I

The camp built on the mountain has been surrounded by Braha's army.

The soldiers of all ethnic groups who came to seek refuge were inevitably frightened and even panicked.

As the former overlord of Central Asia, Bukhara was in a state of decay, but it still had some power at this time, and many of the ruled tribes did not dare to resist.

On the second day after the siege of the camp, Governor Mirza came to call for battle.

Liang Zhen observed it with a telescope for a moment, and immediately laughed: "It's this kind of army. Fortunately, we have few soldiers. The enemy came to fight on his own initiative. Otherwise, it would be difficult to chase them if they were scared away."

Lei Zhiji was also observing the enemy troops and asked with a puzzled look on his face: "It has been more than a hundred years since the founding of Bukhara, but it has not learned how to fight on foot?"

Liu Qin didn't understand what they were talking about and asked, "Is there any loophole in the enemy's army?"

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Liang Zhen and Lei Zhiji looked at each other and smiled.

Lei Zhiji explained: "The enemy has no real infantry at all, and they don't know how to form a large infantry formation. Their fire rifle soldiers, to be honest, are similar to our army's dragoons."

This is a puzzling thing. The empire that has dominated Central Asia for more than a hundred years does not know how to form an infantry formation.

It can be said that Bukhara's army is all cavalry.

Even infantry usually travel on horseback - only regular troops are discussed here, and temporary tribal armed forces recruited are not included.

At this moment, the enemy infantry came outside the camp and dismounted one after another and began to line up. To a layman like Liu Qin, the formation seemed to be quite neat, but in Liang Zhen's eyes it was laughable.

Some people say that the Manchu troops were mounted infantry, while the Bukhara army in front of them was. But they are real dismounted cavalry.

Moreover, although they were obviously equipped with a large number of muskets, they were not seen bringing artillery when they attacked the camp.

Lei Zhiji said: "It's a pity that our army is far away and did not bring chariots. Otherwise, if the chariot array was deployed, the enemy would not be able to get in."

"Not only the tanks, but also the artillery didn't bring many." Liang Zhen said.

I didn't bring any artillery with a larger caliber. This time I brought all the squatting tiger cannons, because the squatting tiger cannons can be carried by two people.

Seeing that the Chinese army did not fight, Mirza finally ordered an attack.

However, Mirza did not use the elite. After all, the Datong Army was famous. He first used Uzbek tribal armed forces to find out the truth.

The Uzbek soldiers sent up were all from tribes farther west and were relatively loyal to the King of Bukhara. They usually work part-time for farming and part-grazing, but now they are attacking the camp. They dismount one after another and move forward with scimitars on their waists, bows and arrows in their hands, and some soldiers have small shields on their arms.

On the Datong Army side, the camp of tens of thousands of people cannot be defended by only 3,500 Chinese soldiers.

Although the warriors from various tribes who came to seek refuge did not dare to fight in the field, they still had the courage to defend the camp. The two sides fired at each other across the wooden fence, causing casualties on each other, and the attacking side naturally suffered more casualties.

Mirza should be a veteran general. He asked the tribesmen to take turns attacking the camp. It seemed like a very stupid fueling tactic, but it was actually testing the defensive weakness of the camp.

Moreover, Mirza continued to mobilize troops, hoping to mobilize the defenders so as to find a breakthrough to launch a general attack.

But... the Datong Army has hot air balloons!

The four hot air balloons rose up, not to drop bombs, but to observe the entire battlefield from a high position.

The Datong Army's camp was originally built on the mountain, and the terrain was higher than that of the attacker. By using a hot air balloon, you can have a clear view of the battlefield, and you can see how the enemy deploys its troops.

Mirza is in a low place, and the camp is blocked by wooden fences. Many times we can only guess what is going on inside.

After fighting for a whole day, Mirza launched more than ten attacks, but Liang Zhen always easily resolved them.

Because as soon as any of Mirza's troops moved, Liang Zhen knew immediately and dispatched troops to defend in advance. Not only does it have the defensive advantage of the camp, but it also often uses more to defeat fewer, and constantly accumulates partial victories.

Those tribal soldiers who came over saw that Liang Zhen was commanding like a god. Although there were already casualties, their morale was getting higher and higher.

So far, the Datong Army has not moved and has always watched the battle as a reserve force.

Mirza's core elite did not move, because they were all heavy cavalry and musketeers, and he would not let these soldiers die in a difficult battle.

