Chapter 120: Shock
The violent explosion destroyed not only the solid city walls, the defense of the western city, but also the lives and confidence of countless soldiers.
A large number of soldiers gathered on the western wall at that time, and they became the first victims. Even the survivors, who did not die at the time, were unconscious by the explosion and were unable to organize an effective defense.
The Ming soldiers who were five hundred meters away from the city wall would not give them any more time, and they had arrived in an instant in just five hundred meters.
Musket-wielding soldiers were in groups of ten, two with shields, two with swords and reloads, and six in groups of three to shoot the enemy.
The well-trained soldiers of the Ming Dynasty occupied the gap in the city wall at the first time, and then slowly advanced forward.
The Timurid soldiers who rushed over from other places were simply unable to withstand the bullets in the sky, and even bows and arrows were of little use at this time.
When the situation of rout has been formed, there is only one thought in everyone's mind, and that is to run a little faster than the others.
A city of 100,000 people, 500,000 people gathered. When the walls were destroyed and the seeds of defeat were planted, the city's already fragile order was completely out of control.
At this time, the original humble slave soldiers also showed their fangs. They may have killed their own master in order to capture a horse that could escape.
The Ming soldiers deliberately attacked only Xicheng and released the encirclement in the other three directions. But this kind of letting go does not mean giving up the hunt, but only deliberately leaving them a glimmer of hope and weakening their resistance to death.
In fact, the infantry-based attack formation was due to the fact that all the cavalry had been placed on the periphery to kill.
The attack of the Ming infantry was not fast, this was not the Ming Dynasty, outside of Herat, there was not a single city for hundreds of miles, there were grasslands and the Gobi Desert everywhere.
Even if these people run, there is nowhere to run.
Letting them run away now will only delay their doom.
Slowing down the pace of the attack can effectively reduce sacrifices, and the lives of the Ming soldiers, in Zhu Di's opinion, are much more precious than those of the Timurid people.
When the Ming soldiers had firmly occupied the advantage of Xicheng, nearly 100,000 Indian auxiliaries were put to use.
Under the guidance of gliders and the guidance of their chamberlains, they went to occupy the granaries and sheep in the city, which had long been observed.
The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty only had to attack the fortifications and kill people, regardless of looting. And the task of these Indian soldiers is to loot and rob people.
According to the rules set by Zhu Di for them, thirty percent of the materials and gold and silver they grabbed could be retained, two percent could be divided into two percent for the combat troops, and the remaining fifty percent could be confiscated.
But in reality, not many of them can be found. Because they want to make a deal for their own princes, they can keep two percent.
But gold and silver are still a scourge for them, and before leaving the Ming army, they will use these gold and silver to buy goods or weapons of the Ming Dynasty, only in this way, these wealth are their own.
There are people in the inner prison to supervise, and they are not afraid that they will hide gold and silver privately, and how much gold and silver each of them has on them has long been clearly understood by the inner supervisor who leads the team.
People in the barracks have no privacy at all, they can't hide even if they want to.
In fact, in order to keep the gold and silver, they would turn over all the gold and silver, and the Internal Supervisory Committee would issue them a bill. With this bill, when you return to Kezhi, you can exchange for the corresponding materials.
So in terms of cost, Daming recruited so many people this time, and the cost was pitiful.
The city of Herat was breached at dawn, but it took two full days to clear and occupy it.
Except for a small number of people who fled on horseback, most of them were guns or prisoners.
However, most of the people here are poor and women, and because of Shaharu's emphasis on scholars and craftsmen, most of them have already been transferred to the northwest of Khorasan and Kabul.
The advent of muskets has changed the pattern of warfare today.
As the commander of Jingwei, Zhang Chang's main task is to assist Zhu Di in managing Jingwei and guarding Zhu Di's safety.
Nearly a year has passed since the day of the expedition, and it is not until today that I have the opportunity to lead the army alone.
He knew very well that he was not a talented person, and he was able to become the Admiral of Jingwei mainly because of his sister's light.
When he was in the capital, he has always been very low-key, never adding trouble to the royal family, and being a man as a man.
But in his heart, he also has a heart to make contributions.
Now he leads Jin Wuwei, Fu Junwei, and Teng Xiangwei to clear out the fleeing enemy army, which is a good opportunity for the emperor to reward him for his meritorious service for his diligent work.
He knew that his talents were limited, and that he had not really adapted to the tactics of the new musket.
However, because of the defense of the capital, although the Jingwei was the first to change to muskets, the tactics of field warfare were also not refined.
However, he has a good son.
Zhang Wu received the most advanced military education in Yulin Weixue, and followed Zhu Zhanji through the Dongying War, the Nanyang War, and fought on the battlefield in North Africa, Crete, and North Africa.
