"The enemy is coming!" Diaphragm

In the camp of the Xia army in the north of Khiva City, with the loud screams of the Xia soldiers, the attack of the Khiva army officially began.

After the Khiva army approached the Xia army's camp, the Xia army initially raised its guns and fired warning shots into the sky to order the Turkmen cavalry to stop advancing, but the Khiva army ignored the Xia army's warnings and continued to attack the camp.

Subsequently, the Xia army could only be forced into a combat state, and the line infantry raised their guns on the battlements, aiming at the Turkmen cavalry that was about to rush into the firing range.

The walls of the Xia army camp were all wooden structures, so it was naturally impossible to deploy heavy artillery on the walls, so when facing the attack of the Turkmen cavalry, the Xia army could only return fire with light weapons such as Type 2 rifles, and there were 32 12-pounder infantry guns in the camp but could not be put into use.

Guan Qixun looked at the Khiva army with a heavy face as a tide from all directions, the Khivan army was dominated by brave and skilled Turkmen cavalry, behind the cavalry was a huge infantry formation composed of Uzbeks, the cavalry held high spears and scimitars, shouting fiercely, and the infantry was equipped with large square shields and spears full of Central Asian style, and the penetration rate of firearms was low.

He watched for a while, and did not find heavy weapons such as artillery and trebuchets from the enemy's military formation, which made Guan Qixun breathe a sigh of relief, as long as the enemy did not have heavy weapons to break through the wall, with the firepower of the Xia army, they could defend until they died!

After the Turkmen cavalry rushed into the range of the Type 2 rifle, the Xia troops on the wall were not in a hurry to shoot, they were ready to put the enemy at a distance of 100 paces before attacking, but the fact that the Xia troops were not in a hurry to fire did not mean that the Turkmen cavalry could hold it down. Diaphragm

After entering the range of the Turkmen war bow, the Turkmen cavalry set up bows and arrows on horseback and shot at the Xia army on the wall, and the black arrow rain immediately rose into the air and galloped towards the wall.

"Enemy arrows are coming, look for cover!"

Amid the shouts of the officers, the soldiers of the Xia army hid behind the battlements as cover, but there were still some who reacted a little slower, and were knocked to the ground by arrows that rained down, and blood gushed out.

A Xia soldier was so tall that he couldn't cover all his body, still showing half of his head, an arrow directly penetrated his helmet, directly cutting off a strand of his hair, the soldier took off his helmet in shock, looked at the arrow that pierced it, just when he was silently chanting the blessing of the Buddha in his heart, another arrow pierced directly through his head, his eyes widened, and he fell straight down.

"Be hidden!"

Guan Qixun hid in the wooden tower, and he looked through the shooting hole as he shot at the Turkmen cavalry approaching the city walls, who were apparently skilled elite cavalrymen who were able to shoot a steady stream of arrows at the Xia camp without interruption, and the arrows rained down inside and outside the camp to shoot the Xia people who had not had time to hide in the bunkers.

"Shoot!" Diaphragm

Bang bang bang –

Seeing the Turkmen cavalry approaching the city wall, the Xia soldiers hiding in the safe tower shot at the cavalry outside through the shooting holes, and the bean-like gunfire was like a signal, which boosted the morale of the Xia soldiers who were suppressed by the rain of arrows.

After the gunshots, several cavalrymen close to the tower fell to their deaths, and the shooting holes of the tower were then covered by the smoke from the burning of gunpowder, so that even if the Turkmen cavalry wanted to counterattack, they could only shoot aimlessly at the diffuse smoke of gunpowder, but they all crackled on the surface of the wooden tower, some went a few deeper, and some were broken off and fell to the ground.

The weak firing of the tower did not interrupt the Turkmen cavalry's attack, and when they approached the wall, the cavalry in front took out ropes with hooks, waved them a few times in their hands, and then threw them at the battlements, which were retracted after being thrown into the battlements, and the hooks were tightly jammed, and the Turkmen cavalry jumped up and tried to climb up the wooden wall along the ropes.

While they tried to climb the wooden wall, the rest of the Turkmen cavalry was forced to stop firing to prevent accidental damage to friendly troops, which gave the Xia army a chance to counterattack.

As soon as the rain of arrows stopped, the officers let out a roar of rage, and the soldiers leaned out from behind the battlements and raised their guns outward

face of the enemy to fire back.

