"We must launch a fierce offensive to tear apart the enemy's defenses in a battle and drink the Matezhan River!" Luo

In the Xia army's formation, Mu Tianbo convened the commanders of each brigade and organized a small military meeting to discuss the next measures.

Listening to the proposition of the commander of the second brigade, Mu Tianbo nodded, this is also his opinion, but the enemy army is obviously on guard, not only deploying heavy troops to guard the fortress group on the north bank of the Jiezhan River, but also fighting each other's horns between the various fortress strongholds, as long as one of the rings is attacked, the other strongholds can directly send troops to reinforce them.

However, this is not a big problem, because Mu Tianbo already has an idea in his heart, since the enemy army is ready to rely on the fortress to defend it, then he will directly concentrate all his forces to attack one of the strongholds, if the enemy in other strongholds wants to send reinforcements, then he will come to surround the point with one hand to send reinforcements, and they will eat as many as the enemy comes!

Mu Tianbo then told everyone what he thought, and the generals listened to his idea and nodded in agreement, with the fierce firepower of the Xia army, if the enemy arrived, they would soon fall under the rain of bullets.

Therefore, the Xia army began to act according to Mu Tianbo's orders, and the sixth town went straight to a coalition stronghold in front of their march, surrounded the stronghold, unloaded the artillery from the artillery carriage, set it up on the flat ground, and aimed the muzzle of the cannon at the enemy stronghold surrounded by wooden walls.

While the Xia army was preparing to besiege the city, the commander of the coalition forces in the stronghold hurriedly ordered the beacon fire to be lit in order to signal to the friendly forces in other strongholds for help, so that the friendly troops could rush to support.

In a short period of time, how could the coalition army build a complete fortress group on the north bank of the Jiezhan River, the current fortress group is said to be a fortress, but in fact they are some defensive strongholds based on wooden buildings, not to mention the artillery of the Xia army, even the most primitive catapults and ballistas can collapse. Luo

Therefore, after being besieged by the Xia army, the defenders inside knew that they could not block the siege of the Xia army on their own, and at the first time they were besieged, they couldn't wait to ask for help from the surrounding friendly forces.

Together, the coalition forces in the surrounding strongholds began to assemble one after another, and surrounded the Xia army from multiple directions according to the original plan.

But the Xia army was unmoved, seeing that many enemy forces were rushing towards this side, Mu Tianbo gave an order, except for the first brigade still besieging the stronghold, the second and fourth brigades lined up on both flanks and made a defensive posture.

"Run, run, line up to meet the enemy!"

"Hurry up, check your weaponry, reload your ammo, and don't let it go out of sorts!"

In the Xia army's formation, a line of infantry rushed to their meeting posts at the shouts of the officers, and after standing still, they carefully checked the Type II rifles in their hands or reloaded them according to the orders.

Soon, the sound of the whole bar rubbing against the barrel of the gun was heard in the queue, and the sound lasted only a few seconds before it stopped, and the soldiers methodically pulled the bar out of the barrel and put it back where it should be. Luo

In front of the line infantry, the lightly armed light infantry bent forward, and after some distance from the line infantry, they finally stopped, and they got down on one knee and mounted their rifles diagonally, so as to reload their weapons.

Before the enemy comes within range of the line infantry, they will bring the first wave of thunderous fire to the enemy, mainly targeting officers and standard-bearers in the enemy's columns, in order to throw the enemy into confusion.

The line infantry line was mainly divided into battalions, and there would be a small gap between the battalions, which was used to place the artillery - because this area was flat and undulating, in order to take care of the direct fire of the 12-pounder infantry guns, they were deployed between the line infantry, so that it was not only convenient to shoot directly at the enemy, but also to fire grapeshotter when the enemy charged.

"Daduhu, the brigades are ready!"

In the center of the Xia army's formation, at the point where the handsome flag was located, the deputy general Mu Zhongxian reported to Mu Tianbo that the Xia army's movements were very fast, and it only took more than ten minutes to completely enter the state of combat readiness.

"Daduhu, the First Brigade can attack at any time, please give the order!"

Liu Zhidu, the commander of the First Brigade, stepped forward and said. Luo

"There's no hurry." Mu Tianbo waved his hand, he looked at the swaying figure on the wooden wall of the stronghold in the distance, and said, "They can be said to be bait to attract other enemies, if they are eliminated so quickly, how can other enemies continue to rush here?"

