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

Chapter 363 Conquer the Song Dynasty or the Western Expedition?

The morale of all the Mongolian troops was low, especially the Kuantou troops. They traveled more than 2000 miles to help Chagatai. Then the two armies joined forces and failed to capture Guazhou and Shazhou, so they ran back again. This really hurt morale.

As soon as the two armies left, the Song army in Guazhou immediately left the city as they expected.

After the Song army came out, they followed the Mongolian army from a distance and sent fast horse sentries to inform Shazhou.

Kuoduan and Chagatai were furious when they heard this, and turned around to fight the Song army. The Song army ran towards Guazhou City without saying a word.

The two of them laughed angrily, no longer paying attention to the Song army, and continued eastward.

In about four days, the Shazhou Song Army caught up with the Guazhou Song Army who was jogging in front. The Song Army also joined forces and began to follow the Mongolian Army towards Zhongxing Mansion.

That's fine, they decided to bring this Song army to Zhongxing Mansion.

Even if the Song army and Meng Gong's army join forces, it will be fine. Let the two sides have a decisive battle and it will be over.

In the past two months, Chagatai and Kuoduan had been driven around by the Song army, which made them feel uncomfortable all over, and they could no longer bear it for a long time.

The Song army was not straightforward in fighting and was insidious, which really disappointed the two of them.

The Mongolian army received supplies all the way to Suzhou and Ganzhou, and also rotated some war horses. However, the Song army arrived here but had no supplies, which was also more beneficial to the Mongolian army.

Chagatai and Kuoduan already knew from the sentries that Meng Gong's troops were surrounding Zhongxing Mansion, so they were not in a hurry to return and slowly returned to the army to recuperate their fighting strength and horse power.

So after another ten days, in late July, more than 9 people from Chagatai and Kueduan marched more than 2000 miles back to the vicinity of Zhongxing Prefecture.

When Meng Gong's troops saw the arrival of the Mongolian army, they all retreated to the camp, and all the fortifications outside the city gates were abandoned.

Zhao Di and other generals in the city also came out quickly, and finally filled in the various ditches of the Song army, cursing all the way when they met with Kuo Duan and the others.

When Kuo Duan and others arrived at the scene and saw the Song Army camp, they almost vomited blood.

At this time, Meng Gong's troops of the Song Army had been carrying out construction work on the site for nearly two months.

In addition to surrounding the city gate of Zhongxing Prefecture with ten deep ditches and walls, the Song army also built its own camp and dikes.

Because there were more than 8 migrant workers, a camp made of earth and wood appeared a few miles away from the southeast corner of Zhongxing Mansion.

Kuo Duan first saw the long Haogou in front of the Song Army camp, one, two, three, three deep trenches, stretching for countless miles, forming a semi-circle, surrounding the entire Song Army camp. , backed by the west bank of the Yellow River.

"Isn't the Song Army leaving?" Chagatai was shocked when he saw that the Song Army dug three long ditches in front of his formation.

Is Song Jun planning to stay in the camp forever?

Although these three long ditches can block the Mongolian army's attack, will it be difficult for the Song army to get out on their own?
Zhao Di quickly said: "There are wooden planks in the Song army camp. We can see it from high in the city. The Song army laid the wooden planks on the Haogou, so soldiers and horses can enter and exit."

Zhao Di said that he saw the Song army leaving the camp.

Before leaving the camp, hundreds of civilians took a large number of wooden boards and laid them directly on the Haogou. In a short time, a road was paved.

The Song army left the camp just like this.

Those wooden boards should be the carriage boards unloaded from the carriages of the Song Army, because it is impossible to make such smooth and uniform wooden boards on site. Of course, it is not ruled out that the Song Army removed all the door panels in the city when they captured Huaizhou and Jingzhou. Got off.

Sure enough, after a while, the Mongolian army went to recapture Huaizhou and Jingzhou and came back to report that many house doors in the city had been removed.

Moreover, quilts and other items from every household were missing.

