Firmament

Neighbors will take advantage of the loopholes.

- Gaoshan proverb

In the early summer of 1220, Samarkand, the capital of the Khorezm Empire.

In the evening, Ali's uncle, Ahmed, came to his brother's house in the Old City.

He first exchanged greetings with his brother and sister-in-law, and then responded to Ali's greetings. He then took off his galoshes, stepped on a low wooden kang, crossed his legs, and sat on a sky-blue blanket woven with a grapevine pattern.

Ali brought a chic-shaped copper teapot, gently placed it on a small square table in the center of the big kang, and poured a bowl of hot tea for Ahmed, his father, his mother, and himself in the order of guest before host, man before woman, elder before junior.

Ali's mother brought a plate of pilaf made with rice, almonds and raisins. Suddenly, the smell of pilaf filled the room.

Ahmed finished the greeting and began to taste pilaf and tea. With his thumb, index finger, and middle finger, he trembled and picked up a ball of pilaf, put it in his mouth and chewed it a few times, took a sip of tea, and swallowed it with the water.

Ahmed wiped the drops of water from his gray beard with the back of his hand and told everyone about the current political news: "You may not know that the current situation is very unfavorable for our Khwarazm Empire. "

Ali's father, Abdullah, asked, "Why?"

Ahmad said: "First of all, the Khorezm Empire is a new and huge empire, with a loose internal structure, many ethnic groups, and the cohesion of the people is not very strong and solid, and it is difficult to form a situation of unity with the same hatred and common external affairs in a short period of time. On the other hand, our opponents, although the rise of the steppe country is also very short, but based on their geographical attributes and pre-war mobilization education, every steppe person is not only a shepherd of cattle and sheep, but also a warrior who can go to the battlefield at any time. Moreover, for the nomadic steppe people, the rich and vast Khwarazm Empire had an irresistible allure.

"Secondly, although the total strength of the Khorezm Empire is far greater than that of the Western Expeditionary Army of the Steppe Country, we do not know which city they will attack, and there are many cities that need to be fortified, and the deployed forces will inevitably be scattered and easy to break through. On the other hand, our opponents, the army of the steppe country, which is on horseback, has the great advantage of moving quickly. They swept across the land of the Khorezm Empire like a storm in the desert.

"Brother, sister-in-law, can you understand what I say?"

Ali's father replied, "I understand." "

Ali just listened silently to the conversation between his father and uncle. The Khorezm people have a custom that juniors should strictly restrain their words and deeds in front of their elders, and they must not be rude.

Ahmet nodded and took a sip of his tea.

Ali's mother picked up the teapot and filled the teapot for her brother-in-law.

Ahmed nodded his thanks to Ali's mother and continued: " It is a pity, a pity, that our noble King Aladdin Mahamat heeded the advice of the Ismaili minister, lost his way in the turbulent clouds, made an extremely wrong judgment, sent the main army to the city of Ferghana, listed Samarkand and Urgench as the focus of defense, gathered half of the forces of the Khorezm Empire, and at the same time stockpiled enough supplies in all the castles from the Karatau Mountains to the Ferghana Basin, intending to wear down the patience of the army of the steppe country with a protracted war. "

Abdullah cautiously reminded: "Ahmed, you must be careful in what you say, and you must not accuse our noble King Aladdin Mahamad. "

Ahmet nodded knowingly.

Ali couldn't help but chimed in, "These are good solutions!"

Ali's father hesitated and asked, "The strategy is very detailed. But our Khorezm Empire is so powerful that it wouldn't be what it is today, right?"

Ahmed did not take a stand for his brother and nephew's opinions, and continued:

However, when the steppe army arrived at the city of Retara, it did not attack Ferghana, Samarkand, and Urgenzi, as the Ismaili minister had envisioned, but instead marched in four directions.

