end song

Chapter 797
Wu Wangdu.

In the big tent of the Mongolian army, Shi Tianze was wearing a fox fur and sitting by the fire, listening to the reports of the war.

Tonight was just his tentative attack. He dispatched several soldiers and horses to cross the river on ice. If it goes well, he can occupy the stronghold on the other side of the Yellow River.If it doesn't go well, you can find out the deployment of the Song Army on the other side of the Yellow River.

The result was not smooth, and Song Jun was prepared.

"Report, Xia Yangdu has Song army support..."

Shi Tianze made some calculations and thought that Xia Yangdu's Song army could only have 3000 people at most, so he planned to send troops to continue the strong attack, but suddenly came back again.

"Report! Marshal, I have seen Li Xia's banner, and he is in Hancheng."

"Han City?"

Shi Tianze thought for a moment, and instead of sending more troops to Xia Yangdu, he instead sent more troops to attack Hancheng.

After a long time, Tan Ma hurriedly reported back again.

"Commander, has the ice surface of the Yellow River near Hancheng collapsed?"

"How can it collapse?" Shi Tianze asked back.

Even if a cannonball hits the ice, at most it can only make a small hole, far from collapsing.

But I heard the Tanma said: "The villain doesn't know, and the Song army doesn't know what objects are used. The sound is like thunder. When a cannon hits it, it can smash several people and collapse the ice..."

While listening, he made a mark on the map, Shi Tianze frowned slightly, confirming that Li Xia was in Hancheng.

After much deliberation, he couldn't think of what kind of gun carriage that sounded like thunder.

After a while, he asked, "Which army has crossed the other side of the Yellow River tonight?"

Several scouts looked at each other, and finally one came out and responded, "Hao Wanhu sent a villain to report that he has successfully reached the other side..."

This Hao Wanhu refers to the son of the famous monk Hao Batu, whose name is Hao Tianyi.

Hao Tianyi was still very young and courageous, so he led more than a thousand people across the river from Yumen to a remote place.

You must know that the river at Yumen is fast-flowing, the ice is not strong, and after crossing the river, there are steep mountains on the other side, there is no stronghold to occupy, and there is no luggage or support when crossing the river...

Only a reckless young man dares to pass like this.

The Yellow River is so long that it is impossible for the Song army to completely defend it. There are always places to go, but not every place has strategic significance.

In Shi Tianze's view, Hao Tianyi was taking a risk.

He let the other party take risks, what if it succeeds?

Ignoring this small group of troops, Shi Tianze asked again, and found that none of the troops other than Hao Tianyi had seized the stronghold on the opposite side of the offensive tonight.

Of course, the war has just begun, and he is not in a hurry.

"Li Xia is in Hancheng..."

After repeating this conclusion, Shi Tianze ordered: "Send the order, withdraw all the soldiers and horses."

……

He Bichi listened to Shi Tianze's order to withdraw his troops, and leaned slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

But after thinking about it, he said again: "Don't worry, Song people can't defend such a big Guanzhong, and sooner or later there will be holes in the defense line. Fighting is like hunting, the prey has been surrounded , as long as you find its weak abdomen, shoot arrows and stab knives."

Shi Tianze nodded, praising Hebichi's brilliant opinion.

After that, he raised his real doubts.

"Li Xia's troops are definitely not enough. His total strength is less than [-], but he has to guard such a large area. And we can concentrate our troops to defeat them one by one... But Li Xia's preparations are too sufficient. If there is no one in advance For many months, he couldn't do such an adequate defense."

When discussing these military discussions, Shi Tianze always spoke Mongolian.

Even though he speaks Mongolian very well, it still takes a lot of effort to think about strategy and how to translate it into Mongolian.

Although Shi Tianze is the actual commander of this battle, Hebichi, the Zongwang, is the nominal coach. Therefore, it is natural for Shi Tianze to adapt to Hebichi.

This kind of catering made him feel a little bit unaware of the majesty of the commander.

"A month earlier?" Hebichi asked, "What do you mean?"

"We got rid of Li Fen in October and stabilized the situation in Shandong in mid-November. Only after that did we receive the Great Khan's call to conquer Li Xia. It's not unpleasant. Li Xia still got news."

