Karmine Desert War

The **Karmine Desert War** or **Laraisan-Khiadamese War** was a war fought between the Khiadamese and Laraisan Empires. The war started in 1887 and ended in 1891 after the intervention of the Lanodolan Empire.

## Background

The Sagha Valley was a region of the Karmine Desert that was populated primarily by Islamic Arabs. The Saghans, also called Southern Butatlese or just Butatlese, had lived under rule of the Laraisan Empire since the 1840s when their kingdom was invaded and conquered by Laraiso. By the 1880s, a group called the Tordari emerged, made up of Saghans who left the eastern wetlands of the Sagha Valley and moved to the western deserts to live a nomadic life. The Tordari considered all of the Sagha Valley, including the eastern capital Sashir, as their home, however thought of themselves as keeping the Saghan culture alive and fighting back against Laraisan influence.

## Prelude

### Tordari Revolution

In the Spring of 1887, inspired by the Bosan Revolution in 1886 that liberated Bosania from Lanodola, the cities and towns of the Sagha Valley revolted against the local Laraisan garrisons. For a short time most of the valley was occupied by forces of the Tordari. Tordari is a Butatlese word meaning rebel against foreign occupiers. The Tordari were armed with mostly stolen weapons from Laraisan armories or smuggled across the Khiadamese border. However by May, when the Laraisan 3rd Army arrived in Sashir, Tordari forces had scattered from the cities and began fighting a guerilla war from the desert against Laraisan forces. Between May to July 1887, around 12,000 Laraisans casualties were sustained in Tordari attacks with only 4,000 Tordaris being confirmed dead or captured. Following a particularly deadly attack against a Laraisan camp on July 10th that left 637 dead, the Laraisans executed around 200 civilians as a reprisal in Sashir on July 15th. In response, the Khiadamese government along with the Eshan, Lanodolan, and Bosan governments urged Laraiso to order it's army out of the Sagha Valley, especially Khiadam, asserting Butatlu deserved independence. The Laraisan government declared it has no intent to leave Butatlu or stop the anti-insurgent operations.

### Sashir Uprising

On July 20th, the Western Butatlese city of Larem was fully captured by Tordari forces in their first proper battle with the Laraisan army, forcing the Laraisans to withdraw to Sashir. By this time the Laraisan army in Butatlu was around 120,000 strong and the Tordari forces holding Larem were around 30,000. Following the news of the capture of Larem, residents of Sashir started a second revolt on July 24th against the occupying Laraisans before the army of around 20,000 withdrawing from Larem would arrive. By July 27th, Laraisan forces were forced out of the inner city and a battle began to form around the outskirts of the city once the withdrawing army arrived. Hearing of this, the Tordari army from Larem left to join the fight in Sashir, arriving on July 30th, encircling the withdrawing Laraisans. The Laraisan army suffered a conclusive defeat and was forced from Sashir to the northern city of Muqar. With Sashir captured, the Tordari army had evolved into the Army of the Tordari, an organized army under General Moussa Kermali, who on August 2nd declared the Sagha Valley independent under the new Free State of Butatlu.

## War

### Khidamese Intervention

By August the Khiadamese Army had amassed at the cities of Al Hola, Batai, Qulta, and Kherlenga on the Khiadamese-Laraisan border, preparing for intervention. Following Kermali's declaration of the Butatlu nation, an order was given to "stabilize" the region. On August 4th, 1887, the Khiadamese government announced their intervention in the Butatlu region and declared that Laraisan presence in the Sagha Valley was against the best interests of both empires and ordered a Khiadamese army of around 300,000 led by General Naadir Al-Aman to forcefully remove Laraisan forces from the region. The Khiadamese intervention forces arrived in Larem on August 8th and met with Kermali who returned to Larem after hearing of the intervention. Al-Aman personally met with Kermali and they agreed on mutual cooperation between their forces against the Laraisans.

In August the main contingent of the Khiadamese interventuon force were the 1st and 2nd Intervention Armies created in July, having around 150,000 soldiers each for a total of 300,000. Their plan was to cross the border from Al Hola and Batai and meet in Larem, marching onto Sashir and join the Tordari Army in pushing the Laraisan 3rd Army out of Muqar. By August 14th, the Laraisan government had mobilized the 4th, 5th, and 6th Armies along with calling upon the existing Army of the Khujuk Valley and ordered the 4th Army and the Khujuk Army to join the 3rd Army in Muqar and retake Butatlu. The Khiadamese had not realized Laraiso was secretly mobilizing and expected the Laraisans to leave Butatlu.

### First Phase

#### Battle of Muqar

On August 20th the Khiadamese intervention force arrived in Sashir and met with the Tordari Army and began preparation to take Muqar, not expecting much resistance from the tired Laraisan 3rd Army. Meanwhile the 3rd Army were fortifying the city and preparing to hold until the supporting armies arrived. A week later on August 27th, the 1st Intervention Army led directly by Al-Aman supported by around 10,000 Tordari fighters began an assault on the Laraisan forces defending Muqar. Initially, the Laraisans began getting pushed back from their 3rd ring of defenses to their 2nd ring by September 1st. General Furuta Makai was in charge of the Laraisan 3rd Army and was insistent on commanding from the front lines. He was one of the last Laraisans to pull back from the 3rd ring of defenses, only moving his command post on September 5th after most of the 3rd ring was abandoned. General Makai's attitude of command is often attributed to being the reason Muqar held for as long as it did.

While the Laraisans and Khiadamese were fighting over Muqar, the Tordari Army with Al-Aman's support crossed the Karmine River in early September and rode around 15,000 infantry on horseback to Tausuk, a city north of Muqar, to encircle and cut off the 3rd Army's supply lines. It was at Tausuk, on September 8th, that the Tordari forces encountered and became aware of the 4th Army's presence in Butatlu. Tordari forces dismounted around Tausuk and began a light skirmish with forces of the 4th Army that lasted a day until a force of around 10,000 Laraisan cavalry from the 4th Army arrived and overwhelmed them. The Tordari army took around 4,000 casualties and fell back to Sashir, bringing news that the Laraisans had sent another army as support. Al-Aman and Kermali came to conclusion the Laraisans would have around 300,000 men in Muqar and reported that number back to the Khiadamese government in Morosi. The actual number was close at around 350,000.

#### Escalation

On September 10th the Khiadamese government demanded the Laraisan Army leave Butatlu for a second time and cease hostilities, in response the Khiadamese embassy in Kambel was forced closed and their staff arrested by the Laraisan Army. The Laraisan government proceeded to declare that all relations to Khiadam would be indefinitely suspended. The Khiadamese government interpreted this as an act of war, so on September 12th, 1887, they announced a declaration of war against Laraiso.

#### Battle of Larem

On September 12th, the Laraisan 4th Army and Khujuk Army arrived in Muqar and replaced the 3rd Army's defensive positions while preparing for their own offensive positions north of Muqar. Al-Aman sent the 1st Intervention Army north to protect their flank. However upon contact with the Laraisan 4th Army, the 1st Intervention Army were defeated at the Battle of Mossali where they were once again overwhelmed by Laraisan cavalry and most of the Khiadamese forces were chased back to Larem, exposing Sashir's flank to be encircled by the Laraisans. To prevent that, Kermali led the small Tordari force of trained cavalry, around 4,000, north to both relieve the 1st Intervention Army and stop the Laraisan cavalry from getting close to Sashir. Around the town of Quaso, the Laraisan and Tordari cavalry met and began a mostly cavalry engagement. The Battle of Quaso lasted 3 days and was ultimately won by the Tordari who successfully stopped the Laraisan cavalry's momentum, allowing Tordari infantry to arrive in Quaso and fortify the area, protecting Sashir.

