In the evening, Altik gave the order that no one was allowed to enter or leave the city, and the port was also temporarily closed. Only merchant ships were allowed to enter, but no merchant ships were allowed to leave. Thus, Aden City was completely under his control.
After that, Altik began to mobilize the soldiers and mercenaries under his command to make all kinds of preparations before the battle. After dark, he ordered the soldiers to leave the city through different city gates to increase the speed at which they could leave the city and arrive at their battle positions as soon as possible.
In order to prevent enemy spies from reporting the situation, Altik had already sent many small groups of soldiers to set up blockades on the paths leading to the enemy's main camp. Of course, these blockades were hidden so that it would be easier to intercept any spies who came to report the situation.
There were only a dozen or so soldiers at each of the blockades, but they were all the strongest and most reliable soldiers. They were disguised as ordinary hunters, so even if they were discovered, no one would know what they were doing.
During the day, it was normal to see pedestrians on the streets. After all, Aden City was a commercial city, so it was normal to see merchants coming and going. However, at night, there were no pedestrians on the roads outside the city. Even if there were pedestrians, they were very few. Perhaps they were ordinary people who walked slowly, or perhaps they were woodcutters or hunters. In short, there wouldn't be many people, and the chances of encountering a large group of merchants were even lower. No merchants dared to take such a risk.
The mission of these blockades was to prevent anyone from entering the enemy's main camp at night, regardless of who they were. Even if they were hunters or woodcutters, they were not allowed to enter the enemy's main camp. Anyone who resisted would be killed without mercy.
With so many blockades in place, it would be very difficult for all of the enemy spies to break through. Therefore, when Altik's army arrived at the enemy's main camp, the enemy soldiers would probably still be asleep.
That was indeed the case. Just as Altik's main army set out from the city gates, the enemy scouts outside the city immediately realized that something was wrong. Thus, they immediately sent people back to the main camp to report this important matter to their leaders so that the main army could prepare in advance.
Unfortunately, they didn't know how difficult the road back was. Altik had secretly set up many blockades along the way. During the day, there were many pedestrians on the road, so these blockades were quietly placed in place. The enemy scouts were completely unaware of this, so they couldn't even take precautions.
Riding a horse in the middle of the night in the direction of the enemy's camp was definitely an extremely suspicious behavior. Therefore, the hidden ambushers on both sides of the road did not hesitate to shoot the horse to death. The rider was also captured alive, gagged, and tied to a large tree.
There were many enemy spies left outside the city. After further understanding the situation, they all got on their horses and returned to the main camp. This was because they had completely understood Artik's intentions. They were all amazed at Artik's courage. He actually dared to launch a sneak attack on their main army.
There weren't many of these spies, only a dozen or so, and they weren't prepared. Thus, when they passed through the first blockade, more than half of them were shot to death by Altik's blockades. The rest were lucky enough to escape the first shot and sped back to the main camp. However, they unknowingly entered the ambush range of the second blockade and were once again attacked.
This time, none of the warhorses managed to escape, but a few spies were shot and ran into the forest, quickly disappearing.
However, it was very difficult to figure out the direction in the forest. If they wanted to return to the main camp, they had to take the main road. However, these injured spies didn't know whether there would be blockades on the way back, so they didn't know what to do.
Responsibility forced them to return to the main camp. For this reason, they could only open up a distance of about thirty meters between the front and the back. Once the person in front was shot to death, the people behind would know where the blockades were and think of a way to go around them.
However, Altik's main army was right behind them, and they were advancing very quickly. If they were too late to report back, it would be meaningless.
In the end, because Altik had deployed too many blockades, none of these spies managed to return to the main camp successfully. This caused the enemy to lose the opportunity to prepare in advance.
Osman was a veteran general, and his preparations weren't any less than Altik's. Thus, he didn't reveal his whereabouts.
Night was supposed to be a good time to sleep, but there was going to be a big battle tonight. Thus, Ang Lee was very excited and didn't feel sleepy at all.
This was because most of the soldiers in the city had been transferred away by Altik. The remaining soldiers were all old and weak, and they were responsible for guarding the city gates and patrolling the city.
Under such circumstances, as long as Ang Lee wanted to, he could easily conquer Aden City and achieve his strategic goal of conquering Aden City.
However, Ang Lee was a man of his word. Since he had promised to help Altik conquer the peninsula before using Aden City, he couldn't go back on his word. Otherwise, Ang Lee's words wouldn't have any credibility in the future.
However, he still had to watch the show. In addition to sending some of his trusted subordinates to follow the army, Ang Lee also went to the observation deck in the city to watch the battle.
Due to the bright moonlight, he could clearly see the black mass of soldiers outside the city from the observation deck. With a pair of binoculars, he could see even more clearly. In fact, he could even see the figures of the soldiers clearly.
Of course, because the main camp of the enemy was quite far away, and there were trees and mountains in between, it was impossible to see the battle.
There was no doubt about the outcome of the battle. Altik and Osman had made such meticulous preparations that they would definitely be able to inflict heavy damage to the enemy. In fact, it was even possible that they would be able to wipe out the enemy.
10,000 soldiers was not a small number. Even if all three gates were opened at the same time, it would still take a very long time for all 10,000 soldiers to leave the city. Furthermore, there were so many military resources, so it would take even longer.
Li An stood on the observation deck. What he wanted to see was the process of Artek's army marching out of the city. The sight of such a large army marching out of the city was very spectacular. At the same time, he could also judge the strength of an army based on the discipline and order of the army's formation.
"As expected of a mercenary army. They all have their own unique formations, and there's a huge difference in their combat prowess!"
Ang Lee said as he looked at the Altik's army leaving the city.
