Chapter 74 The Battle of Eight Luwan——the only defeat of the Western Expedition

When the three Shuchi brothers besieged Yulong Jiechi, Zalanding, who had run away from Yulong Jiechi, was trying his best to govern and regain his strength.He and Timur Mieli led 300 cavalry, and it took 16 days to successfully cross the Black Desert, the largest desert in Khwarazmo, and arrived at the city of Nassar.The city of Nasa, which was captured by the torpedo, was in ruins, and 700 Mongolian cavalry were stationed on the hill outside the city. When Zalandin arrived at the outskirts of Nasa, the 700 cavalry were living a carefree time on the hillside. Timur Mieli has always been a brave man without fear. He encouraged Zalandin to destroy the Mongols in front of him.Zalandin clenched his fist firmly and said: "You need to be brave to succeed!"

The two men led 300 men, and rushed towards the Mongolian army camp from all directions by surprise. The Mongolian cavalry did not expect to encounter a surprise attack in such a place. They had no time to mount their horses in a hurry, and were rushed by Zalandin's 300 cavalry. Falling, one after another fled. This is the first time that Zalandin has fought against the Mongols since he inherited the Khwarazm Empire, and it was a complete victory. This makes Zalandin undoubtedly convinced that there is great hope for the restoration of the country. He is so firm, standing together with Timur Mieli is completely the two pillars of revival of the Khwarazm Empire.He has been advancing rapidly towards the west without stopping anywhere. His goal is Ke Jiyun, where he is sure that a powerful army can be assembled to revive the empire.Even if he can't achieve what he wants in a short period of time, he can cross the Shen River (now the Indus River) from Kejiyun to Xindu (now India) to accumulate strength and make a comeback.

When passing by Shapur, Zalandin and Timur Mieli almost failed to find this great city, which was destroyed by torpedoes like a ruins of a city hundreds of years ago.After a few minutes of dejection, Zalandin set out on the road with hatred in his heart.When he arrived at the city of Yeli, Zalandin's grief and anger eased a little. The city was still there, but he didn't dare to enter the city because the city no longer belonged to him and his empire. On the road of non-stop running, he once encountered a folk anti-Mongolian armed forces. The leader hoped that Zalandin could stay because he had a strong castle.Zalandin sighed and said: "You should go to the wilderness to fight the Mongols hand to hand, and you should not hide in the castle. No matter how strong the wall is, the Mongols have a way to attack it."

What he said was from the bottom of his heart, a fact he had seen with his own eyes after traveling thousands of miles.Along the way, the cities he saw were all in ruins, which gave him a sense of vicissitudes.Timur Mieli comforted him and wanted to turn grief into strength. Zalandin said with emotion: "I never had feelings for this land before, but now, seeing it covered in bruises, I almost cried bitterly." Inspired and protected by this kind of grief and indignation, they came to Kejiyun smoothly.The historical searchlight slowly moved over to illuminate this place.Here, Zalandin will create miracles on behalf of Khwarazmo, and here, Zalandin's dream of counterattacking and restoring the country almost comes into reality.

But Jiyun is not an ordinary place, but a huge treasure.When Mahamo fled here a year ago, he was already frightened, so he was in no mood to use this treasure.Now, Zalandin is actively using this treasure. Kejiyun was originally the capital of the Kejiyun Kingdom. At the beginning of the 13th century, King Mahamo of Khwarazmo captured Kejiyun and included Kejiyun in his territory.Mahamo adopted the strategy of "using the barbarians to control the barbarians" and ordered Harpusite, a native of Kejiyun, to be the highest military and political officer in Kejiyun. Frequently, due to the war, the army in this area is very capable of fighting.

Mahamo later gave this hot potato to Zalanding, and Zalanding sent his confidant, Ma Siding, to bring an elite army to Kejiyun, stationed in the inner city.The number of this corps should be very small, and the mission is only to stabilize the seemingly peaceful situation that can be clouded. After Genghis Khan's Western Expedition, the Khwarazmo Empire collapsed across the board. Mahamo's uncle Ermingmieli, who was enfeoffed in Yeli City, thought that the fiefdom was on the verge of a battlefield, so he led 20,000 people from Yeli City to Kejiyun and asked for help. Erpusite appointed a place as his temporary residence, but Haerpusite flatly refused.Shan Siding thought that Haer Pusite refused to accommodate his uncle, which was a sign of rebellion, so he bribed the guards in the city to kill Haer Pusite, and then entered the city.Several forces check each other, but Jiyun is peaceful for the time being.

