The Sun and the Lion

Since setting off from the Davraz Mountains, the rebels no longer deliberately concealed their whereabouts, and returned to the state of marching all the way to grab things. On the way, they absorbed a group of horse bandits and kidnapped some poor people, and the team grew again.

This movement could not be hidden from Karagoz Pasha. When he realized that something was wrong, he immediately chased north. However, the movements of the Ottoman army were slower than those of the rebels. Now Shahkulu announced that he would "purify" Kutahya. This declaration The residents there were particularly frightened, and they eagerly awaited the quick return of the governor who was supposed to be here.

It happened to be the middle of winter during the march, and the climate in the interior of Asia Minor caused some trouble for the troops, which even slowed down the journey. Fortunately, the pasha made preparations for the winter when he assembled, and also requisitioned supplies from the settlements along the way, so no serious attrition was caused. .

After much delay, the Ottoman army, which was unwilling to fight in winter, still approached Kutahya at the end of the year. A group of Akinki cavalry as the vanguard had already made contact with the rebel horsemen and successfully repelled them during the battle.

The victory in the first battle boosted the morale of the Ottoman army. Karagöz Pasha continued to urge his soldiers to speed up. During this period, he successfully broke through many botched ambushes and raids and captured hundreds.

Entering the valley where Kutahya is located, the sights no different from those around Antalya made Karagoz Pasha increasingly anxious. Just as the rebels were swaggering about to besiege Kutahya, the Ottoman army logically moved towards Go with confidence toward a known goal.

The scout who discovered that the enemy was about to arrive reported the news to Havac. He immediately ordered all the troops under the city of Kutahya to shrink. He took the most important red-headed rebels to occupy a hill, and the other troops used this place. The hill is arranged as the center.

"The rebels have lost their minds. When our army arrived, they did not even leave the troops to block the city. Are they afraid or stupid?" Karagez Pasha complained in his heart about the rebels' arrangements while sending a messenger to the city to inquire about the situation.

While the messengers were coming and going, the two armies calmly formed their formations facing each other. The pasha discovered that the opponent's line was wider than his own, and the numerical advantage was so obvious that ordinary soldiers could easily tell. But if you look closely, you can see that the soldiers among them are very shabby. Both the infantry and the riders have an air of beggars that cannot be concealed.

A cavalry set off from the Ottoman army to the rebel camp to persuade them to surrender: "Now that the Ottoman army has arrived, the merciful Karagez Pasha gives you one last chance in the name of God. If you lay down your arms and surrender now, you will be forgiven for the sin of rebellion and only the culprit will be punished." , regardless of coercion."

Just when the ranger was about to repeat his words of persuasion to surrender, a sharp arrow flew out and hit his unprotected chest. The rider screamed "Ah" and fell off the horse while covering the wound with his right hand. He could only lie down on the grass, his body shaking slightly and moaning in pain.

Seeing that the soldiers sent to persuade him to surrender were treated in this way, Karagoz Pasha, who had completed the procedure, could put aside all his illusions and devote himself to the current war.

After shooting down the rangers trying to persuade them to surrender, the rebels, who were condescending and numerically superior, stayed where they were, waiting for the Ottoman army to take the initiative to attack. From time to time they also let out war cries and shouted religious slogans, causing the pasha to call them blasphemy.

"I'm waiting for the artillery to be deployed, and what are you waiting for?"

The artillery carried by all the troops was deployed in front of the Chinese army's formation. The artillery had already measured the required data for the rebel army's formation and only needed an order.

The artillery roared continuously, and the cavalry on both wings attacked the enemy formation that was hit by the artillery shells. The only way for the rebels to fight back was to throw arrows. Seeing that the enemy infantry did not follow up, they used their numerical advantage to try to surround these "advancing and out of touch" enemy troops.

Sipaxi and their attendants fought wantonly in the "encirclement". Although they suffered some casualties due to their numerical disadvantage, the rebels on both wings were still on the verge of disintegration. Havaci, who was observing the battlefield, remained motionless.

At this time, the crowd at the foot of the hill was all mixed up. The rebels on the defensive side were in chaos. Sipaxi and the attendant cavalry were charging and tearing from the inside. Ajinki cavalry was wandering around and shooting at the edge. Ottoman infantry shooters also surrounded them at this time. Raining lead bullets and arrows on the rebels.

Only then did Havac throw all the reserves on the hill into the battlefield. Their scale was larger than Karagez Pasha had imagined. The Ajinki cavalry wandering around the periphery were easily driven away, and they could easily fight the battle before. At this time, Sipaxi was suddenly in danger of losing his entire army.

"Kill! Avenge the slain Imam and establish a kingdom of heaven on earth!"

Religious slogans continued to encourage the new troops to join the battlefield. These rebel riders with red heads as the core were like hammers, hitting all the materials on the anvil indiscriminately, even the lead bullets and arrows fired by the Ottoman army fell like raindrops. Even the presence of these martyrs did not lessen the impact. For a moment, the situation in the battle seemed to be about to reverse.

At exactly this time, another Ottoman army entered the battlefield from the west. They were mainly infantry, supplemented by a small number of horsemen. They numbered in the thousands, and their appearance did not look regular.

"The time has come!" It was not Karagz Pasha who said this, but Khavac. He commanded the red heads under his command to fight off the Sipaxi cavalry in front of them. Retract back into the hills.

At this moment, he had determined that it would be difficult to defeat the Ottoman army in a frontal battle alone. However, the strategy formulated by him and Shahkulu, who was self-aware, was not to defeat the Ottoman army directly on the battlefield, but had other arrangements.

In order to reduce Pasha's suspicion, the rebels organized another attack. He gathered all the horsemen who could still command on the battlefield and attacked the reinforcements that had not yet joined the main force.

The militiamen who hurriedly lined up to attack tried to use their weapons to shoot at the invading enemies. Some of the local herdsmen-turned-riders unfortunately fell to the ground. The red head, who was the backbone of the force, had a set of chainmail hidden under his burqa. Unfortunately, There are too few of them responsible for luring the enemy on this battlefield.

The horse's hooves fell into the array, and the sword fell from the hand. When the red head turned a corner with skill and rushed out of the enemy's formation, although the cost was not small, the impact with all his strength almost caused the Ottoman reinforcements to collapse. Fortunately, Karagoz Pasha came to the rescue with all his strength, and everyone in the formation who could ride a horse was mobilized to deal with this difficult "bandit leader".

Havac was overjoyed. He finally waited for the opportunity to defeat and lure the enemy in a reasonable manner: "Everyone, follow me and retreat. If you don't want to die, run away!"

The development of the war situation suddenly accelerated. The cannon fodder of the rebel army, which was originally inspired by religious fanaticism and the promise of loot, became discouraged and fled in all directions. Only the red heads who understood the plan still gathered around Bey and acted together.

"That one must be the bandit leader. In such a situation, he can be escorted by a team of loyal soldiers. His status is not low!"

Karagez Pasha left the infantry and artillery behind to take care of the rebels who were still making the final resistance in the hills. He ordered all the cavalry troops to be assembled, intending to personally pursue the enemy at the end of the road: "We must not give him another chance to resurrect!"