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

Chapter 503 The largest copper mining belt in Central Asia

"Most of the Mongolian troops live in this area. They have the Ishim River to the west and the Yibo Sea to the east - rich in water and grass resources."

To the west of the Yibo Sea is fresh water, and to the east of the Mongolian army is the Yibo Sea, making full use of the fresh water in the Yibo Sea.

"The Mongolian army's palace tent and nobles are on the west bank of the Ishim River. I don't know the exact location because there are too many Mongolian troops there and our sentry cavalry can't get in -"

"Persia received a wave of new copper coins last year, and then found that they were counterfeit coins from our Song Dynasty. After tracing the source, it was determined that they came from Chagatai--"

It turned out that Meng Ge led the army and Guiyu to go on an expedition. Kublai Khan who was stationed there increased his transactions with the Song Army. Soon the Song Army discovered that there were counterfeit copper coins.

Now the Song Army's money-making technology is quite good, and it is easy to identify the fake money outside, but the Song Army will still accept it, because the copper content of the Mongolian Army's copper coins is even higher than that of the Song Army.

"The Mongolian army lacks other mines, but they have a large amount of copper mines. The copper content of copper coins is higher than that of our Song coins." Wang Hu laughed when he said this. SB The Mongolians did not know that they were doing loss-making business. The Song army received fake Money is directly melted and re-created. Each piece of fake money can be used to make two pieces of real money. After deducting the cost of labor and materials, you can still earn about two hundred cash.

In recent years, with the development of money-making machines in the Song Dynasty, the quality of copper coins has become higher and higher, and it has become more and more difficult to imitate. The writing, numbers, and patterns on them are quite exquisite. No matter Goryeo, Japan, Mongolia, or even Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Europe, they are all use.

Although Song Army copper coins contain low copper content, they are beautiful, practical and very popular.

This is a special steel piece made by the Song Army. There are six pieces in total, three on the front and three on the back. They can be inserted into cotton armor. Each piece is as big as a palm and weighs two kilograms. The total of the twelve pieces is only twelve kilograms. The original small steel piece in the cotton armor made the Song Army armor weigh less than forty pounds.

This is a famous copper mining belt in Central Asia. It is easy to mine in the open pit and later became the copper smelting center of Kazakhstan.

There were a total of sixteen people in their group, each with three horses, and they kept traveling more than 150 miles a day. They did not carry armor, and the horses were carefully selected. They must be ahead of the Mongols when running.

This time, because Ogedai and Chagatai moved here with 700,000 to 800,000 people, the place was overcrowded in advance. During various projects, this copper ore belt was discovered in advance. Chagatai was overjoyed and went all out to mine. Forge copper coins and utensils.

The cotton armors of their Jin Yiwei were not as protective as those in the army. This time when they went out with the army, they both had to get one each.

"How many miles are we from Yi Bohai?" Someone asked at this time.

But because of the discovery of copper mines, the Mongolian army will definitely deploy heavy troops in the northern part of Yibohai, so it is also more dangerous.

"No." Everyone responded in unison.

The Mongolian army was probably afraid that the Song army would not accept their fake money, so the fake money contained a relatively large amount of copper. The Song army calculated that there was some profit, so they pretended that they did not know and continued to collect it. In this way, the Mongolian army's fake copper coins began to circulate in the market. .

Wang Hu briefly talked about the mission this time. It was not a heavy task and it did not need to go deep into the hinterland.

"Our mission this time is to find the specific location of the copper mine. The Mongolian army does not have many craftsmen left. It is said that many craftsmen are recruited from Rus' and the Principality of Kiev."

Cotton armor is not only effective in preventing cold, but also has a very good anti-arrow effect, and then it must be equipped with steel plates.

When the Mongols occupied the Harahe Forest and Mobei areas, there were several copper and iron mines in Mongolia. Later, they were occupied by the Song Army, and these mines also belonged to the Song Army.

Now they requisition iron materials from Rus, Kiev and other principalities, mine their own copper ore, build soldiers and armor, and are ready to go to war with the Song army at any time.

After finishing speaking, Wang Hu pointed at the map, described the marching route, and finally shouted: "Get cotton armor and steel plates, and go out tomorrow morning."

After the Mongols fled to the Ishim River, they had no iron ore in their hands, and then they only found this copper mine.

Coming out of the house, Li Zongwang took Zhu Hua to lead the army's standard cotton armor.

These Song army sentry cavalry are all veterans of the past ten years. Their cavalry skills are excellent and they are not weaker than the main force of the Mongolian army. If they can't defeat them, there will definitely be no problem.

The defensive power may be worse than that of the 60-70 kilogram Zha Jia, but it still has an advantage over the Mongolian army.

"It's about two thousand miles starting from Qianzhou." Wang Hu explained the strategy.

"The Mongolian army was suddenly able to make a large number of copper coins, mainly because they discovered an open-pit copper mine belt in the north of Yibo Sea--"

In winter, the Mongolian army wore chainmail and fur coats, which weighed more than 40 kilograms. A small amount of them had Chinese-style cotton coats, but most of them were made of fur (mainly made of short-haired lamb).

