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

Chapter 459 The powerful cannot surrender

Gaocheng was originally called Hecheng County. After Temujin's Mongolian army entered Hebei, it was changed to Gaocheng. I don't know if it represents the grassland.

In 1220, Mongolia promoted Gaocheng to Yong'an Prefecture, and later changed it to a county.

The main reason for the change was that Gaocheng City was relatively small and did not match the size of the state.

Dong Jun, a general of the Han Dynasty, was originally a local Han nationality in Gaocheng of the Jin Kingdom. He liked to read military books and was good at riding and shooting. When the Mongols invaded, the county magistrate of Gaocheng of the Jin Kingdom set a target to recruit generals. Anyone who hit the target would be promoted to a general.

As a result, among the many sergeants present, no one could hit the target. Only Dong Jun hit the target with one arrow and was immediately promoted to military attaché.

But when Mu Huali arrived in Hebei, Dong Jun immediately surrendered to Mongolia.

In 1220, Gaocheng was promoted to Yong'an Prefecture, and Dong Jun began to garrison Gaocheng.

It is now 1240. In the blink of an eye, Dong Jun has been stationed here for twenty years.

He is considered a native of Gaocheng. With the support of the Mongols, he has become the strongest local tycoon. Over the years, he has given birth to nine sons. Except for two who died early, the rest have grown up healthily. Among them, the eldest son Dong Wenbing and the second son Dong Wenzhan The Wei and the third son Dong Wenyong later became famous Mongolian generals. They followed Kublai Khan in his campaigns east and west, leaving their names in history.

On the contrary, his eldest son Dong Wenbing clearly hinted many times that his father might as well surrender the Song army.

This sounds like a lot of food, but there are 70,000 to 80,000 people in the city. If the people's families have food, they can leave it alone for the time being. The 20,000 Mongolian troops can only use it for about two years. If the people's families don't have enough food left over, the Mongolian army will not be able to provide it for even one year. unuseful.

So in less than two months, Dong Jun and his son, with the support of wealthy businessmen in Gaocheng City, and the surrounding looting, hoarded 100,000 stones of grain.

More importantly, at this time, he was a well-known powerful man in the Mongolian army in Hebei. After being promoted to the rank of ten thousand households in the Han army, Dong Jun became an important minister and general of the Mongolian Han army.

In early June, the Song army had occupied Gucheng for several months and was only more than thirty miles away from Gaocheng.

The wealthy businessmen in the city were all shocked and rushed to donate food, because everyone knew that what Dong Jun and his son said was true.

So what happened later was that Dong Wenbing came to repay the loan sharks owed by the county magistrate.

Now the city is almost overcrowded, because there are too many people, and the courtyards of every house are full of people.

The Dong family is so rich, and they also relied on Mongolia to make their fortune. Now they have the status of a marquis of ten thousand households and have twenty thousand soldiers. How can you ask Dong Jun to surrender?

Dong Wenbing and Dong Wenwei tried to persuade them many times but refused to give in, and they came again today.

As time passed, Dong Jun knew the Song army's plan to capture all the cities and counties around Gaocheng first, and then force them to surrender.

"Father, the Song army is powerful. If we stick to Gaocheng, we will never be able to accomplish anything great. Has Hehan (referring to Wokuotai) given an order to retreat?"

Therefore, when the Song army first entered Hebei and had not yet reached Gaocheng, the father and son began to search for food and grass everywhere. When the nearby people moved into the city, they even asked to bring in all the food and grass at home, and then strengthen the walls and clear the fields.

The Dong family owns a large number of fields, shops and real estate in Gaocheng, and can be said to be the richest businessman in Gaocheng.

In addition, the former county magistrate borrowed money from wealthy people due to insufficient military expenditure. Dong Wenbing said: "The people are in poverty. I am the magistrate. I can't bear to look at my righteousness, so I should compensate for it." "He also sold his property to pay off the debt.

