It should have been quiet, and everyone was sleeping in the middle of the night, but at this time, there were voices of people and horses, and the sound of scolding inside and outside the city was endless.

The rest personnel in the city are really annoying, annoying these Arab cavalry who come to make trouble for three days and two days, always disturbing them to not sleep well in the middle of the night, so they are scolding people at this time and scolding them is also particularly fierce. This is also because Hassan Ke has a strict order, not allowing them to go out of the city to fight at will, otherwise with the temper of many resters, they are afraid that they will open the gate and rush out.

Therefore, at this time, the resting personnel could do nothing but point at the Arab cavalry outside the city and curse non-stop. The Arab cavalry outside the city was still the same, shouting and scolding in unison outside the city, which seemed to mean that they wanted to excite the resting people out of the city for field battles...... Well, it does. The cavalry was not conducive to the siege of the city in the first place, and the city of rest here was well defended, so it was not much different from sending a large number of people to the city.

This kind of thing was clear to both sides, so the Arab cavalry did not attack the city except for scolding, and the resting personnel refused to go out of the city to meet the battle except for scolding. So now it seems that most of the situation today is that the two sides have scolded each other for the same time, and then they will go to their own families and find their own mothers.

However, it was not very clear to see in the night, and the Arab cavalry stayed out of the artillery range of the city for safety, so the distance between the two sides was a little farther. In short, the resting personnel at the head of the city could not detect that the Arab cavalry who were now shouting outside the city were not Arabs at all.

Or to be more precise, only a small number of Arabs in the cavalry force outside the city are guiding their companions to shout and curse to rest, while the rest of the personnel are actually cavalry led by Ma Chao wearing Arab clothes. And the resters, under the influence of the irritation in their hearts, did not notice that the cavalry force that was now shouting outside the city was not holding a weapon that the Arabs were accustomed to, but almost a long-barreled carbine...... By the way, this long-poleed horse pistol was almost the hallmark of the Western Liang cavalry at that time.

Ma Chao was also mixed in with the many cavalry at this moment, and was holding a telescope to look at the resting city. With the brighter fire on the head of the resting city, Ma Chao saw the situation at the head of the resting city more clearly, and after looking at it for a while, Ma Chao laughed a few times, turned a few beautiful circles in his hand and then withdrew the bag, muttering to himself: "Although I am on guard, I am obviously not vigilant enough." Gan Xingba's hand seems to have worked. ”

How could Ma Chao and his troops be mixed in with the Arab cavalry? To put it bluntly, it's actually quite simple.

Before Lu Ren asked Gan Ning to "act cheaply", Gan Ning came up with a trick to falsely claim to return Calihet, and with the cooperation of Lu Ren using the false information transmitted by Celelilian, this hand made the Sassanid family who did not know the truth start to behave like mad dogs in the Palsis region.

At that time, Ganning also declared that Muscat would be temporarily handed over to Arab powers. But in reality? Gan Ning pretended to withdraw his army, but only the infantry and naval troops of Gan Ning's department were withdrawn, and Ma Chao and his 5,000 elite cavalry stayed, disguised as Arab cavalry and stationed in Muscat. In other words, Muscat is actually still under Lu Ren's control.

Needless to say, Gan Ning confessed one thing to Ma Chao before the temporary evacuation, that is, to ask Ma Chao to arrange for the cavalry troops of the Arab forces attached here to go to the resting fortress on the south bank of the Strait of Hormuz every once in a while to make trouble, and they did not need to attack the city and fight, as long as they went there twice in three days to scold them. As for whether these Arab cavalry will follow the arrangement...... This is easy to say, money can make ghosts grind, Lu Ren gave Gan Ning enough authority in this regard, and Gan Ning left enough money, food and property for Ma Chao.

As for the Arab cavalry stationed here, just let them run errands and curse every once in a while, and they don't have to fight hard, they can get a very good reward, and they naturally accept it gladly. In fact, in order to make more money, these Arab cavalry really ran errands more diligently than the "shifts" arranged by Ma Chao. In modern parlance, these Arab cavalry took the initiative to work overtime. That's why the resting fortress was disturbed by the Arab cavalry, and it was impossible to sleep well.

