are scared. Don't worry. I just want to use the bravery of your soldiers. You just need to gather the people I gave you and make a show under Shule City that the army has arrived."
"Uncle, do you want to attack Esquesa Fortress and Yusuf Fortress first?" Zhang Zhao understood what Li Shengtian meant.
Esquesa Fort and Yusuf Fort are two strong castles outside Shule City. They are strong Persian-style fortresses built by Saktu in the past ten years.
They are horns with Shule City. If you want to safely siege Shule, these two fortresses must be captured.
Especially the Esquesa Fort in the south of Shule City, it is stuck at the key point from Yarkand to Shule. If it is not captured, the Khotan army's logistics supplies will always be threatened.
Li Shengtian hoped that Zhang Zhao would lead a group of ragtag men to pretend to be the main force, scare Ittihad in Shule City from leaving the city to fight in the field, and then lead the real main force to capture the two fortresses with lightning speed.
"Yes, these two fortresses are the two hands stretching out from Shule City. They must be pulled out first!"
Li Shengtian nodded and glanced at Zhang Zhao appreciatively, "I sent you to Shule first because you have a hundred elite soldiers. As long as you can show your strength under Shule City, Ittihad will definitely We were fooled, because with such brave soldiers here, they must be the main force."
Zhang Zhao glanced at Li Shengtian and was speechless. Is this really his uncle? This is gambling on luck with his people!
If you are lucky or Zhang Zhao operates well, you can really scare Ittihad in Shule City. If you are a little bit unlucky, it will be a fatal rhythm.
Zhang Zhao is not afraid of bloody battles, but he doesn't want to engage in such a dangerous battle.
Li Shengtian hesitated when he saw Zhang Zhao, and couldn't help but reveal a wry smile.
"Erlang now knows that it is not easy to be the king of a country, right? The benefits are not big enough, and you can't drive the people below at all. You can indeed send others, but they will never do their best!"
What Li Shengtian said is the absolute truth. What does the Kingdom of Khotan lack now? There is a shortage of good generals and brave generals.
He can send other people there, but he doesn't have the right people who can do this kind of dance on the line between life and death. There is a more important reason. Even if they can do it well, they may not necessarily do their best. .
Because with a ragtag army pretending to be elite, it is common for them to be discovered. The probability of success is small, and if it succeeds, it is unlikely to be greater than the siege of Isaac's Fort. Ordinary generals do not need to risk their lives for this matter.
Only people like Zhang Zhao, who are brave, resourceful and have a strong desire to make contributions, can do this well. Li Shengtian saw it clearly.
As soon as the truth made sense, Zhang Zhao knew that this matter was his, so he made a cross-hand salute.
"Here! My nephew will try his best to scare Ittihad from leaving Shule City!"
"It's not about trying your best, it's about doing it well!" Li Shengtian gave Zhang Zhao a serious look.
"Don't you want the Zhongyun Kingdom? If we can capture Shule and occupy Malyinang, my uncle will send people to capture the Zhongyun Kingdom and give it to you!"
This is a sweet date given to him. Zhang Zhao understands that there is no way Li Shengtian can support him to go to war with the Cao family. The Zhongyun Kingdom that can give him a place to live and support him with more food, grass and armor is the limit, so this promise , Li Shengtian showed considerable sincerity.
. . . .
In Shule City, the atmosphere of war is getting stronger and stronger. This can be seen from the south of the city. Although there is a mixture of fish and dragons here, Ittihad, the governor of Shule, usually doesn't care much about things here.
But since the day before yesterday, the people in the southern city were still driven by the armored Askar. At the request of an adult man from the family, they went out of the city to dredge the moat, dig trenches, set up pits, and also brought in huge rocks to block them piece by piece. The main gate in the north of the city only has a few small gates left for entry and exit.
In just two or three days, almost all the merchants in Shule City left, and Shule changed from the de facto capital of the Kara Khanate to a formidable military fortress.
Moreover, the Askar Army was constantly searching for unidentified people in the city these days, and Fanshun was almost exposed several times.
In the end, he covered up the past with his carefully designed identity and fluent Uighur dialect. Of course, the cover of Li Qilang and Huitong from the restaurant was indispensable.
Fanshun now also figured out who Huitong and Li Qilang were. They were indeed the descendants of the Tang Army in Anxi. But apart from this, Monk Huitong refused to say anything. He only said that he would not know until he met Erlang Jun. Tell the truth.