At the same time, most of the Laraisan 4th Army were transferred north, leaving the 3rd Army and Khujuk Army to hold Muqar. They chased the 1st Intervention Army back to Larem, with both armies marching through the Butatlese desert, where daytime temperatures usually exceed 90 degrees in September. The retreat lasted 2 weeks until most of the 1st Intervention Army arrived in Larem and fortified their positions along the city, the 4th Army soon catching up and beginning the Battle of Larem on September 29th. A loose front line began to emerge across the Sagha Valley, with both sides holding small towns or villages near each other.

From this point on the war slowed down dramatically in pace. The Battles of Larem and Muqar would stretch on into the next year with neither side making significant gains, however the Khiadamese would slowly push the Laraisans back. The Laraisans refused to cross the border into Khiadamese territory and only fighting in Butatlu, hoping to keep the scope of the war smaller so they can maintain their artillery advantage. Laraisan artillery also proved an important element in holding Muqar.

#### Battle of Muts'Hamina

By January of 1888, total casualties of the war were around 40,000 lost by Khiadam, 33,000 lost by Laraiso, and 12,000 Tordari. The Khiadamese, seeing they were being held back by the larger Laraisan force decided to mobilize a 3rd Intervention Army of around 60,000 to bolster Khiadamese forces in Butatlu. On February 16th, the 3rd Intervention Army was formed in Batai and sent to Sashir and began a new offensive north of Sashir towards the city of Muts'hamina. The Khiadamese started pushing the Laraisans back in the Northern Sagha Valley, forcing them to retreat from Larem to Muts'hamina to avoid encirclement. Muts'hamina formed a bottleneck between the Laraisan forces retreating from Larem and the rest of the Laraisan front, creating a choke point that the Laraisans fought desperately to hold.

The Battle of Muts'Hamina lasted from February to March when the majority of the Laraisan 4th Army withdrew from Muts'Hamina, abandoning the city on March 30th. Again, most of the fighting centered around the city of Muqar as the Laraisans were now the ones under threat of being encircled as the Khiadamese 3rd Intervention Army continued pushing back the 4th Army.

#### Start of Laraisan War Crimes

At this point the Laraisans were becoming nervous and worried of losing Butatlu and even more territory to Khiadam, so in response to local resistance in Butatlu they started enforcing harsher punishment. In several towns in Butatlu, mosques were closed by Laraisan soldiers whenever Tordari resistance attacked in the area. Especially in Muqar which was being fiercely defended by the Laraisan 3rd Army, war crimes against the locals became frequent to prevent any chance of revolt within the city. On April 3rd, 1888, the Azzam Mosque in Muqar was closed and used as a military base by the 3rd Army, prompting a significant protest from the locals. In response, the Laraisan Army used lethal force and began firing on the crowd of hundreds to disperse them. This was followed by a series of arrests where around 500 Butatlese civilians were arrested for insurgent activities by Laraisan police, many were sent to work camps in the Laraisan jungle.

#### Fall of Muqar

Fighting over Muqar was most intense in April of 1888, All three of the Khiadamese Intervention Armies surrounded the city and breached the 1st ring of defenses. The Khiadamese numbered around 350,000 compared to the Laraisan 280,000. Most of the 3rd Army soldiers had been fighting the Tordari forces for nearly a year while the 4th Army was exhausted from its forced march to Larem then forced retreat from Muts'Hamina. Meanwhile the Khiadamese soldiers outnumbered them and were fresher, especially the 3rd Intervention Army who had been fighting for less than 2 months. These differences in the fighting forces of both sides led to a significant battlefield advantage held by the Khiadamese over the Laraisans and holding Muqar soon became suicidal. When the city center finally fell to Khiadamese forces on April 25th, 1888, the Laraisan High Command ordered the Laraisan armies in Butatlu to orderly retreat north and regroup with support from more Laraisan armies. The Khiadamese flag was raised over the Azzam Mosque in Muqar as the Laraisans withdrew.

### Second Phase

#### Withdraw to Khorsata

The Laraisan 3rd, 4th, and Khujak armies marched for 2 weeks north to create a new defensive line centered around the city of Khorsata in the Khujak Valley. Prior to this, the Laraisan armies in Butatlu were led by a high command council, however seeing the direction the war was going, Emperor Tokumu personally appointed High General Seiko Ariyasu to take command over all Laraisan forces assigned to the Khiadamese front. Ariyasu was also given command over the 5th Army, adding an additional 140,000 fresh soldiers to his forces. Overall, Ariyasu had command over 4 armies and around 420,000 soldiers to hold the Khujak Valley with.

By May 20th, the Khiadamese armies had made contact with the defensive line at Khorsata as it was being built. Al-Aman realized the Laraisans had more numbers after the short Battle of Abamor where the Khiadamese forces used the same tactics as when they had the numerical advantage but resulted in high casualties as the Khiadamese couldn't break through the Laraisan lines. After further probing of the defensive line, he determined it was around a 3:4 advantage they held so on May 30th, 1888, Al-Aman requested that the front be extended to stretch the Laraisan forces thin enough for him to break their lines. The Khiadamese government realized this would mean escalating the war to outside of Butatlu, but agreed to it anyways and starting preparing an invasion of the Zhadah Valley, north of Qulta.

#### Invasion of Zhadah Valley

Most of June and July were spent preparing for the new invasion, so the front was mostly quiet during the Summer. Both sides avoiding fighting as temperatures during the day could reach over 110° F. New armies would be needed for the invasion force, so in June the Khiadamese 1st Army was mobilized with around 100,000 soldiers in addition to the Samwonese Volunteer Army, an army made primarily of around 50,000 volunteers from the territory of Samwon. The 2nd Army was also mobilized but positioned around the city of Qulta to defend it from potential Laraisan attack. Qulta formed a large salient in the Khiadamese-Laraisan border that would risk being encircled from North and East by the Laraisans. It could also be attacked from the South if the Butatlu front lines were pushed back far enough, back to Sashir.

On August 10th, 1888, the 1st Army and Samwonese Volunteer Army, under command of General Faatin Samara, crossed the border north from Kharlenga to Djeca, the largest city in the Zhadah Valley. Part of the Laraisan 6th Army was stationed around Djeca to defend it in case of Khiadamese invasion. Around 50,000 Laraisans held the city but were quickly surrounded by August 17th, starting the First Siege of Djeca. Meanwhile, the remaining parts of the 6th Army defending the Zhadah Valley were separated, with 1/3 of the army being pushed into the Northern areas of the valley and the remaining 1/3 pushed away from the valley toward Delsai, a city in Western Laraiso.

By Early September, Djeca surrendered after weeks of artillery bombardment and the Summer heat wearing down the Laraisan defenders. Around 27,000 surrendered, leaving 33,000 dead from the siege, making Djeca one of the most disastrous battles in Laraisan history. In the northern Zhadah Valley, the cut off Laraisan forces numbered around 60,000 continued being supplied through the Terus Mountains that surrounded the north of the valley, ensuring they'd continue fighting effectively. They were reorganized into the Army of the Zhadah Valley, under command of General Adachi Hiroi on September 3rd to continue operating separate from the rest of the 6th Army.

Also during September, on September 5th, the Khiadamese army's advanced towards Delsai was stopped around the city of Kypon, the first Laraisan speaking city fought over in the war. The wetland terrain slowed down the advance of the Khiadamese long enough for the Laraisan 6th Army to dig in around Kypon. The Khiadamese army had been marching through the Zhadah Valley desert for nearly a month and were exhausted at this point, killing their momentum.

