Chapter 90: Two Heroes Meeting
Snow-capped mountains and skyscrapers, yellow sand covering the ground.
Thousands of cavalry marched in the desert.
King Yan trudged hard among them. Covered in sand and dirt, with cracked lips, he was no different from an ordinary soldier.
After a year of planning.
The war between King Yan and Timur officially started.
Timur's hundreds of thousands of cavalry and King Yan's hundreds of thousands of infantry fought fiercely along the Tianshan Mountains from north to south.
It's just the special circumstances of the Western Region that make their battles different from those in the Central Plains.
It is simply impossible for hundreds of thousands of troops to launch a fierce battle because the logistics cannot be supplied at all. An army of hundreds of thousands requires at least the same number of civilians to go to the battlefield. In the Western Region, it is impossible for so many soldiers and horses to gather.
Therefore, no matter how many soldiers and horses there are, they can only be divided into several groups to guard the back roads or manage the place. In short, the army that can be gathered to fight is only tens of thousands.
King Yan was like this, and Timur was like this too.
Just in general.
King Yan still had more problems. Because the time for King Yan to gain a foothold in the Western Regions was too short. A seemingly furious expansion. However, the grasslands of the Western Regions are not the Central Plains. Even in the Central Plains, there is no danger to defend. There are also cities in many places.
But it's different in the Western Region.
When attacking, you can dash forward. But it's the same when others attack you. A place that is easy to attack but difficult to defend.
King Yan is fine. He rebuilt Tingzhou City. Although this Tingzhou City is only a county in size, it is even smaller than the cities in the Han and Tang Dynasties. However, all the army's baggage was packed in it, which blocked the main road of north-south transportation.
If this place is here, the power of King Yan can still be distributed in the northern and southern Xinjiang. If it is not here, the southern Xinjiang area will not be owned by King Yan.
The area around Hami and Turpan is expected to surrender one after another. Just like they surrendered to King Yan.
It is also difficult for Northern Xinjiang to gain a foothold.
King Yan could only endure this situation. Just fighting against Timur was unbearable for King Yan.
King Yan had fought against Timur several times, and he also knew the strength of Timur's cavalry very well. To describe it in one sentence, it is an iron cavalry.
All their equipment is chain mail, and there is leather armor on the outside. It is quite light when fighting. And they are all veterans who are good at fighting, the kind who can kill without blinking an eye. The most troublesome thing for King Yan is that there are some very fanatical people here.
In the eyes of King Yan, these people were dead soldiers, and they were quite lifeless in a war.
Even if he was facing off against the Yan King and Han Cavalry, he could fight for more than ten rounds without retreating to the death.
From King Yan's perspective, he might not be afraid of the elite cavalry under his command who were expanded from King Yan's Three Guards. But he can't consume too much. This is also the national condition of Yan State. The core of King Yan's rule is the generals from King Yan and the three guards of King Yan below. Outside are the Mongols who are married to them. The outermost ones are ordinary Mongolians.
Don't look at how King Yan treats the Mongols. But essentially, the only people King Yan trusted were his own people. The three guards of King Yan are his own people. There were too many casualties among these people. King Yan himself is not worried. As long as he is alive, no one below him will dare to act recklessly. But it’s hard to say in the future.
Yes. In order to gain the support of the Mongols, King Yan compromised with the Mongols on many matters. For example, King Yan wore Mongolian clothes, wrestled, and all the men in his family married Mongolians. But King Yan never thought about making Yan a Mongolian country. It must be a Han country.
Therefore, the Han core cannot lose too much.
If King Yan forces the three guards of King Yan here, even if he defeats Timur, it will be a Pyrrhic victory.
Although the consequences are likely to be felt decades later.
King Yan thought about it and made up his mind. He traveled far into the desert. Going where others cannot go and taking the road that others cannot go, in order to cut off Timur's backing. After all, there is no far-reaching and constant logistical support from Central Asia.
It was impossible for Timur to maintain tens of thousands of troops to continue attacking Tingzhou.