Why did they come to Shule from Kucha? Why didn’t they go to Khotan even when it was so close? Where are the rest of them? How many of them are there? Everything is still waiting to be revealed.
While thinking, Fanshun quickly slipped into the food shop. All the merchants were gone, and most of the men were deployed to build city fortifications. The business of the food shop seemed bleak.
No! Perhaps it should be called no business at all!
Li Qilang was sitting behind the table listlessly, looking drowsy, but when Fanshun slipped in, his eyelids obviously blinked sharply, but he did not open them.
Monk Huitong's secret room was now full of people. A guy wearing a gray robe, hiding his whole body in darkness, with a cross hanging on his chest, stood next to Hui Tong.
This is a Nestorian elder, and behind this Nestorian elder, there are several majestic men standing. However, except for the cross on their chests, they are no different from other civilians in the city.
Next to the Nestorian elder was a skinny old man. He looked at Fanshun and made a flame shape with his hands.
These are the Manichaeans. Fanshun nodded to the old man. They should hate Saktu Buglahan the most.
Because there are a large number of Uighurs in the Kara Khanate, and the Uighurs are the largest source of followers of Manichaeism in the east.
At this time, the Gaochang Uighurs were still dominated by Manichaeism. Saktu semi-forced his subjects to convert to Tianfang religion, which naturally greatly affected the status of Manichaeism in the Kara Khanate, saying that they were harmed. The biggest is never too big.
As for the person standing in front of Huitong, he was a monk with fair skin, a high nose and deep eyes, who looked like a Scythian.
He looked calm, unlike the Nestorian and Manichaean elders who looked full of resentment. He even always had a smile on his face, looking like a master.
"Poor monk Norexiti! I heard from Huitong that the donor said that your Majesty has a way to break through the Shule City Wall. We are here to see it."
This time the monk actually spoke Chinese, Fanshun quickly returned the favor to the monk.
"Listen to the master's words. If a certain lord really has a way to break open Shule City, you will support it, right?"
When talking about conditions, you must ask the other party's conditions clearly. In the past two days, when Monk Huitong heard that his master, Zhang Erlang, also relied mainly on Khotan, he immediately lost interest. Until now, he has not told Fanshun any truth. He said that Fanshun had worked hard to get this opportunity to meet.
But now, it seems that not only Huitong, but also the Nestorian, Manichaean and Buddhist monks in the secret room all look the same.
Fanshun suddenly understood that the Khotan Li family must have deceived these people quite miserably in the previous battles against Shule City.
Ruorexiti looked at Fanshun and couldn't help but have a few wry smiles on his face. If it weren't for the fact that there was nothing they could do and Saktu Buglahan wouldn't give them a way to survive, they really wouldn't want to respond to the Khotanese people anymore.
"Master, please take a look!" Fanshun carefully took out a wooden tube as thick as a thumb from his arms, and then poured the gunpowder in the wooden tube onto a table.
'Stab it! boom! "As if a bolt of lightning flashed in the dark secret room, Norexiti and several elders from other religions were startled. The lightning was so bright just now that Ruorexiti almost thought it was some kind of magic. .
Fanshun smiled proudly, no matter how eminent monks or elders play with immortality, they still have to look at Erlangjun.
"This thing is called Divine Fire Thunder. It only cost less than five cents just now. A certain master has three hundred catties in his hands!"
"Namo Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, this must be the Buddhist thunder method!"
"Praise the Great God of Light, you have brought light to the world! This object suddenly emits countless lights, and it must have something to do with Ming Zun!"
“Allah brings salvation and light, just as you see today!”
Okay! Huitong secretly shook his head at these three magic sticks, and he cupped his hands towards Fanshun.
"Today at Haishi, we will send Brother Fan out of the city. Please be sure to tell your Lord, Brother Fan, that the people who are loyal to the Jin Kingdom in Shule City are in danger and must not return without success again!"
"No! I won't go out. You ask Li Qilang to take the Jianzhong copper coins of the Tang Dynasty to find my lord and explain the situation. I want to work with you to cooperate internally and externally!"
Fanshun said calmly to Huitong that he firmly believed in Zhang Zhao's blowing up Shule City. Since it was bound to succeed, of course it would be more meritorious to stay in the city!
"Okay! Fan brothers are benevolent and righteous! A certain family has remembered it!" Huitong took a deep look at Fan Shun. He suddenly looked forward to Zhang Erlangjun from Dunhuang. He must be a great person who can control such a hero. characters.
