"Your Excellency, because of my incompetence, I actually let you come here in person. I feel very ashamed. If my death can wash away the shame brought by our military performance on you, I will be more than happy to commit suicide according to your order."

On January 21, 1639, Ibrahim's car arrived at the camp of the Ottoman army at the Khyber Pass. After seeing him, the army commander Boris frankly admitted his failure and expressed his willingness to bear all punishment.

"..." After being silent for a long time, Ibrahim sighed: This Russian is loyal, brave, and his fighting skills are actually pretty good - he fought very well in Alexandria back then. But this guy has nothing to do with history.

Russian generals on this plane have a common fault: they don't care too much about the lives of their soldiers.

Nearly half of the 200,000-strong army was lost in half a year. This was an unbearable pain for the Ottomans, whose native population was only 20 million.

Therefore, although there are still a lot of things going on in the country, and although he knows that Boris will lose his prestige when he comes to the front line, he still has to come.

"Boris, don't talk about the past. Now please tell me, who is the commander on the opposite side? How many troops are there, and how many real Chinese are there?"

"It is said that the top commander of the defensive fortress opposite is named Cao Bianjiao, and his deputy is named Zuo Mengeng. After the battle for more than half a year, the Sikhs who were originally stationed here were killed and retreated, and almost none were left. Now they serve as the main force.

They are mainly Gurkhas and Siamese... There are about six to seven hundred real Chinese people now."

"Hey, he is able to control the armies of so many ethnic groups with a weak direct force, and also allows them to achieve impressive results. This commander is really amazing."

"Your Excellency, I am deeply ashamed."

"Sorry, what I just said was not directed at you. Boris, is the source of the intelligence reliable? Did it come from a Chinese prisoner?"

"Unfortunately, until today's fighting, we may have killed hundreds of Chinese people, but we have not captured a single prisoner. The above information was all given by the Sikhs and Gurkhas we captured."

"That shouldn't be too far off. In this case, Boris, please send an envoy to the fortress on the opposite side and tell their commander. The Grand Vizier of the Empire invites him to have a talk in front of both sides."

"Sir, this is really too dangerous."

"No, if I don't do this, we will be in danger."

"Your Mightiness?"

"Dear Boris, you are a very pure soldier, so it is normal that you can't understand some things. Your traits were nothing before, but you are now the commander of a country's heavy military group, so political matters

, you should also pay more attention."

"Please give me your advice."

"Teaching is out of the question. In fact, as a pure technician, I also hate talking about politics, but in this position, I can't help but slowly change." - Of course, I can only say this in my heart.

Think about it.

"Boris, we all know that the Chinese have built a very abnormal defense system here in the Khyber Pass, and the commanders here are really powerful, so in my opinion, it is normal that they have not been defeated within half a year -

In fact, in previous wars in Europe, it was very common to besiege a fortress for several years and not be able to defeat it.

But the problem now is that it only took the EU four or five months to drive away the main force of the Chinese and occupy the Deccan Plateau and the Ganges Plain. And we faced a small force and a group of Chinese

A miscellaneous force, but they couldn't take over this place for most of half a year. It's been like this for a long time, and it's still a small thing for the EU to look down on us. They are afraid that they have inappropriate thoughts, think that we are very weak, and want to take action against us."

"Do they dare? I will let them taste the disastrous defeat of Jerusalem again!"

Did you command the victory in Jerusalem? That was Richelieu. Hey, our Ottomans seem to have entered a period of talent shortage at this time, lacking famous generals.

"Stop saying that, Boris, the country now only has 300,000 new-style army troops, and this battle has cost at least more than 120,000 people (including the losses of the Sikhs on the southern front, illness, etc.). Because

Our navy cannot bring its main force into the Persian Gulf, so we have to mobilize a large amount of manpower and animal power to support logistics by land. This is also very harmful to the country economically. Moreover, if we continue to be in a stalemate here, let alone the EU

, even the Persians who are already under our control will have other ideas. Therefore, please send an envoy to meet with the other party's commander as soon as possible. I want to end this war as soon as possible through political negotiations."