After three days of continuous fighting, Mirza's side suffered close to 2,000 casualties, while the Datong army only suffered more than 300 casualties. They are all vassal troops of their own. As long as their morale does not collapse, no matter how many casualties there are, they don't feel bad.

On the fourth day, Mirza stopped fighting and chose to besiege the camp and surrounded the Datong army to death.

After all, the Datong Army came all the way and couldn't bring too much military rations. The tribes that came to seek refuge were unlikely to have much food and grass. Even if they could plunder some along the way, they would be stuck in the camp for a month or two at most.

"The enemy generals are not fools. They have finally begun to siege us," Lei Zhiji said. "This is the enemy's territory. The longer the siege is, the more troops we will have and we can continue to recruit soldiers. However, our military rations are getting less and less day by day." Moreover, after being besieged for a long time, the morale of the tribesmen who have taken refuge will also drop, and some may secretly defect to the enemy."

"Then let's fight." Liang Zhen said.

At this time, a group of cavalry came from the southeast, numbering about 2,000 people.

But it was the Mingge tribe who rebelled, and under the leadership of Mahmoor, came to help the Datong army fight. They have rebelled, and they are the first to openly rebel. There is absolutely no way they can be forgiven. They can only take a gamble, and maybe survive in death.

"You still dare to come, then let's kill him together!"

Mirza was so angry that he sent out elite cavalry to kill the Mingge cavalry.

Upon seeing this, Makhmul immediately ordered to flee.

Although the Mingge tribe has two thousand cavalry, their equipment is extremely poor, and not many of them even wear leather armor. Such a beggar-like light cavalry is actually suitable for flying kites. Anyway, they will run away if they can't win.

"Leave the stronghold for a decisive battle!" Liang Zhen made a decisive decision.

Mirza saw some changes in the Datong army and immediately ordered the recall of the elite cavalry, leaving only three thousand light cavalry to continue chasing the Mingge cavalry.

Both sides have tens of thousands of troops, and there are particularly many nomadic cavalry. The entire battlefield stretches for nearly ten miles.

To be honest, I can't direct it.

Especially Liang Zhen, the tribal leader who came to seek refuge, could not understand the flag order of the Datong Army, nor could he understand the military trumpet of the Datong Army. After spreading out, he could only fight based on his ability. Liang Zhen couldn't even think of using his arms and fingers to those troops.

This war was particularly chaotic from the beginning.

The tribal cavalry faced off against the tribal cavalry, and they both wanted to preserve their strength. Looking around, everyone was riding horses and shooting arrows at each other, and as the cavalry cruised, the battlefield area became larger and larger, and they were already more than ten miles apart - Mirza could not command them anymore.

There seemed to be lively fighting everywhere, but there was no close combat.

Just keep shooting arrows back and forth. If any tribe is at a slight disadvantage, they will immediately run to the edge of the battlefield, for fear that their tribe will suffer too heavy losses.

By the end of the fight, it was completely mixed and turned into a big melee between tribes.

The generals on both sides ignored this and locked onto each other's elite main forces.

When the number of tribal troops on the central battlefield dwindled, Mirza finally began to dispatch his elite troops. Two thousand horse-mounted musketry infantry and five thousand light-armored horse archers rushed towards the 3,500 Datong Army.

In front of the formation of the Datong Army, there are many horse-rejecting stakes, which were built by craftsmen from outside Andiyan City.

Mirza's order was for the musketeers to reach the shooting range, all dismount and shoot at the Datong army, and the five thousand horse archers also shot arrows at the Datong army. After shooting and disrupting the formation of the Datong Army, the heavy cavalry was sent out to destroy the Datong Army.

"Tiger Crouching Cannon!"

More than twenty tiger squatting cannons were carried behind the horse-rejecting pile.

Due to the long journey, Liang Zhen did not bring any artillery shells, but only gravels obtained from Yingzhai Mountain.

A large amount of gravel was filled into the barrel, and the effective range of such perfunctory ammunition was less than a hundred meters. If the enemy is wearing cotton-iron composite armor, he will not be able to penetrate it for 80 to 90 meters, but he will only feel a lot of pain.

But it was enough, far beyond the range of muskets and horse bows.

About sixty or seventy meters away, the musketeers on the opposite side dismounted one after another. The cavalry archers continued to rush forward, and circled to both sides, intending to shoot at the Datong Army from the left and right.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than twenty squatting tiger cannons were fired, and gravel flew out into the sky, hitting the musketeers who had just dismounted.

