The Sun and the Lion

"Hmph!" Hu Si Lao drew out his knife angrily and killed a slave in public to vent his anger.

What could make this great warlord who had tens of thousands of troops and was so domineering that he killed the Guligani clan members angry?

Of course, it was urgent reports sent from all over. As soon as winter entered, his territory was suddenly attacked. Balkh only sent a letter asking for help, but then there was no news.

Ever since he received the dervish, nothing good had happened to him. All he had encountered were bad things. Huslao thought, "I should have just killed the dervish, or just disappeared."

"Has the companion who went to Balkh to check the situation not come back yet?" Huslao continued to ask his close associates, Burke.

Several people looked at each other, and only then they dared to reply to Hu Si Lao: "Not yet, dear Emir, we think something must have happened since the scout has not returned for a long time."

"I think so too. However, no matter how big the problem is, we have to send more scouts. Send more scouts until someone can come back and report to me what happened in the west!" Huslao became more and more excited as he talked, and in the end he was furious. Cough a few times.

"Emil, calm down, we should think about how to deal with these emergencies now." The close relatives on the side hurriedly comforted, for fear that something might happen to the master.

Huslao called another slave and whipped him for a long time before he calmed down.

"My mind was a little hard just now. Please help me figure out what the situation is now." Hu Si Lao scanned the crowd and ordered slowly.

Because of the sudden incident, the core force available in the city of Kunduz at this time was only the 4,000 companions owned by Hus Lao himself, plus the soldiers and horses of several Burkes in the surrounding area, which could not reach 10,000.

And what's the situation outside Kunduz? A large army of unknown origin suddenly appeared. They camped under the city, but they did not rush to besiege the city. Instead, they built fortifications while dividing their troops to attack various small castles outside the Kunduz city wall.

The scouts reported that according to visual inspection, the number of enemy troops coming to attack should be more than 10,000, which immediately made Huslao at a loss.

Although the enemy has not officially begun the siege, it is difficult for him to assemble a large army in front of such an enemy force. After all, the invading enemy is not a fool, and he will definitely not let Hus Lao increase his strength.

The scout did not recognize the military flag in the enemy camp, but based on his previous experience, Huslao guessed that it was the army that the dervish mentioned.

If only Kunduz was besieged, Huslao could more calmly dispatch troops and generals to support this place. Even though he was fighting in winter, he had done a lot to make the people suffer, and he didn't mind making them suffer more.

But before he could figure out how to respond, news of Balkh's emergency came. Realizing that the enemy was well prepared, Hus Lao fell into incompetent rage.

"The only plan now is to send a letter to Hisar and ask Vali to lead troops to come for support. First, repel the enemy forces under the city of Kunduz." The first thing Huslao thought of was to ask for help, but he Now there is no one except his own brothers.

Both Uzbek Khan and Chagatai Khan were powerful, but they had no reason to come to help Khosrow - the food in Hezhong and Fergana has not been finished yet, why must they eat the meat of Afghanistan now?

Because of Huslao's notoriety, they would comment on the day Kunduz was captured: "What a death!"

…………

In the siege camp, Piri and military engineers were planning how to capture the city of Kunduz.

All the artillery units were with Ibrahim. He could not break through as quickly as he had in the previous attack on Kandahar, and could only slowly accumulate siege equipment.

"General, how do you plan to attack the city?" The military engineer and deputy general Aqi looked at Pili. They still didn't know what the general planned.

Pili felt the pressure immediately. For other people in the army, the final solution was to besiege without attacking. After all, they were just a partial division, not the main force. As long as we can block the traffic in Kunduz and gather reinforcements, it would be best to wait until His Majesty leads the main force to arrive.

But for him who took the initiative to divide his troops, doing so would be a waste of an opportunity for performance. He also imagined that he could deepen the King of Kings' impression of him by independently conquering a city.

"Before talking about the attack on Kunduz, I would like to ask how the raids on the surrounding fortresses are going?" Piri planned to skip this question before thinking about it.

Aqi replied: "General, I was just about to report this to you. You ordered your subordinates to take charge of conquering these fortresses. Find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com. The progress has been very smooth in recent days. The fortifications of these fortresses are very simple. The number of enemy troops stationed inside is small and their morale is low, so our soldiers can easily conquer it with only simple siege equipment provided by engineers."

Then he began to list the results of the battle. The total number of casualties and prisoners in the surrounding small castles was four digits. There were hundreds of horses captured, hundreds of armors and other ordnance, amounts of grain and grass, various silver coins, copper coins, and other things. Bits and pieces of property.

At the same time, the soldiers and horses that were separated also captured many civilians from the surrounding areas, which was a good labor complement for the Safavid army.

In order to seize these trophies, the Safavid army only paid a negligible price, and the number of casualties was less than a hundred.

"Okay, very good. These fortresses can be used by our army. What do you think?" Piri simply praised all the soldiers who participated in the raid.

Archie pointed out the castle closest to Kunduz on the map: "General, this is close to Kunduz, and it is located at a high place and has complete facilities. Our army's tent and baggage can be moved here, and the entire Kunduz can be viewed through the main building. The battlefield on the south side of Dushi."

Then he swept his hand around Kunduz: "As for the other fortresses, there is no need to garrison troops. At most, they are used for sentries to stay."

"Since there are so many benefits, let's move to that fortress tonight."

The troops responsible for intercepting messengers and blocking roads were also arranged at this time.

After Piri arranged all the matters, he said to the military engineer: "Now you and I will survey the city defense of Kunduz, and we will discuss strategies to attack the city tonight."

The military engineer saluted and said, "Yes, General."

The two men immediately walked out of the tent, mounted their horses and left the camp under the escort of their own soldiers, leaving Archie behind to take charge of camp affairs.