Text Volume 3 The Road to Empire_Chapter 603 Outside the City of Andijan IV
After all, the Balkh army led by Abu Agis was the front-line force of the perennial confrontation with the Safavid Dynasty, and although there were only nearly one-third of the professional army in his army, the remaining conscripted soldiers were also border people who had mostly seen blood.
These Balkh border people, who had lived on the front line for a long time, were actually more fierce and savage than the guards cavalry around some of the leaders of the inland tribes. The cavalry of the Guards around Abu Agis not only had a wealth of battlefield experience, but also were much better at organizing and restoring the morale of the defeated troops than the cavalry of the Guards in the cities of the Ferghana Basin.
While the Namugan army on the left flank and the Kokand army in the center were still regrouping their troops, the Balkh army on the right flank, led by a group of Guards cavalry, was once again attacking the camp of the Yarkand army.
The cavalry first demolished most of the unguarded first barracks, and in addition to filling in a few trenches, they also opened several exits from the wooden fences, and used these uprooted wooden fences to create several large wooden platoons to defend against the Yarkand army behind the second barracks.
These wooden platoons, which required five or six knights of the Guards to lift, blocked the view of the Yarkand archers and musketeers behind the second barracks, creating space for the archers and arquebusiers under Abu Aggis to shoot.
Abu Akis, who had been in the barracks for many years, also showed the courage of a warrior at this moment, he gave up his position in the rear to supervise the battle, and ran directly to the middle of the arquebusiers, waving flags and shouting for the soldiers, this action greatly encouraged the courage of the Balkh soldiers, so that the right flank army once again rushed through the first line of strongholds and launched an attack on the second line.
Although the Ming Dynasty is now the biggest supporter of the Yarkand Khanate, before the political forces of the Yarkand Khanate are completely turned into pro-Ming factions, the Ganning Governor's Office, which is in charge of the southern Xinjiang region, will naturally not be very active in arming the army of the Yarkand Khanate.
Although Ma Shouying had hundreds of musketeers under his command, most of the soldiers recruited from the Yarkand Khanate were mainly armed with bows and arrows. It may be that the large wooden rafts made by the Balkh army were very bulky and had many small gaps, but this does not mean that the muskets and bows and arrows of the Yarkand army could easily shoot through these wooden rafts.
Balkh archers and arquebusiers hiding behind these platoons were able to use these platoons to approach the second line of fortifications and fire at the Yarkand defenders. Although the losses of both sides were comparable in the initial confrontation, as time went on, the defenders, who were a mixture of Andijan's troops and the Yarkand army, soon could no longer afford to fire each other.
Not to mention the Andijan troops who were already demoralized, even the Yarkand soldiers could not bear this kind of firing method of dying at any time. However, the Balkh army, which has been dealing with the Turkmen red-headed army for many years, is extremely familiar with such a cold combat method.
These soldiers had already learned in their battles with the Redheads that the chances of surviving the attack were far higher than showing their backs to the enemy. Moreover, the Yarkand army's despicable tactics of filling the front line with its own civilians to hinder them and take advantage of the opportunity to kill and injure the attacking army have succeeded in angering these soldiers, making them eager to rush into the camp and take revenge on the weak and shameless Yarkands.
Therefore, after Abu Aggis, who was close to the front line, shot three defenders with his own hands, he suddenly heard a burst of cheers from the soldiers in front of him, and soon he saw that his men had successfully destroyed a section of the wooden wall of the second barracks, creating a gap that could accommodate three people in parallel.
Shaman, who commanded the forward troops, quickly rushed into the breach with a group of Guards cavalry, dispersing the soldiers near the gap. Abu Aggis hurriedly shouted to his subordinates: "Don't be too warlike, first widen the gap, as long as you occupy a gap, these Yarkand people will be ready to flee..."
Abu Agis's judgment was still very accurate, and as the gap widened to more than ten meters, the Yarkand defenders in front of the right flank of the Bukhara army began to flee in a large area. And the successful breakthrough of the right wing also made the pressure on the left wing and the central army much less.
After confirming that the second line of strongholds had been breached, the Yarkand defenders in these two positions began an orderly retreat, thus allowing the Bukhara army to break through the second line of strongholds on all fronts.
However, Abu Aggis, who was standing in front of the gap, saw what was going on inside the second stronghold, and he was stunned for a moment. Unlike the first barracks, which were too shallow in depth and had many short longitudinal walls behind the barracks to hinder the attackers' movements, the second was extremely empty behind the barracks.
Abu Aggis only estimated in his mind, and came to the conclusion that the depth between the second and third camps was almost 500-600 meters, and that there was no obstacle between the two camps, almost an open space.
The third barracks of the Yarkand people were divided into two lines, and the rear was still a wooden wall more than one person high, but there was also a half-man-high breastwork under this wooden wall, and the defenders behind the second barracks just now fled into the gap between the two wooden walls, and seemed to be forming another line of defense.
