Seiyad was covered in dust as he hurried to Khorasan. Upon reaching Khorasan, he did not even catch his breath before hastily going to see his superior, Abu Muslim.
At this moment, Abu Muslim, escorted by one hundred elite soldiers, was returning from Mansur's residence. On the way back, he ran into Ziyad, who was hurrying over.
"Sir."
When Seiyad saw Abu Muslim, he excitedly stepped forward.
Abu Muslim was mounted on a large horse, and when he saw Ziyad appear in front of him, he was extremely surprised. He had not summoned Ziyad back. Ziyad had returned on his own.
"Ziyad, why have you come back? Who told you to come back? Has the situation in Aden been resolved?"
Abu Muslim asked three questions in a single breath.
Ziyad frowned as he looked at his superior and said, "Sir, the situation in Aden has always been like this, and no one can change it. But the situation in Khorasan doesn't seem to be very good! Harry's illness is serious, and the court is unstable! "
"Ziyad, this isn't something you should be concerned about. You just need to do your job."
Abu Muslim was rather unhappy. Ziyad had always been obedient, but now, he had suddenly returned without orders. This made him rather unhappy, and he even suspected that Mansur had jumped ranks to command him. If this was the case, wouldn't Abu Muslim be a mere figurehead?
Ziyad was extremely worried, and he didn't care that Abu Muslim had many people around him. He straightforwardly said, "Sir, the situation in Khorasan is very tense, and my soldiers on the front lines need provisions and pay. If this situation continues to worsen, my ten thousand cavalry will run out of food and pay. With the Imperial Court so unstable, I have no desire to lead soldiers. Thus, I had to come back."
Abu Muslim sighed, looked around, and then nodded. "Fine! Let's go back and talk. This is the main street, not the place to talk. "
After saying that, he rode back to his residence with Ziyad.
As one of the most important figures of the Apus dynasty, Abu Muslim's every move was naturally being watched, especially when the dynasty was in turmoil. Abu Muslim's opinion could often influence the course of the Apus dynasty.
Both Mansur and Abdullah were secretly monitoring Abu Muslim, monitoring the people he normally interacted with so that they could guess what Abu Muslim was doing and what he was thinking so that they could come up with a countermeasure.
Mansur was worried that Abu Muslim had been bribed by Abdullah to oppose him, and Abdullah was extremely afraid of Abu Muslim's elite Khorasan cavalry. By monitoring Abu Muslim, he could more or less understand the movements of his elite cavalry so that he could respond accordingly.
There were also other factions in the court keeping an eye on Abu Muslim. Of course, Abu Muslim was also keeping an eye on everyone else. Everyone was monitoring and probing each other, and no one wanted to lose their lives in the turmoil of the dynasty.
Mansur was drinking tea in his residence. His conversation with Abu Muslim just now had given him even more confidence. As long as Abu Muslim firmly supported him, the second Caliph of the Abbasid Dynasty was certain to be his.
And he had an even greater ambition. After ascending to the throne of Caliph, he would continue to expand. He would first take all the land conquered by the Umayyad Dynasty, and then he would continue to expand and obtain even more land and resources.
And Abu Muslim also put him at ease. At the very least, he could see that Abu Muslim's movements were all under his control. There was nothing this renowned general could hide from him.
Since ancient times, all authoritative figures had loved loyal servants. No matter how strong one was, only loyalty to one's master could satisfy one's master. Anyone who dared to show the slightest sign of disloyalty was a heinous crime that would be suspected and eliminated.
In both ancient and modern times, the number of founding officials who were eliminated because of suspicion was an extremely large number. Many dynasties, once their regime was stabilized, would begin to eliminate these officials. The moment these officials showed any sign of arrogance or disobedience, they would be eliminated.
Mansur was clearly one of these vicious and merciless people. Historically, he had ultimately executed his capable assistants, Abu Muslim and Ziyad, for their contributions to the throne. From this, one could see just what sort of person he was.
At this time, he needed Abu Muslim to serve him, so he naturally wouldn't eliminate his right-hand man. But if his right-hand man showed any signs of disloyalty, he would have to carefully consider the matter.
"Master, Ziyad has returned."
A low-class person wearing black clothes who covered himself completely, only revealing two eyes, walked in front of Mansur and said.
"What? Ziyad has returned? When did this happen?"
Mansur suddenly frowned.
In his conversation with Abu Muslim just now, Abu Muslim had clearly stated that Ziyad was holding down Osman and Altik near Aden. There would be no problems in the south for the time being, and Abu Muslim had told him to focus on the Imperial Court.
But his spies had said that they had seen Ziyad return. This was no minor matter.
There were several possibilities for Ziyad's return. The first was that Abu Muslim had deceived him and secretly transferred Ziyad back. If that was the case, it would be very troublesome. This meant that Abu Muslim wasn't very loyal to him. If he was, why would he deceive him?
The second possibility was that Ziyad had disobeyed orders and returned to Khorasan. In that case, Abu Muslim would have nothing to do with this. However, Ziyad was an experienced and very obedient commander. Why would he abandon his troops and return without any orders? This was very strange. How trustworthy could it be?
If Ziyad really had disobeyed orders and returned to Khorasan, then what was Ziyad's goal? Had he come back to help Abu Muslim, or had he heard some news from the Imperial Court and come back to see what was going on? Or had he been bribed by someone?
The third possibility was even worse. It was that Ziyad's soldiers had been defeated by Osman or Altik, and Ziyad had been forced to lead his remaining soldiers back to Khorasan.
