Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 636 Capture of Kandahar

"Reconciliation?"

September [-], Hexi City (Samarkand).

When Cao Wenzhao, who had just arrived south after recovering West Siberia, got the news that Lin Dan Khan had sent an envoy, his first reaction was that Lin Dan Khan was cheating.

On the main seat, Cao Wenzhao looked suspicious, and below was Cao Bianjiao sitting in the seat.

The place where they are located is the newly built Hexi General Military Mansion. Since the Hexi city is full of Central Asian religious-style buildings, they don't like it, so this yamen was newly built.

"Uncle, the envoy is still in Huoxun City in the northwest, and there are more than [-] miles from Huoxun City to here. You might as well call him over and send news to the capital at the same time."

In the first place, Cao Bianjiao expressed his opinion. Cao Wenzhao helped his long beard, and after a while he muttered:

"Yes, the main thing is to ask for His Highness's opinion."

"In addition, Kandahar will be recovered in just a few days. You might as well wait a few more days and send back the victory report."

Having said that, Cao Wenzhao frowned and said:

"I also have to write a handwritten letter and send it to His Highness. I heard that Sun Shoufa and Cao Meng also went to Qi by boat at the beginning of the month. It seems that there are not many people left."

"I have to ask His Highness what you mean, don't delay the future of your uncle and nephew."

Cao Wenzhao still had his heart in Qi, but Cao Bianjiao didn't find it strange, because he thought so too.

"Dingjiao's side, I heard that there was a big rebellion. Although it was suppressed, 10,000+ Yingzhou men died. I don't know if His Highness will be angry..."

Cao Bianjiao frowned worriedly, obviously very worried about this matter.

However, Cao Wenzhao comforted him and said: "The life of a man in Yingzhou is as cheap as grass. Since he rebelled, it is not a pity."

"Having said that, but... alas..." Cao Bianjiao stopped thinking about it, and focused on the sand table in the center of the hall.

Kandahar, which has a history of more than 800 years, is also the third largest city in Central Asia in the mid-[-]th century, second only to Samarkand and Kabul.

The location of this place is important, it is the transportation hub leading to Mughal, Persia, and Samarkand, and it is located on the plateau oasis at the northeast end of the Lezistan Desert, so it has important strategic significance.

Whether it was before or when the river was recovered, it was the main recovery area for the Western Expeditionary Army.

Winning here can not only compress the strategic space of the Mughals, but also serve as an outpost of the Ming army, cooperate with the Western army to attack the Mughals, and prepare for the recovery of the entire territory of India in the future.

Here, [-] Mughal Mongolian cavalry, [-] Persian mercenaries and [-] European gunners were stationed.

Most of the residents here are Pashtuns and Tajiks, and there are also a small number of Baluchis, with a population of about [-]. However, after the Ming army attacked Kandahar, they fled back to the hinterland of Mughal.

Therefore, at this moment, more than 1000 troops are gathering in this oasis at an altitude of more than [-] meters.

However, the situation here is opposite to the number of people. The fact is that 5 Ming troops are besieging more than [-] Mughal troops, and the war is about to end...

"put!"

"Bump--"

When Cao Bianjiao paid attention to Kandahar, the city wall of Kandahar, which had been mended for more than 800 years, encountered shelling that it had never suffered.

Six hundred Yanshan five-jin cannons were displayed outside the city. Groups of one hundred were divided into six groups and fired continuously.

Such continuous shelling made the Mughal army in Kandahar miserable.

The reason why they did not retreat was not because they were brave and good at fighting, but because Kabul in the north had been captured by the Ming army.

The fall of Kabul meant that the defenders of Kandahar had lost their way of retreat, unless the reinforcements could defeat the partial division of the Ming army guarding the pass from the Khyber Pass, but this seemed impossible.

"Bump--"

"Mother... this tortoise's shell is quite hard!"

The artillery fired again, and Li Zicheng's yelling followed.

At this moment, he led his generals to guard behind the artillery position, and behind him were more than [-] brave and skilled Ming soldiers.

