Water Margin people

Chapter 1598 Terrifying Combat Power (Part )

Saladin did not want to go to war with Qi at this time. He felt that everything was not ready yet and starting a war rashly would likely have bad consequences.

But the Abbasid army had already begun to cross the river, and the Caliph was determined to go to Isfahan.

"Sir, what should we do?"

Several generals looked at Saladin and asked.

"Come on, let's go to Isfahan together!"

Saladin said helplessly that the Caliph of the Abbasid Empire had already given the order and he had to obey it even if he was unwilling.

The army crossed the Euphrates River and soon entered the Zagros Mountains.

……

The city of Isfahan.

The Qi army had cleared the entire city, and after the massacre everyone obediently converted to the Imperial Religion.

"Among these people, there should be someone pretending to be Sakai, right?"

Lin Chong looked at the foreign general in front of him and said, it is unlikely that all of the hundreds of thousands of people in the city would have surrendered.

"General, rest assured. No matter if they are real Sakai or pretending to be Sakai, they have no choice. The Arab Church will no longer accept them. If they do not have a sincere faith in His Majesty the Emperor, they will die!"

Ajisi said with great confidence that the Arab religion is not Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Shamanism and other religions. Adhering to other religions would be an unforgivable sin.

"That's good. We must also put the preaching of the doctrine, the construction of temples, and the establishment of statues on the agenda. They must be completed before His Majesty arrives!"

Lin Chong nodded.

"Don't worry, General. We are adding to the construction!"

Everyone said quickly.

"Report, General, a large number of black cavalry entered the mountains from the west, about 60,000 in number! They are heading towards our city."

A soldier ran in to report.

"Sixty thousand troops? Looks like this is the enemy's reinforcements!"

Du Fu said in a cold voice, how dare you come to kill us with such a small number of people? Judging from the combat power of the previous black-clothed enemies, 100,000 enemies are nothing but grass.

"Don't worry about them. Just get rid of the scouts they sent out!"

Lin Chong looked at the soldiers and gave orders.

"Yes!"

The soldiers took the order and went out.

"General, it must be the reinforcements from the Abbasid Caliphate!"

Bilege said quickly.

"Don't worry about these. Just take care of the things in the city. You guys can go down now!"

Lin Chong waved his hand and said that he didn't care about the enemies coming over. Sixty thousand people were no match for them.

All the foreign generals bowed and left.

"How much food and fodder do we have?"

Lin Chong looked at Lu Fang and asked, for them, the biggest problem is food and grass. After leaving the Pamir Mountains, they have never relied on the food and grass supplies from the Central Plains again. Considering the weakness of the enemies in the west, as long as there is enough food and grass, they can fight to the horizon.

"After we capture this city, we will have enough food and fodder to sustain the army for two years!"

Lu Fang said that they had been fighting to support themselves along the way and relying on victory to plunder food and fodder.

"Two years! Very good!"

Lin Chong nodded with satisfaction. Two years was enough time for the army to do many things. It was also enough time for them to completely wipe out the enemy and take control of all places. They would then be able to produce enough food and grass locally.

"In fact, we can also attack other cities. According to calculations, we can find enough food and grass for the army for seven or eight years!"

Wang Jin spoke up and said that what he meant was the grain stored in the city warehouses, not the grain looted from civilians. They only had a total of 80,000 troops plus 20,000 foreign troops. The grain reserves of the entire Western Liao and Seljuk countries were enough to last for many years.

"Well, after defeating this group of invading enemies, the army will disperse to attack various cities and quickly control the entire plateau!"

Lin Chong nodded. They were few in number, and the easiest way to control a place was to control the city first.

… Among the mountains, the Abbasid army was on the way.

"Lord Muktafi, have you sent scouts to Isfahan to gather intelligence?"

Saladin asked, looking at Caliph Muktafi.

"We have sent several groups of people there, but no one has come back yet. I don't know what happened!"

Muktafi spoke up.

“Several groups of people haven’t come back yet!”

Saladin suddenly felt something was wrong. If no one came back, it meant that something big had happened ahead.

"What are you afraid of? God will protect us!"

Muktafi looked at Saladin and said.

Saladin bowed and prayed quickly to show that he was not afraid of the enemy.

After crossing the mountains, the black-clad Arabs finally arrived near Isfahan.

The army continued to advance along the river, and Isfahan was located in the middle of the plain before the mountains.

"Why are there no enemies?"

Someone raised a question. Their army had already crossed the mountains. Logically, they should have been discovered by the enemy by now, and someone should have come to stop them.

"Caliph, we've captured some local herdsmen!"

Several knights in black came over with a man in tattered sheepskin.

"What happened in Isfahan? Have the reinforcements from the Black Caliphate arrived yet?"

Muktafi asked, looking at the thin herder.

"They're all dead! They're all dead! What a huge fire! And thunder! Heaven's punishment! Divine punishment!"

The herdsman replied with a look of horror.

Everyone's faces darkened when they heard this. Although the man was crazy, the words in his words made them feel something was wrong.

"What exactly is going on?"

Muktafi asked, glaring at the herder.

"The emperor's guards descended from the sky, and thick smoke and fire covered Isfahan..."

The herdsman stammered and knelt down towards the east, as if he were performing some kind of ritual, muttering something like the emperor was wise and mighty.

"pagan!"

Muktafi was furious, saying that the people on the plateau should only believe in their Arab religion.

A Arab believer had already stepped forward with a scimitar and killed the herdsman with one blow.

"How dare these Orientals come to the West to preach? Kill all the pagans!"

Muktafi roared. He was really angry now. If he just wanted to drive away those Orientals before, now he wanted to kill all of them.

Saladin watched all this, and he finally realized that Sun Lei's words were not a joke. The mysterious Qi State in the east really wanted to get involved in this land.

"We can't deal with Qi alone. We must unite more people, including Jerusalem and the Crusaders. Is Qi cooperating with them?"

Various possibilities emerged in Saladin's mind, the worst outcome being that Qi would cooperate with that group of Christians.

Muktafi led his army to charge towards Isfahan.

Saladin followed after a moment of hesitation. Now that he was here, there was no way he could leave Muktafi and his men behind.

There was no trace of gunpowder in the city of Isfahan, but traces of smoke and fire were still there on the city walls. Because of the burning of black oil, the walls had turned black.

"That's the flag of Qi!"

Saladin looked at the flags fluttering in the wind on the city walls and the unfamiliar words on the flags, which were unique to the Qi army.

"Where's Sage? Where's my 20,000 troops!"

Muktafi was furious. Saji was his general, and all of his 20,000 men were elite soldiers. How could a city be breached so quickly with 20,000 men guarding it?