Ten days later. Kokand City.

Kokand Khan Alimkul sat in the palace with a pale face, his eyes straight like dead fish. In front of him, a palace guard knelt in front of him, like a mourner.

Alimakul's mind still echoed the news that his cronies and guards had just reported: "King Khan, the army of the Han people not only defeated tens of thousands of Kokand warriors led by Aguba and others, but also attacked directly to our Kokand Khanate, and in just a few days, they successively conquered several castles in the eastern part of the Fergana Basin, such as Os, Andijan, and Namangan, and now the enemy's army of nearly 30,000 has arrived in the royal capital of Kokand, and will soon attack, and please make a decision as soon as possible!" ”

Alimukul pulled the golden crown that was a little tight on the top of his head, it seemed that his golden crown of the Khan King was difficult to keep! He can't regret it! I knew that why did I listen to the slander of that Agubo in the first place and send troops to attack the city of Nakashgar? Why did I have a hot brain and faint at that time! blame the damned Aguba, who encouraged himself to expand his country; There are also those Russian envoys, saying that as long as they send troops to capture the city of Kashgar and destroy the Han soldiers there, and when they occupy the eastern part of Lake Balkhash and the Ili River valley, they say that they are willing to use the Ili River as the boundary and assign the area south of the Ili River to the Kokand Khanate.

The thought of why he had been so stupid in the first place made Alimukul feel bitter.

What else can be done now? Even the Agu Bai Division, which led more than half of the main force of the Kokand Kingdom, was easily defeated by the reinforcements of the Han soldiers, and now there are only more than 20,000 soldiers in Kokand, and the other party is fierce and victorious, how can it resist? There seems to be no other way to go except to defend the city obediently. You can't abandon the city of Kokand and run away, can you?

By the way, like he did with the Great Qing Kingdom decades ago, he declared himself a vassal to the other party, and he didn't know if he could deceive the other party, and after the other party withdrew his troops, he would develop and grow again, so as to wait for the opportunity to avenge such a big revenge. Yes, yes, that's it. While guarding the city, he also bowed to it. Alimukul's eyes lit up, his head didn't seem to hurt so much, and he couldn't help but be proud of his cleverness.

An hour later, outside the city of Kokand, among the dust, 20,000 captives and 3,000 Sikh cavalry surrounded the city. Three miles outside the east gate of Kokand City, Shi Dakai looked at the Kokand City Tower with a black flag, and his eyes were full of drunken fever.

"Report! King Yi, the sentry ahead has captured an enemy spy who claims to be the messenger of Kokand Khan Alimukul and has something important to see you. His subordinates searched for Alimkul's token from him and brought him with him. The commander of the guard battalion reported.

"Let the general come over and ask what is going on." Shi Dakai commanded.

"Respected Khan of the East, I don't need to do anything, my Kokand Khanate was a vassal state of China in the early years, and the villain grew up in Huijiang since he was a child, and he can speak both the Vulture language and Chinese, in fact, my Kokand Khanate and the Bukhara Khanate further west speak the same language as the Vultures of your country, so there is no need to communicate at all." The Kokand envoy shouted directly, Shi Dakai waved his hand, and said, "You Kokand invaded my Kashgar city for no reason and slaughtered my soldiers and people, what else do you have to say?" ”

"Honorable Khan, everything is the fault of that Aguba. He betrayed our Alim Kul Khan, staged a coup d'état to control the army, and invaded Kashgar without authorization, provoking a war, and our Khan said that he would also like to thank the army of the Celestial Empire for getting rid of the traitors of our Kokand Khanate. The envoy of Kokand lowered his posture very low, and directly knelt down on one knee and said with a sincere face: "I, the Khan of Kokand, am willing to be a vassal to the kingdom, accept the canonization of the kingdom, and pay tribute every year. I only ask the Khan to forgive us for the sins of negligence. ”

Shi Dakai pursed his lips and chuckled. It is not so much that this Kokand envoy is eloquent, but that the Kokand Khan is despicable, and he finds such an excuse to gently and skillfully put all the sins on Aguba's head, just saying that he is a little "guilty of negligence", as if he is paying tribute to the Chinese Empire, and everything will be fine.

Maybe it's still in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, maybe he can get away with a "low profile" like him, and even because he caters to the face of the Manchu Emperor, he will become a successful minister and get a rich reward. But it's a pity that today's Chinese Empire is no longer the original Manchu Qing, and the emperor had already explained before he came, the total of the Kokand Khanate was only so big, and it was even a wolf with ambitions, and the heaviest lesson must be given, and the country should be destroyed directly, and there is no emotion to talk about.

