The golden wing flutters high, soaring in the sky, crossing the snowy ridges and glaciers, passing through lakes and forests. Its powerful wings shine in the golden sunshine, and its stretched posture shows its wantonness.
When he was completely satisfied, he followed the path he came from and turned back in search of his master's traces. He traveled for dozens of miles and searched as he passed by. Suddenly, the falcon's eyes flashed, accompanied by a sharp cry, and it swooped down from the clouds. Directly towards the military camp set up in the lake valley basin.
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This is a huge military camp, with deep black as its main color, and the high-flying Han flag as its most eye-catching standard. The fortresses are connected and heavily guarded. This is the Black Khan Expeditionary Army commanded by Wei King Liu Min.
More than half a year has passed since the official launch of troops in the early summer to attack Heihan in the north. Under the command of Liu Min, the Han army once again demonstrated its best offensive capabilities in the world, successfully defeated the Heihan defenders, broke through the dangers of Tianshan Mountain, and penetrated deep into the mountains. Within the territory of Black Khan.
For this expedition, the Han army mobilized not many troops. Even if several thousand Khotan servants were included in the expedition, the number was only 25,000. On the premise of maintaining basic security and defense in the vast Anxi area, Liu Min The maximum force available.
Of course, if there are too many people, the pressure on logistical supplies will be greater. Liu Min also considered many factors before deciding on the scale of mobilizing troops. In comparison, the Black Khanate resisted with only a small number of troops. It was not only confident in the dangers of the Tianshan Mountains, but also because, in the past thirty years, the Black Khanate had shed too much blood on the Eastern Front and was severely weakened. , the strength is seriously damaged.
Even though there were many servant tribes and "jihadists" from Central Asia as cannon fodder, they still could not withstand the huge consumption of the eastward advance. First the Khitans, and then the Han Dynasty, suppressed the Black Khan's ambition to expand. The beauty and wealth in the east After all, the land is just a legend, just on the lips of those merchants.
After Liu Min's first Western Expedition, the Black Khan not only vomited out all the land it had occupied in the past decades of bloody battles, but also lost all the land south of the Tianshan Mountains. The Han army used powerful strikes to make the Black Khanate completely understand that. Skinny reality.
Even though the Han Dynasty was bloated and the imperial capital was thousands of miles away, Hei Khan couldn't resist as long as he moved his fingers. Nowadays, in the Black Khanate, there is no longer talk of advancing eastward. On the contrary, everyone must work together and organize with all their strength to deal with the invasion of the Han army.
Different from the fact that the Han army could receive a steady stream of supplementary support from the country, in the long and cruel war, one less person died among the Black Khans. However, after thirty years of intermittent bloodletting, the small warrior from the Western Regions who once had a household registration of one million and an armor of 100,000 , is already too weak to withstand the wind.
However, the country of Black Khan still has a certain degree of resilience. After all, it is not far from its former prosperity, and its organizational system also has merits, especially in terms of military and armed construction, which is already a system.
In addition, religious beliefs are sometimes worthless, but sometimes they can explode with powerful power. Therefore, after the Han army invaded the north, the Black Khanate did not sit back and wait for death, but went all out.
However, enthusiasm and determination alone are not enough. Sufficient strength is also needed to support it, and this is exactly what the Black Khanate lacks. Badaling Pass, located at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, was once the bridgehead for the Black Khan's eastward march. Over time, it became the first fortress to defend against the Han army.
During the year when Liu Min implemented his recuperation strategy, most of the Black Khan cavalry came out from the south through this pass to harass Anxi. After the Han army moved north, this pass was the first target they had to attack.
The Black Khanate has 3,000 people stationed at this pass. Unlike Kucha City in the wilderness, it is strong enough to resist the Han army due to the steepness of the fortress. The defense strategy of the Black Khans is still to defend tightly and wait for time to change in order to counterattack.
However, their plan failed again. This time, Liu Min used the artillery that he had not been able to use before. Even though it was not very mature, when the artillery, an infantry weapon, was officially put into the war, it still showed its sharpness. style.
Even the officers and soldiers of the Han army were shocked, let alone the black Khans. Back and forth, the soldiers allocated 72 artillery pieces to Anxi in batches. Amidst the ear-splitting roar and the terrifying impact of iron bullets, Badaling did not hold out for three days before it was declared to have fallen. Black Khan The country’s national gate was also officially
Open.
After that, it was impossible to drive straight in. The roads were rugged and difficult, the traffic conditions were really bad, the Han army had a lot of baggage, and the Black Khan army was stubbornly harassing and delaying. Even if the Han army broke through the Badaling Mountains, they could only fight step by step and fight steadily. , walking in a hurry.
On the basis of ensuring the retreat, it took nearly two months for the Han army to break through the dangers, officially enter the Yixi Keer Lake Basin of the Black Khanate, and approach the city of Barsi Khan.
The journey was difficult, and the casualties caused by non-battles were greater than those suffered during the attack on Bataling. However, after entering the basin, the road was much smoother and easier to walk. The biggest problem of marching was also solved.
