The Sun and the Lion

Shaibani Khan led his troops across the Syr Darya River without waiting for the entire army to be assembled. As soon as they crossed the river, the Uzbek army immediately defeated the sentries near the river bank.

The rolling intruders from Tashkent once again ignited the beacon fire in the river. This time, Shaibani Khan was determined to capture Samarkand.

Babur was very cautious. He first sent scouts to inquire about the Uzbek army, gathered all the troops within the city walls, counted the material reserves in the city, and collected military supplies outside the city in advance. The most important thing is that the messenger heading to Bukhara has already set off, and the Uzbek army cannot intercept it.

In order to save reserves and out of confidence in the fortifications of Samarkand, he took the initiative to order the troops from Fergana to return to the city of Khuzel to prevent Shabani Khan from sending partial troops to steal territory.

However, the Afghan rebellion is also a concern for Babur and Gholabari. It is difficult to say whether Ibrahim will temporarily abandon the river in order to deal with the Afghans first.

In the camp of the Safavid reinforcements, the Bey of Qajar and the four commanders under his command discussed how to preserve their strength.

"Now that the rebellion in the south has attracted the attention of the palace, it is difficult to say how many troops the King of Kings can reinforce in the river. Now it is difficult to stop Shaibani with the existing troops in Samarkand." Gaolaberi briefly analyzed After taking a look at the situation, he continued: "My idea is to preserve our troops as much as possible in the next battle."

The four captains thought hard. Obviously, as reinforcements sent by the King of Kings to Samarkand, they could not retreat directly. Even if Ibrahim did not care about Babur's life or death, being a deserter would mean their political and biological consequences. Student life is over.

In the end, they came up with a simple and crude method: "How about we just kidnap this little baby and force him to Bukhara or Merv?"

Gaolaberi thought about it carefully and agreed: "This method is good and feasible. For Shaybani, Samarkand is definitely more important."

Just when they wanted to continue discussing how to intercept Babur back, the soldiers standing guard outside the door curtain came in and reported: "General, the emir's envoy is here, saying that he has a task that needs to be entrusted to you."

The five people immediately stopped plotting, and Gaolaberi summoned the envoy to come in like a normal person: "Is there any difficult task that the emir needs help from allies?"

The scouts sent by Babur to collect information about the enemy successfully returned to Samarkand. He declared: "The number of people crossing the river in this group is about ten thousand, but it is not ruled out that more people will arrive later."

Hearing the news, Emil's mind suddenly became alive again. Although he temporarily transferred Fergana's troops and did not have a numerical advantage, the gap was not too big. In this way, seizing the opportunity to take the initiative to attack may be able to show off the power of the Uzbeks. If they watch Shaibani Khan gathering his troops, then they really can only huddle in the city and pray.

"What? Take the initiative? Although it is definitely not possible to defend the lone city, but..." Gaolaberi still hesitated, not believing the intelligence sent back by the scouts.

Gaolaberi was very dissatisfied with Babur's idea of ​​changing the battle plan. He immediately went to the palace to have a good chat with Babur.

…………

Unlike the Guregani army, which had different aspirations, the Uzbek sultans who united around Shaibani Khan were very united. They followed the Khan across the Syr Darya River without reservation and sent out their troops to fight.

The short distance between Tashkent and Samarkand not only had the Syr Darya River to cross, but was also blocked by the ups and downs of the Turkestan Mountains. The favorable location made Shaibani Khan cautious.

In order to march safely, Shaibani Khan not only dispatched scouts, but also sent out forwards to disguise themselves as large troops and marched. As a result, for several days in a row, when he was only one day away from Samarkand, except for Guregani who came to explore the intelligence Scout, the Uzbek army did not encounter any enemies.

"Our army has been marching for several days, and neither the river banks nor the rugged mountains can stop us. Babur is really an incompetent coward. It seems that the only thing that can stop me is the city wall of Samarkand." Shaibani Khan continued to taunt Babur in meetings, and various sultans echoed his claim.

There was an optimistic atmosphere in the sweat tent. After the brief military meeting, the servants quickly brought delicious food and wine to the nobles for them to enjoy. Various meats roasted with spices were found at Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuaｎ.com Arranged on the plate, the aroma is overflowing.

Shaibani Khan was very happy while enjoying the food on the plate and the compliments of the sultans. With the drunkenness, he said loudly: "Conquering the river is just the beginning. Khorasan will also be the land of our spoils. Today is Samarkand, and tomorrow will be Herat!"

He also took advantage of the drunkenness to write a letter of "persuasion" to Babur with a not very friendly tone. The main part of the text was to insult all the ancestors from Babur onwards, including the lame Timur: "Your ancestors ——The lame donkey——polluted the bloodline of the Golden Family. This is an unforgivable sin. You must realize that a mule cannot grow into a horse no matter what, and my mission is to put an end to you. Dirty mule.”

The messenger quickly rode out and delivered the explosive letter, whose contents he did not know, to Samarkand.

Outside the tent, ordinary Uzbek soldiers gathered together and chatted. After all, the military supplies seized from the river were not abundant enough for every soldier to eat freely. If they wanted to improve their food, they had to go hunting on their own.

"How many cattle and sheep will we get when we capture Samarkand?" A recruit who had just moved south from the Kipchak grassland not long ago was excitedly thinking about the next harvest.

"It must be quite a lot. The Great Khan is not stingy with warriors."

"Haha, not only do you make a lot of money, but it's also very easy." The veteran on the side was very optimistic: "The descendants of Timur are really a bunch of cowards. How can they compare with the Great Khan? We don't even have to die a few people to get it." Down to that rich, big city.”

Another person who had also experienced the war wanted to retort, "Last time, the entire army was forced to retreat to the north bank of the Syr Darya River." However, he looked at his comrades around him and still did not disappoint others.