Liu Zhidu showed a look of sudden realization on his face, he instantly understood what Mu Tianbo meant, but he didn't want to just look at it, he said: "Dadu Protector, but it's not good for our First Brigade to do it like this, no matter how hard it is to pretend to attack, it will always make those barbarians feel a sense of urgency, and their reinforcements will come, right?"

Mu Tianbo listened to his proposal, nodded in agreement, and said, "Okay, your first brigade will attack first, but you must pay attention to controlling that degree, and don't take advantage of the situation to conquer the stronghold."

"Please rest assured, Dadu Protector." Liu Zhidu grinned, patted his chest and agreed.

Subsequently, Liu Zhidu returned directly to his first brigade, he looked at the generals who took the initiative to meet him, waved his hand, and said arrogantly: "Most of the capital has an order, and the first brigade will attack, so that the Khiva barbarians can taste the terrible might of my Great Xia army!"

"Whoa!"

The generals responded in unison, then returned to the army and conveyed the order of the brigade commander, and soon the news of the attack spread throughout the entire 1st Brigade, and the officers and men clenched their steel guns and prepared to attack. Luo

"Fire!"

Rumble –

Thirty-two 12-pounder infantry howitzers assigned to the 1st Brigade were the first to strike, and the whole earth trembled with the roar of the artillery, and thirty-two solid shells whizzed down on the Allied stronghold.

Under the horrified gaze of the coalition soldiers, those shells smashed into the stronghold like meteorites, and the wooden walls defending the stronghold were easily torn apart like tissue paper, and the flesh and blood of the human body would turn into a puddle of minced flesh even if it was gently rubbed!

In a round of shelling, the wooden walls of the stronghold were bombarded with gaps in many places, and the shells that fell into the stronghold destroyed many infantry camps and sent those unlucky soldiers to hell.

At the same time, the rumbling cannon sound also reached the ears of the coalition generals who were surrounding the Xia army, and they looked at the Xia army who was attacking the stronghold, and only felt that the Xia army really had no one in their eyes, and they didn't pay attention to them at all.

The Persian commander Noft Ami Fatil also personally led a large army towards the Xia army, and the Persian army under his command totaled 40,000 men, and if you add the troops that poured out of other strongholds, the entire coalition army numbered more than 60,000 people, not counting the troops who did not participate in the battle on the south bank of the Tjejan River. Luo

Among the 40,000 troops under his command, there were more than 8,000 Turkmen cavalry and Persian cavalry, most of which were still equipped with heavy scale armor, and their crotch horses were also covered with horse armor.

These more than 8,000 cavalry were the greatest confidence that Fatil believed he could win, and in addition to these 8,000 regular cavalry, in the army of other strongholds, there were also irregular cavalry composed of Turkmen herdsmen, although their weapons and equipment were not as good as the regular army, but their courage was beyond ordinary people.

Or rather, the only thing worth saying about them is their courage.

The main force of the coalition led by Fatil was quickly detected by the scouts sent by the Xia army, and reported to Mu Tianbo - in order to avoid being discovered by the Xia army, Fatil even took the risk of hiding this huge army in the desert, and after learning that the Xia army appeared on the north bank of the Tezhan River, he led the army out of the desert and rushed towards the Xia army, just to catch the Xia army by surprise.

His goal was achieved, the Xia army was indeed caught off guard, Mu Tianbo immediately understood the enemy's intentions after learning that there were still 40,000 enemy troops joining the battlefield, he quickly adjusted his tactics and ordered the first brigade to attack with all its strength, striving to capture the stronghold before the enemy arrived.

After Mu Tianbo's order was issued, the officers and men of the 1st Brigade immediately roared and launched a fierce attack on the stronghold, and the grenadiers rushed to the forefront under the cover of their own artillery, braving the rain of javelin arrows fired by the enemy and rushing into the gap in the wooden wall of the stronghold.

After rushing in, they first fired a volley of muskets to their faces, giving them the intention to surround them for hand-to-hand combat

, then raise their bayonets and launch a counter-charge at the enemy when they are stunned by a volley of close-to-face fire. Luo

Under the first round of onslaught, regardless of casualties, coupled with the previous rounds of artillery bombardment, it had already dealt a great morale blow to the defenders in the stronghold, and the Xia army successfully conquered the stronghold in less than half an hour.

Seeing that the First Brigade had successfully conquered the stronghold, Mu Tianbo breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and at the same time had a simple preliminary understanding of the combat effectiveness of the enemy he was going to face.

It is not surprising that before this battle, the enemy who fought them was basically the spontaneously organized Turkmen herdsman cavalry, and how could the combat effectiveness of the herdsmen's cavalry be compared with the regular army.

