After another ten days, the large group of people arrived about a hundred miles northwest of the Aral Sea.

At this point, Chitard is about to break up with Hamu Yang.

"Uncle"

Kitard's face was solemn, which made Hamu Yang's relaxed and relaxed mood disappear.

"According to the previous plan, you will lead the large group of people to continue south along the road, and I will go south from the east coast of the Aral Sea."

"On the way, I remembered that although the Kazakhs and Khivas are neighbors and have not had any major fights in recent decades, no one will let their neighbors become too powerful. Therefore, the Kazakhs may not The Khivas were informed"

"Even so, you should still be careful. When Bamu Baer is exploring the road ahead, he must send out spies at least thirty miles ahead. Once the enemy is really ready, let Shen Muhua's troops set up camp quickly. They have a chance A way to build a camp wall in a short time”

"Then you take advantage of the fact that most of the enemy is besieging Shen Muhua's troops, and either go back behind them, or break away from the battle, and harass them from time to time in a guerrilla way. Don't launch a general attack until I have no information."

Although Hamu Yang looked respectful, he was a little disapproving in his heart, "I am a veteran of the Khanate, how can I not understand these things? Shen Muhua? He, a Han actor with two thousand people who have just been trained, can resist A large army of Khivas?"

But he said: "Yes, Huntai Ji"

Seeing this, Chitard pulled Shen Muhua aside again.

"Remember, there is someone in your team who followed me to Kungele last time and drew a map. Once you get within a hundred miles of Kungele, you will personally send out exploration horses to join Bamu Bal's people. Exploration"

"If an enemy army arrives, there is a distance of thirty miles, which is enough for your troops to find a favorable place where you can find water, fill it with straw bags and set up camp."

"Then there were dense artillery around, and we used muskets, artillery, and grenades to deal with the enemy."

"Before Hamu Yang's army has inflicted heavy losses on the enemy, they must not leave the camp to invite a fight."

"When you get there, send out your fast horses and go straight south from the desert to look for the Sarikamysh people. Note that they only have two or three thousand tents. Don't let them come to help in the battle. Let them wait for my message."

"Why is this?"

"You don't care, just listen to me"

Hamyang broke up with Kitard, and before leaving, he left behind two people who were familiar with the shape of the east coast of the Aral Sea.

One is almost forty years old, and the other is Norbu!

It turns out that since the Torgut Khanate established contact with the Qing Dynasty, it was immediately hated by the Junggar people. They intercepted all the Qing Dynasty. The Torgut Khanate's mission was just a caravan. The last time the Turgut Khanate's mission was still a caravan. It reached the northern shore of the Caspian Sea only after passing through Tsarist Russia.

The Torhut people sent out several missions, but at least half of them were intercepted and captured by the Dzungars. This made all the successive Turhut Khans extremely angry, so they started to contact the Kazakh Dayuzi tribe, or use the road to go to the Great Yuzi tribe.

Qing Dynasty, or the intention of using the road to attack the Junggar people.

Taiji, the tribe where Norbu belongs, was a member of the envoy of the previous Great Khan. Three years ago, he went to Dayuzi under the leadership of a Taiji from the tribe. Norbu, who was only fifteen years old at the time, also followed him.

Turkestan beyond Da Yuzi.

As a result, the two of them were very familiar with the lower reaches of the Syr Darya River.

The Taiji didn't care, but Norbu had a sad look on his face, which made Kitard very unhappy. In the end, the Taiji told him the tragedy that happened at home, and Kitard felt relieved.

He called Norbu to him.

"I know what you are thinking. Do you think that leading the way for me will affect your participation in the robbery?"

"I don't dare," Norbu quickly replied.

"Don't worry," Kitard comforted, "I might as well tell you that there is a Turkmen market in the desert mine. I promise that once you perform well in this mission, you can get the loot first. If you are willing,

If so, we can also move our family to Truqin”

Then he turned back to Na Taiji and said, "Is that okay?"

How dare that Taiji offend Kitard, let alone just a herdsman?

He quickly replied: "Huntaiji just said a word, why do you need to tell me?"

Kitard nodded, "Okay, you two lead the way, and I will ask Techina to follow you with a few hundred riders."

Two days later, the large group of troops arrived at the northeastern end of the Aral Sea.

As Chitard expected, because Dayuzi transferred a large number of herders to the core area (near the Tianshan Mountains), there were very few herders here, and they did not run towards the upper reaches of the Syr Darya River or the southern desert after seeing them.

