In early July 1665, envoys from Persia, Khiva, and Rakshasa finally arrived in Samarkand, the capital of the Timurid Empire. In the old but still solemn and gorgeous palace, the envoys of the three countries first saw 5,000 Timur's new troops standing in the palace square. These warriors from the river wore plate and chain mail (iron plates hung on the chain mail), had iron helmets on their heads, carried matchlocks on their shoulders, and had scimitars hanging from their belts. Their formation was extremely strict.
Even in the eyes of the Persian envoy Khalifa, who had served as a high-ranking official in the new Persian army of Ghulam (a Western-style army trained with the help of the British adventurer Anthony Sherry, whose members were all from the Caucasus), this army was considered elite. . It is not comparable to the Persian Gulam New Army that adopted Morris's phalanx tactics, but it can still compete with the Red-Headed Army of the Persian Army.
An emperor of Hindustan can produce such an army. It seems that this Aurangzeb is not a person who lives in vain!
Prince Alim, the envoy of the Khiva Khanate, was also a general who was good at fighting. What he paid attention to was not the royal guards lining up in the palace square, but the camel artillery, camel cavalry and ordinary cavalry he saw when entering the city.
The Camel Cannon, also known as Shanatul, is a weapon very popular among the armies of West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. It is between heavy muskets and light artillery, somewhat similar to the Chinese lifting gun. However, this weapon is not used by infantry, but is assigned to cavalry. The standard tactic is to bombard with camel cannon and then charge with cavalry.
Aurangzeb's empire was vast and wealthy, and his handicraft industry was extremely developed, so he could cast camel cannon in large quantities. In order to equip his river soldiers with camel cannons, Aurangzeb mobilized as many as 1,000 camel cannons from India, and now they were all in front of the envoys of Persia, Khiva, and Rakshasa.
The Rakshasa envoy is Lev Golovin, the younger brother of Marquis Golovin. He is also a battle-hardened soldier who has fought with Poland, Sweden, and Turkey, and also participated in the translation of "Infantry Combat Formations" "Training and Transformation" - This is the combat order of the infantry of the Western European Army. It was introduced to the Rakshasa Kingdom in 1647 to guide the reform of the Rakshasa Kingdom's shooting army.
The shooting army of the Rakshasa Kingdom are those musketeers dressed up similar to Santa Claus. In the past ten years, they have also been constantly evolving - if they did not evolve, why would they fight against powerful enemies like Poland, Sweden, and Turkey? It's been seven or eight years and you still haven't lost much?
After Alexei I's reorganization, the Shooting Army already has about 60 "newly made" regiments, with a total strength of nearly 60,000. Although these "newly formed" regiments are still not as strong as the powerful troops in Europe, they are the first-class powerhouses in Central Asia.
In addition, the Rakshasa Kingdom had already deployed many Cossack cavalry here in Central Asia. They were imitated by the forward battalion cavalry of the Qing Dynasty.
The Sengge's Jungar cavalry drew lessons from the Qing Dynasty's forward battalion cavalry (many Eight Banners Mongolians who served as officers and soldiers in the forward battalion were under Sengge), the Ming Dynasty's black spear cavalry and the Rakshasa Kingdom's Cossack cavalry. In fact, they are also A "handy cavalry" that works both on and off horses. The biggest difference between them and the Cossack cavalry, black lancer cavalry, and forward battalion cavalry is that they have more horses! They are Mongols, how can they still lack war horses? Therefore, the mobility of the Jungar cavalry is super strong.
However, Zhungeer was not equipped with ultra-light artillery such as the Camel Cannon. Instead, it was equipped with a 6-pound field gun presented by the Ming Dynasty. The power of this artillery is very satisfactory, much more powerful than the earlier 3-pounder. It can be used to bombard enemy field troops, and can also be used to destroy the not-so-strong city walls in Central Asia. The only problem is that it's a little heavy - this cannon is made of bronze, so it's very heavy! So it is not convenient to transport it.
Therefore, when Zhungeer's army equipped with artillery and had extremely strong field combat and attack capabilities, its mobility was lost. When not carrying artillery, it is a "Mongolian cavalry" that comes and goes like the wind.