As soon as Zalandin arrived at Kejiyun, he immediately noticed that there were at least 50,000 fighting forces in the city, which was already a considerable number at the time.He convened a meeting and impassionedly called on everyone to contribute all their strength, even their lives, to the restoration of the country.Inspired by him, the various troops in Kejiyun City condensed into a single piece of iron. Soon after, another 20,000 Arab cavalry regiment under the rule of Khwarazmo came to Keji under the leadership of their leader Agrahei. Jiyun, Zalandin's power has increased sharply, and the time is ripe for an all-out war with the Mongols.

In the summer of 1221, Zalandin led his 70,000 men northward from Kejiyun. When they arrived at the outskirts of Fanyan City (now Bamyan, Afghanistan), they encountered a Mongolian army of 1,000 men. If he fled, he was wiped out by Zalandin.Zalandin asked several Mongolian captives to bring Genghis Khan a letter, which said: Please specify the place for our decisive battle, and I will wait for you there. After Genghis Khan read the letter, he was surprised and said: "I didn't expect Zalandin to be able to toss around!" Then he asked the returned captives.The captives said: "There are at least 70,000 people in Zalandin, and they are all Kangli and Arabs who are good at fighting."

Genghis Khan pondered for a while and said: "Dead ashes cannot be revived, and even if they revive, it will not last long." Even so, he was very cautious and sent his adopted son, the Supreme Public Prosecutor of the Mongolian Kingdom Hu Tuhu led 10,000 Mongolian cavalry, 10,000 Uighur soldiers, and 10,000 miscellaneous troops temporarily recruited in Khwarazmo to Fanyan City to destroy Zalandin. Before setting off, Genghis Khan told Shiji Hutuhu: "You must be careful with your troops. If Zalandin has no skills, it is impossible to gather so many troops after the fiasco."

Shiji suddenly bald and full of confidence: "Khan, don't worry, I will succeed in no time." After receiving the news that the Mongolian Corps was coming, Zalanding immediately confronted them. The two sides collided head-on in Balu Bay (north of Kabul, Afghanistan today) and started fighting.This fight was the first large-scale field battle since the confrontation between the Mongolian Kingdom and the Khwarazm Empire. The two sides fought for two days and two nights, and the outcome was not decided.So they negotiated a truce and fought again another day. E Ming Mie Li disagreed with the cessation of troops. He was worried that the cunning Mongols were delaying their troops and waiting for reinforcements.Zalandin smiled and said, "Don't worry! For so long, I have found out the details of the Mongols. Their army strength will not exceed 150,000, and most of them are besieging Jade Dragon Jiechi and mopping up Huhu. Roseanne, there is no extra troops here."

