The Sun and the Lion

The next morning, Ahmed's team appeared on the plain in a mighty manner, with their flags fluttering and the dust they raised could be seen for miles.

It was impossible for such a big movement to go unnoticed. The scouts sent out by Ibrahim soon discovered the team and tried to get closer to learn more information. The Aries Army could not let the enemy scouts investigate their own side, so they quickly sent a small group of cavalry to expel them.

In order to maintain mobility and concealment, the scouts did not wear any form of iron armor, and only had lighter leather armor to resist the enemy's output.

Facing the numerically superior enemy army, the scouts were quickly defeated and quickly left the battlefield. Even so, the pursuers failed to intercept and kill all the scouts, and had to return to the army with a few heads.

When these heads were placed in front of him, he just kicked one of them out of the tent, but he did not reprimand the cavalry who was sent out.

"Since the enemy has noticed our army's movements, I can't give that little bastard time to react." After some consideration, Ahmed decided to organize a group of capable vanguard troops to march directly to raid Ibra. Xin, and then the large force took advantage of the gap between the enemy's chaos and arrived on the battlefield to end the battle.

On the other side, when the scouts reported the news to Ibrahim, he quickly summoned the senior military officers.

"Everyone, Ahmed jumped out to seek death." Ibrahim informed everyone present of the news.

The leaders present did not speak, but their expressions and the way they looked at each other showed surprise. If their expressions are cut out and used as emoticons, the text below should be "Is there such a good thing?"

"Your Majesty, without further ado, I will go back to assemble the troops and wait for your instructions." Gaolaberi stepped forward and saluted.

"Don't worry, I have sent heralds to various camps." Ibrahim signaled for him to step back, and then continued: "Whether it is Turgut's intelligence or the scout's intelligence, what is certain is that the enemy The army is huge, and it seems that Ahmed’s family fortune is here.”

"In this case, Your Majesty, it is best for our army to rush forward in one go and defeat the enemy."

This move seems very stupid, but everyone present thinks this is the optimal solution. Whether it is in fighting will, skills or equipment, the Safavid army has an advantage, while Ahmed only has a numerical advantage. The Order collected a large amount of armor from cities such as Tabriz, Baku, and Tbilisi, as well as from enemy camps. After repairs and maintenance by craftsmen, it was enough to ensure that all cavalry were armor-piercing.

"The left and right wings are divided into five regiments each, and the left wing is left to you, Afshar Khan." Ibrahim thought about it for a while, and then began to arrange commanders.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"The right wing will be commanded by Ustaji Khan. Gaolaberi will stay in the center, and you will command the red heads of the center. I will personally lead the bow-wielders to suppress the formation." Then, Ibrahim finished in one breath Made personnel arrangements related to the campaign.

After everyone expressed no objection, Ibrahim ordered: "Then do it like this, go back and prepare."

After half an hour, the vanguard sent by Ahmed had arrived at the outskirts of the camp. They did not try to bypass or remove the sentries and patrols, nor did they reorganize the less rigorous formation after the forced march, but rushed directly towards the camp.

The Safavid army's camp was not unobstructed, and the civilian houses scattered throughout the area undoubtedly hindered their charge. In order to prevent the cavalry from attacking the camp, the red-heads also deployed simple horse barriers in various passages overnight. This prevented the Aries cavalry's attack from lasting long, and they were soon forced to dismount and clear the obstacles.

While the Aries cavalry were clumsily moving away their horses, a group of archers took the opportunity to climb onto the roofs of private houses and began firing bows and arrows from high places. This greatly hindered their speed in clearing obstacles. After a while, there were dozens of casualties before the horses were rejected.

The Aries horse archers quickly counterattacked the red heads fired on the roof, and some arrows fell sparsely on the roof. However, the archers were well-equipped, and with the temporary bunkers set up on the edge of the roof, the casualties suffered by the archers were far less than those of the Aries cavalry. This can not help but undermine the morale of the Turkmen people.

The last few Turkmen who still had the courage to risk being hit by arrows and move away made a last-ditch effort. When the archers saw their assembled cavalry approaching on the roof, they decided to let the enemy move away. Reject the horse.

The red heads were galloping on the dirt road in the village. When they saw the horses that had been moved away from the village entrance and the enemies in a mess, they realized that this was an excellent fighting opportunity.

