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

Chapter 345 Return to the Mongolian Army in the Mongolian Army’s Way

Blackwater City is named after Heihe River and is located on the north bank of the lower reaches of Heihe River.

The Heihe River, which originates from the depths of the Qilian Mountains, flows for more than 800 kilometers through Qinghai, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia before converging into two Gobi depressions on the northwest edge of the Badain Jaran Desert, forming two large lakes in the east and west, collectively known as the Juyan Sea.

It has abundant water and grass, dense rivers and lakes, and dense forests. Later generations found that a large number of humans lived and multiplied here in the Neolithic Age. It can be said to be one of the important birthplaces of Chinese civilization.

During the Han Dynasty, this was the forward base for attacking the Xiongnu. Starting from the Han Dynasty, due to its convenient transportation, it was also a trading center. It was a trading market where nomadic tribes on the grassland and farming tribes in the southern Central Plains carried out goods transactions and exchanged what they had.

Because it is located at the junction of the north and the south, the trading scale of agricultural and livestock products is large and the demand for all parties is intense. Therefore, although there were small-scale cities here very early, they were not to resist large-scale wars, but to protect local residents. A form of rogue self-defense.

Blackwater City was built long before the formal founding of the Western Xia Dynasty. Although the city is small, it has an extremely important strategic position because it is the only road and transportation hub from the Hexi Corridor to Mobei. There are also a large number of residents nearby. Here they cultivate, herd, hunt and thrive.

After the founding of the Xixia State, in order to strengthen the management of this area and defend against the invasion of the Liao Kingdom and the Mobei Mongolia in the east, the Xixia Dynasty mobilized two military divisions to garrison Heishui City and the entire Juyan area.And moved a large number of people to settle in the Heishui City area, allowing them to cultivate fields and produce food locally to meet the living needs of a large number of soldiers and civilians.

Six years ago, the Mongolian army invaded Xixia on a large scale. The first thing they attacked was this fortress. After breaking Heishui City, the Mongolian army stationed [-] soldiers and horses there, and moved a large number of Han and Mongolian people here to compete with the local people. The people jointly developed agricultural and animal husbandry production, using the water conservancy resources of the Heihe River to open channels and cultivate fields, and successively cultivated tens of thousands of acres of farmland.

By the Yuan Dynasty, Heishui City was not only a prosperous city with a large population and developed economy, but also a transportation hub that "went to Lingbei in the north, Xinjiang in the west, Hexi in the south, and Zhongxing in the east" and a military and political hub in the western region of the Yuan Dynasty. ,cultural Center.

From the perspective of the Yuan Dynasty at that time, it was even more important than Zhongxing Mansion, the original capital of Xixia.

Because Blackwater City is guarding the only road between the Hexi Corridor and Mobei.

Although it has not yet reached the Yuan Dynasty, the Song army still exists in the south and east, and Zhongxing Mansion is still the most important.

But the Mongolian army also attached great importance to Heishui City. The city's military strength was three times that of Shazhou City, and its population reached 8.

After Kuo Duan returned to Zhongxing Prefecture from Hebei, he specially sent General Ao Tun Shiying and his younger brother to garrison Heishui City and take charge of the local farming affairs.

But after hearing that the Song army had conquered Shazhou, Kuoduan immediately recruited troops from all over the country. Aotun Shiying asked his younger brother Aotun Baohe to bring 2000 troops to support him. He continued to guard Heishui City with [-] people.

But soon a subordinate reported to him that a letter from Zhao Yurui was circulating in the city, and it was specifically alleged that Wo Kuotai poisoned Tuo Lei.

"Where did the rumors come from?" Aotun Shiying asked with a gloomy face.

There are frequent transactions in Heishui City, but now they are basically all Mongolian people trading with their own people, that is, businessmen from Batu territory, Wokuotai territory and Chagatai territory will come and go to Shaanxi and Hebei through Heishui City.

Most of these merchants are Mongolians, with a few Jurchens or Khitans. However, few Han merchants come to Heishui City.

Because whether it was Genghis Khan, Ogedai, etc., the Mongolian kings attached great importance to business.

But their business was different from that of the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty. In the words of later generations, Mongolian businessmen at this time were basically state-owned enterprises.

The merchants were all the subordinates of the Mongolian kings and nobles. Ordinary merchants were not qualified or had the opportunity to amass a large amount of property.

Mongolian kings would give priority to merchants from the Western Regions, who were later called "Semu people". That is, all non-Mongolians in the Western Regions were collectively called Semu people.

Among the kings at that time, only the lineage of King Muhuali, who had been in the Kingdom of Jin and the northern part of the Central Plains, had a small number of Han merchants.

