It seems that the last battle of the conquest of the Min Dynasty had a good beginning.

At the beginning of August of the fifth year of Kaiyuan, Li Ji's main force and Li Yexu's vanguard in Asia Minor, which later converged with the city of Kayseri in central Turkey, quickly turned to the sea, abandoned the interior of Asia Minor, and went to Europe along the Mediterranean coast.

Li Ji broke through the Ancatolia mountains and caused a great shock to Constantine IV, for fear that the fleet would be cut off and trapped in the vast sea, for a year, Constantine IV, who had been leading the Eastern Roman Navy to attack the entire Mediterranean coastal port from the Suez Canal, hastily ordered the withdrawal of troops.

Liu Renliang, the naval governor who had been unable to catch up with Constantine IV at sea, took the opportunity to follow closely behind, and the sailors marched eastward, chasing the Roman navy, and the decline of more than a year was reversed, and the Great Min completely grasped the strategic initiative.

The march continued almost at a temporal pace, and almost most of the Eastern Roman cities along the way surrendered on their own initiative, because these cities, which were feared by the Arabs, knew about them. The rules of the Silan army, the city pays the poll tax, the army crosses the border without any damage, if the city is closed and resists, then the whole city is fighting to the death, and everything is decided by the gods of both sides.

Every time he watched the obese Roman magistrates sweating and hurriedly carrying their belongings, cattle and sheep out of the city to greet them, Li Ji couldn't help but think that it was not a bad thing for people to be notorious.

However, this speed continued until the Min army advanced to the end of Asia Minor and finally came to a standstill, where the invincible Min army was stuck in the middle of the Mediterranean, where Europe and Constantinople could be seen at once.

On land, the Roman fortress of Persia, the Huns, and Arabia, which has now been added to the Great Min, blocked the road to Constantinople with the city of Buddha, and at sea, the Eastern Roman Empire's largest naval base in Asia Minor, Rhodes, also blocked the direction of Liu Ren's advance.

Today, the navy is almost the last card of Constantine IV, and in Rhodes, almost all the Greek fleets of the Eastern Roman Navy are gathered here, and about 500 large and small Mondello warships carry invincible Greek fire.

The Min army, which was originally smooth sailing, couldn't help but be impatient when he encountered such a hard nail.

The city of Buddhism is almost the most classic example of Greco-Roman architecture, the park in the 10th century, the Athenians built a colonial city here, and later due to the Greek intervention of the Persian Empire in the Greek colonial city here, and broke out for more than 100 years, the extremely tragic Greco-Greek War, Leonidas, Xerxes, Darius, a series of names are almost all because of this city and the wind and clouds.

Later, as the Greek states were continuously annexed by the Roman Empire, the Buddhist temple came into the hands of the former three giants, Sulla, who launched a large-scale expansion into Asia, although the army was later defeated and the Rest Empire was defeated, but the eastern territory of the Eastern Roman Empire was basically confirmed from this.

Later, in the 400-year war for hegemony between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanid Empire, several times, the Persian army fought under the city of Ephosus, but this fortified city of the last frontier of the ancient Persian Empire repeatedly blocked the Persian army, so that the Sassanid emperors' ambition to restore all the territory of the ancient Persian Empire was frustrated.

This time, the Buddha Temple once again became a strong shield for Constantinople, firmly blocking the advance of the Fujian army.

The walls are twelve meters high, all made of solid Mediterranean white stone, the walls are high and the ponds are thick, and the Buddha is still built on the coastal mountain, a circular satellite city spreads from the right side to the bottom of the mountain, the tall city wall road firmly connects the main city on the hill with this place, and on the countless arrow towers along the way, countless Greek ballistae are also staring downward.

The Church of Buddhism has always been the backbone of Christianity, unlike other places in Asia Minor, the philosophy has only been broken by the Arabs once, and the inhabitants still have the hatred of the massacre when Muawiyah crossed the border last time, and the envoys sent by Li Ji to persuade him to surrender were directly hanged on the city gate on the charge of apostate by the order of John, the archbishop of Buddhism.

And so the brutal siege began.

"For the glory of Allah!"

Under the city, I don't know how many times it was charged, the Arab generals who led the army roared in hoarse voices, and the Arab light cavalry, which had been painted in earthy yellow, charged towards the hillside like a tide.

However, from the moment of battle, it was destined to be another tragedy, even if it was a light cavalry, the feint still limited the speed, with the charge of the Arab cavalry, countless Greek archers also appeared on the stone wall of the circular satellite city, and the fine Greek bows and arrows began to bloom in the westward afternoon sun.

Most of the archers in the Buddhist temple came from the mercenaries of Crete, Greece, and when most of the Greeks were still using slings as long-range attack weapons, the Greeks on Crete were strangely the first to be equipped with bows and arrows, and gradually learned the skills of making compound bows.

Condescendingly, there is such a group of long-range killers, even if the Arabs who are the proud of the sky on horseback in this era, they are still suffering heavy losses under the continuous blows here, and they have not rushed out for a hundred meters, and hundreds of people have fallen in a pool of blood in the rainstorm-like attack, which is still the result of wearing the iron armor of Da Min and holding the iron shield.

The Cretan archers were finally left behind, and the narrow upward heaving walls began to limit their playfulness, but in an instant, dozens of ballistas began to sing at the head of the city, and cannon stones the size of human heads smashed into the charging cavalry.