Even if he is a pig, he has been taught. What's more, not only is he not a pig, but he is also very smart.
The city of Herat is located in a valley south of the Hindu Kush Mountains, with only a flat passage from east to west, a plateau to the south and mountains to the north.
But in the Hindu Kush mountains, there is a valley of Karosh that leads directly to the plains to the north.
Zhang Chang's mission was to hold the valley and intercept the enemy fleeing north.
Under Zhang Wu's arrangement, they planted an ambush of 1,500 men at the mouth of the valley, which was all infantry and carried more than 2,000 meters of barbed wire.
And at the exit of the valley, two 500-meter barbed wire fences were also laid here.
More than 10,000 cavalry were divided into four groups, two hiding on the top of the hill and two guarding the entrance and exit of the valley.
From early in the morning, these soldiers, under the leadership of Zhang Wu, dug a trench more than one meter wide behind the valley, and arranged barbed wire in front of the trench.
The explosion in the city of Herat announced the beginning of the war, but they did not expect that in less than an hour, a large group of men and horses fled into the valley in a hurry.
Because of the large number of people, the 1,500 soldiers who remained at the mouth of the valley had no way to intercept them, and they could not resist the rout that was constantly gathering in the rear.
Before noon, more than 100,000 people poured into the valley.
At this time, don't talk about Zhang Chang, even Zhang Wu is a little dumbfounded.
According to their estimates, the northwest, where the roads were clearer, should be the main direction of the enemy's flight, because there was the granary of the Khorasan region.
Moreover, the northwest is also the richest area of Timur's country, and there are high mountains to block it.
To the northeast, in addition to some fertile land at the northern foot of the Hindu Kush Mountains, there is a desert desert.
Because of this error in prediction, most of the cavalry of the Shenji Battalion and Jingwei were deployed there, and there were only 12,000 Jingwei here.
But now, 12,000 of them had to face the onslaught of more than 100,000 frantically fleeing enemies.
Zhang Chang was a little weak-hearted, but Zhang Wu was a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers, and said to his father: "Father don't worry, the enemy is already cold, and there are no muskets, although we only have eleven people, but everyone has guns, no matter how many people there are, they will only give us military merits." ”
"100,000 cavalry, ......"
"Please give my father's order, harassment will begin at the mouth of the valley, so that the enemy will not dare to enter again, and our 10,000 people, as long as we resist the first wave of the enemy's impact, there are high mountains on both sides, horses can't walk, and the enemy is the dish in the bowl."
Zhang Chang gritted his teeth and waved his big hand, and a soldier released a rocket into the sky. Then, every two miles, a rocket was lifted into the sky, and the word soon reached the entrance of the valley, which was less than thirty miles long.
The soldiers guarding the mountain did not dare to slack off any longer, so they could only form two long dragon formations, descend from the mountain, and seal the valley mouth.
Seeing the Ming soldiers, the fleeing crowd did not dare to enter the valley anymore and fled in other directions.
The fireman who escorted the unconscious Shahru, as well as his second son, Prince Abulfat Ibula, his third son, Prince Besunhu, his fourth son, Prince Suyur Hatmat, and his fifth son, Prince Muhammad Quqi, knew that they had entered the trap when they saw the rocket take off.
But they can't care about these things at all now, and the brave win when they meet on a narrow road is their only hope now.
They only slightly shrunk their formation, transferred Shahru, who was at the forefront, to the Chinese army, and then rushed forward.
In front of them were four rows of barbed wire that had been opened, and these barbed wire fences with hanging barbed wires were opened in a circular shape, and in some places in the middle, they were fastened with wooden stakes.
And behind the barbed wire, there is a trench more than one meter wide, because there are too many enemies, and now there are thousands of Ming soldiers who don't care about anything, and they are digging a second trench.
The enemy rushed forward in despair, standing in front of the left, Zhang Wu, who was protected by several shield armourers, raised his right arm high and stared at the marks made in front of him.
Although the musket has a range of 200 meters, it can only exert its maximum power within 100 meters.
The best time to shoot is when the barbed wire traps the enemy's advance.
Zhang Chang did not ride a horse, but stood on the hillside, looking condescendingly at the surging enemy. Seeing that his son was as motionless as a mountain and did not have the slightest fear, he couldn't help but sigh that the little doll who was crying at the beginning had really grown up and become a talent.
The enemy's horses crashed into the first barbed wire, and even if some horses dodged the first, it was impossible to dodge the second, not to mention that Zhang Wu arranged four lanes.
The horses roared, frightened, and did not dare to go any further.
It was also at this time that Zhang Wu waved his hand.
The herald, who was standing in the first row of trenches, immediately waved his flag, and gunshots rang out.
The soldiers of the second platoon waited for a breath and opened fire, followed by the third platoon......