A short and low trumpet sounded. The red heads lined up in a wedge formation, lifted their horses and rushed forward, and then shouted in Turkic language, "Huda is the greatest! Kill all the weak heretical sheep!" In just a dozen or so times, Within seconds they were embedded in the enemy formation.

The Aries officer who was responsible for commanding the Juma to move away wanted to take shelter by the roadside. He was hit by an arrow in the shoulder and fell next to the Juma.

Soon, the more than two hundred people gathered at the entrance of the village were easily eliminated by the red heads. The number of the white sheep cavalry who came to raid was less than 2,000, and they were divided into battles without taking advantage of quantity and quality. In front of the red heads who used all their main force, they were really just a group of white sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

I don’t know how long it took, but the Aries officer lying on the ground was slapped by a red head. The burning pain on his face made it impossible for him to pretend to be dead anymore. He had to open his eyes and saw a face that was neither handsome nor ugly, but just a little older.

"You bastard, stop pretending. That arrow on your shoulder was shot by me." The red head who grabbed the officer answered his doubts with ridicule. In fact, as an officer, his appearance was very obvious, and anyone who saw him would search him.

After being escorted to the open space at the entrance of the mosque, the officers found that the open space usually occupied by believers and vendors was filled with prisoners. A rough estimate was that there were about a few hundred people, and there were trophies piled nearby, including dozens of uninjured horses, intact or lightly damaged weapons and equipment, and other valuable sundries.

"You also caught an officer? Not bad." The military judge in charge of counting military achievements asked: "Do you want silver coins or a promotion?"

"Sir, I want to be promoted." The red head said flatteringly to the military judge, with a smile on his face. The silver coins he received were spent in a few moments, so he might as well change his official position. Thinking that he was still an ordinary soldier in his late forties, he felt that this was the only chance to change his destiny.

"Well, leave your name and unit, and I will apply for you." After the insignificant red head left his information, the military judge impatiently shouted: "Next!" and then continued the interview. Register expressionlessly.

When they arrived at the camp, the armor and equipment of the captured officers were quickly stripped off, and the valuables in their pockets were also taken away, leaving only the single clothes made of linen cloth. The interrogator and a military doctor were all staring at him. The interrogator picked up the torture instruments and prepared to start the interrogation.

Ten minutes later, the interrogation record made by the interrogator was sent to Ibrahim's desk.

"So Ahmed is still on the road, and the entire army is not in combat formation." Ibrahim thought of a battle in which Belisarius defeated the Vandal Kingdom: the soldiers formed a long and thin marching formation. The Vandals were suddenly attacked by Roman cavalry. The 7,000-man army was easily defeated by the 300 cavalry led by John the Armenian, causing numerous casualties.

He did not intend to openly fight Ahmed in battle. Taking advantage of the fact that the opponent was not ready for battle, his cavalry, which was said to be 20,000, but actually had 19,000, could form a crescent formation and attack from three directions. Marching team. At that time, the red heads will only achieve a more glorious victory than John and Belisarius.

Then, he told the generals the adjusted battle plan. After sending as many scouts as stars to the north, the army marched northward in a mighty manner.

At this time, Ahmed's army was still marching slowly on the dirt road in the countryside. Ahmed, who was addicted to opium, couldn't help but yawned a few times on horseback, and then asked his close associates on the side: "Have the men who sent out to attack the enemy camp sent a messenger back?"

"No, Your Majesty." The trusted officer on the side shook his head. He doubted whether these cavalrymen would defect before the battle. After all, fighting with the main force of a powerful enemy without knowing the enemy's situation was a life-threatening job.

"Yeah." Ahmed was very calm, without even a doubt.

At this time, a scout rode up to the trusted officer and quietly told him the information he had obtained from his investigation.

Seeing the change of expression on the face of his confidant, Ahmed wondered: "What's wrong?"

"Your Majesty, we must assemble the troops immediately... no, form a battle formation..." He was a little incoherent, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty, the enemies are out in force, and they are only ten minutes away from us at most!"

"What? Are all our scouts useless!" Ahmed was furious. The larger the number of armies, the longer it takes to deploy. Moreover, more than half of this army was temporarily mobilized from various tribes. They have not received strict training, cannot form a formation in a short time, or do not even know what a formation is.