#### Camel Corps

By October, Samara realized the Zhadah Valley Army was being supplied through the Terus Mountains, so began putting together plans to disrupt their supply lines. Because of the mountainous terrain, infantry were deemed insufficient for long distance patrols, so instead camel cavalry was utilized. Camels were favored over horses because of their reliability in the harsh dry desert mountains of the Terus, not consuming as much water or food as horses. At the end of October, Samara had organized a Khiadamese Camel Corps of around 7,000 men and 12,000 camels imported from Khiadam to begin raids and patrols into the Terus mountains. On October 25th, he was given permission by the Khiadamese government to proceed with the plan and Khiadamese camel convoys entered the Terus.

In the first few weeks of the offensive, camel cavalry captured around 3,000 Laraisans and enough ammunition and supplies for 15,000 Laraisan soldiers. Engagements were rare as most Laraisan supply convoys weren't expecting Khiadamese in the area and surrendered upon encountering Khiadamese patrols. By mid November though, the Laraisan army began their own horse patrols into the mountains to combat the Khiadamese camel patrols, leading to engagements between horse and camel patrols becoming regular. With the Terus evolving into a battlefield by early December, supply convoys became increasingly harder to deliver to the Zhadah Valley Army.

#### Delsai Refugee Crisis

As the war became more and more destructive of the regions between Laraiso and Khiadam, most of the inhabitants fled the approaching Khiadamese armies. Around 7 million refugees left their homes in the Sagha, Zhadah, and Khujak valleys, heading east to Laraiso. Most of these refugees came to Delsai, a city in western Laraiso, sparking a state of emergency. Lack of housing accommodations for these refugees prompted the Red Cross to intervene and set up refugee centers in the city. Nearly 17,000 foreigners from Euronia, Kornica, and Asoya volunteered to help aid the roughly 4 million refugees that passed through Delsai in 1887 and 1888. Many of the refugees took up temporary housing in Delsai or other west Laraisan cities, creating a significant Muslim community. Because of the war against Khiadam, hate crimes against Muslims broke out in the west with many attacks and killings going ignored by the Laraisan government, prompting international backlash from Islamic governments such as Ctesh, Escribir, Khoshita, and especially Alarastan.

### Third Phase

#### Laraisan Counteroffensive

For the entirety of the war up to this point, the Imperial Laraisan Army had been on the back foot, retreating from the advancing Khiadamese. The Laraisan government was desperate to change the balance of the war, so in December, the command of the right wing of the Laraisan army fighting in the Zhadar Valley was given to High General Sueka Matsukara. Matsukara was a proven general who had been held from command because of his socialist political extremism and rivalry with Ariyasu, but the Laraisan government was desperate so finally allowed him to take command on December 10th, 1888.

At the same time that counteroffensive plans in the left and right wings were being planned, an offensive into the Qulta salient to add further pressure to the Khiadamese. The Laraisan government realized it could use the two generals' rivalry to their advantage. Both Matsukara and Ariyasu were ambitious, constantly trying to grow their power and command, so it was decided that whichever general retook more land would be given command over the Qulta offensive force. With this, both generals were determined to push the Khiadamese as far back as possible.

To help bolster the 6th Army's forces after losing most of it to either surrender or through the Army of the Zhadah Valley, so in late December around 100,000 Laraisans from western Laraiso were mobilized and joined the 6th Army's forces. Matsukara had 160,000 men in his forces compared to Samara's 150,000 men, giving Laraiso a numerical advantage once again.

#### Invasion of Jharko

Matsukara came to the conclusion that the Army of the Zhadah Valley couldn't continue fighting once resources are diverted for the 6th Army's counter offensive, so requested that the general of the Zhadah Valley forces, Adachi Hiroi, launch a diversionary invasion across the Khiadamese border to capture the city of Jharko. After attracting a significant portion of the Khiadamese Army, they would return to Laraiso by crossing the Bosan border and marching their army of 60,000 through neutral Bosania. It took significant pleading with Hiroi who preferred to continue fighting with reduced supplies and was afraid of escalation or having to fight with the Bosan Army, however upon being told of their plans to attack Qulta, Hiroi decided it was necessary and agreed to lead it.

The attack on Jharko had to be carefully coordinated with the 6th Army to take full advantage of the Khiadamese army's expected state of surprise. In late December, the Zhadah Army forces started falling back north and feigning retreat while slowly moving parts of their army to the west. Part of the Laraisan plans were to use the cool winter months to rapidly advance before the summer heat sets in, which meant plans had to fit tightly to their schedules. The 6th Army would begin their attack exactly 1 week after Jharko was reported captured, the estimated time it would take the Khiadamese to begin moving their forces to retake the city. In the weeks leading to the border crossing, Samara became suspicious of the Laraisans suddenly falling back after holding out for so long and warned his government they could be feigning retreat. The government, however, ignored Samara, insisting the war would soon be won.

On January 3rd, 1889, the Army of the Zhadah Valley began their invasion into Khiadamese land, the first time Laraisan forces had crossed the Khiadamese border. The initial reports of Laraisan forces crossing the border were thought to be false reports of Laraisan forces fighting across the border, but when the Khiadamese garrison in Jharko started reporting contact with Laraisan forces, the Khiadamese government realized the previous reports were true. In response, the Khiadamese 2nd Army and Samwonese Volunteer Army, around 150,000 soldiers, were diverted from the main front lines to retake Jharko. The Khiadamese government suspected this was a surprise attack and that the Laraisans had at least 100,000 soldiers in Jharko, almost twice the amount that had actually crossed the border. Jharko fell after 4 days on January 7th, when the Khiadamese garrison surrendered after being surrounded.

#### 1889 January Offensive

Main article: Laraisan 1889 January Offensive

As expected by the Laraisans, while the 6th Army sat in Jharko waiting, the Khiadamese took a week to rapidly reposition their left wing. Once the Khiadamese were in place to retake Jharko, on January 14th, 1889, across the entire front the Laraisan army began mass artillery barrages and offensives. The offensive saw the first use of the newly developed Bayukhan Rotary Gun, an early machine gun that the Khiadamese hadn't expected and had no counter for. The attacking force consisted of 5 Laraisan armies, totaling around 650,000, compared to the 4 defending Khiadamese armies of around 460,000. In the Zhadah Valley front, the Khiadamese 1st Army began to route after attacks from the Laraisan 6th Army. By January 20th, the 1st Army had withdrawn to hold Djeca from the advancing 6th Army. The Samwonese Volunteer Army was left to retake Jharko as the Khiadamese 2nd Army was recalled to the front line. Meanwhile in the Khujak Valley front, Ariyasu's army didn't make as much progress as Matsukara's, but they still managed to push the Khiadamese back from Khorsata south to the city of Lakhda by January 30th.

After being slowed down around Djeca, Matsukara had his highest ranked cavalry commander assemble a force of around 12,000 cavalry and penetrate the sparse Khiadamese holding the Terus Mountains to come around south and attack the flanks of the Khiadamese 1st and 2nd armies. The force was assembled by February 20th and under the command of Kaede Utsumi launched their attack through the Terus and caught the Khiadamese off guard. By this point, the Camel Corps was reduced significantly in size and couldn't do much to slow down the Laraisan cavalry. By February 26th, the Laraisan cavalry had penetrated the Terus and began flanking the Khiadamese.

#### Retreat of the Zhadah Army

After the offensive began, Hiroi began leaving Jharko while being pursued by the Samwonese cavalry who caught up with them sooner than expected. First engagements between the Zhadah Valley Army and the Samwonese Volunteer Army began on January 25th and continued until the Laraisans reached the Bosan border on February 3rd. The Khiadamese weren't expecting them to cross the border so prepared to dig in to prevent a breakout. They continued to fight sporadically with Samwonese cavalry using both rifles and sabres until February 7th when the Laraisans began crossing the border. Bosan border guards initially didn't stop them out of confusion, but eventually once their presence was reported to the government they were ordered to let them cross the border.

