Tumeng: I am a national advisor in the Golden Family

"Brother, the emperor said that this time we must surround the city tightly and not let Kublai Khan escape." Zhang Dingxia said.

This city is very huge and majestic. The city wall is about ten meters high. Even in the Central Plains of the East, it is considered to be an upper-middle city.

"Thirty years ago, when we attacked this city, it didn't have such a high city wall. It should have been added later. I don't know whether it was reinforced by Kublai Khan or Chagatai." Chatoha said.

When he followed Genghis Khan on the march, he was just an ordinary centurion, and the city walls of Samarkand were not as majestic as they are now.

"This must have been built by Kublai Khan. When we ruled here, there were no such magnificent buildings!" said a general of the Chahetai family.

The Khan of their Chagatai Khanate was also of pure Mongolian descent and liked the nomadic lifestyle.

Therefore, some cities were not very popular and were handed over to local people for management. All they had to do was pay taxes and tributes on time, such as Samarkand at that time.

There was simply not enough money to rebuild it. This city must have been built by Kublai Khan. As for its function, that goes without saying.

"He won't try to use this wall to stop us, will he? This wall has been raised a little.

But compared to Xiangyang Prefecture, Lin'an Prefecture, Tongguan Prefecture, and Kaifeng Prefecture, it is far worse." Zhang Dingguan shook his head and said.

The architectural styles of these cities in the Western Regions are very different from theirs. Their city walls are made of blue bricks and tiles, with glutinous rice paste added to increase the stickiness. (The city walls built in ancient China are definitely better than those in the West.)
After his father completed the great unification, he added some cement and concrete mixed with stones and rebuilt it.

This kind of city wall is the strongest, but it is very difficult to make cement in the land of the Western Regions. All you can make is this kind of loess block, with some gravel and wood ash added to it to increase its viscosity.

To them, it was even a little ridiculous.

"Kublai Khan has no other choice. These are the only materials here. If he can make the city walls thicker and higher, that's already very good," said Zhang Dingguan.

Without the technology his father brought from the divine messenger, and without the top craftsmen from the East, it was already amazing that the local people from the Western Regions built the city into what it is today.

After the army arrived, Zhang Ding immediately ordered 5 troops to go around the back of the city and then block the rear. Hundreds of thousands of troops surrounded the city of Samarkand.

"The current population of this city is probably only about 300,000, but there are about 100,000 defenders inside, including more than 40,000 Mongolians and about 50,000 local people.

However, these local people have no fighting power and basically just serve as civilians." said the general of the Chagatai Khanate.

"With so many troops crowded in a city like this, the food consumption is very high. Even if Kublai Khan started storing food and grass a few years ago, it can only last for 3 to 4 months at most." Han army general Guo Kan said.

Kublai Khan obviously wanted to defend to the death.

"Three months? Haha! We won't waste three or four months with him. We must capture this city within ten days." Zhang Dingxia said.

Are you kidding? Why would it take so long to fight Kublai Khan? In order to deal with Kublai Khan, his father sent a large number of advanced weapons, heavy artillery, cannons, muskets, and even thunderbolt rockets.

"Brother, you are overestimating Kublai Khan, aren't you? Ten days, I think we can take this city in five at most."

Are you kidding? It didn’t take my father that long to capture Tongguan and Xiangyang Prefecture. Now their weapons are better and the city on the opposite side is worse. How could it take ten days?
"Hahaha! Your Highness is right. We really don't need to be polite to Kublai Khan." A Han army general smiled and said.

He had participated in the siege of Xiangyang. The artillery of the Guanzhong army was extremely powerful, and the weapons equipped by the Western Expedition Army were even more powerful than before.

"This time, we don't even need to send anyone in to persuade him to surrender. Kublai Khan will not surrender."

"Well! Let's set up our formation and start attacking the city!" Zhang Dingchuan said.

"We must capture Kublai Khan alive, put him on a prisoner cart, and transport him to the east to be handed over to Your Majesty for disposal."

"Well! Order all the soldiers to form their battle formations and take out all our artillery. We will bombard the city for a day to intimidate the enemy." Zhang Dingguan said.

Soon the Western Expedition Army began to move, and in the afternoon of that day, part of the army began to set up camp outside the city.

Another part of the army began to push out artillery, and in less than an hour, hundreds of artillery pieces were pushed out of the city of Samarkand.

Around the artillery, there were infantry phalanxes and cavalry phalanxes responsible for protection. If Kublai Khan dared to rush out with his troops, the cavalry units would also teach him a lesson.

There was no intention of being polite to Kublai Khan. More than a hundred cannons began roaring, starting a wonderful performance.

boom! boom! boom! boom!
Hundreds of artillery pieces fired at the same time, and the sound was deafening, as if the sky was angry and the earth was shaking.

