The Sultanate of Delhi is called Sultan. The current Sultan Firuz Shah is a far-sighted monarch. He reformed the modern bad government and made the business in Delhi increasingly prosperous during his tenure. But for this reason, he was unwilling to let the war spread to his prosperous city of Delhi. After finding out the exact news that this strange overseas army had less than 10,000 people, he made up his mind to completely destroy the city outside the city. Defeat this infidel army.
Moreover, it is outside the city that the Delhi Sultanate's trump card troops, the war elephants, can exert their greatest power.
His intention was naturally anticipated by the Ming Dynasty generals who had experienced battles for a long time. Since the enemy chose to place their war elephants outside the city, they would definitely choose to take the initiative to attack. In this case, there is no need to continue marching forward in a hurry. The Ming army, which had been marching hastily for several days, immediately set up camp on the spot under Zhu Su's order.
"Your Highness, how are we going to deal with the elephant array? Should we use fire blunderbuss to attack it?" Cao Yuan asked. The enemy's combat power was nothing to worry about. The only thing that might pose a threat was the tall war elephant. Even the cavalry's charge sometimes has the potential to cause the world to collapse, let alone the charge of the elephant herd. If they had not made complete preparations in advance, the soldiers would be really unsure.
"Although the fire gun can deal with the elephant array... but according to the horse reconnaissance report from the front, the Delhi Sultanate has too many war elephants, more than a hundred, and the terrain here is open, which is different from the mountainous terrain of Yunnan. "
"Use firecrackers to cover it, I'm afraid it will use up all the gunpowder."
Zhu Su thought while touching his chin. "Our army also needs to assist Fourth Brother. It is not easy to replenish gunpowder and firearms in this foreign land."
"If it's not a crisis, it really shouldn't be wasted."
In Zhu Su's mind, there is no doubt that the overlord of Central Asia is the Timur Empire, and firearms are the most advantageous weapon for the Ming Dynasty to deal with the Central Asian knights of the Timur Empire. The Delhi Sultanate was only a springboard to the Timurid Empire at this time, and it was not a good place to exhaust its gunpowder reserves.
"What His Highness said makes sense." A general said. "In this case, it is better to leave it to the general to lead an army to set up an ambush."
"I heard that the war elephants are clumsy. As long as your highness induces the enemy to send war elephants, I can lead the army directly to the main formation of the country..."
"How can we let His Highness put himself in danger? It is better to pretend to retreat first, and then find a way to falsely open the city gate and seize the city with lightning speed."
"After that, if we defend the city and hold the city wall, the so-called war elephants will be useless."
The generals spoke to each other, vying to offer advice to Zhu Su. China's heritage is too rich. After knowing that the giant beast is just a war elephant, the generals can think of too many previous methods to deal with similar enemies from the pile of old papers. It's nothing more than avoiding the sharp edge, avoiding the real and attacking the weak. The soldiers are deceitful. The Ming Dynasty has only occupied the world for twenty years, and the soldiers are still full of vigor. Most of them are generals full of war strategies and strategies.
Zhu Su thought for a while, but shook his head and rejected many of the generals' proposals: "Although the strategies you proposed are good strategies, they only avoid the edge of the war elephant, but they also underestimate the enemy's other capabilities. Military formation.”
"Tanma reported that the Delhi Sultanate had 40,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry. However, our army only had 8,000. Excluding those who lured the war elephants, the number of soldiers who actually broke into the enemy's position was probably less than 5,000."
"Five thousand against fifty thousand, this is ten times the enemy! No matter how cowardly the lord Sultan is, it will not be easy to win this battle."
"We need to find a way to consume the troops of our headquarters first. I have already made a plan about this... You first have to dig several trenches across the front of the camp. Each horizontal trench is connected by a vertical trench. "
"In addition, give me three thousand horses from the army... I will be of great use."
In order to march quickly this time, Zhu Su spent a lot of money to equip the Ming army with war horses. Although not all of the 8,000 soldiers who disembarked from the ship were proficient in horse fighting, everyone was able to ride a horse. Now it is necessary to separate three thousand war horses. Although it is painful, it is not difficult.
The generals were also convinced by Zhu Su, the commander-in-chief. Since there was an order, they immediately took the order and left the tent. The three armies started construction all night and soon dug three trenches in front of the camp.
Zhu Su and his generals led three thousand well-equipped Zhou Wang guards in front of the trench, while the other five thousand troops watched on both sides of the rear camp.
As the sun rose high on the second day, the 50,000-strong army and war elephant array of the Delhi Sultanate marched to the battlefield designed by Zhu Su in person. The military style here is very different from that of the Central Plains. Several war elephants covered in mail and armed with tusks opened the way ahead. Behind them, countless troops held strange-looking flags, all wearing turbans and armor that showed off their muscles, and slowly marched into the battlefield.
Zhu Su rode on the horse and looked at the man in white robe sitting on the white elephant with a telescope. The man was dressed luxuriously, and even the white elephant was decorated with a lot of gold. He must be Sultan Firuz Shah of the Delhi Sultanate.
"Tsk, riding such a dazzling white elephant on the battlefield... It seems that he is afraid that he will not die fast enough." Looking at the mighty white elephant, Zhu Su complained with some jealousy.
White elephants are extremely rare things. If they can be caught, they can be taken back home as auspicious gifts...
"Your Highness, the enemy's elephant formation has begun to charge." Di Meng reminded in a low voice beside Zhu Su.
As the generals of the Ming Dynasty expected from the beginning, the enemy's first move when approaching the battle was to mobilize those huge war elephants. Under the urging of the knights, the tall war elephants strode towards the Ming army. Their footsteps rumbled like thunder, and even the ground trembled under the elephant's hooves. Its majestic momentum made people feel as if they were witnessing the earth falling apart. It was strange that the sultan dared to go out of the city to fight, and he dared to step into the battlefield designed by Zhu Su carelessly. With such a terrifying army of elephant formations rushing into the formation first, and then an army of 50,000 people rushing in behind them, what kind of army formation cannot be broken?
One force can defeat ten enemies. With the elephant's combat power, in such an era of cold weapons, there really is no need to consider many tricks.
The Sultan may have used this method to defeat countless poisonous warlords, but unfortunately, what he faced now was the Chinese army that was the most proficient in "tactics of war". The so-called conspiracy, in a word, is the method of using less to win more, and Zhu Su has already prepared a clever plan for the Xiang Formation.
"Guards, dismount!" Zhu Su ordered.
The guards of the King of Zhou, who had already received Zhu Su's instructions, all got off their saddles. However, the riders in the distance who were urging the war elephants were stunned: Facing the war elephants, what were these people doing suddenly dismounting? Since we have to escape for our lives, wouldn't it be faster to ride a horse?
Seeing that the elephant array had already charged to the predetermined position, Zhu Su smiled slightly, and then issued the second order again: "All troops, fire quickly."
"Then...run away!"
(End of chapter)
