Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 973 0968 [Hezhong Prefecture]

In the spring, the Seljuk Sultan Sanjar led an army of 150,000 to attack Khwarezm and claimed to have an army of 300,000.

The Khwarezmian King Ajisi was shocked and immediately sent people to ask Yelu Dashi for help.

Yelu Dashi was not foolish enough to rescue them, and once again used the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao. He ordered the troops of all ethnic groups to assemble in the Fergana Basin, and the Gaochang army stayed in Hami to prevent the Ming Dynasty from chasing after the Western Xia and attacking them.

Sanjar's original intention of attacking Khwarezm was to force Yelu Dashi to send troops, and then surround and attack the reinforcements, and then take advantage of the situation to deal with the Western Liao army.

One surrounded the point and attacked the reinforcements, the other surrounded Wei to save Zhao.

In the end, Sanjar could not bear the pressure because he had to save the Western Karakhanid Khanate, while Yelu Dashi did not necessarily have to save Khwarezm.

Samarkand was a city with high walls and deep moats. Yelu Dashi did not waste his troops in a fierce attack, but instead laid siege to the city and waited for the Seljuk reinforcements to arrive.

When Sanjar led his army approaching, Yelu Dashi immediately retreated north.

To the north of Samarkand, there is a narrow grassland called Katwan.

The Katwan grassland is surrounded by mountains to the north and south. Sanjar led his troops to chase after them and forced Yelu Dashi to the edge of the grassland next to the mountains.

Yelu Dashi seemed to be at his wit's end, and Sanjar was confident of a decisive battle.

He even placed his queen and scholars in the center of the army to fight together, and asked painters and poets to prepare works about his great victory.

Not all of the 150,000 Seljuk troops were brought to fight.

Just as Yelu Dashi had to guard against the Ming Dynasty, Sanjar had to guard against Khwarezm.

Ajisi, the troublemaker, was once Sanjar's favorite general, and his fighting ability was still very impressive. A full 50,000 Seljuk troops were left in the west to guard against Ajisi's trouble.

The army of the Western Karakhanid Khanate had already been defeated by Yelu Dashi, and could only stay in Samarkand to defend the city and guard the food and fodder.

Therefore, the total strength of the Seljuks in the decisive battle was just over 100,000.

The total number of troops of the Western Liao in the decisive battle was only a little over 70,000 - 80,000 to be exact. There were about 8,000 Karluk mercenaries who were hidden in the valley by Yelu Dashi in advance. They had been hiding for two months, which was information that Sanjar was completely unaware of.

……

The decisive battle is about to break out.

Yelu Dashi called all the generals of various ethnic groups to give them a lecture: "I have already explained all the principles to you and to the soldiers under your command. Now I will repeat them again."

"I'm sure you all still remember the hardships we suffered along the way as soldiers who followed me from Mobei. If we lose this battle, there will be no place for us to stay in the world. We have nowhere to go. You only have one choice, and that is to die here in battle!"

"And the soldiers of the Karakhanid Khanate, my rule is enlightened and benevolent. Even if I capture a big city, I will not rob or kill. But who is on the other side? That is the Great Khan of the Seljuks, Sanjar. If we lose this battle, he will rule the entire Karakhanid Khanate. He will plunder cities and villages, leaving his trusted followers as city lords and herdsmen. Everything you have will be taken away by the Seljuks. I am not trying to scare you. I think you have heard about what happened to Khwarezm last year."

"As for the Qarluk army, I will not give you a single gold coin less than the money I promised you, and you will not have to pay tribute for the next three years!"

"This is the battlefield I selected last year. As long as you lead your troops to fight to the death, the enemy will surely fall into the trap."

"We will win!"

The overall battle plan had already been communicated to the generals of all ethnic groups.

Although it was very risky, the chances of winning were great, and all the generals shouted together: "We must win! We must win!"

The next day, the two armies deployed their battle formations, and their formations were surprisingly similar.

