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

Chapter 361: Driving the people ahead
"From a time point of view, if Chagatai had not come in, Meng Ying should have defeated Suzhou. If Chagatai had come in, Meng Ying should have started fighting with Chagatai."

"Kuo Duan goes back at this time. If he has a chance to catch up, Meng Ying will definitely not be able to stop him in the field, so he can only defend the city."

Cao Youwen immediately said: "He will fight theirs, we will fight ours, and we will fight Zhongxing Mansion."

Cao Youwen believed that Meng Ying would definitely not be able to defeat Chagatai and Kuoduan in the field, but he could defend the city or escape back to Tibet along the original route.

And if they capture Zhongxing Mansion, the entire Xixia will be shaken, and the Mongolian army will definitely not be able to accept it.

But Zhongxing Mansion is quite difficult to defeat. Not only is it the strongest city in Xixia, even compared with many big cities in the Song Dynasty, few can compare with it, because Zhongxing Mansion has never been breached, and Xixia's country fell because of being forced to do so. Surrender, rather than be breached.

Sure enough, General Tian Sui of the Sichuan Army immediately raised a question: "The city of Zhongxing Prefecture is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Mongolian army attacked Zhongxing Prefecture several times. The last time it concentrated nearly 20 people, it took more than half a year to defeat it."

The Song army only had more than 8 civilians this time. Of course, there were tens of thousands of civilians in Xiazhou City, who could also serve as civilians.

A trace of ruthlessness flashed in Meng Gong's eyes: "Your Majesty said that you must use ruthless moves when fighting the Mongols."

"As long as Zhongxing Mansion is destroyed, Kuo Duan will not dare to stay in Xixia."

Before Meng Gong came, he had discussed with Emperor Zhao Yurui how to break through Zhongxing Mansion, and he was still relatively confident about breaking Zhongxing Mansion.

"Come here, take the picture above." Meng Gong suddenly called again.

The subordinates brought up another picture. Meng Gong spread the picture over the city. It is said to have been drawn by His Majesty the Emperor himself. The generals took a closer look and asked, "I'll go, what is this picture?"
In the eyes of ancient people, Zhao Yurui's paintings are similar to us adults looking at baby drawings.

But fortunately, his painting was quite clear. There were marks everywhere, and everyone could vaguely see what he was painting.

The Song army is watching the emperor's masterpiece here, while the Mongolian army is preparing to leave the camp on the other side.

After a while, Zhao Di led his troops to attack, and Meng Gong immediately ordered to leave camp to prepare to meet the enemy.

The Mongolian army came forward with a small number of light cavalry, and fired from a very far distance. They did not dare to get within the distance of the Song army's divine arm and bow. It was obvious that they deliberately wanted to tease the enemy.

Meng Gong knew that the main force of the Mongolian army was gone, so he was not in a hurry and waited for his sentries first, because he also sent a large number of sentries to check on the main force of the Mongolian army.

The Mongolian and Song armies had a tacit understanding to fish under the city, and there were Song troops resting in the back row.

The two sides went back and forth for half an hour, and Zhao Di also knew that Song Jun was fishing.

He could see that Song Jun might have guessed that their main force was leaving, but Meng Gong didn't respond, and Zhao Di naturally didn't take the initiative to provoke Song Jun.

The Mongolian army attacked for more than an hour in the morning, and retreated after Ming Jin.

The two sides barely fought in the morning and were stalling for time.

In the afternoon, some sentries from outside the city came back one after another, saying that the main force of the Mongolian army, [-] to [-] riders, had left Xiazhou dozens of miles away. The Song army, about [-] sentries, was divided into ten teams and followed from far away in all directions.

Meng Gong asked the sentry riders to continue to follow them until they were five hundred miles away before returning. He also sent a hundred riders from the camp to the front every day to rotate while maintaining contact.

In the afternoon of the same day, Meng Gong asked all the men and women in Xiazhou City who were over 16 and under 60 years old, including craftsmen, doctors, and middle-aged men, to move out of the city, bringing with them all kinds of tools, carriages, and all available bags, carts, horses, and mules. , oil in every household.