Abu Aggis quickly reacted to the idea that the Yarkand were planning to let the defenders below fight them hand-to-hand, and then use the defenders above to assist in shooting. He quickly stopped the strikers who wanted to follow the rout to attack the third barracks, and chose to regroup in the open space behind the second barracks and attack again.
However, Abu Aggis was able to control the troops on the right flank, but it was difficult to control the soldiers on the left flank and the already excited soldiers of the central army. Both the Namugan army and the Kokand army were now chasing the retreating Yarkand defenders, completely ignoring the orders issued by the officers behind them to adjust their formation.
Of course, for Haidar on the left flank, he did not give an order to rectify the ranks at all, and he did not bother to pay attention to the achievements of the Namugan army, but only asked people to clear a passage between the first and second camps that could accommodate 4 or 50 cavalry in parallel.
After the rest, Haidar and his descendants got on their horses, and the remaining two or three hundred left-wing soldiers sat down tired from clearing the passage.
Haidar ignored the soldiers who were slumped to one side, and watched intently at the movement on the opposite camp until he saw three red flags erected on the camp between the left flank and the center.
Haidar sat up straight, drew his saber and said: "The first team followed me to attack the Namugan people, the second team and the third team attacked the Kokand people in the middle, and when the first team withdrew, the second team and the third team also evacuated, and when they evacuated, they should shout: defeated, defeated, run for your life." Do you understand? ”
Haidar's subordinates all responded in a low voice, which made Haidar reprimand with some dissatisfaction: "This is to save the Andijanians, but you are fighting for your own family."
If the Yarkand win this war, we can reunite with our families. If His Royal Highness the Prince wins, I'm afraid we and our families won't be able to see the sun tomorrow. Ladies and gentlemen, even if it's just for your own sake, let's fight our way out. ”
Haidar's words finally touched the Andijan soldiers, and this time they agreed much more neatly. Hedar closed his mask and rushed towards the cleared passage ahead.
So some of the left-wing soldiers who were resting on the edge of the passage watched as Haidar rushed into the passage with his cavalry, and others shouted and encouraged them, hoping that they would be able to break through the last stronghold of the Yarkand in one fell swoop.
But soon someone realized that something was wrong, and the nearly 100 cavalry rushed into the passage at high speed, and the first to collide with their own army was obviously their own army, which made them a little unable to come to their senses, and did not know what Lord Haidar wanted to do.
It was also seen that the other two hundred cavalry did not follow Haidar into the passage, but turned their horses' heads towards the tail of the Kokand army in the center. This caused some of the soldiers to ask their companions in disbelief, "Is Lord Haidar attacking our own troops?" Is he crazy? ”
Before his companion could reply, he heard the roar of his own soldiers. The cavalry of the Namugan army and Abu Aggis rationed to the left flank apparently did not anticipate the impact of the cavalry in the rear when they were about to tear the third line of the Yarkand stronghold apart.
The recuperated Andijan cavalry faced a group of infantry that had lost their formation, and still came into contact from the rear, and such an attack was like a hot knife cutting through frozen butter, easily cutting the Namugan and Balkh cavalry in half.
The Yarkands, who were fighting and walking in front, also stood still at this time, and carried out a counterattack with the Andijan cavalry who attacked from behind. Rao is the Balkh Guards cavalry who has just performed well, and he can't withstand such a front and rear attack, not to mention those Namugans who are not strong in battle.
And the Mugans, who fled in all directions like headless flies, saw that the Balkh Guards cavalry was still in a certain formation, and rushed directly towards them, hoping to gain their protection. As a result, the Balkh Guards cavalry, which could have fought and retreated, also became a mess, and finally had to abandon their weapons and flee towards the Chinese army.
And this was not the worst of all, after a sharp trumpet, a large wooden wall suddenly fell on the far left side of the third camp that Haidar was facing, and then groups of Ming cuirassiers ran out of the gap.
Haidal was shocked and shouted to his men to get out of the way of the main passage and not to be swept up by this group of cuirassiers. Xu Du led the six hundred cuirassiers in a horizontal formation of 100 cavalry, and after forming a dense cavalry formation, he slowly began to speed up, and made a charge from west to east against the enemy army between the second and third camps.
The left flank of the Bukhara army, which was routed by Haidar, has now finally become a wave of routs that swept towards his own Chinese army, and then the soldiers of the Chinese army rushed towards his own right flank.
In addition to the soldiers who chose to drop their weapons and surrender, or directly escaped over the second barracks and survived, those Bukhara soldiers in the middle of the two barracks fled a little slower, and became the flesh under the Ming cavalry.
Seeing the majesty of the Ming cavalry rushing past him, Haidar didn't come back to his senses for a long time, until his subordinates came to ask him for instructions, and he rode his horse out and said: "Our mission here is complete, it's time to go and get back Margalang City..."