Chapter 112: Negotiation

Hemuti's face turned deathly pale: "Do not panic, hold your ground for me, hold it!"

"Whoever dares to panic, kill them without mercy!"

He swung the long sword in his hand, and several heads fell to the ground. However, at this moment, the flood continued to rush in, and many people were drowning to death on the spot; who was still going to listen to him?

"Screw you!"

A general suddenly attacked Hemuti, saying grimly: "The general is cruel, forgive me for being unable to remain loyal to you!"

Hemuti's face changed drastically: "You dare!"

Before he could finish speaking, a long sword had already pierced his back. Hemuti spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. When others saw that Hemuti was severely wounded, the Temple Army lost its backbone and order even more.

"Move aside, let me go first!"

"Don't block me!"

"Get lost!"

"Ah!"

All kinds of sounds: sounds of fleeing, sounds of scrambling for the path, sounds of pushing and shoving, sounds of drowning, sounds of screaming.

The Loulan Guard Army side had long since prepared waterproof equipment, so they were not panicked or chaotic, casually hacking and killing, harvesting the lives of the Temple Army.

Tonight.

Outside the city of Kucheng, it was destined to flow with rivers of blood. No, it should be that blood flowed with the river...

These landlubbers of the Temple Army had absolutely no combat effectiveness in the water.

The battle situation continued just like this.

Soon, the Suicide Squad on Liu Zheng's side destroyed the granary and also followed into the battlefield to kill.

The Temple Army began to flee in panic.

And at this moment.

In the distance, the sound of horse hooves suddenly erupted, enough to make heaven and earth crumble.

The army of the Arab Empire had finally arrived!

They rode on Arabian Steeds, brandishing what were almost the sharpest Curved Sabers in the world at the time, pouring in from all directions.

The Temple Army might have been able to escape those surging floodwaters, but they were destined not to escape the iron cavalry of the Arab Empire.

"What is that sound?"

"What is that sound?"

Inside the Temple of Kucheng.

Muzhade, who was fast asleep, suddenly woke up in a panic, his face full of alarm.

The cheers of the entire city, the screams rising in the distance, the neighing of War Horses around the temple. Muzhade's heart skipped a beat, and he rolled off the bed with a deathly pale face, asking as he ran: "What is that sound, tell me, what is that sound!"

"Where are the people?"

"Who will tell me?"

"Where are the people?"

A sudden panic gripped his heart, and he arrived at the golden and resplendent, brightly lit temple hall.

However, he did not see those temple attendants; he only saw Mire, who had already washed clean and was dressed in white, sitting there calmly.

"You..."

"Who let you go?"

Muzhade shouted angrily.

Mire smiled faintly: "The Guard Army has already entered. Your Temple Army has been defeated."

Muzhade was stunned, then immediately laughed loudly: "The Temple Army is defeated? How is that possible, that was an army of two hundred thousand! How is it possible! Just by relying on you bunch of trash? Impossible..."

At this moment, the doors of the temple were finally breached by the Guard Army.

A neat, uniform, and murderous army, protecting Third Prince Halike and Reguli, walked in slowly.

Muzhade trembled all over.

Because he saw Hemuti, who had become a bloody mess, being escorted in, and his head immediately swam: "This, this, this..."

Was it really defeated?

He shouted angrily: "Hemuti, the two hundred thousand-strong army, is it all gone?"

Hemuti looked over with cold eyes, not saying a word.

Reguli chuckled and said: "Temple Envoy, you still dare not believe it? Listen, the whole city is already celebrating..."

Muzhade spat out a mouthful of blood with a thud, his expression panicked: "Impossible, this is impossible, how could the Temple be defeated!"

One hundred thousand troops!

Even if one were to behead them one by one, it would probably take several days!

How could it have completely changed in a single night? Wasn't it said that on the third day, the city would definitely be broken?

Reguli bowed slightly, smiling charmingly: "Temple Envoy, would you like to go out and see those people who once revered you?"

"I, I, I..."

