The Sun and the Lion

"Send the order, it's time for the general attack."

A series of bugles and flags conveyed Gaolaberi's order to the troops. The dismounted red heads quickly reached the siege ladder through wooden planks laid on the mud.

The red head who was the first to board the city relied on his strong breastplate to withstand the blow. Then he used Sheshier to counterattack, leaving a wound on the Timur soldier's face. He blocked the sword with a small buckler and then slashed hard at his body. Although protected by chain mail, the Timurid soldier was wounded.

The other red heads climbed hard and soon reached the top of the city, relieving the pressure on their colleagues.

Timur's soldiers gathered closely together, holding their shields directly in front of them, pushing forward, trying to compress the red heads' space for movement.

In a narrow environment, long knives were no longer suitable weapons. They took out daggers, daggers or bones to poke into the narrow gaps, or give Timur soldiers a hammer on the head.

On the high platform outside the castle, the archers also spared no effort to support their comrades.

The hand-to-hand combat between the red head and the Timurid soldiers brought the two armies to a stalemate. The Timur soldiers were unable to drive the red head out of the castle, and the red head was temporarily unable to penetrate the defense line of the Timur army.

At this point in the battle, Bey also knew that the moment of life and death had come. He took the risk of being shot by the red head on the high platform and dispatched the crossbowmen to focus on supporting the critical defense lines everywhere.

When Bey saw that the quartermaster who had been sent to the warehouse to count supplies had returned, he quickly asked: "Is there still kerosene in the warehouse? Where are the other supplies?"

"There is no kerosene. You used it all when you set fire to the city." The quartermaster told the cruel truth, "The reserve of arrows is still enough."

"Then how do I destroy these siege ladders."

The quartermaster looked at Bey, who had a mask of pain on his face, and reminded him: "Sir, there are two ballistas and two counterweight trebuchets in the warehouse, which can be placed on the top of the tower."

"Hurry up and organize the manpower to install it. I will dispatch the crossbowmen to cover you."

But the soldiers could no longer hold on any longer. No matter how many red heads they killed, these fanatical warriors would step on the corpses of their comrades one after another and continue to fight for their lives. Cutting the cannon fodder's necks had already consumed part of their physical strength, and the high-intensity confrontation with the red heads quickly consumed their physical strength and morale.

Under the cover of his comrades, a red head holding a military flag climbed to the top of the city, broke through the queue of Timur soldiers, and ran towards the nearest tower.

"Stop him quickly and throw down that flag!" No one would ignore the impact that the flag on the city had on both warring parties. Bey issued the order like a reflex, but he had no reserves available.

The flag bearer held the military flag and stepped onto the narrow stairs. Under the cover of his comrades, he avoided the slashing knife. The other red heads blocked the Timur soldiers trying to rush into the tower while clearing out the remaining enemies in the tower. The overly long flagpole made him look awkward on the narrow tower stairs, but he successfully reached the top without anyone blocking him.

"Look, look, it's our flag!" Seeing the Lion Sun flag standing on the top of the tower, the adjutant reminded the general excitedly.

The flag bearer was not afraid of the arrows from other towers, waved the military flag high-pitched, and shouted to his comrades below: "The true believer wins, the glory belongs to Ali, victory!"

The red heads looked up and saw that their own military flag was flying on the tower, and they all concluded that the battle had been won.

"Glory belongs to Ali, victory!" The red heads completely shattered Timur's defense in the deafening battle cry.

There was really no suspense in the subsequent battle. The collapsed Timur soldiers did not even put up any decent resistance. Bey, who was unable to organize the soldiers, retreated into the castle while resisting, all the way to the hall.

"Put down your sword and take off your armor, so you still have a chance to survive."

Bey's Adam's apple moved, he looked cautiously at the red head on the other side trying to persuade him to surrender, and then dropped his saber.

"The God of Heaven and the Sultan of Herat are aware of what happened to Astarabad today. The Sultan will recover this blood debt for all the soldiers who fought to the death here!"

After saying that, he took out the dagger and cut his carotid artery, and blood flowed profusely.

Taking advantage of the moment when the red heads were stunned, the officials and soldiers who retreated to the hall with Bey also committed suicide, avoiding the humiliation of being captured.

………………

The castle gate was opened, and the prisoners moved out all the ordnance, grain, grass and property from the warehouse, and the quartermaster was responsible for counting the number and estimating the value. The administrative files on Astarabad are also intact, but as things stand, these documents are invalid.

The remains of various officials in the castle were also moved out and specially placed on the shroud. Find Bookstore www.zhaoshuyuan.com Gaolaberi looked at these Timur officers who had resisted him bravely for two weeks, nodded, and ordered that graves be dug for them individually.

Others did not fare so well. All the survivors of Astarabad were turned into slaves, and they were about to appear in slave markets across Iran to enrich the pockets of the red heads. In order to win over the morale of the troops, Gaolaberi put his portion back into the spoils to be distributed.

Then he ordered a celebration banquet to be held for the soldiers using the captured spoils of war. Everyone was given roasted naan, sufficient amounts of mutton and beef, alcoholic beverages and dairy products by the can, as well as fruits and vegetables that they could not usually eat. All the sick and wounded were also properly cared for.

Among the prisoners of war, those young women with fair skin and good looks and fair-faced boys with no beards or who had just grown light beards were singled out and scattered among the red heads for them to tease and have fun with, and finally enjoyed the spoils under the cover of night.

The best boys and girls among them were specially selected and kept as tributes to the palace.

"General, please take a look." Gaolaberi's secretary handed him the drafted battle report. It contains a detailed report on the course of the battle, the spoils of war and the red-headed casualties.

"Okay, just send it to Tabriz and Rasht." Gaolaberi replied absently to the secretary, who was still looking at the map thinking about his next plan.

After Astarabad was taken care of, Gholabery guessed that Ibrahim would order him to continue marching into Khorasan and liberate the holy city of Mashhad. Compared with the narrow plains of Tabaristan, the vast Khorasan region and Turan Plains are more suitable for cavalry to gallop, and the local humid environment makes the red heads very uncomfortable. He suspects that even his general will get sick if he continues to stay. .

But it's not up to him how long he wants to stay here.