, but kept running towards the north grassland.

This confirmed his judgment that they were running for their lives, not reporting the news.

At this time, the Aral Sea was still a large lake with vast and abundant waters. The land on the maps of later generations was now all vast lakes, and in the northeast, a large island suddenly appeared!

This big island is Aralsk, the city on land in later generations, and this big island is Aral Island!

However, with the flooding of the Syr Darya River, the big island is approaching the mainland. There is only an extremely narrow water area between the two. If you occupy this island, if there are ships, once an enemy approaches, the ships will be withdrawn to the lake near the big lake.

On the one hand, it is completely easy to defend but difficult to attack.

There are desert grasslands everywhere here, so it is difficult to build ships. However, this was the place where the Dayuzi tribe boiled salt in the past. There must be ships left behind, but they are invisible now.

Seeing this island, Kitard's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Hurry to the ferry!"

He personally led a hundred cavalry towards the narrow water area at lightning speed!

When he arrived, he happened to meet three men rowing a boat to the island!

"Bang..."

Kitard was also unceremonious, standing in a row on the shore, holding muskets and shooting at them.

At this time, the ship was not far away from the mainland. Under the intensive firepower, two men were shot on the spot. Kitard took off the grenade and threw it.

The grenade exploded in front of the boat, and the remaining man no longer dared to row forward, so he had to drive the boat back to the shore.

When he saw that person, his eyes brightened even more.

"Turkmen horse thieves!"

The familiar star-and-moon turban and red gemstones exposed that person's identity.

When I looked again, it turned out that the pier happened to be a bay. There were large reeds growing on the shore, and the boats and the pier were hidden in the bay. If you don't pay attention, you can't find it at all.

The man raised his hands and stepped ashore tremblingly.

"Are you Turkmen?"

"..., yes"

Kitard was now completely convinced.

This place is only more than a hundred miles away from Shalkar where they were ambushed last time. If the horse thieves were entrenched on this big island, they could completely avoid the herders. The Kazakh standing army would clear them out because they lacked ships, and the Greeks to the south

The Wa people can use ships to encircle and suppress them.

But since they have a relationship with Rasim, they can run away early.

This large island covers hundreds of square kilometers, with abundant water and grass, more than enough to support more than a hundred horse thieves, not to mention there are trees on the island!

However, the gunfire and the explosion of grenades just now must have alerted the horse thieves on the island, not to mention that if they suddenly went up to a large island of several hundred square kilometers, they would inevitably encounter a counterattack by the horse thieves who are familiar with the island's geography.

Besides, there is only one ship available to them now, and it can only carry two horses.

What can two cavalry do for you?

However, when he thought that the horse thieves on the island might use the boat to inform Rasim, Kitard was not prepared to let him go.

He raised his telescope.

The distance between the big island and the land is only a hundred meters at most. Directly opposite the pier, there are several boats leaning against it, and there are some horse thieves nearby who are watching eagerly.

Kitard suddenly thought of a way.

He had two cannons moved to the ship and placed at the bow and stern of the ship, and then he personally took ten people aboard the ship.

The ship had four oars, and it was now being rowed by four people. He steered it himself, then took off two iron shields from the spare horses to cover the bow. After stepping on the pier, the ship quickly sailed towards the other shore.

Go!

The horse thieves at the dock on the other side saw that the other party had given up their horses, and there were only ten of them, so they didn't take it seriously. There were at least twenty of them, and everyone had muskets in their hands. Naturally, they all aimed their guns at the ship!

At a distance of a hundred meters, although Truchin's soldiers did not row the boat, the boat was still moving quickly with Kitard at the helm.

When Kitard was at the helm, there was a soldier in front of him holding an iron shield to protect him. They only brought a hundred iron shields like this, which were prepared for use in emergencies. Unexpectedly, they would use them today.

It came in handy.

"Bang bang..."

"Dangdang..."

The sound of muskets firing and the sound of lead hitting iron shields are endless.

When he was still about three feet away from the pier, Kitard shouted, "Let go!"

"Boom..."

The 100-pound cannon at the bow of the ship roared, and a pack of grapeshot shot out!

The backlash of the hundred-pound artillery made the ship tilt backwards, and the lake water almost poured in.

After the cannon exploded, smoke filled the bow of the ship. It took a while before the smoke was blown away by the lake breeze. When I looked again, except for the horse thieves who fell to the ground and groaned, all the other horse thieves were gone.

"Bang..."
To be continued...