amaotonovel Chapter 1128 Victory
Chapter 1128 Victory
Chapter 1128 Victory
When these words were spoken, everyone was delighted.
Even Zhang Dingbian was delighted, and felt the pressure in his heart suddenly relieved. He was afraid that he had heard it wrong, so he asked the cavalry who came to report the news: "Is the news true? Are they really reinforcements for His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan?"
"It is absolutely true. The messenger cavalry sent by the King of Yan is now in our army." said the cavalry.
"How fast!" Zhang Dingbian said, "Quick, bring the Ranger here!"
Soon, a soldier covered in blood was brought to Zhang Dingbian. He was dusty and covered in wounds. It was obvious that he had broken through the siege and contacted the defenders of Kangju City.
"How many soldiers did the King of Yan bring? They have come a long way, can they fight?" Zhang Dingbian asked.
"Report to the Lord, His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan is leading 30,000 elite troops from his own army, and has also recruited 70,000 men from various tribes on the grassland, a total of 100,000 troops, to come to our aid..."
Zhang Dingbian asked a few more questions and finally understood the situation. It turned out that as early as when the envoys of the three major sultanates came to help, the Ming Dynasty had already predicted from Western missionaries that changes were about to take place in Central Asia, so it was ready to send troops on an expedition.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty sent troops earlier than he and Yao Guangxiao expected.
Moreover, because of concerns about the deterioration of the situation in Central Asia, Zhu Di first dispatched light cavalry and ordered the various tribes on the grassland to prepare their troops and set out first. The reinforcements now in the south of Kangju were not Zhu Di's own troops, but the advance troops from the Golden Horde.
Previously, the Khan of the Golden Horde, Tokhtamysh, wanted to take advantage of the collapse of the Timurid Empire to take advantage of the Ming army. However, he was beaten up by the Ming army and fled to the Ottoman Empire, where he finally died in Damascus. The new Khan of the Golden Horde was intimidated by the military power of the Ming Dynasty and surrendered to it.
As soon as Zhu Di's envoy arrived this time, they recalled the fear of the previous Khan who was beaten by Zhu Di, and decisively sent out more than 10,000 soldiers to serve as the vanguard of the Ming army... Because they were closest to Kangju City, they were the first to arrive here.
The Golden Horde was full of fear of the Ming Dynasty, but they did not hesitate to strike hard at the Crusaders coming from the West. In the minds of these people, these Europeans were all defeated by their ancestors. Back then, the whole of Europe was just a pasture for Genghis Khan. What was there to be afraid of with just tens of thousands of Europeans?
Faced with the Crusaders blocking their way, the cavalry of the Golden Horde showed no fear and even arrogantly divided their troops into two teams, attacking from both wings using the steppe cavalry's iconic "Mangudai tactics".
The Crusaders, who were mainly composed of heavy-armored knights and infantry, had originally rushed towards this group of grassland light cavalry with great momentum, but they could only passively defend under the heavy rain of arrows.
However, these rain of arrows did not actually cause too many casualties.
Even if someone wanted to take the initiative to fight, the steppe cavalry came and went like the wind, and these Crusaders could only follow behind the steppe cavalry and eat dust. The knights were so angry that they howled.
In fact, they should be thankful. These Mongols have long been weak. If they had used the tactics of Mangudai during Genghis Khan's time, the light and heavy cavalry would have been able to tear their small force to pieces.
However, although the army of the Golden Horde had long lost the bravery of its ancestors, it was still enough to make the Crusaders cautious and begin to fear this reinforcement from unknown origin.
The Crusaders had to allocate part of their forces to block the grassland reinforcements from joining Zhang Dingbian's troops.
This also greatly reduced the intensity of their attack on Zhang Dingbian.
Then, fifteen days later, Zhu Di finally led his army to the battlefield.
At that time, Zhang Dingbian's troops were being besieged by the Crusaders. Although the cavalry of the Golden Horde was pinning down the Crusaders from the periphery, the situation was still precarious.
When Zhu Di raised the "Yan" flag, the Crusaders still did not take it seriously. They just thought it was another reinforcement and sent an army to block it, just like they did against the Golden Horde.
Then, he was taught how to be a good person by Prince of Yan Zhu Di.
Zhu Di's army consisted mostly of elite soldiers from the grasslands, but the core was still the Shenjiying led by Han people. Facing the swarming Crusaders, Zhu Di ordered the soldiers of the Shenjiying to form a three-stage attack formation in the center, and then the soldiers on both sides separated into two wings.
The armored mercenaries and knights were delighted to see that this reinforcement force was not like the Golden Horde cavalry, which attacked and fled. But then they were covered by a dense barrage of bullets, and the thick armor on their bodies was pierced by the bullets like paper.
The Crusaders were caught off guard and fell into chaos.
Zhu Di led his troops to attack, brutally broke through the encirclement of the Crusaders, and successfully established contact with Kangju City.
"Your Highness, you have worked hard!" Seeing Zhu Di and the Shenji Camp coming to the tent outside the city, Zhang Dingbian and Yao Guangxiao went out to greet them. Zhu Di had lost a lot of weight after the long journey, but his complexion was rosy. He laughed and said, "Why should I work hard? You are working hard to defend the city and protect our Chinese territory."
"Now is not the time to reminisce about the past. Do you still have the strength to follow me to kill the enemy?"
"Why not?" Zhang Dingbian was inspired and laughed loudly.
The two sides joined forces and launched a rapid attack on the Crusaders. The Crusaders were horrified, as they had never expected that the Ming Dynasty would dare to launch an attack without resting.
These reinforcements obviously came from far away. Don’t they feel tired?
Zhu Di certainly knew that his troops were exhausted, but the sudden arrival of the army put the Crusaders in a state of chaos. If the Ming army camped and rested at this time, the Crusaders would have time to gain a foothold.
Instead of doing that, it’s better to do it in one go!
The two sides clashed, and the sound of killing shook the sky. There was no trickery in a battle of this scale, and the area outside Kangju City had become a meat grinder. The Crusaders were caught in a surprise attack and panicked, while the Ming army had come from afar and had not recovered their strength. Both sides were not in perfect condition, and for a while, the fight was evenly matched and extremely tragic.
But as time passed, the smaller Ming army gradually gained the upper hand.
The reason for this is that the Crusaders were ultimately a coalition of many European nobles, each of whom had its own subordinates. John was only a nominal commander and could not control the entire army. Therefore, when commanding and responding to emergencies on the battlefield, he could not do it as he wished.
On the Ming side, Zhu Di was unrivalled in his ability and Zhang Dingbian was experienced in battle, both of them were talented generals who went down in history. Once the Crusaders showed any flaws, they would always be able to find them in the first place and deploy troops to attack the enemy's weak points.
Moreover, the Ming army's firearms were sharp, and the fire guns of the Shenji Camp were simply a crushing blow to the European ace heavy knights. The knights did not dare to confront them directly, so how could the morale of the Crusaders continue to decline?
Finally, at dusk, the Crusaders began to be completely defeated. Along with the bloody setting sun, the cross flag symbolizing the divine power of God was also cut down by the Ming army in the flames of war.
(End of this chapter)