Beside him, Li Dingguo also looked at the battlefield with a binoculars, and his generals stood behind him.

Li Zicheng and Li Dingguo, although both are general soldiers, their status is obviously different.

Before Hezhong was captured, Li Zicheng was canonized as the general soldier of Hezhong, and Li Dingguo has no awards for the time being.

That is to say, Li Dingguo is only the commander-in-chief of a government, and Li Zicheng is the commander-in-chief of a province. There is a big difference.

However, everyone knew that Li Dingguo was from Prince Qi's residence, and no one dared to offend him. Even Li Zicheng, who liked to scold others, had to restrain his mouth when he saw Li Dingguo.

"General soldier! The southern captives stormed the Khyber Pass. General Li is short of ammunition. Please use the ammunition!"

Tang Qi came on horseback, and because of the muddy battlefield, he almost slipped and fell to the ground. Fortunately, he was skilled in horsemanship, rolled over and rolled off his horse, and then bowed and took out his military information.

When Li Zicheng heard that something happened to his younger brother, he quickly grabbed the military information and read everything at a glance.

After a while, he put away his military information and explained to the left and right:

"The southern captives sent 2000 soldiers and horses to try to break through the Khyber Pass. Since they only have [-] people, they can block it for three days, and the ammunition is not enough for three days. Who wants to rush to help?!"

"I'll go!" Man Xian stood up without hesitation.

At this point in the battle, he has been promoted to a general, and he can lead a battalion of soldiers and horses alone, which is more than enough to help Li Zijing.

"If you don't want so many people, you take two sentries (1190 people) soldiers and horses with multiple ammunition to rush to the Khyber Pass, and ask Li Zijing to block the southern captives for ten days."

"Ten days later, Kandahar will be destroyed!"

"The last general takes orders!" Man Xian didn't say much, and turned around to leave the battlefield with his lieutenant general.

Not long after, an army in the early [-]s and a train team composed of [-] civilians broke away from the formation.

The departure of these 3000 people did not make the lineup of the Ming army look much smaller, because there are more than 3 civilians behind the army.

The departure of 3000 people, in the eyes of the Kandahar defenders, is more like a team that has left the team and returned to the rear.

"Brother Li, how long do you think it will take to capture Kandahar?"

Zhu Cixuan looked at Kandahar who was being bombarded, and couldn't help asking about Li Dingguo, and Zhu Cijiong who was next to him also looked curiously.

"Three days are enough..."

Li Dingguo put down the binoculars in his hand, and looked at Li Zicheng beside him while saying the answer:

"Could Zongbing Li let the artillery bombard the city wall at the northwest corner of Kandahar at about [-]:[-]?"

"Huh?" Hearing Li Dingguo's words, Li Zijian immediately looked in the direction he said.

He carefully adjusted the multiplier of the telescope, and finally saw the dense cracks on the city wall.

"Turn the direction of the muzzle! Fire at the northwest corner of the city wall!"

"Beep--"

When Li Zicheng put down the binoculars and shouted orders, the lieutenant next to him immediately blew the wooden whistle, and then asked someone to tell the muzzle to change direction.

For a while, the artillery of the Ming army stopped, and the Mughal army kept cheering.

Just before they cheered for too long, the artillery of the Ming army broke out again when Li Zicheng's wooden whistle blew.

"Bump--"

The shelling was more intense this time, because Li Zicheng divided the artillery into three groups and fired at each other.

The fierce shelling dented and deformed the walls of Kandahar.

The original crack continued to expand, and this change was also noticed by the Mughal army. They started a riot, but there was nothing they could do.

"Rumble..."

"The wall has collapsed!"

"The gap is too big! It can't be filled!"

"Woooo-"

After six days of shelling, the walls of Kandahar finally fell.

Its collapse not only killed more than a hundred soldiers, but also created a gap three or four feet wide in Kandahar.

The Mughal army wanted to repair it, but the cavalry snipers of the Ming army in the distance made it difficult for them to move.

