The entire Isfahan has become a huge construction site.

Along the outer periphery of the tall city wall, dozens of bastions for tens of thousands of people were almost completed. For these dozens of bastions, all Safi warriors who gathered from all over the country became craftsmen. They not only had to build a bastion around Isfahan as acropolis day and night, but also needed to strengthen the city walls.

All of these are very troublesome tasks, especially for Ding Zhuang, who came from the semi-nomadic tribe. Such tasks are definitely hard and tiring, so the whole army complained!

The reason for this is that they had long been deeply aware that traditional medieval city walls were impossible to withstand the impact of modern artillery fire. Therefore, the city walls that were originally as high as 25 meters were thickened to 7 to 10 meters by them using soil-based materials, and a large number of fortifications were built along the city walls. This could effectively absorb the impact of artillery shells. In order to prevent the Tang army engineers from approaching the corners of the wall, a new moat was also dug around the city.

While the city wall was defending and strengthening, everyone's hearts were still hanging, fearing that the Tang army would be more powerful than the speed of the war. Before they could strengthen the city wall, they rushed over from the border.

However, such a thing did not happen. When the wheel of history rolled to mid-June 1657, Isfahan's defensive reinforcement was finally basically completed!

Standing on the newly built basin at the top of the city wall, looking at the fortress in front of the city wall, Abbas II finally felt relieved. He breathed a long sigh of relief and said to General Suleiman beside him:

"Sulaiman...it can finally make people feel relieved! With these fortresses, no matter what, whether Tang attacks strongly or takes a strong lead, we will definitely beat them!"

General Suleiman, who led his troops to defeat Kandahar a few years ago, was Abbas II who was also very satisfied with the newly built fortress in front of him. He nodded repeatedly and said:

"Twenty years ago, we had only tens of thousands of defenders in Baghdad, but we resisted the 100,000 Ottoman army. Now, we have 600,000 people here, no problem whether it is attacking or defense. Even if the artillery of the Tang army is very powerful, it will have no impact on us... After all, we built the city wall so thick, and there are so many bastions around... Suleiman, after winning this battle, you will definitely become the most famous general in the world. It's good, very good!"

"Shah, we will definitely win this battle!"

Suleiman smiled:

"The only thing that makes people worry is food. After all, now we focus on hundreds of thousands of troops here and need a lot of food every day, which is the most important thing!"

Abbas II nodded seriously and said:

"This is exactly what I'm worried about... That's why I ordered not to attack their troops along the way, and let him attack the Tang people as soon as possible. As long as their troops are at the city, they will be in a dilemma."

"Shah is wise!"

Suleiman smiled:

"As long as the Tang army comes, we can send troops to attack their rear... As long as they cut off their retreat, we will have time to waste with them at that time."

...

Almost as the fortifications in Isfahan were about to be completed, the vast "Tang Tianjun" had crossed the Atrak River. Since the Tianfang people invaded the Persian Sassanid Dynasty in 661 AD, this was the Han army that once again set foot on this land after a thousand years. Before that, despite occasional border conflicts, it was just a conflict.

However, in just two days, the Tang army's vanguard captured the city of Hilkania and controlled this gentle and humid agricultural area. A large number of Tang army immediately implemented a comprehensive occupation of this area to ensure that the wheat in the fields became food.

At the same time, Li Guo, who was personally in charge of the army of the generals, led a 200,000 middle route army and continued to move south.

Along the way, it was more like an armed march than an attack. Because there was no conflict. Before the Tang army arrived, the local nobles had already fled with their subordinates in panic.

In the northern Persia, the "Tang Dynasty Heavenly Army" was recovered without any bloodshed!

Yes, it is to regain the revenge according to officials of the Ministry of Rites. This was once the Persian governor's office of the Tang Dynasty. As "descendants of the Tang Dynasty", they should of course regain this lost land.

All right!

This is just a reason and excuse.

