Chapter 45 three

King Timur's life was spent in busy campaigns.Since the age of thirteen, he has personally commanded and participated in no less than a hundred battles and battles. His ultimate goal is to conquer the entire world. This is an arrogant idea, but it is also a natural idea for King Timur, because he has been working hard for it when he was alive.War is an integral part of the Timurid Empire. Even so, I still did not blindly tell Babur about war. I always feel that the civilization created by the empire is far more fascinating than war.Otherwise, I would not take so much trouble to describe to Babur the cities with their own characteristics and advantages, the magnificent buildings, the dazzling array of works of art, the piles of goods, the rich products, the well-developed Culture, there are banquets, women's gorgeous decorations and clothing... In fact, compared with war, these things are the shining labels of the once powerful Timurid Empire.

I hope Barbur remembers it when time becomes my luxury. But there is a war that I am willing to tell Babur, because it is the last peak battle in the life of the aging King Timur. I start the story with one sentence. The source of the Euphrates is said to be in heaven. The city of Arozun, on the border with Turkey, was built on the flat river along the Euphrates River.Surrounding Pingchuan, there are towering mountains with snow-capped peaks, but there is no trace of snow at the foot of the mountains.If you climb up the mountainside and look around, the densely forested villages, wheat fields, and vineyards on Pingchuan are like the embellishments of the city, and the city becomes a lotus flower supported on the unfolded green leaves.

The area of ​​Ailuo Zhanzhan City is not very large, with strong walls and watchtowers.The city is densely populated, with many streets, squares, and shops, and is extremely rich.The residents are mainly Greeks and Armenians. Most of their buildings are built along the city wall, and there are passages to the city wall. Another unmistakable symbol of the city is the tall crosses that hang from certain buildings.However, not all residents in the city believe in Christianity, and some of them believe in Islam. Due to different beliefs, there are disputes among residents. Whenever this happens, the city lord Tahatan always favors Christians.His reason is that Christians are mostly wealthy businessmen, and the economic lifeline of Arlo Zhancheng is in their hands.

Ailuo Zunzhan City was occupied by King Timur at the beginning, but it was still in a semi-independent state. King Timur only occupied the fortress Kemah Castle located in the corner of the city, and bestowed it on his nephew Hansha.Among the many sons and nephews of Timur, apart from the eldest son Jihanjar, he preferred his eldest grandson Shaletan and nephew Jihansha.King Timur has established Shale altar as his heir to the throne.As for Zhi Hansha, he joined the army since he was a child, young and courageous, and made many military exploits under his uncle's command. King Timur gave him great power, and the grant of Kaimahe Castle is a proof of this love and trust.

Kamah Fort has a solid structure and a condescending terrain. If you master this fort, you can control the whole city and its surroundings.Moreover, it is also a necessary place for caravans between Syria and Turkey. King Timur let Hansha sit in Kamah Fort in order to monitor Turkey and control the caravan. But in this way, Turkey's interests are bound to be damaged.Bayezid, the Turkish monarch known as the "Thunderbolt", was very annoyed by this. He always regarded Kemah Fort as a taboo. Unexpectedly, before he sent troops to occupy Kemah Fort, King Timur had already arrived first.

Bayezid sent envoys to ask the city lord Tahatan for Kamah Fort. His request made Tahatan very embarrassed.For Takhatan, neither Timur nor Bayezid can be offended.He thought about it for a while, and then politely replied to the messenger: "Even if the king wants me to be a minister and pay tribute, I can do it. I can't dedicate it to the king except Kamah Fort. Because Kamah Castle has already It is no longer mine, it is now owned by King Timur." The envoy relayed his reply to Bayezid. Bayezid was furious and sent an envoy to threaten Tahatan again, saying, "What is Kamah Fort? If you are stubborn, I will teach you to get out of the city of Ai Luo Zhanzhan immediately." .”