They all divided their troops into three armies: left, center and right, and then sent out the light cavalry to shoot arrows.

The Western Liao had a total of 2000 heavy cavalry, stationed behind the right army.

However, the Seljuks had 5000 heavy cavalry, stationed behind the central army.

The battle began, and both sides sent out light cavalry to fight.

The Western Liao light cavalry was defeated and quickly retreated to the side and rear of the infantry formation. The Seljuk light cavalry took turns passing through the Western Liao infantry formation and continuously shot at the Western Liao infantry who used shields to block arrows.

Soon, Sanjar discovered that the Western Liao right army was unstable, so he ordered: "The enemy's right army is the weakest, move the entire army to that side and concentrate our forces to break through the right army!"

So the Seljuk left, center and right armies slowly advanced towards the right side of Western Liao.

The left, center and right armies of the Western Liao also slowly moved to the right as a whole. However, because the order was given late, they could not keep up with the pace and were seized by the Seljuk army.

As a last resort, Xiao Worila led the Western Liao Right Army to retreat towards the valley behind, and fought hard to defend the valley entrance.

The Seljuk left and center armies launched a fierce attack on the Western Liao right army guarding the entrance of the valley.

As long as the Western Liao army is defeated, the outcome of this war will be basically determined.

"I leave it to you!" Yelu Dashi said to Li Tiansheng.

"I will not give up even if I die!"

The Han general Li Tiansheng, with the only 2000 heavy cavalry of the Western Liao, encircled the Seljuks from the rear.

Yelu Dashi himself led the central army soldiers and attacked the nearest Seljuk central army from the side.

Xiao Chala Abu led the Western Liao left army to encircle the Seljuk right army.

The situation on the battlefield soon became like this: the Seljuks drove a Western Liao army into the valley, but the Western Liao in turn half-surrounded the Seljuk army.

details as follows--

The Western Liao right army retreated to the valley entrance and was attacked fiercely by the Seljuk left and center armies.

The Western Liao central army attacked the Seljuk central army from the flank.

The Western Liao army's left army made a detour and attacked the Seljuk army's right army. The heavy cavalry of both sides collided.

Sanjar remained calm in the face of danger and quickly mobilized his troops to counterattack.

He separated a part of the central army and led the army to meet the Western Liao central army. He also asked the Seljuk right army to separate a part of the soldiers to fight against the Western Liao central army coming from the side.

Then divide the Seljuk heavy cavalry into two, one part will go to meet the Western Liao heavy cavalry, and the other part will cooperate with the remaining friendly forces to attack the Western Liao left army.

The battle line began to stabilize and became extremely stalemate.

More than 70,000 Western Liao troops semi-surrounded more than 100,000 Seljuk troops.

But the armor and weapons of the Western Liao army were more crude. At the critical moment, Yelu Dashi personally took to the battlefield and led the reserve troops to charge and stabilize the situation.

"Defeated, the enemy was defeated!"

The Seljuk soldiers near the valley shouted, and the morale of the nearby Seljuk troops was immediately boosted.

However, Xiao Worila, who was defending the valley to the death, could not withstand the fierce attack of the Seljuks. The entire right army retreated and fled towards the depths of the valley.

The angry Seljuk left and center armies chased the Western Liao right army into the valley, and even Sanjar himself followed in. Including Sanjar's queen, attendants and scholars, they all rushed into the valley.

Those scholars also fought in armor!

"kill!"

Yelu Dashi led the Western Liao central army and rushed to the valley entrance as quickly as possible, completely blocking the valley.

At the same time, in the ravines on both sides of the valley, more than 8,000 Qarluk mercenaries, divided into several teams, rushed out to attack the Seljuk army that had chased into the valley, cutting it into several pieces.

When Xiao Worila saw that the ambush troops had already appeared, he quickly gathered the troops that had pretended to be defeated and immediately turned around and fought back.

Sanjar, who was ambushed, was shocked and led the central army to turn around and rush to the valley entrance, but Yelu Dashi blocked it there.

