Chapter 499: Baghdad Falls

On July 6, the twelfth year of Qingli in the Song Dynasty, after noon, countless black shadows came from the east on the Mesopotamian plain.

Horse hooves galloped, carrying wind and thunder, and billowing smoke and dust formed a storm of yellow sand.

Under the iron hooves of the Seljuks, no Baiyi city dared to resist.

Because the Turks have a habit of massacring the city if they resist. If they don't resist, the most they can do is loot and rape. At least most of the people in the city will be spared.

The Persians in Shiraz tried to resist tenaciously before, but after the city was finally defeated, the city was full of broken corpses.

So along the way, from Nihavin to Hamadan, from Huzis to Basra, there was no city that did not open its gates to let them in.

Moreover, the Baiyi Dynasty is now in ruins. The Delam people once started out as a barbaric tribe, but in front of the more barbaric Turks, they were as obedient as sheep and had no ability to resist.

In the past, the Seljuks did not attack immediately after taking Khorasan and Persia. They still cared about the attitude of the Caliph. Without the Caliph's order, they did not dare to attack rashly.

But now faced with the arrival of the Song people, and worried that the Baiyi Dynasty might possess firearms, the Seljuqs had to make a preemptive move.

At this moment, the city of Baghdad was in chaos, and many people who knew the news fled.

People dragged their families and fled in fear.

Many dignitaries and local dignitaries fled as soon as the news came that the border city of Nehaven had been breached.

Most of the rest were ordinary people who had no time to escape.

In fact, it was not the upper management who deliberately blocked the news. When Nihaven was breached, many people already knew about it.

However, the cities along the way were attacked so fast that it was impossible to react.

The border town of Khorama is only more than 300 kilometers away from Baghdad.

The Seljuqs launched a surprise attack the day before yesterday, destroying three cities along the way. Yesterday they reached Balad, less than a hundred kilometers away from Baghdad, and today they have reached outside the city.

Such a fast speed made it seem as if the Seljuks were not attacking a country, but marching at high speed on the grassland.

"Quick, quick, the Seljuks are coming to kill us."

"Ignore the stall and run."

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

"Abba, Aman, where are you?"

"Don't panic, God Almighty will protect us."

The streets were crowded with people, many carrying bags and running towards the outside of the city.

Camels were led one by one, and people walked quickly.

Whether it was a rich man wearing luxurious silks or a poor man in ragged clothes, there was no difference between them under the butcher's knife of the Seljuks.

The Baghdad pier was very lively a few days ago, but today it has become very depressed.

The envoys of the Song Dynasty watched all these changes, and they were powerless. They could only protect some local Song people doing business, which was the only thing they could do.

"Well, when the war breaks out, I don't know how many people will have their families destroyed."

Zhang Youwei stood on the bow of the boat, with his hands behind his back, looking at the deserted dock in the distance, and sighed.

"Mother, there is a child over there."

Next to him, Foreign Minister Wai Lang pointed to a child on the pier who could not find his parents and was crying loudly: "This"

"Go and bring her here."

Zhang Youwei frowned slightly, glanced around, and when he saw that Tan Wenxue was not there, he issued an order.

Unexpectedly, Tan Wenxu just came out of the cabin and came to the side of the ship. He happened to encounter Yuanwailang giving an order to someone, and shouted: "Don't go."

"Old Tan."

Zhang Youwei frowned and said, "It's just a child."

"Why don't I know?"

Tan Wenxu smiled bitterly and said: "But there are too many people. If we save one, a group will immediately come. We only care about our own people. Can we save them?"

"Can"

Zhang Youwei wanted to say something else, but in the end he could only sigh.

Tan Wenxue knew that Zhang Youwei's personality was too kind, and to put it bluntly, he was a little weak. This had already been reflected in Lengergang.

It's just that Zhang Youwei's words were a little softer, but he didn't lose the style of a great country in the Song Dynasty, so he was able to leave Lenger City safely.

If it were Tan Wenxue, he would have refuted it loudly and let the other party know what the anger of Song Dynasty was in Lenger City.

But is he not a good person by nature?

He has a tough personality, but when he saw that poor little girl, he also felt pity.

But Tan Wenxue is also very clear.

Once this hole is opened, people all over the city will come to seek asylum from the Song Dynasty.

The Song Dynasty's fleet could rescue hundreds or even thousands of people.

But as the largest city in the Middle East, Baghdad has a population of more than 100,000?