His forehead was flickering and his heart was relieved, but the next day, his heart was in his throat.Because he saw the number of Mongols at least doubled.The men were galloping three kilometers away from them.He ran to the Zalandin command post and said in a panic: "The Mongol reinforcements are really coming, we are going to die!" Zalandin didn't believe it. Even if he saw the dust flying around the Mongolian army camp and the cavalry galloping back and forth, he still didn't believe that the Mongols came to reinforce them.But he couldn't convince the generals under him, because he couldn't produce conclusive evidence to prove that the Mongols had no reinforcements. If there were no reinforcements, what happened to the sudden increase in numbers. The Arab cavalry regiment in Agrahei has begun to prepare for retreat, and other branches have also begun to think about retreat. Zalandin quickly called all the soldiers, and he stood on a high place and shouted loudly: "The Mongols have no Reinforcements, those are all their tricks. We have twice as many people as them. We have the advantage now, why should we retreat? The Khwarazm Empire has been retreating non-stop, and it has fallen into this miserable situation! We Go forward bravely and defeat the Mongols! One day in the future, your descendants will ask you what is the most proud thing in your life, and you will have a perfect answer—in Baluwan, we defeated the Mongols!" The morale of the army has risen sharply, and some people are already shouting: "Kill all the Mongols and drive them out of our land!" Zalandin seized on this positive sentiment and ordered a charge against the Mongols.He divided the regiment into two parts, one part of the officers and soldiers dismounted and fought on foot, while the other half of the cavalry went into hiding. Zalandin guessed right, Shiji Hutuhu didn't invite reinforcements at all, he used a trick, placed a dummy on the horse, and swam back and forth in front of the barracks.He thought that this move would make Zalandin retreat, but he didn't expect Zalandin to be single-minded, not only did not retreat, but also took the initiative to attack.He had to line up and fight the most difficult battle in his life. Zalandin's 30,000 infantrymen dealt with the 30,000 cavalrymen who were out of luck. People who don't know the local situation will think that Zalandin is looking for a dead end.The ground in the Balu Bay area is uneven and has many potholes. It is not suitable for horses to gallop, but it is suitable for infantry to attack.Therefore, the cavalry who lost their luck and became bald lost the advantage they should have. Many cavalry's horseshoes fell into potholes and could not move. When the battle reached an hour, it was already infantry against infantry. Soldiers on both sides fought each other, and the battle was stalemate.This is what Zalandin wanted.He ordered the horn to be blown, and more than 30,000 cavalry rushed into the battlefield. They only swam around the battlefield and hacked at the Mongols in the battlefield without going deep into the battlefield. Seeing that he was surrounded, Shiji Hutuhu ordered to disperse and retreat. During the retreat, his 30,000 men were violently pursued by Zalandin cavalry, like knives cutting watermelon, and their heads flew around.When Shiji Hutu fled to a safe area, he checked the number of people and found that there were only a thousand people left. The Battle of Balu Bay was the biggest defeat and the only one since Genghis Khan's Western Expedition.The bad news of the Battle of Balu Bay quickly spread to all parts of the country through the mountains and river valleys. Genghis Khan was heartbroken, but he said calmly as usual: "Shiji Kutuhu always won battles before and did not suffer setbacks. Now he Taste the taste of failure, and you will be smart and mature in the future." Since then, Zalandin has left a deep impression on Genghis Khan, and he decided to meet this opponent himself.One month after the Battle of Balu Bay, Genghis Khan led the main force of the Mongolian Corps to capture Zalandin.When the army arrived at Balu Bay, he stopped to inspect the old battlefield.After the inspection, he asked the dejected Shiji Hutuhu to report the battle process and formation situation at that time.After listening to the report, Genghis Khan said bitterly: "You don't know how to choose a favorable combat terrain. The place you choose is not suitable for cavalry combat at all, and the passive defense is adopted in the formation. Once the number of enemies is large, you It must be defeated." Losing good luck and suddenly balding, he didn't say a word as if he had been hit by the plague.Looking into the distance, Genghis Khan said in an admiring tone: "Zalandin is a good soldier. He can trap you with infantry first and then surround you with cavalry. You can be said to be a famous general!" "However," he smirked, "Zahlandin's army has a complex composition, and it is difficult to accomplish anything. We can split his army into pieces by using divisive tactics." This strategy was used by Genghis Khan as early as the early days of the Western Expedition.The two letters he wrote to Mahamo's old lady and the caliph of Baoda are worth a million soldiers.Now, he repeats his