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

Chapter 443 Returning eastward in a big way

According to his seniority, Kolekian was Batu's uncle. Although he was a concubine and his status was a bit lower, Temujin loved him very much and Batu was also kind to him.

"Batu." Kuo Lejian caught up with him. Batu understood and took him to the edge.

Subotai and his son walked to the other side and let the two of them chat privately.

"The Song army is coming with force." Kuo Liejian said directly: "Father Khan said that we people on the grassland must work together. If we can't gather more soldiers and horses, I'm afraid we will be defeated by the Song army one by one."

Kuo Lejian was also very quick. He did not criticize the capital in public, but persuaded him privately after he came out.

He also realized that Batu was taking the opportunity to expand his power.

This time the Mongolian army returned eastward and brought back 300,000 horses. Batu alone had to take away 150,000, and most of them were Mongolian elites.

Most of the people Subotai brought back were servants. This was too obvious and ugly.

Of course, Batu's reason was no problem. The Song army's partial troops were coming to Wokuotai and Batu's territory, and he had to prepare to meet the enemy.

But that being said, Batu has moved his base camp to the lower reaches of the Volga River, which is still relatively far away from the original fiefdom of his Jochi clan, a full five to six thousand miles away.

You said that you gathered troops and horses five or six thousand miles away to prepare to fight the Song army. This and this cannot be justified, right?

It is obvious that Badu wants to move his original fiefdom to the Volga River. As for whether he will really fight the Song army, we still have to see whether the Song army will come?

Batu saw his uncle speaking. After thinking for a while, he slowly said: "Uncle should know that the vast grassland is the world of our Mongolia."

"He Khan left the vast grassland alone and insisted on attacking the fortified cities of the Han people. This would only sacrifice our Mongolian warriors in vain."

By speaking, Batu basically denied his grandfather Temujin.

His father Jochi had a very bad relationship with Temujin, and he ignored Temujin's calls during his lifetime. Temujin almost wanted to send someone to kill Jochi.

After Batu heard and witnessed it, he seemed to be dissatisfied with Temujin. Anyway, he always liked the prairie. This is why later, when everyone wanted to support him as the Great Khan, he supported Meng Ge and preferred to stay on the prairie. reason.

Kuolejian's face turned ugly when he heard this. It was Temujin's last wish to destroy Jin and Xixia. Before his death, Temujin also talked about his plan to conquer Song Dynasty in the future.

So Temujin really wanted to occupy the land of the Central Plains.

Batu directly denied this strategy and also denied his grandfather Temujin.

"This time the Song army came to attack us first. Even if we don't attack the Song people, the Song people will enter the grassland sooner or later." Kuo Lejian advised again.

"When we enter the grassland, the Song people won't be able to defeat us." Ba didn't agree.

He has never fought against the Song Army until now, and since the Western Expedition went smoothly, he doesn't take the Song Army seriously at all.

"The Song Army's fighting style is similar to ours now. When entering the grassland, one person leads two horses or even three horses. No matter whether they are marching or fighting, they are not much different from us. They are not easy to fight." Kuo Liejian also wanted to remind him not to use the methods he used before. Look at the people of Song Dynasty with different eyes.

But Batu still didn't take it seriously.

"Uncle, there is no need to persuade him any more. I have given up my mind. I want to return to the Volga River and build my city of Sarai." Batu even thought about the capital of his Khanate.

He didn't do this first. Helin City had just been built in Tuolei Territory, although it was now attacked by the Song Army.

Alimari City was just built in the Chagatai territory, although it has now been conquered by the Song Army.

You are all building cities, but I can’t build a city myself?

Kuolejian did not persuade Batu, but as in history, Batu took away 150,000 horses and nearly 100,000 craftsmen and men and women, and returned to the lower reaches of the Volga River.

He began to build his city of Sarai near Astlahan in later generations.

Subotai took another 150,000 soldiers and horses with Batu and walked north along the Black Sea for a while, then turned south and joined Choermahan on the Aras River.

This route is longer, more than three thousand miles.

But he did not bring a large number of craftsmen like Batu, so the whole army was still relatively fast. It could march one or two hundred miles every day, and could reach three hundred miles at the fastest.

In early November, Subotai's men finally arrived near the Aras River.

However, they saw endless camps on the opposite side. Chuoermahan, the commander-in-chief of the Mongolian army in Persia, was also gathering troops and horses to return eastward to attack the Song army.

Subotai also received news at this time that the Song army also sent a navy to occupy the Persian Gulf and collect taxes nearby. Choermahan could not even take care of this Song army now.

Subotai thought about it and had no intention of fighting this Song army.

The Song army came from the sea and could retreat from the sea at any time.

If they wanted to send troops to fight the Song army, they would have to travel more than four thousand miles south, and they would waste a lot of time.

In early November, the two Mongolian armies converged. There were more Mongolian troops than Batu had imagined. A total of 260,000 Mongolian troops marched along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, crossing Persia and heading towards Afghanistan.

More than 200,000 Mongolian troops returned eastward in great momentum, but the situation in the country was worse than they imagined.
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At this time, the main battlefields of the Song and Mongolian armies included the former Jin Kingdom area in Shanxi, Hebei, and Liaodong, as well as the Tuo Lei territory near Qianzhou.

