end song

Chapter 788

In the capture of Hexi this time, Li Xia and Li Zengbo cooperated quite tacitly.

After occupying Liangzhou, Li Zengbo led half of the troops to repair, stabilize the people, build the city, and stabilize the defense. Li Xia immediately marched westward, without giving the Mongolian army a chance to report the letter, and continued to attack for more than a thousand miles. There are more than six thousand enemies.

Starting on October 23, the round trip lasted for more than [-] days. When Li Xia returned to Liangzhou to sit in town and rest, Li Zengbo was ready to stop and lead his troops northward to attack Xingqing Mansion.

At this time, Li Xia didn't have too many troops.

1 people marched westward. After deducting casualties and leaving troops to stay in Ganzhou, Suzhou, and Shazhou, only 2000 people could be brought back to Liangzhou.

Then, no matter whether Li Zengbo won or lost when he attacked Xingqing Mansion, after 2000 riders entered Hexi, almost only these [-] people could be brought back to Guanzhong by Li Xia.

In addition, some Longxi garrisons can also be transferred.

The purpose of taking the Hexi Corridor was to reduce the defensive pressure on the west, but with the expansion of the area under the rule, the strength of the troops became even more insufficient.

Of course, defensive pressure and military strength are two different things.

Li Xia believes that taking the Hexi Corridor is worthwhile, even if the troops in Guanzhong are insufficient, at least there is no need to worry about the western front day and night...

It was in this situation that on November [-]th, Li Xia received a letter from Han Qi'an on a fast horse.

News came from Shandong that Kublai Khan had ordered Hebichi and Shi Tianze to lead the counter-insurgency army to attack the key point, and at the same time sent Zong Wang to lead the army to set off from Kaiping, via Hetao, and detour the West Road to attack Longxi.

After being captured, Dong Wenyong, who was unwilling and unwilling to vote, wanted to vote but refused to vote, guessed wrong. After Kublai Khan put down Li Fen, he did not immediately go north to conquer Brother Ali, but rushed to Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Li Xia was mentally prepared, but her scalp was still a little numb.

There is no need to think of a temporary solution, he has already analyzed how to deal with this situation.

Several ways.

For example, all the troops were conscripted to fight Kublai Khan to the death. Now that all the garrisons under his rule are mobilized, and some more civilians are conscripted, they can gather [-] troops.

But it is doomed.

He assembled an army of [-], which took time out of various places. Regardless of Song Ting, the Mongolian army is best at outflanking and outflanking, which can easily destroy Li Xia's logistical supplies.

Now a decisive battle, it must be a battle of death.

Not to mention anything else, Kublai Khan has been running Monan for more than ten years, and the treasury has a surplus.

Li Xia didn't know how much money Kublai Khan had left, but looking at himself, he had recuperated for a year and fought for another year this year, so he couldn't support the war anymore.

The simplest example is that there is a stable Zhongtong Yuanbao banknote in the north. Behind the banknote is the gold and silver plundered by generations of Mongolians.If the war continues, Kublai Khan will also learn to issue paper money to squeeze the people, and it is not known how long it will last.

I only know that Song Ting has survived the war for more than [-] years.

And if Li Xia wanted to extract people's money, the newly issued coupons might not be able to last for three months.

People are very realistic. Today they talk about what the people want, but when life gets tough, the people's hearts will change immediately.

The Song court had a 300-year rule foundation, and Mongolia had a prestige of more than [-] years of expansion, but Li Xia only served as the commander-in-chief of Shu for three years...

After thinking about it, Li Xia sent a fast horse to send a letter to Li Zengbo, ordering him to suspend the attack on Xingqing Mansion and return to Liangzhou.

After this matter was arranged, another fast horse rushed to the city of Liangzhou, but it was Ma Ge who was ordered by Hu Legen to escort a group of people.

"King Jun, when we went out to investigate, we met a strange person..."

"weirdo?"

Ma Ge's Chinese is considered good, but it took a lot of effort to explain the cause and effect to Li Xia.

Because the regions, forces, and people involved in this matter are quite complicated, it is difficult for even a Mongolian soldier to figure it out.

"I met a young man who led more than a dozen men, women and children, and said he wanted to join us, but he seemed to think that we were from Kublai Khan, but we were not from Kublai Khan, but General Hulegen said there was no need to tell him We are not Kublai Khan's people, we can lie to him..."

"Don't force yourself, you can speak to me in Mongolian."

"Not forced, not forced."

Ma Ge was quite stubborn and tried his best to show off his Chinese.