The subordinate beside him quickly nodded and said, "Assistant Minister Li is right. These mercenaries have different origins, rules, and combat prowess. In fact, they are just a bunch of mobs. If it weren't for the help of the Tang dynasty, as long as Mansur reacted and mobilized his main force to the south, these guys wouldn't be a match at all."
Ang Lee nodded and said, "They are still too weak. If they want to control the peninsula, they will need at least 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers. As long as they win this battle, the next step is to expand the army. We can provide them with a lot of weapons. In addition, they can also build some weapons themselves. In addition, training is indispensable. Without the necessary training, it will be difficult for these mobs to win the battle and defend the Arabian Peninsula."
The subordinate continued, "Fortunately, the population of the peninsula is not small, and there are many cities. It won't be difficult to expand the army to 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers. In addition, in addition to Altik's army, Osman also wants to expand his army. As for the competition for soldiers, it will be between the two of them. However, Osman definitely won't be able to snatch many Altik. After all, Osman is going to Egypt to develop. The soldiers recruited there will sooner or later escape back to the peninsula."
"Haha, you are quite insightful. In any case, as long as Osman and Altik can cooperate well, we will definitely be able to accomplish our great cause."
Ang Lee said with a smile.
The great cause that Ang Lee mentioned was naturally to divide the Arabian Empire into many parts. Only a large division in the Arabian Empire would be in the best interest of the Tang Empire. If the Apus dynasty completely stabilized the Arabian Empire's territory, it would pose a certain degree of threat to the Tang Empire, which would be very disadvantageous to the Tang Empire.
However, Ang Lee was quite familiar with Mansur's strength. He knew that people like Abdullah, Altik, and Osman were not enough to stop Osman in the end.
Therefore, the Tang Empire must equally support Osman and Altik so that they could have the strength to resist Osman.
Relying solely on their own strength and weapons was not enough. Ang Lee also needed to teach them some defensive strategies so that they could be invincible when Mansur attacked in the future.
Of course, these were all things that could be discussed later. They would only be implemented in a few days. Right now, all they needed to do was to wait and provide the two armies with an endless supply of weapons, such as crossbows, spears, and arrows. These weapons had to be supplied in large quantities until they conquered the entire peninsula and Osman went to Egypt.
Staying up late was not good for the body. Ang Lee watched from the observation deck for a while. After watching the tens of thousands of soldiers leave Aden with his own eyes, he returned to his residence to rest. He believed that the battle at night would go very smoothly. Early the next morning, there would definitely be news of victory.
In the main camp of the Khorasan cavalry, most of the soldiers were resting. After all, they had been stationed here for several months, and they had not engaged in any battles with the enemy. It was inevitable that they would feel numb and tired.
However, the most basic sentries were still in place. There were many soldiers patrolling the perimeter and the interior of the main camp. There were a total of 100 soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the main camp, which was more than enough to keep watch.
Tonight was a night with bright moonlight. The soldiers had a good field of vision, especially the soldiers standing on the observation deck. They could see the trees hundreds of meters away, which served as a good warning.
However, even though these soldiers were tired, they were not very alert. This was especially true for the soldiers standing on the observation deck. They were very tired from standing on the observation deck. Almost all of them were hugging the wooden pillars and taking a nap. They did not look at the commotion in the distance.
The patrolling soldiers were all on the ground, so they did not have a good field of vision. Furthermore, many of them were dozing off, so they were not very alert.
The main camp of the Khorasan army was very noisy. However, when they were about a kilometer away from the main camp of the enemy, all of them stopped. After reorganizing themselves, they began to slowly advance, preparing to attack.
The cannons on the eastern side were also in position, ready to fire at any moment. Even at this point, the Khorasan cavalry in the main camp still had not discovered any signs of the enemy. They were still not alert enough.
Perhaps only the horses sensed that something was amiss. When the main camp of the Khorasan army approached, the horses became very restless. However, the coachmen who were in charge of the horses had already fallen asleep, so they did not sense anything.
A soldier standing on the observation deck hugged his weapon and was about to fall asleep. However, because he was sleeping while standing, he would nod his head from time to time. However, he was not careful and knocked his head against a wooden pillar, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.
He rubbed his forehead and gently opened his eyes. Suddenly, he found that the distance was densely packed with attacking enemy troops. He was shocked and quickly rubbed his eyes. He wondered if he was seeing things.
After taking another look, the sentry knew that he had not seen wrongly. There were indeed many enemy troops in the distance, and their numbers were very large.
"Dong dong dong …"
Following the sound of the alarm and the shouts of the soldiers, the entire main camp of the enemy was in chaos.
Hearing the alarm, the attacking troops from all three directions increased their speed and launched a fierce attack on the main camp of the enemy. After all, they had already been discovered, so there was no point in sneaking away.
"Boom boom boom …"
Five cannons fired one after another, bombarding different locations of the main camp of the enemy, causing further chaos within the main camp of the enemy.
Because most of the enemy troops were resting, the small number of people in charge of guarding the main camp could not stop the three main armies. Therefore, the three main armies quickly approached the main camp. All kinds of crossbows were fired, turning the soldiers who resisted into porcupines. Even more soldiers used simple tools to ram into the main camp of the main camp, preparing to break into the main camp.
The soldiers in the main camp were frightened by the sudden attack. They all stood up anxiously. In such a tense situation, it was impossible for them to wear armor in time. It was already good enough that they could find weapons to defend themselves. Many soldiers ran out of their tents and were killed by the rain of arrows outside. Some were also killed by the cannons.
The few officers in charge of the main camp were too tired from playing. They panicked and pushed away the girls in their arms, picked up their weapons, and ran out.
As a military commander, it wasn't a big deal for him to casually grab a few young and beautiful ladies from the surroundings to enjoy. Seiyad was strict with the military, but he wouldn't ask about such matters. Besides, he wasn't even in the military.
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