By February 10th, the whole Zhadah Valley Army had crossed the border and had reached the Bosan town of Khyalran. There, Hiroi met with the local Bosan garrison who requested they wait until a larger force of the Bosan army arrived to safely escort them through Bosania, however Hiroi insisted they leave immediately to arrive in Laraiso as soon as possible. The disagreement led to an incident where Hiroi was held hostage by the Bosan garrison and an exchange of fire between Laraisan and Bosan soldiers forced them to release Hiroi. A few days later on February 14th the Zhadah Valley Army left Khyalran and headed around the Terus Mountains to cross back into Laraiso and rejoin the offensive.

#### Recapture of Djeca

Following the flanking maneuver by Cavalry Commander Utsumi's force, the Khiadamese 2nd Army began a mass retreat and by March, there was an insufficient force of Khiadamese left defending Djeca. On March 5th, Djeca was retaken by the Laraisan army, Matsukara personally arriving in the city 2 days later to proclaim his army's victory. As the 1st and 2nd armies were retreating, the Samwonese Volunteer Army was rushing to rejoin the front line and made contact with Utsumi's cavalry force, beginning a large scale cavalry battle similar to the earlier Battle of Quaso between Tordari and Laraisan cavalry.

By this point in the war, the Samwonese had proven themselves the most competent of the Khiadamese forces under the command of General Megujin Jungso, however they Samwonese were becoming demoralized watching the rest of their army waver. To revitalize his army, Jungso began a campaign spreading the idea that the war was about freedom and victory would mean Samwonese independence to both Samwonese soldiers and civilians. Khiadamese high command became strongly opposed to his campaign, however didn't do anything to stop it. Jungso's campaign was effective and became significantly more threatening to the Laraisans while operating more independently from Samara.

#### Insurgency in Shukhov

Around this time was when the Eshan LLE began secretly funneling weapons and spreading extremist beliefs through the ethnically Eshan Shukhov region in Laraiso. By March of 1889, most Shukhovites were pro-independence from Laraiso and a network of LLE agents was fully established. Organized resistance to the Laraisan government began in early March under the guidance of LLE agents. On March 12th, government buildings in major cities in Shukhov including Krivokov, Bozoroz, and Sayamet, were seized and their non-Eshan employees killed by Shukhovite extremists during Operation Dolya (Shukhovite mythical creature similar to a phoenix) organized by the LLE. Laraisan forces only intervened in the attack on the regional administration center in Krivokov where the local Laraisan garrison besieged the center for two weeks until covert LLE forces arrived and drove the Laraisan garrison away, retreiving the rebels and withdrawing. The occupation of the other government buildings such as tax offices lasted about a week until all the rebel forces left by March 20th.

The attacks were orchestrated by LLE officer Lavro Loschilov, who intended for them to provoke the Laraisan army into reprisal attacks which would lead to more Shukhovites becoming pro-Eshan. His plan was to cause enough conflict in the region for an armed resistance to develop and then support them until either independence is achieved or Eshan military intervention is required. The Laraisans, however, after causing a similar uprising in Butatlu, decided to mostly ignore the attacks and attempt to silence news about them to prevent another uprising. On March 20th, minister Norekore Toshina was chosen to handle the insurgency as peacefully as possible and became Loschilov's adversary in Shukhov, working to prevent instability in the region.

Following the massive retreat of General Samara's army, he was blamed for the disaster and dismissed from command on March 15th, despite Al-Aman strongly advising to keep him. In his place, General Samien Karachi was put in command of the left wing of the Khiadamese army on March 17th. One of Karachi's first actions was to request more soldiers, claiming he couldn't maintain a frontline with only 230,000 men and needed at least 300,000. Rather than mobilizing more forces, the 1st Intervention Army of 160,000 men under Al-Aman was transfered to Karachi. Both Karachi and Al-Aman opposed the decision, but were ignored. The 1st Intervention Army would have to march through the Qulta salient and reposition in the Zhadah Valley which would take an estimated month while leaving Al-Aman's force disorganized and undermanned, however because of Al-Aman's successful defense, the high command trusted he could hold with less men.

> "They are making every mistake possible." General Al-Aman, March 30th 1889, writing to his headquarters in Muqar about the Khiadamese high command.
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#### Second Siege of Djeca

After replacing Samara, Karachi's primary goal was to retake Djeca and reclaim Samara's victory in the Zhadah Valley and made capturing the city one of his priorities. As Karachi awaited the 1st Intervention Army, his forces continued getting pushed back. He insisted on keeping close proximity of his front lines to Djeca, however, so concentrated his forces on the closest area of his front to the city. Slowly, his line began to form a salient around the concentrated forces. Worrying that he would have to abandon his goal of retaking Djeca, on April 20th, he launched a surprise attack towards Djeca with the majority of the 1st Army, around 60,000 men. The Laraisan forces in Djeca weren't expecting it and were pushed back to the outskirts of the city. Karachi was personally present for the recapture of Djeca and had his headquarters immediately moved to the city on April 24th, but the victory was short lived as the Laraisan forces cut off Djeca from the rest of Karachi's army by April 27th. Karachi was now trapped in Djeca and unable to command his forces outside of the city.

Reports of Djeca's encirclement didn't reach Al-Aman until April 30th, immediately riding to Qulta, the headquarters for the Khiadamese high command, to request to take emergency command of Karachi's forces. The high command was split between appointing a new general after firing Karachi or giving command back to Samara, but a influential member of the high command, Shareef Bouali, without approval decided to grant command of the left wing to Al-Aman. Once a single member gave him permission, Al-Aman rode to the left wing's former headquarters in Digara the same day. The 1st Intervention Army arrived in the Zhadah Valley around the same time and Al-Aman immediately began planning a breakout attempt to rejoin Karachi's forces in Djeca. The 1st Intervention Army was rushed to prepare for a mass assault, however Matsukara realized the majority of the left wing was trapped in Djeca and began his own assault of 100,000 men by May 2nd, beginning the Second Siege of Djeca. By May 6th, Al-Aman prepared the 1st Intervention Army for attack, but by then nearly one fourth of Karachi's forces in Djeca were killed, wounded, or surrendered within 4 days. Once again, the Laraisans made use of heavy artillery and turned much of the city to rubble during their attack, causing Khiadamese casualties to be extremely high compared to Laraisan casualties.

The 1st Intervention Army began their assault in the early morning of May 7th, once again catching the Laraisan command off guard. The Khiadamese quickly got bogged down around the outskirts of the city and the Laraisan defense between Al-Aman and Karachi's armies became only a few kilometers thick. Around this time, the total amount of men fighting over Djeca was roughly 170,000 Khiadamese against 200,000 Laraisans, making it the largest battle of the war so far. The siege became a slow effort with both sides taking high casualties to hold onto or take streets or buildings. By mid May, fighting continued and Karachi's forces shrunk to just about 20,000 men. On May 17th, Karachi sustained an injury from an artillery blast in his headquarters, requiring his left foot to be amputated by his few remaining medics. He continued to command, despite needing to use a makeshift crutch to walk. By June 2nd, the siege had lasted a month and continued to drag on with both armies taking high casualties.

A month later, Al-Aman finished forming his own smaller force of cavalry to break through the Laraisan forces between him and Karachi. Around 5,000 cavalry were assembled outside Djeca and on June 23rd overran the Laraisan infantry, creating a small gap allowing Al-Aman's best cavalry officer, Field Officer Zafir Massi to ride with his personal bodyguard through the fighting to reach Karachi's forces. Massi and Karachi began planning a joint withdrawl from Djeca and by June 10th started pulling their forces back to Al-Aman's forces. The Khiadamese 10th and 12th interventionary divisions held the gap for two weeks, taking high casualties of nearly 8,000 while Karachi's army withdrew from the inner city. The soldiers that had been fighting in the besieged city were given the option to withdraw or join the 10th and 12th divisions to hold while their comrades withdrew, 5,000 of which chose to continue fighting.

