The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 518 Bloodbath at the Outpost

The westward expeditionary army crossed snow-capped mountains and traversed the Gobi Desert from Weilumu, covering 1,400 li in six days before stopping at a certain location.

A group of generals, holding binoculars, followed behind the General of the State, gazing westward.

Gan Minglan pointed into the distance:

"The Kingdom of Kucha, whose capital is Yancheng... borders Jingjue to the south, Qiemo to the southeast, Ganmi to the southwest, Wusun to the north, Gumo to the west, and extends 350 li to the Protectorate General Wulei City to the east."

This place is situated in the strategic location of the Tianshan Mountains, controlling the northern route of the Silk Road. The Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty was once moved here.

Its terrain is high in the north and low in the south, and the Subashi River and Weigan River, which originate from the snow-capped mountains, flow through the area.

The Tarim River flows from west to east through the Caohu area, and the vast alluvial plain in the south has tens of thousands of acres of arable land.

The Book of Wei, Records of the Western Regions, states: "(Kucha) is rich in copper, iron, lead... raffinite, salt green, orpiment, and lead oxide. Its mineral resources rank among the top in the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions."

Over the years, she has studied several versions of "The Western Regions" many times, and knows a lot about the background of these cities, in addition to topographical maps.

The accompanying scout leader added from the side:
"The current ruler of the ancient kingdom of Kucha is Achim Beg, a nobleman of the Uyghurs. Achim is the backbone of the Black Hat Khoja and has also formed an alliance with the Dzungar tribe of the Western Tatars through marriage. He is very successful in this grassland. Including Kucha, there are five cities and towns under his jurisdiction, with a population of over 100,000 and more than 20,000 cavalrymen."

The soldiers' eyes shone brightly:

"Isn't the Anxi Protectorate of the Great Tang Dynasty our homeland in the Central Plains? We should take down every one of the Black Hat Khoja's henchmen we can! If we can also deal with the Western Tatars along the way, that would be even better!"

"Copper, iron, and lead should all belong to my Yongtai Dynasty!"

"."

One by one, they drooled as they looked at the distant city.

They've already set their sights on someone else's mineral resources before the fight even starts!
With 60,000 cavalrymen plus an extra warhorse for each man, there were a total of 120,000 riders. The commotion was so great that even the blind and deaf could feel it.

During their brief stay,

In the city of Kucha, the whistle announcing the mobilization resounded through the sky.

The banner coming from the east is that of the Kansai Army.

Achim Beg, who was over thirty years old, dared not take any chances. After the Kansai army successively captured Kansai, Huozhou, Weilumu and Yili, he knew that Kucha would sooner or later follow in the footsteps of these regions.

I never expected this day to come so soon!

But why?

Why go to war without declaring war?

While he ordered all city gates to be closed and sent archers to defend the city walls, he also sent messengers to meet with the commanders of the Guanzhong army.

Even in death, one should die knowing why!

In front of the battle.

Marcoli and his accompanying translator launched into a tirade against the envoy from Achim Beg.

"Your country is raising soldiers who are bandits."

The messenger was so humiliated that his face turned ashen, and he cried out in despair.

That caravan of over eight thousand foreign merchants did indeed pass through their city of Kucha a few months ago.

The goods they brought were said to be worth tens of millions of taels of silver.

This should be the largest Silk Road foreign trade transaction in nearly a century.

They were actually ambushed and killed by the Khanate's cavalry!
They even managed to escape and go to the Han emperor to get his support?

The time and place of the murder and robbery match perfectly; it couldn't have been a scheme orchestrated by the Han people.

Moreover, those eight thousand-plus foreign merchants came from more than a dozen countries.

Undoubtedly, the noblemen who robbed and murdered foreign merchants had made a huge mess of things.

Thunder rolls from the sky.

God will kill me!

After the messenger delivered the message truthfully, he added:

"Burke, the vanguard general of Kansai demands our unconditional surrender. Everyone must lay down their arms and we demand the city gates be opened wide, and we'll return it to you."

Achimbek gritted his teeth: "How do you expect me to cooperate?" "They say, 'Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor!'"

"This is... they want my life! Heh, then there's no room for negotiation. Fine, then let's fight the Kansai army to the death!"

The Uyghur holy warriors would rather die standing than live kneeling.

Just as Achim Beg and his subordinates were discussing how to fight a tough battle to defend the city, the Guanzhong army's artillery battalion had already set up six general cannons and one hundred and eighty second general cannons ten miles outside the city gates of Kucha.

The Kansai army's current operational strategy is that simple, brutal, and arrogant.

In siege warfare, with the availability of large-scale firearms, the musket battalion would never fire until the very last shell had been fired.

The fourth-generation General Cannon, which had just been upgraded before the New Year, came out from ten miles away to give a greeting before the Hu soldiers on the city wall could even find a good position.

"boom"

"boom"

"boom"

This is absolutely astounding!
Weep at our ancestral graves!
One shot can destroy a city gate.

This is not over yet.

Taking advantage of the large number of Hu people gathered on the city wall, the Second General Cannon, which can now hold 15 jin of loose ammunition, then paid tribute to the Hu people.

Each iron shot, about the size of a child's fingertip, was carried away by the power of thunder and flew in a general direction.

One shot wipes out an entire area.

Soon, no one survived on the walls of Kucha.

Achimbek, who had thousands of matchlock guns at his disposal, could not believe his eyes and ears.

"We've only been guarding for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, how could there be so many casualties?"

Is it really that tragic?
It can only be described as tragic.

In a single encounter, they lost most of their forces.

"We can't hold it, and we can't defend it! So let's not defend it anymore, let the cavalry go out of the city to meet the enemy."

Out of town?

Horse archers are fearless and can charge blindly.

But the horses they rode were not.

Terrified by the continuous cannon fire, they were already in complete chaos.

The horse archers were eventually forced to don armor and charge out of the bombed-out city gates as infantry.

The Kansai Army was overjoyed when they saw this!
The long-range muskets were replaced, and the newly developed revolvers with rotating cylinders that could hold five bullets were sent to the front lines.

Within ten breaths, five bullets were fired in quick succession.

After months of intensive live-fire training across the entire army, these marksmen achieved an average hit rate of over 80%.

How outstanding is that?

Just by seeing the Hu infantrymen fall one after another, you can tell how formidable they were.

Despite this, a steady stream of Hu (non-Han) infantrymen continued to flee from the city to their deaths.

Through the telescope, Gan Minglan and the others saw all of this.

The generals frowned deeply.

"Knowing they were no match for the enemy and that the city gates had already been blown open, why did these barbarian soldiers still leave the city to die?"

Gan Minglan said slowly:

"In Islamic doctrine, warriors who die in 'jihad' are called 'martyrs.' These people can go directly to Paradise after death and enjoy seven privileges there."

He will be forgiven of all sins (from the moment his first blood was shed); he will have his place in Paradise; he will be spared the punishment of the grave; he will have the greatest peace; he will wear a crown of glory; he will marry seventy-two fairies; he will plead for seventy of his relatives.

In short, God told them that all those who died in battle would have a multitude of benefits waiting for them in Paradise!

The generals were so shocked that their mouths dropped open: "."