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

Chapter 408 A run of more than four thousand miles

Wokuotai was extremely reluctant to negotiate peace with the Song Dynasty, and was forced by Batu to agree. However, during the peace talks in the past few years, there was no war between Mongolia and Song Dynasty, and they cooperated with each other in trade. The Song Dynasty also paid tribute every year with coins and silk. The white sugar of the Song Dynasty was even more popular in various grassland tribes. Wo Kuotai suddenly felt that the peace negotiation was good.

But he still wanted to attack the Song Dynasty in his heart, but Batu had not returned yet. Wokuotai had a shadow of failure in the battle for Xixia, and he did not dare to start a war without authorization.

News that the Song people were negotiating for peace again reached Mongolia, and some nobles clamored for an annual tribute of 500,000 kilograms of sugar and 100,000 pieces of silk on the condition of annual coins.

The Song envoys began to stay in Guanshan in October to bargain with Mongolia. After the two sides negotiated for a month, they tentatively decided in November that the Song Dynasty and Mongolia would negotiate for another five years of peace, with an annual currency of 200,000 and 300 pieces of silk. Ten thousand pieces of silk, fifty thousand pieces of silk, and three hundred thousand catties of sugar.

But the Song envoy said that he had to go back and ask His Majesty the Emperor before he could decide.

Wokuotai didn't take it seriously and waited with peace of mind.

The first peace negotiation between Mongolia and Song Dynasty was in Dingzhou, and the Song army had been waiting for news about them in Xixia. The Mongolian envoys traveled back and forth between Guanshan and Dingzhou many times, traveling thousands of miles.

Now it was the Song envoy's turn to come, but Wo Kuotai waited so long that he waited until March of the sixth year of Yuanzhen to see the new Song envoy.

The Song envoy brought Zhao Yurui's conditions and lowered many material requirements. Of course Wo Kuotai disagreed. The two sides talked for another month. The Mongolian troops in Hebei also mobilized frequently, trying to create an atmosphere where they could go to war with the Song people at any time. oppressed the Song people.

Wokuotai actually didn't want to negotiate for peace. It was best to force the Song people to take action first, and then use this excuse to let Batu bring the army back.

The Song envoy stayed for another half a month, but finally had no choice but to agree to the terms. The two parties agreed to formally sign the contract in Baozhou (Baoding) in August. The Emperor of the Song Dynasty wanted to meet with Ogedai in Baozhou to discuss with Hehan. In matters of peace, the emperor and the Khan signed a contract together.

This news shocked Mongolia and also shocked Ogedai.

Although Mongolia and Song Dynasty negotiated peace, they regarded each other as enemies. Now the emperor of the enemy country was actually willing to go deep into the Mongolian territory and meet with the Great Mongol Khan.

Wokuotai was very shocked and admired Zhao Yurui's courage.

At that time, many people among the Mongolian nobles suggested that it would be better to kill Zhao Yurui directly then, and the Song Dynasty would definitely be doomed.

Because Zhao and Rui's son is still young now, only a teenager.

Some people also strongly objected, thinking that if Zhao Yurui dared to come to Mongolia, but we wanted to kill him, the Mongolians would show their lack of grace.

Wokuotai actually has some prairie spirit. He can kill Tuo Lei with poison, but if Zhao Yurui really dares to come over, he doesn't want to just kill Zhao Yurui.

On the contrary, Yelu Chucai, whom he believed in, hinted many times that if he wanted to conquer the Song Dynasty, he must kill Zhao Yurui. If he planned to negotiate a peace with the Song Dynasty, such as the Liao and Song Dynasty, which lasted for hundreds of years, he could not kill him.

Wokuotai and the Mongolian nobles were debating whether to kill Zhao Yurui. Zhao Yurui's new order had arrived at Huining Mansion.

In July of the sixth year of Yuanzhen, Li Liang and the others officially received orders to prepare for departure.

For this battle, the Song Dynasty assembled about ten armies and more than 60,000 infantry and cavalry in Huining, including nearly 49,000 infantry camps, about 50,000, and more than 12,000 cavalry.

