Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Chapter 473: Laughter and Scholar Discussing Style

"Everything I heard is true, but Samarkand is more spectacular than I imagined." This sentence was the admiration given by Alexander the Great of the Macedonian Empire when he captured the city of Samarkand.

For the well-informed emperor to express such admiration shows the beauty and prosperity of this city. The earliest records about it can be traced back to the fifth century BC. The Sogdians, who were good at doing business, built it into a beautiful capital. As one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, this city has a history of more than 2,000 years. Because it is the hub of trade between the East and the West, it is called the Pearl of the Silk Road.

It was once the capital of the Khorezm Empire. After it was captured by Genghis Khan's army, it suffered a disaster. Most of the buildings in the city were built under the orders of the later Emperor Timur. Timur's armies swept across Persia, India, the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, and Mongolia. He vowed to make Samarkand the capital of Asia, so he piled treasures looted from all over Asia in Samarkand, brought the most exquisite craftsmen from each city to Samarkand, and built the most splendid buildings in the city. The palaces and mosques made this place the heart of Central Asia. Although the Shebanid Uzbeks moved their capital to the city of Bukhara after establishing the Bukhara Khanate, and the importance of this place was secondary within the Khanate, it was still an extremely important city, with economic and social development everywhere. cultural prosperity.

On February 1651, the eighth year of David's reign (), Sultan's western expedition army reached the city of Samarkand.

"Mr. Hu, you are knowledgeable, do you know the origin of this city?" Suletan smiled and pointed at the tall city wall with his riding crop, and the right deputy capital censor Hu Lianqi was examined.

Hu Lianqi smiled, "I am stupid and only know that Samarkand means "fertile land" in Bukhara (Uzbek). "Book of Wei" calls it Xiwanjin; "Book of Sui" calls it Kang State; "New Book of Tang" calls it Kang State and Sa Mojian; Yuan Dynasty classics call it Xun Siqian, Xemi Siqian and Xue Mi Sijia. Yelu Chucai once said in "Journey to the West": "Xunsi Qian, a Westerner, Yunfeiye, named it because of the fertile land"; Ming classics all call it Samarkand."

"Oh, Mr. Hu is so knowledgeable. I am so lucky to have your help!" Sultan praised sincerely.

Hu Lianqi was a conceited person who liked to give direct advice and often contradicted the Great Khan of Lotus. The Great Khan appreciated his talent but also disliked his conceited attitude. Every time I make a strategy, all the ministers shout loudly about being sage, great, and wise. How dare you say that this is wrong and that is wrong? Arrogant! Don't think that you are some kind of roc in the clouds, hating the sky and refusing to fly. In my eyes, everyone in the world is my slave, and Erhu Lianqi is no exception! Therefore, the Supreme Being deliberately created a difficult problem to make things difficult for him. Samarkand is thousands of miles away in the west. I don’t know if this mad man knows about it. He will not be able to answer when the time comes and he will be embarrassed in front of everyone. Let’s see if he still dares to be arrogant in front of me. Unexpectedly, the talented scholar Hu actually knew it and talked endlessly about it and quoted scriptures. This made the Supreme Being a little disappointed, but also a little admired. These scholars are crazy. I have never read any of the "Books of Wei", "Books of Sui", "New Books of Tang", "Journey to the West", etc. that he mentioned.

Suletan stopped talking and sat on his horse looking up at the city wall. He saw that the wall was more than three feet high (about 11 meters). The towering city wall was densely covered with forts, arrow stacks, parapets and other city defense facilities. The inner city (Arka Palace) is built in the west of the city where the old palace is located, and the castle (Jacques Castle) is built in the northwest corner. In order to better guard the palace city, a large castle was built on the Chapanata Highlands outside the West City, echoing the city of Samarkand.

Spies have been sent to find out that the outer city wall covers an area of ​​about 72 square kilometers. It is similar to the Ming Dynasty's Ming Dynasty, which likes to open many gates. The city of Samarkand has eleven gates, six of which are always open. More than 100,000 Uzbek and Tajik people, as well as caravans from various countries, live in the city, which can provide a large number of civilians for the defenders during wartime. "Oh, this city is not easy to fight!" The Great Khan, who had experienced hundreds of battles, only took one look and made a solemn judgment.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. The Bukhara people lack cavalry. Even if they have a powerful city, they can only be passively beaten. Samarkand will be yours sooner or later," Hu Lianqi said calmly.

Wonderful! Finally caught this crazy language disorder!
Sultan pinched his moustache proudly, "Hu Qing did a bad job this time. The residents here are mainly Uzbeks and Tajiks. When we were in Fergana, we had dealt with Uzbek and Tajik tribes." "There are many people who are good at riding and shooting, and the number of cavalry is quite large."

"Your Majesty only knows one thing but not the other," Hu Liangqi sat on his horse and talked eloquently. "Fergana is located on the border of Bukhara. Many tribes still retain the nomadic tradition of their ancestors, so there are a lot of cavalry. . But the city of Samarkand and Bukhara are the heartland of the country of Bukhara. A hundred years ago, the Uzbeks here were nomadic like the Kazakhs, eating meat and milk. But because they were located on the Silk Golden Road, The coming and going of caravans brought huge wealth. They gradually abandoned the hard nomadic life of their ancestors and began to settle down, farm and do business. After a hundred years of evolution, today the Uzbeks in the river (referring to Bukhara and Samarkand) and the Tajiks, who have forgotten how to hunt on horseback. In addition, during the second Kazakh-Bukhara war, Bukhara was defeated and surrendered to Kazakhstan, signing the "New Treaty of Bukhara", which expressly stipulated that the country was not allowed to possess Army. Their army can only exist in the name of militia, so how dare they develop cavalry on a large scale? They only recruited some cavalry in the name of tribal soldiers in the Fergana area."

Sultan didn't quite believe that the Bukhara Khanate, which was once good at fighting, would actually lack cavalry? He looked at Hada, the head of the Wuyi Guard beside him.

"That's true, Khan," Hada confirmed Hu Lianqi's words.

"Hahaha, people say that a scholar can know the affairs of the world without going out. I didn't believe it at first, but I believed it after meeting Mr. Hu." Suletan laughed loudly, "I was born in sorrow and died in happiness. I didn't expect that it would only last a hundred years. Over time, the people of Bukhara no longer know how to ride horses and shoot arrows! Without cavalry, they can only hide in the city and be passively attacked. Even if the enemy has tall and solid walls and countless fortifications; even if they are good at making firearms and various weapons, There are so many cannons that the earth trembles; even if there are many defenders and sufficient supplies of food and supplies in the city; even if all the Bukhara people are heroes who are not afraid of death, what is the use of being trapped in the city?"

The general is the courage of the soldier, and sweat is the soul of the general. The long laugh of the Great Khan of Lotus was full of disdain and contempt for the enemy, which immediately made the morale of the guardsmen rise to an unprecedented high.

(End of this chapter)