By July 10th, Karachi's forces had completely withdrawn with him being one of the last men to leave. Al-Aman was surprised by the morale and effectiveness of Karachi's forces despite their dire circumstances and personally met with soldiers who had fought within the city. He concluded that Karachi's leadership and bravery had inspired many of them to fight. He also learnt of Karachi losing his leg from his soldiers. Karachi was expecting to be fired or even executed for his failure, however instead upon meeting with Al-Aman was shown great respect and honor. He arranged for Karachi to receive the best prosthetic leg possible at the time and the two began planning to convince the Khiadamese High Command to return command to Samara. Al-Aman insisted on Karachi continuing to command his own smaller force, recognizing his ability for tactical command.

#### March Through The Shukhov Mountains

While Matsukara's forces were making rapid gains in the Zhadah Valley, Ariyasu's forces had failed at pushing the Khiadamese back and their assault was bogged down around Lakhda, close to Khorsata, the offensive's starting point. Taking inspiration from Utsumi's cavalry offensive through the Terus, Ariyasu planned a similar march through the Shukhov Mountains, which had been avoided by both armies during the war. The steep elevation changes and radically different, colder climate from the Karmine Desert prevented either side from dragging the frontline into the mountains. Ariyasu would use this to his advantage, assembling a force to march south through the mountains and flank the Khiadamese 3rd Intervention Army. Ariyasu's plan was approved and by early June, a force of around 40,000 Laraisans with mountaineering gear were assembled and local guides recruited. The planned route would begin in the Laraisan speaking town of Darabat, then split up on two seperate marches to Myrsk and Sayamet, then end in the town of Yelabodny, which would be the attack's starting point. The Laraisans estimated the march would take around a month, but their Shukhov guides gave them a more realistic time of 2-3 months. On June 25th, the newly formed Army of the Shukhov began their march through the Shukhov Mountains.

Some of the local Shukhov guides hired by the Laraisans were LLE spies and reported the Laraisan routes to the LLE. For the first few weeks leaving Darabat the march was relatively calm until in the town of Chokaw, LLE seperatists ambushed Laraisan forces and LLE agents purposefully started a fire that sweeped through the town. Although the Laraisans attempted to put it out after the LLE withdrew from fighting, the fire was too large and they had to leave the town as to not lag behind their schedule. LLE agents spread propaganda that the fire was started by the Laraisan forces as reprisal for the attack. By the time Laraisan police found out, it had already spread throughout Shukhov, prompting more to join rebel militias. Shortly after the fire in Chokaw, an improvised explosive planted on Ariyasu's mobile headquarters route and killed several officers part of the column, though Ariyasu himself was unharmed.

Throughout July and August, the Laraisan Army continued their march with sporadic skirmishes with LLE guerillas and several more bombs planted to disrupt their advance. With all this attention, Ariyasu figured the Khiadamese Army would've found out by now there were Laraisans in the Shukhov region. Despite reports of the Laraisan Army's positions, the LLE headquarters in Aspya kept this information from the Khiadamese government. The LLE became less and less involved as the rebel movement in Shukhov grew organically. They no longer had to stage attacks themselves, as they would be conducted by civilian groups in Shukhov. Ariyasu reached Sayamet by August 20th, 1889.

Meanwhile, between July 13th and July 17th, Al-Aman traveled to the Khiadamese High Command headquarters which moved from Qulta to Altangol, far from the front, to argue in person for Samara's return as general of the Left Wing. Seeing that their previous replacement failed disastrously, they insisted on getting Jungso, who was busy leading the Samwonese Army, to lead the entire Left Wing. Al-Aman, aware of Jungso's "liberation campaign", shot down this idea. Eventually, the High Command decided to leave Al-Aman overseeing the whole front for the forseeible future. They figured since the Khujak Valley front had held for this long, Al-Aman's resources could be diverted towards retaking the Zhadah Valley, so for the time being, Al-Aman was responsible for the entire front of over 600,000 men and returned to the Left Wing's headquarters in Digara on July 25th after a 5 day trip.

The intense fighting in Djeca reduced most of the city to rubble, leaving it with little strategic value to the Laraisan Army. Despite this, it was still considered a victory by Matsukara and the Laraisan High Command was expecting Matsukara to end up with the leadership of the Center Wing for the assault on Qulta. It was around this time, the Laraisan Army began preparing the Center Wing, firstly by pulling 70,000 soldiers from Ariyasu's Left Wing to create the 7th Army, then mobilizing a new 100,000 recruits from Laraiso to create the 8th Army. They organized around the city of Delsai, near the Khiadamese border. Until now, the border around Qulta that separated the war into two fronts had yet to be crossed by either side.

During the 1889 January Offensive, many Samwonese who had seen the Khiadamese Army as liberators had fled west towards the Samwonese territories under Khiadam. After Jungso had halted the advance of Utsumi's cavalry army and began his campaign of Samwonese independence, many of the Samwonese who had fled volunteered and joined Jungso's army. By August, the Samwonese Army had grown from 50,000 to 120,000 and was starting to drain the Khiadamese Army's supplies. In a short time, Jungso's army more than doubled in size and lacked the equipment to train them all while maintaining his defense against the Laraisan Army. To solve this, he secretly met with Bosan officials to negotiate their help in supplying his army. This was shortly after the Laraisans had forcefully crossed the border and marched an army through their country and many in the government were eager to get back at the Laraisans for violating their sovereignty so egregiously. On July 23rd, the first Bosan rifles and ammunition began crossing the border into Khiadam where they began replacing the older Khiadamese rifles used by the front line infantry and cavalry.

At this point in the war, the Laraisan Army numbered around 800,000 men in total while the Khiadamese had around 630,000. Over 400,000 had died and in total around 1,800,000 people have fought in the war with many more millions of refugees and civilians affected. The scale of the war had undeniably grown to be one of the largest conflicts of its time, far from what the Khiadamese expected when they first intervened. Ordinary Khiadamese citizens living far from the front line were beginning to be affected as food started becoming scarce, especially in the Ahrani Plains where much of Khiadam's food was produced and leaders within the government began calling for an end to the war. In early June, anti-war protests began in the Ahrani city of Naran, led by the Farmer's League, a political organization for farmers in the Ahrani Valley. The organization's leader, Kadin Bacri, was arrested and parts of the Khiadamese Army showed up in Naran, but didn't attempt to put down the protests.

On August 22nd, Ariyasu sent a telegram that crossed the entire length of the frontline to reach Matsukara on August 25th, requesting that he focus on holding the frontline while the Shukhov Mountains Army attacks. The encirclement of Qulta would depend on Matsukara's Right Wing holding while Ariyasu's Left Wing sweeped through the Sagha Valley. Any further offensives in the Zhadah Valley could destabilize the frontline and allow Al-Aman to successfully counterattack. Agreeing to it, Matsukara had to hold off Al-Aman for the next few weeks until Ariyasu began his offensive.

#### Battle of Fayfara

After returning to the front, Al-Aman contacted Jungso for a detailed report of his army's size and fighting ability on July 28th. After a few days of deciding whether to admit his army's full size, he met with Al-Aman in Kobir, a city near where the Samwonese Army and Al-Aman's Army sections of the front met. During the 3 day long meeting starting on July 30th, Jungso disclosed the true size of his army and it's equipment, surprising Al-Aman, however hiding the true nature of their origin. They also began planning a joint offensive to retake the city of Fayfara. Jungso's attack would come from the city of Antan and attempt to cut off the city from Utsumi's army while Al-Aman's larger force would make a frontal assault from the city of Kobir pushing the Laraisan army into Jungso's cavalry and Samwonese volunteers.