The more than 12,000 cavalrymen of the two armies were all brought over by Meng Ying from Sichuan and Ningxia, and had participated in the battle between Xixia and the Mongolian army.

The infantry camp was put together by Liaodong Dusi and Shandong Dusi. Among them, Liaodong sent more than 30,000 people and Shandong sent more than 10,000 people.

The entire army, whether on foot or on horseback, each had two horses. Including transportation and other purposes, they brought a total of 150,000 horses.

Among them, more than 12,000 cavalrymen all wore a set of Mongolian uniforms and armor. On the day of the dispatch, the dark group of cavalry were all dressed as Mongolian troops. For a time, Li Liang and others thought they saw Mongolian troops.

The Song army has been studying Mongolia comprehensively since the beginning of Zhao and Rui becoming emperors, so they do not bring civilian husbands with them at all. If they need civilian husbands, they can plunder them during the war.

Most of the flintlock guns produced in the past two years, from July of the fourth year of Yuanzhen to July of the sixth year of Yuanzhen, are here.

The infantry camp is about 50,000, and three-fifths of it is equipped with flintlock muskets. The entire army has about 30,000 flintlock muskets.

The Song army brought 50,000 troops and 20,000 troops as spares.

In the past two years, the Song Army built a total of more than 70,000 flintlock guns, of which 50,000 were in the hands of Lu Wende and Meng Ying.

At this time, Huining Prefecture was more than two thousand miles away from Guanshan (later Ulanqab, Mongolia), the permanent residence of the Mongolian Khan Wokuotai and his base camp.

The Mongols had many plans, but they did not expect that Zhao and Rui used negotiations to delay and assembled more than 60,000 troops and 150,000 horses more than 2,000 miles away, and the more than 10,000 cavalry on the periphery were all dressed as Mongols. , the hairstyles of all sentry companies have been changed to Mongolian hairstyles in the past two years.

The Song army did not bring a single artillery piece with them this time. They brought with them hundreds of craftsmen and hundreds of Langzhong doctors, as well as a hundred disassembled parts of small and medium-sized trebuchets, important parts such as counterweight boxes, and The larger parts are not included, so if they are needed, they will be built on the spot.

The Song army tried its best to be as light as possible, and all they could carry were light supplies and objects.

In July, Li Liang knew their ultimate goal.

It was the capital of the Mongol Empire, more than 4,000 miles away from them. It was the former territory of Temujin and was later assigned to the Halahe Forest of Tolei.

As mentioned before, Harahe Forest is located at the southern foot of the Khangai Mountain in the northwest corner of the former Khangai Province in present-day Mongolia, near Erdenizhao on the right bank of the upper reaches of the Orkhon River, 365 kilometers southwest of Ulaanbaatar.

The area where Harakhor Forest is located is also the center of the Mongolian Plateau. The local forests are dense and the fields bloom in midsummer. There are not only natural pastures with fertile water and grass, but also large fertile fields beside the Orkhon River that can be cultivated.

At present, there are more than 50,000 herdsmen households in the Harahe Forest, mainly Mongolian and Khitan people, with some Jurchens and Han Chinese. All Han people are craftsmen. In the early days, after the Mongols plundered the craftsmen, they all moved to the Haraho Forest. Only then began to distribute craftsmen to various places.

Haraholin is now also a production base for Mongolian war horses and combat armor.

There are 20,000 households of craftsmen of various ethnic groups here, and the remaining 30,000 households all raise war horses or store fields. They provide the Mongol Empire with a steady stream of various types of soldiers and armor and hundreds of thousands of high-quality war horses every year.

This is the core area of ​​Great Mongolia, the real base camp. Wokuotai has wanted to take it for himself several times, but he was too embarrassed to do so.

The tow mine system can later become the Great Khan, and here is the strong backing and strong foundation of their tow mine system.

At this time, the Ningxia occupied by the Song Army was only more than a thousand miles away from Hara Helin. The Song army had assembled an army of three to four hundred thousand people in Ningxia. If they went directly north, they could also attack Hara Helin.

But the northern part of Xixia was assigned to Mongolia. If the Song army wanted to pass through, it had to attack Heishui City, a fortified city.

