Chapter 644 0639 [Yelü Dashi Strikes Again]

Mobei, Khatun City.

Yelu Dashi convened a meeting of seven states and eighteen tribes.

Eighteen tribes, certainly not all can come.

The Ugu tribe and the Dilie tribe, because they surrendered to Yelu Dashi, became the targets of the Jin Dynasty to kill the chicken to scare the monkey. Before the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, the two tribes were split and moved to Taizhou (Baicheng City). The remaining tribes no longer dared to publicly support Yelu Dashi, and at most secretly sent people to pass on some news.

The Hongjila tribe had also betrayed Yelu Dashi and completely turned to the Jin Dynasty.

Sitting next to Yelu Dashi at this meeting was the leader of the Nirun Mongols, Hebula Khan, who was the great-grandfather of Genghis Khan.

The Nirun Mongols, that is, the "noble Mongols", Hebula Khan temporarily only had the three tribes of Nila, Xide (Qiyan), and Jiuerbi.

In addition, there was the Delejin Mongols, that is, the "ordinary Mongolian" tribe.

The Chachila tribe, which also belonged to the Nirun Mongols, was loyal to Yelu Dashi at this time. Its leader was Zamuhe's great-grandfather, and Yelu Dashi took some soldiers from this tribe during his westward expedition.

Many of these tribal leaders were sworn enemies.

For example, the Northern Zubu, Kerey, and Merkit tribes were all willing to submit to Yelu Dashi, but they had already fought each other to death.

The Naiman tribe was too far away, and its core territory was in Altay. This time, it only sent a thousand cavalry to support it.

"Leaders," Yelu Dashi said, "My spies in the south of the desert learned that the Jin Kingdom forced the southern grassland tribes to send troops. The tribes, big and small, sent thousands of troops, and the few sent hundreds of troops, and they had to bring their own food. They didn't come to fight us, but were taken to the Han area by the Jin Kingdom to plunder. The Jin Kingdom is about to fight the Han people, and this is the best opportunity for us to send troops."

Hebula Khan not only had the three Nirun Mongolian tribes, but also conquered an ordinary Mongolian tribe. His strength was the strongest in the northeast of the Mongolian Plateau.

Although nominally obeying Yelu Dashi, the two sides were more like an alliance. Kublai Khan asked: "Haven't the Han people been defeated? What should we do when the Jin Kingdom defeats the Han people and brings a large army to fight us?"

Yelü Dashi pointed at Ma Kuo and Yu Yunwen: "These two are envoys sent by the Han emperor."

Ma Kuo immediately boasted: "Khan, you don't know that the Han emperor has long been replaced. In the past, it was the Song Dynasty, and the emperor was incompetent. Now it is the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor is wise and powerful. Our prince, Langjun, once led the troops to fight and wiped out 3,000 Hezhameng'an and 5,000 Jin cavalry. The Jin prince, Olib, was killed by our prince, but failed. Return to Yanshan. "

Yu Yunwen also said: "My great prince of the Ming Dynasty led a thousand people to raise an army and destroyed the Song Dynasty to replace it. Last year, he also sent troops to defeat Xixia. Today's Ming Dynasty has 500,000 soldiers, and the Jin Dynasty will definitely lose this battle!"

Yelü Dashi smiled and said: "This time, we will take advantage of the war between Ming and Jin to send troops to the Jin Dynasty. We don't have to fight to the south, but to conquer the Tatars (Tatars) and Hongjila tribes! As for the Ugu tribe and Dilie tribe that have not been relocated, I have secretly contacted them. As long as our army goes out, they will also rise up to respond. "

To put it bluntly, it is to kill the running dogs of the Jin Dynasty and completely control the vast grasslands around Hulun Lake.

Yelü Dashi also talked about the plan to divide the spoils: "If this battle is a great victory, the tribes that are close can get some grasslands. The tribes that are far away can get people, livestock and property. "

After listening, the tribal leaders began to discuss and then asked how to divide the spoils in detail.

Yelu Dashi said that the distribution should be based on the number of troops sent out. Moreover, if you ask for pasture, you can't ask for other spoils, otherwise the tribes that are too far away will suffer.

