Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 684: The Standing Zhangxun Village
January 6, 1639, 3:00 a.m. ET, Khyber Pass.
On the night of that day, thick clouds blocked the moonlight, so that in the narrow area of the Khyber Pass, the various lights flashing in the Ottoman camp on the mountains outside the northern pass were particularly dazzling.
"Commander, we have reached behind the enemy."
"Okay, put our Jaguar together."
It was winter, and at night on the mountain pass, there was not even the chirping of insects. Apart from the whistling mountain breeze, there was only a slight creaking sound when the interface screws were turned as the gun body and the gun mount were reunited.
"Captain. The Jaguar has been assembled, the parameters have been adjusted, and the incendiary bombs are ready."
"Everything is ready. Aim at the enemy's ration depot. Three mortars, fire quickly, open fire!"
"All right, all right."
When the three shells flew into the air, Cao Bianjiao didn't even look at where the shells hit: "Reload quickly and fire another round."
When the Ming army's gunners skillfully loaded the second round of shells into the barrel, the first round of shells had already landed. In addition to making a huge explosion in the silent night sky, they also quickly ignited everything around them.
Soon, there was a commotion in the Ottoman camp.
"The damn Chinese are attacking again!"
"Fire Company, come and put out the fire!"
"Pull out the fire barrier!"
"Ninth Company, Tenth Company, follow me, we must catch the shameless Chinese this time!"
On this side, Cao Bianjiao, who could already understand most of the Turkic language, curled his lips and said, "MD, it's been half a year, when did you catch me?"
"Have all the mines been laid?"
"It's all buried. If the Austrian thief dares to step on it, boom boom, first the legs will be blown off, and then the marbles will fly everywhere."
"Okay, let's retreat quickly. We have penetrated a little too deep this time, and it is really difficult to retreat now. As usual, if things are hopeless, keep the last bullet for yourself. We Ming men will not be taken prisoners."
"yes!"
…
"Commander, last night, the shameless Chinese once again attacked our military grain depot. The damage was not great. The report from below is that only one warehouse was caught on fire, and only more than 200 kilograms of grain were burned."
"Not a big loss? Only over 200 kilograms?" The commander-in-chief of the Ottoman Khyber Front, the Russian Boris, had not shaved for a long time. The thick beard not only covered most of his face, but also made his eyes look much smaller in proportion to his face. As a result, when these eyes emitted a sharp light, the officer reporting below was almost incontinent.
"That's right. Compared with the at least 30,000 kilograms of flour we consume every day, more than 200 kilograms of food is nothing. But! Major General Etachi! How many times has this happened? If I haven't been mad at your stupidity and incompetence, then this is the sixth time that the Chinese have sneaked into our camp five or six kilometers away and attacked our food depot or arsenal! Not the first, not the second... not the fifth, but the sixth time! Are you waiting for the seventh time, when the Chinese will sneak into the headquarters directly and blow my head off with one shot?"
"I'm very sorry, Commander. I swear, it won't happen again."
"Really?" Boris pulled out the pistol from his waist with his right hand, played with it carefully, and then said meaningfully: "The last person who stood here and said this to me, Owuz, I have already sent him to meet God with this pistol. Next time, Atachi, if there is a next time, I don't think you need to come and report to me."
"Yes, I understand."
"Good to know. Now, get out! Now!"
Watching his subordinates retreating in panic, Boris leaned weakly on a chair wrapped in a fine Persian blanket.
The Ottoman navy was not weak. In the 16th century, it fought back and forth with the coalition forces of European countries along the Mediterranean coast. However, on the one hand, the emergence of ironclad ships made all the wooden warships of the Ottomans obsolete, and Ibrahim stopped the construction of new wooden warships. On the other hand, more than 90% of the Ottoman navy was concentrated in the Mediterranean. The navy on the Persian Gulf side was almost non-existent.
Therefore, although the EU and Austria jointly launched an expedition to India, Ibrahim did not deploy the main naval forces to the Persian Gulf: What if Philip broke the alliance? Wouldn't that imprison the Ottoman navy south of the Suez Canal?
As a result, when the Ottomans sent troops to northwest India (Pakistan), the navy could only provide very little transportation, and their main force could only go through the Bir Pass.
From June 25, 1638, when Boris led 200,000 main forces to arrive at the Khyber Pass to launch an attack, to today, more than half a year has passed. Our side has paid a huge price of nearly 80,000 casualties. The amount of food, ammunition, medicine and other supplies consumed in this half year is even more massive - but the opponent's defense line has not moved at all!
Well, it's not entirely true to say that the other side's defense line did not move at all. In fact, Boris's feet were almost inside Zhang Xun's camp.
July and August were the two months when the Ottomans invested the most troops in the attack on Khyber and the battles were the most brutal. At that time, the Ottomans once conquered the three lines of defense in front of Zhangxun Village and approached the walls of Zhangxun Village. However, when the Chinese in dark green uniforms led the Sikhs with thick turbans on their heads to , the exhausted Ottomans were defeated. The three lines of defense were lost again.
