Chapter 407 Battle of Cairo Chapter 408 Valley of the Kings

[Two chapters and one chapter uploaded]

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Ismailia is about 150 kilometers away from Cairo, and the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire sent 30,000 troops from the fortress of Ismailia to march to Cairo from the northeast. The other route sent 20,000 troops to the fortress of Suez and marched northwest towards Cairo.

The 50,000-strong army was so powerful that it formed two huge attack arrows and rushed straight to Cairo, which made General Titiris of Cairo Province stunned and hurriedly strengthened the defense of Cairo City.

However, the Chinese Empire's army marched extremely fast, with a distance of about 150 kilometers, and it took less than two days to reach the city, so that the Turkish army did not have time to fully strengthen the city defense, and only barely strengthened the eastern city defense.

On 7 May, the Imperial Chinese army besieged the city of Cairo, each of the five elite infantry divisions responsible for the attack and defense of one wall, and the other infantry division as the general reserve of the perimeter.

Egypt is a large place, but it is mostly desert and there are few cities. Except for a few cities along the Nile, there are no decent cities anywhere else.

Li Yan attaches great importance to this battle of Cairo, because taking Cairo is equivalent to occupying Egypt, so the battle of Cairo has become a hammer deal, and Li Yan is determined to win.

Cairo was formerly known as the city of Fustat, which was founded by the Arabs in 641. In 969, an Islamic force from Tunisia founded a new rectangular city, Mansuriyeh, to the north. In 973~974, Fatimid Harrow made his capital here and changed his name to Cairo (Arabic means victory).

It was expanded in 1179 during the Saladin Dynasty, with a length of fifteen li, a width of eight li, a height of twenty-two meters, a female wall of two meters high, a protruding semicircular cone in the center of each wall and an inset urn city, and eight heavy fortress cannons. There are tall turrets at the four corners, and the moat is 12 meters wide, leading the water of the Cairo River to flow from the north city and out of the south city.

From 1260 onwards, it became the capital of the Mamluk dynasty and built a large number of buildings, reaching its peak in Cairo in the mid-14th century. In 1517, the Turks invaded and Cairo became the provincial capital. The city of Cairo fell into decline due to the sacking of the Turkish army.

Cairo City, which is now in front of Li Yan, is no longer as majestic as it used to be. The city wall is in disrepair, and the bronze cannons on it are rusty.

Outside Cairo, the city was filled with flames and black smoke.

In order to clear the obstacles outside the city, Tilis had to set fire to all the houses outside the city, and cleaned up all the houses to prevent the Chinese Emperor from hiding in them and threatening the city of Cairo.

In the air five miles north of the city, on a hot air balloon, Li Yan and Li Zicheng were using high-powered telescopes to observe the situation in Cairo. See what is going on inside Cairo from a hot air balloon. The entire city of Cairo, whether it is the government office, or the private houses and shops, or the deployment of weapons and troops in the city, can be seen clearly.

Li Zicheng put down the binoculars and said with high morale: "With this hot air balloon and high-powered telescopes, we can feel the enemy's situation clearly, and after the shelling is over, I don't think there will be anything left in Cairo City."

Li Yan nodded, looking very confident.

"It's just that there is no high ground outside Cairo, and the farthest high ground is beyond the range of our artillery from Cairo City"

Li Zicheng said: "Yes, there is no high ground to make a shelf, our artillery cannot see the layout of the city, and it is difficult for the shells to accurately hit the enemy's military facilities."

Li Yan said: "The elevation angle and firing range of our field artillery are limited, and the opponent's city wall is more than 20 meters high, so it may be difficult to shoot shells into the city to destroy the enemy's defenses."

Li Zicheng understood that Cairo City was surrounded by desert plains, and the city walls of Cairo City were the only commanding heights nearby. Therefore, even if the emperor's ** team is clear about the defense of Cairo, if they want to destroy the targets in the city, they must not bombard the city wall to ten meters.

"You see that although the city of Cairo is dilapidated, I have to say that the walls built by the Egyptians were very strong in the past, and it was difficult for our infantry artillery to collapse the walls."

Li Yan's words made Li Zicheng sound the pyramids of the Egyptians, and when he saw the pyramids of the Egyptians for the first time, he was also shocked by the ability of the Egyptians, knowing that the cities built by the Egyptians were very strong and not so easy to destroy.