Before the attack would begin in the agreed date of August 21st, Al-Aman visited the headquarters of the Right Wing of the Khiadamese Army which had been put under command of Major General Absalom Arkoun. Upon receiving the reports that Laraisan attacks had became more and more infrequent, Al-Aman figured something was suspicious about it. Previously, before the January Offensive, the Laraisan Army was largely inactive in the weeks leading up to the attack and he was reminded of this again. He was also reminded of the attack from the Terus Mountains that were considered not a risk by the Khiadamese at the time. Putting these two together, Al-Aman suddenly became extremely suspicious of the vast unaccounted for Shukhov Mountains and told Arkoun to begin regular patroling of the region and to move part of the 3rd Intervention Army to protect their flank. In the coming weeks following August 15th, unknown to Ariyasu, the 3rd Intervention Army would begin fortifying the valley and sending short patrol parties into the mountains. This coincided with the Laraisan Army arriving at their jumping off point in Yelabodny. Al-Aman returned to Digara on August 18th and moved his headquarters to Kobir on August 20th. At this point, both the Khiadamese Army and Laraisan Army were about to launch major offensives at opposite ends of the frontline.

In the early hours of August 21st, 1889, the Samwonese Volunteer cavalry, many of which were veterans who'd been serving since the war broke out, began their assault. The bulk of the Samwonese cavalry, around 40,000 men and horses, supported by 60,000 infantry, crossed the desert between their positions and the 60,000 strong army of Utsumi. The Laraisan cavalry soon joined the fight and the battlefield became a massive arena between cavalry from both sides, reminiscent of medieval jousts. The opening days of the Battle of Fayfara are widely considered the largest cavalry battle in history. Soon after Jungso's cavalry began their offensive to the north of Fayfara, Al-Aman's 2nd Army and 1st Intervention Army began their attack on the Laraisan positions. Most Laraisan forces were overwhelmed and surrendered after short fighting. After the first day of the offensive, Matsukura arrived in Fayfara to lead the defense in person. He planned to drag on the battle as long as possible and force the Khiadamese into intense fighting over the city to tie down as many forces as possible before Ariyasu made his attack. Matsukura ordered the retreat of his army south of the city to force the Khiadamese to march for days while his army prepared fortifications and artillery. Matsukura would make extensive use of the Bayukhan Rotary Gun in his defenses, which the Khiadamese lacked an equivalent of.

After a few days of mostly marching, the Khiadamese reached Matsukura's makeshift defensive line and their advance was stopped. Previously, the Bayukhan Rotary Gun hadn't been very effective as it was rather slow to move during the rapid advances of the Laraisan army and cavalry during the 1889 January Offensive. However, because of the defensive fortifications made around Fayfara, the Bayukhan could be used to it's upmost effectiveness. The majority of Khiadamese casualties taken during the Battle of Fayfara would be because of these proto-machine guns, Al-Aman had never encountered such an effective defense put up by the Laraisans before and thus used tactics that didn't account for the rotary guns. For the first week of the offensive around Fayfara, the Khiadamese would make very little progress while the Samwonese and Laraisan cavalry were fighting north of the city.

#### Shukhov Mountains Offensive

At the same time, Ariyasu received news that the Khiadamese had begun a massive offensive in the Zhadah Valley on August 23rd. That night, he and his staff celebrated with drinks that the Khiadamese had been successfully tricked into neglecting the Khujak Valley front and the imminent success of their attack. However, the same night, Khiadamese cavalry patrols numbering around 2,000 encountered Laraisan patrols of around 1,400 for the first time around the town of Sanifra just north of Yelabodny. Neither force were expecting to encounter each other and in disbelief, failed to engage each other. Initially, they were confused but the two scout commanders, Antar Derrida and Masako Suda, met and agreed to return to their respective headquarters to notify their superiors of the encounter. The encounter between the two cavalry units is notable because of the attitudes of the soldiers from both sides who were tired of war and for the most part were friendly with each other. During the meeting that lasted several hours, Khiadamese and Laraisan veterans who'd been serving for years shared cigarettes and stories, as many of the Khiadamese cavalrymen were from the Khujak and Sagha valleys and spoke both Arabic and Japanese. Before parting ways, the soldiers shook hands and bid each other farewell. After the war, some of the soldiers who met during this encounter would become lifetime friends.

After receiving reports of the encounter at around 10pm, August 23rd, Ariyasu decided to move the start of the offensive from August 30th to August 25th. For his failure to engage the Khiadamese cavalry and meeting, Commander Suda was discharged from duty. The news of both the meeting and Suda's discharge spread throughout the Laraisan Army in Yelabodny. After months of marching and fighting with Shukhov rebels, on top of the 2 years of fighting the Khiadamese, many of Ariyasu's soldiers were fatigued and had little moral or motivation to fight. On the morning of August 24th, after receiving orders to be ready for the offensive by tomorrow, several divisions of his army refused the order. While it wasn't outright mutiny, it was the largest opposition the Laraisan Army had faced from it's soldiers in the entire war. Ariyasu was surprised by the refusal, but after meeting with his general staff, decided to arrest the nearly 5,000 soldiers of his army who had refused. While most were kept in makeshift prisons in Yelabodny, the cavalrymen who had met with the Khiadamese were arrested and sent to Laraiso where they spent the rest of the war in jungle prison camps alongside Khiadamese POWs. Despite arresting many of his soldiers, Ariyasu still had to move the planned offensive date back to the 30th after the incident.

Meanwhile, the Khiadamese reports reached general Arkoun when he was woken up at 3am on August 24th. He met with his own general staff and the generals of each of the Intervention Armies under his control. After discussing for several hours, he put the entire 3rd Intervention Army on high alert and throughout the following days, more fortifications would be made around cities and forests in the Khiadamese controlled edges of the Shukhov Mountains. Upon receiving the news in the early morning of August 25th, Al-Aman put his attack on hold and traveled to Qulta that day, where the Khiadamese High Command and Arkoun's general staff were waiting. On the ride there, Al-Aman concluded this was to be the moment that would decide the outcome of the war that the Laraisans were betting on. He made a final desperate attempt with Arkoun to convince the High Command to bring Samara back to command the Left Wing. After nearly a day of debate, Al-Aman was ordered to hold the Laraisans until they could decide later, however Al-Aman refused to leave and had a violent outburst at the High Command where he made all of his thoughts on their incompetency clear. After composing himself he left with Arkoun. Later that night, Shareef Bouali, the same High Command member who had approved Al-Aman taking over the Left Wing met with him and revealed he shared many of the same feelings as him. Bouali said he would get Samara back in command any way he could and for now, trusted Al-Aman with the Right Wing.

Al-Aman returned to Kobir on August 26th and met with Jungso to discuss what would come of their attack on Fayfara. They concluded it will continue, but in the background as the main focus of Al-Aman and the Khiadamese would be fighting back the impending Laraisan offensive. Al-Aman entrusted command of the 2nd and 1st Armies to Karachi once again, despite his previous blunder. To Al-Aman, he believed Karachi had developed his character substantially from when he was first given command. However, just in case, he left Field Officer Zafir Massi, who had commanded in Djeca alongside Karachi, to advise him. He also told Karachi he had to obey any orders he got from Jungso, as he trusted Jungso to direct the battle. His final act of command in Kobir would be to order the 1st Intervention Army, who had marched to the Zhadah Valley during the January Offensive to return to the Sagha Valley to join the Left Wing's defense. Al-Aman, alongside the 1st Intervention Army, departed for the Zhadah Valley on August 28th. Instead of marching for a month in 100+ degree heat through the driest parts of the Karmine Desert, most of the Khiadamese soldiers would be transported by train via the rail line that had been laid in the spring and early summer that stretched across the front. In the coming months, the rail line would prove vital in Al-Aman's defense.