Tahatan was too lazy to engage in such unnecessary verbal disputes, and immediately sent someone to report to King Timur exactly how he had negotiated with Bayezid and Bayezid's threats. Upon hearing this, King Timur decisively and rationally sent an eloquent envoy to Bayezid's palace. Takhatan deserves the protection of King Timur." Bayezid regarded himself as the best martial artist in the world, so he would not pay attention to the king of Timur. He yelled at the envoy angrily: "Are you talking about Timur? Who is he? Oh, I remembered, he is a kidnapper, isn’t he? It’s ridiculous that a kidnapper deserves to compete with me for Kemah Castle! Go back and tell your master that Kamah Castle belongs to me!”

His insult was faithfully brought back to Samarkand by the messenger.When King Timur heard this, he just smiled. Three days later, he raised his troops from Samarkand and directed his troops at Angola. After King Timur defeated one opponent after another, he realized how insignificant these people were compared with Bayezid. In front of him, the only powerful and threatening to him was the monarch of the Turkish Empire. Turkey is located on the peninsula of Asia Minor in western Asia.It borders Persia to the east, Iraq and Syria to the south, Greece and the Eastern Roman Empire to the west, and the Black Sea to the north.Surrounded by high mountains, the middle is a large plateau.The plateau climate is hot and dry in summer, and cold and snowy in winter.The coastal area has a Mediterranean climate with mild and rainy winters.There are three rivers east of the capital Ankara, which flow from south to north, adding a natural defense barrier to Ankara.

Bayezid (reigned 1389-1403) brought the Turkish Empire to its heyday after Yuji.He defeated the Serbian army before he took office, which made him famous on the Kosovo battlefield.In the second year of his accession to the throne, he annexed the Turkic Kingdom and the Turkmen Kingdom, then occupied the entire territory of Thrace and Bulgaria, and conquered all parts of Asia Minor in one fell swoop.In the 798th year of the Muslim calendar (about 1396), Bayezid led the Turkish army to defeat the coalition forces of the European feudal lords at Fort Niko on the Danube River, and captured more than 10,000 European knights. Received the title of "Thunderbolt".As the martial arts became stronger and stronger, he attacked and harassed Ailuo, who belonged to King Timur, to occupy the castle, so the conflict between the two countries inevitably broke out.

In the spring of 804 (about 1402) in the Muslim calendar, King Timur led an expeditionary force and took the first step to conquer King Bayezid of Turkey. First, King Timur decided to recover the city of Arozunzhan, which had been occupied by Bayezid.During the march, he once again sent envoys to Bayezid, hoping to peacefully resolve the ownership of the city of Aurozun. Ulugh Beg was ordered to take part in the expedition.King Timur gave his seven-year-old grandson an army of one hundred people. In this way, Ulugh Beg's identity was no longer a family member of the army three years ago, but a small general.This was what Ulugh Beg was most proud of. After putting on the armor he had dreamed of, he said to the princess childishly but still seriously: "Princess, I will protect you this time."