"It's too late, Your Majesty. If we want to preserve our strength now, we can only change from the rear to the front, and then leave the troops behind." Another aide put forward his own opinion.

Looking at the defeatist counselors and cronies on the side, Ahmed suddenly felt at a loss.

"No matter what, blow the trumpets and drums! Order the troops to prepare for battle!"

Amidst the noise, the Aries Army fell into chaos. Even the thousands of veterans who were the backbone of the army were scattered by the surrounding recruits. Looking at the chaos behind him, Ahmed directly put on the mask of pain. Only then did he realize that the strength of a soldier lies in the quality rather than the quantity. Even quantity itself is also quality, but this does not apply to low organization. of rabble.

After a while, Ahmed could already see the red heads rushing towards this direction. He recited the scripture silently, closed his eyes, and began to pray.

After confirming that this was their target, the three generals immediately ordered to charge at full speed without giving the enemy time to react.

"Great is Huda! Great is the Prophet (Sheikh of the Order)!"

"The Prophet protects us! Destroy the hypocrites!"

The red heads shouted various slogans and rushed forward fearlessly - even though there were no enemy arrows or other obstacles to stop them. Their iron armor looked like gods descending from the earth under the reflection of the sun, and the majestic military appearance displayed by the gorgeous military flags also psychologically oppressed the Turkmen people.

The heavy cavalry wearing zha armor or mirror armor was like a sharp knife, piercing the enemy's formation. On the flanks, the horse archers kept pouring bows and arrows at the enemy, destroying any possibility of the Aries Army regaining its momentum.

Arrows fell like raindrops, causing huge casualties in the dense team. In order to avoid the rain of arrows, many Turkmens spontaneously formed loose formations, but this weakened the team's ability to withstand impact and made it easier for the heavy cavalry to harvest heads with Sheshier and Guduo.

When Ahmed came back to his senses, he found that he was already at the rear, and the guards around him were basically gone. Moreover, his battle flag was not with him. He was horrified to find that his flag bearer was still in front.

In order to protect his safety, his soldiers took the initiative to divide their troops to stop the heavy cavalry, while the other part escorted Ahmed back to the rear of the battle line. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, the soldiers kept the flag bearer. Seeing that their Sultan was still "fighting bravely" at the front line, the soldiers did not immediately collapse.

But the situation soon changed. The horse archers on both wings finished shooting the arrows in their quivers and looked for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com. But they did not go back to the rear to replenish. Instead, they directly picked up their knives and pointed them at the enemy in front of them. Jun rushed over.

The impact from the flank caught the Aries cavalry off guard, and the entire team was cut off. The cavalry at the front of the battle line were made into dumplings, dumplings filled with Turkmen stuffing. Although a lot of stuffing people ran away, there were probably more than 2,000 people in the encirclement.

Ibrahim, who was observing the battle from behind, saw the horse archers fighting, or in other words killing, the opponent with overwhelming force. It reminds me of Lu Bu, the White Hun in Attila: Total War - although he is a cavalry archer, he is actually all-powerful and can be produced in the early stage.

Under pressure from three sides, the Aries Army finally collapsed.

Seeing that the battle was going so smoothly, Ibrahim did not intend to charge into the battle himself. He said to his own Kurchibash: "Go and end this battle, and kill Ahmed - whether he is alive or dead, As long as you can recognize it—catch it for me.”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

As the last unit of the Safavid army entered the battlefield, the Aries cavalry finally collapsed.

All the soldiers who blocked the red heads at the front were killed in battle, and Ahmed's horse-tailed banner was also captured by the bow-wielders.

"Don't bother catching deserters! Catch the Sultan of Akkoyonlu!"

Ahmed relied on his personal guards to gather a small group of veterans who fought and retreated, but they were still surrounded by the bow-wielders.

"No need to resist anymore." Seeing that there was no hope of escape, Ahmed took out his saber and threw it to the ground. Then under his order, the remaining cavalry also followed suit and threw their weapons such as sheshier, guduo, and daggers on the ground.

Then he dismounted, and two bowmen came forward with ropes to tie him up, and then escorted him to Ibrahim.