At this point, Shi Tianze thought for a while, and couldn't find any other Mongolian language to euphemistically explain his doubts. He simply said bluntly, "I suspect that there is a prince who tipped off Li Xia, and his status is not low."

"Yan Zhongji?"

He Bichi asked, then shook his head, and asked again: "Zhang Hongfan?"

Shi Tianze was deep in thought, but remained silent.

"Catch them up and interrogate them." He Bichi laughed.

This smile shows that he is not really reckless, but contemptuous.

He Bichi knew very well why Kublai Khan made him the commander-in-chief, it was to check and balance the nobles, so even if the checks and balances were a bit too much, Kublai Khan would naturally be able to clean up the situation, and he didn't need to be too particular.

Facing this undisguised contempt, Shi Tianze shook his head with a wry smile, and said, "No need, as long as Li Xia is eliminated, naturally no other Marquis would dare to cooperate with the enemy like this."

"Then we have to find out this weasel that got in with the pack of wolves."

"Don't worry, King Zong, I have a solution..."

~~
Hancheng.

Hancheng is located in the northeast corner of the Guanzhong Basin, facing Luliang Mountain across the Yellow River, with a terrain high in the west and low in the east.

This is probably the northernmost end of the Yellow River defense line arranged by Li Xia.

To the north are high and steep mountains. Even if the Mongolian army crosses the river, they can only shuttle through the dangerous terrain, and finally they will attack Hancheng.

Or go further north, that is the Loess Plateau, defended by Zhang Jue.

Li Xia walked on the ice of the Yellow River to count the battlefield, and at the same time listened to the horse scouts from all over the place report the battle situation last night.

Casualties were heavy everywhere, for example, Xiayangdu was attacked by the largest number of Mongolian troops. Fortunately, He Tai and Zhang Shun did not take it lightly and managed to defend it.

Although he kept it, Li Xia frowned deeply after hearing the battle situation.

The Yellow River line of defense is too long, and his troops can't completely block it. Now Shi Tianze is fighting steadily and likes to take steps at every step. The main attack is Li Xia's various strongholds on the west bank.

Shi Tianze's style of play is the opposite of Liu Zheng's.Although Liu Zheng also seized the Heyang camp, he actually liked taking risks. As soon as he crossed the river, his cavalry drove straight to Chang'an, and it was almost the same to cross the river from anywhere; Shi Tianze was one of the few generals in the Mongolian army who didn't like detours. Important land, so as not to be cut off from the back.

This method is a bit stupid to take advantage of the strength of the troops, but the more stupid the method is, the harder it is to find a flaw.

Li Xia has not yet found a chance to win.

His troops were already small, and they were scattered on the Yellow River. When Shi Tianze concentrated his troops to attack, his casualties were even greater.The war just started last night, and it already looks like it can't hold on.

……

"Here's the news." Lin Zi rushed over from the east and reported in a low voice: "Shi Tianze brought 6 to [-] people to Shanxi to attack along the Yellow River, and sent two other teams to attack Tongguan and Wuguan..."

"We didn't hear about Shi Tianze's sneak attack last night." Li Xia asked, "Did he not get the news, or did he lose confidence?"

As far as Li Xia is concerned, he can calculate the distribution of Shi Tianze's troops, and he is more concerned about whether the prince who delivered the news for him has changed his mentality.

Lin Zi said: "He said last night it was a temporary decision, he didn't get an order in advance..."

"It's not a temporary decision." Li Xia said: "The sneak attack on the first night of the first lunar month must have been arranged long ago. Maybe Shi Tianze has already suspected that someone sent me a message."

"Be more careful in the end."

"Have you asked? Is there a possibility of sneak attacking the Mongolian army?"

Li Xia doesn't like passive defense, especially in this kind of situation where passive defense alone can no longer win, it is better to use offense instead of defense.

"Yes." Lin Zi only replied, and was about to answer again.

Li Xia has already asked a question.

"Have?"

"Yes, Shi Tianze has ordered the camp to be moved to the vicinity of Longmendu. We can take the ice across the river from the north and take a small path to the back of the Mongolian camp..."

"Reliable news?"

"Reliable. After passing so many messages, the other party has not lied to us..."

(End of this chapter)