Before Muzhade could finish speaking, he had already been tied up tightly.

At this time, the sky had already begun to brighten.

The whole city was cheering and jumping for joy, filled with happiness. Many people prayed to Tianshan, believing that the god of Tianshan had saved them. From the fourth quarter of the Chou hour, the killing continued until dawn. At the beginning, it was still the Guard Army doing the harvesting, but later on, the Guard Army was also tired, and the Arabian Steeds that had just arrived as reinforcements began the harvesting again.

Liu Zheng took a deep breath, calling it lucky in his heart.

Although the flood had washed them away, the opponent was, after all, an army of one hundred thousand. If there were any remnants who escaped from here and fled to other places, it would definitely be a disaster for the local people. He did not fear regular armies, but he feared chaotic troops!

Because regular armies still had military discipline, while chaotic troops, in order to avoid punishment and to fill their stomachs, had absolutely no bottom line!

The Arabian iron cavalry arrived just in time.

Reheman was at his side, frowning slightly: "Young Master, this Arabian army is truly formidable."

Liu Zheng nodded with a bitter smile.

Formidable?

More than just formidable.

The Arabian army was, in history, the only force to have defeated the Tang Army during the height of the Tang Dynasty. Of course, many factors influenced the outcome of the Battle of Talas, with tens of thousands of Tang troops facing two hundred and fifty thousand Arabs. Coupled with the sudden betrayal of the Tang Army's auxiliary forces, the Arabian army was able to defeat the Tang Army of Gao Xianzhi. In this battle, fifty thousand Tang soldiers died; it was called by historians a battle that "changed the course of human history," and this war also determined the dominance of the Central Asia region thereafter.

From then on, the Arab Empire completely occupied Central Asia and the Middle East, its power unrivaled for a time.

If he had no other choice, Liu Zheng would never have brought such a powerful enemy into the territory of Loulan... After all, as he had said before, mercenaries and reinforcements are the most unreliable, and also the most dangerous!

However, Liu Zheng had no troops to use, and Yinzhou could not provide reinforcements in time...

The most important thing, actually, was... Loulan was not his own country after all.

Liu Zheng, on one hand, did not care, and on the other, he did not want a suddenly rising, powerful kingdom of the Western Regions near his Yintan City, so sending away the Temple and welcoming the Arabs could also check the rise of Loulan in the course of history.

Reguli was using him.

How could he not also plant another bomb for Loulan?

Politics is just like this: give and take, deceit and trickery.

There are no eternal friends, and no eternal enemies, only eternal interests!

"Keep the Arabs outside the city; you must absolutely not let them enter!"

Liu Zheng instructed.

Reheman naturally understood this principle.

Fortunately, these Arabian troops summoned by the Falcon were quite well-behaved and did not have excessive ideas about Loulan; when they finished harvesting the Temple Army, they set up camp ten miles away.

"Young Master Xiang!"

"Young Master Xiang!"

"Protector of the State!"

When Liu Zheng returned to the city, the whole city lined the streets to welcome him, eyes filled with tears of joy.

Reguli, Halike, and the rescued Mire were already waiting at the gate of the Wanggong for the return of Liu Zheng and Reheman.

The people were also cheering, shouting for the hero of Loulan.

"Young Master Xiang, fortunately we had you, hahahaha!"

Mire came over first and gave Liu Zheng a fierce hug.

Reguli looked on with great envy and wanted to hug him too, but in the end, she held back, though one could not tell how much affection was contained in those eyes. After this battle, having personally killed many people with ulterior motives, Halike seemed to have grown up overnight; gone was his previous naivety, and he bowed deeply to Liu Zheng.

Liu Zheng was stunned, then gave a bitter smile.

It seemed he also understood what exactly had happened.

"Protector of the State, the Wanggong has prepared a grand feast; you should get some good rest!"

Reguli invited him warmly.

Liu Zheng chuckled and nodded.

