Facing the attack of Mahdi's army, Talal's resistance was in vain.
In less than a month, Mahdi's army reached the gates of Baghdad.
Talal wanted to escape, but it was too late.
Mahdi's vanguard cavalry blocked the escape route from Baghdad.
The ministers, military generals and nobles who originally supported Talal as the new caliph soon betrayed him.
Some of them colluded with the Mahdi army outside the city and secretly contacted the generals guarding the city to quietly open the city gate.
The Mahdi army marched straight into the city, and Talal was captured in the Caliphate Palace.
Within three days, almost half of the ministers, generals and nobles surrendered to the Mahdi.
The Mahdi did not kill Talal, his younger brother, but just kept him under house arrest and fed him well, just like raising a pig.
After capturing Baghdad, the Mahdi officially became the master of the Caliphate Palace and sent people to Syria, Antioch, Jordan, Jerusalem, Egypt, Carthage and other places to tell his other brothers who were kings and hegemons and let them go immediately.
Come to Baghdad to pay homage, otherwise we will send a large army to attack.
Of course, Mahdi's brothers could not give in.
They killed the envoys sent by Mahdi, and then began to recruit more troops, collect more taxes from the territory to strengthen their armaments, and prepare to fight to the death with Mahdi.
Let's see who.
He is the agent in the world of Allah In August 771 AD, the Mahdi personally led an army to conquer the Antioch region in the northwest.
One hundred thousand troops went out, known as two hundred thousand, and the flags covered the sky and the sun.
The Mahdi army was unstoppable.
Only three months later, by mid-November, Antioch was completely pacified by the Mahdi.
Soon, Mahdi's army recaptured Beroea, now Aleppo.
Just when Mahdi wanted to continue to lead his army to turn south and pacify Syria, the ministers reported that the treasury was empty and there was no money for the war.
"Why is the treasury running out of money?"
In the palace of the city lord of Berroea, Mahdi asked with surprise as he looked at Finance Minister Belleroy.
Belleroy said: "Yes, chief of the believers, last year we paid the down payment of one hundred thousand taels of gold for the compensation, and this year we paid another twenty thousand taels of gold.
The pacification of Antioch this time also cost a huge amount, and the national treasury simply could not come up with the money."
Coming" With no money, there was nothing he could do.
Mahdi sighed helplessly.
He wanted to give orders to indulge the soldiers in looting to solve the problem of insufficient military expenditures, but he knew he couldn't do this.
Doing so would undoubtedly dig his own grave.
There are not only a large number of Jews, Persians, Byzantines, Greeks and Romans here, but also a large number of Arabs.
If they loot here, it will inevitably reduce the prestige of his caliph among the people and push the people into the arms of the enemy. , this is unwise.
After careful consideration, Mahdi decided to return to Baghdad and leave some troops to guard the Antioch area.
In the caliphate's palace in Baghdad, the Mahdi convened ministers to discuss how to raise military funds to continue the western expedition to pacify Syria, Jordan and Jerusalem.
"My lords, we won't be able to fight until we reach Berroea, because we have no money and the treasury is empty.
As time goes by, my brothers will become stronger and stronger.
We must fight...
Defeat them before their foundation is solid and regain their possessions land, let the glory of God's world shine on the earth again.
Today I called you here to discuss with you a way to raise enough military expenses.
If anyone has a good idea, please tell me.
You can speak freely, even if you say so.
If you’re wrong, I won’t blame you.”
The ministers present had known about the empty treasury for a long time, and it did not surprise them that Mahdi summoned them to discuss raising military expenses.
Compared with several other princes who were kings in various places, Mahdi was indeed more powerful.
Some skills.
The ministers whispered to each other for a while, and then the Minister of Agriculture stood up and said: "Now there seems to be no other way to raise enough military expenditures but to collect taxes and increase taxes."
The justice immediately stood up and objected: "It is absolutely unacceptable that the tax burden on believers and people is already very heavy.
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If we increase taxes, wouldn't it make it impossible for them to live?
If they don't have enough to eat or wear well, Will they still believe in Allah?”
The Minister of Agriculture curled his lips and said: "I didn't say that we should collect taxes from our believer brothers and people, I said that we can increase the taxes of those pagans."
The justice still objected: "That won't work.
Now we are divided internally.
If we force those infidels to take up swords and guns, how can we have more troops and experience to deal with their riots?
I think we must first Solve the internal rebellion without inciting additional resistance and riots.”
The Minister of Agriculture was a little annoyed: "Since we can't increase taxes, we can only increase business taxes."