"I... am, following your order, Your Excellency."

So, the next day, in the middle of the confrontation between the two armies, a pavilion with only a roof and ventilation on all sides was erected on a slightly flatter stone slab.

At twelve o'clock at noon, Cao Bianjiao appeared in front of Ibrahim, dressed in the uniform of a Ming army officer.

"Brave commander, please sit down. Is there anyone familiar with our language over there? You can bring one over."

"No need. It has been said that this battle lasted for more than half a year, but the battle did not happen every day. Most of the time, I asked your prisoners to teach me Turkic language. Otherwise, I would have been idle here just for a while." He was very bachelor.

Sitting down, Cao Bianjiao lay down on the back of the chair with all his body relaxed: "Grand Vizier? Is he the Prime Minister of our court? Is there anything you want to say to me, the little battalion commander?"

"Uh, haha, I'm actually very familiar with many people in your country. For example, Chen Zizhuang from your country, we had a deep friendship in Istanbul before. There are also Liu Xingzhi, Cui Chengxiu... and others who have gone to your country.

Richelieu, oh, by the way, how is he in your country now? Is everything okay?"

"Ahem, Grand Wei Qi, Chen Shangshu is a second-rank official in the imperial court, equivalent to a lieutenant general or even a general in our military. What about me?" He patted his epaulette: "Major, do you think I have anything to do with them?

Do we meet? Hey, Grand Wei Qi, I am a warrior. If you have anything to say, just say it directly and don't beat around the bush."

"Okay, my request is very simple, please hand over this fortress."

"Hey~ Grand Wei Qi, you are in charge of a country after all, so you can say such a thing? Zhang Xun Village is right here. If you want it, come and get it yourself!"

"Brave commander, it is precisely because of the heroic fighting of you and your comrades and your outstanding command that we cannot win it in the short term by military means alone. Therefore, I am ready to exchange something with you."

"Huh? Change? Change for what?"

"First of all, you must admit that when your country's main force has been defeated by the Europeans and has completely withdrawn from India. If you stick here, we may not be able to do anything to you for the time being. However, you will lose to time."

"...So what? As a national soldier, I can only die."

"Oh, it would be a pity for such an outstanding and young commander like you to die here so early. How about, commander, if you hand this place over to me, the first condition I offer is: give you enough

We will provide you with supplies so that you can go home with the Chinese, Gurkhas, and Siamese who are still here."

"The first condition?" Cao Bianjiao raised his eyebrows: "So there are other conditions? Let's talk about it?"

"I know that you have persisted here for so long. In addition to the fact that the defense system is really well built and your command is really good, your biggest reliance is the Sikhs in the south and the Pashtuns in the north. Before I came here,

I have already met with the king of the Pashtuns. I guarantee the independence of their country and do not ask them to help me attack your country. I only ask them to cut off their material support to you. He has agreed."

Hearing this, Cao Bianjiao's heart skipped a beat, but he still said calmly: "Are you so kind? As far as I know, you have an agreement with the Europeans, right? The territory of the Pashtuns has also been assigned to you in advance.

Right?"

"It seems that the rank of our officers who fell into the hands of your army is quite high. You even know this." Ibrahim spread his hands: "A dry and barren place like Afghanistan can be assigned to me.

I'm too lazy to do it. Instead of imposing a strong rule and spending a lot of money on garrisoning every year, it's better to let them remain independent, as long as they don't come to mess with me."

"That's true. Then, how do you appease the Sikhs in the south? Do you also allow their country to continue to exist?"

"Of course this is impossible. In this joint European and Austrian march, what we got in Pakistan was the richest in Punjab, the core area of ​​the Sikh Kingdom. If the Sikhs were allowed to continue to remain independent, I would have spent so much time this time.

What are all the manpower and material resources for?”

"Haha, I figured it out. It seems that your partial division in the south is not going well against the brave and fighting Sikhs, so you want to pass through me and attack the Sikhs from the north and south."