Through "friendly contact" with the Sengha, the resourceful Aurangzeb had figured out the details of the Jungar Kingdom. In theory, 12 Zhungeer households can provide 10,000 Zhungeer cavalry, but that is a force that can only be pulled out by general mobilization under extreme circumstances.
Under normal circumstances, the "60,000 herder households" (actually both farmers and herders) in the Jungar Kingdom implement a rotating service system similar to the government army system. Only one third, or about 20,000 people, are serving. .
In addition, Sengge also has a raised personal army of only 5,000 people, including a Ming-style infantry regiment (organized to imitate the new army, equipped with matchlocks and spears), a cuirassier regiment, an artillery battalion and an Engineer Battalion.
A total of 25,000 standing troops formed the core of the military power of the Jungar Kingdom, and outside the core there were nomadic cavalry of 60,000 households.
These nomadic cavalry are more traditional Mongolian cavalry, but they are also relatively well-equipped, with a large number of matchlocks and chainmail. However, due to the organizational problems of the nomadic tribes and the conflicts within the Choros family (Senge and his brothers were not born from the same mother), the cavalry combat effectiveness of these six nomadic households cannot be compared with Senge's standing army. Moreover, these six nomadic households have a large territory to control, and there are still a large number of half-hearted Kazakh tribes to suppress within their jurisdiction. Therefore, in the upcoming war, the role that these six nomadic households can play is quite limited.
While mastering the details of Jungar, Aurangzeb also figured out the strength of several allies. The strongest among them is of course the Rakshasa-Kazakh coalition. In addition to the 6,000 shooting troops brought by Marquis Golovin, the Rakshasa Kingdom also has about 4,000 armed forces (mainly Cossacks) in Central Asia. In addition, the Kazakh tribes in Xiaoyuzi also all sided with the Rakshasa Kingdom. Because the Kazakhs and Jungar people hate the loss of their country and their family, they will fight desperately. The Rakshasa people plus the Kazakhs can dispatch about 30,000 troops!
This road alone is more than Seng Ge’s standing army!
The military strength of the Khiva Khanate is second only to the Rakshasa-Kazakh coalition. After incorporating the Uzbeks from Bukhara (the Khiva Khanate and the Bukhara Khanate are relatives), Anusha Khan has at least 50,000 Uzbek warriors. It also has a large number of new firearms and military advisors provided by the Ottoman Empire, and its strength cannot be underestimated.
The Persian-Turkmen army was also very powerful. Abbas II of the Safi Dynasty sent at least 5,000 red-headed troops from Persia and also recruited a large number of warriors from the Turkmen tribe, with a total strength of about 20,000.
These three companies alone have an army of 100,000, and Aurangzeb has 80,000 troops on hand - including 30,000 expeditionary troops brought from India and 50,000 new troops recruited in Samarkand and Tajikistan . Therefore, the total strength of the anti-Zungar alliance is as many as 180,000... Even if Sengge's six garrisoned herders and ten thousand households are fully mobilized, the number of troops that can be mobilized is only 65,000.
And it is impossible for all these 65,000 people to gather together for mobile warfare, because the Tianfang believers in Hezhong under the rule of Seng Ge are already ready to launch a major uprising.
No matter how you look at it, the current situation is very unfavorable to Seng Ge!
This is also the reason why Aurangzeb transformed from a good father-in-law to a great emperor.
In the palace of Samarkand, Emperor Aurangzeb put on the chainmail symbolizing war, sat high on his throne, and was surrounded by a group of generals who were famous in India. In front of the envoys of Rakshasa, Persia and Shiva, the emperor attacked one of his eunuchs.
The eunuch walked up to the emperor carrying a plate. There was a dirty old slipper on the plate!
Aurangzeb looked gloomy and spoke in Persian: "As everyone knows, I am a tolerant and benevolent monarch. I don't want to see endless killing and suffering, even if the people killed are infidels, so I am crusading against Jungar." Before the war in the kingdom begins, I will give King Sengge one last chance..." He pointed to the slippers, "This is the slipper I wore, and I will send it on my behalf to the royal city of Jungar to persuade him to surrender. If the monk is willing to convert to the true God and surrender to the Timurid Empire, and then withdraw from Zhongyuz, Fergana and the middle reaches of the Syr Darya River, the crimes he and his ministers have committed should be forgiven!"