After all, it used to be a county town. Although Mongolia was first promoted to Yong'an Prefecture, it was later changed back.

When Song and Meng negotiated peace, Dong Jun knew that the Song Army's artillery was powerful, so he began to manage Gaocheng carefully. For this purpose, he expanded the moat of Gaocheng and strengthened the walls of Gaocheng. Because the Song Army's arrows rained fiercely, and at the top of the city, A stone wall-style archery shelter was built.

The city wall of Gaocheng is less than ten miles long, and the local population, including the villages outside the county seat, is just over 10,000 households.

These two sons have a reputation for benevolence and righteousness in history. Regardless of being generals of the Yuan Dynasty, they are actually good people.

In less than a month, nearly 20,000 Mongolian troops and more than 10,000 households gathered in the small Gaocheng, totaling 70,000 to 80,000 people.

Not long after, the Yuan Dynasty asked the local government to re-investigate the population and prepare to increase taxes. Dong Wenbing said again: "I can't exploit the people for profit!" and then abandoned his official position.

Of course, Dong Jun was not bad in terms of character, and he did not have the misdeeds of other Mongolian troops who massacred cities, but he surrendered to Mongolia too early. He had been following Mongolia for more than 20 years, was deeply trusted, and did his best to help the Mongols.

Dong Jun is still very capable, and his eldest son Dong Wenbing is even more famous for his bravery and prowess in battle. In history, even Kublai Khan respectfully called him "Brother Dong".

But of course Dong Jun refused to surrender.

The father and son saw that the city was overcrowded. It would be easy to defend the city, but it would be more difficult to be trapped.

His younger brother Dong Wenwei had amazing strength since he was a child and was good at riding and shooting. Dong Wenwei treated everyone with humility and treated him the same no matter how young or old he dealt with. After following the Yuan army, he successively built cities in Guanghua, Kunyang, Zaoyang and other places. When the generals of the Yuan army were building the city, they were extremely cruel to the workers and ignored human life. Only Dong Wenwei treated the workers kindly and was not aggressive. He got the support of many workers and worked hard to build the city.

As a result, the Song army did not attack the fortified city, but raided everywhere.

Dong Jun did this, and Gaocheng became so strong that even if the Song army's trebuchets threw stones, it would be difficult to cause serious damage to them.

Both of them were able to lead troops in battles, and Dong Wenbing was also very powerful. After following Kublai Khan, he almost never lost a battle. Later, he defeated more than half of the Song Army's navy.

After his father's death, Dong Wenbing inherited his father's contribution and became the Gaocheng County Magistrate. Not long after he took office, the local area encountered a locust drought, and the people lost their harvests, causing suffering among the people. However, the court still imposed taxes. Dong Wenbing couldn't bear it and took some of the private grain. Thousands of stones to help the victims.

Although Dong Jun was a Mongolian general, to be honest, his sons were well educated, and his younger sons who were civil servants were also known for their integrity.

Early this morning, Dong Wenbing and his second son Dong Wenwei came again to persuade their father to surrender to the Song Dynasty.

At first, Dong Jun thought that the Song army was coming to attack the city, and he made preparations for street fighting. Because it was overcrowded, he also prepared manpower everywhere in the city. All the alleys were set up with obstacles of wood and stone, which could usually form like an awning. , allowing the Mongolian troops to sleep, and it could be used as a wall during war.

But Gaocheng has one shortcoming that is difficult to correct, and that is that it is too small.

Not long after, some defeated soldiers from Gucheng, Cangzhou and other places fled again.

It was not until he was nearly forty years old that he was recruited into the army by Kublai Khan and followed the Yuan army to attack Dali. Because of his outstanding performance, he became Kublai Khan's confidant.

In January, the father and son began to vigorously publicize in the city, specifically talking about the Song army's seizure of all the landowners' wealth and grain fields after they conquered the Jin Kingdom.

