By mid-September, the soldiers and civilians of Jerusalem had finally lost their nerve and sent men out of the city to negotiate and surrender if Mahdi promised not to kill anyone in the city. But Mahdi did not accede to this request, knowing that his brother in the city was exhausted, and ordered the siege to be intensified.

On 20 September, the crumbling walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Mahdi's army, and the Arab army stormed the city and carried out a terrible massacre, killing his lord's brother in the chaos, and it was only three days before the massacre stopped, and the entire city of Jerusalem was almost completely slaughtered.

The massacre of the Mahdi army against Jerusalem spread quickly, and instead of frightening the Arab soldiers and civilians in Sinai, Egypt, Tripoli and Mauritania, they decided to fight the Mahdi to the death.

As a result, his army encountered strong resistance when attacking the Sinai Peninsula in early October, and one of his brothers scattered the cavalry into many small groups in the Sinai Peninsula to constantly harass his army and supply lines, and they even poisoned the water source on the route of the Mahdi's army, which hindered the Mahdi's army's offensive and had to stop in the Sinai Peninsula.

In February 773, the Mahdi finally pacified the Sinai Peninsula and was preparing to attack Egypt in the west, when a news came from the Eastern Roman Empire that Emperor Constantine V, who was preparing to send troops to attack the northern Bolgar Khanate, suddenly fell ill and had to stop sending troops.

Unable to handle state affairs normally, Constantine V, who was ill, ordered Leo to return to Constantinople from the front to assist in state affairs, and Leo's departure made the Eastern Roman Empire no longer a threat to the Arabs in Antioch.

After the news of Constantine V's serious illness and Leo's return to Constantinople reached Mahdi, he was in a good mood and thought that the time was ripe for a complete pacification of the country's rebellion, and he immediately attacked Egypt with his army westward.

Egypt was one of the most important regions of the Arab Empire, with a large population, a thriving culture, a busy port, a thriving business, at least a quarter of the taxes paid by Egypt, and an extremely important grain-producing area on both sides of the Nile River in Egypt.

Just as Mahdi was fighting a great war with his brother in the Egyptian region, Western Qin got the news.

Xinjing, the royal palace.

Wang Can, the governor of Dongchang, reported to Zhao Ziliang: "Great King, the Caliph of the Great Food Country, Mahdi, is attacking the Egyptian region, although the defenders of the Egyptian region are not weak, and there are sufficient taxes to support the troops, but they cannot compete with the Mahdi's army, Egypt will be taken in half a year at most, if Mahdi takes Egypt, he will get the financial support of Egypt, and the strength will be doubled!" ”

Zhao Ziliang was stunned: "Egypt is so rich? ”

Wang Can nodded and said, "Yes, Egypt is rich, very rich!" ”

Zhao Ziliang's fingers on the imperial case knocked on the table rhythmically, which showed that he was thinking, Wang Can did not bother, and waited quietly.

After a long time, Zhao Ziliang shouted: "Come here, Prime Minister Dugu asks the customs and Honglu Temple Qing Hongxu!" ”

Immediately, a eunuch promised: "Obey!" ”

After half an hour, Dugu Wenshu and Honglu Temple came to the Qinzheng Hall and paid homage to Zhao Ziliang together: "The ministers see the king!" ”

"Flat!" Zhao Ziliang raised his hand and asked, "The two Qing families, how is the implementation of the economic invasion and infiltration plan of the Great Food Country?" ”

Hong Xu is the specific executor of this plan, and he replied: "Back to the king, the plan is currently being implemented, and one-fifth of it has been completed!" ”

Zhao Ziliang frowned and said, "The progress is a little slower!" There is news that Mahdi has already swung his army to the west to attack the Egyptian region, and we have finally made the Great Food Country chaotic, how can we make them unify again? It seems that it is time to put Mansur back, and to advance this plan, it is time for the father and son to pinch it too! ”

Hong Xu was a little worried, and said: "Great King, we don't have many ministers and tribal chieftains that we can control in the Great Food Country, if we let Mansur go back, he will not be the opponent of Mahdi without someone under him!" ”

Zhao Ziliang shook his head and said: "You guys, you underestimate Mansour, after all, he has been a caliph for twenty years, his means and mind are definitely not comparable to Mahdi, if the strength under his hands is too strong, coupled with his means and intelligence, Mahdi is not his opponent at all, we let the comprehensive strength of the two of them be equal, to make them fight inseparably, no one can help anyone, this drama is interesting, if it is a one-sided situation, it will not be interesting!" ”

Dugu asked the customs and Hong Xu and promised: "Yes, the minister obeys the order!" ”

Zhao Ziliang knows very well that although Mansur is old, after all, this person is a person who has been a caliph, the supreme existence of the Arab world, such a person will never lose his fighting spirit because he is old, especially after Xiqin was placed under house arrest for three years, once he returns to Baghdad, this person will definitely start to regain his own power again, and even his attachment to power will be more crazy and persistent, he will never admit defeat until he dies.