Therefore, according to Aotun Shiying's understanding, businessmen traveling to and from Mongolia are basically state-owned enterprises, and they are all businessmen of us Mongolians. How could such rumors spread?

Someone must have wanted him to spread the word.

This kind of rumor is beneficial to whoever spreads it.

I don’t know the response from my subordinates. Anyway, there are such rumors suddenly in the city, and many people are talking about it privately.

While the subordinates were talking, they looked at Aotun Shiying.

When Tuo Lei died, Ao Tun Shiying was one of the few people who could be present at the scene.

Aotun Shiying's face gradually turned red, and he felt that his subordinates seemed to suspect that he was also involved.

Inexplicable anger welled up in my heart.

"The order goes down. No random discussions are allowed in the city. Anyone who disobeys the order - arrest them." He originally wanted to kill him, but after thinking about it, he held it back.

Before the subordinates could get down, someone ran in from outside: "Report——"

"Song army sentries were found near Badain Lake--"

"?" Aotun Shiying looked confused. While asking for details, he looked back for the local map.

Aotun Shiying had never been to Xixia before. This time Wo Kuotai deliberately divided his troops and gave his son Kuo Duan the mine-towing unit. Ao Tun Shiying was assigned to Kuo Duan's subordinate. Kuo Duan recognized his ability and let him garrison him. Blackwater City is a fortress, but he is not very familiar with the surrounding terrain.

Kuo Duan and Ao Tun Shiying came from Hebei in January and arrived at Zhongxing Mansion at the end of February. Ao Tun Shiying only arrived in Heishui City in March, and it was only about a month after he officially entered Heishui City.

Aotun Shiying has also run around several times this month and roughly looked at the terrain. But for further places, he can only get a rough idea from the map and has not had a chance to go there yet.

Badain Lake is located on the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert. It is the gateway to the Badain Jaran Desert and is also an extremely important freshwater lake.

People who often stay here know that there are freshwater lakes only at the edge of the desert. The lakes and seas seen in the desert in the future are all saltwater lakes.There is a dense forest and reeds on the south side of the lake, and on the north is a sand mountain more than 200 meters high, which is the famous Mingsha Mountain. Sliding down from the top of the sand mountain makes a roar like thunder. There is a trestle bridge on the east side of the lake leading to the center of the lake. , the lake is rich in fish. What is even more amazing is that there are several lakes around Bataan Lake. Some fresh water and salt water are only separated by a sand dune. Even the same lake is half fresh water and half salt water.

The Badain Jaran Desert is the fourth largest desert in the world, located about [-] miles west of Heishui City.

Aotun Shiying compared the map and found that it was about [-] miles from Badain Lake through the Badain Jaran Desert, and less than [-] miles to Heishui City.

If you don’t go through the desert, it’s probably more than 400 miles along the edge of the desert.

The Mongolian army would not have sent sentry cavalry at this distance, but because the Song army attacked Shazhou, the Mongolian army sent sentry cavalry to explore along the edge of the desert without entering the desert.

Unexpectedly, their sentry cavalry happened to see the Song army at Badain Lake on the southern edge.

According to the report, the Song Army's forwards had hundreds of cavalry, and when they saw the Mongolian army, they came to drive them away. They tried to bypass the Song Army's sentry cavalry to see how many soldiers and horses were in the Song Army's rear formation, but the Song Army's cavalry was powerful and there were many people. Pressing hard and driving, the Mongolian army could not get around it. In the exchange of fire, more than half of the men and horses were lost. The remaining sentry cavalry had no choice but to return. The Song army chased them all the way for hundreds of miles. In the end, the Mongolian army's sentinel cavalry could only Fortunately, at the critical moment, Yu Yiqi encountered another group of Mongolian army sentries and escaped back.

Aotun Shiying's face became extremely gloomy when he heard this. So, the sentinels in Blackwater City didn't even see clearly how many troops there were in the Song Army?

He couldn't even accept that the Mongolian army's sentry cavalry actually lost to the Song army's sentry cavalry?
Dameng's sentry cavalry were invincible in the Jin Kingdom, Xixia, and even during the Western Expedition.

"The Song people have many cavalry, and they often swarm up, and their cavalry and shooting are not bad. We have few people, so we can't beat them." The messenger said bravely.

"The Song people had no cavalry before." Aotun Shiying said solemnly: "The Song army that came out of Fengxiang, Sichuan this time only had about [-] cavalry, and most of them were infantry camps."

The Song army could not even muster ten thousand cavalry before. Since Zhao Yurui became emperor, there have been more and more cavalry. I don't know where they got so many horses.