If this happened, it would be disastrous. The Imperial Court was in complete chaos, and if Ziyad's army in the south was defeated, it would pose a grave threat to the entire Apus dynasty. He would even have to consider reconciling with Abdullah in order to deal with the threat from the south.
The man in black said, "Master, Seiyad has traveled a long way and just arrived at Khorasan. On the street, he ran into Lord Abu Muslim and went to Abu Muslim's residence together."
When Mansur heard that, he frowned and asked, "Did you look carefully? Is it Seiyad himself? Also, did Abu Muslim do anything out of the ordinary when he saw Ziyad? "
"Master, I saw very clearly that it was indeed Ziyad himself. There can be no mistake about it. However, Lord Abu Muslim did not seem to have expected Ziyad to return. He looked at Ziyad in surprise."
The man in black respectfully replied.
Mansur finally sighed in relief. This meant that Abu Muslim had not deceived him and was still loyal to him.
"Right, how many people did Ziyad bring back?"
Mansur asked.
"One hundred elite cavalry and two hundred warhorses. They are Ziyad's guards."
The man in black seriously replied.
"Okay, you can go back!"
Mansur was finally able to relax. Ziyad had only returned with his own guards, and he had even given each guard two horses. This meant that he had left very calmly and had not fled after losing a battle. Otherwise, there would be no way he could have brought back exactly one hundred guards, much less spare horses.
However, the most important question now was why did Seiyad return? Why had he come back? What was his goal? These were questions that had to be answered.
Directly sending someone to ask Ziyad was clearly inappropriate, and asking Abu Muslim was also out of the question. This would expose the fact that he was monitoring Abu Muslim, and it would be tantamount to shedding all pretense of cordiality. Abu Muslim would feel very uncomfortable.
The best result would be for Abu Muslim to tell him why Ziyad had returned to Khorasan. He was confident that as long as Abu Muslim was still loyal to him, he would tell him of his own accord.
Ziyad's sudden return had not only alarmed Mansur, but also Mansur's opponent, Abdullah. As Mansur's uncle, Abdullah had greater seniority and was also a senior. He often looked down on Mansur, believing that he had watched Mansur grow up and that Mansur was his junior. Mansur's contributions were no greater than his own, so why should Mansur compete with him?
"Master, Abu Muslim's number one general, Ziyad, has returned. I saw him on the street with my own eyes. He followed Abu Muslim back to his residence."
It was also a black-clothed man who reported the situation to his master.
Abdullah was rather surprised by this news and hurriedly asked for more details. After hearing the report, he fell into deep thought.
"Why did Ziyad suddenly return to Khorasan? Could it be that Mansur is about to make his move?"
Abdullah nervously turned to his advisor, Nasser.
Nasser was also a general, a very formidable general of the Apus dynasty, on par with Ziyad. However, because Ziyad's Mansur Conglomerate had a larger army, his army had ultimately been defeated by Ziyad, resulting in the destruction of Abdullah's Conglomerate.
But Nasser was not one to admit defeat, and he had never shown fear. He was completely loyal to Abdullah, and if not for his assistance, Abdullah would not have been able to accomplish so much.
Nasser thought for a few moments before saying, "We can't make a move for now. The Caliph is only seriously ill and has not gone to see Allah. If Mansur were to make a move at this time, he would be harboring ill intentions, and many people would oppose him. This would be very disadvantageous for him. Moreover, we're not to be trifled with. Our army of one hundred thousand is nearby, so if we really were to make a move, we wouldn't be afraid."
It was clear that Apos was still alive, so they could only fight in the dark. They had to appear harmonious on the surface. Whoever started an internal strife would be opposed by the neutral forces, which would cause them to be unable to find support for themselves.
In addition, they were very concerned about who the seriously ill Apos was going to pass the position of Caliph to. Since Apos was the Caliph, whoever he passed the position of Caliph to would have the legal advantage and the support of many people, making it easier for that person to rise to the position of Caliph.
For example, in history, Apos had passed the position of Caliph to his younger brother, Mansur, thus allowing Mansur to obtain the legal status. After that, although Abdullah had gathered a large number of troops to resist Mansur, because Mansur had sufficient legal foundation, most of the people supported Mansur. This was also one of the reasons for Abdullah's eventual defeat.
Abdullah nodded and said, "Since Mansur can bring back Ziyad, shouldn't we also bring back some of the generals and soldiers in the north and east?"
Nasser thought for a moment and objected, "That's not very appropriate. The north and east are places that we took great pains to control. If the army retreats, we will lose these places. This way, the area we control will be too small. Once we enter a long-term confrontation with Mansur, it will be very disadvantageous for us."
It was clear that Nasser's considerations were very thorough. When two factions clashed, it was not only a competition of troops and equipment, but also logistics and food.
The more areas Abdullah could control, the easier it would be to gather troops and food, and the easier it would be to achieve the final success. If they gave up the surrounding lands that they took great pains to control, then even if they could kill Mansur, the strength of the Apus dynasty would be greatly damaged, and there would be a lot of mess to clean up in the future.
"Yes, what you said makes sense. We used the blood of our soldiers to take these lands bit by bit from the Umayyad dynasty. We can't give them up so easily. The population and food of these lands are the most important things to our dynasty. We can't give them up so easily."
Abdullah agreed with Nasser's opinion. He was also very unwilling to give up large areas of land. These lands were obtained with the blood of his soldiers, and they could not be given up so easily.
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