Kuoduan and Chahetai looked at each other, what did Song Jun want to do?Even the quilt?Spending the winter in Zhongxingfu?

Aren't you afraid of our Mongolian reinforcements?
But Song Jun is really not afraid.

At this time, the main force of the Mongolian army is located in Hebei and the main area of ​​Mongolia, and parts of Shanxi are located one or two thousand miles away.

Not only is it far away from here, there is also Shaanxi in the middle. With such a long distance, if Wokuotai sends reinforcements, the Song Army's Shaanxi soldiers and horses can intercept and harass them.

Others, such as the northwest, are willing to send troops regardless of whether they are fighting or not. As long as they are unwilling to fight, they cannot raise more than [-] troops.

What's more, there are still people from the Song army burning, killing and looting in Chagatai. The only remaining Mongolian army in the northwest is unwilling to move and cannot come to support.

Not to mention spending the winter here, as long as the Song Army has enough food and grass, they can stay here for a year and a half.

"The Song Army has captured tens of thousands of herdsmen in various states and is building a large-scale construction project -" Zhao Di added: "We are too far away to see what the Song Army is doing behind them, but we can see that they are building a city. More and more people are coming from the southeast. The higher it gets, it seems like a small city is being built, and it is backed by the Yellow River——"

"Build a city?" Chagatai was stunned at first, and then his expression changed drastically: "Damn it, the Song army wants to flood Zhongxing Mansion?"

Chagatai was one of the few high-level Mongolian officials present who participated in Genghis Khan's flood of Zhongxing Mansion.

The location of the Song army's garrison is exactly where the Mongolian army was garrisoned.

That is also the highest position within dozens of miles around Zhongxing Mansion.

When the Xixia Party established the country and chose the capital, the main craftsmen should be Han people. Maybe some Han people deliberately did not remind them and built Zhongxing Mansion in a low-lying area, and the southeast was very close to the Yellow River.

Every year during the rainy season, the dozens of miles around Zhongxing Mansion are filled with mud, making it difficult for soldiers and horses to move.

This also provided the basis for Genghis Khan to later flood Zhongxing Mansion.

Now the Song army has occupied the only high ground within dozens of miles, and has even taken away the winter quilts. This clearly means that they will wait here for the rainy season.

Chagatai's face was extremely ugly: "Damn Song people, they want to imitate their father and build dams to store water."

He told the story about Genghis Khan flooding the Zhongxing Mansion more than 20 years ago, and there was a look of panic all around.

Kuo Duan was still young at that time and didn't know anything about it. Now after listening to it, he looked up and looked around, and sure enough he found that Zhongxing Fucheng was located very low, but the Song Army garrison opposite was very high. There was also a hill in the middle of the Song Army, with a large number of Song Army camps on it. account.

"The highest one within a hundred miles is the Song Army's camp. Once the rainy season comes, all the water will flow down the bank, and the area around Zhongxing Mansion will become muddy, making it difficult to walk on the ground. Once the Song Army builds a dam to store water, Zhongxing will be destroyed. The mansion may be flooded again." Chagatai pointed at the Song Army camp and said angrily: "We can't let them continue. We must break the Song Army camp immediately or overturn their water storage dam."

"How to fight here?" someone exclaimed: "There are ditches and low walls in front, and in the middle there is a small earth city built by the Song Army——"

"This is more difficult than siege -"

Not to mention the length of the Song Army's camp in front, it is estimated to be twenty miles long, and the depth is nearly ten miles. They can only see the outside, which is a series of ditches, and they don't know what fortifications the Song Army has inside.

Thinking about the Song army's various weapons, artillery, trebuchets, and divine arm bows, this is really more difficult than attacking a city.

"Are you just watching the Song army build a dam and then flood Zhongxing Mansion?" Chagatai said angrily.

Kuo Duan thought for a while and asked: "There are 10,000+ people in the Song Army. How long can they eat food and grass?"

Some people say that the Song army conquered Xiazhou, Huaizhou, and Jingzhou. All supplies and food in the three states were looted. Many herdsmen in the surrounding areas were captured, including countless cattle, horses, and sheep.

