Once the planning is done, the next step is to start fighting.
This is also what Zhang Xianyu is most concerned about. Zhang Xiantai's victory only stabilized the image of their brother Qianlong.
Whether he can really gain a firm foothold next, especially if Zhang Xianyu becomes the leader of the kings of the Xia Dynasty in Hezhong, depends on taking a further step.
To be precise, it is time to verify whether Zhang Xianyu's plan can be realized.
The first step of this verification is whether it can defeat the Bouveshi dynasty and seize Rai (Tehran). The second step is to enter Baghdad. The third step is to withstand the counterattack of the cannibals and stabilize the new Persian Kingdom.
So what's the situation now?
The current situation is that although the Abbasid dynasty has not yet perished, the status of the caliph is inferior to that of the Emperor of Zhou.
Not even as good as Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. At least Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty still had the power of a rubber stamp, which could be used to coerce the emperor and order the princes, but the caliphate really only had a symbolic meaning.
After the caliphate completely lost power, Daesh in the traditional sense was mainly ruled by three forces.
The Bouveshi dynasty ruled later Iraq, Kuwait, eastern and southeastern Iran, and a small part of Syria.
He ruled most of Syria and most of Jordan in later generations. The Hamdani dynasty of Lebanon and a small part of Turkey.
The Ikhshedi dynasty ruled Egypt, all of Palestine, most of Lebanon, and part of Jordan.
As for other countries such as the Asido dynasty that rules Saudi Arabia and the Imam of Oman that rules Oman, they can only be regarded as small countries with weak strength.
As for the Caliphate of Córdoba, which rules most of Spain, it has established itself as an emperor.
It is worth noting that these three major dynasties were all newly established within a hundred years, and they can basically be said to be in their heyday.
Among them, Adud Daulai of the Bouveshi dynasty and Seif Daulai of the Hamdani dynasty were both outstanding wise kings.
Well, they don't have the same surname, but the word Daolai, which is actually a title, to the effect that it means a person who can represent the country with great blessings.
Adud Daulai means the humerus of the country, and Seif Daulai means the sword of the country.
They are all honorific titles, which have a different meaning from Jiajiuxi and Mianshilu in Chinese history.
And now Zhang Xianyu faces one of the most difficult opponents, the king of the Bweshi dynasty, Adude Daulai.
At present, the Bouveshi dynasty has a population of more than 13 million, and the city of Baghdad alone has a population of about 900,000, which is much more than the 400,000 expected by Zhang Xianxi.
The province where Baghdad is located has a population of more than seven million.
At this time, before Zhang Zhou's revival, Baghdad was the largest, richest, and most culturally prosperous city in the world.
Of course, after Zhang Zhou's revival, although the populations of Shendu and Tokyo have not yet reached the height of Baghdad, they have caught up in other aspects.
Facing such an opponent, of course one must be extremely cautious. The last victory cannot be used as a standard at all.
Because the 50,000-strong army of the Bweshi Dynasty that was defeated by Cao Bin in Mulu was just a temporary piece.
Even a large part of them were defectors recruited from Saman Persia such as Rai (Tehran), among whom there were only a small number of elites from the Bouveshi dynasty.
Moreover, with the size of the Bouveshi dynasty, more than 30,000 people were killed in the battle, which was far from being broken. To defeat them, bloody battles would have to continue.
. . . .
In September of the third year of the Qianyuan year of the Great Zhou Dynasty (AD 962), after the discussions between the Xia kings in Hezhong were completed, Zhang Xianyu took out the Jie Yue given to him by Zhang Zhi and set up a Hezhong camp in Kangju City of the Jin Dynasty.
Zhang Xianyu took office as the commander of the camp in Hezhong and became the general of the Xia Allied Forces. Bai Congxin and Hu Guang were appointed to deploy, leaving Bai Congxin to guard the river and stabilize the rear, and Hu Guang assisted Zhang Xianyu in controlling the army.