While the trains would take several days to reschedule their routes in order to transport all the men of the 1st Intervention Army, Al-Aman and his staff rode in the back of a supply wagon that was on it's way from Digara to Larem in the Sagha Valley. The ride took a day and Al-Aman arrived in Larem on the night of August 28th. After a short nights sleep, Al-Aman left for Sashir on horseback on the morning of August 29th. Entering the city of Sashir, Al-Aman and his entorage were surprised by a Laraisan spy who had taken up a sniping position on a water tower and began a shootout with Al-Aman's bodyguard. Al-Aman himself took up a rifle and joined the fight despite attempts to get him to safety. Eventually the spy was shot in the arm and had to withdraw, eventually returning being arrested by Khiadamese military police. Despite the assassination attempt, Al-Aman didn't let up and insisted on continuing to Muqar. He and his entorage reached the Right Wing's headquarters in Muqar on the night of August 29th. Upon entering Arkoun's headquarters, Al-Aman passed out in the planning room due to sleep exhaustion and was taken by his staff to Arkoun's quarters.

While Al-Aman was busy preparing the defense of the Khujak Valley from the impending offensive by Ariyasu, Jungso began plotting a revolution. The distraction of the offensive through the Shukhov Mountains would take up most of Al-Aman and his staff's attention, enough for the Samwonese Army to prepare to break away from the Khiadamese Army and establish an independent Samwonese state. The Samwonese Volunteer Army now made up a substantial part of the Khiadamese forces in the Karmine Desert, enough that they could threaten both the Khiadamese and Laraisan armies.

### Fourth Phase

#### 1889 Harvest Offensive

In the early morning of August 30th, 1889, the orders for the joint offensive of the Laraisan 3rd, 4th, 5th, Khujak and Shukhov Armies, totalling 520,000 men, was given by General Ariyasu via telegraph. The offensive can be broken up into three groups, the 3rd and 4th armies offensive, the 5th and Khujak armies offensive, and the Shukhov army's offensive. The 3rd and 4th armies 200,000 men began assaulting towards the cities of Santur and Teher, north of Muqar. The 5th and Khujak armies focused their attacks on crossing the Tuar River which the Khiadamese had been using to hold the city of Tazirdu, northeast of Teher. Meanwhile the Shukhov Army, being comprised of mostly cavalry and mounted infantry, would rapidly push towards the Karmine River and Muqar, enabling the encirclement of Teher and Tazirdu.

The 3rd Army attacked the western half of the 2nd Intervention Army with a 100,000 to 60,000 advantage, pushing south towards Santur from the town of Saran, meanwhile the 4th Army attacked the eastern half with a similar numbers advantage to finally take the city of Lakhda where once captured, their offensive would continue towards Teher. The Khiadamese were heavily dug in around Lakhda, with extensive trenchlines around the city. For months, the Laraisans had been attempting to break into the city, being held back by the veteran Narah divisions under command of Western Narah General Ayyur Ag'Idir. On the first day, the Laraisan 4th Army made a suicidal offensive into the city, taking around 4,000 casualties around Lakhda alone, but by nightfall managed to finally break into the inner city. The 3rd Army successfully pushed around 50 miles towards the town of Al Hotra, between Santur and Tehir, meeting similar resistance, but only taking 1,000 casualties.

The 5th Army and Khujak Army had spent months preparing to cross the Karmine River in one of the biggest river crossings in history, with around 80,000 men attempting to cross one of the world's deepest rivers on the morning of August 30th. The size of the Karmine River and scale of the crossing, made it comparable to a naval invasion, with long boats having to be pushed onto the bank from the backline by dozens of men, while under fire from Khiadamese artillery across the river. The crossing of the Karmine River would be one of the deadliest single events of the entire war, with around 47,000 Laraisan casualties and 20,000 dead on the first day. However, the Khiadamese were taken utterly by surprise and had very few fortifications along the bank of the river. Many of the Khiadamese soldiers routed after the first landings and by evening the Laraisans were able to safely transport more men across the river without coming under fire from small arms. By night, the Laraisans had pushed the Khiadamese into the outskirts of Tazirdu. Crossings were also made south of Tazirdu, but failed north around the town of Shiraho where the Khiadamese managed to hold against the smaller crossings. The 3rd Intervention Army continued to hold onto Tazirdu, being protected and supplied by the 2nd Intervention Army holding Shiraho. Many of the Laraisan soldiers who were first sent to cross the Karmine River were Arabs conscripted from the Khujak Valley when the Laraisans still controlled it, suffering most of the casualties of the crossing. This, however, resulted in the Khujaks surrendering en masse once making it across. Of the 70,000 Laraisan soldiers who crossed the river on the first day, 25,000 of them surrendered upon making it to the Khiadamese lines. After being pushed back from the river bank, the Khiadamese defense of Tazirdu was bolstered by around 18,000 Khujaks who willingly switched sides after surrendering.

The Shukhov Army began their offensive with massive cavalry manuevers numbering around 40,000 cavalrymen, moving to take the towns of Sighra and Erran by the next day. However, the Khiadamese defenses put up in the days leading up to the attack would be unexpected by the Laraisan cavalry, however did little to stop their advance. In response to meeting the swiftly set up trenches and spiketraps, the cavalry pressed on and rode right through the defences. Watchtowers were brought down within minutes by the hordes of dismounted Laraisan cavalrymen and trenches flushed out. Around Sighra, the closest town to the Laraisan jumping off point at Yelabodny, was defended by around 8,000 Khiadamese soldiers, but were overrun and routed by Laraisan cavalry, with the town surrendering by 4pm. The Army of the Shukhov included no artillery, as to make the army as light and manueverable as possible, allowing them to advance rapidly on the first day. Ariyasu himself arrived in Sighra, the first major town captured by the Laraisans during the offensive, by the afternoon, personally raising the Laraisan flag over the city center.

Al-Aman, after several days without rest, ending up sleeping a total of 18 hours, not waking until 6pm on the first day of the offensive. Upon realizing how long he had slept and reading the reports of the Laraisan breakthroughs all along the front, he suffered a hysteric breakdown in his command headquarters lasting an hour. After several smokes and beers, Al-Aman managed to get a hold of himself and took up command of the Left Wing, moving several of the 1st Expeditionary Army divisions which had just arrived from the Zhadah Valley to support the mass route of the 3rd Intervention Army by the Laraisan Cavalry. He then decided the first line of defense would be taken along the Karmine River and he would move his personal headquarters to Teher to lead the defense from as frontal a position as possisble. After reading the reports of the estimated Laraisan casualties during the Karmine River Crossing and Khujak surrenders, he gave orders to abandon the city, reasoning that the Laraisans would take signifigant time to reorganize after taking such heavy losses crossing the river, giving the Khiadamese crucial time to prepare defenses around Teher. Withdrawing from Tazirdu would also eliminate the potential of a pocket being closed around the city by the Laraisan cavalry coming west, which could've trapped nearly 20,000 men. By midnight, Al-Aman and his staff were in full working order and began moving their headquarters to Teher alongside the 1st Intervention Army. By the end of the first day of Ariyasu's offensive, the Laraisan army suffered around 40,000 casualties, but made successful breakthroughs along the entire front, inflicting around 25,000 casualties on the Khiadamese.

