Nomudalai led six thousand seven hundred warriors from Xiao Yule Duosi, crossed botuo bald mountain, and arrived outside Chalish city, west of bosten lake.
this southern expedition route was different from the last one, vowing to take this strategic town.
he ambushed his troops in the forest outside the city and sent men disguised as merchants to gather information.
he learned that the governor of Chalish was originally Prince Abudullahaha of Turpan, who took five thousand elite soldiers with him when he was ordered to move to Liu City.
now there were only one thousand two hundred old and weak miscellaneous soldiers in the city.
despite this, this place was a strategic town in western Turpan, the city walls were solid, and there were three bronze cannons on the city wall, making it not easy to attack.
"Great Taiji, our Otok is closer to Chalish and we are familiar with the local customs, we are willing to disguise ourselves as merchants and capture this city by deception," Aledar Heshuoqi and Erke Taiji said in unison.
these two were minor Noyans of the Huit Tribe, their power was weak, and they could only survive by relying on the main Huit Tribe, thus they were quite loyal to Nomudalai.
in this southern expedition, Nomudalai ordered the two to lead one thousand five hundred of their subordinates as the vanguard.
"that's excellent, but you must act carefully," Nomudalai instructed.
the morning wind blew painfully on people's faces, but aini had long been used to it.
the name "aini" means "wealthy" in the Uyghur language.
he was indeed very rich, born into a wealthy aristocratic family, and later found connections to attach himself to Prince Abudullahaha.
when the prince went to Liu City, he appointed him Ishkhan Bek of Chalish, guarding this border strategic town.
this person was also quite dedicated, patrolling the city walls every day since taking office, not daring to slack off.
early this morning, he went up to the city wall with more than a dozen personal guards.
as usual, an endless stream of merchants crowded the city gate, and Bazar Bek (tax collector) with a few soldiers was calmly registering goods and collecting city gate taxes.
living off the mountain by the mountain, living off the water by the water, living off the golden road by this road.
this was a thin man, extremely shrewd, who would never collect less than he could, making it extremely difficult to evade his taxes.
aini smiled and glanced at him, meaning: don't forget my share; the other person returned the same ambiguous look, meaning: don't worry, brother, we'll all get rich together.
how wonderful everything was!
thanks to this golden road, countless officials were fattened.
"make way, make way, sir, please grant us a convenience," a big fat man, resplendent in jewels and covered in flab, squeezed forward and handed Bazar Bek a heavy money bag.
behind him followed two or three hundred porters driving large carts, clearly the manager of some large merchant house.
Bazar Bek opened the money bag and looked, gold!
it was actually a bag of glittering gold!
although he was very satisfied internally, he put on a stern face, "where are you merchants from? you don't have any contraband, do you?"
after saying that, he motioned with his mouth, and the soldiers behind him understood and began to rummage through the carts haphazardly, some even poking the goods with their spears.
"please be accommodating, sir," the big fat man clearly understood the rules and quickly took out a slightly smaller money bag.
Bazar Bek weighed it in his hand, estimated that he couldn't squeeze any more oil out of the other party, and finally relented: "enter the city."
"thank you," the big fat man bowed and thanked him, shouting at his porters to push the carts into the city.
a problem occurred when the last cart entered the city, the wheel was damaged, blocking the city gate.
"what's going on? quickly move the cart away," Bazar Bek roared angrily.
"immediately, immediately," the big fat man repeatedly apologized, then suddenly took out a large saber from under the cart and struck down with a single blow.
Bazar Bek's head flew off, suspended in mid-air, his face retaining a look of panic.
the porters also took out their hidden weapons from the carts, scattered the defenders, and controlled the city gate.
where was this a merchant caravan, it was clearly a well-trained army!
"woo~ woo~ woo~"
the clear horn sounded, and the Mongol Army swarmed into the city through the gate.
