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

Chapter 304: The three-pronged attack on the Jin and the Song army’s lure?

That day, many Mongolian nobles were present in a large room in Yan'an Mansion.

Tolei, Subutai, Ochen Nayan (brother-in-law of Genghis Khan), Tasi (the eldest grandson of Muhuali), Suhuncha (the second grandson), Tuochala, Tachaer, Kuoduan and others, there were dozens of people at the scene There were also Han minister Wang Lu and others gathered.

There were so many Mongolian nobles at the scene, but Ogedei could feel that everyone was not in a good mood. After all, since he, the new Khan, took office, the Mongolian army had almost no victories.

The rulers of the Great Mongol Empire must prove themselves with their military achievements.

This is why a few years later, Mongolia had no place to fight and had no choice but to launch a second Western Expedition.

Wokuotai was very sure at this time that it was a top priority to unite with the Song Dynasty to destroy the Jin Dynasty. This was not only the last wish of his father Khan, but also proved his ability.

He first happily showed everyone the results of Salita's victory over Liaodong, proving that he was hiring the right people.

Then he expressed his intention to reply to Salita and let him attack Goryeo first. After conquering Goryeo, he would force Goryeo to attack Dongxia together. This decision was exactly the same as his history.

The nobles at the scene were not very interested in this matter, because in the bitter cold land of Liaodong, Goryeo was not taken seriously by them. Fighting in such a small place would not show the ability of Wokuotai at all. In the words of later generations, as long as Mongolia comes out These elites can win even if the coach ties up a dog.

Wokuotai didn't care about everyone's reaction. When the reply arrived at Salita, it was already June of that year. Salita organized the troops and horses at about the same time as originally, probably in August, and led Yelu Xueyan, Pu Tao, and Di Ju. Generals such as , Tang Gu, Wang Rongzu, Wu Yeer, and Yi Lamainu crossed the Yalu River, officially kicking off the Mengli War.

After talking about matters in Liaodong, Wo Kuotai said that the envoy to the Song Dynasty had brought the imperial edict from the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.

Are the nobles around in an uproar?Everyone is confused.

Wang Lu went to Lin'an more than a year ago to get back the imperial edict from Emperor Zhao Yurui of the Song Dynasty, and received the guarantee that he could borrow the passage.

But Wo Kuotai did not respond at that time, so the imperial edict was kept in Yanjing.

Because Wokuotai was attacking the Kingdom of Jin at that time, he believed that he could use his own strength to break through the Tongguan and Yellow River defense lines head-on.

What's more, he also received a message at that time that it was a lie that Tuo Lei used the road to destroy the gold. In fact, he wanted to take the opportunity to attack the Song Dynasty, because Tuo Lei suffered a loss near Linzhao and wanted to come back for revenge.

In view of these reasons, Wokuotai not only did not discuss the matter of borrowing the road, but also did not allow the Mongolian army near Xixia and Linzhao to conflict with the Song army, in case Tu Lei took the opportunity to launch an attack and sabotage his major event of conquering the Jin Kingdom.

But after a year of fighting, the Jin Kingdom was not captured. Tuo Lei united with many nobles and strongly demanded to use the road to destroy the Jin Dynasty. Only then did Wo Kuotai give the order to bring the imperial edict of the Song Dynasty.

"I have decided to follow my father Khan's last wish." Wo Kuotai said slowly at this time: "Send troops in three directions to attack the Kingdom of Jin."

As soon as this remark came out, there was another uproar at the scene.

We have just been fighting for a year and have lost all the battles. Are we going to continue fighting?Didn’t you say you were going back to the grassland?

Someone immediately raised doubts at the scene, but Ogootai said that before, we had a tough defense line and we did not fight well. Now I have decided to follow my father's advice.

He said "Father Khan", just to express his position, this matter of joining the Song Dynasty to destroy the Jin Dynasty and using the road to cut down the Jin Dynasty was not brought up by Tuo Lei, but by Genghis Khan. He was just following Genghis Khan's last wish to cut down the Jin Dynasty.

At the same time, he said that the most important thing among them is to use the road to cut gold. This road is very important. If this road does not work, our other two roads will be in vain.