How can they be saved?

So even though he knew it was against his conscience, for the safety of the fleet, he still had to grit his teeth and refuse.

Tan Wenxue persuaded again: "You also know very well that there must be a suitable reason and time for us to intervene. We cannot say that we rush in and shoot randomly. The result of this is that once we leave, the situation here will become even worse." Chaos, so even if we want to intervene, we must leave a complete political power and system here to settle the people here. This is for the sake of the overall situation, and we cannot lose the big for the small. "

"I see."

Zhang Youwei smiled bitterly and said nothing more.

Tan Wenwen's theory makes sense.

The Seljuks are brutal and will certainly slaughter people when they enter the city. They will shoot randomly. Whether the Buyids retain power or the Seljuks take over here, the situation here will not get better, but worse.

Only by helping the Abbasid Caliph and letting Kaim regain power can stability be maintained, and this is also in the interests of the Song Dynasty.

Because the Seljuks are Sunnis and Kaim is the leader of the Sunnis, as long as Kaim regains power, the Seljuks will not dare to attack the Abbasid Dynasty again at the risk of the world's disapproval.

And Kaim is more popular. After taking power, he can quickly arm a force. The military capabilities of both sides are equal, so that the two countries can usher in a short-term peace.

Otherwise, with the nature of the Seljuks, they will inevitably continue to attack cities and invade everywhere, causing more killings and deaths.

Therefore, the top priority is to take advantage of the struggle between the Buyids and the Seljuks to take advantage of the fire, help Kaim take power, and restore stability here, so that the Song Dynasty can resume trade with the Middle East.

"We don't want to see war. Just as we can trade with other countries and strengthen ourselves only if we have peace today, we also need to fight for peace ourselves."

Tan Wenxue also put his hands behind his back and said calmly: "Relying on external forces will not last long. Now it depends on the caliph himself."

"Yeah."

Zhang Youwei nodded.

At this time, the city was in chaos, and the same was true outside the city.

After being rejected by the Song Dynasty, Abu Mansur, the Emir of the Buyid Dynasty, had no choice but to lead the Daylam Corps to fight out of the city.

It's not that he didn't want to defend the city, but the Daylam Corps had very few people, less than 10,000.

As the capital of the Arab Empire, Baghdad was very large, with high walls and many gates. It seemed easy to defend, but it was actually very difficult to defend.

Not to mention that the people in the city who were fleeing everywhere now did not agree to close the city gates, and the various factions in the city were also ready to move.

Once he chose to defend the city, the limited manpower would have to control so many city gates, and he couldn't defend it at all.

When the enemy invades in large numbers, if the forces in the city rebel, they will concentrate their forces to break through a gate from the inside and open the gate to let the enemy in, then they will be doomed.

On the contrary, going out of the city to fight and fight to the death with the enemy is a glimmer of hope.

After all, the Daylam people were once a barbaric tribe, and the Seljuks were also barbaric tribes. Even if they quickly corrupted after taking over the dynasty, they still had the possibility of inspiring their former bloodiness and winning in one battle, even if it might be very small.

"Warriors of Daylam, today is the time of our life and death. If we allow the Seljuks to break through our country and bully our women, our tribe will perish. Do you agree?"

Abu Mansur was making the final pre-war mobilization at this moment, shouting in the language of their Daylam people.

Outside the city, the Daylamite guards wore heavy armor, held spears and axes, and roared: "No, no, no!"

"Prepare to meet the enemy!"

Abu Mansur shouted again.

"Kill!"

The Daylamite roared.

Soon.

The sound of horse hooves rang out outside the city.

Unlike the Central Plains dynasty, the main means of transportation in the Arab world was camels.

The reason is that there are large areas of desert in the Middle East, and camels, as the ship of the desert, have become the most dependent livestock for the Arabs.

But that was for the Saudi nomadic tribes that were still in the Bedouin era.

For the Daylamites and the Seljuk Turks, one originated from the Alborz Mountains in northern Iran, and the other originated from Turkmenistan.

The two places are mainly plains, mountains, and grasslands, with less desert terrain, so horses are the most important means of transportation.

And in terms of mobility, horses are also better than camels.

Therefore, both sides used horses for war, including the major countries in the Middle East and Europe at that time, and cavalry was the most important military force.

The Delam people were full of vigor on this side, and thousands of troops were rushing over there. From a distance, they saw that there seemed to be a dark cloud in the eastern sky, and the dark horses were endless.

