After the invading army of Agubo and the British mercenaries captured all the important military towns in southern Xinjiang west of the Bayingolin region, they could not wait to announce to the world the establishment of his "Hongfu Khanate" and began to call themselves "Great Khan". However, the "capital" that Agubo longed for in his mind was the city of fragrant pears in the center of the Bayingolin region that he had not yet taken - Korla City. Because it is not only the world-famous pear production area, but also the throat of northern and southern Xinjiang, the intersection of mountains and deserts, and the geographical center of the vast region of Xinjiang.

He spent the whole winter in the city of Kuqa, three hundred kilometers west of Korla. In this winter, while gearing up and actively preparing for war, he was looking forward to the good news of the success of the Shaman advance team, and dreamed of occupying the entire territory of Xinjiang...... But it backfired, and in the end, what was waiting for was the news that this "butcher of Central Asia" didn't want to hear - the Shaman advance team was wiped out in the Heavenly Wolf Valley! This is the heaviest loss he has suffered since his march into Xinjiang.

As soon as the winter passed, the red-eyed war maniac immediately continued to march eastward and launched a new offensive, aiming directly at the Bayingolin area at the junction of northern and southern Xinjiang, and soon captured Luntai City, the westernmost of the three major military towns in Bayingolin. The fall of the "Western Regions Grand Protectorate", which ruled the Western Regions for 2,000 years since the Han and Tang dynasties, not only once again proved the powerful war capabilities of the Agubo invading army and the British mercenaries, which had large soldiers and advanced weapons and equipment; It also exhausted the last viable force of our garrison in Yanqi and Korla because of the rush to aid Luntai City. At this time, Agu Bai was even more carried away and began to take a short rest in Luntai City, while preparing for an even more crazy war plan......

More than three months after the Shaman advance team in Agubo was destroyed in the Heavenly Wolf Valley, that is, at the beginning of June 1867 (the sixth year of Tongzhi). The Agubo invading army once again drove straight in, along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, across the 200-kilometer-long poplar forest area, and concentrated tens of thousands of troops of the first and fourth armies to attack Korla City and surround Korla City.

At the same time, he also sent his third army to continue eastward across Korla, and used part of the army's men and horses to trap the city of Yanqi (Karasar), forty kilometers northeast of Korla City, so that it could not divide his forces to save Korla City; The main force drove to the Yushugou Pass more than 100 kilometers northeast of Yanqi City to set up an ambush, preparing to intercept and ambush our reinforcements from the direction of Urumqi and Turpan, which might be coming.

Korla, a thousand-year-old city located at the throat of Xinjiang and the center of the Silk Road, was instantly surrounded by enemy troops. The most unfavorable thing is that in the early stage, in order to rush to the defense of Kuqa City and Luntai City, the main forces of the defenders of Korla and Yanqi City were almost exhausted......

At this time, the base camp of the Halmodun Turgunt tribe, which is across the Hora Mountain from Korla, is also preparing for battle. Since the Khan's pilgrimage to Beijing, the Khan's wife, Jinhua Hadun, acted as the head of the Turghut Tribal Office, taking care of the affairs of the tribe.

In order to cooperate with the defenders to hold Korla City, Jinhua Hatun sent the most elite Batel cavalry of his tribe to Korla City in advance to assist the defenders in defense; Then, he sent Su Kaizhalen, the leader of the Zabu Sur Banner directly under the Khan Banner, to lead another elite cavalry to aid Yanqi City. At the same time, the tribe can provide grain, grass, horses, firearms and other war resources to the two cities of Korla and Yanqi, and do their best to support the defense of the two important military towns of Korla and Yanqi......

Although the defensive strength of Korla City has been temporarily strengthened, the garrison of Korla City, with a total strength of less than 1,000 men and a lack of heavy firearms, is still very weak against the well-equipped tens of thousands of Agubo invading troops and British mercenaries, and cannot support it for a long time. The only hope is that a large number of reinforcements sent by the Urumqi Military Government and the Turpan Military Government can arrive in time and can still fight; But there is still no news of the reinforcements......

