Entrance to the Fergana Basin, the city of Khujand.

When the news reached the Anusha Khan that Prince Alim had been killed while pursuing the army of Dzungar, which was moving in the direction of the Amu Darya, the Ming monarch of the Khiva Khanate had already marched with an army of 60,000 men to the ancient city of Khujand, at the mouth of the Fergan River.

Legend has it that the ancient city of Khujand was built by Alexander the Great during his expedition to Central Asia, but the true situation is unknown. What is certain, however, is that the city was chosen with great care, not only at the entrance to the Ferghana Basin, the largest granary in Central Asia, but also on a dangerous site facing mountains and rivers. To the south of the city are two hills that are not tall, like two gate gods, firmly guarding the city of Khujand. Although the two hills were not high, they could be used to build batteries to cover the castle in the era when smoothbore guns were already common. And since these two mountains are not too close to Khujand. Therefore, even if the fort was occupied by the enemy, it would not pose a threat to the city of Khujand. And the enemy could not deploy his forces outside Khujand without occupying the two hills - the cannons on the batteries could not bombard the city walls, but they could bombard the besieging troops lined up in the south of the city!

On the back side of the city, the Syr Darya River flows westward. The city of Khujand cleverly used a bend in the Syr Darya River as a natural moat, so that more than half of the city walls were protected by the Syr Darya River channel, which was more than 100 paces wide, and was almost completely protected from attack. Moreover, the winter in the Fergana Basin is not cold, the average temperature is above freezing, and although the surface of the Syr Darya River will freeze, it is not enough to support the passage of people and animals.

Hu Zhongyong, who was sent by the monks to defend the city, is a professional anyway, and has been trained by paramilitarization since elementary school, and then studied penance in the army martial arts hall for four years, during which he also went to the army for eight months of internship, of course, it can be seen at a glance that the two mountains south of Khujand City are the key to defending the city.

Therefore, while organizing people to rebuild the two southeast walls of Khujand City and turning them into fortresses, they also built artillery forts on the two hills directly south and southeast of Khujand City, and deployed several 6-kilogram cannons and 24-kilogram mortars.

And he also camouflaged these two forts, so that Anusa Khan, who had just arrived outside the city of Khujand, did not find the forts on the two mountains, and organized a tentative attack, but was bombarded by Hu Zhongyong's 6 catties of field artillery and 24 catties of mortar artillery on the two mountains, and Hu Zhongyong also took the opportunity to lead his troops out of the fortress to fight a counterattack, if it were not for the limited strength of Hu Zhongyong's hand, Anusa Khan would probably have seen the true god at this time!

However, Anusha Khan, who was immortal in the Anusha Khan's catastrophe, soon had a blessing - the people of the Celestial Sect in the Ferghana Basin learned that the armies of the Khiva Khanate and the Timurid Empire had arrived, and immediately launched an uprising!

Because the monk Khan reduced his forces in advance and withdrew all the troops originally deployed in the Ferghana Basin, the uprising went very smoothly, and within a few days, the entire basin had fallen into the hands of Anusa Khan.

At this time, the population of the Ferghana Basin was very large, not only the people who originally lived there, but also the refugees who fled to the valley to escape the war, and the total population was probably no less than 3 million! There is also a lot of arable land, enough for more than 1,800 acres, most of which are fertile and high-yielding, which is not only enough to feed 3 million people, but also provides a large amount of taxes for the kingdom of Sangha, which is a real granary and money bag.

The Uzbeks and Turkmens from the barren and arid Oasis of Khorezm and the Black Desert were drooling when they saw this rich basin.

Just when Anusa Khan of the Khiva Khanate was pondering whether to move the capital from Bukhara and live a good life in the basin in the future, Aurangzeb's envoy arrived!

His son was killed!

And that's not the biggest news, Anusa Khan has many sons...... The worst news was that the Dzungars, after killing their son, left for the Amu Darya.

The Amu Darya River flows from the south side of the Samarkand oasis, and it is not that the Dzungars did not pass south from the edge of the city of Samarkand and then descend the Amu Darya River, but went southwest.