Xiazhou City had a population of 5 to [-] people, but the Song army eventually moved more than [-] people out of the city.

So the Mongolian army began to see a large number of people coming out of Xiazhou City from the afternoon. The Song army made a truce in the afternoon and specifically drove the people away from the city.

Early in the morning on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, the Song army tied these people up in groups of ten with long ropes. Tens of thousands of Mongolian herdsmen were arranged in front, behind and on both wings. The Song army held weapons and drove back, letting the people walk on the outermost perimeter. .

There were people trying to escape. The Song army only had to shoot or knock down one of them, and it would be difficult for the other nine to escape.

The families of these people were all detained in the formation, and the Mongolian herdsmen did not dare to run away.

There were more than 2 Xiazhou herdsmen pushing their own carriages, horses and mules, carrying various supplies and moving forward amid the Song army's siege.

The Song army of more than 8 plus more than 3 Mongolian civilians, 10,000+ people, headed for Zhongxing Mansion for more than ten miles with 10,000+ horses and mules, tens of thousands of carriages, and hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep.

When Song Jun left Xiazhou City, Zhao Di was stunned.

Originally, he wanted to send the Mongolian troops up to shoot and harass, but when he saw that the people in front and left were all the Mongolian people, the Song army was hiding behind the people of Xiazhou like a tortoise.

Zhao Di and the three generals Aotun Baohe and Aladuli were stunned.

The Song Dynasty was a state of etiquette and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Who would have thought that such a thing would be done?

The Song army drove the people forward, which gave Zhao Di a headache.

Zhao Di himself was an outlier among the Mongolian army. He did not participate in the massacre of the city or plunder the people. Regardless of his surrender to Mongolia, this man could also be called a good general during the Mongolian and Song Dynasties.

Now that the Song army drove the people in front, the kites and harassment tactics they used were completely useless.

Kuo Duan had previously requested that as long as the Song Army dared to leave, he would be allowed to harass the Song Army all the way, making the Song Army exhausted and unable to cope, and in the end, it would inevitably collapse.

Now the Song army drove the Mongolian people in front to serve as human arrow shields. Zhao Di was immediately dumbfounded.

Among the three generals, only the Khitan Araduli disagreed. He repeatedly asked Zhao Di to send troops to shoot the civilians first and then the Song army, thereby delaying the Song army's march and making it difficult for the Song army to move.

He also said that the Song Army stretched for more than ten miles and could be divided into several sections from the middle.

Zhao Di firmly disagreed.

First of all, they couldn't see what was inside the Song Army, and the Song Army had a large number of carriages. Although the formation looked very long, it was also very wide. What should we do if the Song army is surrounded from all sides?
Aladoli heard that it seemed to make sense.

Zhao Di added: "The Song army also brought a large number of cattle, horses and sheep. The march is slow, so why kill our own people? These are my people in Mongolia. There are many Khitans in the city."

After hearing this, Alatuli had no choice but to give up.

So starting from Xiazhou, the Song and Mongolian armies seemed to be friendly armies. The Song army's formation stretched for more than ten miles, and they were not afraid of being cut off by the Mongolian army. Just like this, 10,000+ people, hundreds of thousands of cattle, horses, sheep, and tens of thousands of carriages moved forward in a mighty manner. Go to Zhongxing Mansion.

Nearly [-] Mongolian troops followed closely behind, like a guard, but they did not dare to step forward to fight, and watched helplessly as the Song army advanced.

Although the Song army brought cattle, horses, sheep, carriages, and even artillery baggage, because there were many horses and mules, they could not move slowly. Many people in Xiazhou City could ride horses or carriages.

The Song army marched thirty miles every day and arrived in Yanzhou in about ten days.

At this time, Meng Gong received a reply from the sentry rider in front. The Mongolian army had arrived at Zhongxing Mansion six days ago, and then replaced a large number of war horses in Zhongxing Mansion. One man prepared two horses, and then went to Suzhou with all his strength.

