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

Chapter 425 Difficulties at the Beginning of the Founding of the Country

The endless army of soldiers and horses headed east in a mighty manner.

Chaghatai stood on a high place with his only two sons, Saban and Hedahai, with extremely serious faces, watching his army pass by.

Chagatai had several sons. The eldest son, Mu'atugan, died early. The second son, Mu'zhebei, was not valued by him because his biological mother was of low status and was a slave girl. This time, he stayed in Alimari City.

The third son, Beleg, died earlier, at the age of thirteen.

The presence of the fourth son Saban is also very low, and he is not usually taken seriously, but now there are not many available around Chagatai.

His most trusted eldest grandson, Haraxuleh, was sent to the northwest to find Batu's Western Expeditionary Army. In fact, he also wanted to protect his eldest grandson. Once he and the Song army were defeated, his eldest grandson would at least be able to survive.

The fifth son Yesumeng Ge had just returned from the west with his army, and he was sent to the north to look for reinforcements in the territories of Ogedai and Batu.

It is said that the 90,000-strong army was not too small for the various Mongolian vassal states at this time.

How many troops did the Mongolian army have in its western expedition?

But Chagatai didn't feel confident at all, and he had a difficult feeling of going back to the beginning of the founding of Mongolia.

When Great Mongolia was founded, all men over the age of sixteen were mobilized.

Now he does the same.

Most of the men who can hold a bow and ride a horse in the territory are here. If this battle is lost, Chagatai will really have nothing and return to before liberation overnight.

The reason why he had a strong sense of crisis was because he had fought against the Song Army several times and knew how powerful the Song Army was.

Moreover, among his 90,000 troops, less than one-third fought against the Song army, and many of them were underage.

If we compare the strength, the more than 70,000 troops he had when he entered Xixia to attack the Song army were stronger than the more than 90,000 troops now.

Now five or six years have passed, and his strength has not increased much. The Song army must be strong.

Thinking about it this way, Chagatai felt that his chances of winning were even lower.

"How are the herdsmen?" At this time, he turned back and asked Lao Qihe Dahai.

Hedahai thought for a moment and said, "Everyone thinks we will win, and not many people are willing to move."

"..." Chagatai was ashamed and angry, but he didn't know what to say.

It is really annoying for the Song army to invade at this time. It is the season of abundant water and grass, and the herdsmen raise a large number of cattle, horses and sheep. Who is willing to move?

Moreover, migration is also risky. When the Song army came in with thousands of cavalry, they divided them into units of thousands and plundered them in various places. How many herdsmen suffered?

So this time when Chagatai reminded the herdsmen to move to the northwest or north, most people subconsciously resisted, and many people ran to various towns instead.

This caused the various pools in Chagatai territory to be overcrowded.

Because the Song army did not attack the fortified city last time, the herdsmen subconsciously believed that the tallest cities were the safest.

Of course, there is another reason why the herdsmen are unwilling to move. This time Chagatai gathered 90,000 troops, claiming to be 200,000, so the herdsmen thought they would win.

Why retreat if you can win?

Chagatai thought for a while and said in a deep voice: "If we lose this battle, we may have nothing."

Both sons were stunned, probably not expecting it to be so serious.

These two sons were relatively mediocre, and Chagatai felt it was pointless to discuss tactics and strategies with them.

The fourth child, Sarban, thought for a while and actually said: "How about we all go north and retreat to Hehan's territory?"

He thought that since Dad, you are afraid that you will not be able to defeat the Song Army, then let's all go north and join the soldiers and horses in the Wokuotai territory, and then fight the Song Army together.

Chaghatai couldn't help but roll his eyes at him, and was too angry to pay attention to him.

No warrior in the Great Mongolia could escape without a fight. No matter what, even if it was not for himself, he had to fight the Song army for the sake of the herdsmen.

"The Song army has come from afar and has a large number of troops. Supply is a problem. As long as the cities defend and do not give the Song army a chance to plunder supplies, we will slowly guerrilla and wear out the Song army." Chagatai can only make his own decision. strategy.

He had seen the Song Army's position battles, so he did not plan to attack the Song Army by force. He wanted to lengthen the Song Army's front and cut off the Song Army's supplies, so that he could naturally win without a fight.

But the prerequisite is, can each city be defended?

In mid-September, the Song army came to Solimi City along the main commercial road.

At the same time, Chagatai's army also reached 30 miles away from the Song army. Sentinels and cavalry from both sides were in frequent contact. The Mongolian army did not have an advantage. Chagatai felt even more that the strength of the Song army was improving rapidly.

Fortunately, he got good news at this time. After Beelse Bali surrendered, the Song army used Beelse Bali as its base camp and stationed 10,000 Song troops. Then they controlled the herdsmen to farm and herd cattle and horses near Beelse Bali. sheep.

The Song army was obviously preparing to fight a long-term war and set up a supply base in his territory.

Originally, Hezhou was more suitable, but Hezhou resisted and was completely killed by the Song army. The Song army chose Biesebali, which was farther away.

