Things in the Middle East were almost settled, and Zhao Ziliang was ready to return to Xinjing.
However, before that, he decided to send one person to lead the army to continue the western expedition to the food country.
Mahdi was making a fortune in North Africa, and Zhao Ziliang felt that he could not be allowed to develop with peace of mind.
Strong, as the saying goes, there are endless troubles if you can't kill the snake.
But the war is not that simple.
Although the Western Qin State captured the Middle East, Persia and the Dashi Peninsula, almost all of its losses were servants and slaves.
However, stationing in these areas required a lot of troops, and these areas were short-lived.
It will not be able to provide much tax revenue to Western Qin within a short period of time.
Therefore, although a lot of war wealth has been made in the process of attacking these areas, if you want to rule these areas and develop them, you must invest.
The military expenditure for garrisoning alone is a large amount of expenditure every year, so at least recently Within five years, the income taxes in these areas will not be able to cover the expenses of administrative officials, civil servants and military garrison expenses.
The central government must also fill some holes every year to sustain itself.
Another point is that a large number of troops stationed in these areas will inevitably reduce the number of troops that Western Qin can use to continue conquests.
However, if the number of troops is reduced and the public security in these areas is unstable, more money will be needed to suppress rebellions after rebellions occur.
Military expenditures It’s also quite a burden.
After careful consideration, Zhao Ziliang decided to adopt the method used in the Persian region, using servant troops to assist the Western Qin standing army in garrison.
The servant troops were deployed from other places and never used local servant troops to prevent local opposition forces from colluding with the servant troops to launch rebellions.
In this way, a considerable part of the standing army can be mobilized to continue the conquest.
As for the attack on North Africa, Zhao Ziliang decided after weighing the matter to make Bai Xiaode the commander-in-chief, with Ma Sui and Wei Gao as his deputies, and Li Muchen as the supervisor.
Bai Xiaode was temporarily appointed as the governor of Sinai.
On the one hand, he will manage the civil affairs of Sinai and on the other hand, he will conduct training.
Soldiers, marshaling the army to prepare for war, raising food and supplies, waiting for domestic shipments of ordnance, bows and crossbows to supplement the shortage, and waiting for the time to mature before sending troops to attack Egypt.
The edict to recruit Bai Xiaode had been sent to Baghdad, but Zhao Ziliang was already preparing to lead the Dragon Guard Army back to Xinjing.
At this time, Li Muchen reported to Zhao Ziliang: "Your Majesty, Queen Irina of the Eastern Roman Empire sent someone to say that she is planning to come to Jerusalem.
To visit the Holy Land, she also hopes to meet with the King to discuss the development of relations between the two countries.
I am afraid that you will not be able to set off in a short time."
Zhao Ziliang was stunned for a moment and said, "You must be the empress of the Eastern Roman Empire and not the emperor."
Li Muchen said: "Of course it's the Queen.
This is the handwriting of Queen Irina sent by their envoy.
It has Queen Irina's signature and seal on it."
Zhao Ziliang took the letter with a complicated expression and saw that the words on the letter were written in Greek.
This was not surprising.
The Eastern Roman Empire used Greek as its official language, and the upper-class officials and nobles were proud of being able to speak Greek.
Zhao Ziliang returned it to Li Muchen, "Nian Nian" "Yes."
Li Muchen took the letter and read it from beginning to end.
After hearing this, Zhao Ziliang asked: "Do you think Irina's purpose in coming to Jerusalem this time is to make a pilgrimage, or to meet with the lonely king to discuss relations between the two countries?"
Li Muchen said: "Your Majesty, if Jerusalem is now under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Roman Empire and she comes for pilgrimage, I won't find it strange at all.
Jerusalem is already under the control of our army, but she wants to come for pilgrimage.
This seems a bit unreasonable.
No one would believe that the real purpose of her coming here was to go on a pilgrimage.
Why did she go there so long ago?
Therefore, Wei Chen believed that her purpose of coming to Jerusalem must be to meet with the king.
As for the pilgrimage, it was just an excuse to do what she did to the world.
It’s just an illusion” Zhao Ziliang listened to Li Muchen's analysis and nodded: "Your analysis makes sense, but the lonely king has no friendship with this Irina, and has never met her.
Even if she wants to come here to fall in love with the lonely king, I'm afraid it will be It’s impossible.”
The ministers next to him suppressed their laughter, but they said in their hearts that the king is shameless, and they could even say such things.
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Li Muchen smiled and said: "Your Majesty is very interested.
Didn't Queen Irina say in her letter that she came here to meet with Your Majesty to discuss the development of relations between the two countries?"
Zhao Ziliang shook his head and said: "There is really no one in the Eastern Roman Empire.
They actually sent a woman to the lonely king to discuss the development of relations between the two countries.
Wouldn't Leo IV feel humiliated?"
Li Muchen said: "This is indeed incredible.
Even if the Eastern Roman Empire wanted to use a beauty trick against the king, it would not be necessary to let the queen come.
The cost is too high.
Maybe there is some unknown secret in it."
Zhao Ziliang smiled and said: "That's not certain.
Has Li Qing read the history books of the Roman Empire and Besri, the ancient Chinese names for ancient Egypt?
Do you know the records of the last queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Besri?"
Li Muchen's eyes lit up after hearing this, "Your Majesty is referring to Cleopatra, the last queen of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, known as Queen Besripa."