Zhang Xiantai, the king of Shu, was appointed as the deputy commander of the camp. Shi Shouxin, the commander-in-chief of the former army and the vanguard general, who succeeded Cao Bin in guarding Anxi City, was appointed deputy general Zhang Xiantai.
Generals Cao Bin and Lu Ketu were the military envoys on the left and right of the Chinese army, Luo Dingzhong from Suiye was the marching commander, and Li Congde, king of Jin, was the marching battalion commander Shi.
In order to at least achieve the goal of conquering Krai (Tehran), Zhang Xianyu even detained Zhang Xiantae who was preparing to go north to the West Sea. In the river, almost all the elite soldiers and generals were sent out.
In October, thanks to the fact that all the Han people in the Hezhong area were driven out of the fierce and evil people, the mobilization speed was very fast.
On the fifth day of October, Zhang Xianyu's Western Expeditionary Army was mobilized.
There are a total of four thousand all-purpose heavy armored infantry, including two thousand elite Modao troops. There were eleven thousand light-armored infantry archers, two thousand heavy-armored cavalry, four thousand light-armored hussars, and fifteen thousand unarmored horse archers, for a total of thirty-six thousand people.
On the eighth day of October, Zheng Fan mobilized 3,000 heavy-armored infantry, 200 heavy-armored cavalry, and 1,000 light-armored hussars.
The Song Dynasty of Broken Leaf mobilized one thousand heavy armored infantry and three thousand elite chainmail crossbowmen.
Jin Fan mobilized 500 heavily armored infantry and 2,000 heavily armored Khotanese cavalry.
On the tenth day of October, the Grand Duchy of Dinghai mobilized 3,000 light-armored hussars and 10,000 unarmored horse archers.
The Han army in Saman Persia did not dispatch because it wanted to guard against suppression.
As a result, the Xia coalition forces in the river mobilized a total of 8,500 heavy-armored infantry, 14,000 light-armored elite crossbowmen, 4,200 heavy-armored cavalry, 8,000 light-armored hussars, and two unarmored horse archers. Fifteen thousand.
Among them, there were 22,500 infantry, 37,200 cavalry, and a total of 59,700 infantry and cavalry.
Moreover, although the Han army in Saman Persia did not dispatch, Zhang Xianyu appointed Mansur, who was renamed Ansu, to deploy the rear army. He himself has been moving closer to Han culture and is very willing to go to Baghdad to become the king.
This is Baghdad! Among all ethnic groups in the Hezhong area except the Han people, its name is louder than that of Chang'an.
Ansu feels like he is floating when he walks these days. He still can't believe that the emperor can arrange for him to go to Baghdad to become the king, so he can't wait to dedicate everything.
The Persians who had always firmly supported Ansu, especially the Persians who had converted to the Six Dharma Sect, were extremely excited after confirming that the emperor of the divine capital was indeed going to send them to Baghdad to establish the Persian Empire.
The entire Saman Persian army came out in full force, mobilizing eleven thousand infantry and cavalry, including more than one thousand seven hundred armored soldiers.
It does look a bit shabby, but after Samampos was defeated in the fourth Battle of Stone Kingdom ten years ago, the men suffered heavy losses.
After that, Kangju City became the Jin Dynasty, and Khorasan and the Persian headquarters were eaten by the Bouveshi Dynasty, losing more than two million people. Now it would be good to have more than 10,000 troops.
However, although they have few soldiers and horses, they have a lot of civilians. The Xia Kingdoms in the river only mobilized more than 40,000 civilians, but Samampos mobilized a full 120,000.
On October 11, before the cold winter came, Zhang Xianyu ordered the army to start setting off, and rushed to Mulu City in four groups from various places in the river.
After Cao Bin defeated the Bweshi dynasty in Mulu ten years ago, the rule of Saman Persia in Mulu gradually stabilized.
In recent years, both Cao Bin and Shi Shouxin, who controlled the military power of Saman Persia, and Pan Mei, who temporarily took over, have hoarded a large amount of grain and grass in Mulu, just to fight against the Bouveshi dynasty.