There is still some distance to Arlo Zunzhan City.One day, when we were camping at the foot of the mountain, King Timur sent someone to invite the princess. The princess, not knowing what had happened, brought Ulugh Beg and me to King Timur's tent in a hurry. Chess sets have already been placed in the palace tent, and the mahogany chessboard and carefully carved chess pieces are all my favorite works. When King Timur saw the princess, he asked her to sit down. It seemed that he couldn't wait to play chess with her. For King Timur, playing chess is not just for fun. He regards playing chess as commanding battles, and he will fight with all his strength in every game. His seriousness is well known in the empire.He is also very good at chess, except for the princess, there are only a few people who can draw with him. The wind in the mountains was cool, and King Timur saw that the princess was wearing thin clothes, so he asked Nuridin to fetch a beautifully wrapped gift box, which contained a gift he was going to give to the princess: a collar of snow fox shawl, but Pure white, which is hard to come by, is extremely rare at first glance.He stepped down from his seat and put the shawl on the princess himself. The princess may have been a little surprised, but she showed nothing.The pure white of the shawl set off her face like a magnolia flower, showing a bit of shyness and charm. King Timur's eyes blurred a little, just for a moment.He returned to his seat. The princess and King Timur also compete for every piece in chess. However, occasionally when King Timur wants to regret a game, she also has an absolutely tolerant attitude towards his competitive heart like a mother treats a child.Today's King Timur seems to be out of shape all the time. He made the wrong pieces several times. When the princess wanted to eat his camel or his chariot, he hurriedly protected the pieces and asked to replay them.I couldn't see him regretting the game again and again, so I couldn't help but say: "Wang, this is already the fifth time." "Grandfather is cheating." Ulugh Beg also said. King Timur turned a deaf ear to it and remained the same. King Timur and the princess played two games of chess in a row, but they both relied on cheating and ended up with a draw.Just when the third round was about to start, Shana walked in. He walked up to King Timur and whispered something to him. King Timur nodded and said, "Okay, let them come in." The princess got up to leave in a hurry, but King Timur grabbed her hand: "Don't go." The princess' fingers were cold, and a blurred light flashed again in King Timur's eyes.The princess had no choice but to sit down again, and King Timur reluctantly let go of his hands. It turned out that three envoys sent by Bayezid arrived, and they brought Bayezid's reply.The wording of the letter was particularly harsh, and Bayezid explicitly warned King Timur not to kill himself. King Timur left the letter calmly, and asked Shana to take the three envoys out of the palace tent first, and guard them separately.Then, he gave Nuridin a few words in this way, and Nuridin was ordered to leave. The third game of chess had just begun, and Nuridin returned with one of the three envoys.The envoy knelt down in front of King Timur in fear. King Timur glanced at him and asked calmly, "Are you a Mongol?" "Yes." The messenger replied. "What's your name?" "The little one's name is Baizhu." "I heard that Borislav has a Mongolian mercenary army. What's the name of your leader?" "Irtai." "Do you have anything to do with Yiertai?" "He's my cousin." "Bolislav is the number one general in Turkey. You serve him, but you have his full trust?" Bai Zhu obviously hesitated, "This..." King Timur gave Nuridin a wink, and Nuridin understood, went out and came back with a box in his arms.Nuridin opened the box in front of Baizhu, and Baizhu only glanced at it with a surprised expression on his face. Inside the box was a string of ruby ​​necklaces, a white jade cup studded with diamonds, two priceless cat's eyes, and a folded silk painting.As Nuriddin unfolded the painting bit by bit, eight mighty BMWs with different looks appeared on the exquisite silk.But this is by no means an ordinary picture of eight steeds, but it is made of countless pieces of pure gold, and then stitched piece by piece with gold thread according to the drawn lines. Bai Zhu stared at these treasures intently, only feeling salivating. King Timur smiled slightly, "These are the gifts I gave to the leader of Yiertai, please be sure to forward them to your envoy. There is also a box of top-grade pearls for you, and I have ordered Nuridin to put them in your In the sleeping tent. When you and the other two envoys return, I will prepare another generous gift. In this way, you and the leader of Irtai’s gift will not arouse their suspicion.” Bai Zhu swallowed, "It's just that the king gave you such a generous gift, why?" King Timur did not answer his question directly, but discussed with him about the clan with great interest: "Which branch of the Mongols do you and your cousin belong to?" "We are descendants of Hulagu Khan." "Oh, really? I'm a Mongolian from Chagatai. Do you know who she is?" He pointed to the princess. Bizu's gaze turned to the princess's face.This courageous