This was immediately opposed by the Minister of Commerce: "No, our business exchanges with neighboring countries have just resumed.
If we increase commercial taxes now, we will undoubtedly kill the goose that lays the eggs for the believers.
Most of our country is desert and desert, and there is no land that can be cultivated."
There are very few, and the output cannot be compared with countries like Western Qin and Datang.
If you want to feed your people, you can only rely on commerce and trade.
I simply can’t imagine what the Abbasid Dynasty would be like without commercial support."
This won't work, that won't work either.
Mahdi was a little irritated and asked: "So how do you think we can raise enough military expenses?
Can we delay the compensation to be paid to the Western Qin Kingdom next spring?"
Mahdi's idea was immediately opposed by Vizier Khalid and the Minister of Finance, who both said in unison: "No."
The Minister of Finance stood up and said: "Sir, sir, this will not only anger Western Qin and give Western Qin an excuse to deal with us, but they will also use other methods to sanction us, such as increasing import tariffs on goods.
This will affect our The losses will be greater” After hearing this, Mahdi's face fell.
He, a caliph, couldn't even raise the military expenses for a war.
He was a coward or not.
When a minister saw Mahdi's unkind expression, he stood up and said, "Otherwise, all the adults present will donate some.
In addition, we will mobilize the chiefs and believers from various tribes to donate some.
I will donate five hundred dinars for that one."
This suggestion made all the ministers except Mahdi change their expressions.
Someone immediately said: "I'm sorry, I don't have any land, let alone shops or other properties.
My only income is a little salary.
All the dozens of people in my family are..."
You have to rely on this salary to support Mr.
Abia.
It seems that you are very rich.
Why don't you donate more and spend one million dinars to pacify Syria's military expenses?"
It's okay to let others pay, but if you want them to take out the money, unless the sun rises from the west, there's no way As a result, the adults stood up one after another and said that they had no money, crying and complaining to Mahdi one by one, as if they were the poorest people in the world.
"That's enough."
Mahdi slapped his hand on the table, and the loud noise silenced the ministers' voices.
Mahdi said coldly: "Did I ask you to pay?
I asked you to come to ask you to find a way."
The ministers had no choice but to rack their brains.
Finally, the finance minister stood up and said to Mahdi: "Sir, sir, I have an idea, but I don't know whether I should say it or not."
After discussing for a long time, no one could come up with a feasible solution.
Mahdi could only ask the finance minister to say: "Tell me about it."
"He is the chief of the believers.
We can borrow money from the Western Qin Kingdom."
The finance minister said this method that no one had thought of or even dared to think of.
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The ministers looked stunned, this guy is really imaginative.
Mahdi's face looked a little ugly, "Are you sure you are not joking?
We still owe a huge amount of compensation to the Western Qin Kingdom.
They will lend us money.
Do you think it is possible?"
The finance minister said: "This is not a joke.
What I said is true.
Let me give you an analogy.
There are two people, one poor and one rich.
The poor does not have any property and has no money.
If he borrows money from the rich, the rich will Of course he won't lend it to him, because he will worry that the poor will not be able to repay it.
But if the poor person has land or a house or several children, the rich person will not worry about him repaying it.
If the poor don't pay back the money, they will take away the poor's fields and houses, and make their children slaves.
Now our big food country is not a country of poverty and poverty.
We also have an army, a lot of land and hard work.
The people of the Western Qin Dynasty will not worry about us not being able to repay our debts, and their army is large and powerful, and they will not worry about us deliberately not paying back our debts."
Mahdi thought about it carefully: "Hey, what you said seems to make sense.
So we can borrow money from Western Qin."
The finance minister said: "Yes, if we send a team of envoys to Xinjing, it should be possible to borrow money from the Western Qin Dynasty."
The Minister of Commerce stood up and asked: "According to your statement, if we can borrow money from the Western Qin State, then can we borrow money from the Eastern Roman Empire, the Papal States or Franks further away?"
The finance minister said: "You can try, but I think it is unlikely that we can borrow money from these countries."
"Why" "The Eastern Roman Empire is our feud, which is completely different from the Western Qin Kingdom.
I don't think the Eastern Roman Empire will use money to help us quell the civil strife.
As for the Papal States and Frank, they are too far apart.
Can they take back the money they borrowed?
" Mahdi nodded, agreeing with the Minister of Finance's statement, and immediately said to the Minister of Commerce: "Bonod, you form an envoy to the Western Qin State and borrow five million dinars from the Western Qin State.
We need to borrow at least two million dinars and make every effort.”
The Minister of Commerce didn't dare to ask what to do if he couldn't borrow it, so he could only agree with a grimace
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