Firmament

Whoever holds the beads does not necessarily do good.

- Tibetan proverb

The king of the steppe country sent three envoys, led by Khwarazm Baharat, to Khorezm to demand justice in front of Aladdin Mahamat and to demand the perpetrator of the killing of the steppe merchants.

Aladdin Mahamat received the envoy of the steppe country as usual.

The envoy conveyed the original words of the king of the steppe country: "You have made a joint agreement with me to promise not to harm the merchants of the steppe country. Now, you have broken your promises and tore up your promises, and you have become the ruler of a kingdom in vain. If you deny ordering the murder of our merchants, then please return all our goods and hand over the culprit who caused the crime, and we in the steppe country will punish him. Otherwise, I will be unceremonious to your country. We can only duel on the battlefield!".

After listening to the stern words of the king of the steppe country, Aladdin Mahamat lowered his head and thought for a long time. If he had made a scapegoat for the steppe country at this time, he might have avoided a devastating war, or at least delayed the disaster and mitigated the fatal injuries suffered by Khorezm.

Aladdin Mahamat could not have done that.

On the one hand, it is difficult to find out that it is the nephew of the queen mother and his cousin. Let him attack the relatives of the queen mother, it is difficult to go to the sky. Moreover, it is difficult to get out of the hands of a large number of troops. If he is captured, he may not be caught, but it will cause a scuffle within Khorezm, creating an opportunity for the steppe country to invade Khorezm.

On the other hand, after all, the order to slaughter the spy was given by Aladdin Mahamat himself, and the full responsibility cannot be placed on one person. Even if it is difficult to hand it over to them, the grassland country may not give up. They wanted the wealth of Khorezm, not a general who killed merchants.

Aladdin Mahamat is determined to compete with the king of the steppe country to see who can rule the whole world.

Judging from the intelligence collected by the secret agents, the territory of the steppe country is not as vast as the land of Khorezm, the size of the army is not as huge as that of Khorezm, and the country's financial resources are not as abundant as Khorezm, and the political centers of the two countries are thousands of miles away, even if the army of the steppe country fights, it is still lacking in soldiers, and the chance of victory is very small.

Khorezm is in a period of rapid rise in national power. Aladdin Mahamat was full of confidence and did not regard the shepherds of the north as his opponents. Therefore, he resolutely rejected the steppe state's request to "hand over the perpetrators and re-conclude a peace agreement". What's more, he broke with the international practice of "the two countries are at war without beheading", ordered the head of the steppe envoy to be cut off, burned the beard of the deputy envoy as a sign of insult, and finally expelled the envoy from Khorezm.

Whether it is out of the dignity of the country or for the sake of long-term interests, the steppe country, which is also on the rise, will certainly not accept such a humiliating result. What's more, Aladdin Mahamat's approach played into the hands of the king of the steppe country, allowing him to find the best excuse to avenge his compatriots and attack Khorezm.

It

is inevitable that the Khorezm Empire and the steppe country will meet each other!

In the spring of 1219, the generals of the steppe state, Huhebari, Subutai, and Jebe, led the army of the western expedition and set out from the grassy banks of the Krulun River. They grew up in the cool north and couldn't stand the scorching heat. After crossing the Altai Mountains, they stopped their advance and camped on the banks of the Irtysh River to rest.

Hohba Ri did not let the army relax and conducted military training every day.

One day, the soldiers held a solemn and solemn oath meeting on the flat and felt-like Deren Mountain. Standing on a high point on the platform, the Supreme Commander impassionedly preached the great historical significance of the Western Expedition, and encouraged the soldiers to fight bloodily for the prosperity and strength of the steppe country and create new glories.

The soldiers were full of passion and let out a shout like spring thunder.

The shouts echoed for a long time in the eternal wasteland, urging people to forge ahead, and the mountains and rivers were magnificent.