"Master, according to the report of the explorer, the Persian army should retreat to Israkhan. They gathered about 400,000 or 500,000 people there!"

"The king, according to the spies, the Persians have been building bastions near Islakhan these days. They have built thirty-five bastions outside the city. They have also strengthened the city walls. In addition to the bastions outside the city, they have also built a new moat. They have used moats and bastions to completely block the road to Islakhan!"

While the Persians sent spies, the Tang Dynasty also sent spies. After all, there were many heretic Jews and Armenians in Persia. The loyalty to Islakhan was almost zero. As long as the price was right, they could sell everything. It was through those people that the Tang Dynasty had basically figured out the situation in Islakhan, and also marked the rough deployment of their troops on the map.

With his hands behind his back and standing in front of the large map, Li Guo was silent for a long time.

"They want to lure the enemy into the depths!"

Staring at Israhan, Li Guo said.

"Duke Qin, Duke Jin, how are you going to fight?"

Li Guo asked.

Tian Kexiu said directly:

"The reason they waited for us in Israkhan is that it is located in the heart of Persia. When hundreds of thousands of troops were killed, it was just a labor force to go on an expedition. As long as they were firm and cleared, they would attack our rear baggage when we went deeper alone. If we couldn't drag it down for a long time, it would definitely be extremely unfavorable for us. If we were not careful, hundreds of thousands of troops might be all placed here."

Temptation of the enemy into the depths, strengthen the walls and clear the fields, work hard to expedition, and cut off the enemy's food route.

These are the most commonly used methods for Han people to fight wars. They are not unfamiliar with these guys from the Tang Dynasty who have fought for half their lives.

"No matter how much he is, Father, since they have opened the empty door, we are not polite. We will fight all the way to Islahan, and then eat all the fifty or six hundred thousand people, and the battle will definitely be the world!"

OK, Li Laiheng has a big appetite now... The Persians set up a bait there, which was obviously trying to lure the enemy deep in the face. He is fine, no matter what you want to do, I have to eat you in one bite!

Of course, Li Laiheng dares to brag about this, but he makes sense that he has a cannon!

This time, the Tang army brought a total of up to 360 field artillery and 726 mortar artillery pieces this time. In terms of the number of artillery pieces, it even far exceeds the firepower of Napoleon's expedition to Russia.

Moreover, the bronze field guns imitated by the Ming Dynasty were powerful. Although the Persians had learned about this, they had not realized how powerful they were. They did not realize that the Tang army's cannons were more powerful than European cannons and could also fire bombs.

Only with enough shells, they could razed the entire Israkhan to the ground.

However, Li Guo did not make a decision immediately, but looked at the map again.

"The problem has not been solved by fighting like this..."

Tian Kexiu said:

"The food, grass and ammunition of our hundreds of thousands of troops must be transported from behind. If we don't solve the food route, we will be uneasy even if we fight."

"His Majesty……"

Suddenly, Yuan Zongdi said.

"Do you remember how Emperor Ming fought against the late emperor in Northern Zhili?"

"Fight the late emperor?"

Everyone was stunned.

"Yes, didn't the late emperor want to defend the city at the beginning? What's the result? The Ming Emperor built a fortress and trapped the late emperor inside. What's the result? Everyone knows that we can also use fortresses to trap them inside... and then divide our troops and attack everywhere. How many soldiers do the Persians have? Now 500,000 and 600,000 soldiers gathered in Islakhan, and they were empty everywhere. We only need to use 200,000 to defend them, and then use 200,000 to attack the city everywhere! This chess was scared. Of course, the country mainly thought that the division was too risky, and could also concentrate its troops to capture Islakhan first. It was just like this. They might take advantage of our opportunity to attack Islakhan and attack our food route..."

Yuan Zongdi's suggestion made Li Guo nod his head in praise, and then looked at him and said to everyone.

"Okay, I think this method is OK. Since they want to stick to it, we will use siege instead of attacking!"
Chapter completed!