The enemy has been frantically shelling the two main gates of Korla, the West Gate and the East Gate, for three days. A section of the city wall on the north side of the West Gate has been blown down, and a huge gap has formed at one point; The enemy infantry launched two rounds of frantic attacks on this position, both of which were stubbornly repulsed by our defenders, and the gap was temporarily closed with stones, door panels, and logs.

The West Gate Tower and the nearby city walls were already bullet-wounded and dilapidated, and the officers and soldiers defending the city suffered heavy casualties! The people of all ethnic groups in the city are braving the enemy's artillery fire to continuously bring ammunition, arrows, stones, dry food, and drinking water to the city tower.

The defender of the city, Zhong Yun, led the officers and soldiers and the Battelle cavalry of the Turghut tribe to stand by and was determined to hold on and wait for reinforcements.

In Zhong Yun's monoculars, another large number of enemy infantry and cavalry continued to approach, and more than a dozen British artillery pieces behind the infantry were also advancing simultaneously. These artillerymen were wearing the scarlet uniforms of the British Army artillery, which were particularly eye-catching; Half of the officers and the gunners who operated the guns were British mercenaries with blue eyes and high noses......

Suo Gang, the orthodox leader of the garrison barracks, put down his binoculars, shook his head, pointed to the artillery position in the distance and said to Zhong Yun:

"Lord Zhong, take a closer look. The British Empire really invested a lot of money, not only to provide guns and ammunition, but also to pull people up; Even the military uniforms of these artillerymen were supplied by the British. This is really going to form a family with the Agubo Kokand Army......"

Zhong Yun said: "Don't look at their collusion on the surface now, they must be in harmony with each other in their hearts. There will be a dog-eat-dog scene someday...... At this distance, will our artillery be able to reach their artillery positions? ”

Suo Gang replied, "Not yet! Our artillery has only half the range of their Armstrong field guns, a distance of two thousand meters, and they can bombard us, but we can't reach them. ”

"The wolf-headed battle flag behind their artillery position should be Aguba and his command post, and our artillery is even more out of reach. However, if Aguba and his command post move forward, be sure to seize the moment to get him! ”

"Understood! However, their forward infantry was already within the range of our artillery. However, we had only a hundred shells. ”

Zhong Yun nodded.

Another wave of enemy artillery bombardment. Many houses in the city were destroyed by artillery fire one after another, and many shells exploded among the people who were hiding everywhere, killing and injuring countless people......

The command center of the invading Kokand army was located behind the artillery position two kilometers away from the western gate.

Under the "Great Banner" (wolf's head battle flag) in the center of the enemy's cavalry ranks, in the center of a group of hideous-looking leaders of the Kokand invading army, the fierce god with a pair of wolf eyes and a big beard is the famous commander of the Kokand invading army, the "butcher of Central Asia" Aguba.

He was flanked by many strong generals such as the military division Kubry, the chief administrator Aqimuhan, the commander of the First Army Legion, Khagura, the commander of the Fourth Army Corps, the captain of the guard, Said, and the retired one-eyed artillery lieutenant colonel Bigg of the British Army, who served as military advisers. Among them, Hygula and Krakor are the second and third biological sons of Aguba, and although they are only in their twenties, they are already battle-hardened and ruthless characters.

Since entering China's Xinjiang, Agubai has swept his army down 2,000 miles, sweeping through more than a dozen military towns in southern Xinjiang, and has never encountered a real opponent. He firmly believed that after receiving the shocking news that the reinforcements had been completely wiped out, the Chinese defenders' will to resist would collapse in an instant, and they would obediently lay down their arms and raise their hands and walk out of the city.

Kubri, the military advisor, came up and reported to Agubai, "Your Majesty, the people who went into the city to persuade him to surrender have returned. ”

"Well, what is the reaction of the Chinese?" Agubo asked leisurely.

"Our men have told them that the reinforcements from Urumqi have been wiped out by our Third Army. Going out of the city and surrendering is their only way out! Kubury paused, obviously embarrassed, and said, "But the lord of the city will reply......"