However, just over forty miles away from Mulu City, Zhang Xianyu suddenly mobilized 15,000 elite cavalry, with Lu Ketu as the commander, Liu Tingrang and Li Jixie as lieutenants, and crossed the Wuhu River (Amu Darya River) to the west. , ran for 800 miles in six days and nights, and arrived at the gate of Jiesu (Dushanbe).
In fact, at this time, Tocharo in a broad sense was still occupied by the remnants of the Anyuan Kingdom in the past. After Li Cunhui attacked the Zhenyuan Kingdom, Zhang Bingzhong's tribe who managed to escape and some exiled Tubo people also gathered here.
Previously, the Xia in Hezhong were fighting secretly among themselves, and no one bothered to deal with these people. On the contrary, they continued to invade the borders of Jin Fan.
After Zhang Xianyu arrived, he had been trying to capture them, but these people were very vigilant. In addition, Jiesu City was located in the Gisar Basin and was easy to defend and difficult to attack, so there was no chance at all.
It was not until the army made it clear that they were going to Khorasan to fight with the Bouveshi dynasty that the basin, which was tightly sealed, showed a little gap.
Just like this gap, Zhang Zhi immediately found an opportunity to stay in Roland City (Bamiyan) in Tocharo to check and balance Sadid, and to contain the descendants of Rashid Saliman.
When Sadid's power expanded, he took advantage of the death of Rashid Saliman to raid Roland City, which forced Rashid Saliman's descendants to flee into the mountains and forests.
Now that they found out that the Heavenly Soldiers from China were really coming, they immediately took this opportunity to come out and lead the way to report the news.
On October 20, the unprepared Jiesu City was captured by the army, and more than 3,000 people were beheaded. The governor of Jiesu appointed by Sadid died in the battle, and Ruktul left 2,000 cavalry to support the descendants of Rashid Saliman. After liberating the Soviet Union, the army began to return.
Sadid, who lives in Xiliuzhou City (Kabul), was so frightened that he stayed on the mountain and did not dare to make any move. Zhang Xianyu thus solved his last worries.
Almost at the same time, after the Xia Allied Forces in Hezhong arrived at Mulu City, Zhang Xianyu immediately ordered Zhang Xiantai, Shi Shouxin, Guo Shouwen, Cui Han and other generals to lead their troops to Mashhad, an important town in Khorasan.
Mashhad is located at the southern foot of the Kopet Mountains. It is a key town where Persia proper enters the river through Khorasan. Historically, it was also the provincial capital of Persian Khorasan Province.
Persia looks big, but there are two large Gobi deserts, the Kavir Salt Desert and the Lut Desert, on the Persian Plateau in the middle.
Therefore, the cities in Persia are basically distributed along the Kopet Mountains, the Alborz Mountains in the north and the Kukhrut Mountains in the southwest, relying on the melting snow water from the mountains to survive.
The whole area presents a unique geographical feature of a desert in the middle and a farming belt formed by melting snow in the surrounding foothills.
Therefore, if you march into Persia from the river, you can only go along the Copet Mountains and attack these foothill cities one by one. In particular, Mashhad has the most dangerous terrain and the strongest city.
But now, this dangerous and strong city can hardly resist the attack of the Xia Allied Forces in Hezhong. Even the 20,000 vanguards led by Zhang Xiantai cannot resist it.
This is because Khorasan and Persia proper are not the territory of the Bweshi dynasty, but they were torn off from Samantha Persia, and their rule did not last more than ten years.
Even the rule is not accurate, because although the Bouveshi dynasty controls Mashhad, the entire Persian proper and Khorasan are filled with a large number of Persians who are loyal to the Samani family, and a large number of forced converts, but in their hearts The upper class of Persia still remember religious hatred.
There are also the original Zoroastrian and Manichaean believers who were infiltrated by the Six Methods Sect, and a large number of the Leading Party who were bribed by Guo Ting'er's large sums of money.