It was extremely thrilling for both sides.

The Seljuk left and center armies were divided and surrounded in the valley.

The Western Liao army was also attacked from both sides, and Yelu Dashi personally led his troops to block the valley entrance. He was attacked by the Seljuk central army in the valley and the Seljuk right army outside the valley. The former fought desperately to rush out, and the latter wanted to rescue the Sultan and killed like crazy.

The central army commanded by Yelu Dashi himself became the center of the entire battlefield.

He cooperated with the Western Liao troops in the valley to encircle two Seljuk armies, and also cooperated with the Western Liao troops outside the valley to encircle another two Seljuk armies.

From another perspective, Yelu Dashi himself was also surrounded.

As long as Yelu Dashi's central army is defeated, the Seljuks will be able to turn the tables in this battle!
The ensuing battle lasted for six hours.

Five thousand Seljuk heavy cavalrymen took turns charging at Yelu Dashi. Li Tiansheng led two thousand Western Liao heavy cavalrymen to entangle the Seljuk heavy cavalrymen tightly, using their lives to buy time for the right army to encircle and annihilate them.

The Western Liao left army also rushed towards the Seljuk right army outside the valley.

Besides, the 8,000 Karluk mercenaries were extremely poorly equipped, but they were all mountain infantry. In the complex valleys, they were repeatedly defeated by the well-equipped Seljuk army, and repeatedly climbed up the mountain to escape and rushed down from another place.

Xiao Worila's troops suffered heavy losses when they pretended to be defeated, and were now cooperating with the Karluk mercenaries to encircle and annihilate the enemy.

Gradually, the Seljuk army that was divided and surrounded in the valley could not hold on any longer than Yelu Dashi's central army which was also surrounded.

However, the Western Liao central army was on the verge of collapse, and Yelu Dashi himself was seriously wounded.

Under the desperate charge of the Sultan's personal guards, Yelu Dashi's central army was broken through. Sanjar led some of the remaining soldiers out of the valley and joined the remaining Seljuk heavy cavalry outside the valley, but he left his wife, scholars and troops in the valley.

The Seljuk left and center armies in the valley had been killed and almost all of them were left.

The Seljuk right army outside the valley was also in a precarious situation.

Sanjar did not dare to fight again, and fled in a panic with a small number of heavy and light cavalry. The Sultan's guard heavy infantry who rushed out of the valley with him were surrounded and annihilated by the Western Liao army.

"we won!"

The Western Liao soldiers cheered and shouted, and Yelu Dashi, who was covered in blood, also smiled.

But it was a bit of a sad laugh.

More than half of the Western Liao army was killed or wounded, with more than 15% killed in action.

Especially for Yelu Dashi's central army and heavy cavalry, the death rate was close to 40%, otherwise it would be impossible for Sanjar to rush out of the valley and escape.

These were the core elites of Western Liao. The heavy casualties made Yelu Dashi feel extremely painful!

But when Sanjar fled back to Samarkand, he ordered the burning of food and houses in the city without consulting the king of Western Karakhanid Khanate.

Li Tiansheng and the Western Liao cavalry were in hot pursuit. Sanjar was so scared that he continued to run away. The king also abandoned the queen and ran away with him.

The cavalry under Li Tiansheng were exhausted and did not choose to continue the pursuit. Instead, they ordered the people in the city to put out the fire.

After a while, Yelu Dashi came with the main force.

Officials of the Western Karakhanid Khanate came out of the city to greet him, kneeling down and kowtowed, shouting: "Great Jurghan, you are the king of kings, the greatest monarch in the world!"

Yelu Dashi pointed at the city wall and asked: "What is this place called?"

A Western Karakhanid official replied: "Reporting to the great Gur Khan, this is Samarkand."

Yelu Dashi said to the generals behind him: "This is too difficult to pronounce. This city is located between several large rivers. We can change its name to Hezhongfu."

(End of this chapter)