Zhang Zhao arrived at Huwen City in early July, and then stayed here for two full months. It was not until early September that news finally came that the leader of the Shahi Dynasty in India, King Modapala, was setting off for the Northern Expedition.
If not for the fact that Lu Sanlang had not been sent to gather information and confirm that Modapolo was definitely coming with a large army, he would have been unable to wait any longer.
Because it is different from the weather in the Indus River Basin, during this Little Ice Age, the period of ice and snow coverage in eastern Afghanistan around Huwen City was very long.
If the army of the Shahi Dynasty does not come in September, it will not come, at least until June or July next year.
Zhang Zhaoke couldn't wait so long. If the Xiaxi Dynasty's army didn't come, he would attack them.
The road from Peshawar to Huwen City is not long, less than five hundred miles.
If only the distance along the Khyber Pass Valley is counted, the distance is even shorter. Counting from Jalalabad, Afghanistan in later generations, to Peshawar is only about 130 miles.
In order to successfully ambush the army of the Shahi Dynasty in India, Zhang Zhao mobilized two thousand elites in shifts from mid-August to continuously station near the Khyber Pass, and built dozens of bunkers to hide and store supplies.
It would be incorrect to say that there are no supply points and fortresses in the Khyber Pass, which is only about 130 miles away.
On the side close to Pakistan, at a small mountain pass called Naland, the Shahi Dynasty of India built a small fort as an outpost here, which was the predecessor of the famous Landikotal Fort in later generations.
Modapala is a typical Hindu prince. He wears a turban on his head at all times. The physical features of the Western Turks have basically disappeared in the interbreeding of several generations, replaced by a high nose bridge and big eyes.
Typical Indo-Aryan appearance with slightly darker skin tone.
His grandfather was the famous Kalal, the ruthless man who ended the Kabul-Shahi dynasty and established the Indian-Shahi dynasty.
But it's a pity that this ruthless man shouldn't be from Tianzhu. If he were elsewhere, Karar might be able to work hard, be an emir or something like that.
However, in Tianzhu, a place where the local indigenous people have extremely poor fighting power and can only rely on strong men from the northwest as the pillar of force. Kalal has been at a strategic disadvantage since the establishment of the Indo-Shahi dynasty.
However, although the force value is a little bit different, Karar's vision is not bad.
He knew that if the Indo-Shahi dynasty wanted to securely keep its crown, the city of Wenwen must be recaptured.
Therefore, the successive kings of the Indo-Shahi dynasty regarded controlling the city as their top priority.
"My noble king, Prince Sadid of Guard City, did not respond directly to our request. It seems that he is still very wary of us.
Isn’t it unsafe for us to go over like this? Why don’t the king wait here, and General Mo will lead the army to protect Wencheng first?”
As soon as Modapala took off his heavy robe and drank a glass of sugar cane spiced water, the kingdom's general Karmaha, who was also wearing a flaxen turban, came over.
Karmaha was not in favor of going to Protect Wen City because years of failed experiences had made the general of the Shahi Dynasty realize that with their current strength, they could not control Protect City.
In his opinion, in order to control Huwen City for a long time, it is necessary to train and equip an infantry with at least a thousand sets of iron armor.
But currently in the Shahi Dynasty, all armor is equipped for cavalry.
The Shahi Dynasty had an armored cavalry that seemed to have good equipment and combat effectiveness, but the infantry basically had no armor.
In fact, apart from heavy cavalry and war elephants, the Shahi Dynasty did not pay much attention to the protection of infantry.
This is actually determined by the climate of Tianzhu. In this place, if the infantry is equipped with iron armor, it is easy for people to faint from heat in minutes. Even in winter, the temperature is not low.
Compared with the long-term tug-of-war required by infantry, the charge of heavy armored cavalry often determines the outcome very quickly.
Facing infantry with almost no armor, or armor like the Spartans in the movie, the power of the heavy armored cavalry was directly maximized.
In addition, Hinduism and the caste system are prevalent in India. The Kshatriyas are the ruling class and their number is not large. No one wants to be an infantryman like ordinary people. Basically, they have been cavalry for generations.
So this leads to a strange phenomenon. In Tianzhu, which is not suitable for playing heavy armored cavalry, the one with the best equipment and the kings rely on the most is the heavy armored cavalry.
Madapura carefully considered Karmaha's opinion, and then slowly shook his head.
In Modapala's view, Prince Sadid of the Samanid Dynasty was not interested in his proposal to lead an army of 50,000 (exaggeratedly) to help him, and it was vague, which was a perfectly normal behavior.
As long as Prince Sadid is not stupid, he will definitely know Modapolo's true intention.
That's why Modapolo insisted on leading his army to attack Guwen City, because if it was a trap, Prince Sadid would definitely want him there urgently.
