"Forty thousand!"

Without answering in one breath, the messenger's face was scarred and scarred by the torture and pondered for a while before giving such a number.

Seeing that Li Rang still seemed to have some doubts, the Arab envoy hurriedly wrenched his fingers again and explained to the Fujian generals present.

"The ram banner of the Akkadians, the camel banner of the Sheyban, and the coyote banner of Ghassani, a total of thirteen large banners appeared under the walls of the city of Basra, and together with the strength of the small tribes exhibiting, it was about forty thousand men."

"These, Da Min can send someone to check!"

The Arabs' habit of fighting, a large tribe has its own totem banner, and there are not a few important elders and parents, the general tribal leader is not qualified to be practical, out of the totem banner, generally the vast majority of the tribe men poured out.

40,000 men, probably including most of Saladin's tribes in Oman and Yemen, plus the recent loss of troops in the Zagros Mountains, is almost all of Saladin's possessions.

Of course, this is only the tribal men that Saladin can control, although Yemen and Oman have suffered continuous military turmoil and catastrophe in the past hundred years, as the best place in the Arabian Peninsula without oil, with a population of two or three million, it is still possible to dispatch about 300,000 men, and the limit can even dispatch 500,000 men.

The Arabs were so unruly and free that even if they were the caliphs of the southeastern Arabian Peninsula, in fact, there were still many tribes who did not listen to the tune, and Saladin could not control everyone.

This figure is also more in line with the intelligence of the Fujian army, whether it is Li Rang or Li Yexusheng Lianshan, Li Chou glanced at each other meaningfully.

Afraid that Li Rang would not believe it, the Arab messenger anxiously drew a ditch on the sand table with a small wooden stick.

"Here, Saladin's rebels attacked from here, and his battle flag also appeared on the battlefield that day, in the battle of Taurus, he defeated Basra's imperial ** team, and swept Basra in five days, from here, surrounded my city of Basra, and this envoy also encountered Saladin's army on the battlefield, and the number will never be mistaken."

The place where the messenger drew the road was just below the dangerous exit in the middle of the Zagros Mountains, and in terms of time, it happened that Saladin's army had just withdrawn from the Zagros Mountains after being bait, and went straight to Basra, and at the time point, it seemed to be reasonable, and Li Yexu, who listened to it, couldn't help but nodded.

Seeing that a pair of Fujian ** officials conveyed each other's deep meaning, and they didn't speak, this scene couldn't help but make the Arab envoy even more anxious, and the hand wrapped in a thick bandage waved down excitedly, and anxiously asked loudly in Arabic: "The generals of Fujian!" The Muslims of Basra are in danger, so send troops to deliver Basra! ”

The command-like tone made Sheng Lianshan immediately dissatisfied and raised a thick brow, Li Yexu slanted his eyes to look at the young and vigorous King of Hezhong with some uneasiness, but Li Rang was not angry at all, but nodded to the translator with a smile.

"Tell him, soldiers, life and death, the way of survival, don't be impatient, when to send troops, after this king and the generals have consulted, he will give him an explanation, come here, please let the envoy go down and rest."

For some reason, the mummy-like Arab envoy with bandages on his body was dragged down by the arms of the orderlies who came up, full of surprise, this Arab tough guy kicked his feet while shouting loudly in Arabic, this time, the interpreter was interesting and did not translate.

A teenage girl with beautiful eyebrows came out of the inner room, and followed Zhang Luo to arrange for the clamoring Arab envoy to go to other tents, and also sent some medicine, at this time, Da Min needed him to live.

"Hmph, something!"

As soon as the person left, Sheng Lianshan, who was the most straight-tempered, had already snorted out in annoyance, and smashed his huge fist on the table in dissatisfaction.

"They have all been reduced to the point of wagging their tails and begging for mercy, and they are still so self-righteous, they really regard him as an Arab."

"Okay Lao Sheng, in his Great Food Country Sect, he divides the people of the world into two categories, believers and non-believers, these barbarians in the Western Regions hold their own identity, so it is better for them to be arrogant and arrogant, and they can't be angry."

Li Yexu persuaded on the side, but Sheng Lianshan's bullish temper still disdainfully put his face aside. On the other end, looking deeply at the ditch just drawn by the Arab envoy, Li Rang pinched his chin and frowned, but he looked like a young man, and after thinking for a long time, Li Rang raised his head and asked Xue Ne, who was locked behind all the generals and the most inconspicuous.

"General Xue Lang, is this person reliable?"

These words also attracted the attention of several other generals, and the scene fell silent again.

