The Sun and the Lion

After learning that the enemy who attacked the camp was defeated, Ahmed and Mihad believed that their worries were eliminated and they could assemble the entire army for the next battle.

Looking up at the sky, the sun had passed its highest point, and by afternoon the two armies were within sight of each other.

Mihad counted the flags of the Safavid army, visually measured the length of the battle line, and saw that Ibrahim's flag was placed in the center, and he quickly came to his own judgment.

"Your Majesty, the enemy's battle line seems to be slightly shorter than ours. We may have an advantage in numbers, or the enemy has strengthened its depth to hide its strength."

Ahmed, who was holding the smoking device, nodded and continued to smoke.

Mihad continued his analysis: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, the enemy has recruited a large number of people of scripture into the army in order to expand their numbers. They are not single-component like us, and the Safavid Order is a religious group. The internal religious conflicts are definitely not small, and cracks have already appeared in the seemingly large and solid military formation before the war even started."

Ahmed handed the smoking utensil to the waiter and then asked: "You mean, I can take advantage of this opportunity, right?"

"Your Majesty, since there are internal contradictions among the enemy's departments, no matter what, these will be exposed on the battlefield, and there will be some problems if the two forces cooperate with each other. In my opinion, Ibrahim can really rely on It’s still Qizilbash. Those with knowledge cannot be trusted, so—" Mihad pointed to the largest military flag in the Chinese army, "We have two options. One is to concentrate our forces to attack the Chinese army directly, and attack the Chinese army directly on both wings. It is enough that the troops can contain the enemy. As long as the enemy's commander is taken down, the battle will be considered a victory. Or, at the beginning of the war, the Qizilbash, who are in the minority, should be contained, and they should be separated from the experienced ones as much as possible, and then the focus of the attack should be Put it on the People of the Book - they do not have the will to fight to the death for Ibrahim like the Red Heads - after defeating the People of the Book and isolating the Red Heads, the dominance of the battlefield must belong to our army with superior numbers."

Mihad's long speech made Ahmed want to yawn. He was too lazy to think and just replied: "I will do as you say."

Mihad looked confused. He mentioned two plans, but Ahmed did not tell which one to use. Mihad eliminated the first plan as quickly as possible - the stupidest tactic in the world. Let's charge like a wild boar.

Ahmed put on his equipment with the help of his attendants, and a tuk consisting of several black ponytails stood tall behind the army. Time was running out, so Mihad could only tell the commanders of the left and right wings his plan, and deployed his personal guards to act as full-time messengers to communicate between the three commanders of the left and center armies to ensure the flow of information. unobstructed.

"General, the enemy is attacking." A scout came and reported to Mihad.

Mihad turned his head and looked at Ahmed who was shielding himself from the scorching sun under the umbrella. Ahmed nodded to him, holding a silver cup with wine in his hand. The attendant beside him held a small box. It is filled with irregular, tiny ice cubes.

Wiping the sweat from their foreheads with their cuffs, under the scorching sun, the Turkmen cavalry launched an attack on the enemy in front of them under the guidance of bugles.

The cavalry from both sides quickly arrived at the center of the battlefield from their starting positions. Most of the cavalry were in tacit understanding and did not engage in direct hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Instead, they first fired arrows at the enemy. For a moment, the arrows flying in the air seemed to be flying in the air. The locusts are just like the locusts harvesting crops.

Facing the numerically superior enemy, Mustafa slowly retreated his troops, always keeping a distance from the enemy, and containing the many Turkmen who could not quickly defeat the enemy in front of them.

Soon, the quivers of both sides were empty. Ibrahim had already thought of this. Mules, horses and camels loaded with arrows appeared behind the battle line. The cavalry in the rear went to supply supplies, while the cavalry on top The cavalry in front brandished scimitars and swords and rushed towards the Turkmen who had also finished shooting arrows.

On the right wing, Ibrahim personally led the bowmen, and under the cover of arrows, he entangled the Christian cavalry with the enemy, and the other cavalry that followed also began to fight with the enemy.

"General! The left wing is in danger. The enemy has focused its attack on the left wing!" Mihad received the news unexpectedly, but the ground was very flat. He could not find a commanding height to observe the entire battlefield and could not judge the true situation of the troops.

After careful consideration, Mihad decided to dispatch reinforcements from the Chinese Army, and 6,000 men were reinforced to the left wing.

But he didn't know that Ibrahim had assembled 19,000 cavalry on the right wing. As the offensive was fully launched, the Turkmen on the left suffered not only the impact from the front, but from both the front and the flanks. pressure.

Even adding these 6,000 men could not reverse the numerical disadvantage, but the Aries Army's front line was still very strong. With the constant dispatch and encouragement of Mihad and other senior officers, Ibrahim was unable to defeat it. On the left wing of the Turkmen, the battle line was not broken to pieces, but like an iron bar being bent, with the Turkmen on the inside and the Persians on the outside.

The stalemate lasted for nearly two hours. The high-intensity fighting consumed a lot of physical strength and water of the soldiers and horses, and fatigue occupied everyone's body and mind.

Ibrahim's right arm became sore from overuse, and the heavy armor had a great impact on him. After cutting off a Turkmen man from his horse, Ibrahim's right arm no longer had the strength to hold the sword. , the long sword fell to the ground. At this time, a lance was stabbed at Ibrahim, but it failed to hit anyone. Instead, it penetrated deeply into the horse's chest, and Ibrahim was thrown off the horse violently.

Ibrahim, who was thrown to pieces, tried to hold up his arms that were unable to hold up. The Turkmen's blood spurted out and sprinkled on Ibrahim's face. A bowman came over quickly, helped Ibrahim up, and gave him his horse.

As soon as he mounted his horse, Ibrahim saw the messenger. He brought reports and suggestions from Romuluk Khan and Ustaji Khan, and looked for Shuyuan www. zhaoshuyuａan.com The number of soldiers has reached their limit, and the scene where he fell off his horse just now did not have an impact on the entire army, but the surrounding soldiers panicked. Combined with his own situation, Ibrahim had to admit He couldn't hold on any longer.

Suddenly, the tired soldiers heard the sound of retreating horns, and like rain after a long drought, their morale was boosted, and they seemed to have the strength to fight again.

"General, the enemy has been defeated. Let's pursue him."

"No." Mihad shook his head, looking at the Persians retreating in an orderly manner under the organization of the officers, and a complex emotion emerged in his heart. In his opinion, it was almost impossible for an army to retreat while still maintaining order while fighting the enemy, at least the tribal cavalry he led could not do it.

At this time, Ahmed rode a horse and appeared behind Mihad with his bodyguards. He opened his mouth and asked: "My military commander, I think this is the best time to solve the threat. Why do you want to Let them escape?"

Mihad dismounted and knelt in front of Ahmed's horse. "Your Majesty, I implore you to see the true condition of the soldiers."

"Military Chief, you actually helped the soldiers extort reward money from me?" Ahmed raised his voice.

"No, Your Majesty, what the soldiers need now is not reward money, but rest and water. Now even if we give more reward money, the soldiers will not be able to continue fighting."

Ahmed did not answer, just dismounted, whipped Mihad on the back, and then said coldly: "If it weren't for the Mosilu tribe's many years of service to our ancestors and me, you would have endured a lot. More than one whip. It's not your turn to teach me a lesson, so you don't have to participate in the next war. Come on! Send the military chief back to the camp!"

The other leaders watched Mihad being taken away by Ahmed's personal guards with mixed emotions.