Although Ma Chao's strategic ability is not good, this does not mean that he will not even know a little bit of the art of war. He knew that Gan Ning was playing a trick to exhaust the enemy. And it is the Arab cavalry that is used, and his own headquarters is recuperating, which means that when it comes to the critical moment, Lu Ren, who has enough strength, will definitely strike a thunderous blow, and he can't fall behind here, otherwise he will not only lose face, but it will also be difficult to explain to Lu Ren.

But at this time, it's time to talk about Ma Chao's current mentality. Let's put it this way, the current Ma Chao is like the frog that jumped out of the dry well, and after stepping out of the circle of Huaxia, he realized how big the outside world is. And after broadening his horizons, Ma Chao's mentality has also changed a lot. At least at least, Ma Chao is no longer as old as he used to think about returning to Xiliang and then "creating brilliance again".

Lu Ren had arranged new territories for Ma Chao before, but to be honest, those territories were not very suitable for Ma Chao. Ma Chao's current new territory is probably in Nepal in the later generations, and the geomorphological characteristics of Nepal are many mountains and hills, and there are relatively few plains, which will naturally make Ma Chao and the Xiliang cavalry who followed Ma Chao a little uncomfortable.

Of course, Lu Renyou explained to Ma Chao that these are only temporary, and you Ma Chao is not a person without ability, if you want to go to the northwest when the time comes, that is, to occupy those territories in Northern Guishuang, and those territories in Northern Guishan will be more in line with your Ma Chao's appetite.

Ma Chao had been in Xiliang for a long time, and he had a good understanding of the situation in the Western Regions Passage, so he knew that the current territories in Northern Guishan were indeed very much in line with his heart. Moreover, Ma Chao before had the kind of intention to go from west to east and return to Liangzhou to "create brilliance" after winning the territory of Beiguishuang, so Ma Chao was very much in favor of what Lu Ren said.

In addition, Nepal's mineral resources are very good. According to the information at hand, the metal deposits found in Nepal include iron, copper, zinc, lead, nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, gold, tungsten, titanium and silver. Non-metallic minerals include diamond mineral, limestone, dolomite, marble, garnet, mica, graphite, quartz, clay, phosphate rock, granite, silica, gemstones, etc.; Energy minerals include oil, natural gas, uranium, geothermal, and coal. Among them, iron ore reserves are about 23.05 million tons, copper ore reserves are about 16.18 million tons, lead ore reserves are about 3 million tons, zinc ore reserves are about 2.66 million tons, magnesite reserves are about 200 million tons, limestone reserves are 985 million tons, and mica reserves are 320,000 tons.

Such a good stock of resources, of course Lu Ren has to find a way to make use of it, and then throw Ma Chao in Nepal, a place with many mountains and hills, and it seems that agriculture is not very good, with the idea of "agriculture-oriented" in Chinese culture, if you don't give him some sweetness, so that Ma Chao can stay in Nepal with more peace of mind, then it can't be said, right? Therefore, Lu Ren actively encouraged Ma Chao to engage in mineral development in Nepal, and at the same time gave a lot of preferential treatment to Ma Chao's trade, and Ma Chao also made a lot of money.

In short, if it weren't for these factors, Ma Chao wouldn't be able to stay in Nepal, and it would be difficult to guarantee that Lu Ren would not have some different thoughts, so where would he immediately follow Lu Ren's past orders without saying a word? But in any case, although Ma Chao has made a lot of money and his strength has grown very well, he is a little uncomfortable with the mountains and hills of Nepal.

In this case, Ma Chao's original plan was to accumulate strength first, and start his journey to the north after Lu Ren's affairs here were over, striving to return to Liangzhou in his lifetime. At this time, Ma Chao was transferred to the battlefield of rest by Lu Ren, and came to the "Arabian wilderness" with Gan Ning at that time.

At first, Ma Chao didn't pay much attention to it, but soon, Ma Chao felt that this "Arabian wilderness" was simply "déjà vu" to him. It's really "déjà vu", because the "Arabian Wilderness" and the Liangzhou where Ma Chao grew up have too many similarities in terms of geomorphological characteristics or folk customs, so Ma Chao always feels like this vast "Arabian Wilderness" is another Liangzhou.

