The Sun and the Lion

Neither Shahkulu nor the "eunuch" Ali Pasha expected to meet each other here, and the scout's report surprised both sides. Both sides responded hastily, but the current situation was obviously more favorable to the Ottoman army.

"Praise be to Allah, the Most Merciful and Merciful!" The Grand Vizier immediately seized the opportunity to organize his troops to attack. Before the army could get into position, he sent cavalry to fight, intending to delay the enemies who were likely to flee the battlefield.

The swarms of Sipaxi were approaching fiercely, and the rebels, who had no time to react, could only respond. With their positions in disarray and their baggage behind them, they could not organize a retreat. Even though he had already seen the horse-tailed banners symbolizing the Grand Vizier and the pashas, ​​Shahkulu could only bite the bullet and use religious fervor to inspire the soldiers to fight their way to victory despite the numerical disadvantage.

The red head, roaring with war roars, rushed towards the running enemies. Javelins and arrows could not stop the charge of the two parties. Hundreds of riders fought on the shore of the salt lake with all the weapons at their disposal.

There is a width of more than ten kilometers from the lake shore to the hillside, which is considered a spacious battlefield for the fighting men and horses. Since there were not many Ottoman cavalry who could fight immediately, the red heads also tried to outflank the Sipaxi cavalry to the side or even the back, intending to use their numerical advantage to encircle and annihilate them.

Seeing that the rogue bandits took the initiative to fight, the Grand Vizier changed his strategy. He arranged all the firearms and temporary fortifications in the middle army, and organized most of the cavalry units that had not yet gone into battle in front of the infantry, with well-equipped Sipaxi on both sides. Those standing in front of the arquebuses and breech-mounted revolving guns and blocking the enemy's sight were all irregular cavalry.

The most elite cavalry units are deployed behind the infantry as rearguards, waiting for changes on the battlefield.

The grand vizier sat back and watched the Sipaxi who tested the fighting spirit of the rogue bandits. In the competition with the red heads for toughness and endurance, they were at a disadvantage due to lack of reinforcements. On the one hand, he wanted to buy more time for the army to deploy and consume the enemy's physical strength. In order to avoid misunderstandings and accidents in the army due to the retreat signal transmitted by the military drum and horn.

After the pursuing Sipashi forwards were defeated by the red-headed offensive, a light cavalry team came to pick up these broken troops and retreated to their own front to regroup.

At this time, although the small victory gave them a chance to breathe, it did not fundamentally change the situation of the rebels. Through the empty battlefield, Shahkulu, Havaci, and other leaders of all sizes saw the soldiers in the distance who were ready to go. Ottoman Army.

Fight or run? This made everyone hesitate.

The option of running was the first one to be considered, but in this case, all the baggage would have to be abandoned, and it would be difficult to search for supplies while being tightly held by the army. Moreover, the current situation is not very bad... right? Since we were able to win a small victory just by dispatching some troops, maybe the current army is in a hurry, tiring and has few people. Stud can tear off this cobweb in one go. ?

Time was not on the side of the rebels. Since they failed to make a decision in a short period of time, the Grand Vizier made the decision for them.

The drums and trumpets sounded, and the Ottoman cavalry deployed at the forefront launched a full-scale attack on the enemy. Compared with the previous hurried division, they were obviously well prepared.

The red heads who temporarily retreated to their own lines had to step forward to meet the invading enemy again. However, in terms of arrangement, the leaders believed that the light cavalry in the center of the enemy's formation was a weak point that could be broken through, so they only deployed a small number of cavalry on the two wings to block the enemy. Soldiers and horses, the most important troops were placed in the central army to penetrate the enemy's formation, and after cutting off the enemy's troops, they outflanked and defeated one wing of the Ottoman army.

The Akinki cavalry, which was regarded as the main target, intended to use bow and arrow fire as usual during the retreat to constantly harass the pursuers, which gradually caused them to lose touch with the Sipaxi on the left and right flanks.

Most of the red heads who found the opportunity to outflank gave up chasing the irregular cavalry who continued to fire arrows, and turned to the left to stick to the flank of Sipaxi on the right wing of the Ottoman army. At the same time, they were followed by a large number of infantry archers. The battlefield here is close to the lake. If these Sipaxi can't resist it, they can only jump into the lake and try to swim to the other side to survive.

The small group of red heads who intended to completely drive the Akinki cavalry from the battlefield quickly ran into the Ottoman infantry defense line after these irregular cavalry quickly dispersed to both sides. The Azab infantry deployed at the front of the line quickly used bows and arrows to shoot at the enemy cavalry. Try to fight them off.

There is no need to even wait for the Yenicheri, who is deployed further behind, to make a slight move. All it takes is the force of these irregular archers to make it difficult for these sparse pursuit troops to maintain their offensive. At the same time, the Ajinji cavalry who separated to both sides did not withdraw from the battlefield. They poured all the remaining arrows in their quivers at these recklessly advancing enemy cavalry.

The herald of the right wing commander arrived at this time and came to report urgently. The rebel army's attempt to concentrate its forces to annihilate one of its units was noticed by the grand vizier. Worried that the opponent still had reserves, he ordered: "Let the Ajinji cavalry Keep putting pressure on this bandit."

The light cavalry whose quivers were empty still needed some time to replenish the rear. The Grand Vizier was still carefully considering whether to mobilize the infantry to move forward from the preset positions.

"Your Excellency, could this be their rear-end unit? Find Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com" reminded Yunus Pasha, who was staying in the central army with the Grand Vizier.

There are two options before him. If this is indeed the enemy's rear-cutting force, then he needs to immediately send cavalry to pursue it, and only let the infantry reinforce the right-wing troops.

If not, then judging from the current situation, just deploy troops to surround and annihilate these enemy cavalry that actively attack. The core with the red hat is gone, and the other parts will fall apart on their own.

"What you said makes sense. The rebel leader must not be allowed to escape." The Grand Vizier looked back and saw that the cavalry that could immediately go into battle was the rear guard he led. Aza commanded by Yunus Pasha Bu and Jenichery were better suited to relieve the right wing.

A horse rushed towards this place urgently. The dismounted messenger immediately saluted the Grand Vizier and reported: "The two pasha masters, Master Mustafa Bey, have repelled the heresy and rebellion in front of them, and are now pursuing the fleeing enemies!"

"Okay, report back immediately if you make any progress." Seeing that the battle on the left wing was going smoothly and someone had taken over the task of chasing the "escaping enemy", he could safely dispatch his troops to surround and annihilate the large group of red heads on the right wing.

Sipaxi, led by the Grand Vizier, took the lead in the battle. Due to the lack of protection from the Ajinki cavalry, it was best for the enemy archers to be directly attacked by armored cavalry to incapacitate them.

Sipaxi, who was at the front of the queue, not only wore plate and chain armor, but the war horse under his crotch was also armored to enhance protection, so as not to lose his good comrades and important property due to stray arrows.

The rebel infantry, which lacked protection, could not withstand the impact of the large cavalry. Their low status, lack of fighting will and equipment, they were defeated and withdrawn from the battle.

At this time, the Ajinki cavalry who had replenished their arrows returned to the battlefield in batches. For the Grand Vizier, everything was going according to plan.