"All the way the army besieged the city of Sadara. The fighting lasted six months, resulting in more than 30,000 casualties among the Khorezm Imperial army. The second army followed the Syr Darya River and captured Sygnak, Felt, and Yangjigan. The Third Route Army attacked Bernakert and Khufelt southeast of the Syr Darya. Soon after, the First and Third armies met outside Samarkand.

"General Hohbari led the main army of the middle route to the banks of the Syr Darya. They could not find a wooden boat to cross the river, so they wrapped the branches in the hides of the oxen as skins, put their swords and clothes in the skins, tied the skins behind them with ropes, drove their horses into the river and swam in front of them, and their hands grabbed the tails of the horses and drove across the Syr Darya River. They raced through the 600-kilometer-wide Kigilkum Desert to the Amu Darya Valley, capturing the cities of Sernuk and Neer, and approaching Bukhara, the center of the empire.

"The army of the steppe country continued to inflict heavy losses on our army, and it took three months to clear the oases in the middle and upper reaches of the Syr Darya River and occupy all the cities on both sides.

"When the steppe army was slaughtering the civilians of Bukhara, an old woman knelt in front of her war horse and pleaded for her life. With tears in her eyes, she said, 'Don't kill me, I just swallowed a string of pearls in my stomach and will soon die.' My five sons were merchants and had lots and lots of gold and silver treasures. If you will leave me a whole corpse, I will give you all my possessions. ’

"The soldiers of the Prairie Country ordered the old lady to lead the way in front and look for the place where the treasure was buried. When they got the gold and silver treasures, they broke their promise and killed the old woman, cut open her stomach with a sharp knife, and took out the string of pearl......s she had swallowed."

Ahmed folded the thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers of his right hand, pinched a ball of pilaf, and brought it to his mouth to eat.

Ali's mother said with concern: "Ahmed, the pilaf is already cold. I'd better warm it up. "

Ahmed obediently let go of his fingers. The pilaf slipped silently onto the silver plate.

He let out a long sigh and said word by word: "The most distressing thing is that the Central Route Army captured the cultural center of Bukhara, looted all the valuable belongings, and destroyed Bukhara with a fire. The thousand-year-old city, tens of thousands of precious books, and exquisite and magnificent buildings were all destroyed in their hands!"

When Ali heard this, he clenched his fists and said angrily: "These invaders are so vicious! Let the eagle peck their eyes, let the hungry wolf tear their flesh!"

A few tears fell from Ahmet's dim eyes. He slowly wiped the tears from his face with trembling hands, and continued: "The commander of the steppe country, who has lost his mind, thinks that every Khorezm man has treasures hidden in his belly, and orders that Khorezm captives be disemboweled. The task of slaughter was given. Each soldier had to cut open the bellies of 24 captives. How many of our flesh and blood compatriots have to be slaughtered by more than 50,000 soldiers! They have been killing incessantly, brutally, with cut-edged knives, rivers of blood, piles of corpses, and the sun and the moon have lost their color!"

Ahmed's voice trembled and filled with despair. He gently wiped the tears from his face with his sleeve.

Ali's mother brought the hot pilaf to the small square table.

Ahmed picked up a small ball of pilaf with his right hand, brought it to his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it slowly.

Ali especially wanted to know how the situation was developing. A pair of large dark eyes flashed in his sunken sockets, and his mouth was open, waiting for Ahmet to continue.

Ahmed wiped the thick beard on his lips with his hand and said with difficulty: "O Khwarazm Empire, the great motherland that nourishes us, the head of all nations of wealth and beauty. The catastrophe that the ancient prophets predicted is about to befall you. "

Ali's father and mother were very sad. They turned their faces away and sighed incessantly. They are unwilling and afraid to face this terrible truth.

Ali's eyes burned with hatred. He really didn't understand how the Khorezm Empire, which was prosperous and powerful yesterday and had no glory in the past, could become weak and vulnerable today

Time flies. The moon rose over the night sky of Samarkand.

Ahmed stood up, told his brother and sister-in-law to take care of their health, and warned Ali to suspend the shop's business.

