Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

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

Khwarezm King Ajisi was shocked and quickly sent people to ask Yelu Dashi for help.

Yelu Dashi did not foolishly go to rescue, 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 Xixia and killing them.

Sanjar's original intention of attacking Khwarezm was to force Yelu Dashi to send troops, and then besiege the point to attack the reinforcements, and wait for the Western Liao army to be exhausted.

One is to besiege the point to attack the reinforcements, and the other is to besiege Wei to save Zhao.

After all, Sanjar could not bear the pressure, because he had to save the Western Karakhanid Khanate, but Yelu Dashi did not have to save Khwarezm.

Samarkand was a high city with deep moats, and Yelu Dashi did not waste his troops to attack fiercely, but besieged the city and waited for the Seljuk reinforcements to come.

When Sanjar led his army to approach, Yelu Dashi immediately retreated northward.

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

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

Yelu Dashi seemed to be desperate, and Sanjar was full of confidence to fight a decisive battle.

He even put the queen and scholars in the central 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 combat effectiveness was still very powerful. A full 50,000 Seljuk troops stayed in the west to guard against Ajisi's trouble.

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

Therefore, the total force of the Seljuk army in the decisive battle was just over 100,000.

The total force of the Western Liao army in the decisive battle was only a little over 70,000 - 80,000 to be exact. About 8,000 Karluk mercenaries were hidden in the valley by Yelu Dashi in advance. They have been hiding for two months without coming out, which is information that Sanjar didn't know at all.

...

The decisive battle is about to break out.

Yelu Dashi called all the generals of various ethnic groups to give a lecture: "All the truths have been told to you and to the soldiers under your command. Now I will repeat it again."

"The soldiers who followed me from Mobei, the hardships they have suffered along the way, I believe you all remember it. If we lose this battle, there will be no place for us in the world. We have nowhere to go. Everyone has only one choice, 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 Khan of the Seljuk Khan Sanjar. If this battle is If he loses, 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 Karluk army, I will not give you less than a single gold coin, and you will not have to pay tribute for the next three years!"

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

"We will win!"

The overall battle plan has already been told to the generals of all ethnic groups.

Although it is very risky, the chances of winning are great. All the generals shouted together: "We will win! We will win!"

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

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

The Western Liao had a total of 2,000 heavy cavalry, which were placed behind the right army.

The Seljuks had 5,000 heavy cavalry, which were placed behind the center army.

At the beginning of the battle, both sides sent out light cavalry to fight.

The light cavalry of the Western Liao Dynasty was defeated and quickly retreated to the side and rear of the infantry formation. The Seljuk light cavalry took turns to pass through the Western Liao infantry formation, constantly shooting at the Western Liao infantry who used shields to block arrows.

Soon, Sanjar found that the Western Liao right army was unstable, so he ordered: "The enemy's right army is the weakest, the whole army moves over there, and concentrates its forces to break through the right army!"

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

The left, center, and right armies of the Western Liao Dynasty also moved slowly to the right as a whole. But because the order was given late, the movement could not keep up, and the Seljuk army seized the opportunity.

As a last resort, Xiao Wulila led the Western Liao right army to retreat to the valley behind, and relied on the valley entrance to defend it with all his strength.

The Seljuk left and center armies fiercely attacked the Western Liao right army guarding the valley entrance.

As long as the Western Liao army was defeated, the outcome of this battle was basically determined.

"Leave it to you!" Yelu Dashi said to Li Tiansheng.

"I will die!"

Han general Li Tiansheng, with the only 2,000 heavy cavalry of the Western Liao, outflanked the Seljuk rear.

Yelu Dashi himself led the central army soldiers to flank the nearest Seljuk central army.

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

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

Specific details are as follows-

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

The Western Liao central army flanked the Seljuk central army.

The Western Liao left army flanked the Seljuk 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 to fight with the Western Liao central army coming from the side.

Then he divided the Seljuk heavy cavalry into two, one part went to meet the Western Liao heavy cavalry, and the other part cooperated 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 half surrounded more than 100,000 Seljuk troops.

But the armor and weapons of the Western Liao army were more rudimentary. At the critical moment, Yelu Dashi personally went into battle and rushed with the reserve troops to stabilize the situation.

"Defeated, the enemy army is defeated!"

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

However, Xiao Wulila, who was defending the valley, could not withstand the Seljuk attack. The entire right army retreated across the board and fled to the depths of the valley.

The Seljuk left and center armies, already angry, chased the Western Liao right army into the valley, and even Sanjar himself chased 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 center army to rush to the valley entrance at the fastest speed, completely blocking the valley.

At the same time, in the valleys on both sides of the valley, more than 8,000 Karluk mercenaries, divided into several teams, rushed out and cut the Seljuk army chasing into the valley into several pieces.

Xiao Wulila saw that the ambush troops had rushed out, and hurriedly gathered the pretended defeated troops, and immediately turned around and fought back.

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

Both sides were extremely thrilling.

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

The Western Liao central army was also attacked from both sides, and Yelu Dashi personally led his troops to block the valley entrance. He was attacked by both the Seljuk central army in the valley and the Seljuk right army outside the valley. The former fought desperately and rushed out, while the latter wanted to rescue the Sultan and killed them all 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 surround two Seljuk armies. He also cooperated with the Western Liao troops outside the valley to surround the other two Seljuk armies.

From another perspective, Yelu Dashi himself was also surrounded.

As long as Yelu Dashi's central army was defeated, the Seljuks would be able to turn the tables in this battle!

The following battle lasted for six hours.

Five thousand Seljuk heavy cavalry took turns to rush towards Yelu Dashi. Li Tiansheng led two thousand Western Liao heavy cavalry to entangle the Seljuk heavy cavalry, using their lives to buy time for the right army to encircle and annihilate.

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

Besides, the eight thousand Karluk mercenaries, their equipment was extremely backward, but they were all mountain infantry. In the complex valleys, they were defeated again and again by the well-equipped Seljuk army, and they climbed the mountain to escape and rushed down from another place again and again.

Xiao Wulila's troops suffered heavy losses when they pretended to be defeated, and at this moment they were also 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 stand it before the Yelu Dashi Central Army that was also surrounded.

But the Western Liao Central Army was also close to collapse, and Yelu Dashi himself was wounded in many places.

Under the desperate charge of the Sultan's personal guard infantry, Yelu Dashi's Central Army was penetrated. Sanjar rushed out of the valley with some of the remnants 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 central armies in the valley were almost dead.

The Seljuk right army outside the valley was also shaky.

Sanjar didn't 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 the smile was a bit miserable.

More than half of the Western Liao army was killed or wounded, and more than 15% were killed.

Especially Yelu Dashi's central army and heavy cavalry, the death rate was close to 40%, otherwise Sanjar would never have been able to rush out of the valley and escape.

These are the core elites of the Western Liao, and the heavy casualties made Yelu Dashi feel very painful!

But Sanjar fled back to Samarkand, and he did not discuss it with the king of the Western Karakhanid Kingdom at all, and ordered the burning of food and houses in the city.

Li Tiansheng followed closely with the Western Liao cavalry. Sanjar was so scared that he continued to flee, and the king also left the queen and fled with him.

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

After a while, Yelu Dashi led the main force to come.

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

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

An official of the Western Karakhanid Khanate replied: "Reporting to the great Jurghan, this is Samarkand."

Yelu Dashi said to the generals behind him: "It's too difficult to pronounce. This city is located between several large rivers, and it can be renamed Hezhongfu."