In other words, the real destination of the Dzungars is not the Amu Darya, but along the Amu Darya River towards the Oasis of Khorezm!

They went to raid Anusha Khan's lair!

"King Khan, the wicked Dzungars must have gone to outflank the Oasis of Khorezm! Hurry back to the army! You take the Uzbeks and Turkmens first, and I and the Rajput warriors are your royal highness! ”

Inside the tent of Anusa Khan, Singh, with a beard, a red turban on his head, and a dark face, looked particularly loyal and reliable, and was asking for war in Urdu!

Asked to stay in the queen's house...... With the combat effectiveness of the Rajput cavalry, this is a lifeless task!

Isn't this Hindu's loyalty a bit overdone?

Anusa Khan frowned, and looked at the red-headed Ah San in front of him with a blue face...... With so many years of experience in crisscrossing the river, he couldn't see a problem!

But he still doesn't believe this Hindu! And he doesn't believe in Aurangzeb anymore!

"No, General Singh, you go first, I'll cover!" Anusha's tone was calm, and he didn't seem to be worried at all that his hometown would be raided, "There is nothing wrong with the Khorezm Oasis, I have left 20,000 elite soldiers there, and there are many strong fortresses to rely on, which will not be occupied by the Dzungars!" ”

He did not say this to Singh, but to the Turkmen allies who followed him and to his own Uzbek descendants.

The most important thing now is to stabilize people's hearts!

If the people's hearts can be stable, he will have a chance to turn the situation around.

Anusa Khan continued: "What really needs to be worried now is Samarkand...... Samarkand did not have much grain in stock, and it was expected to be replenished through the Amu Darya, but now the water transport of the Amu Darya River must have been cut off by the Dzungars, and there are many small oases in the middle reaches of the Amu Darya River, which could have provided grain to Samarkand, but now all of them are cheaper than the Dzungars.

So Singh, you better hurry back to Samarkand with the Rajput cavalry, and then take control of the Kashkadarya valley south of the Samarkand oasis as soon as possible...... Although there is not much food there, it can be saved after all! ”

Anusa Khan spoke Persian, which Singh understood, but was a little skeptical. How could Anusha Khan be so caring? He was concerned about Samarkand's food supply, and he was willing to ...... Not quite right!

I knew something was wrong in my heart, but I didn't dare to say anything more. Khujand is now full of agitated and over-the-top Celestials - mostly the "rebels" who have rushed out of the Ferghana Basin, and there are less than 9,000 Rajput cavalry left under Singh (there were more than 1,000 casualties in the previous battle under Khujand, which is really miserable!). I didn't dare to talk back to Anusha Khan, who had just died of his son.

And Singh also knows his master, Aurangzeb, this old boy is ruthless! Maybe Prince Alim was killed by him......

"Okay!" Singh pressed his hands to his chest and saluted, his black face was full of emotion, "I will take the Rajput cavalry first, King Khan, you must take care!" ”

Anusha Khan waved his hand, "Let's go, let's go, don't let His Majesty Alamgir wait!" ”

What's the hurry? Singh thought weakly: This Anusha Khan will not see through His Majesty Alamgil's plot to regress, right?

Let's go! If you don't go, you won't be able to go.

Singh saluted again, turned around and left Anusha's royal tent, and seeing Singh leaving, Anusa Khan waved to several Turkmen tribal leaders, "You don't have to worry, you all go back to reorganize your troops and prepare to move your camp." ”

Several Turkmen also left with a heavy heart, and now only the Uzbek henchmen of Anusa Khan were left in the king's tent.

Seeing the Turkmen walk away, Anusa Khan, who had been sitting well, stood up suddenly, and then kicked over the desk in front of him.

Several Uzbek generals looked at him with frightened expressions on their faces.

Anusa Khan gritted his teeth and said, "There must be a heavy army of Dzungar people outside the valley, and we can't go...... And the Khwarazm Oasis won't last long, and the only way we can survive is to retract into the Fergana Valley! ”