The city lord of Aden, Altik, was a devout Muslim, but due to various conflicts in the Muslim world, Muslims were divided into many factions, such as the Sunni, Shi 'a, Persian, Khawali, and so on.
This was because the founding monarch of the Umayyad Dynasty had usurped the throne. He forcefully seized the positions of Muhammad's son-in-law, Ali, and his son, Hussein, and established the Umayyad Dynasty.
This action was opposed by many believers who supported Ali and Hussein. They gathered together and formed the powerful Shi 'a faction, which was dedicated to opposing the Umayyad Dynasty. From time to time, they would launch rebellions and deal a heavy blow to the Umayyad Dynasty's rule.
In addition, some believers founded the military-democratic Khawali faction, which was also the sworn enemy of the Umayyad Dynasty. There was also the increasingly powerful Persian faction, which ultimately dealt a fatal blow to the Umayyad Dynasty. The other smaller factions also had their own strength.
Dissatisfaction with the brutal rule of the Umayyad Dynasty and their lack of recognition of the dynasty's origins ultimately led to many factions joining together to resist the Umayyad Dynasty and deal a heavy blow to the Umayyad Dynasty's rule. At present, the entire Umayyad Dynasty's territory was very small, and it was not in the core region. The core Khorasan region no longer belonged to the Umayyad Dynasty.
In the process of attacking the Umayyad Dynasty, the Persian faction eventually gained the upper hand. The leader of the Persian faction, Abu Persian, eventually became the leader of the new empire, the sovereign of the Abbasid Caliphate.
But after the establishment of the new empire, the brotherly factions that were originally united began to show hostility. The new regime began to attack their former allies, brutally suppressing the Sinbad faction, Boslavan faction, Shi 'a faction, Khawali faction, and especially the Shi' a faction of the grand alliance. The struggle between the new regime and the Shi 'a faction was extremely brutal.
Abu Persian's younger brother, Mansur, killed Ali's two great-grandchildren, Ibrahim and Muhammad, dealing a heavy blow to the Shi 'a faction. The pitiful Shi' a faction had worked for others, so one could imagine how angry they were.
The Shi 'a faction rebelled against the Umayyad Dynasty because they wanted to support Ali's descendants and maintain the orthodoxy of Islam. However, the new Apus dynasty was not Ali's descendants, so they were also considered to be usurpers.
Using the old saying of the Hua Xia, it was like inviting a tiger to chase away a hungry wolf, but the tiger rose to power again. Using the end of the Han Dynasty as an example, the Emperor of Han was extremely dissatisfied with Li Gui and Guo Si's governance, so he invited Cao Cao to help him. In the end, Li Gui and Guo Si were eliminated, but the new Cao Cao did not treat the Emperor of Han as anything. Those Han officials who had tried to persuade the Emperor to invite Cao Cao were probably filled with regret, so they could only secretly think of ways to get rid of Cao Cao.
The Umayyad Dynasty's influence was already extremely weak, and almost all of the Arab world belonged to the Apus dynasty. Even though the former allies had begun to rebel against the new Apus dynasty, due to the disparity in strength, they were unable to cause much damage to the Apus dynasty. The Apus dynasty firmly controlled the core Khorasan region, and the empire's number one general, Abu Muslim, became the first governor of Khorasan.
There was a saying that there were no eternal enemies in the world, and there were no eternal friends, only eternal interests. When fighting against the tyrannical Umayyad Dynasty, many factions were mortal enemies with the Umayyad Dynasty.
But now, the Umayyad Dynasty's influence was extremely weak, and the new Apus dynasty bloodily suppressed the former allies. As a result, the Shi 'a faction that had previously rebelled against the Umayyad Dynasty had a realistic need to shake hands and make peace with the Umayyad Dynasty.
Of course, this kind of shaking hands and making peace was only done under special circumstances for their own interests. If they were able to defeat the Apus dynasty and overthrow the Apus dynasty, then their temporary friendship would come to an end.
However, they were once mortal enemies, and their political views were different. Therefore, it would be very difficult for the remaining forces of the Umayyad Dynasty to ally with the Shi 'a faction. First, they would have to contact each other, then negotiate with each other to establish their own interests. Finally, they would decide whether or not to ally temporarily.
