Chapter 3323 Chapter 3325 [Success in the First Battle]
According to final statistics, there were 20,000 Jungar troops who came to steal the camp this time, but it was a pity that only a few hundred people were left in the end.
By interrogating these hundreds of people, Xiang Nan already knew the current situation of Yili City.
At present, Azhan Khan is still in the city, and he has gathered an army of 100,000 to protect himself.
This was really beyond Xiang Nan's expectation, because Jungar was by no means a match for the Qing Dynasty in an offensive and defensive battle. What they are good at is riding and shooting, and mobile warfare, but now they have to be trapped in one place. Could it be that Azam Khan is crazy?
In fact, the reason why Azhan Khan refused to leave Ili City was not because he had a strong sense of honor and was unwilling to take a step back, vowing to live and die with Ili City.
Mainly because he couldn't bear to part with the prosperity of Ili City, the wine ponds and meat forests, and he didn't want to live a life of wandering and living in poverty like his grandfather Cewang Alabutan and father Galdan Celing.
At that time, Cewang Alabutan and Galdan Celing both fought against the Qing army. However, they ran away when they couldn't defeat them. They led their troops to hide in remote mountainous areas or desolate corners to recuperate and gather troops. They waited for the Qing army to withdraw and then came back.
Azam Khan was greedy for the comfortable life in Ili City, but he was unwilling to endure hardship, so he gathered a large army to protect him in Ili City. And in this way, it plays into Xiang Nan's wish.
Hearing the news, Xiang Nan almost jumped up to the height of three feet with joy.
Once the army was assembled, the battle was completed. Otherwise, since the Jungar Khanate is so big, if Azhan Khan leads a large army to play hide-and-seek with him, it will be troublesome. Logistics alone will drag down the Qing army.
Secondly, all the armies gathered in Yili City, leaving other places empty of defenses. In this way, when we attack other places in the future, we can divide our forces to attack, and there will no longer be any opponents in the southern and northern frontiers.
"Congratulations to the emperor, congratulations to the emperor." Yue Zhongqi knew how stupid Azhan Khan's strategy of gathering an army in Ili City and trying to defend it was, so he congratulated Xiang Nan.
"Okay, gather the army, and we will try to capture Yili City today." Xiang Nan said to Yue Zhongqi.
Yue Zhongqi nodded and immediately gathered his troops.
…
Having arrived at Ili City at 4 o'clock in the morning, Xiang Nan ordered the Qing army to set up cannons and launch a fierce attack on Ili City.
Ili City has been run by the Junggar Khanate for a hundred years. It can be considered a towering city and is impregnable. There are even more than 100,000 defenders in the city. Including the citizens, there are at least 400,000 people. Counting this, it is an unbreakable city.
Historically, a city as large as this was difficult to conquer. Just like Xiangyang City, when the Mongolian Kingdom was at its strongest, it had been attacked for decades but could not be defeated.
But the generations are different now. In the past, it was the age of cold weapons. Even the most advanced trebuchets had a range of only one or two hundred meters, and the range of bows and arrows was only a hundred or ten meters. Therefore, if you wanted to attack a city, you had to attack it under the city and engage in hand-to-hand combat.
In this way, the defenders of the city will have a favorable location and a commanding position, which will naturally give them a huge advantage.
But the artillery equipped by the Qing army now has a range of four to five miles and is extremely powerful. One blast will create a deep pit. One cannonball can knock down a tall building.
Under such circumstances, even if Jungar had 100,000 elite soldiers, it would be difficult to defeat the Qing army. After all, Xiang Nan and others fired artillery two miles away.
The Jungar's bows and arrows have a range of only seventy or eighty meters, and their firearms have a range of only four or five hundred meters. They can't hit the Qing army at all, and they can only be beaten passively.
But Jungar's 100,000-strong army was of no use at all and could only be beaten passively, with no chance to counterattack.
Seeing this, the Junggar army in the city had no choice but to petition to go out of the city to fight. With the rapid sprint of the cavalry, they reached the Qing army and engaged them in hand-to-hand combat. By that time, the Qing army’s artillery, no matter how powerful it was, would not be able to use it.
Azhan Khan immediately agreed to this request, immediately removed the huge stone blocking the city gate, and released 50,000 soldiers and horses. They rode fast horses and rushed towards the Qing army with loud shouts.
Xiang Nan looked at them and suddenly felt that they were a little pitiful, just like the mantis who overestimated his capabilities in the story "The Mantis Arms Used as a Cart".
After Xiang Nan gave the order, the Qing army immediately adjusted the muzzle of their guns, set up their machine guns, and raised their long guns to take aim.
Hums and bangs were heard and explosions were heard one after another. The machine guns spit out flames and fired life-threatening bullets, and the lances also fired. Jungar's cavalry was like grass for a while, and was soon swept across a large area.
50,000 cavalrymen, not one of them could reach a hundred meters in front of the Qing army.
…
Seeing that 50,000 cavalrymen were wiped out in an instant like wind and clouds, everyone in Ili City was dumbfounded.
At this time, the Qing army took advantage of the city gate being opened and blasted the city gate into pieces with several rounds of artillery shells.
Then Xiang Nan gave an order, and soldiers from various Mongolian tribes and the Yu clan acted as pioneers and poured into the city through the blasted gates. They began to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the troops defending the city.
During this period, Jungar's remaining army naturally started fighting with them, resulting in numerous casualties. This is also the reason why Xiang Nanxian sent various Mongolian tribes and Yu clan to advance into the city.
After all, the Qing army did not have much of an advantage in close combat. Even in modern warfare, no matter how elite the special forces are, they will lose their skin once they encounter street fighting.
Hence, the various Mongolian ministries and the Yu clan's army were sent into the city first, so that they could contain Jungar's army.
The various tribes of the Mongolian state and the Yu clan's army naturally understand Xiang Nan's thoughts, but now it is obvious that they must be obedient. Otherwise, if Zhungar was beaten so badly, their tribe would be even more ruined.
So they had no choice but to charge forward. Fortunately, most of Jungar's army was already dead. Even those who were lucky enough to survive would have lost all their morale.
Comparatively, the morale of the various Mongolian tribes and the Yu clan's army was high, so they had the upper hand as soon as they fought.
While they were fighting fiercely, Xiang Nan gave an order, and one hundred thousand soldiers and horses of the Qing Dynasty were dispatched to attack the city. With the addition of this new force, the Jungar army was completely defeated.
At six o'clock in the afternoon, Xiang Nan was already sitting on Azhan Khan's throne. Azhan Khan and all the princes and ministers of the Dzungar Khanate knelt in front of the throne, all looking very embarrassed.
"I originally wanted to have good relations with you and live in peace. However, you are evil and unrepentant, and have repeatedly invaded our Qing territory. I had no choice but to choose to go on a personal expedition, mobilize my troops, and travel thousands of miles to get here. Azhan Khan , do you know the crime?" Xiang Nan asked loudly.
"Knowing the crime, knowing the crime." At this moment, Azhan Khan had no blood left at all, so he had to lower his head and admit his mistake.
Xiang Nan nodded and announced that Azhan Khan and others would be imprisoned and brought back to the capital for resettlement in the future. It is better to keep people like this than to kill them.
After all, the Dzungar Khanate has been in existence for more than a hundred years, and the people of the country are still very convinced of them. If they are killed, it will inevitably not trigger a civil uprising.
On the contrary, he was taken to the capital and kept under strict supervision. Firstly, it could show the lenient heart of the Qing Dynasty. Secondly, since he was already under house arrest, there would be no waste.
(End of this chapter)