Last time, Li Jie asked for a quick victory, 300,000 troops alone rushed forward, although near Ctesiphon encountered the Mu'awiyah army retreating from the western front, the two armies fought a decisive battle, and finally the Fujian army won the battle, but in this battle, the Fujian army's rear road barrier was also harassed by the pervasive Arabs, and it was particularly exhausting and very dangerous.

It can be said that it was a strategic mistake, if it weren't for the sudden rise of Anna in the back road, forcing Muaviye to carry out a decisive battle impatiently, in the long run, the Min army would really be cut off like the Zhao army in the Battle of Changping, and besieged it, and the outcome was not yet known.

This time it was similar, the army of Li Rang and others was still facing the erratic Arab light cavalry, if they were out of the nest and pounced, they would be ambushed by the Omani Bedouins halfway to cut off the back road, and it would be enough for them to drink a pot, and if they were not careful, the army would be routed in the desert.

Li Rang's fears are not unfounded.

The eyes of more than a dozen heavy generals in the Fujian army converged on themselves, and the blazing eyes of so many seniors brought great mental pressure to Xue Ne, so hurry, this figure in front of the Confucian army who did not change his face saw sweat on his forehead, and hurriedly took it out of his arms.

A parchment roll was held in his hands on the sand table.

"It was obtained from the envoy, and it bears the seal of the governor of Basra, the seal of the governor of Basra, and the seal of the governor issued to him by the traitor of the Abbasid dynasty, Hujie, and the seal of the city of Qom that was given by the Governor of Basra, which was the same as that of the Governor of Basra."

Looking at the dense Arabic text on the parchment roll, frowning, Li Rang didn't reach out to pick it up, Li Yexu on the side also thought about the credibility of the matter, but Sheng Lianshan reached out and took it, Zhang Fei stared at the incomprehensible Arabian tadpole language with big eyes like a needle, and sucked hard with his nose, as if he could smell whether this thing was real or fake.

Xue Li, who was watching it, broke out in a cold sweat on the back of his head, and added with a stumbling sentence.

"General Shan, this, this document, is the ...... hidden under the underwear of the Arab envoy"

His face turned green, and Sheng Lianshan's hand suddenly stiffened.

"This person did not come to my Qom City, it seems that he went straight to the base camp of our army, on the border, he was intercepted and killed by the tribes of Oman, and the last general led the cavalry to follow behind for a day, leaving a lot of corpses on both sides along the way, it was a real killing, and it cannot be faked."

Then, Xue Ne continued to explain.

"And at night, when the last general created to rescue people, the enemy thieves were torturing them with a red-hot iron, and one of the ten envoys was tortured and killed, and the last general only snatched out one, this method is too cruel and ruthless, it really doesn't look like a show."

It seemed that he had just found a step and casually threw the parchment roll that made him evil, and Sheng Lianshan snorted disdainfully.

"Barbarians."

After a while, everyone was thinking about the gains and losses, pinching their chins and thinking for a while, slightly imitating Li Jie, Li Rang frowned and asked: "Everyone, this Basra, do we save it or not?"

"Must be saved!"

This time, Li Yexu, Li Chou, and Guo Zhifeng shouted out in unison.

The location in Basra is so special!

Located on the west bank of the Shatt al-Arab at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, just over 50 kilometers from the Persian Gulf, and with a supporting port area, Iraq was the second largest city in later generations, and even surpassed neighboring Kuwait in the era of no oil exports.

From here, goods transported by Min through the Persian Gulf could be sold directly from the Shatt al-Arab River to the rich plains of Mesopotamia, to Syria, and to Egypt.

Almost all of the later Kuwait in the vicinity were under the control of the Omani tribes, and in normal history, it had been ruled by the Khalid family, the sword of Allah, but there was Li Jie's time and space, history turned a corner here, and the Khalid family entered the palace to become eunuchs, a promising profession, in order to contain the Shiites, Hou Jie deliberately gave this place to the hostile Omanis.

Although Khorasan as the rear has been completely stabilized compared to the last Western Expedition to the Great Fujian, if the army is supported to fight in West Asia for a long time, compared with the rugged mountain roads of the Zagros Mountains, the supply line from Tianzhu to the front line via the Persian Gulf is still a priority.

Besieging Basra, Saladin's strategic vision this time is quite ruthless, once the mouth of the Persian Gulf is controlled, Damin will become a teapot for cooking dumplings.

In the last war, Liu Renliang's navy sent the Arabian Persian Gulf Navy to the bottom of the sea with lightning speed, and seized Basra without waiting for the Arabs to organize a defense, which ensured the supply of 300,000 troops.

Seeing the words of the public, Li Rang did not have any worries about the past, and casually twisted a small red flag and planted it heavily on Basra's head on the sand table.

"Then for Da Min, take it!"