In recent years, there has been no major war between the Saman Persians and the Bouveshi dynasty controlled by Guo Tinger, but the small frictions of mutual penetration and bribery have not stopped at all.
Therefore, Mashhad looks strong, but it is riddled with holes inside. Let alone defend the city together, it is impossible to block information from the outside world.
Zhang Xiantai's army only attacked for about five days before two civil strife broke out in the city. Although the city gate of Mashhad could not be opened, news continued to spread.
After collecting the information, Brother Zhao, who was now wearing a military uniform and carrying a sword at his waist, immediately suggested that Zhang Xianta launch a psychological war.
Brother Zhao ordered someone to write an edict from Emperor Shah Shah in Persian on papyrus, promising to support the Persians to restore the Persian Kingdom in Baghdad in the future.
Then the hard corn buns are wrapped in these straw papers and tied tightly, and sent to the city through various channels.
Even if it's not a war, food is precious. With the attraction of corn buns, word spread throughout the city in a short time. Even the lowest Persians knew that the Peach Blossom Stone Empire in the east was coming to help. The Persians were restored.
Then the second brother Zhao called the Mansour and Samman family members to the front line, raised the banner of the King of Persia, and went around Mashhad City on three sides, shouting non-stop to recruit the Persians in the city to surrender.
Finally, he ordered people to create smoke and dust in the distance, making it look like the army was about to arrive.
Sure enough, the large food defenders in the city couldn't hold it anymore, because the Bouveshi dynasty also knew that it was difficult to defend Mashhad. Their real stronghold in Persia was Rai (Tehran).
Mashhad actually exists as an outpost. Its main function is to provide early warning. It is best to defend it. If it cannot be defended, then the decisive battle will be in Rai. If the main force is deployed in Mashhad, the Persians may turn against them. Will be served in one pot.
At this time, there were only 6,000 Shihadi troops and 20,000 Persian servants in the city of Mashhad. Seeing that people in the city were panicking, and outside the city, they were afraid of the arrival of more than 100,000 or 200,000 troops. The Shishi troops would not even sleep at night. If you dare to take off your armor, your morale is almost at the bottom.
On the second day of November, thousands of Dashi's garrison took advantage of the eve of a heavy snowstorm to rob the horses in the city, leaving Mashhad to be guarded by Persian servants, while they fled in the direction of Rai.
Although these Persian servants numbered 20,000, they were just devils. Once the big eater left, they could not control the situation. As soon as the big eater left, the internal intelligence in the city spread the news.
Zhang Xiantai immediately ordered more than ten thousand soldiers to storm the small gate southwest of Mashhad. Seeing the fierce offensive of the Han army, the Persian servants surrendered in large numbers.
Zhang Xiantai did not rest after entering the city, and immediately ordered Cui Han to lead three thousand fine cavalry to pursue him according to the footprints.
The Dashi army did not expect the Han army to come so quickly. In panic, they were defeated several times in interceptions. They were still unable to get rid of Cui Han. Cui Han chased them on their heels for more than 700 miles. If it hadn't been for heavy snowfall, they would have been killed. The entire army will be annihilated.
After Zhang Xianyu knew that the close combat ahead was going smoothly, he continued to adjust his plan through research and judgment.
A large part of the original soldiers of the black-clad Abbasid dynasty were recruited from Khorasan and other places.
This is also the consistent style of the cannibals. The most combat-effective troops are often recruited from areas far away from the political center and operate as slave armies. Even in later generations, countries such as Saudi Arabia still rely on the Baba army as mercenaries.
When the Abbasid caliphate lost power and princes from all over the country entered Baghdad in turn, the habit of recruiting troops from the Khorasan region began to be weakened.
The teams used by these food princes to replace the slave armies were often members of their own tribes. Therefore, the Delams and Kurds living in the Caucasus region began to rise.
After realizing that the Bouveshi dynasty could not immediately mobilize enough troops from the huge population, Zhang Xianyu immediately decided to rush and fight quickly. He must march to the vicinity of Lai before the Bouveshi dynasty mobilized all its strength.