If you wear full light armor without cotton skin, the Mongolian army will not be able to bear it in winter.

In winter, the cavalry loads of both sides are similar, and the Song army's armor has a better defensive effect.

On January 6th, Wang Hu waved his hand, and their sentry riders took the lead, followed by Li Zongwang and Zhu Hua. They could see more than a dozen groups of sentinel riders not far away. They separated from each other and left Taibei Mansion intermittently.

The Song army consisted of one person and three horses, carrying sleeping bags, dry food, and various dried meats. The weight of the two horses behind them was not heavy in the early stage.

Their first stop was Qianzhou for supplies. After setting off from Qianzhou, they slowly moved away from the territory controlled by the Song Army. The supplies they brought with them were about twenty kilograms, but with three horses, this load was negligible.

All Song troops carried arrows, no one carried flintlock rifles, and all of them were sergeants who were excellent at riding and shooting.

They set out on the 6th and traveled more than a hundred miles a day. They arrived in Qianzhou in eight days. They rested briefly in Qianzhou and rotated out any injured horses. In the middle of January, they left Qianzhou City and headed northwest, slowly entering the Kazakh region of later generations. .

This area borders the Altai region. It can still be considered a patrolled and slightly controllable area by the Song army. The Mongols have withdrawn westward in large numbers. There are almost no people along the way. The local people who did not leave before were forcibly taken away by the Mongolian army when they withdrew. .

There were no surprises in the first few days. On the fourth day, we began to encounter Mongolian army sentries.

At this time, it was only about a thousand miles away from the easternmost part of Yi Bohai. It seemed that the Mongolian army was more cautious about the Song army and sent a small number of sentries.

Fortunately, it was winter, so there were not many Mongolian sentries, and the Song army had telescopes, of which Wang Hu and Li Zongliang each brought one. They could spot the Mongolian army from a long distance, and they always gave way in advance.

This is the area where the Song Army has visited the most sentries in the past few years. In terms of familiarity with the local terrain, the Song Army may even surpass the Mongolian Army.

Relying on telescopes and familiarity with the terrain, the Song army arrived at the north of Yibohai, a hundred miles away in late January.

During this period, the Song army made a living by hunting, and they tried to use the dry food they brought with them as much as possible. They had not encountered any Mongolian herdsmen on the way for nearly half a month, but when they approached the Yibo Sea, a large number of camps appeared in front of them.

The Mongolian army is mining and smelting copper here. Not only are there herders and craftsmen, but also a large number of troops are stationed there.

Wang Hu and Li Zongwang were even more cautious.

That morning, the Song army was divided into two groups. Half of them were looking for a high place to draw maps in the north. Wang Hu and Li Zongwang each led one person. A total of four riders quietly found a high place and used telescopes to observe the south.

They were now north of the Yibo Sea and looking south of the Yibo Sea. They saw a series of tents under the mountain, with Mongolians everywhere, and large areas of cattle and sheep being raised in captivity. This is already considered the outskirts of the Mongolian army's base camp. At first glance, within the scope of the telescope, there are at least a thousand camps, with thousands or even tens of thousands of people.

The two looked at it for a long time, but they didn't find the copper ore belt in that location.

Li Zongwang turned around and looked behind him: "We have to find a higher place."

There is a mountain not far to the left front, but there are Mongolian troops stationed at the foot of the mountain, probably because they are afraid that someone will sneak up the mountain.

There are no high mountains visible in the remaining surrounding areas.

Wang Hu thought for a while: "As long as you go up to that mountain, you will definitely be able to see it." After saying this, he pointed to the mountain where the Mongolian army was stationed.

Li Zongwang was surprised and said: "There are a large number of Mongolian troops at the foot of the mountain."

"Go over there at night." Wang Hu said solemnly: "The Mongolian army can't take care of the entire mountain in all directions. Let's use telescopes to find out if there is a way up the mountain during the day, and then go over there at night. When we get to the mountain, we can see everything clearly. "

At this time, the Mongolian army did not know that the Song army had telescopes, and it was impossible to surround the entire mountain. The Mongolian army only occupied the main entrance to the mountain, and there must be somewhere to climb up.

Li Zongwang gritted his teeth and agreed immediately.

In the next two days, Song Jun observed along the east, north, and west sides of Shandong, but could not go to the south. After observing through telescopes, he found that there were many places where he could climb up.

There is no large jungle under the mountain here, and the sightline is better. It is difficult to get through during the day, but it is OK at night.

On this day, Wang Hu was going to take a deputy captain up the mountain. Li Zongwang thought of his father's words and took the initiative to invite Ying again.

Wang Hu remained calm and said calmly: "Brother Li is not the commander of the army. This task should be left to our army sentries." He did not want Li Zongwang to be put in danger.

Li Zongwang said anxiously: "Brother Wang, you don't look down on it, or are you afraid that my father will blame you?"

"Now that I'm out, I'm no longer a royal guard. Just like my brothers, we all get paid by Da Song to work for His Majesty, so what's the difference between us? If word gets out, won't it mean that all the brothers in the camp will look down on me and my father?" "

Wang Hu still disagreed, so Li Zongwang insisted on participating. After arguing several times, Wang Hu had no choice but to agree.