The soldiers on the city wall were blown to pieces, and large amounts of wall paint began to fall off.

The defenders on the city walls, both locals and some Mongolian soldiers, were severely frightened.

Started barking and running around.

"Ah! Help!"

"God, God is coming. This is the wrath of God."

"We're done. We're done."

"God, bless us, bless your people. Our sins are imposed on us by others." Some local troops even began to kneel on the ground to perform prayer ceremonies.

Even some Mongols were frightened and sat on the city wall, not knowing what to do.

They had used explosive packs and trebuchets before, and their Mongolian army had always used them to bombard the enemy.

But they had never seen such a uniform artillery bombardment.

Zhang Yong's army had long since eliminated tactics such as catapults and throwing explosive packs. Now, explosive packs were only used to blow up some ordinary buildings.

It has even been applied to road construction and mining, because in addition to fighting, this thing is also very useful for mining and road construction. Now the army of the Daqian Empire has completed the replacement of equipment.

Things like explosive packs are already a thing of the past. They are now being used in other areas and are completely useless in wars.

"How can there be such a thing? How can there be such a thing?"

"Why? Why can it attack at such a long distance? A trebuchet, a trebuchet can't be launched that far, right?"

"Zhang Yong's army has long since eliminated catapults and explosive packs, and even thunder tubes and cannons are no longer in use. The heavy artillery they use now is the most lethal weapon." said a family general on the city wall.

After all, he was once a general of the Tolui family in the Central Plains, and he was familiar with the Guanzhong army. They used this kind of weapon when they attacked the Southern Song Dynasty. Only their Mongolian army liked to use catapults.

After all, the Mongolian army did not like to carry too many items, so when they arrived at a region to attack a city, they would simply cut down local trees to make them.

But this time, the army on the Western Expedition carried it with them, and the new gun barrels and gun bodies were more convenient to carry. They could be disassembled and wheels could be installed on the gun bodies.

Boom! Boom! The sound of explosions was heard in front of several city gates.

It has been almost half a year since the Western Expedition began, but large-scale artillery has never been used, even once, especially in small cities with a population of tens of thousands.

All the hot air balloon had to do was fly up, launch a few cannons, and fire a few shots, and the locals would open the city and surrender.

Several city gates were surrounded and bombarded with cannons. This was the first time that the traditional tactics of surrounding three and letting one go were not used. This time, the morale of Kublai Khan's army had to be completely crushed, so all the city gates were filled with cannons and bombarded.

The local defenders had completely collapsed, and even some ordinary Mongolian soldiers collapsed and ran to the city.

There was no living person on the city wall. If you stayed there, you would be blown to pieces. There would be no place to hide.

The local armies had never fought such a war before. In the past, when the enemy came to attack the city, they would only use catapults, light fire on them and throw some huge stones in. The Mongolian army would use some explosive things, but they were not so powerful!

They had never seen such a scene before. It was like a divine punishment, as if the entire city was shaking.

Kublai Khan in the city could no longer sit still at this time. He immediately mobilized his personal guards to go up to the city wall to supervise the battle in person, but was stopped by his subordinates.

"Khan! You can't go up now. You will die if you go up. The enemy's artillery is too powerful!" As soon as a general finished speaking, a huge explosion was heard on the city wall.

Rumble, rumble, the entire city wall was shaking, and some yellowish dust and stones fell down from time to time.

Kublai Khan's personal guards rushed to the auction house, fearing that some stones would hit him.

At this time, Kublai Khan's face turned pale and he gritted his teeth. He knew that he couldn't go up to the city wall in this situation, but, he was beaten like this by the enemy and it was only the first day!

Under such circumstances, he estimated that it would be difficult for him to hold out for even a month, let alone three months.

Zhang Yong, this bastard Zhang Yong, where on earth did he get such a powerful weapon?

Was he prepared when he presented explosive packs, catapults, thunder tubes and cannons to his grandfather Genghis Khan?
These more powerful weapons were hidden by him!
"If I don't go up, what if the enemy suddenly launches an attack? Are we going to give up our city wall?" Kublai Khan said.

The architectural style here is different from that in the East. The Western-style city only has the outer city walls for protection, and some dome-shaped fortress buildings inside, which have no defense at all.

Therefore, as long as the enemy takes the outer city, the inner city will basically be taken.

"Khan! If we go up to the city wall now, it will be a dead end. If the enemy wants to launch an attack, they will stop the shelling, otherwise they will accidentally hurt friendly forces. If the shelling outside the city stops, we will send people up." A general said.

"Well! You all don't have to be afraid of this kind of weapon. We Mongolians once had it, but those craftsmen all lived in Karakorum.

This weapon was invented by humans, made by Zhang Yong, and it is not a punishment from God. Go and tell the local people not to be afraid, this is not the wrath of God. "Kublai said.