What's more terrible is that even if the city wall collapsed, the Ming army did not launch a general offensive, but continued to maintain shelling.

In this battle, the cruelty faced by Mughal was like two people fighting each other. The Ming army held a long sword and Mughal wore armor.

In such a unilateral situation, when Mughal's armor was taken off, the battle became a man with a long sword chasing and killing a man who was powerless.

When the city walls began to collapse, it meant that the armor of the Mughal defenders of Kandahar was being taken off one after another.

When the armor is completely taken off, the long sword in the hands of the Ming army will cut off the heads of the Mughal army.

The Mughal generals naturally knew all this, so they shouted for soldiers to mend the walls.

It's just that, compared with the speed of their repairs, the speed of the Ming army's shelling is faster.

"Bump--"

Not waiting for the Mughal defenders to repair the previous gap, the Ming army launched another bombardment after a lapse of 2 minutes.

This time, they not only destroyed the place they repaired, but also directly widened the gap.

"Bump--"

"Bump--"

The artillery of the Ming army repeatedly shelled round after round at intervals of 2 minutes, so that while the gap in the city wall continued to expand, more and more Mughal troops were killed and injured.

At this moment, the rumbling cannons of the Ming army became the only melody on the battlefield, and each round of shelling was very rhythmic.

"Open the city gate and prepare to break through!"

Seeing that the gap could not be blocked, and the city wall would collapse sooner or later, the Mughal general Sabatong ordered to go out of the city to break through.

Under his order, more than 4 troops composed of Mongolian cavalry and Persian mercenaries began to open the four city gates, and the army filed out.

Seeing this, Li Zicheng also put down the binoculars, drew his sword and leaned forward, pointing at the Mughal army leaving the city:
"go ahead!"

"Beep-"

The long whistle sounded one after another in the army, and the cavalry and horse infantry of the Ming army began to get on their horses in an orderly manner.

They rode their horses forward, and the process was not in a hurry. The sun and moon flags and the "朙" flags facing them brought the psychological pressure on the Mughal army on the opposite side, but it intensified as they marched.

In the sunshine of late autumn, the neat array of Ming soldiers gave the Mughal army a creepy feeling.

"wind!"

"Wind! Gale! Gale!"

All the Ming soldiers wore iron masks, and the iron masks produced by machine hydraulic pressure uniformly adopted the "growning eyes" expression of the stone carvings of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, when the Ming army appeared on the battlefield wearing such a visor, it often brought huge psychological pressure to the enemy.

Although the Mongolian cavalry and Persian mercenaries in the Mughal army have also undergone long-term training, they cannot compare with the strength of the Ming army after all.

In addition, their equipment was far inferior to that of the Ming army, so when the Ming army started to advance, those soldiers who left the city first began to feel guilty, and some even began to sweat on their foreheads.

In fact, they built a lot of fortifications outside the city, and even many of the fortifications were built in imitation of the Ming army.

Just like at this moment, they stood behind the two-foot-deep trench, six-foot-high wooden fence, and sandbags, and they would not be exposed to the sight of the Ming army even if they were riding war horses.

Most of them held large arquebus guns on sandbags, and the comrades around them also gave them enough courage.

But for some reason, when facing the Ming army without any support, their hearts couldn't help feeling weak and trembling.

When the array seemed a bit unstable, and even when there were buzzing voices, a Mongolian noble general in cotton armor uttered an angry roar. He looked at the These Mughal soldiers.

"What are you afraid of! They are human beings, and they have a head and a life!"

"The muskets in your hands and the knives on your waists are also weapons that can kill people!"

"Now the most difficult task of defending the city has been completed. All you have to do is to prepare to break through. Could it be that you can't even break through to save your life?!"

When any group is about to perish, there will never be a shortage of people who stand up.

Although they are of no real use to the situation, their existence should not be underestimated.

In the shouts of the Mongolian generals, the Mughal soldiers realized that what they had to do now was not to guard against death, but to wait for the follow-up soldiers and horses in the city to leave the city, and everyone broke out together.