Although he was very tired, he also knew that it was finally time to divide the cake. It was not just about dividing the cake; with the end of this battle, the landscape of Loulan would undergo a massive change, and the three parties would need to conduct a negotiation!

Mire, having been saved by Liu Zheng, was very warm toward him, taking his arm and laughing loudly: "Young Master truly has world-class talent, turning the entire situation around by yourself! Alas, if the Temple Army had succeeded, I fear all of Loulan would have been plunged into misery!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

They arrived at the palace again and took their seats in order.

Reguli raised her wine cup and said with a smile: "Come, let us raise our cups together to thank the Protector of the State!"

Everyone responded with a roar and thanked him loudly.

Liu Zheng looked humble and repeatedly claimed he did not deserve it.

After a few more cups of wine and some hypocritical pleasantries, Reguli looked at Mire with a smile: "I did not expect that Lord Mire held such a high position in the Arab Empire."

Liu Zheng's eyelids twitched; the real show was starting!

Mire also smiled and said: "The Queen is too kind; Mire is just a Preacher, and wherever Allah sends me, that is where I go!"

In fact, Liu Zheng was also somewhat shocked today; he had thought that the Falcon could only summon some Arabian armed merchant caravans, which would have been impressive enough. He had not expected that it would summon the regular Arabian iron cavalry!

It seemed that Mire's status in Arabia was indeed not low; no wonder Muzhade had moved to control him immediately.

Reguli's beautiful eyes darted, and she sighed deliberately: "The Temple is brutal, forcing the people to fight, and most of the Loulan populace has already repented. Although the royal family has used this to stabilize the regime, faith is somewhat lacking, and furthermore, there are many Temples within Loulan... I wonder if your religion would be interested in coming to Loulan to preach?"

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Liu Zheng's eyes, however, lit up; this Reguli was truly no ordinary person.

The amount of information in this one sentence was immense.

She knew that the Arabian cavalry was outside the city, and the purpose was to give Mire a bargaining chip. If they could not reach an agreement, a second siege could easily occur. The war-torn Loulan could no longer withstand such an impact.

So she simply played a game of advancing by retreating, throwing the difficult problem to Mire!

Clever!

Cunning!

Who said she was a naive girl?

Sure enough, when Mire heard this, he was moved to tears and knelt on the ground: "On behalf of my religion, Mire kneels to thank the Queen for her grace! With Allah as my witness, Mire guarantees that if the Queen allows our religion to preach in Loulan, our religion will definitely not develop a Holy See, so as to avoid future trouble!"

Incredible!

Liu Zheng laughed inwardly.

This was also a master of acting!

After this encounter, who didn't know that your Islam trade caravans were armies? This guarantee was as good as a fart.

Reguli was naturally no pushover either, chuckling as she said: "Lord Mire, please rise. You are a Temple Envoy, equal in status to the King; this kneeling must absolutely not happen!"

"Pfft..."

Liu Zheng finally couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.

Reguli glared at him coquettishly, instantly looking infinitely charming with her eyes shimmering like silk, as if to say, "What's the matter? Do you have some kind of opinion?"

The others immediately turned their eyes to their noses and their noses to their hearts.

We didn't see anything, we didn't see a thing...

Just as expected.

Hearing this, Mire dared not get up even more, and said with a bitter smile, "Queen, this matter must absolutely not be! Islam has no such thing as a Temple Envoy; all believers are equal, so how could one dare to be placed above the royal authority?"

Hearing this, the crowd finally breathed a sigh of relief.

That settles it.

Now there is something to talk about.

Reguli was even more beaming with joy; she let out an "oh my" and hurriedly instructed Halike to help Mire up.

As long as it is not placed above the royal authority, then what is there to fear?

The crowd raised their glasses once again.

Afterwards, Reguli looked at Liu Zheng with a smiling face: "Then what about the Protector of the State, Young Master Xiang, what is it that you want?"

This tone was so sweet and coquettish that it made one's bones go soft.

The crowd.

Once again, they turned their eyes to their noses and their noses to their hearts.