Three consecutive attacks failed, so that Abbas I was furious, he not only scolded the soldiers for being stupid, but also cursed the English officers for being incompetent, and the three attacks did not even enter the range of his musket, which made the arrogant Abbas I how could he stand it, but look at the remnants of the soldiers who retreated from these three attacks, and some unbearable, it was almost time for lunch, or let the soldiers finish eating.

When the soldiers were eating, Abbas I had been thinking about the attack, whether it was his own artillery coverage, or the attack of the soldiers, the other side never rushed out of the position to pursue, from this point of view, the number of the opponent's army is definitely not too much, but the opponent's musket is too powerful, and his own soldiers can't reach the range of the musket at all and are beaten back, how can they give full play to their numerical advantage?

After lunch, the Persian soldiers regrouped, and Abbas I took the 5,000 red-headed soldiers as the first echelon this time, and took out a high bounty to stimulate them, so that these red-headed soldiers danced with joy one by one, and they had not seen such a high bounty for a long time. Behind these 5,000 red heads were 20,000 Persian soldiers pressed by English officers, and the two attacking teams were separated by a distance of twenty feet, which was exactly the range of the musket, and Abbas I muttered in the ears of the Englishman who was pressing the formation, and the Englishman nodded in agreement.

The Persian soldiers began an attack, this time they also carried out a burst of artillery bombardment like last time, but this time the shelling was a little long, and the shelling was stopped until the soldiers entered the distance of sixty zhang, and the Ming soldiers entered the position for some time to be nervous, but at this time the mortars behind came to cover the attack, so that the soldiers barely entered the firing position, and then it was a rapid fire, suppressing the offensive pace of the red-headed soldiers in front, and as the number of soldiers entering the position continued to increase, the hand-cranked machine gun added, so that the red-headed soldier still couldn't resist, and there were signs of retreat. Unexpectedly, at this time, the Persian soldiers behind fired directly at a dozen paces behind them, forcing them to continue to rush forward.

The red-headed soldiers were in a dilemma, so they had to continue to rush forward, after all, as long as they could rush forward, there was a high bounty, and they were getting closer and closer to the first trench. Suddenly, the artillery of the Persian army opened fire, and the overwhelming shells smashed down violently at the Ming army's position and the red-headed soldiers at the front of the position, and suddenly the Ming army immediately suffered casualties, this is the strategy of Abbas I, so that the red-headed and Ming troops in front will die together, and the Persian soldiers in the back may enter the first front.

Seeing the fire coming out of the Persian artillery position in the telescope, Liu Zongmin felt that something was wrong, and when he saw clearly what the shells were falling on the position, Liu Zongmin understood Abbas I's strategy, Liu Zongmin immediately ordered the soldiers in the first trench on the front to take advantage of the red-headed soldiers who had not yet reacted, immediately withdrew from the position, and ran towards the second trench, and at the same time the mortars quickly covered the first trench on both sides of the ten zhang range.

Liu Zongmin and Abbas I fought wits and courage in the small town of Navoi, Li Hongji took Liu Fangliang and Tian Jianxiu to Samarkand, and after Li Guo met Li Hongji, he recounted the causes and consequences of Liu Zongmin and Harabahar taking 10,000 soldiers to Navoi town to stop the Persian soldiers, and Li Hongji expressed satisfaction with the actions of the two. The four of them were about to discuss the next move, when the soldiers came in to report, saying that the little Timur Khan was coming, although there was no affiliation, but after all, they were still colleagues, and they were all working under Yuan Chonghuan, which was also a colleague, and the four of them hurriedly went out to meet the little Timur Khan.

Timur Khan the Younger was very polite when he saw the four men, and he knew very well that they had come to help his son. Timur Khan the Younger brought with him a large amount of military supplies, and even a lot of kerosene, which was a weapon for fire attack in defensive battles. Li Hongji was very happy about the arrival of little Timur Khan, because the prestige of little Timur Khan here was relatively high, and Li Hongji hoped to get useful things in terms of intelligence.