"Whatever" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Bomb him for a few hours, if the bombardment doesn't collapse, we will have to plant explosives."

Li Yan smiled bitterly and said, "You see that the moat is so wide, how easy it is to blow up the city wall."

Li Zicheng rolled his eyes and said, "This doesn't work, that doesn't work, you still can't attack the city?" ”

Li Yan scolded with a smile and said, "You always can't bear it."

Li Zicheng also glared at him and said, "After so many years, you can't change what you know."

Li Yan shook his head helplessly, and after discussing with Li Zicheng again, he returned to the barracks.

After lunch, the artillery of the Chinese Empire began to shell the city of Cairo. More than 400 cannons surrounded the city of Cairo, and after the order of the headquarters was issued, all the cannons were aimed at the city of Cairo.

In a bunker in Cairo, General Tiris, the governor of Cairo, was secretly spying on the situation outside, and he was shocked by the large artillery strike force of the Chinese Empire.

Previously, Tierris had also investigated the strength of the Chinese Empire, and knew that a standard division of the Imperial Chinese Army was equipped with 100 artillery pieces. But now that I have seen the power of the other party's artillery fire, I feel afraid.

Half an hour later, the entire city of Cairo was filled with thick gunsmoke, and it was difficult to distinguish between them. The heavy fortified artillery on the head of Cairo was destroyed one after another, and the Turkish soldiers defending the city were killed and wounded.

"Lure the wolf into the house"

Seeing his soldiers bleeding, General Tyris was so angry that he slammed his fist against the wall, as if he had forgotten the pain.

The cannon roared, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air. With the help of thick smoke as a cover, the sappers of the Chinese Empire quickly approached the moat to build pontoon bridges across the river, and quickly built bridgehead fortifications.

After years of accumulation of experience, the engineers of the Chinese Empire have formed a complete series of procedures for the combat readiness of the engineers.

I saw that these sappers were wearing earth-colored military uniforms and holding all kinds of sapper equipment, and quickly erected pontoon bridges and fortifications at the bridgehead with lightning speed.

In the thick smoke, the Turkish sentries on the corner tower seemed to notice movement across the moat and quickly reported it.

"General, the enemy is trying to get through the moat"

General Tyris was shocked when he heard the report, and hurriedly ordered the defenders to go to the city to fight and prevent the enemy from passing through the moat.

Suddenly, there was a rain of bullets, arrows and thunderstones on the city.

The sappers of the Chinese Empire had already prepared and immediately erected shields made of stainless steel. The shield is 1.5 meters high, "convex" in the shape of a "convex" shape, made of stainless steel, which can withstand the close range of musket bullets and reduce the damage of shell fragments.

This protective shield can be used as a single soldier protection, and can also be combined as a protective wall for front-line combat troops in the field. With this protective weapon, the Imperial Chinese Army's soldiers were able to significantly reduce their own mortality rate when engaging in large-scale linear battles with the enemy in the field.

The engineering units quickly withdrew from the front line with the help of shields, and then the artillery quickly replaced grenades and attacked the Turkish defenders in Cairo.

In an instant, countless steel balls shot into the sky, dense like rain, and the Turkish defenders were shot one after another and fell to the city, suffering heavy casualties.

General Tyris witnessed this qiē and was furious.

The shelling lasted half an hour, and the Turkish defenders in the eastern city suffered heavy casualties. As a last resort, Tilis ordered the defenders to retreat from the city and seek cover. At the same time, troops were mobilized from the other three walled defenders to reinforce the eastern city.

However, as soon as the defenders of the other three cities reinforced Dongcheng, the artillery of the Chinese Empire increased their attacks in the other three directions, causing the defenders in the other three directions to quickly retreat and stop reinforcing Dongcheng.

"General, the enemy is very clear about our troop movements"

Thieris helplessly pointed to several hot air balloons in the air, and sighed: "It's not those things that make the hell, any of our military moves are under the control of the other party."

Several nearby officers looked into the air, and sure enough, they found several huge objects flying around in the air.

Every military deployment was exposed to the enemy, which unnerved the Turkish soldiers from top to bottom.

Since the Chinese Empire has the Royal Air Force as its eye in the sky, it knows the enemy's situation inside out and can make any adjustments on the fly. It is precisely because of this that the army of the Chinese Empire habitually likes to use the tactic of attacking the east and attacking the west when attacking the city, focusing on the weak points of the enemy's defense.