There were three to four hundred musketeers on the spot, and they were hit by stone bullets inexplicably.

Those who were hit in key parts such as the head and neck fell down on the spot. Although some were hit, the stones may be relatively small. Those with minor injuries only felt pain, while those with serious injuries suffered fractures due to the stones.

At this time, you can see the morale. The morale of the Bukhara army is really not very high.

The artillery of the Datong Army was still reloading, but the Bukhara musketeers did not take the opportunity to rush forward, but collectively mounted their horses and began to retreat. Even in those places that were not shelled, the musketeers were retreating, as if they did not intend to fight the Chinese army.

If you can't even get your military pay, why bother fighting for it?

The archers who circled around the two wings had not yet entered the range of the horse bows, and the musketeers of the Datong Army began to fire a volley.

There was a burst of gunfire, and the horse archers retreated, leaving only more than a hundred corpses.

Mirza was angry at the soldiers' cowardice, but he did not punish them on the spot. Instead, he ordered two groups of tribal cavalry to be mobilized. He did not want his elite to fight in a bloody battle, and planned to use the tribal cavalry as cannon fodder. While the Datong army was reloading ammunition, he would order his elite to rush in and kill them.

"Cavalry attacks!"

Liang Zhen suddenly dispatched his cavalry, sending out only 500 cavalry.

Not to kill the Bukhara elite, but to assist the tribal soldiers further away.

Seeing the Datong cavalry carefully passing the horse and running towards the battlefield on the left, Mirza was a little confused about the situation.

But he didn't bother to think too much. In Mirza's view, the biggest problem was the Datong Army, and the Chinese general was in the infantry formation. As long as the Chinese army is dealt with and the Chinese generals are killed, no matter how many tribes are left to rebel, he can easily destroy them.

Cavalry battalion commander Lu Zhaoyun, leading five hundred Datong cavalry, accelerated immediately after passing the Juma stake belt.

The fight there has been reduced to a mess, and they are shooting indiscriminately. No tribe is willing to fight hand-to-hand unless they shoot the other side until they flee.

Lu Zhaoyun didn't care about this, he spotted an enemy army and immediately rushed over desperately. During the charge, more than ten Datong knights were shot off their horses by the enemy's bows and arrows, and more cavalry had arrows stuck in their armors.

In the blink of an eye, Datong Xiaoqi rushed in, and the Uzbek tribe immediately ran away.

The nearby Tajik tribal cavalry immediately became more morale-driven and followed the Datong cavalry in pursuit.

Dozens of enemy riders were hacked to death along the way, and the tribe being chased turned and fled. However, Lu Zhaoyun moved forward in a straight line and rushed towards another group of enemies. After rushing that group of enemies to escape, the nearby Giljis cavalry also followed.

Not long after, more and more tribal cavalry followed Datong Xiaoqi.

A group of scattered tribal cavalry actually still want to fight. After all, they have rebelled. If they lose the war, they will definitely be settled by Governor Qiu Hou. But they lack a backbone. Without a backbone, they have to preserve their strength.

On the other hand, the tribal cavalry under Governor Mirza were usually exploited by the king. Their willingness to fight with the governor was their last act of loyalty to the king, and it was absolutely impossible for them to bleed for the king to the end.

Five hundred Datong knights, led by Lu Zhaoyun, continued to defeat enemy troops along the way, and were constantly joined by tribal cavalry.

At the end of the charge, only about 400 of the 500 brave knights were left, and nearly 100 Chinese soldiers were buried here. But the tribal cavalry behind them had gathered in the tens of thousands, and with the Datong cavalry as arrows, no one dared to stop them along the way.

Mainly because of the previous melee, all the tribes who followed Mirza to fight were scattered and unable to gather together for a while.

Mahmoor also led the Mingge cavalry and ran back to the battlefield in a circle. When he saw this, he couldn't help but admire: "What a brave warrior!"

The Bukhara light cavalry who were chasing Makhmul changed their faces drastically, and they were so frightened that they immediately fled to Mirza's side.

The tribal cavalry behind Lu Zhaoyun gathered more and more, and finally rushed towards Mirza's main formation. More than 20,000 cavalry were killed in an overwhelming manner, and the heavy cavalry around Mirza were frightened.

As for the tribal cavalry who followed Mirza, most of them had fled.

"Mount bayonets, infantry attack!"

Liang Zhen personally led the infantry, inserted bayonets, crossed the horses, and marched towards the enemy in an orderly manner.

"Lord Governor, run away, we have lost!"