During the night of August 30th-31st, the Laraisan cavalry pressed on with their offensives towards the cities of Erran and Kentora, arriving at the outskirts of both cities by 3am. The Khiadamese forces who had routed towards Kentora were told to regroup and hold the city until the 1st Intervention Army could arrive with support. The Laraisan cavalry reached the city as they were chasing down routing Khiadamese infantry and were met with heavy resistance from the defenders, taking in Khiadamese who had been fleeing. Al-Aman and the 1st Intervention Army arrived in Tausuk, across the Khoji River from Kentora, at around 4am. There, Al-Aman took direct command over the defense of Kentora, with Ariyasu also arriving outside Kentora shortly aftwewards to personally lead the Laraisan cavalry's attack, resulting in the short Battle of Kentora. Kentora became a strategic duel between Ariyasu and Al-Aman, with Al-Aman managing to hold the Laraisan cavalry back until 6am when the 1st Intervention Army reached the city, crossing the Khoji and joining the small garrison in the fight. By then, the Laraisan cavalry were quickly tiring and began to break upon attempts at charging into the Khiadamese lines. When Al-Aman saw this opportunity, he ordered a counterattack to tie down the attention of the Laraisan cavalry and infantry, allowing the remnants of the southern 3rd Intervention Army to reform around Sirra, Erran, and most importantly, Teher.

Al-Aman had requested around 3,000 of the Samwonese cavalry be transfered to his command and to go with the 1st Intervention Army to Muqar, and it was now that he planned to use them. The Samwonese cavalry were sent up ahead of the rest of the 1st Intervention Army to Erran, once arriving they began a counterattack at 4am towards the incoming Laraisan cavalry who were routing the Khiadamese from Sanifra. The Samwonese were joined by the veteran Tordari cavalry under command of Kermali Moussa, many of whom had previously broke the Laraisan cavalry charge at the Battle of Quoso, totalling a force of around 8,000. The Laraisan cavalry, who weren't expecting to fight other cavalry, were surprised by the sudden rush of the Samwonese and Tordari and after the first engagements began retreating. Despite being outnumbered 8,000 to 20,000, the Samwonese and Tordari cavalry successfully halted the rapid advance of the Laraisan cavalry, saving around 20,000 Khiadamese soldiers who quickly took up defenses around Erran.

By noon of August 31st, the majority of the Laraisan Khujak Army had crossed the Karmine River and replaced the Khujak soldiers who had surrendered the day prior. Pontoon bridges were set up by Laraisan engineers, however Khiadamese artillery in Tazirdu made it difficult to cross and inflicted a further 4,000 casualties onto the Laraisans. Tazirdu began evacuating that day, but it was expected to take nearly two weeks to evacuate the entire 90,000 men positioned around the city, however the process was signfigantly hastened by the Khujak defectees who took up a signifigant portion of the outer defenses while the Khiadamese were evacuated. Around 7,000 were able to leave for Teher by the next day. Meanwhile the Laraisans kept up their attacks on the city, moving light artillery across the Karmine River and beginning the first proper assaults on the city's defenses.

By the next week, Laraisan forces had slowed down since their first advances in the first couple days meeting stiff Khiadamese resistance all along the frontline. Al-Aman's successful halt of the Shukhov Army's cavalry offensive ended Ariyasu's plans to rapidly take the Sagha Valley, however the position from the Shukhov Mountains still had the potential of splitting the Khiadamese Army in half. Ariyasu decided to coordinate the Shukhov Army's attacks with the 3rd Army's attacks towards Santur. The hope was that breaking the Khiadamese line at Santur and Tausuk would catch the majority of Al-Aman's army around Teher and Tazirdu. The presence of the 1st Intervention Army was not confirmed but suspected by the Laraisans after the Battle of Kentora and they hoped to cut them off before they could form a sufficient defense. On September 6th, the Laraisan 3rd Army began their assault on the city of Santur by opening with a massive artillery barrage lasting the entire day. Al-Aman gave the order for the city's evacuation of civilians that morning after getting the first reports of artillery. Later that night, sultan Sabir Al-Ramay secretly arrived in Teher to have a personal meeting with Al-Aman to discuss the recent revelations about the Laraisan offensive and to convince Al-Aman to take better care of his personal health. Al-Aman wasn't notified prior to Sabir's arrival and panicked when he found out the sultan was this close to the frontline, wishing to personally escort him back to Khiadam, but Sabir refused, insisting he was needed at the frontline. So reluctantly, after the discussion, he remained in Teher and trusted the royal guard to take the sultan to safety.

By September 7th, most of the 1st Intervention Army had arrived in Muqar and began being deployed across the frontline. Al-Aman deployed most of the army to his flanks around Santur and Kentora, while leaving part of the army, around 20,000 men, to guard their rear in the cities of Acrot and Lylym in anticipation for another surprise attack through the region of Sachistan. Al-Aman also began to forsee the Laraisan surprise offensive on Qulta, requesting that the High Command begin mobilizing more men to defend the inevitable salient that would form. However, the High Command refused, still viewing the war as a "foreign" conflict that didn't threaten the Khiadamese homeland and believed the Laraisans wouldn't cross the Khiadamese border. Soon afterwards, on September 9th, Al-Aman finally connected all the dots of the Laraisan plan and realized the true goal of the Harvest Offensive, to open up flank to encircle Qulta and begin an invasion of Khiadam. The High Command refused to believe him and insisted it was not possible.

Al-Aman sent the First and Second Armies a telegraph message the next day on September 10th, however the message was intercepted by Jungso's Samwonese army who withheld the information from Karachi. At this point, Jungso began to formulate his plan to intentionally leave the Khiadamese armies in the Zhadah Valley vulnerable, to funnel the Laraisan armies away from the Samwonese, so that once their offensive had begun Jungso's forces could liberate vast swathes of the Zhadah Valley from Laraisan occupation while they were busy encircling Qulta. During this, Jungso planned to declare his army's independence and began meeting with Khiadamese governors in Samwon to coerce and threaten them into supporting him when the time came.

By September 10th, most of Tazirdu had been evacuated including around 250,000 civilians who were brought alongside the army. The last Khiadamese soldiers defending the city center withdrew on September 12th, giving the city up to the Laraisans, however not without inflicting nearly 80,000 casualties on the Laraisan Army in the span of two weeks. The center of the defense, Teher, became a huge refugee camp and civilian order began to break down. On September 11th, Al-Aman ordered Marshall Law within the city and a curfew was set in place with many soldiers from Tazirdu being converted into military police to uphold society within the city. Alongside the strategic military crisis, Al-Aman and the Khiadamese Army were starting to face a humanitarian crisis as civilians began fleeing on masse from the frontlines at a rate that they struggled to keep up with. When word of the refugee crisis unfolding in Butatlu reached Khiadam, a volunteer force of around 400,000 civilians within Khiadam, primarily Narah, were organized to help independently evacuate civilians from the front. Elephants, camels, and horses were used to bring wagons to and from the frontline and many wealthy Narah Trade Leagues donated to help fund the evacuation efforts. The military worked alongside the Khiadamese civilians to help evacuate nearly 200,000 civilians out of Butatlu deep into Khiadam to protect them from future offensives by the Laraisans.

It was around this time that many within Khiadam began to see the writing on the wall, that the Laraisans would simply continue pushing, however most believed they would only retake land they previously held rather than continuing past the border. While support for the army and Al-Aman began to rise since the start of the year, pressure to bring an end to the war before Laraiso could take more land began to mount. While Sultan Sabir and Al-Aman were open to the idea of entering negotiations, the Khiadamese High Command and Laraisan governments shared no such intentions. For many, this was the moment the conflict evolved into a "total war" between the two empires, neither side planning to back down until total victory was achieved and became increasingly willing to commit their entire nations to the war. The Laraisans had already reached that point with the start of the counteroffensive in January and only deepened with their new offensive. Though Al-Aman wished for peace, he was perhaps the only powerful man in the Khiadamese Army who predicted the coming Laraisan conquest.