And now, after the battle of the 1st Brigade to conquer the stronghold, Mu Tianbo has a preliminary understanding of the enemy's strength, and he can confidently deduce that the combat effectiveness of the enemy in front of him is not better than the enemy he has faced before, and it can even be described as mediocre, and there is no suspense about the outcome of this battle.

Despite this, Mu Tianbo was still cautious about the upcoming main force of the coalition army, and he ordered the first brigade that had conquered the stronghold to withdraw and deploy it as a reserve on the second line.

At the same time that the Xia army had conquered the stronghold, the enemy troops from other strongholds also approached the Xia army, but they did not rush forward to launch the attack - Fatil had already sent messengers to contact the commanders of these forces, ordering them to stay where they were, waiting for the main force led by Fatil to arrive before launching a joint attack.

The two sides fell into a stalemate, and the adjutant general Mu Zhongxian looked at the enemy who was standing by on the spot, took the initiative to get to his parents' side, and proposed: "Dadu Hu, the last general thinks that he can take advantage of the arrival of the enemy's main force to launch an attack first, weaken the enemy's strength, and gain an opportunity for our army's subsequent battles." Luo

"Not bad." Mu Tianbo looked at his eldest son encouragingly and said, "Which direction do you think you should attack the enemy first?"

"Attack the enemy to the east." Mu Zhongxian replied, "The main force of the enemy army is coming from the west towards this side, if you crush the enemy army in the east first, you can resolve the situation of being attacked on both sides."

"If Pontus were to lead your army against the enemy in the east, would you be confident that you would do it?" Mu Tianbo asked.

Mu Zhongxian didn't expect his father to want to put military affairs in his hands, he was stunned at first, but he quickly reacted, and responded with a fist: "The last general will take the order!"

"The Fourth Brigade has recently been replenished with a large number of new soldiers, and its combat effectiveness is not as good as before, so you have to act carefully." Mu Tianbo admonished.

"The last will understand."

Mu Zhongxian agreed, and then turned away. Luo

A moment later, the Fourth Brigade, which was deployed on the flank to defend against the enemy forces in the east, began to move, and Mu Zhongxian personally led the army to attack more than 10,000 enemy troops in the east, and as the Xia army on the flank began to move, the situation on the entire battlefield also changed.

The enemy army in the east obviously did not expect the Xia army to take the initiative to attack them, but they were not afraid, and after a short reaction, the generals of the enemy army in the east quickly responded and led the army to meet the enemy.

The enemy deployed in the west, seeing that the Xia army was moving, in order to respond to the friendly army, he did not care about Fatil's order for a while, and followed the pressure on the Xia army's formation, and the allied cavalry on the east and west sides also left the army formation at the same time, cruising on the enemy's flank, waiting for an opportunity to charge.

As the Allied forces pressed up, the commander of the 2nd Brigade, who was responsible for guarding against the enemy forces in the west, did not hesitate and immediately ordered the artillery to open fire to meet the enemy, and with his order, the 32 artillery pieces deployed between the lines of the 2nd Brigade successively issued a deafening roar to the Allied troops.

At the same time, the 12-pounder infantry howitzers redeployed in the middle of the formation roared, and the shelling of a total of sixty-four guns made the sky tremble and the earth tremble.

The coalition forces that pressed on were immediately subjected to heavy shelling, and the entire dense army formation was torn to pieces, and the heavily armed soldiers turned into a puddle of minced meat in an instant, and it was only an insignificant first round of shelling, and more than 10,000 members of this coalition army were shaken, and many soldiers turned around and retreated screaming.

"This ...... What terrible firepower is this?" Luo

The coalition generals who were supervising the battle in the back looked at their soldiers in horror

Slaughtered mercilessly in the shelling, a solid shell went down, and a tight infantry phalanx lost dozens of people in an instant, but if it was the kind of flowering shell that would explode, more than half of the soldiers in the phalanx would fall in the explosion!

The killing efficiency is simply terrible!

After only one round of artillery bombardment, the coalition forces suffered heavy losses, and the morale of the soldiers was shaken, and the coalition generals did not dare to continue to let them press, so they had to order a retreat, withdraw outside the safe area, and wait for the main force to arrive.

On the other side, the Fourth Brigade led by Mu Zhongxian himself was also about to engage the enemy in the east, and the line infantry continued to advance with a uniform pace, while the light infantry was dozens of steps ahead of them, and after the enemy entered a suitable firing distance, they knelt on one knee and raised their guns to fire the first volley at the enemy!