Anyway, three to five months will definitely be no problem, and half a year is also possible.

The Mongolian army surrounded Zhongxing Mansion with 6 troops. They built a dam in the first few months, and the floods lasted from September to December. They retreated only after the embankment ran out. They stayed here for more than half a year. What did the Mongolian army rely on?
It also relied on plundering after breaking through the surrounding state capitals.

Chagatai couldn't help but said that he couldn't wait. The rainy season might come early in August, and the fight would not be possible by then. The fight had to be fought now.

Kuo Duan had no choice but to do so. Although he was unwilling, Chagatai was his second uncle, so the Mongolian army decided to attack the Song army and prevent the Song army from building the dam.

At the same time, Chagatai wrote a letter in person and rushed to the vicinity of Guanshan to ask Ogedai to send reinforcements to support him.

In order to prevent the Shaanxi troops of the Song Army, it is better to come from the north near Batu territory instead of going to Shaanxi.

At the same time, Chagatai also asked Batu to send troops to help.

Once Zhongxing Mansion is lost, the Mongolian army may lose all Xixia.

Once occupied by the Song Army, based on the Song Army's ability to defend the city, the Song Army's population, and the number of troops, it would be impossible for the Mongolian Army to take it back like it did when it conquered Xixia.

Chagatai led his men to run along the entire front line of the Song Army and saw that the high walls built by the Song Army in both directions should be dams.

The one to the south is on high ground and requires attacking from above, which is more difficult.

The dam here is relatively small, and its main function should be to flood the Mongolian army on the opposite side and prevent the Mongolian army from attacking from the south. It can be ignored for the time being, as long as the Mongolian army does not attack here.

It is close to the Song Army camp in the northeast and backed by the Yellow River. It is the main water storage dam of the Song Army.

While it's not raining now, hurry up and destroy the Song army.

In order to block the Song army, Chagatai troops and horses were stationed in the southwest, and Kuoduan troops and horses were stationed in the north.

There is also Zhongxing Mansion in the middle, and the Yellow River to the southeast. The Song army will be surrounded by the Mongolian army, Zhongxing Mansion and the Yellow River.

Early on the first morning of the next day, all [-] Mongolian troops marched out. Except for a few troops and horses left in other directions, they dug fortifications to serve as obstacles to prevent the Song troops from leaving the camp.

The rest of the troops reached the northeast.

When the Mongolian army came to the northeast, everyone saw three ditches in front of them, and behind the ditches, densely packed Song troops were waiting.

"tui" Kuoduan spat, feeling a little uneasy. He always felt that the three ditches were lying in front of them like gutters.

It was only the Song Army that dug it, it was only the Song Army that dug it, don't be afraid, he reminded himself secretly.

With a wave of Chagatai's hand.

"woohoo"

The Mongolian army blew the horn of attack.

Tens of thousands of Mongolian troops were spread out on the ground. The Mongolian troops slowly moved forward and began to speed up. However, it could be seen from both Chagatai and Kueduan that they were being led by the Song troops to run around for thousands of miles. After that, most of the Mongolian troops had little fighting spirit and their morale was somewhat low.

Chagatai and Kuoduan watched the Mongolian troops running forward. According to their tactics, they used horses to get closer in front to reduce being bombarded by arrows and artillery. When they got closer from behind, they jumped off their horses and crossed the ditch to fight hand-to-hand.

After the Mongolian army entered 100 steps, the Song army's artillery did not fire. After entering more than [-] steps, the Song army fired the divine arm bow first, and then the foot bow.

The black Mongolian army ran to the first ditch, and suddenly they seemed to be stunned.

There were loud shouts of killing in front of them, and the nearest Song army was about twenty steps away.

After a while, a general from the Mongolian army came back and asked to retreat.

Kuotuan and Chagatai were stunned.

That day, the Mongolian troops came forward and fought for less than two quarters of an hour, and then retreated one after another.