He walked out of the courtyard gate, arching his increasingly curved back forward, and silently walked away. His figure left a long shadow on the cobblestone street.

Later, the war on the front line was tense and the country was in danger. Ahmed was too busy to get out and never came to Ali's house for tea and dinner. Ali and his parents also didn't have the opportunity to hear detailed and accurate news. Rumors of defeat, death, and the massacre of the city filled their ears. Their hearts grew more and more panicked day by day.

The situation in Samarkand is indeed becoming more tense.

Aladdin Mahamat faced a powerful foe and came to his senses. He held several military meetings overnight to analyze the strategic intentions of the steppe country with senior generals and study the countermeasures of Khorezm.

At the most critical moment, Aladdin Mahamad entrusted the defense of the capital to 100,000 Iranians and Turks, and led a group of relatives and loyal guards to flee to the Indus Valley in the southern Khorasan and Hindu Kush mountains in the northeastern Iranian plateau. Ali's second brother, Musa, was on this team.

The steppe armies traveled long distances and were unable to carry heavy weapons, lacking strong and powerful assault weapons. The army commander ordered the establishment of weapons factories on the front line, and forced captured skilled craftsmen to use local materials to imitate siege weapons from Khorezm, and also imitated new weapons such as fire oil canisters with grass charcoal as the center of lamps and sheep fat as oil, poison fire canisters, and smoke bombs.

After completing all the works of the siege, the commander of the steppe country decisively ordered: to capture Samarkand, the capital of the Khorezm Empire.

The defenders of Samarkand heroically held back the enemy with canisters of fire oil and bows and arrows. Of the 100,000 troops, the Turkic Kangli accounted for more than 60,000. They were half-hearted and loyal, and luckily thought that they were of the same species as the steppe people, and that they would be treated well and favorably even if they were defeated. Therefore, as time goes by, and there is no core of the main matter, there are fewer and fewer soldiers who hold their positions, and more and more advocate surrender. Eventually, more than 30,000 Konli soldiers fled from Samarkand and surrendered to the steppe troops outside the city.

The generals of the steppe country accepted them amicably and arranged for them to rest in their tents.

As the Kangli people fell asleep, the soldiers of the Prairie Nation set the camp on fire with a fire. Most of the people were burned to death by the fire. The rest were also stabbed to death with sharp knives, and none of them were spared.

The

ruthless approach of the steppe army further shook the hearts of the military and civilians of Samarkand.

After another day and a night of fierce fighting, the soldiers and civilians defending the city saw that the army of the grassland country was still violent, thinking that they had received divine help from the sky, and their hearts were terrified for a while. They can fight to the end against the fierce army of the Prairie Country, but they dare not oppose the firmament that dominates the world.

The

defenders of Samarkand, full of atonement, voluntarily surrendered to ......

The army of the steppe nation rushed into the city of Samarkand like a tidal wave. The first target they occupied was the imposing and richly decorated royal palace.

The guards defending the palace have withdrawn with Aladdin Mahamat.

The steppe army rushed into the palace without encountering great obstacles. Whether they were guards or palace servants, military generals or civil officials, as long as they saw Khorezmian raise their swords, they would kill them, and vent their anger to the fullest.

Ahmed was working in the royal palace, engrossed in sorting out the paperwork files. He heard the sound of killing outside, and knew that the countdown to the demise of the Khorezm Empire, which he loved infinitely, was in. Helplessly, the old man was powerless to return to heaven, and he had to abide by the last duty of a clerk.

The two soldiers rushed into the archives and saw an old man with a fluttering white beard cleaning up papers, and they glared at him and yelled at him.

Ahmed seems to be ignoring their existence and ignoring them at all.

They rushed forward in a fit of rage, ready to arrest the old man.

Ahmet suddenly picked up the teacup on his desk and threw it at the soldier with all his might.

The

soldier furiously raised his knife and stabbed Ahmet into his broad chest.

"Long live the Khorezm Empire!" Ahmed cried out miserably, his eyes wide open with rage, and he lay ...... in a pool of blood