Some of the soldiers also spotted the enemy trying to climb the wooden wall, and they did not hesitate to raise their guns to shoot at those people, and the Turkmen, who were about to climb to the top, looked desperately at the black hole and pointed their guns at themselves, and then a fire exploded in front of them, and then they felt a sharp pain in front of them, and the whole person suddenly lost his strength and fell on his back. Diaphragm

"Fire!"

Bang bang bang –

The line infantry raised his gun and aimed at a man who was trying to shoot an arrow with a bow on horseback, and the next second, the body of his gun shook, and although the projectile shot did not hit the man he was aiming at, it did shoot the horse under his crotch, and the horse let out a long neigh, raised its hooves and ran wildly, almost knocking the unsuspecting rider over.

After the shot, he quickly turned and retreated, took out the paper-wrapped bullet from the ammunition bag on his waist, bit off one of the ends, first poured a part of the gunpowder into the charging pool, then stuffed the entire paper-wrapped bullet into the chamber, pulled out the pass to compact it, and then pulled out the pass and loaded it.

At this time, the robe in front had finished shooting and retreated, and he stepped forward and fired at the Turkmen cavalry below who were preparing to retreat.

After unsuccessfully trying to climb the wooden wall and being hit hard by the Xia infantry, the Turkmen cavalry had to turn their horses, leave behind a large number of corpses, and surrender the battlefield to the Uzbek infantry who followed them.

Seeing the Turkmen cavalry retreating, the officers on the wall immediately ordered to stop shooting, and the crackling gunfire gradually subsided, when a breeze blew and blew away all the smoke that filled the wall, and the soldiers immediately saw the mess outside the camp. Diaphragm

Outside the camp, the Turkmen cavalry left hundreds of corpses, wounded soldiers and some wounded and immobile war horses, and many war horses that had lost their masters stood on the battlefield, bowing their heads and touching the corpses of their masters, wanting their masters to get up from the ground and continue to ride on their backs to fight, blood stained the ground red, and the blowing breeze also blew the smell of blood to the side of the Xia army.

Guan Qixun walked out of the safe tower at this time, he looked at the horses outside, and then looked at the enemy infantry who were still some distance away from this side, and ordered someone to call the quartermaster in the camp.

After the quartermaster trotted all the way in front of him, Guan Qixun asked, "Quartermaster, how much food and fresh water are still in the camp?"

"Return to the right lieutenant (the rank of general)." The quartermaster replied, "Because we were going to let the Khivas provide food supplies for our army at the beginning, we didn't carry much food, and the reserves in the camp could last the whole army for a month and a half at most, and Tamsui didn't need to worry for the time being because the deputy commander ordered us to dig a well in the camp."

When Guan Qixun heard that it was only enough to support him for a month and a half, his brows suddenly furrowed, and he looked at the injured and did not run away outside the wall, and made up his mind, he looked at his deputy and shouted, "Li Qingshan, bring a sentry to open the gate of the wall, and bring back those war horses outside whether they are dead or alive!"

The deputy general who called Li Qingshan immediately agreed, he counted the strength of a sentry, personally came to the back of the walled gate, looked at the soldiers assembled behind him, and shouted to the soldiers guarding the walled gate: "Open the walled gate!"

Squeak - squeak

With the creak of the gate being slowly opened, Li Qingshan led the team out, they gave priority to rushing to the uninjured war horses, and the rest of the people worked together to drag the wounded and dead war horses to the walled gate, although the body of the war horse was very heavy, but several people pushed together, they were still able to return to the camp.

Not only did Guan Qixun personally supervise the south gate, but the soldiers at the north gate were also ordered to open the gate and move the corpses of the war horses back to the camp as much as possible.

After sending people to drag back the edible war horses as much as possible, Guan Qixun came to the north gate again, and he wanted to send people back to Mengchi to report the situation here to Dadu Hu before the siege of the Khiva people was established.

Under his orders, several heralds in the camp led their fast horses to the north gate, and they all understood the importance and danger of their mission

The cavalry of the Khivas intercepted it, and it was certain to die.

Guan Qixun looked at these heralds with a stern face, and he said in a deep voice: "Brothers, you have on your shoulders the lives of more than 9,800 soldiers of the entire Fourth Brigade, and you must report the situation here to Dadu Hu.