In the afternoon of this day, Zhao Ziliang's royal car came to the door of a secluded and relatively closed small courtyard in the new city of Xinjing, where Mansour, the former caliph of the Great Food Country, lived, and his former minister and Bo Silin lived next door to him.

At this time, the soldiers standing guard at the gate of the small courtyard saw Zhao Ziliang's royal car coming, and they all knelt down on one knee with their spears. When Zhao Ziliang stepped down from the royal car, Zhao Lei was already waiting beside him, and he said, "Father, the son sent someone in to let Mansur come out to greet him!" ”

"No, just go inside!" Zhao Ziliang waved his hand and said, and walked directly into the gate of the small courtyard.

At this time, Bosilin and Mansur were sitting at a cobblestone table, and the two had been under house arrest for several years, but they had learned to play Go and read books from Western Qin to pass the time.

Zhao Ziliang saw the two from a distance, and asked while walking around, "These two people are often together?" ”

"Yes, and Posilin often comes to Mansur to play chess and talk, because outsiders can't enter here, even if they have any ideas, they can't implement them, so the villain waits and stops them!" The official in charge of guarding the place said.

Zhao Ziliang didn't see any reaction on his face, but he had already decided in his heart to leave behind Hebosilin, who was originally going to be put back with Mansur, this person's military talent would be too helpful to Mansour, and Atis, the commander of the guards under Mahdi, was Mansour's old minister, if Artis was reversed by Mansurzer, there would be no effective generals under Mahdi.

Although Mansur and Bo Silin were concentrating on playing chess, they still heard the sound of many people coming, both of them looked to the source of the noise, but saw Zhao Ziliang walking over surrounded by a large number of civil and military generals, the two glanced at each other, put down the flag in their hands and stood up, and sent people under the fence, still a caged bird, and had to bow their heads.

Mansur made a big food etiquette posture and said indifferently: "It turns out that His Majesty the King of Western Qin has arrived, and Mansur is shining here!" ”

And Bo Xilin also saluted Zhao Ziliang and said, "I have seen His Majesty the King of Western Qin!" ”

Zhao Ziliang looked at the chessboard, nodded to Bo Xilin, and smiled at Mansur: "The two of you actually learned Go, and their chess skills are not bad, which really impresses this king!" The king is suddenly interested, can Lord Mansour accompany the king to play a game? ”

Mansour didn't want to go down, so he had to say, "It's glad to do it!" ”

So the two began to play against each other, Zhao Ziliang held the white son, and Mansur held the black son.

Zhao Ziliang asked as he fell: "Is Your Excellency Mansur still used to living in Xinjing in the past few years?" ”

Mansur replied quickly: "It's not bad, it's quiet here, warm in winter and cool in summer, everything you need for life, this is the calmest few years of my life, thank you for your hospitality Your Majesty King Xiqin!" ”

"You're welcome!" Zhao Ziliang smiled and kept falling, how to play chess, he didn't seem to think much about it.

The two chatted with each other, and after nearly half an hour, the chessboard was already full of chess pieces, and it was about to enter the closing stage, Zhao Ziliang suddenly changed his words: "Your Excellency, if you have the opportunity, do you still want to go back?" ”

Mansour's hand, which was about to fall, stopped in the air, his entire arm trembled, and the pieces between his fingers landed in an empty space.

Zhao Ziliang looked at Mansour's place, and then looked up at Mansour's expression and eyes, although there was only a moment, Mansur was very well disguised, but this moment was still seen by Zhao Ziliang, he knew that Mansour's mood was in turmoil.

Mansour's mood can't help but be chaotic, he had the opportunity to return to the Great Food Country before, Zhao Ziliang also promised that as long as he wanted to go back, he could personally send him out of the country, but at that time he didn't dare to go back, because there was no one available under him at that time, and life and death were unpredictable after going back, so he didn't dare to go back, but followed Zhao Ziliang to Xinjing, but in the past few years, although he lived a peaceful life, his heart has always been restless, he found himself a canary in a cage, this feeling is uncomfortable, He longs to regain the authority of the Great Food Nation and return to the pinnacle of power, but what if he goes back now? After all this time, will those former vassals still obey his will? It didn't work back then, but now I'm afraid it's even worse.