The combat effectiveness of the key cavalry is not bad. It is said that there are Jurchens, Dangxiang people, and Tubo people in the formation, who are almost as good as the Mongolian army.

But it is meaningless to argue about the number of cavalry of the Song Army. The Song Army suddenly appeared at Badain Lake on the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert. It may be heading for Heishui City.

Is there something wrong with Song Jun?Aotun Shiying didn't understand, because the direction of the Song army was that if they wanted to attack Xixia, they would definitely attack Heishui City last.

The Mongolian army attacked Xixia simultaneously from north to south, from west to east, and from east to west. They had to attack Heishui City in the north first to cut off Xixia's retreat.

There is no problem for the Song army to attack Shazhou first, but they suddenly came to Heishui City for no reason. Aren't they afraid of being surrounded and suppressed by the Mongolian army?

However, although Aotun Shiying despised the military level of the Song army general, he did not dare to neglect. He immediately sent a message to Kuoduan. At the same time, he recruited the best soldiers in the city to defend the city, and sent a large number of sentries to Badan Lake.

At this time, he guessed that the Song army should enter the desert.

I heard that the Song Army brought a lot of camels. Badain Lake is the best supply point before entering the Badain Jaran Desert. The Song Army resupplied near Badain Lake, then followed the lake into the Badain Jaran Desert, and then raided Heishui City?

Even though it is discovered by the Mongolian army now, it is unlikely that the Mongolian army will send troops into the desert to intercept it.

The desert is not suitable for a battle between two armies. Of course, the Mongolian army also has camels, but it is impossible for both sides to ride a large number of camels to fight in the desert.

Therefore, Aotun Shiying planned to defend Heishui City and wait for the Song army to attack.

At this time, Aotun Shiying must have thought that there were a large number of Song troops near Badan Lake.

But a question arises. There are a large number of Song troops near Badan Lake. What happened to the Song troops in Suzhou?

On April 22, when Chagatai was still attacking Shazhou, Kuoduan near Zhongxing Mansion led an army of [-] people and was looking for the main force of the Song army coming in from Sichuan. When he was still a hundred miles away from the Song army, he took over After receiving Aotun Shiying's letter, he immediately concluded that there could not be a large number of Song troops in Badain Lake, and it was impossible for the Song troops to attack Heishui City.

When a normal general attacks Xixia from the direction of the Song Dynasty, Heishui City will definitely be the last one to attack. As long as other places are captured, there is no need to defend Heishui City. The defenders will either retreat or surrender. To attack now is a waste of troops and time.

Kuo Duan ignored Ao Tun Shiying. At this time, he already knew that the Song general Meng Gong was leading the troops on the opposite side. This was the Song army's Sichuan envoy. He was not famous yet. Kuo Duan believed that as long as he defeated Meng Gong, he would have a chance to attack. Enter Sichuan.

He ordered Aotun Shiying to defend Heishui City, and wait until he defeated Meng Gong before turning back to deal with the Suzhou Song army.

Aotun Shiying kept sending sentries out, because the distance was a bit far. It was seven or eight hundred miles back and forth to Badain Lake. The sentries had to run fast for two or three days to get back and forth.

When the second batch of sentinels came back, they found that there was no Song army in Badain Lake, but a large number of war horse traces were left in the area. Looking at the traces of the war horses, the sentinels did not look like they had entered the desert, but had turned around.

The sentry cavalry estimated that the Song army numbered around [-] cavalry. Of course, it could also be one person and two horses.

"Turn around?" Aotun Shiying looked confused again.

He had always been confident when he followed Tuo Lei on his expeditions to the north and south, but now that he has not even fought with the Song army, he already felt that the Song army was full of tricks and impossible to guard against, making people rack their brains to think about the Song army's intentions and next moves.

Before, he thought that the Song Army was coming to attack Blackwater City, and he looked down upon the general of the Song Army, thinking that his tactical skills were too poor. Now that he heard the news, he started to have a headache.The Song army circled thousands of miles, raided Shazhou, then broke through Guazhou, and then besieged Suzhou, but they did not attack immediately and just surrounded it.

At the same time, tens of thousands of troops were sent from Sichuan direction into Zhongxing Mansion.

"The soldiers and horses of the Song Army in Sichuan should be to hold off Kuo Duan." Aotun Shiying, as one of Tuo Lei's top ten brave generals, is of course very high-level. His mind immediately began to circle the entire Song Army's strategy. .

"There must be Song troops outside Suzhou City, and there are a lot of them. What are the Song troops waiting for outside Suzhou City?"

