On the winding mountain road, Saladin, who was riding a horse to admire the scenery along the way, seemed to care nothing about the next battle.

In contrast, the general next to him is not in such a good mood.

"Caliph, I don't understand. Why do you entrust such an important task to Ratib?" Elem, the highest commander of the Kassaji Guard, looked at Saladin with a distressed expression, and said in a low voice: " You should know that he is an old minister of the Abbasid Empire and has always been dissatisfied with you."

"I know."

"Then you still...?"

Saladin did not answer this question, but asked Elem another thing: "Do you know why I want you to be with me instead of letting you take on the task of Ratib?"

"do not know."

Saladin shook the horse's rein, and while driving the mount forward, he said: "When you want to understand the second question, you will naturally get the answer to the first question."

Elem was taken aback, tilted his head and thought for a long time, but he didn't know what to do.

He urged the horses to follow Saladin's pace, and said with a shy smile: "Great and omnipotent Caliph, your wisdom is unmatched, and your servants are dull, please..."

Saladin smiled and raised his whip, pointed at the Lonely Rock City built on the mountain, and asked: "If I give you seven thousand elite soldiers, how do you plan to attack this city?"

Speaking of war, Elem came to the spirit: "It doesn't take seven thousand, as long as you give me five thousand, and then dispatch the artillery to me, I can make this city surrender under your feet for up to ten days!"

Saladin laughed, shook his head at Elem and said, "Wrong!"

The latter was full of doubts: "Wrong? What's wrong?"

"I want you to attack this city, but at the same time I order you not to attack this city."

"Huh???" Elem thought there was a problem with his ears: "Attack this city, but you are not allowed to capture this city?! Caliph, are you kidding?!"

Saladin stroked his beard, looked at each other and smiled: "It's not a joke."

"why?!"

Saladin urged the horses once again, leaving Elem alone.

"When you want to understand the first two questions, you will naturally find the answer to the third question..."

Close to the east side of the mountain where Guyan City is located, there is a steep partial peak. The rock surface here is as smooth as a mirror, and the stone forest is as sharp as a thorn. Not to mention human beings, even ordinary animals, it is difficult to climb here.

However, at the top of this partial peak, there is a man and a woman standing, looking towards the battlefield at the foot of the mountain.

The man opened his mouth and said, "Guyan City can't hold on for long."

The woman asked, "What's the reason?"

"I went to the city to see that there were fewer than seven hundred defenders and too few troops." The man looked at the woman and said helplessly: "Mother god, according to your prompt, although the regent succeeded in preventing a surprise attack by the imperial army, But they still cannot face such a large number of enemy troops."

Eleanor stared at the man and asked another question: "Garcia, when will the reinforcements from Lone Rock City rush back to the city?"

"The fastest is about two days, and the latest is about four days."

Eleanor shifted his gaze to the battlefield and asked quietly: "In your opinion, if the reinforcements of Guyan City rush back in time, what is the chance of victory for the former in the face of the empire's army?"

"50%."

Eleanor looked at Garcia in surprise: "Even if the reinforcements rush back, the chance of winning is only 50%?!"

Garcia frowned and replied: "If the reinforcements rush back and the forces of Guyan City will return to their peak state, their winning rate will probably reach 80%, but the caliph of the empire is personally on the battlefield, so for the sake of conservativeness, I will take Guyan City's The odds of winning dropped to 50%."

Knowing that the other party's words have always been targeted, Eleanor pondered for a moment, and said: "In this way, what we have to do now is to extend a helping hand and help Guyan City..."

Above the gate of the outer city of Guyan City.

"That is the banner of the Kasaji Guard." Jennings pointed to a heavy cavalry regiment on the battlefield, and said while sighing: "That army is the imperial emperor's direct guard. Their appearance represents Ayou. The rulers of the cloth empire came here."

Randall looked at Jennings with a sad face, and proposed: "My lord, in addition to the reinforcements in Guyan City, if you want, there is actually an army that can help here at any time."

Jennings turned his head, looked at Randall's eyes, and said word by word: "Before the king died, he entrusted the kingdom to me, and specifically explained two things: 1. Protect the young queen until she reaches adulthood. ; 2. Make sure that Guyan City does not fall into the hands of others. Therefore, I cannot agree to anything that may threaten the king's power!"

After saying these words, Jennings refocused his attention on the battlefield and continued: "As long as our reinforcements can arrive in time, the victory of this war must belong to Guyan City!"

