"As that bastard said just now, the opposing cavalry won't arrive in a day or two! Can anyone tell me what's outside the castle? What a son of a bitch! Nakaev cursed, and the long black line and thunderous sound in front of him reminded him that this was a fierce enemy horseman. I'm afraid that there are thousands of cavalry alone, and further back, there will be dust billowing down, needless to say, it must be infantry.

I saw that the cavalry soon surrounded the fort of Alimatu.

Nakaev's heart suddenly tightened, and now, he could only concentrate on guarding Fort Alimatu and holding on until reinforcements arrived. Fortunately, a messenger for help had been sent earlier.

Nakaev immediately arranged the defense of the fortress, mobilized the only Cossack garrison in the city, less than 2,000, and went to the city walls, ready to shoot.

Alimatu Fort is surrounded by hills, the whole castle is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and on the towering mountains in the distance, even in spring, there is still some snow that has not melted completely, and the snow left behind flows into many mountain streams, watering the surrounding land, making the land fertile and rich in apples, at this moment, outside the castle is the apple orchard planted by the Cossack cavalry occupied by the former local Kazakhs, and the fruit trees are budding in spring, which is very incongruous with the coming war. But who would estimate the feelings of these fruit trees at this moment?

Only half of the cavalry outside the city were real cavalry, the 2,000 Sikh cavalry brought by Akshei, and the rest of the Sikh cavalry remained in the city of Kokand to recuperate and protect the surrounding area; The rest of the cavalry was actually just an infantry horse team led by Shi Dakai. However, even with only 2,000 Sikh cavalry, the entire road to Alimathu Fort was blocked. Fort Alimathu was surrounded by mountains on three sides, and only to the north was an open field, between the apple groves, which had been blocked by Sikh cavalry, and then there were more than 3,000 infantry and horsemen, four miles from Fort Alimathu, who had dismounted and marched through the woods to form an attacking team.

On the gentle slope of the mountains to the east, more than 2,000 infantrymen guarded hundreds of men and gunners, and pulled four flowering rifled cannons, although they were laborious, but unusually determined, to ascend the gentle slope and arrange siege artillery.

Nakaev had already received the report and went to the east of the city with a telescope to observe the artillery on the gentle slope outside the city.

"What kind of fame are these Han people?" Nakaev saw that although the cannons on the gentle slope were huge, fortunately there were only four of them, and they were almost four miles away from the castle, so it was impossible to threaten the castle. When Fort Alimatu was built, it was calculated that it was four miles away from the gentle slope outside the city where artillery could be erected, and it was impossible for a siege gun to shoot such a long range. And if the enemy moves the siege artillery to within three miles, it is the target of the fort on the castle, and it is condescending, although it is only a little height, but it has a clear advantage. Therefore, when Nakaev saw that the enemy troops outside the city had pushed the artillery to the gentle slope on the opposite side with all his might, he was a little afraid that the enemy would attack the city with the tactics of crowds, but now he calmed down.

At such a distance, even the latest artillery in the armies of the Western European powers of Britain and France is afraid that it will lose its accuracy and power, let alone this backward eastern country! Nakaev couldn't help but sneer in his heart. He only received news that the city of Kokand had been conquered by the Han Chinese from the east, but it was not clear exactly how it was captured, so he automatically imagined it as an ant attack by the Mongols, leveling the road to the city walls with the corpses of men and soldiers.

With the appearance of a light red royal tent, Nakaev observed through the telescope that the leader of the Han Chinese appeared next to the cannon on the gentle slope outside the city, a tall and vigorous young man with an unclear face, dressed in a white robe, looking towards his castle, as if he had also spotted himself, and pointed at his side.

Amusing! Nakaev pursed his lips, disapproving, his heart gradually calmed down, thinking about how to prevent the opponent's crowd tactics.

At this moment, the four artillery pieces erected on the opposite hillside suddenly let out an earth-shattering roar, and the second shells landed on the battlements of the city wall a few meters away from Nakaev like meteors, and exploded on the ground.

Nakaev only felt that his mind was wandering, his eardrum was violently torn, his heart was sweet, the corners of his mouth and eyes were oozing blood, and his internal organs were as if they were crushed, and the whole person was roaring. The two shells exploded and the huge shock wave sent him and the soldiers around him to the ground.

His world was filled with the shock of the explosion and the pain of tearing it apart. Then, it was as if the whole world had stood still, and it was as if time had passed for a long time, and many years of battlefield experience had made Nakayev suddenly wake up. In mid-air, there was another whistling cannonball, and he just rolled on the ground and took a few steps, only to see that where he was lying just now, a cannonball happened to fall there, and exploded violently.

Before Nakaev could congratulate himself on avoiding the shell, the fragments of the exploding shell came at high speed, two of which hit him in the back and thigh, and he felt a great pain hit him, and he passed out.

......