After killing and scattering the last wave of blocking enemy troops, Liu Min ordered the Han army to rest for more than half a month. After sufficient energy and vigor were restored, Liu Min ordered the westward march and sent troops to Barsi Khan.
Barsi Khan City is located in the northern mountain range of the Tianshan Mountains, adjacent to Yixi Keer Lake (Yinsek Lake). It is the largest city in the southeast of the Black Khanate, and it is also the only place to go to its capital, Eight Assassins. , like Badaling, must be conquered.
Facing the menacing Han army, the Black Khanate made a final effort in Barsi Khan, gathering all the remaining elite troops in the country, and recruiting Tuqishi and other barbarians as well as fanatical YSL believers, with a total of more than 40,000 soldiers. The people, personally led by the great Han Alimusa, intended to prevent the Han army from advancing eastward. The slogans are very particular, protect Barsi Khan, protect the people, protect the Black Khan, protect the Holy Religion...
In view of the past several confrontations with the Han army, the Black Khan Army has also completely woken up. No matter how large the number of people is in a city defense battle, it is difficult to win. To fight conservatively means to give up the initiative and let the Han army's war weapons be used.
On the contrary, what they are best at is cavalry combat. Although the Han army is strong in combat, they may not have no chance of winning in field battles. Judging from past combat experience, most of the damage caused by the Black Khan Army to the Han Army, except for the bloody battle at Kucha, was achieved in small-scale field battles.
The weapons of war that the Han army relied on were powerful, but most of them were heavy and inconvenient to move. This was also their opportunity. If it is difficult to win with bright swords and guns in frontal combat, then we should make detours and carry out side attacks. The core of tactics is to abandon the defense and attack and seize the initiative on the battlefield.
As a result, in the east of Barsi Khan City, the Han and Black armies broke out in the largest confrontation since the war between the two countries. Liu Min and other Han generals originally thought that the attack on Barsi Khan City would be another critical battle, but they never thought that the enemy would take the initiative to attack.
After all, even if the Han army is good at attacking, they don't like to fight sieges. They also like to annihilate the enemy in the wild. The Han army's iron wall defense in the field is also its strength.
However, the unfolding of the war was beyond the expectations of Liu Min and others. Although the Black Khan army took the initiative to attack, they were not reckless and would never take the initiative to attack the Han army's tight military formation.
When the Han army defended, they harassed them; when the Han army attacked, they retreated. As long as the Han army could not completely maintain a tight defensive posture, they launched a fierce attack, fearing no death and risking their lives regardless of casualties.
Under the tactics of the Black Khan Army, the Han army had to take several counterattacks with the intention of defeating the enemy head-on. However, under the propaganda of "defending the country and defending the religion", the Black Khan Army became extremely hard-core and decided to use their lives to defeat the enemy. In exchange for lives, after all, they are fighting at home and have a large number of people. The Han army's expedition is purely attrition. Even if there are fewer casualties, it will not be worthwhile in the long run.
After twelve battles, the Han army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, even though the Black Khans suffered more casualties. After judging the situation, Liu Min finally gave up his plan to directly defeat the enemy in front and took a strategic retreat.
Seeing that their tactics were effective, the Black Khan army became unwilling to give up. They followed closely and wanted to fight back and completely defeat the invading Han army. This angered the Han army, and they launched a counterattack, defeating the pursuing Black Khan army.
A small defeat only dampened the spirit of the Black Khan army. During the battle, the Black Khan army once again discovered a weakness of the Han army, which was the Khotan army. Compared with the well-equipped Han army, the Khotan army was completely weak.
Therefore, when the Black Khan Army turned its target to the Khotanese, it quickly achieved results. How could those Khotanese who were forcibly tied into the Han army's chariots withstand the attack of the Heihan people who were not afraid of death?
They were only doing some auxiliary work, and it was really impossible for them to fight in the border of the Black Khans.
The Khotanese were defeated, and the Han army could not remain unaffected. The defeat of the Khotanese led to Liu Min's first major defeat since his Western Expedition, and he had to retreat again, fighting and retreating, and retreated a full After a hundred miles, they retreated to the east of Yixikeer Lake before they stabilized their position.
At this time, the way forward had been blocked by the Black Khan's army, and the Han army was trapped in the basin. The situation suddenly became bad and there was a danger of annihilation.
The Black Khan army saw the opportunity to destroy the Han army and refused to let go of this hard-won opportunity. After only a simple rest, they pressed forward again. Faced with this situation, Liu Min decisively reduced his defense.
Facing the Han army's military formation, the Black Khans really couldn't take it down, and the war once again fell into a stalemate, which lasted until autumn. After several unsuccessful attacks, the Black Khans calmed down from their ecstasy and became wiser.
They no longer thought of swallowing up the Han army, but adopted siege tactics, sealing off the mountains and roads to prevent possible reinforcements from Anxi. After all, time is passing, the morale of the Han army is declining, and the food and fodder are being consumed. Without reinforcements, the danger will only increase day by day.
It has to be said that the Battle of Barsi Khan was the most dangerous and stressful battle that Liu Min had ever experienced since joining the army, even more so than his expedition to Mobei with Yang Ye. At that time, he was just a general. This time, he was the commander-in-chief and was responsible for the soldiers under his command.