The Song army had not come over before and had little impact on Gaocheng. Now the Song army suddenly invaded in large numbers. Dong Jun immediately moved all the people outside the county into the city.

Once the Song army comes in, it will be a trivial matter for them to become paupers. If a wealthy businessman has a good relationship with the Mongolian army, his whole family may be killed.

The fourth son Dong Wenzhi, the fifth son Dong Wenyi, the seventh son Dong Wenjin, and the eighth son Dong Wenzhong all became ministers of the Yuan Dynasty. The eight father and son can be regarded as loyal martyrs of the Yuan Dynasty.

It has been six or seven years since Song and Meng negotiated peace. Gaocheng was built by Dong Jun for six or seven years and became one of the most important and strongest cities in southwest Hebei.

In addition, there are 5,000 cavalry in the city, and the food and fodder for the war horses is also a big problem. The stored fodder and beans can only last for half a year.

Zhang Shijie was forced into the sea by him, and Pu Shougeng surrendered to him.

Therefore, Dong Wenbing believed that it would be a bad thing if the Song Army did not attack Gaocheng now. When the Song Army finished clearing the surrounding areas, Gaocheng would be a turtle in the urn and be slaughtered by others.

It would be okay if Wokuotai ordered them to retreat, but if he didn't, there would be only a dead end to defend Gaocheng.

Dong Jun immediately said: "He Khan has not ordered yet, we must not retreat now."

"And Batu's army from the Western Expedition is coming back. It is said that there are more than 500,000 troops. By then, we will take back all the prefectures and counties captured by the Song army." Dong Wenwei also said immediately: "Last September, He Khan's army The messenger went west. It has been more than half a year, and Batu's army is coming back. It should have been long ago."

Dong Jun said angrily: "The Western Expedition is tens of thousands of miles away from here. The messenger has to travel back and forth for half a year. How can it be so fast? In short, don't think about anything. Just guard it."

He paused and sighed: "The Song army is very powerful in attacking the city. Our focus is to prepare for street fighting with them."

The most powerful thing of the Song Army was the fire attack. The Song Army's fire oil was very powerful and there was a lot of it. There had been no movement in the previous winter. Dong Jun was afraid that summer would come soon and the Song Army would attack with fire.

Therefore, when fighting on the streets in the city, they try to stack obstacles with stones and mud blocks to reduce the use of wood.

The second son, Dong Wenwei, is only nineteen years old now. He doesn't understand why his father must resist: "Father, we can actually be considered Han people? Why do Han people fight Han people?"

"Bang" Dong Jun stood up and said loudly: "Do you understand? The point is not whether we are Han people."

"Zhao Yurui killed powerful landlords. Tens of thousands of Han households like us were Zhao Yurui's first target to confiscate their homes."

Both brothers were stunned.

Dong Jun walked around the room in shame and anger: "When the Mongols came, the Jin people couldn't defeat them, so we surrendered to the Mongols."

"That's because the Mongols are not familiar with this place, so they can only rely on our powerful Han people."

"But Song people are different."

"Zhao Yurui only has ordinary people in his eyes. He wants to distribute the properties of all powerful landlords to ordinary people to win over the hearts of ordinary people."

"Back then, Song Taizu wanted to share the world with the scholar-bureaucrats, but Zhao Yurui wanted to share the world with the common people."

"Nowadays, scholars, wealthy businessmen, and landowners with land are all the targets of Zhao Yurui's attacks."

"Zhao Yurui only wants our fields and money, not our people."

"How many powerful landlords, businessmen and officials are there in Gaocheng? How many common people are there?"

"The Mongols can leave powerful men to help them serve and rule the place."

"But Zhao Yurui would rather kill all the powerful people and leave only the common people. He has enough people to rule here."

"This is the difference between Song people and Mongolians."

"The identity of our Dong family is that we are powerful in the North. This is now nailed into our bones and we cannot throw it away even if we want to."