The Delam people arranged their battle formations, connecting the north and the south, forming two or three rows, and the entire formation added up to only a little more than a mile.

The black line in the distance was at least seven or eight miles long, as if there was no end.

For a moment, the momentum that had just been raised was immediately deflated, and the Delam people looked at each other and could see the timidity in each other's eyes.

After all, the Baiyi people had been at peace for a long time, and the army was seriously corrupted and had no fighting power at all.

Once the momentum that had just been mobilized encountered the barbaric tribe that had just come out, and the number of people was several times more than their own, it would naturally dissipate completely.

"What should we do? There are so many of them."

"Let's see later."

"How about we run away secretly?"

"Don't worry."

The Delamites were whispering among themselves.

Abu Mansur was anxious and was about to adjust the formation, but the opponent didn't give him time at all.

The Seljuk Khan Tughril and his brother Chagar were leading the expedition in the distance.

They left their only heir Arsalan in Isfahan, and the Khan and the Deputy Khan personally led the expedition to the Baiyi Kingdom, giving the Song Dynasty enough face.

Because this military operation is mainly commanded by Chagar, the Seljuks will be restrained by then, and after Tugril enters the city, he will find the Song envoy to communicate as soon as possible.

Therefore, as the two people with the highest prestige among the Seljuk people at present, they must arrive at the same time. Otherwise, if the soldiers are allowed to plunder around the city as before, and there is a conflict with the Song people, the situation will be very bad.

"The enemy still wants to resist!"

Chagar was riding on horseback and saw the Delam people arraying in the distance. He grinned and said, "Don't they know that their death is coming?"

A lieutenant general said: "Deputy Khan, do you want to stop and form an array first?"

"A waste of time."

Chagar said coldly: "Taking advantage of the fierce momentum of the army, send the order, kill them, and directly break through their formation."

Military operations focus on morale.

They had just come to kill them, their momentum was like a rainbow, and they were charging as fiercely as an arrow.

If they stop to form formation again, it will be equivalent to being discouraged and they have to boost morale again. Instead, it is better to simply rush over to avoid an accident.

"yes!"

The deputy general received the order and shouted: "Kill!"

"kill!"

When the Turks received the order, they immediately became excited.

All of them were wearing leather armor, with messy hair, holding scimitars in their hands, and howling like wild wolves.

"Remember, don't forget the death order I gave you. After entering the city, you can plunder other places. You must not go to the dock. When the charge is over, come to the city to supervise them all!"

Chagar said to the leader of the supervising team beside him.

The reason why the Turks were invincible was that they were not prohibited from entering the city to kill and plunder, according to the records of Arab historians at the time.

If they don't resist, the Turks will kill and rob at most. When they meet poor people, they won't kill them. When they meet rich people, they will force them to hand over their money, otherwise they will kill them.

If you meet a woman, you will often end up being insulted.

But once there is resistance, it will be bad. The Turks will kill everyone they see. At that time, Shiraz, and later the Armenian city of Ani in 1064 AD, the Turks massacred them after the local soldiers and civilians resisted.

Since the caliphate is in Baghdad right now, Tugril and Chagar certainly dare not massacre the city, but for the sake of the morale of the army, looting and rape are essential, and it is impossible to do what Yue Fei ordered and prohibited.

In fact, it was not just the Turks, but most armies in ancient times were like this, including the chaotic period of the Central Plains Dynasty, such as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, where massacres, plunders, rapes, killings, and atrocities existed all the time.

Therefore, this situation is inevitable. The only thing Tugrile and Chagar have to avoid is a conflict with the envoy team of the Song Dynasty.

"yes!"

The leader of the supervising team responded.

At this moment, on the battlefield, groups of Turks were rushing towards the Delaim army like a tide.

At first, the Delaim officer stopped him sternly, and he could barely stand.

When the Turks got closer to a mile away, the Delam people finally couldn't bear the pressure, and someone shouted: "Run away."

Then, like a mountain collapsing and a dike collapsing, the original formation suddenly fell into chaos. Many people fled to both sides on horseback, even abandoning their helmets and armor, not daring to resist at all.

"kill!"

The Turks smiled ferociously and rushed into the formation, killing them wantonly.

The once glorious Delaimu Legion almost didn't have the courage to resist, and was defeated in an instant.

In an instant, a large number of Turks poured into the city and began burning, killing and looting.