Both the enemy and the horses began to scream, and the man was able to control them, but the horses began to retreat when they were threatened with death.
At a short distance of 100 meters, this place has become a human hell.
Forward, barbed wire, backward, perdition.
Prince Ibra jumped off his horse, went around the hillside, and rushed forward, and countless soldiers also abandoned their horses and rushed forward to kill.
However, the Ming soldiers on the hillside formed a flared formation and fired condescendingly downward.
The second prince of the Timurid kingdom was shot in the face before he could rush closer. All six bullets went into his face, rendering both of his eyes useless.
He covered his face and fell, sliding down the hillside until he landed next to a stake holding the barbed wire fence, where he hung over.
His muscular body twitched in agony there, and the screams that came out of his mouth sent chills through countless people.
However, the formation of a formation from the hillside did not give them a chance to flee for their lives, and tens of thousands of people packed into a pocket and besieged 100,000 people in the valley.
The guns are like beans, but they take lives. The low pressure in the valley made the smoke formed by the Ming soldiers unable to dissipate, forming a thick fog in the valley.
No one dared to rush forward anymore, this beautiful smoke was the most terrifying magic fog in their eyes.
Shaharu came to his senses at this time, and he didn't care about complaining about his sons and the firefighters, and the guards wanted to save him, facing a desperate situation.
He could only give the order that the whole army move forward, and ordered his guards to start supervising the army, and dared to retreat, and there was no mercy.
At this time, Zhang Wu and the 6,000 people who were responsible for frontal interception were under great pressure.
The smoke could not dissipate, and the Ming soldiers could not see at all, nor could they aim, so they could only shoot forward according to the order.
Zhang Wu did not have the idea of confronting the other party, but fought and retreated. He knew very well that as long as the enemy couldn't get close to him and dragged it to the end, victory would definitely belong to Daming.
Zhang Chang, who was standing above the valley, saw the situation in front of him most clearly, after all, he was also a qualified general, constantly transferring troops to punish generals, and filling the weak points of blocking with superior forces.
The Timurs finally crossed the barbed wire, not because the barbed wire had lost its effect, but because the corpses of the enemy had already pressed the barbed wire.
In this short period, countless Timurids died, and the corpses had already paved the way.
The same was true of the first trench, which horses could not cross at all without the corpses of soldiers.
But there was a second trench, and when he came here, Shaharu saw his fifth son, Juqi, be hit in the neck by a bullet, and he fell to the ground.
His heart was full of grief and indignation, he thought that his country was no weaker than the Great Ming, and his father once wanted to conquer that rich country.
But why is the gap so big? They were simply powerless to fight back, and could only be beaten passively.
Is this really the kingdom of Timur that the heavens are going to die?
However, he could no longer get an answer, because he was also shot in the face by a bullet in the white mist, and he fell with his head on his back.
A gust of wind blew, revealing the gray sky overhead.
Shahru's death completely lost the fighting spirit of the Timurid people, and countless people knelt down and begged for mercy, but no one dared to stop shooting without receiving an order.
Zhang Chang is not a vicious person, but he also knows very well that only dead enemies are good enemies.
Destroying the 100,000 elite soldiers of the Timurid state at once can weaken their national strength by a small half, and they will not be able to recover at all without twenty years.
Without the support of Timur, the Delhi Sultanate would no longer be able to exert its power in India, and it would be better for the Green Sect to get out of India.
Because of the importance of the entire war situation, Zhang Chang never ordered to stop shooting, and countless Timurians could only run back the way they came, or flee for their lives on the uninhabited hillside.
Now that the Ming soldiers were numb, they changed the defensive formation to an offensive formation, and in groups of ten, they began to hunt the enemy.
From early morning to noon, from noon to evening, until it was about to get dark, Zhang Chang finally gave the order to stop the attack and clean up the battlefield.
The Timurid people who escaped from the valley were a minority, and Zhang Chang would not care, naturally there was a Shenji battalion, and the three thousand battalions of them went to clean up.
Today, nearly 100,000 Timur people were killed and wounded, and this is a real great achievement. If it were an ordinary person, it would be natural to be promoted to a hereditary duke.
However, Zhang Chang did not have the idea of becoming a duke. He is the uncle of the country, and this uncle earns it from his sister-in-law, and the imperial court is also very strict with their relatives.
In his mind, this big victory mainly relied on his son Zhang Wu, and he was satisfied if he could earn him an uncle.
But he didn't know that among the corpses in the valley, there was also a monarch, four princes, and he couldn't push it off even if he wanted to.
However, it was not until the afternoon of the next day that the corpses in the valley were screened out one by one, and at this time, Zhang Chang knew that he had caught King Timur in one net.