"Say what?" Aguba asked impatiently.

"He said: There are only Chinese generals who died in battle, and there are no Chinese generals who surrendered!" Kubri replied softly.

This result really surprised Aguba. Korla in front of it is already an isolated city, and the connection with the outside world has been completely cut off, with no reinforcements and no food and grass. It is simply beyond our strength to rely on the hundreds of remnants of soldiers in the city who are not in good clothes and poorly equipped to be covered in artillery fire, and dare to confront tens of thousands of elite soldiers armed with cannons and machine guns!

The half of Aguba's flushed face that emerged from the middle of his beard began to deform slightly, and his two unusually vicious eyeballs slowly widened and puffed out his cheeks. With a gloomy face, he ordered:

"Since the Chinese refuse to surrender, then wipe out this Korla city!" The bombardment continued with all the artillery and extended into the city, without stopping...... The moment the sun rises tomorrow, the general offensive begins! ”

The enemy generals commanded in unison: "Yes!" ……”

In the evening. In the military tent of the Qing army defending the city near the west gate of Korla City, Zhong Yun, who was wounded and exhausted, was discussing with the generals how to keep Korla City.

At this time, everyone knew in their hearts that if the reinforcements sent by Urumqi and Turpan could not arrive in time, the fall of the city would not be far off. Although five days ago, it sent a request for military aid to the Yanqi Military Government again, and considering that the Yanqi Military Government had no time to take care of itself, it also directly sent a military report asking for help to the Ili General's Mansion and the Urumqi Metropolitan Government, but there is still no definite news on the whereabouts of the reinforcements. The people sent by Agubai to persuade him to surrender clearly stated that the reinforcements from Urumqi had been ambushed at the Yushugou Pass and "the whole army was annihilated", which shocked everyone's hearts! But none believe it's true. However, the reinforcements sent by Urumqi are indeed the last ray of hope; Because of the long distance of Yili, sending troops to rescue can no longer solve the urgent need; And Turpan has limited troops, and the reinforcements that can arrive are a drop in the bucket, and it is impossible to turn the tide of the war.

Zhong Yun thought deeper in his heart at this time. He knew very well that judging from the current size of the Aguba invading army and the level of weapons and equipment, even if the limited reinforcements from Ili, Urumqi, and Turpan all arrived, they would not be able to change the status quo of the disparity in military strength and would not be able to reverse the balance of the war. It's just a symbolic delay in the time rhythm of the fall of the city to a certain extent...... Korla City must be the last place for himself and his soldiers to serve the country and become a benevolent!

Zhao Tiefeng, the deputy commander of the garrison camp who went to inspect the East City Gate, returned to the big tent with Battle. Zhong Yun and Suo Gang hurriedly inquired about the situation at the East City Gate.

Zhao Tiefeng said: "The situation at the East City Gate is better, the enemy artillery attacking the city at the East City Gate only has three artillery, the city tower and the city wall are still intact, and the defenders of the East City Gate can continue to defend it." Now it seems that the focus of their attack is still the West City Gate, and more than 20 artillery pieces are all concentrated in front of the West City Gate...... However, they seem to have adopted a new method of warfare, and now the enemy artillery on both sides has used a small part of the artillery fire to continue to bombard the city towers and city walls, and the main artillery fire is all used to bombard the residential areas in the city, and more and more civilians have died from enemy artillery fire......"

Suo Gang said: "Since they are slaughtering the city with artillery fire now, it is estimated that the time for their general attack is not far off. The reason why we are now massacring people in residential areas on a large scale is to shake the hearts of our army and the people and to break the fighting spirit of our army. At some point before the general attack, it will definitely concentrate its artillery fire on the wall of the west gate again, open the gap and rush into the city in one go...... The most embarrassing thing for us now is that the few flowering cannons have half the range of their British guns, and now they are shelling us at will, but we can't reach them; In addition, they have at least tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of shells that cannot be used, but we only have 100 rounds......"

