"Turkish Mountain...Turkish Mountain..."
Aurangzeb held the map table with both hands, half-bent, and scanned the map of the eastern part of the river area over and over again. At the bottom (south) of this map is the Samarkand Oasis. The city of Samarkand is in the southeast corner of the oasis, and a medium-sized river flows through the north side of the city.
On the north side of the river flowing north of the city of Samarkand, two tents are painted, with the names of "United Army" and "Zhungar Army" written in Persian above the tents.
The coalition forces composed of the Timurid Empire, the Persian Empire, and the Khiva Khanate have been building fortifications and confronting each other on the plain north of the river named Zerafshan River for more than 2 months. The confrontation lasted from early autumn to late autumn!
When the confrontation first began, whether it was Aurangzeb, Anusha Khan, or General Khalifa, they all felt that they were playing into their own hands.
The Jungar Mongols who came from afar did not seek a quick decision, but instead built forts under the city of Samarkand. Isn't this nonsense? How can there be such a war?
Therefore, the coalition forces at that time never thought of actively seeking a decisive battle to break the Jungar Mongols' actions of building forts and digging trenches.
But when the Jungar people worked day and night and built a huge bastion out of sandbags and soil in just half a month, only Aurangzeb, Anusha Khan and General Khalifa and others felt a glimmer of hope. Not good. Especially Khalifa, who had learned Western French fortification from the British military adviser, could tell at a glance that the Jungar people had built a bastion that was difficult to break!
The Jungar Mongols can actually build bastions... This progress is really amazing! Are they really the Jungar people who were herding sheep on the grassland not long ago?
However, the subsequent actions of the Jungar Army proved that they were genuine Mongols!
After completing the sandbag bastion, King Sengge of Jungar began to send large groups of cavalry to plunder the oasis plain north of the Zerafshan River!
What's even more abominable is that instead of looting things properly, these Zhungeer cavalry set fire to them after looting. They didn't burn houses or people, they just burned the ripe wheat in the fields!
After burning the wheat, this group of Mongolian cavalry did not engage in any carnage or even killing people. Instead, they took the farmers' livestock and the farmers' stored grain and drove away. Leaving all the peasants who had lost their food to Aurangzeb... This clearly meant using them to consume Aurangzeb's food reserves!
After figuring out the intentions of the Jungar people, Aurangzeb and Anusha Khan quickly sent out cavalry to stop the Jungar cavalry from doing evil - Aurangzeb's Rajput cavalry and Anusha Khan's Xi In fact, the Wa cavalry are not weak. They are all feudal warriors who own territories, and all of them are highly skilled in martial arts. And the horses under their crotches are also very good. The Rajput cavalry has folding horses from India, and the Shiva cavalry has Turkmen horses.
In comparison, the main force of Jungar's cavalry is Ili's Xijima and Mongolian horses. They are not bad in the Central Plains, but they are still far behind the good horses of Rajput cavalry and Shiva cavalry.
However, the result of the battle between the two sides on the plains of the Samarkand Oasis made Aurangzeb a little cautious - his Rajput cavalry caused heavy losses to the Dzhungars! This group of Jungar Mongols fought brilliantly, not by riding horses and shooting arrows, nor by charging with guns, nor by fighting in a dignified formation, but by luring the enemy into firing black guns and attacking at night!
What made Aurangzeb vomit blood even more was that the Shiva cavalry dispatched with his Rajput cavalry did not suffer much loss. They obviously went out side by side. Why did the Rajputs suffer heavy casualties, and those who came back also lost their armor? But most of the Uzbeks (Khiva people) can come back with their beards and tails intact? This is too bullying! Do the Jungar people also discriminate against Hindus?
As the Rajput cavalry were defeated again and again by the cunning and ferocious Jungar Mongols, the attitude of Anusha Khan, the Khan of the Khiva Khanate, became more and more unruly, no matter what Aurangzeb's name was. "Your Majesty Alamgir", but called him the Sultan of India.