Once the news of Hara Helin being attacked spreads, the Mongolian troops from the Batu Territory, Wokuotai Territory, and Chagatai Territory to the west will gather.

So Zhao and Rui went in the opposite direction, gathering troops and horses from Huining Mansion from the farthest east and advancing from east to west.

His route has been calculated and deduced many times in the past five or six years.

Even if they take a parallel straight line, the Song army is still more than a thousand miles away from Guanshan in Wokuotai.

Then consider that Mongolia has a rainy season from June to August, and there is almost no rain in winter, so Zhao Yurui deliberately set the negotiation time in August.

When the Song army set out from Huining Mansion in July and entered Harahe Forest, it happened to avoid the rainy season from June to August.

But as the Song army marched westward from Huining Mansion, they had to be careful of Temujin's younger brothers.

In 1214, Temujin enfeoffed the territory. In the northeast of Mongolia, the land in the middle reaches of the Onan River and the Qolvlian River was divided among his younger brothers Zhuochi Hesel, Hechiwen, and Temujin's brother Onchijin. Known as the "Kings of the East", these three people were basically located from the north of the Xing'an Mountains to the north of the original Jin Kingdom. So in June of the sixth year of Yuanzhen, two Song troops suddenly rushed to the vicinity of Qielulian River and found Yanchitai.

Yian Chitai was the son of He Chiwen and inherited his father's fiefdom. He and Guiyou were originally stationed in Liaodong and were preparing to attack the Song army in Liaodong. They negotiated peace with the Mongolian and Song Dynasties. Guiyou went to the west to conquer, and Yianchitai also returned to his hometown. His base camp was near the Kerulen River.

When Temujin enfeoffed the land, the territory given to his younger brothers was relatively large, but the number of households given was relatively small.

There were only two thousand herdsmen households in Hechiwen. The fiefdom bordered Hongjila tribe in the south and Qinglulian River (today's Kerulun River) in the north. It was a vast territory with sparsely populated areas.

Therefore, Temujin's younger brothers could not form a khanate because the population in the fiefdom was too small.

Over the years, they have continued to plunder through wars, and the population in the Chitai fiefdom barely exceeds 10,000 households.

But in April, Song troops suddenly rushed into his territory and demanded to see Yinchitai.

Ying Chitai was confused, but he still accepted him.

Someone from the Song Army said that they had a battalion of more than 500 people, and the battalion commander embezzled military pay and deducted their pay. Under the leadership of a captain, they killed the battalion commander in a rage. Now the whole battalion has more than 500 riders. If you want to go to Yianchitai, please Yianchitai will take you in.

"?" Yian Chitai looked confused. Is there such a good thing?

But he came back to his senses immediately. At this time, Meng and Song Dynasties were negotiating peace for the second time. It seemed that they had decided to negotiate peace in Baozhou, and the Emperor of Song Dynasty would come here in person.

Wouldn't it be easy for the Song emperor to be furious if he took in the rebellious Song army at this time?

To do this or not? After thinking about it for a while, Chitai could only comfort him by saying, "You guys wait a moment, let me think about it, and then report it to Hehan."

The two Song soldiers went back unhappy.

The envoy sent by Chitai to Guanshan was still on the way when he suddenly heard the furious news that five hundred Song troops rushed into his territory, burned, killed and looted all the way along the Kullen River, and headed north.

"I'll go." Chitai was furious and knew it was the rebellious Song army.

At the same time, someone from the Song Army came from Huining Mansion and asked, according to Chitai, have you taken in our rebels? Our two countries are negotiating peace.

Of course Ying Chitai denied it, and the Song envoy stated that he wanted to send troops in to encircle and suppress this Song army, or Ying Chitai helped encircle and suppress it.

Ying Chitai immediately denied the Song army's entry and stated that he could encircle and suppress them.

But this Song army was very good at running. Each man ran with two horses to the northwest, all the way to the Hulunbuir Prairie.

So the three Mongolian princes in the Xing'an Mountains and the prairie were all in a hurry. The three princes gathered their troops everywhere to block the Song army.