By September, the European coalition had completely conquered the Ganges Plain and the Deccan Plateau. Ibrahim, who had lost face, had no choice but to write a letter to Philip for help. Then the Europeans allocated some of their transport capacity to transport the remaining 100,000 Ottoman troops stationed in Persia to Karachi.
When the Ottomans landed, the four-division coalition army consisting of Siamese, Gurkhas, Burmese, Mon and Malays had already retreated northward to Kashmir. The army that blocked the Ottoman army of 100,000 was the army of the Sikh Kingdom, which had only been established for three years.
Although the Sikhs had backward weapons and tactics, they had a very high fighting spirit and a fearless spirit. With almost everyone in the army, the 100,000-strong Ottoman Army caused a large number of casualties to the enemy, but they were unable to reach Lahore, the capital of the Sikh Kingdom.
The Ottomans also proposed negotiations with the Sikhs, saying that since the Ming Dynasty had already withdrawn from the Indian peninsula, it was pointless for them to cling on. But the Sikhs replied: The Ming Emperor gave us Sikhs an independent state, can you Ottomans give it to us?
Of course, this was impossible. The Ottomans were still hoping to take over Pakistan as a land for their own benefit, so how could they allow the Sikhs to have an independent state?
The only option was to continue the war. However, the war, which began in late September and lasted until January 1639, still showed no sign of ending .
The desperate fighting of the Sikhs saved Cao Bianjiao and Zuo Menggeng, who were guarding Zhang Xunzhai, from the trouble of being attacked from both sides. However, the landing of the Ottomans also forced the Sikhs to slow down their support for the Khyber Line in terms of manpower, material resources, and especially food.
This forced Cao Bianjiao to take a risky move. In addition to defending the city, he had to take the initiative to attack, and even deliberately give up the defense line to let the enemy attack deeply, so that he could use other troops to rob the enemy's food or ammunition - yes, because the Ming Dynasty supported the Ottoman Empire against the European Union, the weapons of the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty were exactly the same, and they could be used interchangeably.
In October 1638, under Iprahin's strict order, Boris once again organized a fierce offensive. This time, Cao Bianjiao's strategy was to barely resist for a while with three lines of defense, and then retreat after pretending to be short of ammunition. Boris, overjoyed, directly deployed his most elite troops to Zhang Xun's camp, and his vanguard troops even entered Zhang Xun's camp.
But in this fortress, the Ottomans were attacked by the Gurkhas with scimitars. The two sides engaged in a large-scale cold weapon hand-to-hand combat in a narrow area. As a result, the Ottomans, whose average height was 20 cm higher than the enemy, were defeated and were forced out of the fortress by the Gurkhas with scimitars.
As luck would have it, the excited commander-in-chief Boris was about to enter the city, and then he was chased by the Gurkha warriors at the city gate, which caused the Ottoman army to consciously or unconsciously focus all their energy on him. Then, the Siamese, Sikhs, Burmese, and Mon people attacked from both wings, and the Malays were responsible for beating gongs and drums... The Ottomans were killed and blood flowed like a river, corpses were everywhere, and countless weapons and ammunition were left behind.
In this great battle, in addition to Zuo Menggeng guarding the city, Cao Bianjiao led a part of the Ming army, about 200 people, over the mountains and ridges to get behind the Ottomans - they did not attack the Ottomans from behind, but continued to go north and contacted the Pashtuns (the main ethnic group in Afghanistan in later generations) who were allowed by the Ming Dynasty to establish an independent country because of the demise of the Mughal Empire.
30,000 Pashtuns, led by Cao Bianjiao, attacked the Ottomans from the rear. Boris's army retreated 70 to 80 miles before it could stabilize its position.
But after this retreat, the Pashtuns sent a large amount of food to Zhang Xun's camp. Then, Cao Bianjiao became "rich" again.
From then on, Boris completely gave up the idea of a strong attack. The only thing he could do was to confront the enemy for a long time - whether it was the Pashtuns or the Sikhs, it was very difficult to send supplies to the Khyber region. It was even more impossible for the Ming Dynasty to send supplies from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Therefore, he still had confidence in the logistics.
But, even so, Cao Bianjiao still didn't let him go: a , a feint attack tomorrow, tormenting him so much that he was full of frustration but had nowhere to vent. In the end, he had to vent his anger on his own people's heads.
In this confrontation, the time came to January 1639. Zhangxun Village, where Cao Bianjiao was stationed, was just like the name of this village. With almost no external aid and the main force of the side already retreating, it remained standing for a full six months while inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy.
At this time, about 200 kilometers away from Zhangxun Village, the three divisions led by Man Gui had crossed the Karakoram Pass and entered Kashmir. And about 50 kilometers northwest of here, the carriage of the Grand Vizier Ibrahim of the Ottoman Empire was getting closer and closer.