With binoculars in hand, Shi Dakai, who was standing next to the two giant Krupp rifled cannons, looked calm. And Luo Qiongshu, who was next to him, said with a happy face: "King Yi, this new type of cannon produced by the Imperial Krupp Steel Company is really an artifact of the country!" The leader of the foreigners must have been blown up. ”

Shi Dakai smiled slightly: "Even if you don't die, you can't command!" This Krupp cannon is really a weapon of war. Thinking about it, I am a little afraid, but fortunately, Your Majesty had the foresight to tie up that guy named Krupp to my Chinese Empire, otherwise let this person be used by foreigners to make such cannons to attack my China, that would be the catastrophe of my Chinese Empire! After speaking, he shouted to the herald commander behind him: "Go down with the order, the four flowering rifled cannons will fire freely, and the first goal will be to kill and injure the foreigners on the castle." The cavalry scattered in all directions, and the infantry was ready to attack the city at any time, but remember that the king had explained before that the feint attack was the main thing, and it was not allowed to accumulate within 200 meters of the city wall, and the troops would be lost in vain. ”

Luo Qiongshu took the initiative to ask: "King Yi, let the last general lead the 3,000 soldiers of the Fifth Infantry Division to also participate in the battle and attack the city." ”

Shi Dakai shook his head: "Brother Luo, the foreigners don't have many troops in the castle, and it is not difficult to forcibly conquer them. But this king did not come to conquer this castle this time, but was ordered by His Majesty to pacify the entire western frontier. Therefore, the most important thing is not the gains and losses of one city and one fort, but the overall situation, whether the entire western Xinjiang can be controlled. In addition, when the king led these soldiers to this western frontier, it was his duty to bring them back as much as possible. Moreover, the king has other plans. This Alimatu Fort is also the most important castle for foreigners in these hundreds of miles, since they dare to stick to the castle, they must have their support, maybe they have already sent troops from around to support, what we have to do is to ambush everywhere, and the troops who will help in the future will be annihilated one by one. Without troops, not only the castle, but also the western frontier are all our world. ”

Luo Qiongshu has also been in the war for a long time, so he naturally understands that King Yi is playing a big game of chess, and he wants to completely solve the problem of foreigners in Western Xinjiang, so he can't help but sigh: "It's still King Yi who is wise." Isn't this exactly what His Majesty said in his early years, besieging the city and sending reinforcements? The last will be subdued! ”

The four flowering rifled cannons bombarded non-stop, Fort Alimatu had only been built for a few years, and it was not big, so although it was only four cannons, the firing speed was very fast, and in just over two hours, the four artillery guns fired more than 100 shells, blowing up the entire fortifications and erected artillery on Fort Alimatu to pieces, not to mention the Russian soldiers on the city walls. Moreover, more than 3,000 infantrymen, armed with muskets, aimed at the battlements of the city wall more than 200 meters away, and as soon as the Russian soldiers on the city showed their heads, dozens of bullets were fired. Thousands of Cossack soldiers on the entire city wall fled one after another. However, because the artillery in the early stage was too fast, more than 300 Cossack soldiers were killed and hundreds were wounded. From the hillside, the entire castle could no longer see a single Russian soldier daring to come out.

After two days of such a stalemate, almost half of the Cossack soldiers in the Fort of Alimathu had been lost. On the evening of the third day, Shi Dakai finally received news that the 2,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry led by Luo Qiongshu ambushed the 700 Cossack reinforcements who came to the rescue of Fort Alimatu on the way from Kopal Fort to Fort Alimathu, a valley next to the Ili River, and wiped out the reinforcements in one fell swoop, and sent 1,000 cavalry to take the opportunity to go north to capture Fort Kopal, which was defended by at least a small number of troops.

That night, there was a riot among the Cossack soldiers in the Fort of Alimatu. The commander of the castle, Nakaev, died of his wounds, and the group was leaderless, and more than 500 Cossack cavalry, led by the major officer, were ready to rush out of the fortress and escape to the north, while the other Cossack infantry in the castle thought that once they fled, the troops in the fort of Alimatu would be even less, and they would not be able to resist the enemy outside the fortress, so they tore up their horses, and immediately civil strife broke out.

Seeing that the time had come, Shi Dakai ordered the blockade of the north of the city to be lifted, and quietly set up several triphorse ropes four miles outside the north gate, surrounded by 2,000 captive infantry and 1,000 Sikh cavalry. Then, a massive siege was launched.

Sure enough, the Cossack soldiers in Alimatu Fort still had the slightest fighting spirit at this moment, and they fled from the north of the city without the barrier of mountains, and this is how they fell into the trap carefully arranged by Shi Dakai.

That night, the captives easily captured Fort Alimathu at the cost of more than 100 men. Of the nearly 1,000 Cossack soldiers who fled from the north gate, less than a hundred escaped, and the rest were either killed or tripped over by a stumbling horse and taken prisoner.

Ten days after the capture of Fort Alimathu, in a valley on the banks of the Syr Darya River, 2,000 Sikh cavalry and 3,000 infantry and horses ambushed 1,200 Cossack cavalry from Reimburg in the eastern part of the Aral Sea, and cleared all the Russian posts and military stations in the Syr Darya Valley.

At the same time, the Kazakh tribes, which had been forced to submit only by the Cossack soldiers of the Russian Empire, saw that Russia's power was weak, and took the opportunity to become active, so the situation in the entire Central Asian region became complicated.