Meng Gong didn't care. After resting for a long time outside Yanzhou City, the whole army continued to Zhongxing Mansion.

At this time, Zhao Di was sure that the Song Army was going to attack Zhongxing Mansion. He now had two choices, either continue to follow the Song Army and wait for the Song Army to attack Zhongxing Mansion, then attack the Song Army from behind.

Either go back to Zhongxing Mansion first and help Zhongxing Mansion defend the city.

Zhongxing Mansion had more than 1 soldiers and horses, but there were many civilians. When the Mongolian army left, many young men were also recruited to defend the city.

Zhao Di really wanted to follow the Song Army and fight the Song Army when it attacked the city, but seeing the Song Army's vicious methods, it would keep a circle of Mongolian people outside. What would Zhao Di do?To fight or not to fight?
If he fights, some people will blame him for massacring his own people in the future. If he doesn't fight, he will just sit back and watch the Song army attack Zhongxing Mansion.

Just when Zhao Di was in a dilemma, Kuoduan from the front also received a letter.

When the Song army drove the people forward, Zhao Di immediately sent a letter to Kuo Duan and asked Kuo Duan how to deal with it.

Kuo Duan wrote a letter at this time. He first scolded the Song people, and then motioned to Zhao Di to act in an expedient manner.

"What a fool." Zhao Di wanted to curse when he saw these four words.

Kuo Duan obviously didn't want to take the blame. After all, it was easy to kill enemy countries, but he couldn't take the blame for killing his own Mongolian people.

To act cheaply means to let Zhao Di take the blame.

Zhao Di had no choice but to discuss it with Aotun Baohe and Aladuli. Anyway, he couldn't take the blame himself.

Aotun and the two were helpless. Finally, Aladouli said angrily: "Since we are doing things cheaply, we might as well go into the city and help defend Zhongxing Mansion."

So Zhao Di and the three of them reached an agreement that if the Song army really went to attack Zhongxing Mansion, they would enter the city and never take the blame outside.

In late June, Meng Gong's army of 10,000+ people finally arrived at Zhongxing Mansion after a long journey of more than 20 days.

At this time, Kuoduan's army had left Meng Gong for nearly 20 days, but had not returned yet. Zhao Di took the lead in entering the city when Meng Gong's army was thirty miles away from Zhongxing Mansion.

When his army entered the city, he received the latest information from Kuo Duan.

Suzhou Bahe's light troops advanced rashly and were ambushed by the Song army. Almost the entire army was wiped out. The entire Song army went west to attack Chagatai.

This letter came more than ten days ago, when Kuo Duan was chasing the Song army.

A faint uneasiness surged into Zhao Di's heart.

At this time, their entire army entered Zhongxing Mansion. When the Song army surrounded Zhongxing Mansion, they would not be able to receive news from the outside, let alone how Kuaduan and Chagatai were fighting with the Song army, and when they would be able to return to the army.

Suddenly Zhao Di discovered that the territory was too big and the distance was not a good thing.

Shazhou is more than 2000 miles away from Zhongxing Prefecture. It takes more than ten days to travel two hundred miles every day, and it takes nearly a month to go back and forth.

If you run a hundred miles in one day, it will take you a month.

The Song army knew that Kuoduan had to travel a long distance, so he came unscrupulously and slowly to attack Zhongxing Mansion.

If this kind of thing happened in the Central Plains, a hundred Song troops would not dare to do it.

But it makes no sense to think about this now. After Zhao Di entered the city, there were more than 2 defenders in Zhongxing Mansion, and there were more than 2 young men to help, which was considered to be some strength.

However, after Zhao Di entered, his position as general was no longer guaranteed.

When Kuoduan leads his troops on an expedition, the leader of the city will be Chi Laowen's son Arakhan.

Arahan was also surprised to see Zhao Di entering the city. As soon as the two met, Arahan said: "Why don't you harass the Song army outside the city to prevent the Song army from attacking the city?"

