In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 280 The Song Army does not respect martial ethics
The three tribes selected as commanders dispatched the most troops.

Among them, Ruogaidema, the leader of the Asi tribe, fled here from Ruogai grassland.

After the Song army broke through Diezhou, they marched towards the Ruogai Grassland.

If Gaidema knew he was outmatched, he did not dare to fight the Song army, so he gave up one of the best pastures in Tubo and fled with his family.

Because the cattle and sheep moved slowly, in addition to the horses running out, a large number of cattle and sheep were also captured by the Song army.

Among the three commanders, Jogaidema hated the Song army the most and most wanted to fight the Song army to win back the cattle and sheep in the pasture.

In early February of the fourth year of Baoqing, more than 9 people from various Tibetan tribes waited at Jaling Lake for Gong Gyaltsen who had returned from Ruogai Grassland.

Gong Gyaltsen brought the conditions for the Song people to stop their troops and negotiate peace.

The tribes of Tubo unconditionally surrendered to the Song Dynasty. From now on, each tribe will pay tribute to the Song Dynasty in the number of cattle, sheep and horses every year. All nobles from each tribe with more than [-] households must send hostages to Sichuan to live in the Song Dynasty. The leaders of the other noble tribes will take turns to live in Sichuan for one year.

Gong Gyaltsen, who represents the spiritual leader, goes to Fengxiang for half a year every year, and masters from other sects come to Sichuan in turn.

After the news of Gyaltsen was brought back, the entire Tubo nobles were angry. This was not a condition for peace, but a condition for conquering them.

Back then, only some of their tribes went to war with the Northern Song Dynasty, but they only lost the battle and were not conquered. Now the small Zhao Song Dynasty who crossed south wanted to conquer their entire country?

You must know that when the war with the Northern Song Dynasty started, Tubo did not have as many tribes participating as this time.

Of course, their population is now less than before, and the preparation time this time is limited. It is considered good to be able to mobilize nearly 9 people in just over two months.

If they were allowed to prepare for a few more months, it would be possible to dispatch [-] cavalry.

Gong Gyaltsen also said that after the Song army occupied the Ruogai grassland, they did not raid other tribes because they knew that the Tubo people would move farther west at any time with their horses, cattle and sheep.

The Song army was waiting for them to gather and planned to fight them in a battle.

Therefore, when the Tubo tribes were slowly gathering towards Jaling Lake, the Song army was slowly approaching, giving them time to gather their troops.

So both sides tacitly agreed that the decisive battle would take place at Zhaling Lake.

In mid-February, Meng Gong led an army of 5000 people and was slowly approaching Zhaling Lake.

As Gong Jianzan said, Meng Gong did not intend to take more than 2 people to run around in Tubo.

This place is so big that it is more than 4000 miles from Diezhou to Lhasa in later generations, that is, near the Sakya Monastery.

Although the Song army is now learning from Mongolia, relying on war to support war, and making various preparations to fight in the wild for a long time, Meng Gong believes that instead of defeating tribes one by one, it is better to wait for them to gather and defeat them in one battle.

The Tubo side also planned to fight with them, so after Meng Gong occupied Ruogai Grassland, he organized his troops and horses and slowly approached Zhaling Lake.

He brought 3 people into Tubo, captured Diezhou one after another, and drove away Ruogaidema. Every land he occupied had to leave 3000 people to escort the cattle and sheep plundered by the local people.

After only attacking two places, there were only 5000 available men left.

So Meng Gong had no choice but to wait for the Tubo people to gather before deciding the outcome.

In the past two years, Meng Gong sent merchants to trade with Tubo. It is estimated that Tubo has a population of about 100 million and about 25 households. According to Tubo's habit of sending one soldier for every three households, the maximum number of troops could be [-].

This number is not much different. Tubo's whole country expedition this time was over [-], including [-] soldiers.

Of course, they claim to be 20, and Meng Gong doesn’t know how many people there are on the other side, but no matter how many there are, Meng Gong is confident that they can defeat them in one battle.

After the Song army entered Tubo, they discovered that whether it was Zhao Agechang or Ruogaidema, they were equivalent to local slave owners, and their herdsmen were their slaves. They had to pay tribute in peacetime and send troops in war.

The slave owners, on the other hand, were reluctant to equip them with armor at all, so slaves always brought their own armor when they went out to war.

Tubo soldiers rarely have iron armor or Zha armor, most of them are leather armor, and some poor herdsmen don't even have leather armor.

Except for the small amount of armor that these nobles had as private soldiers, most of the Tibetan soldiers were extremely poorly equipped.

In fact, the early Mongols, like the Tibetans, prepared their own soldiers and armor when going on an expedition, and the superiors would not be responsible.

But the Mongols often go out to fight, and the victors can plunder excellent soldiers and armor.

The Tubo people have not fought a good war with anyone in the past few decades. Apart from their own civil war, they have never fought any external battles. Their combat effectiveness is poor and their armor is also poor.

Meng Gong even saw the Bu Renjia of the Song Dynasty in the Northern Song Dynasty in Diezhou City. It was decades old and dilapidated, and was still used by the Tubo people.

So now compared with the equipment of the Tubo and Song troops, the two sides are not at the same level at all.

And since Meng Gong learned that the Tubo people were gathering at Zhaling Lake, he immediately made up for his homework.

Zhaling Lake and Eling Lake are located near Maduo, the source of the Yellow River, about [-] miles away from Maduo City. They are the two largest plateau freshwater lakes at the source of the Yellow River. They are known as the "sister lakes at the source of the Yellow River".

The biggest feature here is the cold and the fact that it is located on a plateau.

The coldest month is January, which can reach minus [-] degrees Celsius.

The hottest months are July and August, where temperatures are only around [-] to [-] degrees Celsius.