"General, even if there is only one breath left, we will send the news back, please hold on until the day when reinforcements arrive."

The heralds said in unison. Diaphragm

Then, under the watchful eyes of Guan Qixun and a group of soldiers, the heralds beat their fast horses one after another, rushed out of the gate of the camp, and rushed towards the gap in front of the Khiva army.

……

Half an hour later, the Khiva army finally closed the siege and surrounded the camp to the brim.

In order to prevent a sneak attack by the Khiva army, Guan Qixun ordered the battalion officers and men to wear armor at all times and not remove it without authorization, and at the same time began to dig behind the two gates to build gun emplacements and bunkers for the artillery.

Just when Guan Qixun personally supervised the excavation, there was a sudden commotion on the wooden wall, which also included panicked shouts, Guan Qixun hurriedly looked up, and saw his deputy general Li Qingshan running towards him with a pale face, and after standing in front of him, he said in a hurried tone:

"Right Captain, it's not good, it's not good, the deputy capital guard and the brigade commander are they...... I've been killed!"

"What?" Diaphragm

Rao was mentally prepared in advance and expected this result, but hearing it from his deputy's mouth still made him feel like he had been struck by lightning, his whole body was shocked, and his brain went blank for a moment.

But soon, he came back to his senses and let Li Qingshan lead the way, and the two walked briskly onto the wooden wall, squeezed away the soldiers who were still in a commotion, and looked out.

At this look, Guan Qixun's face became even more difficult to look at, only to see that in front of the Khiva army outside, several hideous heads were hanging high on the spears, although the distance was a little far, but the soldiers of the Xia army could still vaguely distinguish the identities of those heads.

"Barbarian Ann Dare!"

Guan Qixun roared angrily, and then his blood surged, a mouthful of blood spurted out of his throat, and he fell down on his back, Li Qingshan beside him supported him in time, and he shouted anxiously: "Quick! Hold the right lieutenant down! Passing on the military doctor!"

There was then a flurry on the wooden wall, and the soldiers hurriedly lifted the unconscious Kwan Qixun from his mother and sent him back to his military tent, where he was diagnosed by a medical officer who took his pulse, checked him for a while, and finally walked out.

As soon as the medical officer came out, Li Qingshan and several other deputy staff generals hurriedly surrounded him and asked about the condition of the highest-ranking commander, and the medical officer calmed their emotions for a while, and then said, "Don't worry, the right lieutenant is just surging with blood and fainting for a while, just let him rest for a while, and wait for him to wake up on his own." Diaphragm

Li Qingshan and the others looked at each other for a while, then nodded one after another, and no longer surrounded the medical officer.

After the medical officer left, Li Qingshan said, "Colleagues, now that the enemy army is pressing the border, we have fallen into a heavy siege, before the right lieutenant wakes up, let's follow his previous deployment, and the four of you and I will guard against the enemy troops on all sides."

"Agreed."

"That's very good."

"Seconded."

The other three deputy generals nodded their heads in agreement, and then walked in their respective directions.

The news of Guan Qixun's fainting was not deliberately blocked, to be precise, he vomited blood and fainted in public, so the camp has been rumored, the generals who went to Shiva City were all killed, and the only remaining chief officer in the camp vomited blood and fell into a coma, and the soldiers were also a little worried for a while. Diaphragm

They not only want to avenge the tragic death of the generals and defeat the treacherous Khivas, but they are also worried that the enemy will not be able to take advantage of the enemy's lack of leaders at the moment, which can be said to be extremely contradictory.

Fortunately, they are all elite soldiers who have received systematic training, and there is nothing else to think about, if they are replaced by the original indigenous army

It will certainly be full of fear, and some people will even have the intention of surrendering - the strongest fortress is breached from within, and even if they have strong force, they don't have a heart inside, and it is only a matter of time before they are defeated.

Li Qingshan and the others were also worried that the morale of the soldiers would plummet because of this, and the four deputy staff generals decided to share the dead horses among the war horses that had been dragged in, on the one hand, to prevent the corpses from being left for too long and rotting and stinking, and on the other hand, they also wanted to use meat to stimulate the morale of the soldiers.

So, that night, dozens of dead horses were eaten and cooked, barbecued, so that the soldiers could have a full meal, although the taste and quality of the horse meat was not very good, but it was better than nothing, and also successfully dispelled some of the sad atmosphere brought about by the tragic death of the general.