Once the breakout is successful, they can save their lives by taking them. They should be happy, right?

Thinking of this, many soldiers secretly cheered themselves up, and the originally low morale of the army began to gradually pick up.

It's just that the Mughal troops who were inspired at this time will soon realize one thing.

That is, no matter how the small universe breaks out, the gap in the iteration of weapons and equipment is the gap, and they will soon be taught to be human on the battlefield...
On the battlefield, more than [-] Ming troops formed a long horizontal line from four directions and began to approach the position of the Mughal army, from two miles to one mile, and then from one mile to two hundred paces. .

The Mughal artillery had already been destroyed as the city walls continued to collapse. At this moment, they had no other means of long-distance attack except for the muskets in their hands, so they could only watch the Ming army approaching them.

"I still want to break through... What a wishful thinking!"

Li Zicheng narrowed his eyes and looked at the Mughal army on the opposite side. After laughing, he slashed down fiercely with the Yanling knife in his hand.

"attack!"

"Beep!"

After hearing the order, the banner officer waved the command flag. After seeing the situation, all the troops waved the flags of each army and blew the wooden whistle of each department.

The four thousand horse and infantry soldiers of the Ming army who were attacking from the north sat on horseback, holding the rifles in their hands and loading them.

After more than ten seconds of reloading time, they pulled the trigger a hundred steps away from the Mughal army.

"Bang bang bang-"

Following a burst of violent gunshots and thick white smoke, a rain of bullets poured directly in the direction of the Mughal army.

I saw fence sawdust, sandbags and sand splashing everywhere in the Mughal army's position, and many unlucky ghosts were shot and fell down one after another.

After the Ming army fired shots, there was a sudden commotion among the soldiers in the direction of the Mughal army, but it was quickly quelled by the Mughal army generals.

It's just that, unlike the traditional three-stage shooting method, the rifle firing intervals are very short, so in the next long time, the dense rain of bullets from the Ming army made the Mughal army unable to hold its head up.

Just three rounds of volleys had already caused thousands of casualties, but this time it made the generals of the Mughal army anxious.

"The whole army breaks out in the direction of Kabul! Reinforcements have already approached the Khyber Pass!"

"Woooo..."

Some Mughal generals roared loudly and even released "false news" to boost morale.

"kill!"

After hearing that it was possible to break out, more than 4000 troops who had successfully left the city began to open the wooden fence to break out in the direction of Kabul.

Mongolian cavalry rode war horses, and Persian mercenaries rode draft horses, rough horses, and even walked.

At this moment, they just want to break out and save their lives.

But for the Ming army, they only want the rewards they get after killing the enemy...

"Bang bang bang-"

It was not the sound of the muskets of the Mughal army breaking out of the siege, but the continuous firing of the Ming army.

This clearly shows the shortcomings of the current muskets of the Mughal army. It is too complicated to load ammunition, and the rate of fire is so slow that it cannot be compared with the Ming army's round fire.

"Bang bang bang-"

In the continuous shooting of the Ming army, the soldiers of the Mughal army fell down one after another.

Eventually, amidst thousands of casualties, the Mughal army began to pull the trigger.

But before that, the soldiers of the Ming army had already started fighting while withdrawing, keeping a distance of more than 150 steps from the Mughal army.

Therefore, even if the Ming army was shot occasionally, even if the projectiles from the Mughal army's matchlock guns could penetrate the paper armor, they would not be able to break through the defense of the inner cotton armor.

There are also many projectiles that can't even penetrate paper armor at this distance, so the Ming army only suffered skin trauma.

A little more serious, that is, the horse was shot, and the soldier fell off the horse and injured himself.

At this time, the blows the two sides dealt to each other are completely different, but anyone with a discerning eye can see the current decline of the Mughal army.

If the fight continues like this, they will be completely wiped out by the Ming army before breaking through.

"We can't continue to fight like this, the cavalry must charge!"

Shaba Tong frowned slightly, he had already seen clearly the current decline of the Mughal army, if he continued to fight like this, it would be useless to die.