Can't attack.

The generals who came back were all scolding.

"The ditch of the Song Army is four steps wide and at least three steps deep. It is full of water. If you fall in, you will not be able to get up. If you don't know how to swim, you will be drowned -"

The Song army fired at the Mongolian army not far away, consuming the Mongolian army.

Many Mongolian soldiers were unable to climb up after falling in.

When you finally climb over one ditch, the same goes for the second one.

There were three such ditches in total, and the Mongolian army had to crawl through them all. In this process alone, the Song army would kill countless people.

A low wall can be seen behind Sanjo, but we don’t know what is behind the low wall. If there is such a ditch, it will be a disaster.Every time you climb, you have to pay huge casualties.

Some Mongolian soldiers could even be drowned in water instead of being shot to death by Song soldiers.

The scene was chaotic, arrows were falling everywhere, and it was difficult to climb out if injured in the water.

"So much water?" Kuo Duan was shocked and angry when he heard this.

"I'm afraid that the Song Dynasty people have dug a hole in the Yellow River, let water in, and are storing water--"

Didn't Zhongxing Mansion have a powerful moat that prevented the Song army from attacking? Now the Song people also built a temporary moat to prevent the Mongolian army from attacking.

After Chagatai heard this, his brows knitted together.

"Then let's learn from Song Jun and build a springboard."

"Remove the door panel."

Some people also called for the door panels in Zhongxingfu City to be demolished.

But ordinary door panels are not four steps long and have to be processed.

Building a springboard also takes a lot of time, which is more demanding and uses more wood than building a ladder.

The Song Army's [-] to [-] civilians worked here for two months, and almost all the wood that could be chopped nearby was cut down.
-
When Chagatai wrote to Guanshan, Wokuotai was really in Guanshan.

Not only was he there, but many Mongolian nobles were also there.

Batu's brother Orda also returned to Guanshan on behalf of his younger brother Batu. Over there in Tuolei, the eldest son Meng Ge appeared in front of everyone for the first time.

It was already July. When Wokuotai left the Central Plains, he promised Wanyan Shouxu that he would raise troops to attack the Song Dynasty in the spring of next year.

But this matter was delayed again and again, and then the Song army attacked Xixia. Wokuotai was besieged internally and externally, and could not send troops for a long time. Hundreds of thousands of troops gathered near Shanxi, Hebei and Guanshan, and he himself had a headache.

Without the achievements of conquering the Jin Kingdom in the original history, the Mongolian nobles are now increasingly dissatisfied with him.

Coupled with Zhao Yurui spreading rumors about vassal reduction, people in Mongolia are now in panic, and there are more and more voices dissatisfied with Ogedei.

In early July, after Wokuotai repeatedly recruited, the big bosses from various ministries arrived belatedly, and many of the big bosses did not come in person.

Batu, as always, did not personally participate and sent his eldest brother Or'er to answer.

The first thing O'erda said when he saw Ogedai was that he suggested that his eldest son march westward. Ogedai's face turned green and he did not respond immediately. He only said that we would discuss it after the nobles arrived.

Not long after, Brother Meng came, and then Yegu, the son of Zhuochi Hesheer, came.

Hesa'er was the younger brother of Genghis Khan, and his fiefdom was in the northeastern part of Mongolia, near the later Daxingan Mountains.

After Hesele's death, his son Yegu inherited the throne. He also strongly supported Wokuotai's ascension to the throne, but Yegu didn't seem very happy to see each other again.

This guy is also a fence-sitter who can be defeated by the wind. When Tuo Lei and Wo Kuotai were fighting for the throne, he supported Wo Kuotai and later supported Meng Ge.

Ye Gu is in a bad mood for two reasons.

One is the rumors about Zhao Yurui's vassal abolition and the poisoning of Tuo Lei. The other is that the Song army has conquered Dongzhen Kingdom, and the military front is adjacent to his fiefdom and poses a danger to his fiefdom.

Of course he supported Wokuotai's campaign to attack the Song Dynasty, but he requested that he first help him defeat the Song army in the northeast.