The army of the Ayub Empire was assembled at the foot of the mountain of Guyan City. The soldiers knelt on the ground, with their foreheads against the ground, palms up, listening to the old imam reciting scriptures. After completing a series of religious ceremonies, the infantry regiment began to draw out weapons, raise shields, and make the final adjustments; the firearm regiment cut holes in the ground, erected the gun stand, and began to check the match rope and magazine ; Under the leadership of the scholars, the artillery team calculated the trajectory over and over again and adjusted the scale and angle.

Looking at the terrifying heathen army in front of him, all the defenders of Guyan City were pale and their legs trembled.

The soldiers in Guyan City took out the crosses on their chests and began to mute the prayers of the Bible. Jennings called for his adjutant and asked in a low voice: "Is there any news about the reinforcements?"

The adjutant shook his head.

Jennings frowned and moved his gaze to the enemy army outside the city, but unexpectedly found a small group of men and horses walking out of the imperial army and slowly walking towards the city gate.

With full of doubts, Jennings looked at the leader of the squad, a stocky imperial official walked to the gate, and shouted: "The great and merciful Saladin is willing to be in God’s Before the anger falls on your heads, I will give you one last chance!"

Persuade to surrender?

Jennings clenched his hands into fists and smashed the wall below him hard.

After a while, he said solemnly in a hoarse voice: "Let those guys sit on the gondola and come to the top of the city."

The adjutant was taken aback, and then anxiously persuaded: "My lord, negotiating with infidels about this kind of thing, once it reaches the parish, I am afraid it will be detrimental to your reputation!"

Jennings turned his head and glared at the adjutant, and whispered: "I know! But at this time, false peace talks are the only way we can delay time!"

Looking at the imperial army in front of him, Jennings gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "As long as it can be dragged until the reinforcements arrive..."

Randall watched what was happening on the wall, with a vaguely bad premonition in his heart.

The invincible imperial emperor could not fail to understand the principle that soldiers are expensive and fast. He used light cavalry to raided the city gate last night, but today he sent an envoy to persuade him to surrender. What kind of premeditated is behind him?

Late that night, in the camp of the Ayub Empire.

Elem, the commander of the Kassaji Guard, came to Saladin's tent and asked for a meeting.

After the guards reported, Elem saw the emperor in the camp who was reading the lights at night.

"The Caliph, the messenger sent to persuade the surrender is back."

Hearing this, Saladin looked away from the book, saw a stinky face that was darker than the bottom of the pot, and said with a smile: "Let me guess, they neither agreed to surrender, nor explicitly resisted."

Elem said angrily: "These cunning old dogs are all trying to delay time!"

Saladin's expression didn't look surprised or irritated. He put down the book in his hand and said to his confidant general: "There is nothing wrong with the enemy choosing to do this at this time."

Hearing this, Elem asked tentatively: "If this is the case, can I just start the fight tomorrow without persuading to surrender?"

Saladin nodded slightly and said, "Yes, we can go to war tomorrow..."

"Great!" Elem geared up and said excitedly: "Caliph, as long as you give an order, I promise to..."

"Don't forget what I said to you before."

"what?"

Saladin patted the table and shouted in a low voice: "I allow you to attack Lone Rock City~lightnovelpub.net~ but you can't capture Lone Rock City!"

When Elem heard this, his face suddenly drooped.

Saladin ignored him, but cast his gaze to the north, muttering to himself: "Counting the time, it's almost time for Guyan City to know the news."

In the Barracks of Guyan City at this time, King Regent Jennings stood at the table, looking at the huge map in front of him. He hadn't rested for a long time, his face was slightly pale with two dark circles under his eyes.

"Today is already the second day after the messenger's departure, and there should be news to come back." Jennings looked at the map and recalled everything that happened in the past two days, always feeling that he had missed something important.

A rush of footsteps interrupted his thoughts.

"My lord! My lord! The messenger is back!"

Jennings raised his head, saw the messenger standing at the door, his eyes widened, and he shouted: "Let them in!"

The sentinel who came to send the order said with an embarrassed expression: "My lord, the messenger only came back, and some... others..."

Jennings was stunned for a moment, moved quickly, pushed the sentry at the door, and walked out quickly.

Walking outside the door, the first thing Jennings saw was a knight he had never seen before. He is short and fat, wearing a black armor with a cross umbrella pattern.

On the knight's back, lay the messenger of Guyan City, angrily as if he were still alive, his life and death uncertain.

Anxious Jennings ordered his men to take the messenger from the knight, while calling for a doctor.

The messenger sent to ask for help was shot in the chest with a musket, covered in blood. He opened his bloodshot eyes, looked at the regent of Guyan City, and swallowed his last breath after only one word.

"The fleet of the empire... three days ago... landed on the north side..."