In order to capture the castle, which was only defended by more than 200 people in two days, these slaves did their best, and for the sake of the fields, freedom and their families, they climbed to the top of the castle one by one.

There is no one in this world who is not afraid of death, but under certain conditions and circumstances, there are also people who are not afraid of death, and they even want to die quickly.

In order to overcome the fear in their hearts, during the siege of the city, the slaves kept yelling and shouting with all kinds of weapons, using this method to drive away the fear and fear in their hearts and give themselves courage, and at the same time, they also made all kinds of vicious and cruel expressions to intimidate the Byzantines defending the city, hoping that this would make the enemy frightened and unable to exert their combat effectiveness.

Zhao Ziliang took the generals on horseback to watch the slaves attacking the city in the rear, Wei Gao stood next to him and said: "It's strange that these slaves are so fearless of death!" Are they born without fear of life and death? ”

Xuan fifteen smiled: "How can it! No one can be fearless of life and death, the reason why these people are not afraid of death is nothing more than the king drove them with interests, one is dead, the other is alive, and living can still get the field, freedom, if it is you, you will also be afraid of death to attack the city! ”

Zhao Ziliang smiled, and seemed to acquiesce to Xuan Fifteen's statement, and he said to everyone: "This big cannibal named Amut also has two brushes, he can actually drive these slaves and make them desperate, which can be regarded as a bit of ability!" ”

Marching Sima Chen Qing smiled and said: "The king's love for talent has been committed again!" ”

Wei Gao said: "Great King, this Amut is a great cannibal, besides, although our war with the Great Cannibal has been temporarily stopped, it is not over yet, the Great King is only afraid that it will be difficult to obtain his allegiance, isn't the Great King worried about his rebellion?" ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "Those who achieve great things must have a broad mind, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there are not a few famous generals from different races, my Datang can prestige the four seas, let the world submit, these famous generals of different races and their clansmen are all contributing, we can not deny their achievements, the previous emperors can appoint foreign people as generals, why can't this king?" Besides, there are also many foreign generals in my Western Qin army, aren't they all loyal to this king and Western Qin now? Why is it that this king can use them, but not cannibalism? There is a big exclamation in the Central Plains Imperial Court Luo Yuanguang, very talented, he is a Persian, our Tang Empire, the Western Qin State can have today's situation, it is because we have broken through the boundaries of the gateway and race, we must make good use of talents, treat talents well, and use talents without sticking to one pattern, no matter who he is, as long as he has talent and can be loyal to the king and the Western Qin State, we must trust and reuse him! ”

Among the generals present, there were also generals of ethnic minorities, and after listening to Zhao Ziliang's words, everyone was quite moved and convinced, and they all hugged their fists and bowed down and said: "The king is wise!" ”

More than 200 people guarded a huge castle, the troops were too thin, too sparse, the siege slaves had a large number of ladders, they kept attacking around the castle, wave after wave of men and horses took over the attack, plus these people didn't seem to be killed at all, some of them climbed the city wall and rushed directly to the defenders, one person smashed over a few people, and carried out a suicidal attack, which created an opportunity for the slaves who climbed behind.

More and more slaves climbed the city wall, some of them fought with the defenders, some discarded scythes and kitchen knives, picked up the weapons of the Byzantines on the ground and joined the war group, these slaves slashed and killed without rules and moves, it was completely desperate, they didn't care about the enemy's weapons, let the enemy's weapons cut their bodies, they stabbed the enemy with weapons at the same time, fighting for their lives, and the Byzantines couldn't stand still.

Before dusk, the castle was breached, the remaining Byzantines had to retreat into the city, a large number of slaves entered the city from the city walls, the gates of the castle were opened, and the remaining Byzantines surrendered in the castle, a total of more than thirty people, and all the others were killed.

The captives were taken into custody by the Western Qin army, and the slaves were killed more than 300 people, wounded more than 100 people, and more than 700 people remained, and the wounded slaves and other slaves, a total of more than 800 people, were all concentrated in the open space in the castle, leaving a passage in the middle to lead to the main castle of the castle.

Zhao Ziliang rode in from outside the castle surrounded by guards and generals, and they began to walk through the passage towards the main fort, and when they reached the middle of the passage, Zhao Ziliang grabbed the reins and stopped, and the army behind him also stopped.

