Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2771 The Second Battle Beyond the Great Wall: Qu Bing's Ten Thousand Army Rushes to the Royal Court

For Ögedei Khan, the reason he previously sidelined Yelü Chucai and those loyal Han Chinese marquises was because these people were all part of Kublai Khan's inner circle and had stood behind Zhenjin during his struggle for the throne.

Therefore, if he wanted to rise to power at that time, he would naturally have to side with the Mongol nobles in terms of political inclination in order to gain their support.

Now that he has successfully ascended the throne and won a great victory, stabilizing his position, the next step is naturally to strengthen his rule as emperor.

At this time, since these Han people were willing to come closer to him, he was naturally happy to accept them.

He even felt great regret for Yelü Chucai, the prime minister.

If this old man hadn't died, he would have been just as happy to accept him.

For these emperors, their ministers were sometimes nothing more than tools.

As for that tool, when it's useful and when it's not, that naturally depends on their needs.

Not to mention, as the emperor, he could not allow any single entity to dominate the Yuan Dynasty.

These people are naturally useful to him! As the emperor, if they are useful, then he will naturally use them.

Ögedei may not have been as good as Temujin or Kublai Khan, but as Temujin's successor in history, he was not an incompetent ruler, much less someone who could be easily manipulated.

Therefore, following Ögedei Khan's great victory over the Manchus, the political situation within the Yuan Dynasty began to change once again after this war.

However, before this change in the political situation could have a further impact on the Yuan-Mongol alliance, another major war between the Yuan and Mongol forces was about to begin.

Previously, the Jin Dynasty had been loudly proclaiming that it would soon join forces with the Manchus to launch a campaign against the Yuan Mongols, which was naturally intended to make the two sides more hostile.

However, it wasn't just a casual remark; there's actually a plan.

However, it wasn't this year, but rather Li Xiang put it in the following year.

Therefore, in the following year, Li Jing was appointed as the commander-in-chief to control the various armies to march beyond the Great Wall.

Meng Tian, ​​commander of the Northwest Camp, and Yue Fei, commander of the Hetao Camp, each dispatched 5 troops, all of whom were cavalry.

Following the first major campaign beyond the Great Wall led by Yue Fei and Huo Qubing, which resulted in the destruction of the Muqali Khanate and the Tuoba Khanate, the second campaign beyond the Great Wall officially began.

At the same time, Li Mu, the deputy general of the northern camp, also dispatched 50,000 cavalrymen, who joined forces with 30,000 Manchu cavalrymen to sweep from east to west.

Although the Qing dynasty had just suffered heavy losses, it still had no choice but to send troops.

They initially became vassal states of the Yuan Dynasty, but after hearing the news of Kublai Khan's death in battle, they accepted the olive branch extended to them by the Great Jin Dynasty and became vassal states of the Great Jin Dynasty.

At that time, they had already offended the Yuan Mongols severely, but the Yuan Mongols were busy dealing with internal problems and didn't have time to deal with the Manchus.

Furthermore, after the Manchu Qing dynasty, they joined forces with the Jin dynasty to resolve the Tuoba Khanate, which further intensified the hatred between them and the Yuan Mongols.

It was precisely because of this that when Ögedei Khan heard the news that the Great Jin and the Manchus were about to launch a joint military campaign, he decisively defeated the Manchus first.

Having already deeply offended the Yuan Mongols, the Manchus at this point could only stay by the side of the Great Jin Dynasty and could not afford to offend the Great Jin as well.

Therefore, even though they had just suffered a defeat and heavy losses, they had no choice but to send 30,000 cavalrymen to fight alongside Li Mu's army after receiving the order from the Great Jin to send troops.

With three armies and a total of 180,000 cavalrymen mobilized by the Qing Dynasty, the force was truly formidable.

During this period, Huo Qubing once led 10,000 troops, intending to bypass the main force of the Yuan-Mongol army, travel a thousand miles to raid the Yuan-Mongol royal court.

However, this time Huo Qubing did not continue the legend of sealing the wolf's lair. While raiding those small tribes along the way to replenish supplies, each tribe promptly lit a beacon fire.

After all, no matter how fast Huo Qubing was, it was impossible for him to kill all the people in the tribe in an instant.