The shelling outside Dongcheng was the most intense, giving Tieris the illusion that the main attack direction of the Chinese Emperor's ** team was in Dongcheng. As the Chinese Emperor's ** army launched an infantry charge, Tieris had to increase his forces to defend Dongcheng.

Soon, the eastern city attracted a large number of Turkish defenders. As the Chinese Emperor ** stepped up the offensive against Dongcheng, they crossed the moat, planted a large number of explosives, and almost blew up the walls of Dongcheng several times, which made the Turkish defenders very nervous, and Tyris had to put the last reserves into the defense of Dongcheng.

"Report, the enemy has put reserves into the defense of the eastern city"

As the air force came back from providing the latest information, Li Yan's heart suddenly relaxed, and he turned to Li Zicheng and said, "The enemy's reserve has been transferred to Dongcheng."

Li Zicheng put down the binoculars and said, "I personally led the 77th Division to attack from Xicheng."

Li Yan nodded and said, "It takes half an hour for the Turks' reserves to be transferred from Dongcheng back to Xicheng, you must break the city within half an hour, otherwise we can only wait for the next opportunity."

"Don't worry" Li Zicheng patted his chest and said confidently: "Half an hour is enough to break the city, I'll set up a banquet in the provincial governor's mansion and wait for you."

After speaking, Li Zicheng personally led the 77th Division outside the West City to carry out the most fierce attack on the West City of Cairo. Li Yan was afraid of uncertainties, so he transferred a regiment and an artillery battalion directly under the 78th Division on the periphery to strengthen the Xicheng offensive.

One hundred and twenty cannons were aimed at the west city of Cairo, and the Turkish defenders originally had few troops in the west city, and the reserves were transferred to the east city, which made the overall defense of the west city empty, and after being fiercely attacked, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

Li Zicheng personally supervised the battle, and the officers and men of the 77th Division braved the rain of bullets and bullets, bravely charged, and the fierce offensive wave after wave overwhelmed the enemy's breathlessness.

In the face of the onslaught of the Chinese Emperor's ** team, although the Turkish defenders resisted hard, they were outnumbered and their strength was very different. Finally, at the twenty-seventh minute, the soldiers of the Chinese Empire landed in Cairo, and a fierce hand-to-hand battle ensued between the two sides.

The Turkish defenders had less than 800 men left, and the defenses of the Turkish defenders suddenly collapsed in the face of the Chinese Imperial soldiers who had ascended to the top of the city.

When Tilis learned that Xicheng had been stormed, he immediately understood that Xicheng might be lost, and immediately mobilized reserves to reinforce Xicheng. However, by the time the reserves arrived at the West Side, the entire West City had already been occupied. The gates of the city were opened, and the Turkish reinforcements were routed with a little resistance to the swarming Chinese Imperial soldiers.

The West City was lost, and General Thiris, knowing that the general situation was gone, led the rest of his troops to break through from the south gate. As a result, the movements of the Turkish army were completely exposed to the surveillance of the air force of the Chinese Empire, and Li Yan organized troops outside the south gate to surround the headquarters of Tiris.

The two sides fought fiercely for more than an hour, and Tyris was outnumbered and finally defeated and surrendered.

After Li Zicheng led his army to attack Cairo City, his troops were divided into three routes, flanking the Turkish defenders inside and outside, and soon took control of the city defense of Cairo.

Subsequently, Li Yan commanded the army to march into the city and engage in fierce street fighting with the Turkish defenders.

The Imperial Chinese Army has fought many street battles and has a wealth of experience. The Turkish defenders had not experienced war in Egypt for many years, and had little experience in street fighting with firearms. Therefore, after the two sides engaged in street fighting, the Turkish defenders, under the tactical blows of the Chinese Imperial soldiers, were powerless to fight back, and were quickly routed, abandoned their weapons, and scattered into civilian houses.

Li Zicheng led his army to capture the provincial governor's palace in Cairo City, but after a strict search, the treasury of Egypt Province was less than 70,000 silver dollars, which was a great disappointment.

Since the colonial wars, the Chinese Empire has plundered at least millions of silver dollars for every large city it has captured. Now there are only 70,000 silver dollars in the treasury of Cairo, the largest city in Egypt, which makes Li Zicheng feel very shameless.

Soon, Li Yan's headquarters was stationed in the provincial capital.

"Where's my dinner?"