This will no longer be a fine armor to resist, the heavy stone bullets knocked down the cavalry, not to mention, but also smashed the ladder caught in the herd of horses, this time, even the tough Arabs could not bear the strength, there were still more than a hundred meters from the city gate, and the hordes of tribal light cavalry wailed and retreated.

On the long slope, the corpses of the Arabs of the Fujian army were lying all over the place, blood flowing from their necks, flowing half the way, and the Roman defenders at the head of the city let out an earth-shattering cheer, celebrating their defeat of the infidels again, listening to the rattling of the church bells in the city, and the morale of the nomadic cavalry in the Arab barracks outside the city was even lower.

…………

The Chinese army, Li Ji's marching tent.

"Your Excellency the Marching Commander, when will the artillery of Da Min arrive!"

McKidd, the bearded Arab chief who had just withdrawn from the battlefield and was still covered with sweat on his head, rushed in directly, ignoring the obstruction of Li Ji's guards, and shouted loudly and arrogantly at Li Ji, who was still sitting on the table reading the military book, with anger on his head.

Obviously, Li Ji showed displeasure on his face, however, he was quickly suppressed by him, McKid was one of the six lions in the pre-Arab Empire era, and he was one of the first tribes of Medina nobles to follow the prophet, and he had a great influence in the Arabian Peninsula.

Nowadays, the relationship between the Arabs and the Great Min, on the one hand, is the relationship between the feudal lord and the vassals under his command, on the other hand, it is also the relationship between the mercenaries and the employer, the officers of the Fujian army can not directly command the Arab tribes, but also rely on their own elders to supervise the army, this kind of handy feeling makes many Great Min commanders feel uncomfortable, fortunately, the old Li Ji had the experience of commanding various armies that are not subordinate to each other in his early years, and he is good at dancing with long sleeves, but he also successfully drove these Arab barbarians to fight here.

Still trying to fool these grassland barbarians to continue to fight for Damin, Li Ji also had to show a kind smile, stood up with a smile, and said with a haha: "Chief Mai, don't worry, the report to the King of Min has already been submitted, and it won't be long before the artillery will come down." ”

"It just so happens that a batch of Damascus innovative armor has just been transported from the rear, General Mai has worked hard, and the commander is in charge, so let the general's tribe pick it first!"

Don't look at this sentence like a sweet date, but in fact it is a big nail, there are few Fujian soldiers, and it is natural that you can't use force to restrain so many unruly Arabs, Li Ji cleverly stuck the necks of these unruly Arabs with trophies and logistical supplies.

Why did you come out to fight? The family is poor, and they want to rob something! Asia Minor and the Arabian Peninsula are separated by the Mediterranean Sea, and if you want to take the first step to send the wealth back to your relatives in your hometown, you have to beg for Da Min, who listens to fiddling? The Fujian army transport ships will be given priority to transport, as for the disobedient? Sorry, the ship is full! I can't wait, so you can go back by canoe by yourself.

There is also supply, the relationship between the chiefs of many Arab tribes and the king of Min is not like the subjects and emperors of the counties and counties in the interior of the Great Min, but like the feudal kings and vassals of Europe, which is not absolutely the same belonging, the king of Min has very limited binding force on these Arabs, and only nominally divides the land to them, and it is really going to break up, and these Arabs are also the same as the European feudal lords.

However, this also has an advantage, the rights are relatively few, and the obligations are also less, the Arabs follow the banner of the King of Min to go on the expedition, and they need to prepare their own equipment for horses, grain and grass, and the spoils of war are only paid to the King of Min for a symbolic amount, and the King of Min is not obliged to provide them with good food, drink, and high-quality equipment, just take some bean cakes to feed the horses to ensure that they do not starve to death when they can't grab them.

This has a close treatment, a good relationship with the Great Min, an obedient tribe, the supply of the Fujian army will be at a preferential price, the supply of high-grade steel equipment, fresh wheat grain, if like McKidd, a stubborn donkey? Hehe, there are some tattered equipment eliminated from the battle of the Yarmouk River, and there are also blessings that supported their dead ghost Caliph Hussein, dried meat that has been infected with wind sofa mold, and there are old flour that is as hard as a stone.

Listening to Li Jiyin's soft threat, McKidd, who really couldn't gnaw on the stone bread, had to soften, and finally took a little respect and bowed earnestly.

"My lord, His Majesty the King of Min also wants the throne of the Roman Emperor and the land of the Romans, although we Arabs plundered the booty for ourselves, but also shed blood and sweat for His Majesty the King of Min, the King of Min is the most merciful, so as not to watch the soldiers under his command endure the slaughter of the Romans under the tall city, right?"

This can be regarded as a heart-wrenching word, Li Ji finally put away his gloomy appearance, pondered for a while, and replied sincerely and with a wry smile.

"Ben Shuai won't hide it from you, the threat of the Romans' sea power has been too great recently, and the navy is also competing for artillery, and now their commander Liu Renliang is in front of the King of Min and Ben Shuai is in trouble, and the King of Min can't make up his mind to supply that side first!"

"We're all our own people! I'll tell you the truth! If there is not enough credit, the competition between Ben Shuai and his Liu Renliang is still a little behind, and the artillery King Min is not not not given, but it needs to be transferred from Tianzhu, this comes and goes, and there is no three months to the front line! ”

"What can I do?" When Li Ji said this, McKidd suddenly became eager again.