tricks and writes to the commanders of the various regiments that Zalandin has just united, asking them to leave Zalandin, because Zalandin is a person who can only share adversity but not wealth.He promised that as long as they agreed to leave Zalandin, he would give them a few camels full of gold. Genghis Khan counter-clocked, and Zalandin made another low-level mistake.When dividing up Shijihutuhu's loot, Er Mingmieli and Aqrahei had a conflict because of the capture of an Arabian horse, and they fought.The two came to Zalandin with bloodstained faces to judge. Since Emingmieli was his uncle, Zalandin rewarded Emingmieli with a horse, but he did not have the slightest consolation for Agrahei. Agrahei was so angry that he led his army away from Zalandin that night.This incident, coupled with Genghis Khan's countermeasures, made the Kejiyun Corps and another civilian armed force also leave Zalandin.Zalandin's strength suddenly decreased greatly. Only his uncle's 20,000 troops and a small number of Khwarazim troops in the inner city of Kejiyun would not exceed 25,000. After learning that Genghis Khan came to punish him personally, Zalandin hurriedly withdrew Ke Jiyun. Like his father back then, he was at a loss as to whether his next plan was to advance or retreat. When he sat in the city of sorrow, Genghis Khan's mood was not much better.During the siege of Fanyan City, his grandson, Chagatai's son Mietgan, died of an arrow. Genghis Khan loved this grandson the most, so he was very sad.After capturing Fanyan City, he ordered the army not to pardon anyone or take anything, and to destroy the place as a desert, and named it "Maoweibali", which means "bad city" in Persian.The castle was completely destroyed, and there is still no sign of life after a hundred years. When Genghis Khan was watching the destruction of the city outside Fanyan City, Wo Kuotai and Chagatai, who had captured Yulongjie Chicheng, came to lead the troops.Genghis Khan was worried that Chagatai's beloved son would lose his mind once he heard the bad news, so he asked people around him to keep the secret strictly, and he himself would tell Chagatai himself when the right time came. When Chagatai saw Genghis Khan, he asked him where his son had gone.Genghis Khan told him calmly that Metegan was working in Samarkand and would come soon. A few days later, Chagatai asked Genghis Khan when his son would come. Genghis Khan suddenly became angry, reprimanded Chagatai and Okuotai, and finally said: "You don't listen to me!" Chagatai and Okuotai were terrified, they knelt down and swore, "Never dare to go against Father Khan, or you will die a terrible death." Genghis Khan asked Chagatai with an old and cold face, "You really think so?" Chagatai pointed to the sky and the earth: "Longshengtian bears witness!" Genghis Khan asked again worriedly: "You will do what I say?" Chagatai beat his chest: "Up to the mountain of swords and down to the sea of ​​fire." Genghis Khan watched Chagatai sharply for a while, put away his grim face, and became sad: "Your son died in battle, I command you not to cry!" Chagatai opened his mouth and made a "clack" sound from his throat, trembling all over, tears welling up in his eyes.Genghis Khan turned around, raised his head, and suppressed the tears already swirling in his eyes. Chagatai burst into tears, but he didn't cry out loud, because his father wouldn't let him cry.He ate and ate as usual, as if nothing had happened, as if his son was still alive.But Genghis Khan knew that he often ran to the field and cried loudly to the sky. Genghis Khan didn't have time to heal Chagatai's sorrow, he led the army to Kejiyun all day and night.After Zalanding got the news, he withdrew from Kejiyun to the west, preparing to cross the Shen River and go to Xindu to temporarily avoid Genghis Khan's soldiers. When Genghis Khan arrived at Kejiyun, Zalandin had fled for ten days. Genghis Khan ordered the destruction of Kejiyun, because this place was the last fortress of Khwarazmo and the base of counterattack. He would never allow such a place under his nose. place exists.But Jiyun suffered the greatest damage in history, gradually turned into ruins, and became a paradise for wild beasts. After Zalandin arrived at the Shen River, he began to search for many small boats and rafts, preparing to transport the army across the river, but the surging waves knocked all the boats onto the rocks and smashed them into pieces.He had no choice but to order people to build a big boat on the banks of the Shen River. After ten days, the big boat was built, and he first used the boat to transport the baggage to the other side of the river, and then the soldiers.When he learned that Genghis Khan was only a dozen kilometers away from him, his regiment rioted. The soldiers fought for the boats, and countless dead bodies floated on the banks of the Shen River. Genghis Khan's troops divided into three groups and approached Zalandin's troops.Zalandin shouted loudly to stop the internal strife and unanimously to the outside world, because only in this way can there be a possibility of survival. The troops immediately quieted down and leaned against the Shen River, ready to meet the impact of Genghis Khan's army. The famous Shenhe War was staged here.