Battle said thoughtfully: "The biggest threat to us now is the enemy's artillery. If this development continues, even if they don't attack, the defenders and civilians in the city will gradually fall under the enemy's artillery fire, which is equivalent to sitting and waiting for death......"

During Zhao Tiefeng's inspection of the East City Gate, he also saw many scenes where people were slaughtered by enemy artillery, and the tragic scene made his heart twist! He had also been thinking about how to deal with the enemy artillery. Hearing Battle's words, he had a whim and said solemnly:

"Battle is right, if we continue like this, our soldiers and civilians may be slaughtered by enemy artillery fire before reinforcements arrive...... If we can take out the enemy artillery, we can hold on......"

When Zhong Yun saw that Battle and Zhao Tiefeng said this, they both showed a trace of eagerness, as if there was a "sound outside the strings" without a Dao, and hurriedly said:

"If you two have any wonderful ideas, you can just say it, and we will discuss it together."

Suo Gang also saw that the two of them already had bold ideas, and they also guessed eight or nine points. He nodded and said:

"I understand a little, they want to fight back and raid the enemy's artillery positions......"

"That's right! Form death squads and attack enemy artillery at night! Zhao Tiefeng said.

Zhong Yun nodded, pointed to the simple sand table in the military tent and said, "Come!" Let's talk about the specific ideas......"

Everyone gathered in front of the simple sand table.

Zhao Tiefeng told the bold tactics he and Battle had brewed: "Now the enemy army has concentrated its main forces in front of the West City Gate, and ninety percent of the artillery is also here. Because of the Peacock River on the south side and the jungle on the north side, the enemy army has not yet shown signs of deploying heavy troops. We can organize a death squad to stealthily go out of the city from the north and south sides, secretly approach the enemy artillery positions, destroy their artillery as much as possible, and buy time for the arrival of reinforcements......"

"Aguba is extremely arrogant, he probably wouldn't have thought that we would take the initiative to fight back, and there is a high chance that the operation will succeed!" Battle added.

Zhong Yun and Suo Gang nodded, but they were also well aware of the risk of this operation, whether the raid was successful or not, the result of the death squad sent out in this way was likely to be "there is no return"; In the event of defeat, not only did it not cause damage to the enemy's artillery, but on the contrary, it made the overstretched defensive force "worse...... However, there is no choice between them.

Battle took the initiative to ask for battle, and said solemnly: "Led by me and Tie Feng, the death squad will go out of the city to break into battle......

Suo Gang's mind had quickly generated a complete chain of action, and he immediately waved his hand and said:

"No! You can't go. In this operation, we must pay attention to the "suddenness" of the enemy's artillery position, which can destroy the enemy's artillery position as much as possible; It is also necessary to minimize its own casualties and preserve its strength...... Such! Now the enemy's artillery positions are divided into two places, north and south, and in front of the artillery positions are the defensive positions of the infantry. Tie Feng and Shi Yuansheng and I led a group of men out of the city in three ways, avoiding the enemy's infantry positions and attacking the enemy's artillery from the flanks and rear. If you succeed, the enemy will be in chaos! Battle's cavalry can take the opportunity to launch an assault and pick us up...... Therefore you cannot go out of the city with us, for it is up to you to answer. We can count on you and your cavalry if we can get back......"

Zhong Yun, Zhao Tiefeng, Battle, and the generals all nodded in agreement with this seemingly complete raid plan, but it still implied great risks......

At night, enemy artillery fire continued to bombard targets in the city.

Zhao Tiefeng led a group of people out of the city from the mouth of the waterway under the city wall on the south side, directly entered the Peacock River, and dived along the river to touch the enemy position downstream; Shi Yuansheng led a group of people out of the city on the west side of the southern city wall, and immediately burrowed into the dense reeds on the bank of the Peacock River, and concealed the enemy's position; Suo Gang and his group left the city through a small gap under the city wall on the north side, which had been washed open by the flood, and immediately entered the jungle on the edge of the city, groping their way towards the enemy's position......