As in the original history, Wokuotai planned to attack the Kingdom of Jin in three ways in the autumn.

The east route is led by his uncle Chen Nayan (the original history is to go out of Jinan, Shandong, to contain the Jin army from the east). Now Jinan is occupied by military leader Peng Yibin. They plan to continue to attack Weizhou Wuxian from the original direction, which is also to contain the Jin army. Wuxian's troops are the main force.

The middle route was led by Wokuotai, crossing the Yellow River from Baipo (southwest of today's Meng County, Henan Province) to threaten Nanjing (Kaifeng); the west route was the main force, led by Tuo Lei, heading south from Fengxiang, and drove into southern Shaanxi to threaten the Song Dynasty. They will assist in marching eastward along the Han River, crossing the dangerous Raofeng Pass (today's west of Shiquan, Shaanxi), crossing the Han River north in Junzhou (today's northwest of Danjiangkou City, Hubei), marching into the hinterland of Henan, and threatening Nanjing from behind.

The key to this battle is the tow mine on the west road, and Wokuotai puts all the pressure on the tow mine.

"If the fourth brother cannot borrow the road from the Song Dynasty, our other two routes will be meaningless, and we will definitely come back in despair." Wo Kuotai was right. Later, in order to stop the tow mine, the Jin Kingdom had about 20 troops. Waiting for the tow mine in Henan, and then in order to save Bianjing, Wanyan Heda mobilized 15 cavalry and [-] infantry to rush to Bianjing, but they were destroyed by the tow mine halfway.

If the tow mine cannot get through and cannot enter Henan, Wanyan Heda's 20 troops can support Bianjing at any time, or they can support Wuxian like last year.

Therefore, whether the drag mine can be used to cut gold has become a key point.
He could not only attract a large number of Jin soldiers by taking advantage of the road to attack Jin, but also had the opportunity to defeat the main force of Jin soldiers in the hinterland of Henan.

Tuo Lei must have been asking about the maternal nature of Hou Wokuotai's family at this time.

Wokuotai deliberately put all the pressure on him, but he couldn't refuse.

Having said this, Wokuotai took out Zhao Yurui's imperial edict and said, "The Emperor of the Song Dynasty has already written an imperial edict for us. With this edict, it shouldn't be difficult to borrow the road."

"Do you have any confidence, fourth brother?"

Tuo Lei thought for a while and then said: "Why is the emperor of the Song Dynasty willing to write this imperial edict? I have never heard of it, and there is an emperor who can do such a thing? Could it be that he deliberately wants to seduce us? I will discuss it with the Jin Kingdom then Join forces and attack from both sides?" This must be the Song people's bait.

The surrounding Mongolian nobles all laughed.

Indeed, Zhao Yurui wrote an imperial edict to the Mongols, which was the most ridiculous thing in the world. It was an unprecedented joke that even the uneducated Mongolians found funny.

Wokuotai immediately summoned the Han minister Wang Lai to come forward and asked him to talk about what he had seen in Lin'an last year and why the emperor of the Song Dynasty was willing to write an imperial edict.

Wang Lao came up and said something to the effect that there was a feud between Song and Jin, and the people of Song also wanted to use their swords to kill people.

In the middle, Tuochala sneered many times, saying that the Song Dynasty was in chaos, officials were corrupt, and the emperor was timid and incompetent.

Many people listened thoughtfully.

Unexpectedly, Tuo Lei added: "I heard that the Emperor of the Song Dynasty did not take power when he ascended the throne. Instead, on his wedding day, he suddenly launched a rebellion and rebelled to seize power. Do you think such an emperor is incompetent?"

Wang Lu and Tuochala were both stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say.

The surroundings suddenly fell into silence.

Wo Kuotai looked at Auchen Nayan calmly at this time, and Auchen Nayan immediately said: "The emperor rebelled? To seize his power?"

"Hahaha." The scene burst into laughter.

This is like saying that the emperor rebelled against himself.

Tuo Lei's face suddenly turned red with anger.

But Orchen Nayan was his elder, Genghis Khan's brother-in-law, so he could only stare.

Chen Nayan asked again: "After the Emperor of the Song Dynasty seized the throne, did he kill Shi Miyuan?"