Wokuotai was also very dissatisfied when he heard that troops were to be sent to the northeast. The northeast was just a partial army of the Song army. They could focus on defense and ignore it. Now it was not only a matter of conquering the Song Dynasty, but also Xixia was being besieged by the Song army. .

Of course, before Chagatai's letter came, Wo Kuozhi still didn't take Xixia Song Army seriously. The Song Army could defend and attack in the field, and Wo Kuotai was not afraid now.

Not long after, Anchitai also arrived.

According to Chitai, he was the son of Hechiwen, another brother of Genghis Khan, and his fiefdom was adjacent to Yegu.

He was originally sent to garrison in Liaodong with Prince Guiyou last year.

This time Wokuotai discussed important matters and was recalled again.

Also returning with him was King Tasi. These were nobles and clan kings who could vote and were qualified to vote when making major decisions in Mongolia.

Then Uncle Ogedai, Genghis Khan's younger brother Temuge Ochijin and his son Orutai also came.

There are also nobles such as Zhebie's son.

Anyway, except for Chagatai and Kuoduan, which are thousands of miles away, basically everything the Mongolian nobles can come to.

Wokuotai originally wanted to send someone to recruit Chagatai, but the Song army was in Xixia and Xiliao, so Wokuotai could only let him go first.

In addition, Yelu Chucai from Shanxi was also recruited.

Therefore, this Guanshan meeting was the largest gathering of Mongolian nobles since Tuo Lei and Wo Kuotai competed for the Han Dynasty last time.

Its importance is equivalent to that of the Kuriltai Conference.

The main topic of this meeting is to choose one of the two.

Should he go all out to conquer the Song Dynasty, or should his eldest son march to the west?

As soon as Yelu Chucai asked everyone to vote, the voting started immediately.

The party dominated by nobles such as Ourda, Chawuerhan (Subotai's younger brother), Hushengsun (Zhebie's son) and other nobles advocated the eldest son's western expedition.

These three people respectively represent the three families of Batu, Subotai and Jebie. Also supporting them are Yesun Tie'e (son of Lemei, the founder of the Four Mastiffs) and Tuch (son of Kublai Lai).

This is very interesting. The four founding mastiffs are Subotai, Zhebie, Zhelemi, and Kublai Lai. Now the descendants of these four mastiffs have united and supported Batu at the same time and asked the eldest son to march westward. There is obvious opposition. The meaning of Wokuotai.

In fact, the descendants of these four mastiffs basically followed Batu in the Western Expedition in original history, and most of them did not participate in the battle to destroy the Song Dynasty.

These people all like the wider world in the northwest, prefer pastoralists and grasslands, and don't like the Central Plains very much.

Badu especially hates the Central Plains and just wants to stay in the grasslands.

In addition, among the descendants of the four founding heroes, Mu Huali, Chi Laowen, Borhu, and Borshu, Chi Laowen's sons did not return to Xixia, but they have been following Kuo Duan, and they should be supportive. Wokuotai.

A group of nobles, led by Tasi, the grandson of Muhuali, and Boluantai, the son of Borshu, expressed their support for Ogedai.

But Boerhu's son Tuohuan and Shiliemen were divided into two sides. Tuohuan supported Wokuotai and Shiliemen supported Babie.

Most of Wokuotai's cousins, the sons of his uncles, remained neutral.

The voting results haven't come out yet, and Ogedai is already quite annoyed.

He had never been so angry when he and Tuo Lei were fighting for the title of Great Khan.

The cousins ​​who originally supported him all remained neutral this time, as if they had colluded in private.

As for Batu, Subutai was fully opposed and wanted his eldest son to march westward.

Subotai failed to attack gold that year, and was angrily reprimanded by Ogodai to his face. Later, he was persuaded by Tuo Lei, and he immediately defected to Tuo Lei. After Tuo Lei died, Subotai did not dare to say anything. Now he finally got the chance, and his brother represented Subotai fully supported his eldest son's expedition to the west.