look made him straighten up unconsciously.I don't know if it's because he has never seen a woman with such a dignified temperament and such a clean image before. There is absolutely no trace of profanity in his ecstatic gaze. "Is... is it your husband... madam?" After a while, he stammered. King Timur looked at the princess, and a wry smile disappeared in an instant. "She is a descendant of Kublai Khan, and Tuohuan Timur, the last great Khan of the Yuan Dynasty, is her father." Immediately, Bai Zhu developed a sincere feeling of closeness and admiration for the princess.Kublai Khan and Hulagu Khan are brothers of the same mother. No matter how many generations have passed, their blood is still connected.What's more, she is so beautiful, as a member of the same clan, he couldn't help but be proud of her fairy appearance. She is the daughter of Emperor Yuan, a real descendant of Khan. He stood up and greeted the princess calmly, piously, and with the purest Mongolian court etiquette. The princess asked him to excuse him.She took off the jade bracelet that she had only worn for a few days from her wrist, and asked Nuridin to give it to Baizhu. "It's great to see the descendants of Hulagu Khan here. This pair of jade bracelets is my heart, please give them to your wife." Please thank the princess again for her kindness. The conversation after that became extremely harmonious, and Baizhu told King Timur everything he knew about the Turkish army. When he was about to leave, King Timur asked him one last question: "What do you think of Bayezid?" Baizhu replied: "He is a monarch with a will of steel. At any time, he will go forward bravely and never retreat." When only King Timur, the princess, me, and Ulugh Beg were left in the palace tent, King Timur picked up a chess piece and smiled at the princess: "Bayezid goes forward bravely and never retreats, and I If necessary, I will retreat, just like..." He put the chess pieces on the chessboard, "I will regret the chess." In this game, King Timur won, and won simply and neatly. The next day, King Timur ordered the release of three of Bayezid's envoys.He kept his promise, and sure enough, he prepared a generous gift for each of them.When the three envoys received the gift, their first thought was to hide it from their monarch and general Borislav.For their lord and lord will always hate evil. A few days later, King Timur commanded an army to surround the city of Ailuo Zhanzhan, and captured the city in just one day.Afterwards, he continued to push his army deep into the territory of Turkey, besieging cities and fortresses along the way.Soon, the Timurid army besieged the city of Sivas, an important Turkish military town, and the defenders in the city suffered heavy casualties, so they had to send someone to ask Bayezid for help.Bayezid, who was besieging Constantinople, heard that King Timur had invaded Turkey, so he quickly sent his prince Suleiman to lead an army of 200,000 to help Sivas City, and he himself led the army to return to Ankara for deployment. city ​​defense. However, the powerful siege force possessed by the Timurid army far exceeded Bayezid's imagination. Before Suleiman's reinforcements arrived, the Timur army had already captured the city of Sivas.At this time, King Timur's scouts sent back information that Bayezid was on his way back to Ankara.King Timur analyzed this information and immediately decided to change the original marching route and turn to the south to Chongshan. Bayezid learned that instead of marching towards Ankara after King Timur captured the city of Sivas, he led his army to flee south. He did not seriously consider the real intention of this arrangement, but simply believed that it was Timur. The king was frightened by his reputation and did not dare to fight with his main force.So, dominated by such a mentality of underestimating the enemy, he changed his original battle plan and ordered to pursue King Timur. Soon, King Timur played a game of mouse and hide-and-seek with Bayezid in the jungle of Nanshan. In those days, we shuttled back and forth in the mountains and forests almost every day, chasing and hiding. King Timur always ordered the army to avoid direct confrontation with Bayezid as much as possible.I now understand why Baizhu said that Bayezid is a courageous commander. His "going forward" did make us suffer a lot at the beginning.One day, when we had just dismounted and rested for less than half an hour, we received another order to start.While frantically packing the package I had just opened, I complained angrily, "What the hell is this old man doing?" That year, King Timur was already sixty-six years old. Although he was still full of energy and clear-headed, he was already old in my eyes. One of the things that amazed me the most about her was that she jumped on her horse with agility, and her riding skills were as good as any man's.Regarding my complaint, she deliberately imitated my tone, and said cheerfully: "I think, this is the old man who is about to regret his game again." I looked into the depths of her dark eyes all at once. Like a bright lightning tore through the thick fog, I had the idea for the first time: Changshengtian let her be born in this world, maybe it was to comfort King Timur's lonely and lonely