The reason why the steppe country attached importance to this war was that on the one hand, the king who was in full swing would never accept the humiliation of Khorezm, and on the other hand, he believed that Khorezm had a vast territory and a solid treasury after years of conquest, and as long as he conquered Khorezm, he could smoothly accept this huge inheritance, strengthen the strength of the steppe country, and more effectively eliminate the Nüzhiguo, Baigao Daxia and Dongfang kingdoms.

The steppe army passed through several small countries on its way west. Knowing that they were no match for the steppe country, these countries saw the wind and took refuge in this towering tree. The Gaochang Kingdom and the Alimari Kingdom were the first to submit to the Steppe Kingdom and sent an army to participate in the western expedition. The Aerhun people lived in the area from the Seven River Basin to the Chu River Valley, and when they heard about the westward expedition of the grassland country, they hurriedly sent envoys to curry favor with Huhe Bari, and at the same time formed the Aerhun Volunteer Army to participate in the war.

The stubbornness of the Bai Gao Daxia Kingdom and its refusal to send troops to Hohe Bari made the grassland country increase its bitter hatred for the Tang Wu people.

The

strength of the steppe country's westward expedition was about 100,000 to 150,000, but it was claimed to be an army of 600,000 to the outside world, and the purpose was to deter and intimidate Khorezm in momentum.

There are two routes for the Prairie Nation army to choose from:

The first is to start from the Altai Mountains, cross the valley of the Ili River, the valley of the Chu River and the valley of the Taraz River, cross the Karatau Mountains along the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and start a major battle with the army of Khorezm in the area of the city of Khatara in the middle reaches of the Syr Darya River.

The second is to start from Kashgar in the western corner of the Tarim Basin, the last capital of the Western Khitan, along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, over the Tianshan Mountains in Vietnam, and enter the Fergana Basin in the upper reaches of the Syr Darya River.

These two routes are the two main lines of the Silk Road trade route, namely the New North Road and the North Road. The former was pioneered by the Han Empire. The latter was opened up by the Tang Empire. In the end, the steppe country unexpectedly chose the option of taking both routes, and decided to flank the Khorezm army from two directions.

When the weather cooled in autumn, the steppe state army immediately set off from the banks of the Irtysh River.

Jebe led 5,000 cavalry to conquer Western Khitan as a countermeasure, and broke into the Ferghana Basin of Khorezm in advance. The main force of 200,000 took the northern Tianshan Road, passed through Beshbali and Bortala, passed through Temur to Alimali, crossed the Ili River to the west, passed through Hai Abli, and marched rapidly towards Khorezm.

The

Khorezm military was full of self-confidence and made a well-thought-out war plan

Aladdin Mahamad sent 400,000 troops to the front line, asking them to take the initiative and meet the enemy head-on, leaving a small army to defend the city.

Following

Aladdin Mahamat's instructions, the Khwarazm army changed the walls of the main city into solid masonry structures and increased them in height and thickness, building blockhouses at intervals. Civilians in the city are allowed to legally possess weapons and fight against invading enemies at any time. Officers regularly conducted military training for the townspeople, so that every Khorezm person became a strong and brave warrior.

Ismaili sent a scout to the border and asked them to observe the movements of the steppe army, and to give him timely feedback so that they could formulate targeted countermeasures. He dispatched a division of troops to ambush the grassland army's inevitable path and wait for the rabbit, and sent another part of the army to deliberately harass the grassland army. If the main forces of the steppe country tracked down the ambush circle, the Khorezm army could condescend and strike at the enemy fiercely.

Khorezm also formulated a strategy of interspersing and encirclement, disrupting the military dispatch of the steppe country's army, and sent elite troops to rob and kill the commander of the steppe country. If the ambush fails, the army retreats to the Hindu Kush Mountains and engages with the unfamiliar enemy, ambushing the steppe army in the deep mountains and old forests until they are defeated and defeated. If the steppe army gave up the pursuit and besieged the city, the Khwarazm army immediately dispersed on the spot to support the defenders in the nearby city, intercepted the steppe country's logistics support team, hijacked their families, shook the morale of the soldiers, and drained their will to fight.