Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

The Russian army was defeated. They had encountered the ever-cautious King Baoyin of Chu, and their defeat was inevitable from the moment Arshinsky ordered the surprise attack.

Under the fierce fire of the guards, the Evenki warriors fell one after another. The heavy casualties instilled fear in them, and they involuntarily retreated. Seeing so many of his people killed or wounded, Gentemur, who had already disapproved of the night raid, ordered his people to retreat with a heavy heart. The Evenki warriors, turning around and running in disarray, mingled with the Cossacks and native soldiers behind them, which further exacerbated the chaos.

"Damn it! Who told you to retreat? Don't retreat! Keep attacking!" Arshinsky was furious. He restrained the Cossacks around him, trying to stabilize the formation. Then, he heard wave after wave of war drums coming from the enemy camp.

One after another, the guards assembled and lined up in orderly formation. King Baoyin of Chu was fully armed, his scarlet battle robe fluttering in the wind. "Beat the drums! Heroes, follow me out of the camp and slay the Rakshasa demons!" he shouted to his men.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The drums thundered as Baoyin, spear in hand, led the way.

"Haorui~ Haorui~ Haorui~" The guards, in neat formation and carrying torches, followed their commander forward bravely.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Cossack leader Maximka Stolbov led the front rank of Cossacks in firing at the guards, trying to stop their attack.

Dozens of guards fell in pools of blood, but those behind them ignored them and continued forward.

"Giddy up! Giddy up! Giddy up!" Nahata, the chief of the Yaluaba tribe of the Oroqen people, rode his reindeer swiftly to Stolbov, raised his iron fork and stabbed him hard, sending him back to God's embrace.

Gentemur discovered that Zagda, the chieftain of the old Namiyar clan, had been stabbed to the ground by an enemy general clad in a scarlet battle robe. Perhaps the spear was too deeply embedded, so the general simply abandoned the spear, switched to a sword, and continued charging at him. Blood stained both man and horse, making them appear like demons of death.

"Withdraw! Withdraw quickly!" Gentemur ignored the military order of the Russian governor and led his remaining troops to retreat to the west bank of the Ambagirbich River.

Seeing him flee, Baoyin did not pursue, but instead ordered his men to turn towards the Cossacks who were still putting up a stubborn resistance. The Cossack formation was thrown into disarray, and Arshinsky could no longer control his men, so he had no choice but to order a retreat.

Retreat meant exposing their backs to the enemy, and over a thousand Russian soldiers died in pursuit by the Guards. Having barely escaped back to the west bank of the Ambagirbich River, Arshinsky rallied his troops, but only half of the original six thousand remained.

"How dare you retreat without my orders?" he yelled at Gentemur. After such a crushing defeat, someone had to take responsibility, and that responsibility fell to Gentemur. Despite the insults, Gentemur dared not utter a sound, silently enduring the abuse.

Seeing that he remained silent, Arshinsky snorted coldly, knowing that the west bank of the Anbagirbich River could not be held after the crushing defeat, and ordered the entire army to retreat to Nerchensk.

The defeated army retreated listlessly towards Nerchinsk Fortress. Suddenly, a fierce barrage of artillery fire erupted, sending the leading Russian troops flying in disarray. Lieutenant General Narbu and guerrilla commander Bob, acting on orders from the King of Chu, led 1,700 naval troops to land on the west bank of the Ambagirbich River, cutting off the Russian retreat. The native soldiers under Cossack Captain Anzifer Kondratiev were the first to be routed, and Kondratiev himself was cleaved in two by Narbu's broadsword. Seeing the situation was dire, Arshinsky led the remaining Cossacks in a desperate breakout, escaping back to Nerchinsk Fortress.

Gentemur tried to break through, but was blocked by the guards. In the fierce battle, his nephew, Tokurtai, was shot in the throat by a guard's arrow. Soon, Baoyin's army caught up from behind. In despair, Guden, the chieftain of the Evenki Tokongwoer clan, who was in charge of the rearguard, surrendered to the guards with three hundred Tokongwoer warriors. This surrender sent Gentemur and his son, Katanai, to their doom. Looking at the guards surging in from all sides and the dwindling number of Baiyier warriors around him, Gentemur sighed and ordered his remaining men to lay down their weapons and surrender. They were now at the mercy of the guards; once they surrendered, their lives were entirely in the hands of the guards!

"So you're the one who aided and abetted the Rakshasa demons in slaughtering your own kind?" Bao Yin glared fiercely at Gentemur, who was being brought in bound hand and foot, and cursed him. Just when he thought his life was in danger, Bao Yin changed his tune and spared his life, only removing him from the position of clan chief and appointing his son, Katana, as a chiliarch to command the tribe. He also appointed Guden, the surrendered chief of the Tokongwoer clan, as a chiliarch as well.

Overwhelmed with gratitude for his narrow escape, Gentemur knelt before Baoyin and pleaded, "My people are all near the Nerchinsk River. Please allow me to summon them to serve David!" As shrewd and experienced as he was, he knew that the victory of the Guards was a foregone conclusion after this battle. Summoning his people would prevent them from becoming hostages of the Russians and would also allow him to demonstrate his worth before His Highness the King of Chu.

Sure enough, Bao Yin's expression softened upon hearing this, and he said politely, "If you can summon the Evenki people, you will have performed a great service!"

At the call of surrendered generals such as Gentemur and Guden, about 6,000 Evenki people migrated to the area controlled by the garrison.

"What did you say? We lost! I gave you six thousand troops, and only a little over a thousand came back?" Inside the Nerchinsk governor's mansion, Vlasov grabbed Arshinsky by the collar and roared, showing no respect whatsoever to this Rus' hero.

"It's all because that Gentemur guy was too cowardly. He ordered a retreat without my permission," Arshinsky tried to defend himself, shifting the blame to the Evenki people.

"Ghentmur?" Vlasov suddenly realized. "Quickly—quickly drive the Evenkis outside the city into the city!"

Ultimately, it was too late. When Lieutenant Colonel Klesnikov led 500 elite archers to the Nerchinsk River, he only managed to capture a few hundred Evenkis. Most of the Evenkis had already migrated to the garrison's controlled area.

“Useless! A bunch of useless trash!” Vlasov roared in fury. But the next piece of news immediately turned his anger into joy: Duke Constantine Shcherbatov, the governor of Yeniseysk, sent Prince Boye (hereditary nobleman) Afanasy Beyton and Governor Barguzin Rzhevsky with seven hundred noble cavalry and eight hundred Cossacks to Nerchensk.

"Thanks be to the merciful Lord, who sent reinforcements to Nerchensk at this critical moment!" Vlasov piously made the sign of the cross on his chest.

At this time, the Russian army mainly consisted of noble cavalry, archers, Cossacks, and various Russian vassal and foreign troops. The noble cavalry, composed of conscripted nobles and militia, was the core force of the Russian army, numbering about 50,000; the archers, composed of urban citizens, were less powerful than the noble cavalry and were responsible for garrisoning local areas, numbering about 25,000; the Cossacks were not part of the regular Russian army, but were renowned for their excellent horsemanship and played an important role in foreign expansion, numbering about 20,000; in addition, there were a large number of vassal troops and mercenaries, bringing the total number of troops to over 100,000.

Upon hearing that Prince Sherbatov had actually sent his most elite noble cavalry, Vlasov's spirits soared. (End of Chapter)