Although the Song army had a base, it lost 10,000 troops, and the number of troops on the opposite side became 110,000.

To be precise, it is 113,000, because most of the 3,000 Mongolian troops who surrendered in Beishebali have been recruited and followed by the Song army.

After Beslos Bali surrendered, the Song army did not kill anyone. All the Mongolian army officers above the tenth captain stayed in Beslos Bali City, and the remaining sergeants continued to fight with the Song army.

The families of these sergeants were also gathered by the Song army to live in an area.

"The Song army has lost some troops and is stationed at Bielsebali." This good news soon spread to Chagatai, and Saban said happily: "How about we continue to retreat and give up the city of Zailimi to the Song army?"

Every time the Song army occupied a city, they had to leave part of it behind, and there would be fewer and fewer troops behind.

Jaghatai almost wanted to slap his son.

"Send people to fly arrows into the city, so that the guard Batu cannot surrender no matter what, and be prepared with both hands. If the Song army breaks the city, everything in the city will be burned to ashes. The Song army must not get a grain of food. a cow."

The Song army is now completely following the tactics of the Mongolian army during the Western Expedition. By killing all the resisting cities, they forced the Mongolian army to surrender and then obtained supply points.

If Solimi City is captured by the Song Army again, and the Song Army controls the vast area between Solimi City and Beslopali, raises cattle and sheep, and establishes fields, then it will really gain a foothold here, and Chagatai will cut it off. The Song Army's supply line will become more difficult.

Because the Mongolian herdsmen are doing it on the opposite side, you can't massacre your own herdsmen.

If they were in the Song Dynasty, they could send out rangers to plunder and kill everywhere, but now they are afraid of the Song army coming to plunder and kill.

Saban received the order and personally led a group of cavalry to approach Solimi City. It turned out that the Song army only blocked the east and west gates, and the entire Song army camp was divided into two camps.

The Mongolian army can still come and go freely in the north and south directions. Of course, the people in the city can only hang ropes to get out.

Seeing this, Saban became emboldened. He took the arrow book and ran close to Zailimi City, shot an arrow into it, and demanded that there be no fall inside and be prepared to burn everything.

After shooting the arrow, he ran back and told Chagatai excitedly that the Song army was divided into two camps, one in the east and one in the west, several miles apart, and they could be defeated separately.

Jaghatai didn't even bother to pay attention to him.

The Song army deliberately divided its troops, obviously to lure him to attack. He had suffered losses in positional battles and it was difficult to fight.

"Calm down, join the sea, and lead 10,000 horsemen around Beishebali to see if there are any herdsmen around. If there are any herdsmen, advise the herdsmen to flee north."

Chagatai did not plan to attack, but was still preparing to fight with the Song army, exhaust the Song army's food, and at the same time attack the food road of Beimissi.

Chagatai knew that the Song army brought thousands of carriages. Even if each carriage brought five hundred kilograms of grain, the Song army's hundreds of thousands of people would only be able to eat for a month at most. If they brought other supplies, they would not even be able to eat for a month. .

But he didn't expect that after the Song army set up camp the next day, they started shooting arrows to recruit Batu, the defender of Zailimi City.

Seeing the Song army shooting arrows, Chagatai knew that the Song army might attack the city immediately, so he had to lead his troops to press forward, trying to give Batu a signal for support and at the same time suppress the Song army.

On September 16, the Song army's arrows shot into Zailimi City.

At this time, it was less than a day before the Mongolian army Saban shot into the arrow book. In two days, guard Batu received two different letters from his master Chagatai and the Song Army.

One letter told him to defend and the other told him to surrender, otherwise no chickens or dogs would be left behind after the city was broken.

As Batu, who participated in the Western Expedition, of course he knew that the Song army was learning from them.

Moreover, the Song Army really did this, and Hamili and Hezhou were able to learn from their mistakes.

Does Batu want to surrender? Of course I don't want to surrender.

But he didn't want to die even more.

Early in the morning on the 16th, Batu summoned his subordinates to discuss matters at the top of the city, and then placed Chagatai's arrow book and the Song army's arrow book in front of everyone.

"Both Hamili and Hezhou were killed by the Song army. It is said that not even a single craftsman was left."

"I don't want to implicate the brothers, so I invite the brothers to discuss together. Should we fight or surrender?"

Batu was actually quite dissatisfied with the Song people. The Mongolian army massacred the city and would leave the craftsmen behind but not kill them. The Song army simply did not leave any craftsmen behind.

The Song Army was so disrespectful of martial ethics that it was really scary.

"Aren't the king's soldiers and horses nearby?" someone asked at this time.

"But the king is standing still." Some people were dissatisfied.

Chagatai's army had arrived nearby, and the Song army was divided into two groups, but Chagatai did not come to attack the Song army.

"If the Song army dares to attack the city, the king will definitely come."

Everyone was still discussing, when suddenly there was the sound of a horn in the distance, and then densely packed soldiers and horses appeared on the horizon.

The generals were overjoyed because Chagatai was coming.

Chagatai appeared in the southwest, about five miles away from the Song Army's camp. This location could not only be seen by the people in the city, but also put pressure on the Song Army.