"He said his name is 'Yelu Xiliang', he is 16 years old this year, he is the grandson of Mongolian Prime Minister Yelu Chucai, and the son of Yeluzhu..."

"You didn't tell him that we are Song Jun?"

"Yes, General Hullegan asked us to find a carriage and send them all the way in the carriage."

After hearing this, Li Xia didn't ask Ma Ge to bring Yelu Xiliang and the others here, but said, "Take me to see him."

~~
For the Kuoduan family, Liangzhou is just a pasture, not much different from other pastures, and it is not rich enough in water and grass.

But in the eyes of many Song people, Liangzhou has its unique style.

It has a poetic feeling, whether it is "the Yellow River is far above the white clouds, an isolated city of Wanren Mountain", or "the luminous cup of grape wine, if you want to drink the pipa, immediately remind you", the word "Liangzhou" is the name of the poem, the tune, and the image .

It also has scenery, there is Pingsha Yeyue, which refers to the moonlight on the desert, the wild goose is covered with sand, and the night is as light as water; there is Tianti Ancient Snow, which refers to the snow on the Qilian Mountains. , when the sea is also mulberry fields; there is Xiaojiao in the west of the town, and there is Ditai Tobacco...

There is also a scene in the city, called "Dayun Xiaozhong", which refers to the bell of Dayun Temple.

Dayun Temple is located in the northeast of the city. It was originally the palace of Zhang, the king of Liang, with a grand scale. Later, it was changed into a temple.

Li Xia is currently stationed in Dayun Temple.

Because too many buildings in the city have been destroyed by the Mongols and turned into tents, only temples are many.

Since the Liangzhou League, Duankuo has recruited Tubo, worshiped Basiba as his spiritual teacher, believed in Tibetan Buddhism, and built a lot of temples in Liangzhou in the past 20 years.

Yelu Xiliang was imprisoned in a guest courtyard of Dayun Temple, and several scout horses from the Guiyi camp stood guard in the courtyard.

He tried to go out several times, but was stopped all the time. He couldn't help but gradually became anxious and paced back and forth in the room.

Finally, he heard movement outside the house, turned his head quickly, and saw a handsome young man with an extraordinary temperament entered the guest house, raised his hand to stop the salutations of the few ignorant soldiers.

This young man was only wearing casual clothes, so he couldn't see his identity for a while, but he must be extraordinary.

Yelu Xiliang then tidied up his clothes, waited for the other party to enter the room, hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "My lord, Yelu Xiliang, may I ask you who is..."

"My surname is Li." Li Xia replied, "The single name has the word 'Heng'."

Yelu Xiliang was taken aback, looked at Li Xia for a while, and then smiled and said, "No wonder."

"No wonder what?"

Yelu Xiliang originally wanted to say, "He is a descendant of the Xixia royal family, no wonder he has such a graceful bearing", but he dared not say it, but his face was full of admiration.

"No wonder Brother Li is so handsome."

Yelu Xiliang thought he was a descendant of a noble family, but he didn't expect it to be the long-known descendant of Xixia. He couldn't help wondering why Kublai Khan would send him back to the old place of Xixia to lead the army, so he asked, "Brother Li, how can you Come to Liangzhou?"

"Your Majesty ordered Marshal Du to take over Hexi, and I was ordered to garrison Liangzhou... Sit down and talk."

Sitting next to each other, Li Xia's face became serious.

"You're afraid you'll blame me for keeping you in custody."

"Don't dare, don't dare."

"Because I'm taking on a big responsibility for the first time, and your identity is suspicious, if I don't tell you about your life experience carefully, I can't believe you."

Yelu Xiliang, who was only 16 years old, was impressed by Li Heng in front of him, so he even told the whole story, starting from his experience before birth.

His mother, Chitieji, was actually given to Yelu by Empress Naimazhen. He also has a Mongolian name, which was also given by Empress Naimazhen.

It can be seen from this that Yeluzhu was actually a courtier of Okutai's lineage, and was not highly valued by Meng Ge, but by Kublai Khan.

After Mengge ascended the throne of Khan, Yelu Zhujin said, "All my ministers have read Confucian books for generations, and Confucian scholars are all in Central China. I am willing to bring all my sons to Yan to receive employment." So he took his children back to Yanjing to teach him Sinology...

Li Xia nodded, knowing Yelu Xiliang's life, and asked him why he was living in the Western Regions.

Yelu Xiliang didn't hide anything, and said first: "I fled to Yemili City, and I was driven back by Brother Ali's people."

"Brother Ali? His sphere of influence is in the Western Regions?"

(End of this chapter)