This matter was so important that King Yan did not dare to
Leave things to others. Because this is related to the life and death of Yan State.
King Yan personally led the army, and he took Qiu Fu and other generals. These people can be regarded as the elite among the elite, and they were all old men of King Yan's three guards. Zhang Yu stayed to guard Tingzhou City.
"Your Highness, we found it. Just fifty miles away, there is Timur's logistics camp." Qiu Fu also had yellow sand on his face. Almost rushed out of the sand.
King Yan lifted the reins and said, "Okay."
His voice was extremely hoarse, as if two pieces of iron were rubbing against each other. He said: "Everyone, drink the blood of Hulu with me."
"Yes." The same hoarse voice replied.
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King Yan's plan has reached the most critical moment. And Timur also felt that he was facing the most dangerous problem in his life. ap.
Timur was riding on the horse, driving the horse, and carefully watching the cannonballs on the ground. Then he raised his head and looked at the city behind the mountains. It looked so small against the backdrop of the Tianshan Mountains.
Timur has been here for dozens of days.
Under this city, there were more than tens of thousands of casualties.
Of course, these tens of thousands of people are not Timur's people. It's Mongolian.
Or the Washi people. Is the local grassland ministries. When Timur arrived at Tingzhou City, after suffering heavy losses in his first attack, he immediately woke up and stopped attacking. Instead, he ordered that all the people around him be arrested.
Mongolian or not.
Although Timur was a Mongolian, he was a Turkic Mongolian. In other words, he is ***. He would not regard the Mongolians here who believe in the Yellow Sect, or the Immortal Heaven, as compatriots. Moreover, it is also the Mongolian habit to attack cities during war and let local people fill in the ravines.
So, the brutal siege began.
After tens of thousands of strong Mongolian men died, Timur had to admit that this small Tingzhou was like an iron city.
The fundamental reason why Rang became this iron city was not how tall the city was.
Tingzhou is not tall. But it was a temporary construction. Even if it is placed in the Central Plains, it may not be called a city. Moreover, Tingzhou city defense is not complete. There isn't even a moat, just a few deep trenches.
What really makes Tingzhou a strong city is Tingzhou's weapons. Fireguns and artillery were used on a large scale.
Timur was very surprised.
Especially artillery.
To be honest, the Mongols have brought artillery to the West, and in a few decades, the West will produce Byzantine cannons known as giant artillery. Let Byzantium become history. It's not like Timur has never seen cannons.
But the intensity of firepower in Tingzhou now frightened Timur.
Tamerlane was silent for a long time and said: "Wisdom lies in the east, and I must search for it. From now on, attacking eastward is my direction."
Timur actually did not make much determination in his eastern expedition. He didn't think it was a big war. He even felt that it would end this year. After it was over, he still had a lot of things to deal with.
For example, marching westward, conquering India, etc.
As Central Asia is the crossroads of civilization, Timur had too many directions to choose from. Precisely because there are so many directions to choose from, it is difficult for him to completely defeat an opponent every time he attacks.
They are just using up their rights to expand their own power. Timur's war was even a bit like a war of conquest in the feudal period. All he needed was to defeat his opponent. Let them want to contribute their own soldiers, horses, money, and supplies for their own conquests.
This kind of conquest naturally collapsed after Timur's death.
It was only at this moment that Timur felt the direction he was heading.
It's the East.
The East must be conquered.
In fact, by the time the war reached this point, Timur had already had a premonition that the war was about to be lost.
To be honest, Timur was indeed experienced in many battles. Much more powerful than King Yan. His sense of smell and taste on the battlefield was also better than that of King Yan. Although he did not know King Yan's actions, but he could not defeat the enemy for a long time, Timur already knew that his time was running out.
After all, behind him
His empire was not the Ming Dynasty. Before he came, he had never thought of conducting a siege that would last for several years. Therefore, after the battle reached this point, he was ready to seek a dignified end.
After all, he came here to rescue the Chaghatai Khanate and stand up for his younger brother. In essence, he was not prepared to fight to the end with King Yan.
But how could King Yan reach a peace agreement with Timur?
