War is like chess; the key move that decides victory or defeat is often the most crucial one.
Gunbu Yiledeng and Ursang arrived at just the right time; Baibagas's main army was all attacking at the front, and there were not many troops in the rear of the left and right flanks, so they were quickly routed.
After the two met, they rushed towards the Weilat Khan's banner; that white dadu, printed with the Genghis Khan suld pattern, swayed in the autumn wind, exceptionally conspicuous, and thus became the target of the rebel army's encirclement.
This dadu had followed Baibagas in campaigns across the north and south; countless enemies, seeing this Khan banner from afar, were so frightened they fled in disarray, "Only I, the Great Khan, hold the standard and the flag; what kind of foolish jester dares to face the horse's hooves?", the flag is the Khan's life, the man lives while the flag is there, the man dies when the flag is lost.
Seeing the enemy rushing towards him, Baibagas was not flustered at all; having experienced hundreds of battles, he had faced death countless times and was long accustomed to it.
He calmly observed the front; Hanak Tushitu, Sereng Khatan Batur, Buyan Hatan Batur, Sainser Tengji, and other generals were fiercely fighting the enemy, and if his Khan banner were to move, it would surely shake the morale of the army.
"Blow the horn, order all units to retreat and gather towards me," war allows no hesitation; after only a moment's thought, the Khan made his decision.
"Ooh~ Ooh~ Ooh~"
The horn of retreat echoed across the Taras grassland; the Khoshut units at the front, hearing the order, slowly withdrew, but being in the midst of fierce battle, it was extremely difficult to break free from the entangled enemy forces, and the speed of the retreat was exceedingly slow.
Demuqi (leader of forty households) udai from the Torghut tribe galloped to the front of Baibagas; he was a valiant general under Gunbu Yiledeng's command.
The fifty-year-old Baibagas was merely a legend in the eyes of the twenty-something udai.
Therefore, udai wanted to touch the tiger's whiskers, to cut off the Weilat Khan's head and achieve great fame for himself.
"Giddap~ Giddap~ Giddap~"
udai controlled his horse with his legs, swinging the large hammer in his hand; the two large iron hammers together weighed eighty catties, flipping up and down in his hands with apparent ease.
With one strike, nothing could stand in his way.
"Hmph!"
The old tiger still had its might; seeing someone dare to challenge his authority, Baibagas snorted coldly, staring intently at the approaching enemy, like a fierce tiger on the hunt.
The enemy got closer and closer, and the bodyguards all blocked the Great Khan, protecting the Khan was their responsibility.
"Get out of the way!" the Old Khan roared.
As soon as the bodyguards moved aside, Baibagas controlled his horse with his legs and galloped towards udai.
"Roar~ Roar~ Roar~"
The beast-like roar shook the heavens and the earth; the Old Khan drew his Khan sword.
In cavalry combat, the side that accelerates first has the advantage, often able to knock over the opponent along with their horse.
udai, having accelerated first, was confident he could knock the opponent head over heels.
However, the bay horse beneath the Old Khan seemed to have a spirit of its own, suddenly galloping past sideways as it approached the opponent.
At this moment, Baibagas moved; the Khan sword in his hand straightened, and with the horse's momentum, effortlessly cut off udai's neck as if harvesting wheat.
So fast!
Man and horse united, perfectly natural.
The young man paid the price of his life for underestimating his senior.
Baibagas on the bay horse was like a malevolent god from hell, leading his guards to scatter the Torghut's thousand-man units one after another.
He Erleke's third son, Ursang, was furious and led his unit to attack; the blood of the teenage boy was hot, fearing no legend.
But the reason legends are passed down is not just because they are legends.
Although Baibagas had few soldiers with him, they were all veterans of hundreds of battles, well-trained, brave, and tenacious, actually defeating a strong enemy several times their number, forcing them to retreat step by step.
The young man's hot blood cooled; he turned his horse and retreated, but the Old Khan pursued relentlessly; anyone who dared to underestimate this fierce tiger would pay the price.
"As expected of Baibagas Khan, who dominates the Oirat; if he were twenty years younger, who in the world could stop his military might?" Gunbu Yiledeng, watching from the side, cheered loudly; heroes have always respected heroes, and even towards an enemy, this Taiji never hesitated to offer praise.