It doesn't matter if it's homesickness, or it's about being anxious to find a place that suits his heart, anyway, Ma Chao likes this "Arabian wilderness". And for the local Arab powers...... Huh! With Ma Chao's ability, it was a piece of cake to suppress the Arab forces that had not yet developed at that time, not to mention that Ma Chao was now under the instruction of Gan Ning to smash the Arab forces under his command with money. It's hard to say whether this kind of money-throwing tactic can smash them into submission, but it can be smashed so that they are happy to help with things, right?

All in all, Ma Chao likes this place, and he is more compatible with the local Arab forces, so the current Ma Chao has saved his plan to stay here in the future. But Ma Chao also knows that if he wants to stay here and run his own territory in the future, he can't do without Lu Ren's support. Not to mention, if you don't have enough money on hand, not only will your strength not be able to grow, but it will also become much more difficult to deal with Arab forces.

And one of the fundamental reasons why the Arab forces are now able to get along with Ma Chao is that the Arab forces want to get benefits from Lu Ren, in other words, the object of their face selling is actually Lu Ren instead of Ma Chao. If this relationship is not clarified and it is messed up, something big will happen later.

Therefore, Ma Chao's plan was to be attached to Lu Ren's name, and when the time came, he would become Lu Ren's manager of Arab trade, so as to help him establish his own territory in the Arab region in the future. And if you want to achieve this, then at this time, you have to help Lu Ren'an to form a strategy for resting, and then ask Lu Ren to stay and guard with merit. Based on Ma Chao's understanding of Lu Ren, he believes that Lu Ren will also have a supportive attitude towards such a thing.

In fact, hasn't Lu Ren always played like this? This is because Ma Chao has not met Lu Ren yet, and he has not been able to pass these breaths to Lu Ren, otherwise Lu Ren will definitely raise his hands in approval. Because Lu Ren knows very well that this kind of external territory that is far away from the ocean and thousands of miles away is not something that he can directly control, rather than bothering to manage it at that time, it is better to leave a pro-own power group there, whether it is trade for profit or cultural erosion, it will be much more convenient.

Well, I won't talk much about this, just say that Ma Chao, who has such a mind, has long been looking forward to Lu Ren's all-out attack on rest to start as soon as possible. And just a few days ago, Ma Chao received a message from Gan Ning, asking Ma Chao to use some hands and feet on the land side to cooperate with Lu Ren's all-out attack, and Ma Chao, who was already impatient, naturally complied immediately.

At this moment, the two sides are still scolding each other, but the smile on Ma Chao's face is getting stronger and stronger. His 5,000 elite cavalry was all brought out this time, but Lu Ren didn't need Ma Chao to use his 5,000 elite cavalry to attack the city. And Ma Chao's current task is still only to first trouble and confuse the defenders, just behind Ma Chao, the 5,000 infantry led by Gan Ning are rushing over with siege artillery.

In this way, the war of words between the two sides under the city has been "fought" until dawn. Ma Chao saw that it was almost dawn, so he smiled and then retreated with the people first. The rest of the garrison, seeing that the enemy had come to attack, withdrew as usual, and after cursing a few curses, they went back to rest as usual. It's been a noisy night, and no one has slept well, so of course they have to go back to make up for their sleep.

But what they didn't expect was that at noon, the alarm bell at the head of the city sounded again, which made many people who had not yet made up for it completely rubbing their eyes, yawning, and cursing in their mouths to go up to the city again. When they reached the top of the city, before they had time to scold again, there were already a lot of cannonballs whistling outside the city, and the rumbling sound of the loud sound of the rest of the defenders was stunned at that time, and the fatigue and sleepiness that had not faded before were immediately awakened by the sound of these rumbling cannonballs exploding at this moment.

"Hell! What's going on!? Where did those Arabs get artillery, and there are so many!? ”

"Don't stand stupid! Shoot back, fire back!! ”

"That's not right! How come it's all infantry outside? Wrong wrong! Those people are not Arabs!! It's Han! Those troops outside are all Han Chinese!! ”

In the midst of the chaos, the resting city also began to return artillery fire. And the sound of these cannons means that Lu Ren's battle against rest has really begun......