Chagatai arrived at the right time, and all the generals expressed their intention to fight the Song army to the death.

"The Song army attacked the city very quickly and couldn't stop it at all." Batu said solemnly: "Hamilili and Hezhou didn't even last for two hours."

The biggest problem in Chagatai territory is that there is no moat.

Almost nine out of ten cities have no moats.

Even though the Mongolian army has focused on city defense in recent years, the lack of a moat is a natural shortcoming.

"Batu, what do you mean, do you want to surrender?" someone asked Batu.

Of course Batu shook his head: "I didn't say I was going to surrender, I was just reminding everyone."

As he spoke, he looked around. Most of the generals seemed not to want to surrender.

Batu sighed secretly and could only say: "In this case, let's fight to the end."

"Kill all these Song people." Someone raised his arms and shouted to increase his momentum.

They decided to defend here, and the Song army waited for about half an hour outside, but saw no response from the top of the city.

"Woo!" The horn sounded from the western camp of the Song Army, and then large groups of Song troops began to leave the camp.

"The city is under attack. The Song army is about to attack the city." Batu and other generals ordered the city to prepare to meet the enemy.

When Chagatai saw the Song army coming out of camp, they also began to mobilize their troops.

His thoughts at this time were similar to Natu'er's that day. When the Song army attacked the city, he would attack the Song army's rear line.

Of course, the results are similar.

The Song army was not polite, and the forwards immediately attacked the city, and the trebuchets were thrown directly at the top of the city.

Chagatai was shocked and angry when he saw that the Song army was still attacking with fire in the old way, and he directly ordered the forwards to attack the Song army's rear formation.

Then, like Natour, he rushed past two rows of carriages. Behind the carriages were three walls, and behind the walls were fusiliers.

The scene was filled with gunfire and white smoke.

The Mongolian army rushed forward in waves.

Less than two-quarters of an hour later, the sound of retreating gold sounded from the Mongolian army.

"Can't rush in, can't rush in, can't get past the carriage? After passing the carriage, there are walls and ditches behind -" General Youmeng came back and cried to Chagatai.

The Song army came for two days. They built fortifications on the first day and attacked the city on the second day. The efficiency was quite fast. They only needed to dig some small trenches and pile the excavated soil into three walls.

Of course Chagatai could see that it was more difficult to fight the Song army this time than it was in Xixia.

The positional warfare of the Song Army has become even more fierce. Back then, they had to rely on large shields. Now the Song Army rarely even uses large shields. Instead, they use a new type of firearm, which is continuous and ringing.

The Mongolian cavalry could not cross the long wall between the two carriages, and jumping off the horse and climbing over the carriage would mean death.

No matter how slowly the Song Army's flintlock guns fired, the infantry charge could be continuous.

Just as the first wave of Mongolian troops withdrew, someone pointed forward in horror: "Look, the Song army is coming to the top of the city."

It had only been less than two-quarters of an hour, but the Song army had already reached the top of Zailimi City.

On the other side, in the Song Army's camp to the east, troops and horses were gathering to go around, intending to cut through Chagatai's retreat.

"It's too fast and we can't defend it at all." Chagatai watched the Song army attack the city with his own eyes this time.

The Song army first threw kerosene bombs to make it impossible for anyone to stand on the top of the city, and then ants invaded. He didn't know why the Song army could stand on the top of the city, but the Mongolian army didn't fight back. But the way they went up to the city so quickly was indeed the first time he saw it. arrive.

"Why didn't Batu fight back? The Song army was on the top of the city, proving that the fire on the top of the city was basically out." Saban said angrily.

"Call Yesu." Chagatai suddenly thought of his subordinates who had been released from Hamili.

The man quickly came to Chagatai. Chagatai asked, why can the Song army stand on the top of the city, but our warriors cannot?

Yesu complained bitterly that the Song army's cannons (referring to trebuchets) were thrown forward layer by layer.

They burned the city head first, forced us to enter the city, and then threw themselves into the city. We could only continue to retreat.

Only then did the Song army go to the city.

He also said that Song Jun's kerosene was very powerful. It was completely different from the kerosene we had seen before. It burned with great power and burned anyone who touched it.

So they could only watch the Song army advance to the city, but they could no longer rush through the burned area.

Upon hearing this, Chagatai sighed: "I'm afraid we can't hold on anymore."

Before his voice fell, someone seemed to be cheering at the top of the city in front.

At this time, the city gate had not yet opened, and the Song army had just entered the city with a group of people, but they seemed to have won.

The Mongolian generals looked at each other, but Chagatai was furious: "Damn Batu, he must surrender."

That's right, after seeing the Song army approaching the city, Batu saw that something was not going well. He was afraid that if the Song army broke through, he and his family would be massacred, so he immediately ordered those who were unwilling to surrender to be killed, and then raised the flag to surrender.

It was less than an hour before the Song army attacked the city. Hundreds of people had just climbed onto the city. Most of the Song army had not entered the city. Zailimi City had already surrendered.

(End of this chapter)