king's heart . That's right, this is the revelation that Changshengtian gave me at that moment. In fact, she is the only true confidant of King Timur in this life. And Queen Tuma is just the wife of King Timur, and people like Aiku and Shanai are just his comrades in arms. The princess didn't notice my disappointment, and still comforted me with a cheerful tone: "Bayezid must be going crazy. When he becomes more and more confused, the old man's regret tactics will work." .” These words later reached the ears of King Timur somehow.One evening, when we were finally allowed to camp, Nuridin showed up in our simple yurt with a box of refined snacks.He said very tactfully—of course, with a sense of hope that we would appreciate it—these dim sums were specially made for the princess, Ulugh Beg and me by the royal chef ordered by King Timur as soon as he camped, and even the king himself was not willing to part with them. Have a taste. The princess took out her treasured tea leaves and asked me to make a pot of green tea. She enthusiastically persuaded Nuridin to share this "rich" dinner with us.When the fragrance of tea began to fill the entire yurt, the tall figure of King Timur appeared in front of us.In this regard, his explanation is that he happened to pass by here while patrolling the camp. The tea that night eclipsed all the extravagant dinners I had attended before.Because King Timur no longer behaved aloof, but willingly transformed into an approachable old grandfather at home.Seeing him struggling to cross his legs, Ulugh Beg and I sat beside him, bullying him blatantly, stealing all the snacks from his plate while he was only busy chatting with the princess, and even refusing to refill him. Full of tea. He had been so sweetly pretending to ignore our pranks that night that there was nothing artificial about his cheerfulness.Because, he was finally able to be with the princess again.Some time ago, he directed the tiresome escape, and he didn't pay attention to meeting the princess for almost two months. When he bid farewell to the princess, but watched the princess unable to leave for a long time, I realized clearly again that time is ruthless, and King Timur is getting old. If one day he has to rely on memories to pass the remaining time, then , what he wants to remember the most is definitely the princess's pair of trusting eyes. He limped on one leg and walked in front of his horse. For some reason, I had ignored his leg injury for many years, but at this moment I suddenly felt that he was actually very pitiful. Yes, he is such a poor old man with a disabled leg!He got the world, but he never got what he wanted most in this life. If he knows my pity, will he be ashamed or angry? At the moment of waving goodbye, his last words were for me: "Although the old man likes to regret chess, if he meets an opponent like the princess, he doesn't know what to do." It was this sentence that made me understand that he had heard the conversation between me and the princess. As expected by King Timur, this "repentant chess tactic" of suspicious soldiers and erratic movements gradually made the Turkish army upset and exhausted.Two months later, King Timur saw that the time was right, so he quietly left the jungle where he was hiding one night, and led his army to Ankara, the enemy's confidant. King Timur's surprise tactics disrupted Bayezid's deployment.In order to keep Ankara, Bayezid had to withdraw from Nanshan and meet King Timur in front of Ankara Castle, hoping to fight to the death with King Timur.At this time, Bayezid hadn't realized that starting from Nanshan, he was already under the control of King Timur. He even forgot that the enemy he was facing was not European knights, but the "warrior" who was good at fighting and resourceful. Kidnap Timur". The two powerful teams met under the Ankara Castle, and a big battle was imminent. Since the army was far outnumbered by the opponent, King Timur held the last military meeting before the war to redeploy the army's offensive formation, strategy and tactics.First of all, he still divided the army into three, with veterans like Shanai leading the right-wing army, princes such as Shaharu and Pier leading the left-wing army, and himself sitting in the middle, leading the overall situation and strategizing; secondly, considering the Turkish army Once galloping in the valley of Europa, brave and good at fighting, he ranked the heavy cavalry at the forefront instead of putting them in the middle as in the past.The light cavalry was arranged in the second echelon, and the infantry was placed last for defense.After such a deployment, an echelon configuration in depth has been formed, which can just deal with Bayezid's favorite tactics of rushing and rushing and blindly using strong tactics. According to the information obtained before the war, King Timur even made detailed and clear arrangements for the details of the three-way army's offensive route, combat purpose, and timing of advance and retreat. This is also different from his usual commanding style. It is different. For example, when conquering the Golden Horde, Persia, India and other places, under the premise of ensuring that the overall strategic policy remains unchanged and obeying everything for victory, he will