In today's Timurid state, only the Ulugh Beg, who is stationed in Samarkand, is left in the royal family.
Zhu Di, who got the news, was extremely happy, in his plan, it was reasonable to attack the city of Herat, but it was beyond his expectations that he could kill most of the royal family members in one fell swoop.
In this way, it seems that the people here do not have to be slaughtered anymore, there is no royal family, and everyone else is in their own way, so there is nothing to worry about.
Moreover, there are too many killings, and there are also harms to the heavens.
So he changed his order and treated the captives well. Unfortunately, his order was a little late, because they had already killed most of the prisoners of war in the previous two days.
Especially those Indians, in order to grab more gold, not to mention men, even women also killed a lot.
If it weren't for the constant staring of them by the inner prison, even many young and beautiful girls would have been poisoned by them.
After three days of plundering the city of Herat, the Ming Dynasty collected mountains of grain and countless gold and silver, and the happiest people were the group of people who belonged to the inner prison, and the amount of gold here far exceeded their expectations.
The gold looted from the treasury and various warehouses alone has exceeded one million taels. And in the major temples, there are countless gold ornaments.
After several long talks with Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Di also attached great importance to the prevention of the Green Sect.
So after entering the city, none of the houses of the dignitaries and nobles were moved, but the temples in the city, no matter how big or small, were all torn down and blown up.
Meng Ying also had something to do this time, after the army was repaired, he would continue to go north, and he would lead a group of elite soldiers to let these Indians escort the prisoners and capture them back to Kurumus.
Most of these captives were young and beautiful women, and when the war was over, as a reward for the soldiers, they could save a lot of gold and silver for the imperial court.
And as long as those soldiers don't have a hard time, they would rather have a beauty than gold and silver. Gold and silver are dead things, and it is a big deal to earn them later. And such a Persian beauty, but after this village, there is no such shop.
However, at this time, when the excitement of the victory in the war calmed down, Zhu Di was also a little afraid of the power of the new explosives.
This is fortunate that the Ming Dynasty has new gunpowder, if the enemy has it, how to prevent it?
If new explosives are rampant in the army in the future and are used against themselves, how can they be prevented?
But you can't waste food because of choking, because you are afraid, seal such a sharp weapon!
At this time, he also realized the contradiction of why Zhu Zhanji did not vigorously promote the new musket now.
However, now that Daming's musket is already invincible, it will not be promoted for the time being, and the impact will not be great.
The Ming army was still resting in the city of Herat, but the Ming cavalry was chasing Timur deserters everywhere, and the news of the destruction of the city of Herat soon spread throughout Central Asia.
Not only was the city of Herat broken, but even Shaharu and his four sons were all killed, and such a powerful Ming made all the tribes fearful.
In Kabul, Zhang Xin and Mu Xin, who had been carrying out harassment tactics, were disappointed when they got the news.
They suffered a lot in the vicinity of Kabul, but they did not succeed in it.
Now they only hope that Zhu Di will go north as soon as possible, so that they can make great contributions when they attack Samarkand.
At this time, he just wanted to keep his head in obscurity, so he took the initiative to propose to Zhu Di that he was willing to garrison Herat and clear the rear to clear the supply of the army and withdraw the army.
This suggestion is exactly what Zhu Di meant, in fact, he is also having a headache now.
A relative like Zhang Chang can't be promoted too high, but now that he has made such a contribution, if he doesn't reward it, he can't say it.
However, it is not too late to think about this matter when it returns to Daming, and now is the time to continue to go north in one go.
Samarkand, the largest city in Central Asia, was plunged into a violent shock after receiving the news of the total annihilation of the defenders of Herat.
Whether it was Shah Ruh or Ulugh Beg, these two fathers and sons were even more prestigious in the hearts of their subjects than Timur.
They are deeply respected by the people, which is the main reason why they rule this allegorized country, but it has always been stable.
But now, with the fall of Shah Ruh and his cavalry, many of the tribes have surpassed Ulugh Beg's strength.
Relying on the power of Ulugh Beg alone is simply not enough to deter all parties and form a balance.
The Ming army had not yet arrived, and Samarkand had already started the chaos on its own.
Ulugh Beg was also desperate, the Ming had muskets, powerful explosives, elite cavalry, and disciplined infantry.
What does he use to resist?
Moreover, with the death of his father and four younger brothers, he can no longer control the overall situation. Not to mention the Eastern Chakhatai Khanate, which is eyeing the tiger, even the Western Chakhatai Khanate is already in chaos.
There is no worst, only worse!
By this time, he had already wanted to start fleeing westward, first to the Golden Horde, and if Tokhtamysh refused to take him in, he continued westward......
Now that he is not the opponent of the Ming Dynasty, he can only recuperate, lie down and taste his courage, and then retaliate back later.
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