Li Yan remembered Li Zicheng's promise and asked Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng only remembered at this time, and replied angrily: "These damn Turks, a huge provincial capital, have less than 70,000 silver dollars in the treasury, they are really angry."

Li Yan was also disappointed, although he only commanded the Zhutun army, not the colonial army. But the capture of a provincial city only yielded 70,000 silver dollars in spoils, and if this was spread out, his colleagues in the military department would laugh to death. At the same time, if only 70,000 silver dollars were reported, it would make the Imperial government feel like they had embezzled the wealth of their Egyptian army.

"It's a little too little."

Li Yan felt the same way, and Li Zicheng suddenly said: "Egypt should have a lot of treasures, it is said that after the Turks occupied Egypt, they obtained huge wealth, which was worth at least hundreds of millions of silver dollars."

"What do you mean?"

Li Zicheng replied: "I heard that the Egyptians buried a lot of treasures in the Valley of the Kings before the Turkish invasion, and there are countless treasures in the tombs of those Egyptian pharaohs."

Li Yan frowned and said: "But the deep desert of the Valley of the Kings, the road is dangerous, and the Turks have explored it many times in vain. Besides, it is said to be the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh, so I am afraid it is not good to dig the grave."

"It's just that the Turks can't get the treasure, so we have to go" Li Zicheng said: "Fifty or sixty kings of Egypt, thousands of nobles are buried in the Valley of the Kings, and the treasure will not be less, let's occupy Cairo, and report to the court to get 70,000 silver dollars, do you think they will believe us?" Even if we are not afraid of shadows, do you feel good? ”

Li Yan nodded, Li Zicheng's words were right, one of the biggest advantages of the people of the empire was that the spitting star could drown people.

After thinking about it, Li Yan nodded and said, "But that will have to wait until the remnants of Turkey in Egypt are wiped out."

Li Zicheng laughed and said: "Of course, it's just that the remaining Turkish remnants in Egypt don't need our 50,000 troops to encircle and suppress, you allocate two regiments to me, and I will go to deal with the Valley of the Kings When the war in Egypt is over, I will definitely come back with a huge amount of treasure, and you can also deal with the above when the time comes."

Li Yan looked at Li Zicheng in surprise, and the latter smiled and said, "Don't worry, we have a map to the Valley of the Kings."

As he spoke, Li Zicheng took out a sheepskin roll from his arms and shook it in front of Li Yan, Li Yan couldn't help but smile bitterly, and promised to allocate two regiments to Li Zicheng to go to the Valley of the Kings to dig treasures.

The next day, Li Yan continued to clear the remnants of the enemy army in Cairo, and at the same time sent a large army to attack the city along the Nile River and occupy the towns in Egypt.

Li Zicheng took the two regiments of soldiers given to him by Li Yan, brought sufficient provisions, took a warship, and marched along the Nile River towards the Valley of the Kings according to the map instructions on the parchment scroll.

Li Zicheng's parchment was obtained from an Egyptian tomb robber who mortgaged the parchment when he was gambling in Suez City because he owed a huge amount of gambling money.

The parchment scrolls about the Valley of the Kings have always been kept in strict secrecy by the natives of Egypt, who feared that their pharaohs would be disturbed by the Turks, so most of the legends about the Valley of the Kings are deceitful. But Li Zicheng, who was involved in gambling at the time, didn't know it, and thought it was true, but he got it by mistake.

700 kilometers south of Cairo and 7 kilometers on the west bank of the lower Nile, across the river from castles such as Luxor, a large desert area is home to the ancient Egyptian capital of Thebes. The Valley of the Kings is located in a deserted limestone canyon not far from the ruins of Thebes.

Due to the harsh desert climate, Li Zicheng often encountered bad weather on the way to the Valley of the Kings, encountered sandstorms many times, and lost more than hundreds of non-combat troops.

However, this did not discourage Li Zicheng's desire to find the treasure, but only made him even more excited. He knew that the worse the weather, the better the chances of the treasure surviving. Even if many tomb robbers have dug up over thousands of years, the more treasure remains.

After more than a month of arduous exploration, Li Zicheng finally found the entrance to the Valley of the Kings. Surrounded by mountains deep in the desert.

At the bottom of that cliff is the place where the pharaohs were buried during the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt (1570 B.C. ~ 1090 B.C.). For centuries, pharaohs carved burial chambers in these cliffs on the west bank of the Nile to house the remains of their dignitaries, along with monumental colonnades and temples. U