Wang Lu and Tuochala shook their heads: "It seems that after he seized power, he didn't kill anyone. Only an unknown minister fell to death."

There was laughter again.

After Zhao Yurui came to power, he only killed Li Zhixiao, still in the name of falling to death.

All the Mongolians laughed after hearing this.

Seizing power and not killing people?
Whoever seizes power among the Mongolian tribes doesn't kill the whole family on the other side?
Just like Wokuotai is now thinking about how to kill Tuo Lei.

Zhao Yurui's mutiny to seize power did not kill anyone, not even the powerful official Shi Miyuan. No matter how you heard it, it felt unreliable.

Either it was not a mutiny to seize power at all, or Zhao Yurui was indecisive and extremely incompetent.

Tuo Lei's face was livid, knowing that telling them this was a waste of words, because O Kuotai wanted to prove his ability, so if Tuo Lei proposed it, O Kuotai would definitely oppose it, no matter whether it was reasonable or not.

Tuo Lei originally wanted to tell Wokuotai that according to the news he received from the original Xixia, the Song army's sentry cavalry had entered Xixia territory, occupied Diezhou, and blocked the road to Tubo.

There are various signs that the Song army in Sichuan is very prepared to guard against us, and may even attack us. At this time, we cannot believe that the Song people took advantage of the road.

But Tuo Lei knew that whatever he said was useless now, and Wo Kuotai would definitely refute it.

Seeing that he was still hesitating, Wo Kuotai said deliberately: "If the fourth brother is not sure and dares not borrow the way, should I send someone else for this matter?"

These words were obviously deliberately intended to provoke Lei.

Speaking of which, dragging Lei can't help it.

"Give me the imperial edict, and I will go to Song Dynasty to negotiate for a loan." Tuo Lei could only say.

Wo Kuotai took the imperial edict and slowly handed it to Tuo Lei, but when he put it on his face, his face suddenly straightened.

"I know that fourth brother, you were defeated by the Song people in Linzhao Mansion."

Hiss, Tuo Lei opened his eyes again and almost jumped up.

Wokuotai openly exposed his shortcomings and made it clear that he did it deliberately. Moreover, he was not defeated at that time, but just retreated.

Tuo Lei stared at Wo Kuotai fiercely and did not explain, but just grabbed the imperial edict.

Wokuotai continued: "I would also like to ask my fourth brother to put the overall situation first and take advantage of the road to cut down the gold. This is my father's wish. Such a major event is related to the success of our elimination of the gold. Do not use personal preferences to arbitrarily discuss it with others." The Song people went to war."

Tuo Lei said loudly: "My brother knows how to do it, please don't worry Hehan."

He pulled hard, but he couldn't pull the imperial edict.

Wokuotai still didn't let go and said in a deep voice: "You swear to the Immortal God that you will not make any arbitrary decisions."

Tuo Lei was also anxious: "What if the Sichuan Song Army refuses to borrow the road?"

"Don't you have an imperial edict?" O Chen Nayan said.

"Sichuan has always been independent, and imperial edicts may not always work."

The two sides fell into a stalemate for a while.

Subotai on the side had no choice but to say: "Song people have always been cheap, and sometimes they need to be beaten to be obedient. Don't worry, Hehan, we will definitely be able to complete the borrowing of the road, and we will not destroy the alliance with the Song people."

Wo Kuotai's face softened a little, and he slowly let go, and Tuo Lei finally got the imperial edict into his hands.

Wokuotai said earnestly: "I know that the Song people are incompetent and the country is corrupt, but now the most important thing is to destroy the money."

"When necessary, we can invite the Song people to send troops together to attack the Jin Kingdom."

"Please everyone please be patient for the time being."

Wokuotai doesn't want to fall out with the Song people at this moment, so he doesn't want to disrupt the alliance by dragging thunder. After the Jin Kingdom is destroyed, we can deal with the Song people.

Tuo Lei immediately agreed.

Subotai glanced at Tuo Lei at this time and wanted to ask Tuo Lei. The Song people sent sentries to run around in Xixia, killing our sentries and occupying Diezhou. Why don't you tell He Khan about this? ?
Tolei shook his head calmly, signaling Subotai not to say anything.