The City of Aden was a very commercial city. There were many merchants from all over the world in the city. There were Muslims, ordinary citizens of the Tang dynasty, and merchants from Western Europe. In short, there were people of all kinds of skin colors. In order to protect the interests of the merchants, the city had even established a chamber of commerce.
Such a commercial city naturally diluted the influence of religion. Every faction needed money, and money had to be obtained through business. Therefore, there were all kinds of Muslim factions in the City of Aden, and they were able to get along with each other peacefully.
In fact, except for a few radical elements, most Muslim merchants and merchants from all over the world were only interested in doing business and making money. They didn't care too much about religious conflicts. Making more money was the right thing to do. Only when they had money would they not panic.
The city lord of the City of Aden, Altik, was a Shi 'a Muslim. When the Umayyad Dynasty was on the decline, he led a group of people to kill the city lord appointed by the Umayyad Dynasty. He announced that the City of Aden had broken away from the Umayyad Dynasty and joined the rebellion against the Umayyad Dynasty. However, the actions of the new Apus Dynasty had greatly hurt the Shi' a, and they were dissatisfied. Under such circumstances, as a Shi 'a, Altik didn't join the new Apus Dynasty. Instead, he became an independent commercial city.
When the remaining forces of the Umayyad Dynasty learned about the betrayal of the new Apus Dynasty, they immediately extended an olive branch to the City of Aden. They offered very generous conditions, and even sent troops to the northwest of the City of Aden.
Of course, the new Apus Dynasty wasn't going to back down. The governor of the Khorasan, Abu Muslim, immediately sent his general, Ziyad, to the City of Aden with ten thousand elite soldiers. He was going to use force to intimidate the City of Aden and wipe out the nearby Umayyad Dynasty troops.
Due to the fact that the new Apus Dynasty had fallen out with many other factions, the new Apus Dynasty was facing more threats. There was unrest in all directions of the empire, and it was difficult for the army to gather in one direction. Otherwise, with Abu Muslim's violent personality, he would have already gathered his elite soldiers to conquer the City of Aden. He wouldn't have bothered to use force and schemes.
There were three forces surrounding the City of Aden. The one in the northwest was Osman, the general of the Umayyad Dynasty, and the one in the northeast was Ziyad, the general of the Apus Dynasty.
The forces of these three forces were about the same, with each having around ten thousand soldiers. Among them, Ziyad's troops were the most powerful, and Osman's troops were also quite powerful. Altik's troops were the weakest, but due to the protection of the city walls, they weren't at a disadvantage at all.
On top of that, there were many merchants in the City of Aden, and merchants were all very rich. As such, they had enough money to hire an army, which would greatly increase their power.
Almost all of the ten thousand soldiers in the City of Aden were hired by merchants. Some of them were farmers, some of them were merchants who had failed in their businesses, some of them were bandits and pirates, and there were even retired professional soldiers. In short, there were all kinds of people, and it was an extremely complicated army.
That was the general situation. However, Ang Lee and the others didn't know the details of the negotiations and struggles between the various forces. They would have to investigate in person to find out. This was the main reason why Ang Lee had sent fifty people as an advance party.
"Assistant Minister Li, it looks like the Umayyad Dynasty is at its wit's end. Even if the City of Aden joins the Umayyad Dynasty, it still won't be able to save this dying dynasty."
A civil official had seen through everything.
Since ancient times, no one had ever heard of a dying dynasty that had lost more than ninety percent of its territory being revived. This was impossible, and Assistant Minister Li had never heard of such a thing.
However, it was unknown whether the new regime would be able to hold on to the country that they had fought so hard for. This was because there were many new regimes in history that were very fierce at the beginning, but they rose quickly and fell quickly as well. They died unknowingly.
"Assistant Minister Li, since we can see that the Umayyad Dynasty is at its wit's end, how can the merchants of the City of Aden not see it? Of course they won't join the Umayyad Dynasty. Who would choose to follow a loser? However, the Shi 'ar Faction worked so hard, only to end up benefiting the Apus Dynasty. They must be very unhappy. It's not impossible for them to choose to ally with the Umayyad Dynasty to fight against the Apus Dynasty. However, even if they join forces, they may not be a match for the Apus Dynasty. "
A general said.