The meeting lasted a whole day in the midst of the quarrel. The spoils were distributed and agreed before the battle, and the number of troops sent by each tribe was also determined.

The next day, the leaders of each tribe slaughtered cattle and sheep and swore an oath to raise troops outside the Khatun City.

After a big meal, Hebula Khan left with his entourage. He didn't want pasture this time, but only population and materials.

Hebula Khan's ambition was to unify Mongolia. With population and materials, he could annex the surrounding tribes faster. Historically, this person was able to repel the expedition of the Jin army seven years later and was canonized as the king of the Mongol Kingdom by the Jin emperor.

Genghis Khan's ancestors chose population and materials, but Jamukha's ancestors chose pasture.

Sooner or later, the two of them will fight, because their territories are close to each other and they belong to the Nirun Mongolian system.

In early September, the autumn grass on the grassland has turned yellow, and the war horses are fat and strong.

At the call of Yelu Dashi, more than 30,000 troops went out to attack the tribes that had surrendered to the Jin Kingdom.

The Tatar tribe was caught off guard and lost all its pastures. The old, weak, women, children and livestock that had not been evacuated in time were also looted by Yelu Dashi. Only two or three thousand remnants and a small number of family members were left, and they fled to the nearby Hongjila tribe in disgrace.

The territory of the Hongjila tribe was adjacent to the Greater Khingan Range.

The two tribes had nearly 10,000 troops together, but they did not dare to fight Yelu Dashi head-on, and fled to the territory actually controlled by the Jin Kingdom with people and supplies.

In less than a month of fighting, Yelu Dashi seized the entire Hulunbuir grassland.

However, Yelu Dashi was only the common leader of the grassland, and the leaders of each tribe might not be obedient. For the sake of interests, the tribes would attack each other, and Yelu Dashi would at most come forward to mediate.

His base was too weak.

Yelu Dashi had to send troops to fight against the tribal leaders after they disobeyed his orders. He had to win several times in a row to completely establish his prestige. Moreover, he had to have his own tribe and pasture, otherwise it would be a waste of time.

The grassland has its own rules!

He also had to have more sons, divide the pastures to increase the blood tribe, and have more children to marry into the tribes.

The ruling system of the Central Plains cannot be played here.

Of course, leading the tribes in Mobei to continue fighting south and continuously winning victories to conquer Monan will also make Yelu Dashi a real grassland overlord.

But it will definitely not work this year. Not only is he afraid of recruiting the main force of the Jin army, he is also afraid of forcing the Monan tribes to collectively resist.

…

Upon receiving the news of the fall of Hulunbuir Grassland, the Jin Dynasty court had no reaction.

As soon as the Jin soldiers had gone south to prepare for a decisive battle with the Ming Dynasty, they could not spare any extra troops. Secondly, it was originally Jisu territory, and the Jin Kingdom had never actually controlled it.

If you lose it, just throw it away. Once you defeat the Ming Dynasty, you can take it back.

This war, which affected five countries, first broke out in the Hulunbuir Grassland.

Xixia and Goryeo are purely the sixth. The former quietly sends troops north to spy on the reality of Dongsheng Prefecture, and will start fighting as soon as he finds the opportunity. The latter gathered troops in Baozhou, lying that they were going to support Liaonan and help the Jin Kingdom regain the land of Lushun, but in fact they wanted to take the opportunity to occupy the north of the Yalu River.

Before the Jin Kingdom officially started war, its two younger brothers were ready to rebel.

Mid-September.

Wanyan Zonghan couldn't wait for enough food and grass, so he took the lead in sending troops southward, and his 50,000 troops marched directly to Taiyuan City.

He also divided his troops into more than 10,000 troops, so that Yin Shu could lead them and go to the prefectures where discounts were available.

Zhe Keqiu frantically sent out a letter asking for help, asking Liu Yanqing next door to come to the rescue quickly. Liu Yanqing claimed that he wanted to guard against Xixia, regardless of the life and death of the Zhe family, and strengthened the fortresses and passes in his territory.

Under Taiyuan City, the Jin soldiers were building siege equipment and sending people to call for battle.

"Strictly guard the city and don't go to war!"