And Prince Alim is even more annoying. He actually falls in love with Princess Nisha and wants to marry her back as his fourth wife... He is just a prince from a desert oasis, and he doesn't even have the income of the whole country. There are 400,000 rupees-this is the annuity of Princess Nisha alone! Is he, a pauper prince, worthy of Princess Nyssa?
Moreover, Princess Nisha is a tool used to strengthen the friendship between Ming and Yin. Can Prince Alim compare with Emperor Ming? Seng Ge, who is making everyone miserable now, is nothing but a lackey of the Ming Emperor!
When he thought of the faces of Anusha Khan and Prince Alim, Aurangzeb snorted coldly, and then breathed out with concern: "We can't go on like this. If we go on like this, the damn Uzbeks will ride on me." It’s on the head!”
"Your Majesty Alamgir, you are so wise!" Mircha Rajja Singh, who was beaten into disgrace by the Zhungar people, echoed from the side, "These Uzbeks are so hateful, every time Every time, we relied on the speed of our horses to escape before our warriors, leaving our people to be slaughtered by the Zhungeer people!"
Aurangzeb turned around and glared at him fiercely: "That's because your people are useless... You can't even run away compared to others!"
Mircha Rajjai Singh looked aggrieved, "Your Majesty Alamgir, the people here in the river are too cunning, whether they are enemies or friends, they are very cunning, much more cunning than the Indians!"
What he said is correct. If his Rajput knights compete with Uzbek knights and Jungar knights, they may not lose much.
However, the Jungar knights and the Uzbek knights of the Khiva Khanate have both experienced fighting in the grasslands and deserts. Their vigilance and fighting consciousness cannot be compared to the Rajput knights.
Therefore, every time they encounter an ambush by the Jungar people, the Uzbeks will definitely let the Indians explore the way ahead. Once in danger, he will definitely run faster than a rabbit, leaving the honest Hindus to be massacred by the Zhungar people.
In addition, the Uzbeks are considered the natives of Samarkand, and they can find fellow villagers to guide them when they run away. The Rajputs are all outsiders and Hindus, so they are often mistaken for the Jungar Mongols. Once they are alone, they not only cannot get help from the people of Samarkand, but sometimes they are attacked and killed. Not to mention how unfair it was.
After twenty or thirty days of fighting, the number of casualties and missing persons of the Rajput cavalry exceeded 1,500...
"Your Majesty Alamgir," Shasta Khan said to Aurangzeb, "We cannot delay it any longer. We should send troops immediately while we can still control the Uzbeks!"
"Send troops for a decisive battle?" Singer frowned, "The Jungar people's bastion looks very strong!"
"Of course we can't attack their bastion," Aurangzeb set his sights on the Turkic Mountains. "Is there any news about the Turkmen?"
"Yes," Shasta Khan said, "the area from the north of the Turkic Mountains to the Syr Darya River has been basically cleared by the Dzungars. Only one bastion located in the eastern part of the Hungry Steppe is heavily guarded. In addition, Fergan Khujand at the western exit of the Na Basin is also heavily guarded. I guess the Jungar people have not established a stronghold in the Fergana Basin. If the Uzbeks and Turkmen can break through Khujand...the Jungar people We will definitely withdraw our troops!”
The banks of the middle reaches of the Syr Darya River now occupied by the Dzungars are considered good places in Central Asia, but they are not comparable to the Fergana Basin... It is a cornucopia! The land is fertile and the climate is humid, with basically no worries about floods or droughts.
As long as the food production in the basin is not affected, the hundreds of thousands of Jungar people in the heartland under Sengge will not have to worry about eating.
"Fergana is the weak spot of the Dzhungars!" Aurangze preached. "As long as the Uzbeks can take it, the battle of Samarkand will be won. If they can't take it, the Senggar will definitely win." Send troops back to the Samarkand Oasis...so that we can retreat when we run out of food!"
