Cairo Royal Palace.
An attendant hurriedly walked into the hall and reported to Harun who was talking to Ishaq: "Your Highness, General Thomas is awake."
Harlan was overjoyed when he heard this: "Great, teacher, let's go see General Thomas together."
Ishaq nodded and said: "Okay, please, Your Highness."
Thomas, the commander of the Guards, had been made unconscious by a stranger sent by Harlan using magic.
When Hardy led the army to retreat, he saw that he was useless and was a burden, so he ignored him.
He was left in the city of Cairo.
After Harlan's army captured Cairo, they found someone to diagnose and treat him.
Thomas slowly woke up after several days.
Under the protection of the guards, the two arrived at Thomas's mansion.
When they saw him lying on the hospital bed drinking medicine, they immediately approached him and asked, "Is the general feeling well?"
When Thomas saw it was Harlan, he immediately struggled to get up.
Harlan immediately held him down: "General, don't move.
Your body has not recovered yet.
You must have a good rest."
Thomas then gave up the intention of getting up to pay his respects and asked: "Your Highness, I have heard what happened in Cairo these days from the servants.
I didn't expect so many things to happen in just a few days.
I don't know why Your Highness came to me today."
Something?"
Harun looked at Ishaq and said to Thomas: "General, you also know that the Western Qin army is besieging the city.
They have 150,000 troops, but we only have 15,000 people in the city.
In terms of strength, they are ours."
Ten times, this gap in military strength is almost a gap that cannot be bridged by other means.
The reason why the Western Qin army has not attacked the city yet is because they must be waiting for their siege weapons.
The city of Cairo is now in crisis, and General Thomas’s military ability in the city far exceeds that of others.
Only you have rich experience in fighting the Western Qin army. experience, so I hope the general can come out and command the army to defend the city."
Thomas was silent for a moment and asked: "Your Highness, can you tell us about the deployment of the Western Qin Army outside the city?"
"Of course."
Harlan immediately told Thomas about the deployment of the Western Qin Army's troops outside the city.
After hearing this, Thomas thought for a while and said: "Your Highness, what are your plans for Cairo City?
Are you going to decide to defend the city or decide to break out when there is no hope of defending the city?"
Harun said: "Cairo is the third capital of our Abbasid Dynasty and the last big city.
If we abandon Cairo, the confidence of our subjects and believers in resisting the invasion of the Western Qin Army will inevitably be hit, and there will be no belief in victory.
How can we defeat the Western Qin army?
Moreover, since the Western Qin army came from afar, the logistical supplies will not last long.
I think as long as we persist for a few months, the Western Qin army will be forced to withdraw due to insufficient supplies."
Thomas shook his head and said: "If Your Highness puts your hopes in this aspect, I would advise Your Highness to give up this plan, because I know that the Western Qin Army's war relies very little on logistical supplies.
They have always liked to support war with war.
Every time they Every troop dispatched brought a large number of craftsmen with them.
These craftsmen were responsible for making arrows, crossbows, repairing damaged swords, guns, and armor.
These craftsmen were also responsible for building siege equipment.
Every time they conquered a place, they would recruit craftsmen from the city.
Replenish it, so the more they win the war, the more craftsmen they can use, which can be enough to sustain the losses of the war.
In addition, their food is collected from the local food after they capture a place, especially the grassroots nobles have a lot of food.
These people are the targets of their exploitation, but they have little interest in civilians.
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Many times they even distribute food to these civilians, which makes the civilians in every city they capture have a favorable impression of them."
Harun's face looked a little ugly, and he asked: "So Cairo can never be defended."
"Can't hold on" Thomas shook his head.
Harlan took a deep breath and asked, "What does the general think we should do?"
Thomas pondered for a moment and asked: "Is it possible for His Highness and the eldest prince to make peace?"
Harun sighed: "Our brothers have reached this point, and there is absolutely no possibility of making peace.
Even if I are willing, I'm afraid he won't be willing.
Even if the two of us are willing, I'm afraid the ministers and generals under our command will not. agree" Thomas was silent for a long time, and finally said: "Then the only way left for Your Highness is to retreat to the west.
Retreat westward at all costs, retreat into the desert, and withdraw as many people as you can.
To the west It is the endless Sahara Desert.
We can only get a chance to breathe by crossing the Sahara Desert and entering Mauritania."
Harlan's face changed drastically.
The Sahara Desert was too wide and no one dared to go deep into it.
This desert was too dangerous and all kinds of weird things happened from time to time.
For thousands of years, few people who went deep into it could Those who came out alive, even if they were a people living in the desert who were in awe of the Sahara Desert, no one could guarantee that they would be able to cross the desert alive.
After pondering for a moment, Harlan said with difficulty: "You cannot choose to cross the desert as a last resort.
It is too dangerous.
No one can predict what will happen when we go deep into the desert.
Maybe we will all die there."
Thomas asked in a deep voice: "Has His Highness really decided to wait for reinforcements?
