Water Margin people

Chapter 1637 Saladin's Plan

The melee broke out completely and the city of Baghdad was engulfed in flames. The sand bandits did not fight with the defenders. They ran around everywhere, killing anyone they saw and burning anything they saw.

The defenders became panicked after losing their leader. Defending the city was no longer important to them. The city belonged to Muktafi. What did it have to do with them?

The officials and nobles in Baghdad had no intention of fighting. The Saudi bandits were unstoppable in entering the city. One hundred thousand of them were enough to destroy the city. What they were most worried about now were their wives, children and treasures at home.

"go!"

Someone shouted, and the officials and nobles turned around and ran back to their homes with their men.

As soon as the officials and nobles left, the defenders completely lost their will to fight and turned around and ran. Those who had homes ran back to their homes, and most of those who didn't had homes joined the looting team.

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong led their men quickly to the palace, but the guards at the gate were still there.

"kill!"

Yue Fei waved his hand, and the special forces behind him immediately stepped forward and shot and killed him without close combat.

The crowd rushed into the palace, and the palace guards wanted to step forward, but without exception they were all shot dead on the spot.

"Sure enough, the Imperial Palace is a tough nut to crack!"

Yue Fei looked at the guards rushing over and said, although Muktafi took away a large number of officials and nobles, the royal family hardly moved and the palace guards were still there.

"set fire!"

After Yue Fei cleared out the outer imperial guards, he directly ordered a fire. He did not plan to enter the palace as he was not familiar with the terrain. If he went in, all his advantages would be gone, even with guns.

"Fortunately, gold and other things will not be destroyed even by fire!"

Han Shizhong smiled and said that there was naturally no shortage of gold, silver and jewelry in the palace, and these things would not cause a fire.

"It's burning!"

Du Fu looked at the city of Baghdad, which was engulfed in flames.

"Let them burn, dog eat dog!"

Pang Wanchun smiled and said, with hundreds of thousands of bandits entering the city, burning, killing and looting are inevitable.

"It's a big mess, but it's going to be very troublesome to manage so many civilians!"

Hua Rong also spoke.

During this period, they conquered cities and territories very smoothly, but encountered many difficulties in managing the local areas. The Western Liao Dynasty was easier to deal with because of the foundation laid by Yelu Dashi. The other ethnic minorities were also more familiar with the Central Plains and accepted it relatively quickly.

But trouble began to arise on the Persian Plateau. The Persians were of a different race and had different beliefs from the people in the Central Plains, and they were very resistant to the rule of Qi.

The State of Qi was also very clear. If they did not obey, they would be killed. However, killing could only force people to submit. There was no way of knowing what they were thinking. Perhaps they were still planning a rebellion in secret.

Moreover, this situation was still spreading. After Isfahan was captured, the other cities on the Persian Plateau offered almost no resistance. When they saw Qi State, they opened their cities and surrendered without even giving Qi a chance to establish its authority.

The situation on the Mesopotamian side must be far more troublesome than on the Persian Plateau, and the people here must be resisting more fiercely.

Therefore, the means of ruling must be bloody, and this bloodiness does not necessarily have to be done by oneself; it is more effective if the enemy does it.

"Order the entire army to stay put!"

Du Fu smiled and gave the order, saying that the chaos in Baghdad had nothing to do with them, and that the foreigners would suffer the same disasters they deserved, and they would arrive like saviors afterwards.

……

Inside the Arab camp.

Saladin looked at the group of high-ranking officials, including the emperor of the kingdom, church leaders, great nobles, and generals leading troops.

"You mean to use Baghdad as bait to delay the Qi army, and then take advantage of the conflict between the Crusaders and Qi to launch a surprise attack on their base camp?"

The Fatimid king looked at Saladin and asked.

"Yes!"

Saladin nodded. "Do you think it will work?"

An elderly church leader looked at Saladin and asked.

"Sir, Qi is too powerful to fight head-on! So we can only look for other fighters!"

Saladin spoke.

"What do you mean? Qi is invincible? We are all the most devout believers of Allah, we are invincible!"

Several people immediately expressed their dissatisfaction and angrily denounced Saladin. Their beliefs could not be questioned.

"Your courage is great, but war requires not only courage, but also facing reality!"

Saladin spoke nonchalantly, he had known that there would be opposition, he didn't care, he was doing the right thing.

"Stop arguing! Saladin, tell me what you think!"

The oldest church leader asked.

"It is difficult for us to defeat Qi head-on. I mean, if the two armies confront each other head-on, we have almost no chance of winning. As you know, the Qi army is well-trained and well-equipped, and it will not be a problem for them to deal with enemies that are several times their number."

"So I chose to destroy the Crusaders first. The Crusaders this time include the Cardinal, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the Emperor of France, the King of Jerusalem, and a group of nobles. As long as we destroy them, the Holy City will be ours."

"As for Qi, we can only maneuver around, constantly testing and consuming them, and looking for their weaknesses!"

Saladin told him all his plans.

Everyone began to think and weigh the pros and cons. Those who couldn't figure it out began to pray and meditate, hoping to get guidance from the gods. After a long time, everyone sat down again.

"Saladin, we agree to attack the Crusaders, but we must protect Baghdad, so that we can stop Qi State in the plateau and the bay. Qi State's naval warships have begun to attack the ports of the Red Sea!"

A high-ranking member of the Arab Cult looked at Saladin and spoke.

“I’m not sure I can keep Baghdad!”

Saladin shook his head and said.

"What, what are you talking about, you piece of shit?"

Those who advocated war were all furious. They had already made concessions, but Saladin still dared to give up Baghdad.

"Saladin, if we give up Baghdad, we will lose the entire valley. This is the best pasture!"

A king said that the Mesopotamian region was the best place within a thousand miles.

"We can't defeat Qi head-on, so we can only use distance to ensure safety. From this valley, within a thousand miles, it will be a battlefield!"

Saladin spoke.

"A thousand miles! Give up the whole desert? Retreat to your Damascus?"

The war faction pointed at Saladin and shouted, "Retreat a thousand miles!" They all retreated back to Damascus.

"Yes, leaving the Mesopotamian Valley is all desert, with only two cities in between. As long as we defend them, the Qi army will not be able to cross the desert!"

"It is very difficult for an army to pass through a thousand-mile desert. I have learned from merchants that there is almost no desert in Qi State, and they are not good at marching in the desert. If they force their way through this desert, we can wait for them to tire themselves out!"

Saladin spoke.

When everyone heard this, they felt that it made some sense, but they were still unwilling to give up Baghdad, which was the best land.

"You can't give up so easily!"

The final conclusion was still to fight, they didn't believe they could not defeat Qi.

Saladin could only sigh, he knew that this was a meaningless sacrifice. The State of Qi was just like the Tang Dynasty in the past, extremely powerful and no one could stop its edge. So he had to endure and wait for a suitable opportunity to defeat the State of Qi in one battle. If the expedition of the State of Qi failed, it would be a complete rout.