Wo Kuotai is opposed to Tuo Lei's current opinions. If you bring them up, Wo Kuotai even thinks that Tuo Lei is trying to find an excuse to attack Song Dynasty. What will happen if he is replaced?
Now Tuo Lei has full authority to handle the military affairs of the West Route. He doesn't want to cause trouble. He will get the military power first and return to Linzhao. After Wokuotai returns to the grassland, he can do whatever he wants with the Song people.

Subotai must have guessed what Tu Lei meant, and he stopped making any sound at the moment.But at this moment, someone else suddenly spoke up.

A young body stood forward: "Father Khan."

Everyone looked and saw that it was Wo Kuotai's second son Kuo Duan.

Kuo Duan was only in his 20s at the time. Just when he was still young, he suddenly said to Wo Kuotai: "Tubo and Song and Jin Dynasties are adjacent to the west."

"The country is rich in war horses, cattle and sheep. I would like to send someone to recruit the Tibetan people. Is it possible that they can be used by our country?"

This was the first time that the young Kuo Duan showed his military and strategic abilities and saw the role of Tibet with unique insight.

After hearing this, Wokuotai nodded secretly, but he didn't expect that his younger son was very strategic.

Of course Tubo is important. In the future, whether we attack the Song Dynasty or Dali, we have to leave Tubo.

But he is too busy now. There are subordinates in the east attacking Dongxia and Goryeo, and the west route army is dragging mines to borrow the road from Song Dynasty. There is still time to pay attention to Tubo.

"What you said makes sense." Wo Kuotai said slowly: "But now we are at the time of military deployment, so the Tibetan issue can wait."

Kuo Duan shrugged helplessly and had no choice but to retreat.

At this moment, he spoke softly, and after he finished speaking, he found that no one around him responded.

He went through many attempts to recruit Tibet to surrender in history, from sending troops to attack Tibet in 1240 to inviting Gyaltsen to negotiate with the Communist Party in 1247. After seven or eight years of fighting to force peace, he finally negotiated an agreement with Tibet to surrender. thing.

This was the first time he proposed to surrender Tibet, but of course it ended in failure.

What Wokuotai said is not unreasonable. If you talk about who will surrender to you, you must send troops to fight first. If you scare them, they will surrender.

If we use troops everywhere, how can we allocate our energy to fight against Tibet?
No one else said it, but Tuo Lei was the first to disagree. Tuo Lei was planning to use troops against Song and Sichuan. If you wanted to fight Tibet, Tuo Lei's troops would definitely be separated.

Sure enough, after Wokuotai finished speaking, Tuo Lei also immediately said that there is no rush to deal with Tubo, and the most important thing now is to eliminate the money.

Now there was no objection from the surroundings, and Kuo Duan had nothing to say.

On that day, Wokuotai and the nobles made a decision to cut gold in the autumn, mainly to see if Tuo Lei could borrow the Dao. If he could not borrow the Dao, Tuo Lei would be blamed for the matter.

After the discussion, the nobles left one after another, and the Mongolian army would first go back to Guanshan on the grassland to repair, prepare grain and grass equipment, and wait for good news about towing mines.

Soon only Wo Kuotai and his son Kuo Duan were left in the hall.

Seeing no one around, Kuo Duan stepped forward and asked his father in a low voice: "Why do you let your fourth uncle lead so many troops? Aren't you trying to eliminate his military power?"

It turned out that he had just deliberately proposed to attack Tibet in order to divide the tow mine forces.

At that time, Tuo Lei had more than half of the more than 100 thousand-household troops in Genghis Khan's hands. The most elite soldiers and horses in Mongolia were all in Tuo Lei's hands. Wo Kuotai was quite afraid and had long wanted to get rid of Tuo Lei's soldiers and horses. Came here but could never find an excuse.

This time Subotai threw himself at Tuo Lei again, which greatly increased the strength in Tuo Lei's hands and made him feel even more threatened.

"There's no rush." ​​Wo Kuozhi sneered: "He likes to use the road to make money so much, so let him use the road."