The Tubo people assembled their troops and horses at Zhaling Lake, and they also wanted to beat the Song people, who were not used to it.

It is both a plateau and cold here. Generally, soldiers and horses marching long distances do not have cold-proof equipment. If they come here without fighting, half of their combat effectiveness will be lost.Although Song Jun was prepared to come, Meng Gong was not willing to be led around.

He drove away Ruogai Dema in January, and then waited for more than a month in the Ruogai grassland. The whole army ate roast mutton every three days until they almost vomited, and determined when the Tibetans gathered their troops at Jaling Lake. , in February, after avoiding the coldest month of January, the troops were dispatched.

Along the way, the Song army was slow and slow, and they had not yet reached Golmud in March.

The Song army was marching very slowly, and the Tibetan people on the other side of Zhaling Lake couldn't stand the cold.

The key is that there is no fat grass to eat on the grassland now.

They brought hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep for food, but there was little food for the cattle and sheep.

When everyone set out from home, they brought a large amount of fodder that they had accumulated. Seeing that the Song army had not yet come, the forage was almost exhausted.

Brother Tseba took Gashier and Rogaidema to find Gong Gyaltsen. Didn't he mean that he had made an appointment with the Song army to fight at Jaling Lake?Will the Song army come?
Gong Gyaltsen said, I don’t know either. The people of Song Dynasty didn’t promise that they would come here to fight. In a war, a soldier is not afraid of deceit. Who would be sure to come here?
Neat, Song people don't talk about Wude?Tell me earlier if you don't come.

Caibage and his nearly 9 people shivered for several months in the cold wind of Zaling Lake, and then heard the news from sentry cavalry that the Song army was still living on the west bank of the Golmud River hundreds of miles away. Got off.

What's so special, Brother Caiba was furious, and together with everyone else, he decided to raise his troops and take the initiative to fight the Song army.

Although Gong Jianzan is not a war of commanding troops, he also persuades Ba Ge.

The Golmud River and Tanggula Mountains are separated by only one mountain, and the climate is very different.

The Golmud River has a continental climate, with an average summer temperature of [-] to [-] degrees Celsius, while to the east of the Tanggula Mountains next door, the average summer temperature is [-] to [-] degrees Celsius, similar to that of Zaling Lake.

The Song Army deliberately stationed to the west of the Golmud River, obviously wanting to avoid the low temperature and wait for work in peace. If we want to fight the Song Army, we have to bypass the cold Tanggula Mountains, and to wait for the Song Army here, the Song Army has to bypass the Tanggula Mountains.

Brother Caiba asked, what if the Song army had been waiting at the Golmud River and refused to leave?
Have we been spending time here too?

Here we have to wait until April and May to have weeds to eat, and only in July and August will there be a lot of grass to eat.

They can afford to wait, but cattle, horses and sheep cannot afford to wait.

There is no way, even if Gong Gyaltsen does not lead troops, he cannot persuade him.

Cai Bage convened a meeting of the leaders of the states, and everyone agreed to take the initiative to fight the Song army.

Because they already knew that the Song army only had more than 2 people, half of whom were infantry.

We have more than 8 cavalry, but we can't defeat the Song army's 2 people?
In early March, Caibago headed west with more than 9 men and horses, and about 20 cattle and sheep.

They stayed in Zhaling Lake for several months, and some tribal support came from all directions. The number of soldiers was close to [-].

In mid-March, the Tibetan troops bypassed the Tanggula Mountains and arrived at the east bank of the Golmud River.

After only one day of walking, the climate here has gradually improved a lot. The local water and grass resources are rich, and their cattle, horses and sheep all had a good meal.

At this time, everyone felt that they should have come over for a decisive battle with the Song people.

Two days later, the Gashir forward saw the Song army camp across the Golmud River.

Early in the morning on March [-], more than a dozen tribal leaders, including Tsebago, Gashier, and Rogaidema, rode with Gyaltsen to the junction of the Shulgan River and the Geer River.

Opposite is Geer City. Standing on the east bank of the river, they can already see Geer City in the distance opposite and the large area of ​​horses and sheep outside the city. The Song people have already occupied Geer City and camped with the Geer River behind them. All are endless horses and sheep.

Thinking that these horses and sheep might all be robbed from them, Cai Bage's face turned green.

Almost at the same time they saw the opposite side, several Song troops also appeared on the opposite shore.

Song Jun looked at them across the river, pointing here and there from time to time.

Then he seemed to be laughing, but he didn't know what he was laughing at.

Caibago said angrily: "When we break this Song army, we will kill them all, leaving no one behind."

Everyone around responded.

At this moment, the two sides can only look at each other across the river, and it is still a long way around the river.

Of course, the Song army was waiting on the edge of Golmud City.

After that, the sentry cavalry of the two sides came into contact frequently. The sentry cavalry of the Song army seemed to be weak, and they were driven away by Tubo every time. He was beaten by the Jin and lost half of his country.

But the wise man Gong Gianzan reminded him to be careful of the Song army deliberately showing weakness. This Song army was quite insidious. In order to sneak attack Brother Zhao Achang, they made a deal with Brother Zhao Achang for more than two years.

Brother Tseba disagreed. The war was about to begin, and he had no time to pay attention to Gyaltsen.

On March 10,000th, after several days of circling, Caibago finally arrived at the west bank of the Golmud River with [-] troops and [-]+ cattle and sheep.

When they first gathered at Zhaling Lake, each group brought hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep, and in the past few months, they had eaten more than half of them.

Many nobles suffered heavy losses. They were already discussing how to ask the Song court for compensation once they defeated the Song army. If the Song people did not pay, they would send troops to attack Sichuan.

The Song army on the opposite side also knew that they were approaching, and the sentries and cavalry retreated from time to time.

(End of this chapter)