"You are wrong, Commander. The reason why the progress in the south is slow is because I don't want to open the magic box. Because I think that the Sikhs will be very good soldiers for the Empire in the future, compared to what the EU got on the Ganges Plain."

The Hindustani people are much stronger. So, I don’t want to open the magic box and cause too many casualties to the Sikhs.”

"Magic box?"

"Please allow me to show you a little bit." After saying this, Ibrahim waved to the back, and a waiter brought a large glass bottle. There was a lively white mouse in the glass bottle.

After placing the glass bottle right in front of Cao Bianjiao's sight, the attendant carefully took a small glass bottle from another attendant. This glass bottle contained about two milliliters of colorless oily liquid. After that,

, the attendant tightly stuffed the corked side of the glass bottle into a pipe above the glass bottle. The needle-like sharp protrusions in the pipe naturally pierced the cork, and the oily liquid in the small glass bottle

The liquid flowed into the large glass bottle where the mouse was, and quickly atomized and disappeared.

But soon, the mouse in the glass bottle, which was still alive and kicking, went crazy and scratched its skin with its limbs, so much that the fur was scratched and it didn't want to stop - but this process was very short, two minutes.

Before long, the white mouse with ulcerated skin fell into the glass bottle, looking completely dead.

"Dear Commander, this is mustard gas, which is a very lethal poison gas. If I want, I will choose a day with north wind, put it in the artillery shell, and hit your position..."

"Hmph, it's a bluff." After all, he was not yet thirty years old at the moment, and the young Cao Bianjiao didn't even realize that his voice had changed: "Since you have such a thing, why don't you use it?"

"It's very simple. This is a magic box. Once opened, someone will definitely follow suit. It is said that His Majesty the Emperor of your country has superb medical skills and is the number one doctor in your country. Doctors are good at saving people, but they are also good at killing people. I believe that as long as

I'm using it here, and it won't be long before he comes up with similar gas bombs and uses them on my soldiers."

Before Cao Bianjiao could speak, Ibrahim said seriously: "However, if the Khyber Pass cannot be taken again and the pressure on me is too great, I will be forced to face the Sikhs here and on the southern front.

Such weapons are widely used in human battles. So, Commander, you should hand over this fortress to me. I promise in the name of Allah that as long as you hand over the fortress and our prisoners in the fortress, I will

Let you and your soldiers leave safely and embark on the road back home."

What should I do? After watching Yi Praxin's demonstration, Cao Bianjiao's heart was already shaken: To be honest, the food in the fortress is now less than two months. No matter how much you save, you can't survive three months. Except

The base of food and ammunition has dropped below three digits. If it weren't for such a predicament, he wouldn't have come out to negotiate with the other party alone.

"Your Excellency, Commander, if you die here, your martial name will definitely be praised. But, what's the point of chanting your martial name when everyone is dead? On the contrary, you only need to go back alive and use your today's military achievements.

, it will be a matter of time before you become a general or even a marshal in the future. If there is a chance then, can't you personally lead the army to come to me and take back today's humiliation?"

Looking at the silent Cao Bianjiao, Ibrahim was also a little anxious: the Khyber Pass must be captured soon! Otherwise, it will arouse the covetousness of Europeans and the contempt of Persians, a consequence he cannot afford. At the same time, mustard gas is

He can produce this stuff, but at least for now, there are no factories in China that specialize in producing this stuff - this bit of mustard gas is just a laboratory product.

"Your Excellency, Commander, you have been able to command soldiers of so many ethnic groups to fight for so long, so you must be a very moral person. Maybe you are thinking about what the Sikhs who are under attack from both sides will think of you after you let go.

For your concerns, I will allow you to send a message to the Sikhs... In fact, it would be very beneficial for the Sikhs to surrender early, which would be very beneficial to the survival of their race. If you do this, it will actually be a great benefit to their nation.

The kindness... please don't force me to use the means I least want to use..."
Chapter completed!