Shule City.

The Tang army commanded by Zhou Tingyu prepared to attack Shule in a big way after recovering the city of Yaerkan.

With the issuance of the battle order, the Tang Dynasty and the Khotanese coalition army set off from the crow's view, this time they did not hesitate, the army directly faced the direction from which the Karakhan army came, and went straight to Artush, intending to cut off the return route of the Karakhan army.

After several days of marching in the Gobi Desert, the army reached an oasis along the Aktau River.

It was only more than 50 kilometers away from Shule City, and at noon that day, the scouts sent by the Tang army in advance had already sent back the news that the main force of the Karakhan army had been found about 40 kilometers away in the northwest direction and was swooping in this direction.

The number of the Karahan army was about 70,000, but Zhou Tingyu did not hesitate at all, and was ready to fight a hard-fought battle with the enemy here.

The Tang army stopped moving forward and began an intense deployment.

As early as when he was in Khotan, the remaining 15,000 Khotanese troops under Li Shengtian were mixed into the Tang army by Zhou Tingyu in the name of joint training.

The Karakhan state was actually about the same strength as Khotan and Gaochang combined, and was able to defeat Khotan and Gaochang thanks to the "jihadists" recruited by the "Scripture Leader" missionaries from places like Khoroza, Baghdad, and Damascus. With the addition of 120,000 "Mujahideen" to the Karakhan Army, this completely changed the balance of power in the Western Regions.

The "Mujahideen" are armed with scimitars and spread the "Holy Religion", and the Damascus scimitars are so sharp that they can easily cut off the heads of those infidels.

The sutra holders say that those who do not believe in the "true God" are "miya" (livestock) and can be slaughtered at will.

The Mujahideen of Western Asia crisscrossed Central Asia with their scimitars made of Damascus steel. The level of the Great Cannibal's ability to make bows and crossbows was far inferior to that of the Orientals, otherwise they would not have been defeated by the Mongol archers a hundred years later. The current Tang cavalry is not only excellent in war horses, but also equipped with short-barreled muskets and steel crossbows for cavalry, which are very great for the Central Asian cavalry that lacks armor protection.

Before the Tang army could completely complete the arrangement, yellow sand rose in the northeast - the army led by Aslan, the general of Karahan stationed in Shule, had already arrived.

Looking at the Karahan army rolling in like a flood, Zhou Tingyu couldn't help laughing: "I was afraid that they would run away, but they came just in time, and this time I will definitely leave them all!" ”

Murong Yan looked coldly at the northeast direction, and the Gobi had a wide field of vision, and he saw tens of thousands of Karakhan troops divided into three groups before and after. Like three surging waves, advancing layer by layer, the enemy army as the vanguard is about 10,000 people.

By nearly noon, the vanguard of the Karakhan coalition army was less than six kilometers away from the bank of the Aktau River, which the Tang army had refused, and they had slowed down their pace and began to adjust their forces and accumulate strength.

A big war is slowly beginging.

The cavalry of the Karakhan State raised the yellow sand in the Gobi Desert, rolling towards the green river bank like a terrible storm, while the Tang army stood majestically on the side of the river, which was not wide. Former army commander Murong Yanchao immediately stepped forward, and it seemed that he was not prepared to give the enemy a chance to drink water and adjust.

More than 10,000 Karahan forward cavalry troops also lined up in formation and slowly moved forward, and the distance between the two sides gradually approached the limit of one kilometer of the cavalry assault......

"Artillery, ready!" Yang Jiye shouted expressionlessly.

Gala la la ......

With a loud sound, thirty-six hastily assembled elm iron cannons capable of firing shots were pushed to the front.

The ignition of a group of 10 held a lit wormwood stick in his hand, and the wormwood stick was emitting green smoke at one end.

Aslan had already received a report that the Tang army was besieging the city of Shalaba Yan.

However, he still pretended to be indifferent, otherwise, the army of Turks, Grolu, Turgish, Hues, Hui and Roshi, as well as nearly 40,000 "jihadists" in his steppe, might collapse on its own. Although those "jihadists" claim to be fighting for the "Holy Religion", once they know that they can't get the money, they will definitely turn around immediately.

"Just a special group of mercenaries, how noble and sacred it is said by those "scripture leaders"......" Aslan couldn't help but be full of resentment when he thought of this.

Since the fall of the city, he hadn't trimmed his beard for half a month, and his face was full of curly, unkempt thick beards, which covered his face, and made it impossible to see his expression. However, the frowning brow still revealed the nervousness in his heart, and after repelling the Tang army, he still had to give up Shule and immediately return to Bala Shayan to rescue the besieged royal city.

The wind is blowing, and the wind and sand in the Gobi in July are strong, and the north wind sweeps in with the sand and dust on the desert, covering the sky. This makes the sight of the banks of the Aktau not very good.

The front armies of the two sides were already separated by less than three miles, followed by an overwhelming cavalry procession, almost as far as the eye could see.

Zhou Tingyu's eyes were indifferent, holding in his hand the special saber given by the Son of Heaven to the first-level generals of the legion, and quietly watching the arrival of the main force of the Karahan army.

"I don't know if Shi Kang's rammed goods can be outflanked in time!"

He muttered softly in his mouth.

He wanted to delay with the enemy for a while, but unfortunately the enemy did not give him this time at all.

Aslan rode his snow-white war horse slowly to the front of the formation, pointed at the Tang Army who had been lined up with his horsewhip and said to several of his subordinates: "See? The Tang people actually gave up the favorable terrain and formed such a horizontal formation that could be penetrated with a single blow, and the main general of the other party must be a fool! Ha ha...... Now that the enemy is here, there is no need to let them go back, Mahmut, now is the time for them to see the bravery of the Mujahideen! ”

Mahmut, who had a thick and curly beard, nodded expressionlessly, and slowly moved forward from the array with the heavy armored cavalry of his headquarters, his volunteers were mainly from Baghdad, well-equipped, and their mounts were all tall Arab war horses. The whole body of this army was shrouded in iron armor, even the war horses were covered with armor, and only two eyes were exposed on the horse's head, which looked extremely fierce.

It was difficult to replenish equipment from West Asia, and the 3,000-strong Mujahideen heavy cavalry composed of West Asian volunteers under Mahmut was the elite of the Karakhan State, and was almost invincible in previous battles.

As a "leader of the scriptures", Mahmut naturally has his proud capital.

The heavy cavalry needed to charge at a distance of about six hundred meters, so after tidying up the formation a little, Ibrahim raised the scimitar in his hand and shouted: "Kill, kill all these infidels!" ”

The low beat of drums suddenly rang out over the wilderness.

Boom! Boom! Boom......

The dense sound of war drums shook the earth.

The heavily armored cavalry composed of "mujahideen" with scimitars in their hands took the lead in charging towards the cavalry formation of the Tang army.

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