Zhao Ziliang nodded: "Yes, that's her."
The two of them are talking about the well-known "Cleopatra" in later generations.
This queen is undoubtedly the focus of the peerless queen level in ancient Egypt.
People can hear gossip about her every day.
With her peerless beauty Her beauty, clever mind and superb skills not only temporarily preserved a dynasty, but also played with the two kings of the Roman Empire, Caesar and Antony, making them prostrate themselves under the pomegranate skirt and willing to work for them.
Li Muchen was so shocked that his eyes widened like bull's eyes and his mouth grew wide.
"Is this Irina comparable to Cleopatra?"
Zhao Ziliang said: "From the perspective of the lonely king, Irina's intelligence, beauty and skill are probably not inferior to that of Queen Elizabeth, nor are they inferior to that of Wu Zetian, the leader of the Wu Zhou Dynasty."
Li Muchen suddenly took a breath.
When it comes to Wu Zetian, everyone knows who she is.
When it comes to her power and tactics, she can be called the number one woman in ancient China.
Her appearance can be said to be beautiful, but it cannot be called peerless.
In Li Muchen's view, a woman whose intelligence and skills were no less than Wu Zetian's, but whose appearance was far superior to that of Wu Zetian, was really terrifying.
However, Zhao Ziliang knew that Empress Irina became regent after the death of Leo IV, which lasted for seventeen years.
After that, she deposed her son Constantine VI and became emperor herself.
It lasted for five years and was overthrown by courtiers in 802 AD.
In fact, she has been having an impact on the political structure of the Eastern Roman Empire since before Leo IV ascended the throne as emperor.
She did a lot of homework and made suggestions behind the scenes for Leo IV to ascend the throne.
During her lifetime as emperor, her influence on the affairs of the Eastern Roman Empire was omnipresent, and after the death of Leo IV, she dominated the Eastern Roman Empire.
Zhao Ziliang put one hand on the table and kept knocking.
After knocking for a long time, he stopped and asked: "Li Qing, why do you think Irina suddenly came to Jerusalem to meet the lonely king?"
Li Muchen said: "Your Majesty, if Wei Chen has not made a mistake in his judgment, it is most likely that our deployment of troops in Armenia has caused uneasiness among the top brass of the Eastern Roman Empire.
We have calculated that our military strength in Armenia and the Caucasus has increased to three.
There are about 10,000 people, enough to form a legion.
This is a standing army, and none of them are servants.
This military force is very important to the East.
The pressure on the Roman Empire is great, especially in this sensitive period.
The Bulgars have just withdrawn, and the Eastern Roman Empire is in dire straits.
If we attack at this time, the Eastern Roman Empire will definitely be severely weakened.
Queen Na must be extremely confident when she comes this time.
It is hard to say whether the king can hold her own in front of such a peerless beauty with superb skills and intelligence."
"Hahaha Li Qing, you are trying to unite the lone king's army."
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Zhao Ziliang pointed at Li Muchen and laughed, then said: "This war is over, I have already planned to return to Xinjing, and I, Western Qin, are not here for the time being.
Planning to start a full-scale war with the Eastern Roman Empire, why is the lonely king?
To control it enough, as you said, Irina must have some agenda this time.
What can she plan for the lonely king?
If she wants the lonely king to retreat, just agree to her.
If she offers other conditions in exchange, the lonely king will accept it.
It’s like picking it up for free.
If you don’t want it, you don’t want it for free, what do you think?”
Li Muchen breathed a sigh of relief and said: "It's good that the king knows.
I'm worried that the king's hero will be sad for the beauty.
Don't follow in the footsteps of Caesar and Antony and be confused and manipulated by Irina."
Zhao Ziliang smiled and said: "Forget it, you think you are a lonely king who has never seen a woman or something.
You should hurry up and arrange the reception.
Do it properly.
Don't let people laugh at me, Xi Qin, for not knowing etiquette."
"Follow the decree" In Constantinople, Leo IV was lying on the hospital bed and had not seen Irina for many days.
He asked the maid who had given medicine: "What is the queen doing these days?
Why hasn't she come for so long?"
The maid quickly put down the medicine bowl and replied with fear: "Your Majesty, I am just a maid.
How could I know the Queen's whereabouts?
I dare not ask.
The Queen must be dealing with government affairs if she has not been here for so long."
Leo IV frowned and said: "No, no matter how busy she is, she will never have time to come here to see me.
I order you to inquire and see what the Queen is doing."
The maid had no choice but to agree: "Yes, my majesty."
After some inquiring and much trouble, the maid finally found out the news she wanted to know more than ten days later and immediately reported it to Leo IV.
After hearing this, Leo IV was furious: "Why did she go to see the King of Western Qin?
How could she do this?
Didn't she know that doing this would cause criticism from the court and the people?
It was too dangerous for her to do this.
The King of Western Qin must It will be detrimental to her, change my clothes immediately, I will summon the ministers to discuss" Leo IV dragged his sick body to the meeting hall and was furious at the ministers: "How do you do things?
Are you a bunch of stupid pigs?
How can you let the queen go to see the King of Western Qin and immediately pass my decree and order Anatonia?"
All military regions sent troops to the border to confront the Western Qin army on the border.
If the King of Western Qin dares to harm the queen and immediately sends troops to attack, I will make him pay a heavy price
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