"That's right. Ziyad's ten thousand elite soldiers are nothing, but the Apus Dynasty has hundreds of thousands of soldiers. They haven't mobilized all of them yet because there are many rebellious regions, and many of them are more important than the City of Aden. The core Khorasan region needs to be defended by the main force, but once the other regions stabilize, the City of Aden will be in trouble."
A civil official said.
Every dynasty had its own core interests, and the Apus Dynasty's core interest was the Khorasan region. More than half of the empire's soldiers had to be deployed there to suppress and deter the rebellious factions and maintain the absolute rule of the empire.
As for a relatively minor border region like the City of Aden, the empire couldn't go all out to deal with it for the time being. Sending the famous general Ziyad here with ten thousand elite soldiers was already a sign of how important the situation was.
"Assistant Minister Li, the situation in the City of Aden is quite complicated right now. This is the perfect opportunity for us to strike. As long as the advance party figures out the situation, the main force will be deployed."
A civil official said.
Ang Lee nodded, and said, "You all have a point. The City of Aden is a good place, and it would be a pity to miss it. However, the Abbasid Empire is a large country, and we have to think carefully before making a decision. Go back and make some preparations. No matter what the advance party reports, we will leave Anzhu City within ten days and head to the City of Aden."
"Yes, I will take my leave now."
All of the civil and military officials slowly left, leaving Ang Lee alone to examine the map.
The more Ang Lee looked at the map, the more he felt that the City of Aden was an extremely important strategic location. After examining the map of the Abbasid Empire, Ang Lee couldn't help but sigh at the merciless rise and fall of dynasties.
The Umayyad Dynasty was completely finished, and there was no way to reverse the situation. The Umayyad Dynasty was the one who established the entire Arabian Empire. At the beginning of the dynasty, the Umayyad Dynasty expanded outwards in all directions.
The Umayyad Dynasty conquered Kabul in the east, and then marched northward into the interior of Central Asia. They conquered Bukhara, Samarkand, Khorasimov, and other large areas until they were stopped by the Tang Dynasty on the Pamir Plateau. Only then did they stop their eastward expansion.
The Umayyad Dynasty also did a good job of expanding to the southeast. A Muslim army conquered Sindh and Punjab in India, marking the beginning of the Muslim religion's roots in India.
The army that conquered the northwest had attacked Constantinople three times, but because the city was easy to defend and difficult to attack, it was never breached.
In the west, the Umayyad Dynasty destroyed the Byzantine Empire's garrison in North Africa and conquered a large area of North Africa. They also made the local people worship the Muslim religion. Then, they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and attacked Spain. After that, they occupied two-thirds of Spain's land and conquered the Visigoth Kingdom.
Even more than a decade ago, the Umayyad Dynasty's army had crossed the Pyrenees Mountains and attacked the Frankish Kingdom in Western Europe. However, because this area was too far away from the core area of the Umayyad Dynasty, they were defeated by the Frankish Kingdom's army and stopped their large-scale expansion.
Of course, at this time, the empire had entered its final phase, and there were many internal rebellions, so it didn't have the ability to continue expanding.
If one looked at it from another angle, perhaps it was because the empire continued to expand, which led to an increase in military expenditure. The lives of the civilians became harder and harder, and the opposition took this opportunity to attack and completely destroy the Umayyad Dynasty.
Such examples were common in the Hua Xia Empire. For example, the last king of the Shang Dynasty, King Zhou of Shang, moved his main army to attack the Eastern Barbarians, but the Zhou Dynasty's army suddenly attacked. As a result, the Shang Dynasty could only use the slaves to defend against the elites of the Zhou Dynasty. In the end, the slaves rebelled and destroyed the Great Shang Dynasty that had existed for hundreds of years.
The Qin Dynasty was the same. Qin Shihuang, who loved grandiose achievements, moved 500,000 soldiers to stabilize Lingnan and 200,000 to 300,000 soldiers to fight against the Xiongnu in the north. There were very few soldiers left in the empire, and in the end, the Qin Dynasty didn't exist for many years before it was destroyed.
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