Looking at the big food slaves and Persian slaves on the left and right, Zhao Ziliang said: "Very good, you have fulfilled the deal, and I will also keep my promise, come!" ”

A civil official trotted over and bowed and saluted: "King, the villain is here!" ”

Zhao Ziliang pointed to this civil official and said to all the slaves: "This official will take people to measure the acres of land, give each of you a piece of land, and the families of the wounded and the war dead will also receive monetary rewards, and this king now declares that you will be free people from now on!" ”

The slaves knelt down and shouted, "Thank you, sir!" ”

"Now that the deal is complete, you can lay down your weapons and go home, your family is waiting for you outside, if you are willing to join my army and fight with me, I will welcome you, and you will be paid handsomely, your family will be exempt from conscription, and there are many Persians and cannibals in my army, and they are all willing to be loyal to me!"

Most of them chose to leave to reunite with their families, and only a few remained, including Amut, Zhao Ziliang asked: "It seems that you people are willing to join my army to fight with me, I want to ask, are you for military pay or something else?" ”

Amut replied: "My lord, the military salary is only one aspect, we don't know how much you will pay us, but you are a person who keeps your promises, you did not break your promise because of the unequal status of our two sides, you could have killed us all after the city was broken, but you did not do this, I, Amut, am willing to follow you!" These people are people who don't have families, and they don't like to work either, so it's a good choice to fight with you! ”

Zhao Ziliang knows that many of the big cannibals are born warriors, because of the harsh living environment, many people are violent, brave and fearless, robbing homes, killing people and setting fires, etc., fighting in this era is actually a very important means of making a living, he is not surprised by the choice of these people, it doesn't matter who to fight, as long as there is money to take and eat.

"Very well, your name is Amut, right? Now I appoint you centurion, and you will command all these people! ”

After Zhao Ziliang finished speaking, he shouted to the servant army general Obot next to him: "General Obote, from now on, Amut will be under your jurisdiction!" ”

Obot immediately stepped forward and saluted, "Yes, Your Majesty! ”

That night, Zhao Ziliang summoned the generals and officials to discuss the battle in the main fort in the castle.

Zhao Ziliang said: "There are still many towns, castles and fortresses along the upper reaches of the Eula River, according to the information we have carefully investigated, these castles and fortresses were built by the Byzantines, they are all very strong, almost all of them are garrisoned by soldiers and horses, we want to take Syria, we must uproot these castles and fortresses one by one, but if the Eastern Roman Empire draws troops from Syria and Canaan to fight a large-scale decisive battle with our army, we will be much more trouble-free, and now we have just entered Syria. The follow-up actions of the Eastern Roman Empire have not yet arrived, but we don't care about their reactions, we will first pull out these fortresses along the main transportation routes, if they send troops to fight a decisive battle against us, we will naturally not be able to ask for it, if they want to defend to the death, we will attack the city one by one, and if we can use slaves, we will use slaves, anyway, we don't want money! There are several streams of this Eula, and the banks are all fertile lands, all of which are garrisoned by the armies of the Eastern Roman Empire, and we will send some troops along these tributaries to capture those fortresses, and if there is any new movement of the Eastern Roman Empire, this king will send people to summon you. Now the king will assign the task, and the person who receives the task will take his soldiers and horses to attack the city, and the speed of advancement should be fast, do not procrastinate, the faster the speed, the more it can force the Eastern Roman Empire to send troops to our decisive battle! ”

The generals said in unison: "Please give the king's order!" ”

Zhao Ziliang immediately assigned the task to the general, and the task of attacking the city was mainly carried out by the servant army and the slaves, while Zhao Ziliang still marched along the Bera River to the direction of Beroea with cavalry and 20,000 main infantry.

The generals who received the task took their men and horses to attack the city, and they distributed the siege tasks of each castle or fortress to the generals below, and each general led people to attack separately, and carried out at the same time, which was undoubtedly much faster.

The Eastern Roman army was to garrison the whole of Syria and Canaan, and the 50,000 men were scattered, and there were not many castles and fortresses at all, some fortresses had only a dozen men, some had hundreds, and at most there were only the upper men, and most of the troops were concentrated in some major towns, such as Beloea, Damascus, Jerusalem, Beirut, Homs, Amman, etc.

In less than a month, by the end of December, almost all the castles, fortresses and towns in northeastern Syria and east of Lake Asad had been captured by the Western Qin army, while the main force of the Western Qin army had almost no losses, and all the losses were some slaves and servant troops.

Nisserus, the Syrian governor of the Eastern Roman Empire, originally planned to use fortresses, castles, and cities to resist the attack of the Western Qin army, but he did not expect that the advance speed of the Western Qin army would be so fast, and he took all his northeast in just one month, and he could no longer sit still, on the one hand, he sent someone to report to Constantinople, on the other hand, he decided to lead the army to meet the Western Qin army, and at the same time sought support from the Eastern Roman Empire army in Canaan.

In the first month of 777 AD, the two sides met at Lake Asad, and a major battle officially broke out.