Zhao Di said that the Song army had driven tens of thousands of Xiazhou people in front, and our army could not advance even an inch and did not dare to shoot an arrow.

"..." Arahan cursed in the direction of Song Jun.Zhao Di immediately persuaded Arahan to seal the city gates because the Song army had cannons.

Arahan said that the moat of Zhongxing Mansion was wide, so there was no need to be afraid of the Song army's artillery, and the city gate was left open so that one could kill at any time.

On the 29th, Meng Gong’s 10,000+ people arrived outside Zhongxing Prefecture.

It was also the first time for Meng Gong and the generals to see the former capital of Xixia. They were extremely shocked when they saw it at first sight. Many people found it difficult to break through.

The Xixia people operated nearly 200 villages here. The city is eighteen miles long and more than eight meters high. There are six gates in total, two in the north and south, and one in the east and west.

Zhongxing Fucheng is entirely built with huge stones, and it is said that every stone is the same size.

The height of Zhongxing Fucheng is not obvious, only more than eight meters, which is not as high as many large cities in the Central Plains. However, its moat is really famous. The widest part of its moat is about ten feet, or more than 30 meters.

So when the Song Army arrived, everyone was dumbfounded when they saw the moat of more than 30 meters wide.

Don't talk about them, Genghis Khan was dumbfounded when he saw it.

That day, Meng Gong rode a horse and led the generals around the outside of Zhongxing Mansion. There were six gates in Zhongxing Mansion and the moat was very wide. Most places were seven or eight feet long. The widest one was ten feet long and the narrowest one was ten feet long. There are six city gates.

Xixia wanted to make it easier to enter the city, so they chose the narrowest place to build the city gate.

Among the six city gates, the moat within more than 100 steps to the left and right of the west city gate is only 12 meters wide, half of which is a stone bridge and half is a suspension bridge.

This was also the main direction of the Mongolian army's attack. Of course, the Mongolian army came and came several times. They attacked for at least one or two years in total, but nothing could be done.

"Damn it, it's not easy to fill up this moat." A Song Army general yelled at the side.

The moat of Zhongxing Mansion is incredible. It is rare to see such a wide moat in major cities in the Central Plains.

Even the six city gates are more than ten meters wide. Except for some parts with stone bridges, the shortest distance across the river is only six meters, and the longest is seven or eight meters.

The key point is that there is no point in crossing the river. The city gate opposite is different from Shazhou. It is outside Wengcheng and is flush with the city wall. It is impossible for the Song army to blow up the city tower like Shazhou City.

Therefore, attacking the city gate is not appropriate in Zhongxing Mansion. Only after filling the moat, attacking the city with ants is the right move.

After Meng Gong took the generals around, he also felt that the moat of Zhongxing Mansion was quite impressive.

The narrowest part of this moat is more than ten meters, and the widest part is more than 30 meters. I don’t know how deep it is. Anyway, the moat is definitely not shallow. It is usually at least four or five meters, or even six or seven meters deep.

This requires digging and filling the river. I don't know how many years and months it will take to fill it.

Meng Gong had already brought over 3 people from Xiazhou, but Zhang Xuan, who had guarded Dashan Pass, saw that the Mongolian army drove the Han people to fill the ditch, and the Song army is now driving all 3 Mongolian people in The moat is not enough.

Zhang Xuan immediately shouted, why not first attack Dingzhou, Huaizhou, Shunzhou and other places next to Zhongxing Mansion, and then capture some civilians.

These places are close to Zhongxing Mansion and are easier to fight than Zhongxing Mansion.

Meng Gong thought for a while and decided to set up camp. Because there were the largest number of Mongolian troops in Zhongxing Mansion, they could not be allowed to come out.

So the Song Army's 10,000+ people camped for more than [-] miles and surrounded Zhongxing Mansion.

Zhongxing Mansion has six gates and a wide moat, so it is easy to defend this kind of castle and it is also very convenient for the enemy to siege the city.