Lighting a signal fire, however, takes only a moment.

Although the grasslands are vast and sparsely populated, the first two times the smoke signals were lit, they were not discovered in time. However, once they were discovered, it meant that Huo Qubing's whereabouts had been exposed.

The Yuan Dynasty had a large number of falconers who had locked onto that area, and Murong Ke personally led 3 cavalry to intercept Huo Qubing.

The two fought three times within half a month, with each battle resulting in a win and a loss.

However, Huo Qubing was ultimately in enemy territory, and his forces were far inferior to Murong Ke's.

Furthermore, Murong Ke's troops were extremely close, preventing Huo Qubing from having the opportunity to attack surrounding small tribes for supplies.

Due to various factors, Huo Qubing's army ultimately failed and, after suffering heavy losses, had no choice but to turn back south.

However, although Huo Qubing's attempt to raid the royal court failed, the role played by his troops was still enormous.

Because he had drawn back Murong Ke, the top general of the Yuan Dynasty, Murong Huang, who took over Murong Ke's military affairs at the front, was no match for Li Jing and Yue Fei. He defeated them in one battle, beheading more than 20,000.

Immediately afterward, before Murong Ke could return, Li Jing and Yue Fei joined forces to defeat the Murong Khanate, burning the Khanate's court to the ground and beheading Murong Huang, Murong Narong, and Murong De within the Khanate's court.

Following the Muqali Kingdom and the Tuoba Khanate, the Murong Khanate also perished.

Although Murong Ke, the Khan, was still alive, his herdsmen and elite troops were either annihilated in one battle or plundered by the Jin army, and the Khan's court and a large amount of grassland were burned to the ground.

Now all alone, just like Muqali before the war, he only had the title of Khan, but no real power. The Murong Khanate had lost its foundation for re-establishment.

Meng Tian's army faced two veteran Yuan-Mongol generals, Jebe and Subutai. Meng Tian's overall military leadership skills might not have been inferior to theirs, but cavalry warfare was indeed their specialty, not Meng Tian's.

Therefore, among the three armies, his was the only one that did not achieve any results. In fact, not only did he not achieve any results, but he also suffered a few minor losses.

In contrast, Li Mu's journey was also quite fruitful.

Li Mu adopted Han Xin's strategy, using a combination of feints and real attacks. He had the Manchus lead a large force to draw Ögedei Khan's attention, while he himself led a small force to launch a surprise attack from the flank, inflicting a major defeat on Mahmud, who was on the flank of the Yuan Mongols.

In one battle, three thousand were beheaded, and Mahmud, a Mongol nobleman, was killed, greatly demoralizing the troops of Ögedei Khan before the formal decisive battle between the two sides.

Following this, the battle between Ögedei Khan and Li Mu ultimately ended in defeat for the Mongol forces, thanks to the assistance of Han Xin.

It was in this battle that Li Mu's deputy general, Li Guangbi, led 8,000 cavalry in a surprise attack on Ögedei Khan's reinforcements on a rainy night, and killed Ögedei Khan's son on the spot.

The most noteworthy figure in this battle was Li Yuanba, who, under the leadership of Li Xiuning, first killed Shi Le with a single blow amidst the chaos of battle. He then single-handedly fought against four generals: Tao Tian, ​​Tao Wu, Hong Dong, and Qiong Qi, ultimately killing two of them at the cost of sustaining injuries himself.

However, in the process of Li Yuanba relentlessly chasing down the other two, he got separated from Li Xiuning and unfortunately wandered into a swamp...

After this battle, the tentacles of the Yuan Mongols officially withdrew from the sphere of influence that once belonged to the Tuoba Wei grasslands.

After the second war against the Manchus, the Manchus' strength was greatly reduced. Emperor Xuan Ye submitted a memorial, expressing his willingness to relinquish the title of Emperor and instead reduce himself to the title of King. As a result, the Jin Dynasty re-established its investiture system for the Manchus.

As for vassal states, whether they are entitled to the title of emperor or king is essentially related to their strength.

In ancient China, Korea, which was also a vassal state, always held the title of "King," while Vietnam maintained the title of "Emperor."

Now that his strength is increasingly insufficient, Xuan Ye is happy to endure it for the time being.