In September, Kuo Duan came to Qianzhou with 70,000 to 80,000 troops and stationed in Qianzhou to support Chagatai.

In October Chagatai gave up his territory and came to Qianzhou with tens of thousands of horses and many herdsmen.

Not long after, some people from the Wo Kuotai territory also fled here, and the Song army had already entered the Wo Kuotai territory.

Qianzhou City was overcrowded for a while, with the Mongolian army alone numbering 120,000 to 30,000. Adding in the fleeing herdsmen brought by Chagatai and the original people of Qianzhou, the small Qianzhou City had a population of more than 200,000.

This is not a big problem in peacetime, and supplies are easy. The herdsmen raise cattle, horses and sheep.

But in order to escape, the herdsmen of Chagatai only brought out war horses, cattle and sheep, and either killed them or left them with the Song army.

All the people who were herding animals near Qianzhou have also hid in the city, and they no longer dare to herd outside. What will happen to the supplies for more than 200,000 people?

At this time, Mongolia has a population of just over one million. Including other tribes, not counting the Han people in Shanxi, Henan, and Liaodong, nearly one-sixth of the population is near Qianzhou.

According to news from the Wokuotai territory, some of the herdsmen there ran to the east (Qianzhou) because they heard that there was a large group of Mongolian troops here.

Some ran directly to the northwest (Batu) because they heard that Batu led his army from the west to return east.

Anyway, even the herdsmen from the Wokuotai territory are also fleeing, and there are even people from the Batu territory coming here.

Most herders from thousands of miles around have fled to Qianzhou, and the local population is still increasing.

Chagatai and Kuoduan are quite headaches.

With such a large population, supply is a big problem.

In November, the Mongolian army returning eastward was still thousands of miles away and had just converged on the Alas River. After the Song army swept across the Wokuotai territory, it turned east and forced towards Qianzhou.

At this time, there were more than 130,000 Mongolian troops in Qianzhou, coming from the four major territories of Tuolei, Batu, Wokuotai and Chagatai.

The Song army Sha Deer and Li Pingxia's troops were about 70,000 from the east and south directions, while Lu Wende and Meng Ying's troops were about 50,000 from the west.

The entire army, about 120,000 strong, was pressing towards Qianzhou from three directions, preparing for a decisive battle with the Mongolian army.

Shader and Li Pingxia originally had 120,000 people, 30,000 of whom were stationed in Yemilili, and the rest were stationed in other places, and some pursued the territory of Ogedai. After sweeping through several important settlement points in the Wokuotai territory, Shader left some Song troops to garrison various places and brought 50,000 people from the west to the west of Qianzhou.

Li Pingxia took Ye Milili with 20,000 people from south to north to Qianzhou.

At the same time that the two armies set off, Li Pingxia sent a sentry to inform Lu Wende of Hara Helin.

Because the Song army there had no baggage, Li Pingxia did not move here, and Lu Wende and Meng Ying did not dare to move without permission.

After receiving the news that Li Pingxia was sending troops, Lu Wende and Meng Ying left 10,000 troops to garrison Harahelin, and took 50,000 Song troops to wait for another day before setting off.

In mid-November, because they were afraid of being cut off from supplies, Chagatai and Kuoduan had considered taking all the troops to withdraw to Batu's early fiefdom, west of the Atai Mountains and upstream of the Shihe River in Ye'er, to wait for Batu's return. Unexpectedly, The Song army suddenly appeared more than 300 miles west of Qianzhou.

At that time, the sentry came back and reported that the Song army had not many horses, about fifty to sixty thousand, including civilians.

There was a thought in their hearts, and they knew that this wave of Song troops had swept through Chagatai and Wokuotai territory.

At this time, there were more than 130,000 Mongolian troops from various tribes in Qianzhou City. Kuo Duan believed that 30,000 troops could be left to garrison Qianzhou and 100,000 troops could be taken to fight the Song army.

However, Chagatai believes that the current Song army cannot win positional warfare at all, and it is not easy to deal with in field battles. It must rely on the absolute advantage of numbers to consume them.

One hundred thousand Mongolian troops may not be enough.

Chagatai had fought against the Song Army many times, and he knew that the Song Army was now very powerful, especially those with heavy carriages, which were even more difficult to fight.

Chagatai also wanted to wait for Batu to come back and have more troops and horses, and use the number of people to consume them before he could fight the Song army.

But Kuo Duan has never fought against the Song army, and the Mongolian army has always fought with less to defeat more. This time it was clearly twice as strong as the opponent, so why can't they fight?

During this critical period, they asked the craftsmen here in Qianzhou to build many stone cannons (the Mongolian army's trebuchets), which were used for defense and long-range attacks against the Song army.

Kuo Duan believes that Qianzhou City has built hundreds of stone cannons, which can fight the Song army and have long-range attack methods.

Chagatai believed that the Song army's artillery hit farther, and the Mongolian army's stone artillery might not be very effective.

The two uncles were still arguing about whether to fight or not, but Chagatai had already begun arranging for his people to continue leaving the city and retreat to Batu territory.