The five of them carefully analyzed the current situation in the hall, and believed that it was difficult to defeat Abbas I's Persian soldiers in a short period of time just by defending the small town of Navoi, after all, they were several times their own number, although their weapons were inferior to the Ming army, if they attacked hard at any cost, the Ming army would also suffer a lot of losses. In order to defeat the superior Persians, a certain amount of stratagem was required, and the five of them thought hard about the need to use that kind of stratagem.

In quiet thought, little Timur Khan took out a pile of parchment rolls from his arms, handed them to Li Hongji, and said: "This is the story of Genghis Khan's conquest of Bukhara, maybe it will be useful to the general, please take a look." ”

Li Hongji took the sheepskin scroll and looked at the records on it, but unfortunately he could only see the pictures clearly and did not understand the meaning of the words, so he asked the little Timur Khan: "I can't understand these words, can you read them?" ”

Timur Khan the Younger said: "Let me tell you a rough story, Bukhara was a fertile oasis in the middle of a tributary of the Amu Darya River, inhabited mostly by Tajiks or Persians, but ruled by the Turkic tribes of the newly established Khwarazm Empire, one of the many short-lived empires of that era. One of the fatal mistakes made by the Sultan of Khorezm was that he plundered the Mongol caravan and disfigured the Mongol ambassador sent to negotiate peace and commerce in Bukhara, an act that angered Genghis Khan. Although he was nearly sixty years old, when he heard that his men were under attack, Genghis Khan did not hesitate to gather his disciplined and experienced troops, and once again stepped on his war horse to ask for the guilt. An army would go on a long expedition longer than any other army could travel – traversing two thousand miles of deserts, mountains, and grasslands. In the end, they appeared almost incredibly deep behind enemy lines. Even commercial caravans would make hundreds of miles of detours to avoid the Kyzylkum Desert, the legendary 'Red Desert', but that was why Genghis Khan chose to attack from that direction. By establishing good relations with the nomads of that region, Genghis Khan was able to lead his army through the desert along a route that is still unknown to this day. The Mongols conquered thousands of cities, but only one city that Genghis Khan deigned to enter. Usually, when victory was assured, he withdrew with his courtiers to a more comfortable camp in the distance, leaving his warriors to do the rest. One day in the third month of the Year of the Dragon, the Mongol conqueror broke with his unique tradition and led his cavalry into the heart of the newly conquered city of Bukhara. ”

Little Timur Khan finished telling the story in a calm tone, and did not say anything else, just quietly watched the reactions of these people.

Li Hongji first said: "It seems that the key to this battle is in Bukhara. If we can find the circuitous route that Genghis Khan the Great took back then, we can surprise Bukhara, cut off the back route of the Persians, so that their supplies cannot keep up, even if they do not fight, they will starve to death, and even let them collapse directly, but I don't know how to find this road? Do you know the route? ”

Little Timur Khan smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know, if I knew it, I would have told you directly, but according to the records on this parchment, there should indeed be this path, and if we can find it, we can go straight to the rear of the Persians, and it will be much easier to win." ”

Li Hongji opened the parchment roll again, and looked at the parchment roll that was some years old, the color had changed a little, but the vague lines could barely be seen clearly. This story has been more than 400 years now, if you want to completely follow this unclear map to find, I am afraid that it will not be possible, between the desert and the river, the terrain changes should be very large, after 400 years of geological changes, it is estimated that even the path of the year is now also submerged. But one thing is certain, as long as you look for it, you can still find some clues, and it is inevitable that you can take another route by yourself, but it is a little more risky. However, if you look closely, it seems that the direction is not right, Genghis Khan seems to have come from the direction of the north, but he himself is in the east of Bukhara, and he needs to enter from the south, which is a new problem. Although Li Hongji was already the commander of the military region of one side, he was only in his twenties, and he was still at an ambitious age, so he decided to take a risk and make a surprise attack.