You must know that even if reinforcements arrive, they may not be able to lift the siege and drive away the Western Qin people."
Harun took a deep breath, "Since my grandfather Mansur, when the Western Qin army attacked us, we kept retreating.
We lost Persia and retreated to Baghdad.
Then the Western Qin army fought to Baghdad, and we retreated from Baghdad.
Retreat to Damas After the revolution, the Western Qin army fought from Baghdad to Damascus again.
We withdrew again, all the way to Egypt.
Not only did we lose Persia, we also lost Palestine, Syria and the habitat of our ancestors.
Now the Western Qin army has reached Egypt again.
We But still We have been retreating for so many years, and we have gradually lost our courage in retreating again and again.
Even if we can safely retreat to Mauritania, I don't know how much courage we still have to face the Western Qin people.
Didn't Hadi declare me.
Is there collusion with the Western Qin people?
I want to tell everyone with practical actions that he is wrong.
So, I decided that this time we can no longer retreat.
Even if we all die in battle, we must establish resistance for the subjects and believers to the end. determination and courage” Thomas struggled to sit up from the bed, stood up with the help of the servant, and said: "Okay, since His Highness has the determination and courage, Thomas will accompany His Highness to fight to the end.
Even if we cannot defend Cairo, we must let Xi Qin People paid a heavy price.”
Ishaq asked: "General Thomas, you have rich combat experience.
Do you think we need to do this to defend Cairo as much as possible?"
Thomas said: "The problem now is that the military strength gap between us and the Western Qin people is too huge.
We must first make up this gap.
Please send someone to publicize the brutality of the Western Qin people to everyone in the city.
Once Cairo City is breached, , the city of Cairo was massacred by the Huixi Qin people.
In order to defend Cairo and save his life, His Highness asked His Excellency Invite all the men in the city over the age of fifteen to participate in the defense of the city.
According to my estimate, the total number of men in the city over the age of fifteen should be more than 35,000, plus our original strength of 15,000 , a total of 50,000 people.
Although this force is still far behind the Western Qin Army, it is at least much smaller than the ten-fold difference."
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Harlan nodded, "Okay, I'll send someone to do it immediately."
Thomas said: "In addition to military strength, there is also the most important food issue.
The Nile River passes through the city.
We don't have to worry about lack of water sources, but we need to worry about food shortages.
Once the Western Qin people besiege them for a long time, we will inevitably have food shortages. phenomenon, in order to keep it as long as possible, we are now It is necessary to control the food in the whole city and collect all the food and distribute it to everyone in a daily quota.
However, there is a problem that needs to be solved.
A large amount of food in the city is concentrated in the hands of nobles, officials, and businessmen, and I’m afraid it won’t be easy to get these people to take out the food.”
Harlan frowned.
His rule mainly relied on the army, officials and nobles.
If he forced these people to take out the food, wouldn't it be damaging to his own foundation?
In this era, no one has the courage to do so, nor can he do anything but It's not okay if you can't do this.
During the siege, a food rationing system must be implemented.
Otherwise, if the people at the bottom are hungry and the noble officials are generous, the city will definitely not be able to defend it.
Harlan thought for a while and said: "I will take care of the food issue, General Thomas.
I now appoint you as the commander-in-chief of the city defense.
You can fight this battle of the city how you want."
"Okay" Thomas agreed and told the servant: "Go and get my armor and sword."
"Yes, General" After coming out of Thomas's house, Harun said to Ishaq: "Teacher, let all the officials, nobles and grain merchants in the city come to the palace.
I think I need to see them."
"Yes, Your Highness" Within an hour, the notified officials, nobles and grain merchants came to the palace one after another.
They all saluted Harlan: "I have met your highness."
Harun said loudly: "The Western Qin army has besieged the city.
I believe you all know.
I don't know when they will besiege the city, but I know they will never stop until they conquer Cairo.
Do you all know what the consequences of the city's defeat will be?
Let me tell you, once the city is broken, all of us will be killed.
This will not change because of our different identities.
Now we want to defend the city of Cairo.
The only way is to unite as one and those with money will come out Money, powerful output Those who have food will provide food.
I hope you can allocate money and food.
The money will be used to reward the warriors and inspire them to be willing to die.
By pooling the food, we can implement a rationing system to help everyone survive.
It's a difficult situation.
If you all have selfish motives and don't give up your money and food, our city will never be able to defend it.
When the Western Qin people come in, no matter how much money or food you have, it will be useless.
Will kill you faster."
Everyone was silent.
Although they had all thought of the consequences of what Harlan said, no one would be willing to spend all their ancestral savings.
Upon seeing this, Harun continued: "As the prince of the Abbasid Dynasty and the ruler of Egypt, I promise you that as long as Cairo is defended and the Western Qin people are defeated, the Abbasid Dynasty will fully compensate you.
Dirhan will not be missing, and not a grain of food will be missing."
Finally someone said, "Okay, I hand over the money and food":