Tibet

Chapter 269 Secret Silver
Khorasan has a vast territory, and the core area is mainly in the northeastern part of today’s Iran. In the Luo area, these small countries surrendered to the Tang Dynasty on the one hand, and also surrendered to the Baiyi Dashi on the other hand.

But it was also the decline of the big food in white clothes that these small countries had the idea of ​​breaking away from the control of the big cannibal and turning to the Tang Dynasty in an all-round way, but the main reason was religious.

The Tang Dynasty was tolerant and did not interfere with their beliefs, but the Great Cannibalism was different. Especially after the rise of the Great Cannibalism, the Persian Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism almost disappeared. The Buddhist forces in the Luo area have strengthened their ties with the Tang Dynasty.

The Khorasan Governor's Mansion is located in Mulu, the easternmost part of Persia. It is relatively close to the middle of the river and Tocharo, so it is easy to control the two areas. Mulu is a famous ancient city, located in a semi-arid area, with water sources There is a shortage of plants, and there are endless loess hills all around. The strong wind blows, flying sand and rocks, and the sky is full of yellow dust.

But next to Mulu flows a precious river called Karakum River, which is the mother river of the Khorasan region and feeds tens of thousands of people, so it is also called the Khorasan River. This river is winding , 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 it was the border of the Tang Dynasty in a broad sense.
Therefore, the Hezhong area and the Tocharo area belonged to the territory of the Tang Dynasty and Dashi at the same time. Both sides regarded this area as their own sphere of influence and belonged to their own territory in a broad sense.

In fact, Dashi had a deeper control over the nine countries of Sogdia. They stationed tax officials in each country and collected heavy taxes from each country. Sogdian countries had to spend money to avoid disasters. Although the taxes were heavy, they could only suffer in silence.

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

In Mulu City, the governor of Khorasan, Abu Muslim, received a message from the flying eagle from Shiguo, and his expression suddenly became very anxious. The Tang army actually occupied Talas City, the rough silver in Talas City and the nearby silver mines, That was something in his pocket, the fat he had coveted for a long time, and Tang Jun was the first to attack it.

Abu Muslim also secretly complained to the Caliph. If he hadn't wanted to attack Egypt and transfer most of his troops away, he would have occupied the area in the middle of the river.

Now that the campaign in Egypt has come to an end, it's time for Khorasan's army to return.

He paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, secretly thinking about how to persuade Abbas to transfer the army back. After much deliberation, there was only one breakthrough in finances. 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, it 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 treasury and silver of the Stone Kingdom were used to make various siege equipment and purchase various weapons, which had been exhausted by the Kundu Stone.

However, after the coup d'état in Shi State, several confidant ministers of Kundu Shi fled to Mulu, Abu. The Muslims knew that Shi State also had a silver treasury for the protection of the country, which contained 10,000+ catties of silver. Not only that, Talas City and silver There is also a large amount of crude silver on the mine.

This news made him very angry and remorseful. He wanted to send troops to Shi Country to rob silver and crude silver several times, but was delayed by Bukhara's rebellion.

The reason why the Dashi Army stationed heavy troops in Bukhara was not because the Tang army conquered all battles, it was just a coincidence that the timing was close.

The real reason is that the people of Bukhara broke out a large-scale anti-Dashi rebellion, destroyed the Dashi Temple, drove out the tax officials, and robbed the taxes handed over to Dashi by the Sogdian countries. Abu Muslim was very angry and immediately set fire to find The country's five thousand Sogdian army and Mulu's ten thousand army, a total of 5000 people, quelled the rebellion in Bukhara.

At this time, Abu Muslim couldn't sit still. He knew that if he didn't act, the silver of Shiguo would be snatched by Tang Jun.

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

Abu Muslim immediately decided to use two fronts. On the one hand, he sent an urgent letter to Abbas, persuading him to transfer back to the Khorasan army; Rot led five thousand Sogdian troops to Talas, recaptured the city of Talas, robbed the silver deposits, and seized the silver mines.

Abu Muslim's information was correct. The Tang army indeed led [-] troops led by Pei Xiu to occupy the city of Talas, but a few days later, Li Ye led [-] cavalry to Talas.

The distance from Suiye to Talas City is about [-] li,

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

Talas City is a strong military city, built of big stones, very tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the circumference of the city is only eight miles, there are no people in the city, only one hundred stone country defenders, and the fighting will is very weak. When the attack came, the defenders abandoned the city and fled.

As soon as Li Ye arrived in Talas, Pei Xiu reported a piece of news to him, which was really beyond Li Ye's expectation. Li Ye didn't expect that Shi Guo would still keep a hand. They hid a lot of rough silver in the city of Talas.

Pei Xiu took Li Ye to a huge ore warehouse, where there were countless black lacquered metals piled up in piles, each weighing dozens of kilograms, with different shapes, piled up like a mountain in the warehouse.

"The rough silver was buried under the slag, so it couldn't be seen at all. One of the managers was afraid of death, so he told us the secret. We peeled off the slag, and the rough silver was exposed."

Li Ye estimated in his mind that the rough silver was at least 30 catties, and he asked again: "Is there any record? How much is there, and what is its quality?"

Pei Xiu scratched his head, "We can't understand what the other party is saying, and we can't understand the words either!"

Li Ye immediately ordered: "Bring the steward!"

Not long after, the soldiers brought up a steward, who knelt down and begged, "I still have a child 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, but will let you go home soon!"

The steward thanked me repeatedly, and asked again: "What does the general want to ask me?"

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

"There are 32 catties, and the silver content is about [-]%."

The weight of the Stone Kingdom is the same as that of the Tang Dynasty. Li Ye quickly estimated that with a silver content of 20%, at least 320 catties of pure silver can be refined, which is 3000 million taels of silver, and the annual fiscal revenue of the Tang Dynasty is only [-] million taels After all, this is equivalent to [-]% of Datang's fiscal revenue. No wonder Shi Guo was willing to hand over a million taels of silver to himself for atonement. It turns out that there is still a large amount of wealth hidden here.

"Is there still rough silver in the silver mine?"

"Reporting to the general, half of the rough silver here was transported from the mine. The mine stopped production three months ago. The king ordered all the miners to be sent back home. Even the road to the mine was destroyed."

"Why?" Li Ye was puzzled, how could the King of Shi Kingdom issue such an order.

"I don't know the specific reason, it's just some rumors."

"What rumor?"

"It was rumored that there was a riot in Anguo, and the Dashi sent troops to suppress it. The king was worried that the Dashi army would come, so he stopped silver mining. We also guessed so."

"There is a riot in Anguo?"

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

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

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said, "Will your king know about the Tang army's occupation of Talas City?"

"Of course you will know. Before you came, the defenders got the news and retreated, and many officials also ran away. We have a responsibility and dare not retreat."

"I see, I will let you go home in two days!"

The steward thanked him again and again, and withdrew.

Pei Ruo asked Li Ye: "The general thinks the food army will get the news?"

Li Ye nodded, "Dashi has an intelligence point in Shiguo. The news of our capture of Talas will definitely be known to the intelligence spies of the other side. Whether Dashiren sends troops depends on their attitude towards the Shiguo silver mine."

(End of this chapter)