Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Chapter 326 Three armies suppress the situation (Part )
The infantry, archers, and gunners of the Guards hid behind the carriages and slowly approached Shawan City. The previous defeat did not shake Maozirak's fighting spirit. Although he was a reduced general, he was a well-established Mongolian. His tribe was also the famous Heshuote tribe in Oirat. He thought he was more powerful than Jia. The Rong soldiers are stronger. After all, the armor coverage rate of his subordinates is higher than that of the Jiarong soldiers, and the other equipment is also much better. So confident of victory.

The offensive formation of Heshuote soldiers was relatively dense. From the battle the day before yesterday, Maozilak could clearly see that no artillery was fired on the city. It seemed that Shawan City was not equipped with artillery. In this case, it is better to deploy the formation more densely and let the Junggar people have a taste of the storms of me and the Shuote Army.

"Taiji, the enemy is within range, why don't you fire?" On the city wall, Generals Morgan, Shuoqi and Sumail were extremely anxious, fearing that they would miss the opportunity.

Sahaletu smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry, the enemy's archers have not yet entered the shooting range. Each of you will lead 500 elite horses at the west gate and the south gate, waiting for the military order to attack."

"Yes", the second general cheered up. The feeling of pure defense is not pleasant, and finally there is a chance to attack.

Sakhaletu squinted his eyes and assessed the enemy's distance. Seeing that most of the archers and gunmen in the rear of the Guards had also entered the shooting range, they raised their hands fiercely and said, "Fire!"

"Boom~Boom~Boom~", three red general cannons bought from the Qing Dynasty and five large-caliber bronze cannons bought from Oros, Sweden and other countries spit out tongues of fire. These guns had a long range and bombarded the archers and gunners in the rear of the Guards.

"Boom~boom~boom~" More than twenty small-caliber bronze cannons purchased from Oros and the Bukhara Khanate and self-made cannons also began to fire. These cannons have a short range and are specially designed to deal with the front line of the Guards. of infantry. Some of the cannons were also loaded with shotgun shells, which swept away a large area.

Although they were covered by carriages, the dense formation still caused a lot of damage to the Guards. Especially the archers and gunners in the rear team were bombarded by heavy artillery, and the cannons in the carriages also fell apart. I was confused and panicked for a while.

"Don't panic, rush up, rush to the bottom of the city wall, the cannon will be useless", Maozilak shouted. As soon as he heard the cannon fire, he regretted it. But what he had issued was a military order. If he retreated, he would lose his head, so he could only move forward desperately.

The guards fell one by one, and Luo Buzang was very distressed. He didn't expect that the other side had so many artillery pieces, but he didn't reveal them. He had suffered a lot of casualties today!

"Retreat," he gave the military order.

"Woo~wu~wu~" the melodious horn sounded, and Maozirak was granted amnesty and led his army to withdraw to the camp.

On the city wall, Sahaletu saw that the guard flags were scattered and was about to retreat. Knowing that the fighter plane was coming, he issued a military order to attack.

The two generals Mergen, Shuoqi and Sumail each led 500 elite cavalry to fight out. The guard army, which was in full swing, did not expect that the Dzungar army in the city would dare to go out to fight. The formation was scattered and they were killed by the Dzungar army.

"Warriors, don't panic, follow me and kill." Maozilak held a spear and desperately restrained his men to resist.

"Da~da~da~"

A horse galloped up and struck him with a heavy sword. Maozilak blocked the spear horizontally. The sword was heavy and sharp, and actually cut the spear shaft in half. Before the force was gone, it slashed diagonally down from his left shoulder and broke into two pieces.

After killing the person, Sumail put the knife in his hand and ran to the next enemy without even looking at the dead enemy general. The guards who attacked the city became more and more panicked and collapsed. The Dzungars were killing people everywhere, just like chopping melons and vegetables.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Luo Buzang quickly dispatched two thousand-man teams to respond. "Withdraw troops and return to the city," Sakhaletu issued the general order. He had been fighting for a long time. When he saw that the guards sent troops to support him and that his side had taken advantage, he no longer wanted to fight and paid the money to withdraw his troops.

After counting the number of soldiers at the rear of the war, more than a thousand people were lost.

"My slave has insulted the military authority, please punish me." Luobuzang knelt in front of Sultan and apologized.