Zhang Xiaochun and Yang Weizhong are in charge of the defense of Taiyuan, which is full of new recruits trained last year. They used to be able to hold out for half a year without troops and food, but now that they have enough food and grass, they are not afraid.

As for Zhang Guangdao's elite, they are not in Taiyuan at all. He had been stationed in Shouyang, trying to capture the Pingding Army (Yangquan), then broke through Chengtian Village (Niangziguan), and fought his way out of Jingxing to capture Zhendingfu, the capital of the pseudo-Song Dynasty.

Leping County (Xiyang) under the Pingding Army, as well as Jingyang Village and Baijing Village further east, were all captured by Zhang Guangdao last year, and now only one military city is still in the hands of the Jin soldiers.

It is difficult to pacify the military city. There are 3,000 Jurchen soldiers stationed in the city, 5,000 old Liao and Han soldiers, and 2,000 puppet soldiers of the Song Dynasty.

Moreover, those who defended the hardest were those old Liao and Han soldiers!

They were tricked by the Song Dynasty court, and they were on the same level as the Han people in Shaanxi, and they were determined to be the lackeys of the Jin Kingdom. They were both Han Chinese, but when fighting the Ming army, they were even more desperate than the Jurchen soldiers.

At the foot of Taiyuan City.

Wanyan Loushi looked at the tall and solid city and admonished: "Marshal Langjun, this city is not easy to capture. If we continue to attack, it will only be a waste of food and grass. The previous siege lasted for more than half a year, and we didn't even climb the city wall a few times. Why? Do you have to fight it again?”

Wanyan Zonghan said: "If you can't conquer Taiyuan, you can never destroy Ming Dynasty."

"The Ming army is besieging the Pingding Army. It is better to leave one force to attack Taiyuan. The main force of our army will go to pacify the Ding Army and have a decisive battle with the main Shanxi force of the Ming Dynasty," Wanyan Loushi suggested. "After defeating the main Shanxi force of the Ming Army, the Taiyuan defender The morale of the army must be greatly reduced, and it may be possible to surrender without a fight.”

Wanyan Zonghan thought carefully, nodded and said, "Okay!"

In fact, he doesn't want to leave, he just wants to fight in Taiyuan. This has almost become an obsession.

Wanyan Zonghan has been fighting for many years, winning every battle and conquering every attack, but he is blocked here and has no way to defeat Taiyuan City.

After all, we can't fight with emotion. After staring at Taiyuan City for a while, Wanyan Zonghan ordered his troops to be divided. He wanted to take the main force to fight Zhang Guangdao in the field.

The task given by Ju Ming to Zhang Guangdao was to defend the city and hold back Wanyan Zonghan's West Route Army.

However, everyone has selfish motives. Yang Zhi and Li Bao made great achievements one after another. Zhang Guangdao led the army in Shanxi for more than a year, but only captured one county town, one pass city, and two walled cities.

Yao Pingzhong has led troops to support Shanxi. Zhang Guangdao feels that the troops are enough and he does not want to defend the city. So he brought people to pacify Dingjun City and attracted Wanyan Zonghan's main force to rescue him. He wanted to go head-to-head with the most elite troops of the Jin Kingdom!

Among the generals under Yao Pingzhong, four are relatively well-known, namely: Liu Qi, Wang De, Wu Jie, and Wu Lin.

Wooden cannons were carried one by one through the mountain roads by civilian workers.

Yao Pingzhong's eyes shone when he saw it, and he asked: "Can these wooden cannons be used?"

Zhang Guangdao nodded and said: "It can be used, but it can only hit a few dozen steps, so I am more prepared."

"How many?" Yao Pingzhong asked.

Zhang Guangdao grinned: "In more than a year, I built more than 300 doors. The projectiles were all made of stone, but there was not enough gunpowder. I urged the court to transport them several times."

"More than three hundred cannons..." Yao Pingzhong took a breath. He could imagine the scene of volley fire.

Zhang Guangdao said: "If we had attacked by force regardless of casualties, I would have defeated Pingding Military City long ago. The terrain here is very good, and it is very suitable to besiege the city for reinforcements. I have selected more than a dozen battlefields for arranging troops. This is the most suitable place for thousands of guns to show off their power!”