The Song army did not attack Suzhou, but surrounded Qian and waited, with unknown intentions.

And what do they want to do when the Song Army with thousands of horses appears outside the Badain Jaran Desert?
U-turn?
U-turn?
"Grass." Aotun Shiying looked at the map and finally thought of what Song Jun wanted to do.

"They are going to attack Chagatai." Aotun Shiying exclaimed.

"Chagatai has [-] to [-] soldiers, and the Song army has [-] cavalry to fight?" His subordinates asked doubtfully.

"The main force is not to attack Chagatai, but to enter Xiliao and attack Chagatai's hometown." Aotun Shiying suddenly realized.

The Song Army's [-] cavalry, or perhaps four or five thousand cavalry, first ran to Badain Lake in the south of the Badain Jaran Desert because they could avoid Chagatai's army and sentry cavalry.

He rested at Badan Lake, and after Chagatai entered Xixia to attack Shazhou, they returned the same way and went directly to Xiliao.

If Aotun Shiying guessed correctly, the Song army may not have ten thousand riders, maybe one man with two cavalry, or even one man with three cavalry.

Aotun Shiying guessed correctly. The Song army Sha Deer and Li Pingxia each led [-] cavalry, making a total of [-] cavalry and [-] war horses entering the Western Liao territory.

The two did not imitate the Mongolian army to ride one person and two horses, because they knew that after entering Xiliao, there would be a large number of war horses waiting for them, and their war horses would be more and more.

In the battle studied by Zhao Yurui and Meng Ying, when Chagatai received the news that Shazhou had been captured, he would have two reactions. One was to immediately send troops to support Kuoduan and attack Meng Ying from both sides. The other was to save the enemy. Defensive force, stand still, ignore the vast platform.

However, Chagatai and Wo Kuotai had a good relationship. Zhao Yurui believed that his alienation plan might not be effective. Chagatai was likely to send troops to support him, so he asked Shader and Li Pingxia to prepare [-] elite cavalry. After leaving Shazhou , immediately ran to the Badain Jaran Desert to hide.

The best place in the Badain Jaran Desert is Badain Lake. It is surrounded by water, forests, grass, various animals, and fish to eat. The army can hide here. If you bring some food, you can hide there for a month or two.

This place is hundreds of miles away from Shazhou City. It is impossible for the Mongolian army sentries coming from Xiliao to come here, and they will not think that the Song army will walk through the desert.

Sure enough, the Song Army stayed here for two days and did not encounter Chagatai's sentry, but they did not expect to be seen by Aotun Shiying's sentry from Blackwater City.

But it didn't matter. Shader and Li Pingxia estimated that fighting had already begun in Shazhou, so they immediately turned around and headed directly to Xiliao.

Even if Aotun Shiying guessed their intentions and sent someone to notify Chagatai, it would take him two or three days at the earliest.

When Chagatai received the news, whether he believed it or not was one thing. When the time came, would he return to Xiliao or continue to attack Shazhou?

With the time difference of two or three days, and the distance traveled by the Song Army ahead, the Song Army could be at least seven to eight hundred miles away from them.

"My sons, we are back -" At this time, at the original border between Xiliao and Xixia, Shader stood high on a high ground, waving a long knife in his hand.

The surrounding party cavalry roared in response.

This used to be their homeland, but now that they have returned after a few years, everyone has endless killing intent in their hearts.

Shader's long knife pointed forward, and his voice was extremely tenacious: "After entering the territory of Chagatai, kill all those who have crossed the wheel, burn all the tents that are seen, and burn all the food that can be eaten and brought. Take away--" Those who cannot be taken away, kill and burn them all.

"Tiger——" The party cavalry roared again.

With a rumble, three thousand party items rushed into Xiliao like madmen.

Li Pingxia followed closely behind in high spirits.

This was his lifelong dream, to lead the cavalry across enemy territory.

The emperor personally gave him the order.

As Shader said, take away everything that can be taken away, kill everything that cannot be taken away, and leave not a single cow, a horse, or a sheep for the Mongols.

Zhao Yurui originally only wanted to drive a wedge between Chagatai and Ogedai, but Chagatai chose to go to war with the Song army, so he would have to bear the Song army's revenge.

This time the Song army was the same as the last time it plundered Tibet. They did not attack the fortified city, but only killed the herdsmen. They used the fighting method that the Mongols were best at to return it to the Mongols.

In order to get rid of Chagatai and prevent Chagatai's returning troops from finding their traces, the six thousand Song troops ran wildly the day before and went straight deep into the depths of Western Liao.

I ran for fifteen hours on the first day, bypassing all the residential areas I encountered, and covered more than 300 miles in one day.