The artillery is gone, and the cavalry has to rely on the cavalry to solve the problem after all.

In the breakout team, Shabatong quickly gathered a large number of cavalry, and the movements of the Mughal army naturally could not be hidden from the eyes of Li Zicheng and other generals watching the battle.

Among the contingency plans formulated by Li Zicheng and Li Dingguo, there are naturally relevant countermeasures.

"Beep beep beep-"

After a burst of orders came out, only three melodious whistles sounded.

The generals of the Ming army who heard the whistle began to pass on the military orders, and the Ming army on the battlefield also began to gather under their command to gather the formation.

Naturally, the adjustment and formation of the two sides is not something that can be done in an instant, it takes a long time to adjust.

However, the Ming army could fight back while adjusting, but the Mughals could not.

Therefore, after seeing that the number of his own side was getting smaller and smaller, Shabatong directly gave up the idea of ​​cavalry charging:
"Breakout to Kabul!"

He roared, and then took the lead, leading the cavalry around him to break through.

This scene caught many people off guard, whether it was the Mughal Mongols, the Persians, or the Ming army, almost all of them were confused by him.

But fortunately, Li Dingguo reacted very quickly, he shouted and urged:

"Four parts encircled and pursued! Don't let any of the southern captives go!"

"kill!"

Li Dingguo raised his gun to cheer, and even led more than a hundred cavalry around him to give chase.

Seeing this scene, the Ming army who was in a daze looked at Li Zicheng one after another.

"Look at what I'm doing?! Hurry up and chase! Don't let this group of bounty hunters get away!"

Li Zicheng cursed loudly, and his steed also joined in the pursuit.

For a time, riots broke out in both troops and horses. More than 1 Ming army cavalry and horse infantry began to chase the [-] Mongolian cavalry in Shabatong who had fled. The remaining Ming army was also the light infantry in the Mughal army.

During the siege, the Mughal soldiers finally had the opportunity to fight the Ming army at close range.

It's a pity that because too many people were too nervous, many people forgot to take off the stab sticks. As a result, a large number of projectiles, which were originally thought to be bullets, turned into stab sticks and were fired one by one, hitting the Ming army.

The stabbing made the armored soldier's chest hurt, but there was no harm, and he recovered after taking a breath.

Seeing such a scene, the soldiers of the Ming army were naturally overjoyed. They knew that the mentality of the Mughal army had gradually collapsed.

So they decisively began to press forward and continued to press up, without any worries about the muskets of the Mughal army.

At a distance of dozens of steps, they all stabilized their muskets, and then pulled the trigger.

"Bang bang bang-"

Only a burst of violent gunshots was heard, and a thick white smoke filled the air. The pungent smell of gunpowder smoke finally became a symbol of hell.

The thousands of bullets fired at such a close range, with an incomparable speed, easily penetrated the armor and penetrated into the bodies of the Mughal army, bursting out countless bloody flowers from their backs.

In just an instant, almost more than 3000 people fell to the ground.

After such a round of blows, the abandoned light infantry of the Mughals completely collapsed, and they began to be easily harvested by the Ming army.

Looking at the fallen Mughal soldiers, the soldiers of the Ming army could not stop smiling.

A young soldier who seemed to be a recruit even reloaded proficiently while muttering: "Five taels...five taels...five taels..."

Under their siege, tens of thousands of Mughal light infantry who were abandoned all fell down.

Li Zicheng, who failed to pursue Shabatong, saw a group of troops chasing the Mughal cavalry in the distance before he could rejoice over the destruction of the light infantry regiment.

After they approached, Li Zicheng realized that the people who came back were Li Dingguo, Zhu Cixuan, and Zhu Cijiong.

"People are dead, and the southern captive cavalry are being chased and suppressed..."

Li Dingguo rode his horse to the front of the generals and threw a head in front of them.

The head rolled twice on the ground, finally revealing Shabatong's pale face with wide-eyed anger and a trace of horror...

(End of this chapter)