Chagatai had already felt that the Song army was coming to attack Qianzhou. Since he could not defend Qianzhou, he could only continue to withdraw to the grassland.

Chagatai retreated at every turn, first from his own territory to Tuolei, and then to Batu. From Kuoduan's point of view, his second uncle Chagatai was already old, and his former warriors had been worn out. .

At this time, news came from the direction of Ye Mili. Twenty to thirty thousand Song troops stationed in Ye Mili came out and also came to Qianzhou.

At this time, the two uncles and nephews were sure that the Song army was coming to attack Qianzhou.

Since they are coming to fight, they have only two choices, either to continue to withdraw to the Batu territory and abandon Qianzhou, or to defend to the death and fight the Song army to the death.

Originally, Chagatai wanted to withdraw, but on November 20th, Mongolian army sentry cavalry across thousands of miles had arrived in Qianzhou, informing them that the army returning eastward would meet up at the Alas River and Choermahan. Then come together.

Of course, when the sentries came from the Aras River, they did not know about the division of troops between Batu and Subotai, and Subotai did not reach the Aras River, but the news of the western expedition to the Mongolian army came.

When Chagatai heard this, his confidence increased greatly. It was still the end of October when the sentries came over. Now almost a month has passed, and the Mongolian army may have approached Qianzhou.

In fact, Subotai's Mongolian army has just arrived near Kyrgyzstan, which is still four to five thousand miles away.

At this time, Qianzhou evacuated some ethnic groups, but there were still nearly 178,000 people.

Chagatai and Kuoduan finally made up their mind and decided to fight the Song army in the field to decide the outcome. At the same time, they delayed the time and waited for the return of the Eastern Expedition army to destroy the Song army in one fell swoop.

At the same time, Shader's Song army first arrived a hundred miles away from Qianzhou, and then Ye Milili's Song army joined Shader.

At this time, the Mongolian army also discovered the Song army coming from Harahelin, and knew that the Song army was gathering troops and horses from three directions to attack Qianzhou. Both sides tacitly understood each other and prepared for a decisive battle at the same time.

On the 21st, the 50,000 Song Army Lu Wende's troops also bypassed Qianzhou from the north and joined Shader and Li Pingxia in the east.

At this point, the Song Army's 120,000 troops had gathered.

Thousands of miles to the east of them, Meng Gong's 100,000 men who came out from the direction of Heishui City were wreaking havoc on the grasslands. They left Heishui City in early October, and then organized into groups of thousands of riders to form countless groups and swept across Mobei. The farthest cavalry crossed the Kherulun River and Ulaanbaat, and penetrated deep into the Buryat area that would later become known.

Then we made an appointment to gather in Qianzhou in December.

Meng Gong didn't know when Batu would come back. His strategy was to clear out all the Mongols in Mobei, including those within a thousand miles around the original Halahe Forest, and kill every one of them.

Then when the Mongolian army and Lu Wende fought, Meng Gong's Song army went over and gave them a fatal blow.

At this time, Meng Gong and Lu Wende's communication in Harahelin City was very convenient. The vast plain in the middle was the Mongolian prairie, and the Song army sent out sentries and cavalry intensively to report messages every day.

Meng Gong is located near Shengsi Jian, about a thousand miles away from Hara Helin. Here at his base camp, he can receive letters from Hara Helin every day. Once there are changes in the west, he can also gather some troops at any time to go there. West support.

This time Chagatai and Kuoduan left more than 10,000 troops to defend the city, and sent 120,000 troops outside the city to prepare for a battle with the Song army.

The Song army also had 120,000 troops, and the number of both sides was equal. However, there were 10,000 civilians in the Song army, and the actual number of soldiers was 110,000.

Of course, the news that the Song army was going to fight also reached Meng Gong.

But Batu did not come back, and Meng Gong had no interest in going there. He was even more worried that if he left early, the Mongolian army in Batu would withdraw without fighting if they saw too many Song troops.

On the 22nd, amidst the continuous sound of trumpets, the Mongolian army finally integrated its 120,000 troops outside the city.

Chagatai left his son Yesumeng to garrison Qianzhou City, and took the rest of his children and grandchildren with him.

Aotun Shiying and other generals beside Kuo Duan also looked gloomy and ugly.

Kublai Khan was also here, but he had no right to speak and just followed behind blankly.

Chagatai and Kuoduan were at the front, and they looked left and right from time to time.

These 120,000 troops were almost all the troops that Mongolia could mobilize in the territories of the three princes in Mobei and nearby areas.

If they lose again today, the Mongolian army will no longer be able to gather even 10,000 troops outside the Central Plains, except for the troops from the Western Expedition.

If the soldiers and horses from the Western Expedition did not return, Great Khan Ogedai would not have any extra force to help him except the Han army in Hebei and Shanxi and the Mongolian army around him.

Chagatai was worried, but Kuoduan had not fought the Song army yet, so he was high-spirited and anxious for revenge.

"Where are the Song troops?" he asked his subordinates loudly.

The subordinates responded that they set up camp a hundred miles southwest of Qianzhou, backed by a lake.

(End of this chapter)