Therefore, on November 17, the main force of the Zhou army, more than 30,000 people and 50,000 to 60,000 civilians, set out from Mulu City and entered Mashhad.
After staying in Mashhad for only ten days, the whole army braved heavy snow and headed west, aiming at Semnan, which is only four hundred miles away from Tehran.
Semnan is located at the southern foot of the Alborz Mountains. The nearby small plain is a very fertile farming area and is productive of grain, fruits, etc.
It is not only the southeastern gateway of Rai (Tehran), but also the main production and material supply area of Rai.
More importantly, there are several very large natural sulfur mineral areas in the Semnan Mountains.
This thing was not very useful in the eyes of the Persians before, but it was very important to the Zhou army because sulfur could be used to make gunpowder.
After ten years of development, Zhang Zhou's artillery technology has become more mature and has reached the level of about the fifteenth century in history.
There are not only heavy artillery weighing several thousand kilograms, but also many medium-sized light artillery that can be placed on a carriage and maneuvered quickly.
There are also a large number of lightweight firearms that weigh only a few dozen kilograms and can be flexibly operated. They are similar to later nine-section cannons and large lift guns, which are between artillery and muskets.
Of course, the current number of firearms are not widely used, mainly because the production capacity of steel and gunpowder cannot keep up. Zhang Zhou is now going through a period of great development and needs money everywhere.
Coupled with the hundreds of thousands of sets of iron armor maintained across the country, it is enough to intimidate all parties. Before the wave of military advantages of iron armor and fine cavalry disappears, we cannot rush to completely push guns and artillery onto the stage of history, because that will weaken our own war. Advantage.
Everyone is equal before bullets. A Han warrior wearing three layers of armor will not have much better defense than a barbarian wearing only a single coat.
Therefore, although firearms began to develop rapidly, due to various factors, Zhang Xianyu did not have a firearms team here.
However, when he was serving as the deputy privy envoy, he had experienced it with his father Zhang Zhang. He knew the power of firearms, so he had no choice but to ask his father for help.
Now these sulfur ores are mined and refined and will be used when marching into Baghdad.
On December 11, 35,000 Zhou troops braved the falling snow and began to besiege Semnan City. Although they had no artillery, they still remembered their old skill of blasting coffins.
Zhang Xianyu personally led a fierce attack for seven or eight days, exhausting the defenders in the city. Zhang Xiantai led more than 10,000 fine cavalry and defeated the reinforcements coming from the direction of Rai (Tehran) twice in a row, plunging the city into despair.
In this mixture of exhaustion and despair, Zhang Xianyu sent dead soldiers to carry dozens of small coffins filled with gunpowder, and rushed to the city at dawn.
Then, with an earth-shattering explosion, a section of the wall of Semnan City was blown down, and the Han soldiers who had been waiting for a long time swarmed in.
. . .
In the third year of Shaoming Dynasty, AD 962, on December 21st, Zhang Xianyu entered Semnan City, which had been wiped out of the cannibals.
The king was surrounded by fanatical low-level officers of the Han army. Many people were already talking excitedly about how many vassals such a wealthy place could have and how impressive the captured blond bodhisattvas were.
Not only were the low-ranking officers so enthusiastic, but the middle- and senior-level officers within a few dozen meters of Zhang Xianyu were also very excited. They kept asking Zhang Xianyu for orders, hoping to be the vanguard and take advantage of the wind and snow to launch a surprise attack on Lai.
In this fanatical atmosphere, Zhang Xianyu remained calm enough.
Because Semnan is already a thousand miles away from Mashhad, which is almost the same distance from Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo to Chang'an.
So Zhang Xianyu resolutely stopped the rash advance of his soldiers, and began to strengthen Semnan City to hoard supplies while establishing a reliable logistics supply line.
In addition, it was widely publicized that the Han army was here to allow Mansur to enter Baghdad to restore the Persian kingdom, in order to win over the Persians.
It was not until this time that the news that Khorasan was completely captured and the Han army was approaching Rai reached Baghdad.