There were not many herdsmen among the three kings. The rebels of the Song army came in, burned, killed and looted. They could not bear it, so all their energy was concentrated on encircling and suppressing the five hundred Song troops.

The Song army also kept running to the northwest, drawing all the Mongolian attention to the northwest.

At the same time, the Huining Army dispatched 2,000 troops to wander around the border between Mongolia and Song Dynasty, stating that they could support the Mongols at any time, but in fact they were intercepting the coming and going.

In July, Huining's 60,000-strong army and 150,000 war horses headed west in a mighty manner.

He followed the route to the west, about 500 miles away from the three Mongolian kings in the north, and about 1,000 miles away from Guanshan Wokuotai in the south.

In the north, the Mongols were energetically chasing the Song army with 500 cavalry, while in the south, they were considering the matter of Baozhou and peace talks.

Unknown to all the Mongols, the Song Army's 150,000 war horses were rapidly passing through their middle zone.

The Song army moved very quickly for the thousand miles ahead, mainly passing through the concentrated residential areas of the Mongols.

We arrived near Aershan in four days.

During the march, the Song army had more than 10,000 cavalry dressed as Mongolians on the outside, and the rest of the infantry camps were on horseback in the middle. Then they sent out a large number of sentries and cavalry to investigate everywhere and kill every person and camp they saw along the way. Do not stay.

After passing the Aershan, the Song army began to slow down. The land here was vast and sparsely populated. It was often not possible to see a tribe for hundreds of miles, and it was very quiet.

In early August, the Song Army arrived at Suhe Baduo and encountered sporadic light rain, but it was not a big problem. The Song Army's firearms also came with leather cases and were wrapped in waterproof oil paper, so there was no need to worry about being caught in the rain. .

In mid-August, the Song army arrived at St. Sijiaen.

This place is only about a thousand miles away from Harahe Forest, and there are many herdsmen around.

The Mongols have discovered a large group of troops coming in.

But the more than 10,000 cavalrymen leading the way were all dressed as Mongolians. Many herdsmen thought they were their own Mongolian troops.

Zhao Yurui's Song army was also the first army in history to use as many as tens of thousands of people to pretend to be the Mongolian army.

The cavalry of the Song Army opened a path around them, all dressed as Mongolian troops, and they killed whoever they saw along the way. When many Mongolian herdsmen fell, they did not know that they were killed by the Song Army.

St. Sijiaen is located in the south of Ulan Batton. There is a small and medium-sized iron mine nearby, and it is also one of the main sources of iron materials in Halahelin.

The iron mine is surrounded by several circles of tents and a large number of houses. There are probably more than a thousand families of craftsmen and more than a thousand families of herdsmen here.

It was still daybreak when, with a rumble, a group of cavalry rumbled in from the east.

Some herdsmen looked up with sleepy eyes, but they saw a group of Mongolian cavalry approaching quickly.

He scratched his head and turned to feed his horse.

During Batu's westward expedition, the army also passed through here. In the eyes of the herdsmen, it was possible that the Mongol Empire had recruited new troops to go west to support Batu.

After a while, dozens of riders rushed behind him.

The Mongolian who was feeding the horses turned his head in confusion, only to see that the dozen or so people in front of him all seemed to be Mongolians.

Someone spoke Mongolian, where is this place and how many of you are there? Are there any other places to live nearby? We need supplies.

The gap between the Mongols, Dangxiang people, and Jurchens is not very big. The Song army dressed up a little and looked for the Mongolians based on their body shape and appearance. It was no problem to make up hundreds of fake Mongolians.

The other party said that this was a mineral property that belonged to Meng Ge. About a thousand miles further to the west, the largest supply point was Harahe Forest. In fact, they were all sporadic small settlements, basically with a population of less than a hundred.

The two sides communicated for a while, and Mongolians came out of the camp one after another, and more and more cavalry from behind gathered forward, and slowly surrounded them all.

Until then, even if someone noticed something was wrong, it was too late.

Meng Ying slowly appeared in front on horseback, glanced at the continuous tents and houses, and waved her hand coldly: "Kill, no one will be left alive."

"Kill." Song Jun waved his sword happily.

(End of this chapter)