"..." Kuo Duan looked confused and seemed not to understand.

"Kauduan, do you still remember what your grandfather said before he died?" Wo Kuotai said earnestly.

"Jin's elite soldiers are in Tongguan, occupying the mountains in the south and the big river in the north. It is difficult to break through. If the false way is in the Song Dynasty, the Song and Jin feuds will definitely allow me, then send troops to Tang and Deng, and go straight to the beam. Jin is in a hurry, and he must recruit troops. Tongguan. However, with tens of thousands of people traveling thousands of miles to help, the troops and horses are exhausted, and even if they are not able to fight, they will be destroyed."

Ogedei told Genghis Khan what he said before his death.

Kuo Duan thought for a moment, but still didn't understand.

The meaning of Genghis Khan's words is that the current elite troops of the Jin Dynasty are basically concentrated in the Tongguan area.

If Mongolia could take advantage of the Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty would feel the danger and would definitely recruit troops from Tongguan to rescue them.

Once the Jin soldiers came from Tongguan and traveled thousands of miles to the Central Plains, their men and horses were exhausted, and the Mongolian army was waiting for work. Of course, they could be defeated in one battle.

There is nothing wrong with Genghis Khan's strategy, but historically he made a miscalculation.

He didn't expect that Wo Kuotai wanted to kill Tuo Lei, so he revealed the news to Jin Guo in advance.

The Kingdom of Jin also gathered its troops and horses early, waiting for work to catch Tuo Lei off guard.

However, the towing mines were too powerful, so they did not bother with the Jin State. They sent a group of soldiers and horses to hold them back, and the main force continued to move forward. Then they used kite tactics to drag the Jin soldiers until winter. The Jin soldiers did not prepare materials to keep out the cold. They encountered A disastrous failure.

Seeing that this trick failed to kill Tuo Lei, Wo Kuotai poisoned him again, and finally Tuo Lei was killed.

Therefore, Wo Kuotai seems to be a little narrow-minded and always wants to kill Tuo Lei regardless of the overall situation. Of course, Tuo Lei delayed the meeting for two years and continued to occupy the power of supervising the country. Wo Kuotai must have been jealous of him.

Coupled with the fact that Tuo Lei has elite soldiers, no one will feel at ease.

Previously, Subutai led an army of [-] and was defeated by the Jin soldiers in Huihui Valley. This made Wo Kuotai know that if the Jin soldiers had been prepared and dragged [-] fine cavalry over with mines, it would not be easy.

Seeing that his son didn't understand at this time, of course he didn't dare to say it clearly. He just patted Kuoduan on the shoulder and said: "You have to remember that there can only be one leader among the wolves on the grassland."

"What if there was a wolf competing with you? Even if it was your brother?"

Kuo Duan immediately gritted his teeth and said, "You can't be merciful." He seemed to understand something when he heard this.

"Very good." Wo Kuotai smiled knowingly.

Ogedai certainly could not have imagined that his decision would almost establish the history of internal strife in Mongolia for the rest of his life.

It is no exaggeration to say that the rise of the Mongols was accompanied by a history of internal strife.

In May, Wokuotai personally led his army back to the grassland and passed through Datong. He rewarded Yelu Chucai, who collected taxes here, and gave Chucai the seal of Zhongshu Province, making him responsible for political affairs north of the Yellow River.

At the same time, Wokuotai began to establish Wanhu and Qianhu among the Han people.

Many later Han people slowly appeared in history.

After Wokuotai left, he left Tuo Lei with [-] elite cavalry. Most of them were the elite left by Genghis Khan to Tuo Lei, and there were also a small half of the servants of other ethnic groups.

General Tuo Lei moved his residence to Pingliang, which was very close to Fengxiang.

In June, Tuo Lei prepared to send someone to Fengxiang to send a message, requesting to use the road to cut down the gold, and claimed that he had the imperial decree from the Emperor of the Song Dynasty.

According to the original history, he sent someone to Fengzhou to deliver a message, and the letter was extremely arrogant, asking to borrow roads, teachers (boat masters), and food.

Because at that time he had already sent people to break through Dashan Pass and enter the Song Army's three passes and five states.

