Firmament

Can't stand a pack of hungry wolves.

- Han proverb

The fall of Samarkand meant that the Khorezm Empire was in a difficult predicament of being leaderless and the whole country in chaos.

The

commander of the steppe kingdom entered Samarkand, the capital of the empire, and found that the king of Khorezm, Aladdin Mahamat, had fled, and all he got was an empty city with ordinary people.

He sat on horseback and pondered for a long time.

In the end, he resolutely made a decision: in order to completely eliminate the threat of Khorezm to the steppe country, a general led an army to stay in Samarkand, Hohbazhi, Jebe, and Subutai led 30,000 cavalry out of the city overnight to pursue Aladdin Mahamat from two directions, and Jochi and others led an army to attack Urgench, the old capital of the Khorezm Empire.

The commander of the steppe country believed that if he wanted to fight his enemies, he would completely destroy everything about them, destroy their cities, burn their houses, slaughter their wives and daughters, and exterminate their history and culture, so that the enemies who dared to oppose the steppe country would never be able to turn over.

He thinks so, and he does so.

Plucking the heart of Khorezm in Samarkand, the next important target of the steppe army's attack was directed to the historic city of Urgench.

In July 1220, 50,000 steppe troops besieged Urgenchi, the spiritual home and city of glory in Khorezm.

Although Urgench has lost the title of the best place in the empire, it is the birthplace of the Khorezm people and civilization, and it is also the eternal core and eternal soul of Khorezm.

Straddling the wide Amu Darya River, Urgench has beautiful scenery, a long history, a splendid culture, and a very high degree of social civilization, including tall and magnificent mosques, ingenious houses, and magnificent aristocratic gardens, which are the most gorgeous and dazzling rubies in the imperial crown.

In order to defend the dignity and glory of the Khwarazm Empire, Aladdin Mahamat ordered the city walls of Urgench to be fortified at great expense, with a very firm intention to keep the steppe army out. The famous general Khumar commanded an army of 110,000 troops stationed in the city, ready to strike at the enemy at any moment.

Ali's third brother, Ayyub, followed General Khumar to guard Urgench. His full name is Ayubu Abdullah. Ayub is in his early 20s, with a sturdy and slender body, deep-set eyes, a straight nose, and a thick beard on his face, so he looks more mature and stable than his actual age.

Ayub is the squad leader of the commando. He stood high on the wall, his hands on his waist, his sharp eyes watching the swarming Prairie Nation army.

The

steppe army was adept at marching on horseback, especially galloping across vast and flat fields, and lacked effective methods of conquering well-defended cities. So, they set up camp around Urgench for the time being, and sent captured Khwarazmians to infiltrate the city to lure civilians out of the city and surrender. However, this approach has not worked. They then quickened their preparations for the siege.

The steppe army launched a continuous attack. The fighting lasted more than 6 months. They had nothing to do in the face of the heavily defended Urgench. In the end, they resorted to a blockade of Urgench, cutting off the supply of food and weapons to the city, so that the defending army ran out of ammunition, starved and cold, and then obediently surrendered out of the city.

General Kumar came up with many unexpected tricks and inflicted heavy losses on the steppe army several times.

One day, taking advantage of the steppe army's relaxation of vigilance, Ayub led a group of brave commando soldiers to suddenly rush out of the east gate and quickly attack the enemy who was resting in the camp. By the time the enemy reacted and prepared for battle, Ayub had already led his men back to the city, closed the city gates, and stood on the city walls to mock the unresponsive steppe soldiers.

The

officers and soldiers of the grassland country were furious, but there was no good way, only to stand under the iron wall and grit their teeth.

The

defenders of Urgenzi, united under the leadership of General Kumar, bravely resisted the enemy, inflicting a heavy price on the steppe army. It was the most stubborn resistance they had ever encountered in Khorezm.

In the spring of 1221, Hohbari transferred the Khwarazmians captured elsewhere to Urgenqi and forced them to fill in the trenches at the foot of the city walls, clear the way to the city, and let them dig tunnels to the city in the middle of the night.

General Kumar could not bear to strike at his compatriots in Khorezm, who had destroyed the military obstacles, and watched as the army of the steppe country seized the tactical advantage.

Seeing that the equipment and engineering for attacking the city were fully prepared, Hohbari immediately implemented a new siege strategy. He first sent a vanguard to infiltrate the city through the tunnels and quietly set a fire to the military camp in Khorezm.

When General Kumar saw the sudden smoke rising from the barracks, the flames soared into the sky, and he immediately mobilized a large number of soldiers to return to the barracks to extinguish the fire. This is exactly the plan of Hohe Ba Ri to tune the tiger away from the mountain.

Hohbazhi commanded the army to launch a full-scale offensive against Urgench. Using a variety of siege equipment, they destroyed the fortified gates and opened the gaps in Urgench's defenses. A large number of soldiers rode their horses, brandished their swords, and let out a thunderous roar, rushing into Urgench like a rushing tide.

The soldiers and civilians of Urgench were full of blood, and they swore not to be humiliated slaves.

Led by General Kumar, they stubbornly resisted the enemy's onslaught, forcing the rampaging steppe state army to switch to street fighting, which they were not good at.

The quick blitzkrieg did not succeed.

Hohe Bari frowned, thinking about it. He sent 3,000 soldiers to sabotage the bridge over the Amu Darya River in an attempt to break Urgenzi into small pieces and break them individually.

Ayub saw through the tricks of the steppe army, and took the initiative to ask General Kumar for battle, asking to go and protect the Amu Darya Bridge. He led the bridge protection death commando to appear behind the enemy's flank out of nowhere, cleanly annihilating the soldiers who were destroying the bridge, and fought a beautiful victory. In the midst of an extremely difficult predicament, this victory greatly boosted the morale of the vast number of officers and men who bravely killed the enemy.

Relying on their strong military strength and strong logistical support, the army of the steppe country broke through the many barriers of the defenders of Urgenzi step by step, and slaughtered them all the way to the command tent of General Kumar.

Ayub heard the shouts of the guards outside the tent, picked up a long sword and rushed out of the tent, desperately slashing at the enemy besieging General Khumar. He used his body to fend off poisoned arrows flying from all directions. Soon, his body was covered with arrows, like a brave fighting hedgehog. He endured the heart-rending pain and fought the enemy desperately.

As a result of the poison on the arrows, Ayub felt dizzy and his eyes were foggy. Large areas of redness and swelling appear on the face. A stream of purple-red blood poured out of his mouth. He struggled a few times and fell on the battlefield and died a heroic martyr.

After 7 days and 7 nights of fierce fighting, all 110,000 defenders died heroically.

The loss of Urgench marked the loss of the soul and core of the Khwarazm Empire. The vast empire was torn apart and turned into a mess.