Meng Gong concentrated his main forces near the six city gates, and there was no need to surround them like he had surrounded Shazhou and Suzhou.

If the soldiers and horses in the city come out, they can only come out through the six city gates and cannot come out through other wide moats.

In this way, most of the [-] Song troops were concentrated in the direction of the six city gates.

Then more than 3 Mongolian people and [-] civilians from the Song Dynasty were ordered to start digging ditches and building walls.

This is a routine learned from Hou Jin, and it is also a very effective method for besieging a city. It can at least prevent the defenders in the city from leaving the city.

More than 6 people started in the direction of the six city gates of Zhongxing Mansion and lined up outside the city. They could also line up in several rows to dig at the same time.

The city wall of Zhongxing Prefecture is eighteen miles long. Even if it is completely enclosed, an average of five or six people can dig together per meter.

Now the Song army mainly blocks six city gates, and other places are used to prevent the Mongolian army from communicating inside the city and outside the city.

Therefore, Meng Gong first arranged to dig two circles outside the city to establish a certain line of defense to prevent the Mongolian army from communicating with the outside of the city.

The next step is to dig mainly in the direction of the six city gates.

More than 6 civilians carried out extensive construction work on site. In just a few days, dozens of deep ditches were dug and dozens of walls were built in the direction of the six city gates of Zhongxing Mansion.

A low wall was also built outside the Song Army's camp.

While Meng Gong sent people to dig ditches, he also sent a large number of sentries to the west for more than a hundred miles to investigate the movements of the main force at Kuaduan.

As long as Kuotuan's main force doesn't come for a short period of time, he will continue to build fortifications.

At the beginning of July, Zhao Di, Ao Tun and Bao from Zhongxing Mansion went to the top of the city to take a look and almost vomited blood.

I saw the direction of the six city gates of Zhongxing Mansion. Starting two hundred steps away from the city gate, one after another semicircular ditch walls firmly blocked the six city gates in front of the city gate. Basically, there was a ditch every ten steps. A wall was dug fifty steps away from the city gate.

At this moment, the common people and husbandmen were still digging underneath, and they were already only fifty steps away from the city gate.

The Mongolian army asked many times if they could shoot arrows.

Zhao Di and other generals saw that the people digging trenches below were wearing the clothes of various Mongolian ethnic groups, and they did not dare to give orders.

After hesitating for a long time, the soil dug out by thousands of people below was piled into a wall. At this time, even if they wanted to order an arrow to shoot, it would be difficult to shoot unless it was thrown behind the wall.

When Zhao Di and others put it together, they were not afraid of the Song Army stalling for time. The longer the time, the greater the possibility that Kuoduan and Chagatai would come back. They simply ignored the Song Army and saw how far the Song Army could dig it.

The Song army first dug ten trenches and built ten walls outside the six city gates. The trenches were not very deep, just over one meter wide, and the excavated soil was piled thirty centimeters thick. With the nearly 1.5-meter-high low wall and the ten ditches and ten walls completed, the Mongolian army would have to walk for most of a day if they wanted to get out of Zhongxing Mansion.

With the help of more than 6 civilians, these ditch walls were all built in less than five days.

Then Meng Gong built the Song Army camp in the southeast.

Zhongxing Mansion was built close to the Yellow River, only a few miles away from the Yellow River in the southeast.

Meng Gong built a Song army camp near the Yellow River. At this time, the six city gates had been blocked with ditch walls. The Song army set up a 2000-man military camp near each city gate. The remaining soldiers and horses were left to patrol the surrounding areas. They are all in the southeast corner of Zhongxing Mansion, close to the direction of the Yellow River.

Sixty thousand civilians also arrived here and began to dig soil to build a camp. This was the first time the Song Army used civil engineering to build a camp. They chose a high ground, dug soil from all sides and then padded the middle.

Meng Gong requested that the forward direction of the camp should be two miles away from Zhongxing Fucheng in the southeast direction. It could support the six city gates at any time, and build a fort with earth, wood, and stone.