At that time, Du Ruyuan, the Sichuan governor of the Song Dynasty, was under pressure from the Mongolian army and actually promised to give him 20 shi of food.

It can be seen that Sichuan was also extremely autonomous at that time. It did not report it to the court and directly agreed first.

Later, Tuo Lei went to Mianzhou to borrow food. The guard general Zhang Xuan did not report to the court and directly killed the Mongolian envoy Su Buhan.

So Tuo Lei told Wo Kuotai that the people of Song Dynasty in Sichuan were relatively autonomous and often made decisions on their own without going through the court, which was true.

This time he planned to do the same as before, borrowing the road and attacking the Song people at the same time, because what he couldn't get at the negotiation table could be obtained by relying on cavalry and bows and arrows.

In early June, Tuo Lei personally led hundreds of riders from Pingliang, and first went to Fengxiang to look around, but he was shocked.

Back then, he chased Xixia's cattle, sheep and horses, walking all the way on the main road, and then directly went to war with the Song army. After the battle, he returned along the same route. He did not pass through any city or county in the middle, and he never saw it so desolate.

Moreover, not long after the Song Army and the Jin Kingdom had just fortified their walls and cleared the country, there were still some people in the countryside who refused to leave.

Now several years have passed, and the area is deserted, with no human habitation for hundreds of miles.

The key is that there was originally summer grain stored by the Fengxiang garrison outside Fengxiang City. Tuo Lei came here at this time, intending to start harvesting and grabbing a wave of grain if he could not borrow the road. Unexpectedly, the Song army harvested it in advance, and the summer grain outside the city had already been harvested. Being cleared.

"Shu Buhan." Tuo Lei asked his heart at this time, "Su Buhan."

"You're welcome to Na Yan." Su Buhan stepped forward.

Some time ago, the Mongolian army swept across the entire west of Tongguan in revenge for not conquering Tongguan, and Su Buhan also participated.

"You slaughtered everyone around here?" Tuo Lei asked strangely, I couldn't even see a few living people.

Su Buhan said that the Kingdom of Jin had long been fortified and the country was clear. There were no people in the small counties and villages, and they had all moved to major cities and to the west of Tongguan.

After the Song people occupied Fengxiang, there were no people for hundreds of miles around Fengxiang. There were only a few hundred households that refused to leave. After the Mongolian army came in, they were all captured by the Mongolian army and conscripted as civilian husbands.

Tuo Lei, with a dark face all the way, led hundreds of riders to Fengxiang City.

He walked around a few times not far outside the city and found that all the big trees within a radius of twenty miles had been chopped down. He was so angry that he became happy.

"Song people are really as timid as mice." Aotun Shiying, who was following Tuo Lei, said at this time.

Tuo Lei smiled and shook his head, then asked: "Who is the Song guard general of Fengxiang City?"

Su Buhan said: "The guard doesn't know. The prefect seems to be Guo Zhengsun. Many prefects and envoys in the Song Dynasty are considered local guards."

Su Buhan is right. The civil servants in the late Song Dynasty were more responsible than those in the late Ming Dynasty. They basically served both military and civilian purposes.

Tuo Lei looked at Su Buhan strangely: "When Father Khan led us to destroy Xia, Feng Xiang was Guo Zhengsun. Who is he now?"

It's been several years.

Because according to the Mongolian understanding of the Song people, local officials of the Song Dynasty were usually replaced every three years. Many people were replaced after less than three years of service, and almost no one could stay in the same place for more than five years.

But Guo Zhengsun has actually been in Fengxiang for more than three years.

Because Zhao Yurui met Guo Zhengsun specifically and knew that Guo Zhengsun knew the local area well, he kept him stationed there. However, the court would make up for Guo Zhengsun and promote Guo Zhengsun's son.

When Tuo Lei heard that Guo Zhengsun had been there for so long, he showed a thoughtful expression on his face: "You take the imperial edict and go to see Guo Zhengsun. If he is willing to join us, Mongolia."

"I'll ask him to be ennobled by a marquis, with a minimum of [-] households."

Feeling that Sichuan seemed to be more independent, Tuo Lei subconsciously thought that he could surrender.

(End of this chapter)