"don't panic, they are just a bunch of bandits, hold them back for me," aini Bek shouted to his subordinates to resist.
however, he found that only a dozen personal guards followed him, most of the elite soldiers had been taken to Liu City by Prince Abudullahaha, and the defenders were mostly old and weak, where did they have the courage to fight the enemy desperately?
the big fat man rushed in front of aini, cut him down with a single blow, and struck a flamboyant pose: "Huit Taiji Erke slays the enemy General here."
the surprise attack was very successful, the Mongol Army annihilated a thousand enemies with twenty-odd casualties, capturing seven hundred prisoners alone.
Nomudalai was admiring his battle results when xi rimo, the thousand-household of the firearms battalion, walked over happily, "Great Taiji, Your servant found three bronze cannons on the city wall."
in recent years, the Huit Tribe had kept a low profile and its economic strength had increased significantly.
Nomudalai ordered people to buy two cannons and more than two hundred muskets from Samarkand, and his own arsenal also produced more than a hundred crude guns, forming a gun battalion of four hundred people.
"haha, you, you can't move your legs when you see cannons, how about this, dismantle the cannons from the city wall and form a cannon battalion, they will be useful when attacking cities," Nomudalai said with a laugh and a scolding tone.
speed is paramount in warfare, and Nomudalai, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, naturally knew this principle, so he only rested in Chalish for one day before crossing haidu river and marching towards Iron Gate Pass.
Iron Gate Pass only had three hundred defenders, but it was a stone city, very strong.
"Great Taiji, the city is small but strong, a frontal assault might cost the lives of our young men, why not order the prisoners to attack the city?" Batu and Tan offered a plan.
Nomudalai nodded and ordered thousand-household Tuoli to lead troops to force the surrendered soldiers to attack the city.
five bronze cannons fired a salvo at Iron Gate Pass, but only left slight marks on the solid city wall, the formidable pass still stood tall.
"attack the city!" Nomudalai roared, and the main army's flags and drums quickly raised the signal flag.
Tuoli led eight hundred soldiers to drive the prisoners to attack the city, anyone who dared to retreat would be hacked to death or shot to death with arrows.
seven hundred prisoners held swords and shields, carrying long ladders towards the city wall.
at first, they did not want to be enemies with their own people, but the bullets and arrows from the city wall mercilessly shot them down.
this was war, there were only the attacking side and the defending side, there were no 'own people'.
if they wanted to retreat, there was the Mongols' supervisory team behind them.
to survive, they could only climb up the city wall.
"aow~ aow~ aow~"
the prisoners were spurred by their survival instinct and climbed up the city wall along the ladders like crazy.
the Mongol archers began to volley arrows, covering the prisoners' attack on the city.
Nomudalai calmly observed this siege battle, people died in wave after wave, there was no trace of sympathy or pity in his brows.
suddenly, a prisoner climbed up the ladder, rushed onto the city wall in a few strides, his spear thrusting and slashing continuously, killing several people in an instant, and occupying a small corner on the city wall.
the people behind him used him as an axis and continuously climbed up the city wall.
"oh? this prisoner is quite brave," Nomudalai said indifferently.
after suffering four hundred prisoner casualties and fifty Mongol warrior casualties, the Hui Te Army finally captured Iron Gate Pass.
ascending the pass wall, Nomudalai repeatedly sighed, "this pass is so strong, if Prince Abudullahaha hadn't taken away the main force of the army, we really might not have been able to capture it!"
suddenly, he remembered the prisoner who had led the attack on the city and ordered him to be brought over.
with a broad back and powerful build, what a strong man!
"what is your name, strong man? what was your position in the Turpan army before?" Nomudalai asked kindly.
he knew that the Mongols were few in number, and to consolidate their rule, they had to make good use of the surrendered army.
"General, no, Your servant's name is Sabir, and I was just a small soldier in the Turpan army," the prisoner was quite straightforward, kneeling down with a thump and directly calling himself Your servant.
"oh, such a brave warrior was actually just a small soldier, the Khan of Turpan really doesn't know how to use people," Nomudalai quickly helped him up and comforted him warmly, "from today onwards, you will be the Chief of Hundred Households of my Huit Tribe, and those three hundred surrendered soldiers will all be under your command."