The votes were being counted at the scene. When Yelu Chucai calculated the number of votes, 24 to [-], everyone was surprised.

The number of people who supported the eldest son's Western expedition was seven more than those who supported the all-out attack on the Song Dynasty.

Brush, Wokuotai's face turned red, and he said unwillingly: "There are still many people who haven't come, such as the Chagatai family in the Western Expedition, Kuoduan, etc.-"

"Ben Khan himself didn't vote."

Wo Kuotai was not convinced, and added more votes one after another, and then cast a vote himself.

Considering that those who didn't come, such as Chagatai and Kuoduan, would indeed vote for him, well, everyone can only count their votes.

The result was 24 to 24, a draw.

Seeing the draw, Wokuotai breathed a sigh of relief, but he still felt uncomfortable. At least half of the people in Mongolia were unwilling to conquer the Song Dynasty, which was not a good thing.

Just when Yelu Chucai announced the draw, Chawuerhan beside him said in a strange tone: "If you calculate it this way, Uliang Hetai and Huluhun who are far away in Tabriz did not come, and their votes must be in favor of Ours.”

"Also, I see Brother Meng, didn't you vote?"

Brush, everyone on the scene looked at Meng Ge, Tuo Lei's son.

Wu Liang Hetai and Hu Luhun, one is Subotai's son and the other is Subotai's younger brother. If they want to vote, they will definitely support Subotai. Cha Wuerhan is right in saying this.

Tuo Lei's son, representing Tuo Lei's line, originally had three votes.

Because of Mongolian voting regulations, the Zongwang (the Zongwang becomes the head wife after his death) and the hereditary households over 15 years old are eligible to vote.

One vote in Meng Ge's hands was his mother's instigation of Luheteni, one vote belonged to Meng Ge himself, and the other vote belonged to 17-year-old Kublai Khan.

Now neither Luheteni nor Kublai Khan has come.

Luheteni gave all his votes to Meng Ge.

Before coming, Soluhoteni repeatedly emphasized that Meng Ge should divide the three votes into two parts. Soluhoteni's vote should be for Batu, and Meng Ge and Kublai Khan's two votes could be for Ogedai. Don't offend Hehan. .

Soluheteni was very smart. She communicated with Batu, supported Batu, and asked Meng Ge to support Ogedai. Although there was the intention of sitting on the fence on both sides, she also did not want to put eggs in one basket. The main reason was to protect both parties. A son.

At this moment, Chawuerhan said, everyone looked at Brother Meng. Only then did everyone realize that Brother Meng had not voted yet.

Yelu Chucai was also confused.

He didn't pay attention when he was counting because he had never seen Brother Meng before and didn't recognize him.

Before Tuo Lei died, Meng Ge had been in Wokuotai's territory.

He returned to his own territory after his death, and Yelu Chucai didn't even know it was Meng Ge.

Everyone at the scene looked at Brother Meng, but Wo Kuotai looked excited.

Brother Meng made a statement to him as soon as he arrived. He and his younger brother Kublai Khan fully supported Ogedai. It was not a good thing for the eldest son to go to the west. He should put the attack on the Song Dynasty first, and stated that he did not love military power.

Wo Kuotai's wife raised Meng Ge, and Wo Kuotai can be regarded as his adoptive father.

"Brother Meng, tell me, who do you support? Feel free to say it boldly." Wo Kuotai happily said to Brother Meng.

Brother Meng looked around, and finally said respectfully: "Dear He Khan, Brother Meng is willing to grow up under the protection of He Khan forever, and obey orders under the whip of He Khan -"

Wo Kuotai's face slowly turned into a smile.

"But -" Brother Meng suddenly changed his tone: "The top priority is that we, Mongolia, must unite as one -"

"Why don't we discuss peace and the Western Expedition first, expand the national power and military strength of Mongolia, and finally attack the Song Dynasty with all our strength?"

"?" Wo Kuotai had a question mark on his face, in disbelief.

(End of this chapter)