Thinking of this, Shi Dakai's face was full of a playful smile, and he said in a deep voice: "Since you Kokand Khan are so sincere, this king will agree to your request on behalf of His Majesty." Let you Kokand Khan be naked, tie yourself with thorns, open all the gates of Kokand, kneel down under the east tower to plead guilty, and welcome the heavenly soldiers into the city. ”

The envoy of Kokand's face was stunned, a little unnatural, he thought that the other party would agree very easily, and he would praise Kokand, and then he took the opportunity to send one or two thousand cattle and sheep in the name of rewarding the army of the Celestial Empire somewhere in Fergana, so that the other party's army could retreat. Unexpectedly, the other party's seemingly kind and straightforward khan actually put forward the condition that his khan should bear the guilt and open the city gate, isn't that really completely handing over the entire Kokand to the other party? This, this must not be promised, he knew very well in his heart that his khan would never really put Kokand completely under the protection of the other party.

Why, this Chinese Empire is different from the original Qing Dynasty! Doesn't it mean that some Han people in the East like to be arrogant and have a good face?

The Kokand envoy looked at Shi Dakai, who was still smiling and waiting for his answer, his face stiffened, and said, "Respected Khan of the East, this villain can't be the master. Wait for the villain to return to the city to report to my Khan, and then reply to you, okay? ”

"Hahahaha, whatever!" Shi Dakai laughed, waved his arm, his face was straight, and he ordered: "Send the order, half an hour later, before the Kokand city gate is opened, launch an attack!" Hit all the artillery at the east gate, and the king will see how many rounds of artillery this mud castle can withstand! ”

The Kokand envoy's face turned pale. He saw with his own eyes that these eastern armies were in a tight formation, neatly groomed, the cannons drawn by the carriages were extremely tall, and the black musketeers were arranged as densely arranged as forests, and think about it, Aguba and Said* Zhanger led 50,000 Kokand elite soldiers before and after, and in more than three months, they could not even capture the city of Kashgar, which was garrisoned by 10,000 soldiers. Moreover, after the arrival of these reinforcements from the other side, in half a day, the entire army was wiped out, and even the commander could not escape. He didn't think that Kokand City would be able to resist these tiger and wolf armies for long, in his opinion, half of the territory of the Kokand Khanate had been occupied by these Han Chinese armies, so it was better to take advantage of the situation to follow the words of this Celestial Khan and honestly submit to the other party, maybe his own khan could still retain the name of a khan and enjoy glory and wealth for generations. But as far as he knew, it was unlikely that the Khan would be stubborn and arrogant, so the war in Kokand was inevitable. But he is only a small messenger, there is nothing he can do, everything depends on how his own khan decides.

Sure enough, although Alimukul was frightened and frightened, he was still unwilling to accept his fate, and after listening to the messenger's words, he went crazy: "Bastard! Even let me Alimukul be caught, can you really use me as a fish on the chopping board? My ancestor of the Minga clan, Shah Lukh Khan, has worked hard to establish the Kokand Khanate for 150 years, and he cannot be buried in the hands of my Alimakul! ”

After speaking, Alimukul viciously kicked over the stool in front of him and shouted: "Pass the order, the whole city will be under martial law, and all my Kokand soldiers and civilians must go to the city to defend the city and resist those Han bandits!" In addition, send people to the Russian army in the lower reaches of the Ili River and the Bukhara Khanate in the west for help, as long as they can keep Kokand, and agree to all their requests. ”

Suddenly, the originally tense atmosphere in Kokand City became even more prominent. The city was dusty, and the soldiers and defense materials and equipment on the city were one after another, and a pre-battle aura spread.

Shi Dakai looked at the Kokand city not far away, although the city wall was not as strong and tall as the big city in the Central Plains, it was still the most majestic and magnificent city since he entered the Kokand Khanate. In fact, although he brought more than a dozen rifled cannons this time, although the Krupp Company and the General Staff, which produced artillery, claimed that this was a specially made siege weapon, it was really hard to say what the siege effect would be and how long it would take to collapse the city wall. What's more, even if these more than ten cannons can conquer the city wall, it will take a lot of effort to set up the cannons and other arrangements, and it will be better if they can directly scare the Kokand soldiers into surrendering.

Although the four sides of the city of Kokand are not particularly square, there are four main gates, and the rest of the small gates have long been blocked with mud barriers.

Shi Dakai gave an order, and the 5,000 infantry and 5,000 auxiliary civilians of the captive army began to divide into three groups, digging earthworks and fortifications on the east side of the city, southeast of the city, and northeast of the city, and sent the rest of the soldiers to build forts outside the east city day and night, accumulating more than half a zhang higher than the city wall, and then using eight horses to pull a total of 12 Krupp rifled flower cannons of all sizes onto the temporary forts made of earthen ramparts. It has to be said that tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians transported the earthwork too quickly, and in less than two days, three temporary piled up batteries of different heights were completed.

During this period, the Sikh cavalry regiment, under the leadership of the leader Aksei, surrounded the city of Kokand and guarded, and several times a cavalry in the city of Kokand wanted to go out of the city to attack the people who filled the forts, but they were all repelled by the Sikh cavalry regiment.

By noon on the third day, everything was ready for the siege.