He took down the composite bow from his back; "There are four types of bows: one is the longbow, two is the composite bow, three is the short bow, and four is the ceremonial bow," "Longbows are made of mulberry and are used by infantry; composite bows are made of sinew and horn and are used by cavalry; short bows are short bows, good for close-range shooting; ceremonial bows are decorated bows, carried for display."
The composite bows used by cavalry generally had a draw weight of around 1.2 shi; Gunbu Yiledeng, however, could draw a 3 shi strong bow, and was famous among the Torghut tribe for his excellent archery.
The bowstring twanged, and an arrow shot straight towards Baibagas's face; the Old Khan, who had survived hundreds of battles, lowered his head upon hearing the string, evading death's kiss.
Another arrow; Gunbu Yiledeng drew the string extremely quickly, the second arrow only slightly slower than the first.
This time, there was no avoiding it; Baibagas was shot in the chest, instantly died, and fell off his horse.
"Great Khan~ Great Khan~ Great Khan~"
The bodyguards panicked, weeping bitterly around the corpse; their momentum like a bamboo-splitting charge just now turned into helplessness.
Finally, someone reacted, wanting to take the Khan's body and the dadu back to Urumqi.
It was too late; the whistling Torghut cavalry surrounded them.
A Lubuqi Tu (heavy cavalry) swung his saber, slashing down fiercely; the Khan's flag, which had shaken the West Desert, fell.
"General Sainser Tengji, the Khan's flag has fallen, the Great Khan is in danger.
I will hold off the enemy, you go quickly to rescue him," Buyan Hatan Batur galloped to Sainser Tengji's side and shouted.
Looking at the direction where the Khan's flag fell, Sainser Tengji said nothing, raised his bright silver spear, turned his horse, and galloped away; it was with this spear that he had taken the life of the hotogoid tribe's Huntaiji Shulei Ubashi, who had shaken the world.
Five hundred loyal subordinates followed closely behind; they were subordinates and also his brothers who had shared life and death with him.
Taiji Guyang of the Torghut tribe blocked his path; the bright silver spear, like a nimble snake, struck Guyang directly in the face.
Having killed the enemy general, Sainser Tengji did not even spare a glance; the Great Khan was in danger, and the life of a mere enemy general truly meant nothing.
Another blocking tiger appeared; Taiji Tabentai of the Torghut tribe held two sabers horizontally in front of his horse.
He only lasted three exchanges before dying under the bright silver spear.
Taking the head of a general from amidst a million troops, Sainser Tengji did it.
Covered in blood, riddled with wounds, yet he disregarded it all, only to protect the Khan.
In his eyes, there was only the place where the Khan's flag had fallen; there was the Great Khan he had sworn to serve unto death: Baibagas.
Having killed over a hundred men and more than ten generals consecutively, he finally reached the location of the royal flag, but found no living person; all he found was a corpse; the great Baibagas Khan had returned to the embrace of chang sheng tian.
"Great Khan, Your servant arrived late to rescue you, a crime punishable by death, a crime punishable by death!" Sainser Tengji was heartbroken, no longer able to control his emotions, hot tears gushing out like a spring.
The scenes of the past, when the Old Khan had defied all opposition during the great battle against the Khalkha and appointed him as the vanguard, were still vivid before his eyes.
A warrior dies for his confidant!
Now that his confidant is gone, why should a warrior begrudge death?
Sainser Tengji tied Baibagas Khan's corpse to his back and picked up the head of the Khan's flag; this was the Great Khan's lifelong glory and absolutely could not be left to the enemy.
The fierce general fought desperately, charging and striking recklessly, actually carving out a bloody path and returning to the Ili River with the corpse and the Khan's flag.
"Partridge Sky · Lament for Baibagas"
--- great ming
Khoshut heroes love wine cups,
And in wine they delight in flushed faces.
Wealth and riches are originally external things,
For what reason do brothers kill each other?
A hundred years later, in historical records,
A worn brush writes of sorrowful winds.
In the West Desert, heroic spirit still remains,
Who will discuss martial prowess with me?