generally let the generals play their own strengths instead of He will be so meticulous that every detail of the battle is arranged by him personally. In addition, on the surface, the battle sequence of the left, center, and right wings is exactly the same, but with specific tactics, it shows infinite changes, which will soon be revealed in future wars. Turkey also deployed its troops into three positions: left, center, and right. Its left wing is mainly composed of Serbs, and its combat effectiveness is weaker than that of the center and right wings.Timurid's veteran generals were ordered to fight quickly.Although the Serbs were brave and tenacious, they still suffered heavy casualties and had to withdraw from the battlefield first when they were attacked by heavy cavalry as fierce as a river breaking its embankment.Once the right-wing army succeeded, it quickly withdrew its troops and moved closer to the central army according to regulations. At noon, the left-wing army led by the princes began to attack the Turkish right-wing army. The most famous Turkish general Bolislav was in command here. He was a victorious general whose reputation was second only to Bayezid himself.The heavy cavalry of the left-wing army could not break through Bolislav's position and was forced to retreat. Bolislav ordered Irtai and Baizhu to chase and defeat the army. In this way, the Mongolian mercenaries led by Irtai were led step by step to the left-wing army's first position. The second position was surrounded by light cavalry. King Timur miraculously appeared in front of the two armies.He persuaded Yiertai to surrender with his kinship, and his persuasion was assisted by Baizhu. Finally, Yiertai was persuaded and ordered the troops to stop resisting. The Mongolian mercenary's defection dealt a fatal blow to Bolislav.This Mongolian mercenary army had followed Bolislav to the European battlefield and was invincible. Now it was as if an arm holding a knife had been cut off, and Bolislav had to go into battle himself to fight Timur's left-wing army for the final contest. On the battlefield where Borislav met the two princes of the left-wing army, they were Shahru and Shauk. The two princes cooperated with each other tacitly. Shaharu pierced him with a long spear, and although a guard tried his best to rescue him, he died of excessive blood loss. When the news of Belislav's death came out, the Turkish right-wing army couldn't bear to fight any more, and either fled or surrendered. When news of the success of the left and right armies was spreading frequently, King Timur, who had returned to the central army to command the battle, was in a precarious situation.The opponent King Timur faced was Bayezid himself, and King Timur placed the most powerful heavy cavalry and the most agile light cavalry on the right and left flanks. This was his most risky arrangement. Put yourself in a desperate situation.After the heavy cavalry and light cavalry of the Central Route Army were defeated by Bayezid, all he could rely on was the infantry as a reserve. Time passed with huge casualties, and no matter whether the heavy cavalry, light cavalry or infantry retreated, there were not many arrows available.For the first time in his life, King Timur was ready to be defeated. Even so, people still could not see the slightest despair on his face. He was even calmer, calmer, firmer and more optimistic than ever.Even the tragedy of the dying struggle is not meaningless. In this life-and-death situation, the veteran and the princes arrived in time, and the Central Route Army, which was almost at the end of its rope, came back to life. So far, King Timur's tactics of "outwitting the strong and capturing the weak alive" have shown great power.It's just that no one thought that this time, he actually left the danger of annihilation of the entire army to himself.But then again, in the situation where there was almost no chance of winning at that time, there was probably no other person except King Timur who could stand tall in the face of death. Bayezid, who thought he was favored by the god of war, was under the attack of three powerful troops in a blink of an eye. He deployed all the main forces on the front line, and the reserve team was just a decoration.Seeing that the general situation was over, Bayezid collected the remnants of the defeated army and attempted to break out of the encirclement. In the melee of breaking out, he stumbled and was captured alive by Aiku. Only Prince Sulaiman escaped by chance, and King Timur refused to pursue him, so he withdrew his troops to count the results of the battle.In the battle of Ankara, King Timur wiped out 500,000 enemies and captured Bayezid alive, thus completely conquering Turkey. The victory in the Battle of Ankara fundamentally established the hegemony of King Timur in Central Asia and West Asia. So far, the huge empire established by King Timur has unified the territory of the three fragmented Khanates. Huacizimo, the area near the Caspian Sea, the territory of Afghanistan, and also includes Iran, India, Iraq, parts of the South Caucasus and many countries in West Asia. Success made King Timur even more impatient to create achievements beyond Genghis Khan.He identified his last rival as Emperor Yongle of China.