"As soon as the Song army enters the city, they will be the first to raid our home."

"Even if we surrender, our fields, our money, our houses and shops will all be confiscated."

Dong Jun thought that what he said was detailed and thorough enough, and the two eldest sons agreed to Dong's request.

Unexpectedly, the eldest son Dong Wenbing blurted out: "Didn't we have no land and no money before?"

As long as you can survive, you can just check it?

Dong Jun almost fainted.

Dong Wenbing was right. The Dong family was not a powerful landowner before. Dong Jun was an ordinary local citizen when he was young.

After getting married at the age of sixteen or seventeen, under the influence of his wife, he slowly learned calligraphy, history and martial arts.

The Dong family used to be very poor. After getting married, he first served as a soldier and then as a general of the Jin Dynasty. He made many military exploits and gradually gained some assets. After Mu Huali came, Dong Jun took advantage of the situation and felt that the Mongols were strong and the Jin Kingdom was strong. Wanting to perish, he decisively led people to Mongolia, and the Dong family became more and more prosperous.

Nowadays, he is one of the few Han households in Hebei and is the first target of the Song army.

In the eyes of Song Jun, these ten thousand households were all going to be killed.

Seeing that the two sons still wanted to argue, Dong Jun said: "You all know Yan Shi, who is also a member of the Han army."

"The Song Army has issued a killing order and vowed to destroy Yan Shiman's family. How will we end up well?"

Now the two sons were silent.

The two brothers looked at each other, sighing endlessly.

Dong Jun told his son half the truth and half lies.

The Song army actually offered to surrender to him, as long as he was willing to surrender and not kill him.

But Dong Jun tried to ask the Song army, could he continue to be a powerful local and guard one side like he had followed Mongolia?

Song Jun refused directly.

The Song army only ensured his safety, but in fact they wanted to confiscate his military power.

People are like this. Dong Jun has been with Mongolia for more than 20 years and enjoys huge power in the local area. He is like a local emperor who splits the earth and enfeoffs lords. How can he bear it when he is suddenly asked to hand over military power.

Regarding his property, Song Jun also said that he was allowed to keep less than 1,000 acres of land, and there were no restrictions on real estate. The conditions were actually pretty good.

But Dong Jun still wanted military power, so he decided not to surrender.

And to be honest, Dong Jun has been stationed in Gaocheng for nearly 20 years and has managed it well. In addition, in the past six or seven years, he has been fully prepared to defend against the Song army. There are small castles everywhere in the city. If there were not too many people and fear of insufficient food, he would It feels like Song Jun can't get in at all.

"It's already June now. The Song Army may come to harass our summer harvest. We also have to find ways to destroy the Song Army's summer harvest. But the key is that the Song Army can supply supplies along the Hutuo River. The Zhending behind us does not support us enough."

"Wen Bing, Wen Wei." Dong Jun asked his two sons to take turns leading troops and horses during this period. Guanduo sent sentries to check the dynamics of the Song army and ship transportation.

The two sons had no choice but to respond.

The three father and son were talking when a knock on the door suddenly came from outside.

"Father, father——" It was Dong Wenyong, Dong Jun's third son.

Dong Wenyong is only seventeen years old now, and he is the best educated among the brothers.

In the Yuan Dynasty, he was selected in the examination and later served as an official with Kublai Khan.

After Meng Ge died, Kublai Khan was attacking Ezhou (Wuhan) in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the Southern Song Dynasty. When he heard that his eldest brother had died so quickly, he had not yet reacted. His subordinates asked him to go back. He said that he would abide by his eldest brother's orders and continue to attack the Southern Song Dynasty.

At this time, Dong Wen persuaded Cambodia three times in one day. The reason why he persuaded Cambodia to retreat was actually that he could go back and fight for the throne. After that, with the persuasion of Hao Jing and others, Kublai Khan decided to retreat and go back to fight for the throne. .

(End of this chapter)