The Sun and the Lion

Under the threat of the army, the city of Mardan, about a day's journey from Peshawar, also surrendered to Ibrahim in a very sensible manner. There were no hostile troops in the area from Peshawar to the banks of the Indus River, and various settlements were There was no organized resistance to the Safavid forces.

After confirming safety, Ibrahim ordered the local recruitment of labor and building materials to build a pontoon bridge on the river to allow the army to pass. This work lasted for several days. After all the Safavid troops crossed the river, it was exactly a week before they set off from Peshawar.

Punjab is known as the five-river region. The five rivers in the upper reaches of the Indus River run across here and are not converged until north of Sindh. This means that although the Safavid army is marching on easy-to-travel plains, it is inevitable to Crossed many rivers. Fortunately, based on the geographical information collected previously, Ibrahim can then plan a route to Lahore on the map that maximizes the use of existing bridges and ferries.

During the march, the vanguard responsible for building bridges and clearing the way for the army also discovered some small groups of Delhi troops. Ismail, who was responsible for commanding the vanguard, immediately launched a surprise attack. All the Delhi troops he saw were defeated, and tongues were captured for interrogation.

However, all that could be captured were low-level officers and ordinary soldiers. Except that the Delhi troops from Punjab were all gathering in Lahore, no very valuable information could be obtained from them.

At the same time, Ibrahim met with the previously released Afghan division at a bridge near Lahore. Gulbuddin first reported: "Our army swept the area south of Peshawar and along the Multan Sultanate Marching eastward across the border, we found no threats worth mentioning along the way."

But as luck would have it, Mirwais suggested intercepting and arresting all the messengers he encountered in order to collect intelligence, and Gulbuddin adopted this suggestion. Among the messengers they intercepted, there happened to be one going from Lahore to Multan.

The messenger couldn't stand the torture and revealed everything he knew. Combining the interrogation records with the contents of the letter, it is not difficult to see what the Indians wanted to do.

After the dictation was completed, the interrogation records and letters were handed over to Ibrahim through the guards. After flipping through these documents, he confirmed that there would be no threat to the army's flanks and rear for the time being, and commanded the entire army to continue marching toward Lahore with confidence.

After three weeks of steady bridge-building march, the Safavid army arrived at a ferry on the banks of the Ravi River, a tributary of the Indus River. There was a seemingly poorly maintained bridge standing on the river, and the city of Lahore was not far away on the other side.

The Safavid army built a pontoon bridge and crossed the river, which was watched by the defenders. The scout reported the matter to the governor in time, and the atmosphere in the castle suddenly became solemn.

"Everyone, we are all loyal subjects of Sultan Sikandar Khan. Now we need to unite and put aside our selfishness to defend against foreign enemies. We do not need to directly defeat these invaders, which is impossible. We only need the arrival of reinforcements from His Majesty the Sultan. , all problems will be solved." The Governor of Lahore emphasized while looking at the people in the gathering.

All the high officials who should and would be at his disposal were gathered here, and all the resources at the Governor's disposal were concentrated here. He needed to make full use of the power at hand to strengthen the city's defense. Relying on the known intelligence and everyone's brainstorming, a preliminary city defense plan was immediately formulated.

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After all the Safavid army crossed the river, Ibrahim sent a letter of persuasion to surrender as usual. However, he was expecting to take over the city peacefully, but he ran into a wall.

The Governor of Lahore did not respond immediately to Ibrahim's letter of persuasion to surrender. At first, he did not realize that the Governor was adopting delaying tactics to gain time, and repeatedly sent envoys to urge the Governor to make a decision.

After wasting a few days, Ismail couldn't help but doubt: "Brother, I feel that these heretics are deliberately wasting time..."

Other senior officers believed that the noose should be tightened and some pressure should be put on the city.

Fortunately, the few days of waiting were not wasted. The artillery positions had been fully constructed. The artillerymen only needed to make preparations to bombard Lahore's city fortifications, urging the Governor to make a decision as soon as possible.

The shells fired from the bronze cannon hit the towers and garrison soldiers on the city wall. Seeing that neither the towers nor the wall could withstand the impact of the shells, the Delhi soldiers who were originally deployed in the shelling area did not dare to stay where they were, and the officers also Retreat, not daring to stop the soldiers from leaving.

Seeing that the defenders on the city wall had been wiped out, Ibrahim planned to pursue the victory and let the infantry use long ladders to climb the city wall. The soldiers at the front were already determined to die and climbed up the wall through the destroyed battlements. Only to find that there was no decent resistance, and all that could be seen was that the enemy was retreating in confusion out of the range of friendly fire.

The Safavid army's shelling and city invasion caught the governor by surprise, which completely disrupted his city defense plan. He had to first make amends to the current deployment situation, find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com and write a reply to Ib Rahim hoped that the King of Kings would forgive and continue to grant grace for a few more days.

Ibrahim responded forcefully: "Either surrender immediately and offer the city, or I will crush you into powder."

The infantry who climbed onto the city wall began to march towards the city gate. Under the cover of matchlock guns and rear-mounted revolving guns, these close combat soldiers armed with swords and shields and helmets and armor wantonly attacked the queue of Delhi soldiers.

The Delhi soldiers were not defeated at the first touch. These warriors from Afghan immigrants relied on their bravery and fighting skills to fight these well-trained soldiers. In addition, the width of the city wall was not as wide as the ground, which restricted the battlefield. For a while, the Safavid soldiers Stalemate with Delhi soldiers.

With powerful swings and coordination, the sharp swords split through the fabric armor of the Delhi soldiers and pierced the chain mail of the officers and elite soldiers. The injured Delhi soldiers who fell to the ground wailed, and the dead were pushed off the city wall and thrown. On the ground, these all undermined the morale of the defenders.

Unable to support themselves, the Delhi soldiers had no choice but to leave the bodies of their comrades and superiors and retreat. The Safavid soldiers relied on their sophisticated equipment to control the city gates with minimal casualties. The Delhi army quickly organized a counterattack, hoping to defeat the enemy in a big way. Retake the city gate before entering the battlefield.

The musketeers who climbed up the city wall leaned against the female wall, firing their matchlocks downwards to cover their comrades who were moving to the street to resist the counterattack.

Disturbed by the shooting, the Delhi army had not yet reached the point of retreat. They faced the chaos of their formation and attacked the enemy in front of them, but things did not go as they wished. They failed to shake the Safavid infantry, and the battle line moved into the city.

It was only then that the information from the Governor of Lahore was updated. Only then did he know that Ibrahim had issued an ultimatum and launched an attack. He was now in a hurry and did not know what to do.