At that time, I really should have asked some of the Mongolians under my command to learn how to make catapults, prepare gunpowder for explosive packs, and how to wrap them. Now firearms are completely gone from them.

The local people are basically all devout Muslims, so they are quite afraid of things that they cannot understand.

Several Mongolian generals nodded, and immediately took some loud-voiced officers to start speaking to the local ordinary people along other city walls.

After only a short period of shelling, the locals were almost on the verge of collapse. If their fear could not be eliminated, there would be no need to fight this war.

But let alone the locals, some of the Mongolian soldiers were already scared out of their wits, and only some of the centurions and thousand-man commanders were able to remain calm.

The sound of artillery fire outside the city continued, even when it was completely dark. The Western Expedition Army outside the city lit torches and continued to bombard with no intention of stopping at all.

Kublai Khan and a large group of Mongolian generals did not dare to rest and just stayed under the city wall. Some of them even huddled in the corner.

Because just now, the enemy's artillery outside blew down a section of the city wall, crushing several unlucky guys to death.

The violent explosions lasted until the second half of the night before slowly dissipating, and the Western Expedition Army then withdrew to the camp.

"Finally, it's finally over. Hurry, everyone, get on the city wall, quickly get on the city wall to prevent them from a sudden attack." After making sure that the artillery fire outside the city had stopped, Kublai Khan immediately began to urge his subordinates.

Some Mongolian generals immediately picked up their horse whips and started whipping the local soldiers next to them, asking them to quickly climb up the city wall. However, these local soldiers simply knelt on the ground and prayed devoutly.

No matter how they were beaten, scolded or kicked, they just wouldn't move.

"Don't you obey the Khan's orders? Kublai Khan orders you to go up to the city wall."

"Sir, this is the wrath of Allah. Allah blames us." said a local soldier.

"This is not the will of God, and you are not blamed by God. This is just a weapon of the enemy, just like those bows and arrows."

"No! You are wrong, General. How can it be the same as a bow and arrow? How can a bow and arrow be so powerful?"

"We have all heard that this divine messenger named Zhang Yong, the emperor of the Central Plains, is a great prophet who can talk to the true God."

"Yes, he can talk to God. These weapons of his are not something that humans should have. They must be given by the true God!
We, we cannot fight against the true messenger, otherwise, we will go to hell after we die."

Upon hearing this, some of the Mongolian generals present, including Kublai Khan, turned pale.

Sometimes, faith can indeed make it easy to rule the people, but overly devout faith can sometimes infinitely increase their fighting power, but sometimes make them completely powerless.

For example, in this situation, if you say that what is happening outside is not a miracle, some Mongolian soldiers will not believe it. How can a person fly to the sky? How can a person use such a weapon to create fire?
What's more, these soldiers from the Western Regions had heard that this great prophet possessed a fire that could not be extinguished even by water.

Before the enemy arrived, they were willing to go up to the city to work and defend the city under the intimidation and coercion of Kublai Khan and the Mongolian generals, but now after a round of artillery bombardment, they were simply scared out of their wits.

"If you don't go up to the city wall, I will kill you." Kublai Khan drew his saber.

However, these local people were still kneeling on the ground and praying, with no intention of obeying Kublai Khan's orders.

When Kublai Khan saw this scene, he was extremely angry and chopped directly at the head of a local. The head fell off and blood spurted out like a fountain.

But these people kneeling on the ground did not react at all. Kublai Khan was extremely angry and picked up his scimitar to kill several more people.

"Go ahead and kill us. We can return to Allah's embrace. You will be punished. Allah's Messenger is coming to deal with you."

Even if Kublai Khan picked up his scimitar and killed a few local people, it would have no effect.

Because in their belief, being killed in this way can go to heaven, but if you resist God's will, then even if you die, you will not go to heaven, but will go to hell.

"Okay, then I won't let you fight. You can go up to the city wall and repair the city wall. Is that okay?" Kublai Khan sighed helplessly.

He has killed more than a dozen people in a row, but these people just won't change their ways. If he continues to kill, it might cause a bigger mutiny.

But even so, the locals were unwilling to move. They just knelt on the ground and prayed, not treating Kublai Khan as a human being at all.

"You, you! Come on, kill them all, kill them all." Kublai Khan was completely furious.

"Khan! You can't kill them, you can't kill them. Let's, let's gather all the Mongolian soldiers to defend the city!" A general immediately stopped the furious Kublai Khan.

At this time, if you start killing people indiscriminately, causing an uprising in the city and the locals start to resist, then things will be bad.

"This is the will of God, this is the will of Allah, we must surrender."

Kublai Khan's blood pressure had risen, and he raised his scimitar and killed a dozen local soldiers. (End of this chapter)