However, the reasoning behind the three obstacles and the vagueness just proves the authenticity.
But Karmaha's worry was normal, and it was a manifestation of caution. Madapala felt that he could not colden the heart of his loyal minister, so he thought for a moment, and then said to Karmaha.
"Taking back Huwen City is the last wish of our ancestors. I have to go, but your suggestion is also a very good one.
How about this, let General Sinha lead the vanguard with 3,000 people, and then you can lead the main force of 15,000 people in the center, and I will come to the rear, so that even if there is a problem, we can deal with it."
"It seems that the heroes of the world should not be underestimated!" When the vanguard of the Three Thousand Xiaxi Dynasty passed through the Khyber Pass, Zhang Zhao turned to the officers behind him and said.
The imagined chaos and haste of the Shahi dynasty, with 30,000 people passing through the Khyber Pass together, did not happen.
On the contrary, they first sent out 3,000 forwards in an orderly manner, followed by the large Chinese army with colorful flags flying. The two armies were only about five or six miles apart, and there were messengers running back and forth to communicate.
In this way, when the forward is attacked, the Chinese army can quickly support it; when the Chinese army is ambushed, the forward can also turn back to rescue.
Moreover, the two armies obviously did not add up to 30,000 people, and there should be some rear troops and baggage behind them.
"Follow plan B! Only a small number of scout horses will be left to monitor, and all the troops will retreat to the forest bunker and wait for orders!" After thinking for a moment, Zhang Zhao made a decision.
He placed 7,000 elites at the entrance of the Khyber Pass, which was later known as Jalalabad in Afghanistan, and recruited 1,500 local rich men, for a total of 8,500 people.
The forward and middle troops of the Natsuki Dynasty only number 20,000, and Yin Yaozi can definitely withstand them.
The reason why three thousand elites were used to ambush the rear army of the Shahi Dynasty was because Zhang Zhao had to capture the Shahi King Modapala.
Although the Romde Fort looks simple, with perhaps less than 500 defenders, the terrain is actually very dangerous.
On the left is a steep mountain wall, on the right is a cliff of at least ten meters that reaches directly to the Kabul River, and the fortress's pass is stuck in the middle.
Although Zhang Zhao believes that he can definitely capture it, there are always exceptions to everything. It would be funny if he couldn't capture it.
Therefore, Zhang Zhao planned to capture Modapolo and let him be called the Son of Heaven, so that I, my classmate Zhu Qizhen, would not be alone in the long river of history.
And since he had no internal response and didn't know whether Modapala was in the vanguard, the center or the rear, he could only block the 30,000-strong army of the Shahi Dynasty in the Khyber Pass.
Sure enough, half an hour later, You Yijun came to report that the Xiaxi Dynasty's rear army had entered the valley. There were about 20,000 soldiers plus civilians in charge of logistics and equipment.
.....
Modapala was riding on a blue war horse, and he carefully wore a chainmail armor underneath. He didn't have to go to the battlefield to kill people anyway, so he couldn't deliberately save his energy.
The king of Shahi in India found a rocky path in front of him. On both sides of the path, there were all large and small fallen stones. His brows twitched slightly.
It would be incorrect to say that Modapala did not consider that someone would ambush him here.
For example, now, he first asked the scouts from the front army to search, and divided the team into three parts to keep distance from each other, just to avoid being ambushed. In fact, he was very cautious.
But in this case, Modapolo still did not have the imagination to think that elites from Khotan would ambush him here. This was just out of his usual caution.
Of course, the scouts of the Natsuki Dynasty would not have thought of this, and they did not perform their duties with all their heart.
After all, they were feudal soldiers or Indian soldiers with no moral integrity. It was absolutely impossible to expect them to handle the affairs of the king and generals as their own affairs like the modern national army did.
Therefore, the scouts of the Xiaxi Dynasty did not search everywhere, and their strategies were still the same.
That is, he would simply search a certain area in advance, and then come back a few days later to see if the secret mark he placed last time had been destroyed, so as to determine whether there was an ambush.
Five days passed, and of course there was no result. However, these scouts of the Shahi Dynasty never imagined that in the harsh environment of the Khyber Pass, the five-day limit they considered was just the minimum requirement for the warriors of the Fengtian Army.
After receiving the news that the Xiaxi Dynasty was about to send troops, Zhang Zhao and the warriors of the Fengtian Army had been staying here for fifteen days.
They ate dry food and dried meat, slept in earthen nests, and hydrated with corn wine mixed with a small amount of water.
Even in order to cover up their traces as much as possible, they didn't bring any war horses with them, and carried weapons and armor on their own backs.
This excellence and tenacity beyond this era is what makes Zhang Zhao's Fengtian Army warriors invincible.