The requirements for the fort are higher than those in Zhongxing Fucheng.

The city wall of Zhongxing Mansion is only eight meters long, so it is not difficult.

And this kind of thing was done by Genghis Khan more than 20 years ago.

That day, Meng Gong came to the Yellow River, pointed to the Yellow River and said: "More than 20 years ago, Temujin dispatched [-] Mongolian troops to fight Xixia."

"After arriving at Zhongxing Mansion, the siege started probably in July, which is about the same time as us."

The generals around listened calmly, as many of them heard the news for the first time.

"When the Mongolian army saw Zhongxing Mansion, they had the same expression as everyone else at that time. They also felt that it was difficult to attack."

"Later, what do you think Genghis Khan used?"

The generals on the scene looked at me and I looked at you. After a while, Cao Youwen looked at the turbulent Yellow River water and suddenly shouted: "Flooded?"

"That's right, hahaha, that idiot Temujin doesn't understand water conservancy engineering, so he actually wants to flood it with water."

Genghis Khan's idea was correct. The Zhongxing Mansion was relatively low-lying and surrounded by many rivers and ponds. In addition, there was the Yellow River a few miles to the southeast. So the [-] Mongolian cavalry dismounted and became craftsmen and civilian husbands. They first found a highland garrison. The camp was built, and then a dike was built on the edge of the Yellow River. The dike was higher than the city of Zhongxing Prefecture, more than ten meters high. Then the Yellow River was dug to store water. The dike was built all the way to the southeast of Zhongxing Prefecture. This scared the Xixia people half to death at that time.

The Xixia army went out of the city to harass many times, but was repulsed by the Mongolian army every time.

Until September, continuous rains began in the area, and the water in the Yellow River surged. Genghis Khan ordered people to release the floodgates and divert the water from the Yellow River to Zhongxingfu City.

The floods enveloped Zhongxing Mansion and the surrounding areas, but it seemed that there was not enough water and they were almost submerged.

Genghis Khan could only wait for the city wall to be soaked and toppled. As a result, he waited for three months. By December, the flood control dam they built collapsed first, and the Yellow River water receded. The Mongolian army suffered heavy losses, and Genghis Khan had no choice but to retreat. .

All the generals laughed loudly after hearing this, and they all laughed at Temujin for being stupid.

Some people say, why should we do this?

Doesn’t seem suitable?
At that time, the Mongolian army only had 5 soldiers and horses, which was about the same as the Song army now, but there was no Xixia army outside. Now in Xixia, there are [-] Chagatai, more than [-] Kuoduan, and more than [-] Mongolian troops.

Meng Gong continued: "The place where we are building camp now is the high ground where the Mongolian army built camp."

There are several main reasons why the Mongolian army failed to flood Zhongxing Mansion. First, when Genghis Khan came, he did not know that he needed to do this kind of civil engineering and water conservancy project. He relied entirely on his [-] Mongolian troops, who were not professionals, so the dam The quality was very poor and I was praised first.

When Meng Gong came in, he brought professional officials from the Ministry of Industry.

The generals were amused. It turned out that His Majesty had already planned to flood Zhongxing Mansion?Is this the meaning of the picture His Majesty drew before?
The Song Army had been in Diezhou City for several years, and they often sent sentries to check various cities in Xixia. The moat of Zhongxing Mansion was more than 30 meters wide, making it difficult for ants to invade. Both the Song Army and Zhao Yurui knew this.

There is only one way to break into Zhongxing Mansion, which is to dig a large number of people and fill the river with ants, or flood it with ants.

If the civilians dug soil to fill the river, the Mongolian army would definitely kill them with arrows, sacrificing the civilians and the people in vain.

So Meng Gong also planned to flood.

"After the water is impounded, if the [-] troops from Kuoduan and Chatai Tai come over, we will drown them all together. Even if the Zhongxing Mansion cannot be flooded, the [-] Mongolian troops will be drowned."

"Hiss" When the generals heard this, they thought this was a cruel move.

(End of this chapter)