"You had merit in the previous attack on the military fortress, but you have fault in this defeat. If the merits and demerits are equal, we will not be held accountable." Sultan was reluctant to blame his trusted general, and turned around and asked: "In your opinion, what is the weakness of this city? "

"The city is small and strong, and a strong attack may damage the lives of the soldiers. According to the slave's opinion, it is better to besiege for a long time and wait for the enemy's food to run out," Luo Buzang reported.

"Long-term siege? If we wait for the Qing Dynasty to destroy Nanming, I'm afraid there will be no good chance to destroy Chun." Sultan frowned, unwilling to fight for a long time, and would try to attack the city no matter what.

The Mongol army that covered the sky and the sun completely surrounded Shawan City. There were many flags and camps, and it looked like there were 200,000 soldiers. This was a trick of Emperor Qianyuan, in order to psychologically shock the defenders in the city and defeat them without fighting. The defenders had no choice but to win a new battle, and their morale was strong. Sahaletu ordered the sergeants to sing Junggar pastoral songs, and the singing resounded throughout the sky.

"Set up the cannons and blast me," Suletan was angered by the singing. The Guards assembled thirty heavy artillery pieces and more than eighty other types of artillery pieces to crush the Junggar people in terms of firepower. However, although the military forts outside Shawan City are made of earth, the city itself is a stone city. It borrowed the design of European bastions. The city walls are not high, so the center of gravity is low and it is not easy to be blown down. Sakhalet built a triple fence in the city, and there was an inner city within the fence. The ferocious artillery fire of the Guardsmen did destroy several city walls, but they were blocked by fences and sword carts and could not swarm into the city through the gaps.

Sultan ordered tunnels to be dug and the city to be attacked using the "Beng Bang Method". However, this city was built on the bank of a river. The soil is soft and contains a lot of sand. If it is dug deep, it will either collapse or muddy water will flow out. All the hard work and effort are in vain.

In anger, he adopted the "enemy-tiring strategy", dividing his troops into multiple echelons and taking turns to attack the city, hoping to keep the defenders in a state of restlessness and fear. According to experience, the rain of arrows and the continuous sound of gunfire can damage the eardrums of the defenders and even cause them to have a psychological breakdown. However, the experienced Sakhaletu also divided the defenders into multiple echelons, taking turns to defend the city and take turns to rest. Because I could get some rest, I didn't suffer any psychological breakdown at all.

After more than ten days of strong attack, more than a thousand corpses were left behind, and the city was neither captured nor caused heavy casualties to the enemy. Sultan couldn't help but sigh again, "It's easy to shake a mountain, but it's hard to shake Junggar!"

Blessings come in pairs, and misfortunes never come alone. Just when Sultan was worried about his failure to attack Shawan for a long time, bad news came: Bingtu stationed in Manas sent troops to harass the guards from the east, and Batur Hutaiji stationed in Wusu City The seventh brother Nomuqi led 3,000 cavalry to patrol in the west of the Guards and harass them, hoping to prevent the Guards from attacking Shawan with all their strength.

"Let's talk about it, what should we do next?" Sultan angrily stared at Wuyingdian Grand Scholar Nasutu, Liu Haogu, Xue Zongzhou, Oirat Governor Balsi and other important ministers. What he meant was: Today is a must. Come up with a way for me! As an emperor, it is naturally impossible for him to make mistakes in his command. In this case, the fault can only be made by these ministers.

"I think we can capture Manas along the Manas River. Firstly, it has the advantage of river transportation; secondly, it can cut off the connection between Shawan and the Junggar army in Urumqi; thirdly, we can cross the Junggar Desert from Manas and take Hoboxai directly. "Li", the veteran Nasutu suggested. This suggestion deeply tempted Sultan, especially if the plan to cross the desert and reach the capital of Junggar could be realized, it would greatly shorten the course of the war.

"The plan is a good one, but the person guarding Manas is the Junggar veteran Bingtu. This person has fought with our army many times. He is extremely difficult to deal with and may not be easy to win. It is better to attack Wusu City, which can also coordinate the troops in the direction of Ili. Friendly troops can capture Karamay via Wusu, and then attack Hoboksali." Liu Haogu proposed another plan. Although this strategy cannot directly capture the enemy's capital, it is more certain of success.

Sultan hesitated and suddenly laughed loudly, "We have a large army, so we marched in two parallel directions. Balsi and Aishan led 20,000 troops to attack Manas City, and Sandan and Rejiefu led 10,000 troops to attack Wu. Sucheng, the other generals built high barriers along the bay to trap the Junggar people in the city."

(End of this chapter)