Now even if Chagatai returns to the army, it will not be easy to find the direction of the Song army. After all, the grassland is so big, it may not be difficult to find these six thousand cavalry, but it will certainly not be easy.

The Song army passed Hezhou on the morning of the third day.

The Song army divided into six groups with 1000 people in one group, and dispersed along Hezhou and Solimi. It was agreed that they would gather outside Hamili City and return to the army in four months. Of course, if they were defeated by the Mongolian army, When pursuing, you can also freely choose to return to the army from the south into Tubo.

Hamili was the way they came in, but when they came in, they bypassed Hamili and did not attack the city of Hamili.

But the Mongolian army will definitely think that the Song army will not return the same way.

Moreover, Xiliao was so big that it was adjacent to Tubo in the south and east. It could travel thousands of miles away, and it was impossible to prevent the Song army from leaving.

But the Song army wanted to return from the original route, and then they would see if there was a chance to attack Hamili.

When the whole army was divided, the generals looked at each other and tried to avoid being surrounded by the Mongolian army. However, in the vast land of Xiliao, as long as they were not in the city, it would be difficult to be surrounded and annihilated.

Moreover, the Mongolian army has few troops here, and most of them followed Chagatai to attack Shazhou.

"Take care of yourself." Li Pingxia laughed loudly, took the lead in rushing out of the formation, and headed south with a thousand cavalry and a thousand horses.

There is Yuli City in the south and Quli State in the Western Han Dynasty. It was destroyed by the Han general Li Guangli and Quli City was established. This was the first time it belonged to Han territory.

It was captured by the Xiongnu for a while, and was beaten back by Banchao for a while. It went back and forth many times. After arriving in the Tang Dynasty, it was captured by foreign enemies again.

This was the first time in hundreds of years since the Tang Dynasty that a Han army came near Yuli.

Of course Li Pingxia chose this place for the benefits.

A few days later, Song Jun saw Wei Li.

Yuli, also known as "Lop Nur", is named after "Lop Nur", which means "lake with abundant water and grass". There are many herdsmen here. Chagatai raises tens of thousands of horses and 10,000+ cattle and sheep here. , is the largest pasture closest to Xixia.

The local herdsmen had not seen Han people for who knows how many years. Unexpectedly, the Song Army's magic soldiers suddenly appeared on the grassland like magic soldiers descending from the sky. Everyone was shocked.

The local herdsmen are mainly Mongolians and Khitans from the former Western Liao Dynasty, with a small number of party members.

It was the end of April, and the water and grass were plentiful. On a huge pasture, thousands of cattle, horses and sheep were roaming around, and there were camps and yurts everywhere nearby.

Suddenly the earth-shattering sound of cavalry came from far away, and many Mongolians and Khitans came out to watch.

When the Song army approached, some people raised their hands and cheered, thinking it was their own Mongolian army.

This place is far away from the Central Plains, and no one would have thought that the Song Army would suddenly appear here.

"Kill." Li Pingxia rode ahead. Before the men and horses arrived, he pounced and shot a herdsman in the chest with an arrow.

The herdsmen who were watching the scene immediately dispersed.

There was no need to hesitate or show mercy. Li Pingxia knew that many of the Mongolian troops attacking Shazhou were drawn from these herdsmen.

Their fathers and sons were fighting abroad, and their families were herding cattle and sheep on the grasslands and providing logistics for the Mongolian army. These were all enemies of the Song Dynasty.

"Kill." The Song army rushed into the grassland in a mighty manner, and used the method that the Mongolian army was best at to hit back hard at the Mongolian army.

After a series of killings, the Song army collected thousands of high-quality war horses, along with a small amount of food, and many of them also took the clothes of the herdsmen.

After entering, the Song army needed the ability to move. Everyone only brought leather armor, and then put on the clothes of the herdsmen. Many people also collected the bows and arrows of the herdsmen to prevent the loss of their own bows and arrows later.

"Report." Song Jun was collecting supplies. Suddenly someone came to report to Li Pingxia. Several yurts were found in front of him, filled with all kinds of feathers.

This was what the Mongolian army was hoarding to make bows and arrows.

"Burn them all. Burn all the tents. Kill all the heads of cattle and horses that cannot be taken away."

The Song army was killing everyone, and Yuli City, less than ten miles away from here, actually gathered [-] cavalry and rushed out.

Li Pingxia heard the news and led people to greet him.

When the two sides were two hundred steps apart, Li Pingxia waved directly: "Dismount."

Immediately, about five hundred riders in the crowd dismounted and then picked up the bows on their horses.

(End of this chapter)