After nightfall, the two of them each took one person with them and found the direction of the Mongolian Army. They put their sleeping bags on their backs and slowly squatted and crawled on the ground. They squatted and ran for a while, climbed for a while, and quietly approached the mountain. .

There are fewer woods on the mountain here, so it is easier to walk.

But because it was dark and the road on the mountain could not be seen clearly, it took nearly an hour to climb to the halfway point of the mountain.

The four of them found a sheltered place, but did not dare to light a fire. They stayed in bed and the conditions were quite difficult. Song Jun took better measures to keep warm and brought sleeping bags. Unexpectedly, there was a cold wind in the mountains, and it was not long after dark. , it suddenly started snowing, and when they got up the next day, one of the Song soldiers was already suffering from the wind and cold.

Li Zongwang and his father are both northerners. They have been living in cold regions such as Changchun, Haisamwei and northern Thailand, and they have long been accustomed to it.

The Song troops who were transferred from Xixia were originally quite cold-resistant, but there was a lot of wind and snow on the mountain, so they didn't expect to get frostbite.

Early the next morning, Wang Hu asked Zhu Hua to take care of Song Jun and rest first. He and Li Zongwang took a telescope to the top of the mountain and found a place to look down.

Sure enough, we found the location of the Mongolian army's copper mine belt.

"Look, it's probably at - that position -" After reading it, he handed it to Li Zongwang. Li Zongwang looked at it for a while, then quickly took out a pen and paper from his arms and checked the approximate position.

They were able to identify the copper mine because they saw the smelting furnace. The two of them counted several furnaces, assessed the size of the furnaces, and calculated the approximate output of the Mongolian army.

After discovering the copper ore belt, according to the original plan, I planned to go down the mountain after dark.

However, Song Jun fell ill, and Wang Hu was eager to return to Qianzhou, so he observed the feasibility of going down the mountain during the day.

Moreover, it suddenly snowed yesterday. According to their experience in the past few years, it has been snowing here for a long time. It may snow continuously in the future, and it will get heavier and heavier. They must leave as soon as possible, away from the place where the Mongolian army is more, and get to a place where the fire can be started. Only the place can survive.

Originally, nothing happened to the Mongolian army at the foot of the mountain, but it suddenly snowed yesterday. The Mongolian army at the foot of the mountain seemed to want to pick up some firewood to light a fire. When Wang Hu observed the way down the mountain, he found a group of Mongolian people, including old women and nearly 20 people. Come up the mountain.

Wang Hu thought they had discovered him at first, but later he saw clearly through the telescope that the Meng people were collecting firewood.

There are not many woods on this mountain, and they are relatively messy. Meng people come up here to pick firewood. They should collect a batch before the snow is not heavy and the firewood is not submerged.

"Damn it." Wang Hu cursed after seeing it. These Mongolian people usually don't prepare firewood, but now they go to the mountain to pick it up when it snows. Are they mentally ill?
Wang Hu used to be Li Liang's subordinate. When he was stationed with Li Liang in Haisanwei, he started to stock up on firewood every spring and summer. He would first stock up on firewood for the end of the year and next winter.

He looked around and saw that there were not many trees on the mountain here and they were not high. After the Meng people came up and after the snow, it was originally all white. Their clothes and armor were easy to spot, and they were easy to see when they got closer.

"Wang Dutou, please don't mind me. Let's go first. If you go from the north, you can't see anything -" said the sick Song Jun Zhao Daniu. His face turned purple from the cold and he coughed as he spoke.

"Shut up, let's go together." Wang Hu looked back at Li Zongwang and said quickly: "Go down the mountain from the north, save your strength, and make the final charge. After you go down the mountain, light fireworks and have someone come to help you."

After they came down from the mountain, it was two or three miles away from the Song Army's hiding place. It was definitely not possible to walk there. If they were discovered by the Mongolian army, they would be unlucky. They had to light fireworks and let the Song Army bring horses to meet them.

Unexpectedly, Li Zongwang said: "Why don't we go down the mountain from the northeast and kill the Mongolians and seize their horses?"

There is a Mongolian camp in the northeast. There are many people active inside, and there are also many war horses and sheep.

Li Zongwang was bolder, thinking that since he wanted to escape, it would be better to grab the horse. It might not be convenient to grab the horse directly while waiting for others to come to meet him.

Wang Hu looked suspicious. He didn't expect Li Zongwang to be so bold.

"Damn it, you can kill a few more Mongols." Zhu Hua also shouted.

Wang Hu thought for a while and nodded decisively: "Then go to the northeast."

The three of them did what they said, helped Zhao Daniu up, and quickly evacuated down the mountain.

Stop and go in the middle, mainly to maintain physical strength.

It took them nearly an hour to go up the mountain and even longer to go down.

As a result, when we went down the mountain in the morning and reached the foot of the mountain, we were just about to take a rest when we found that the Mongolian camp was preparing to cook. Many Mongolian people set up fires outside. The four of them looked at each other in confusion. Unexpectedly, the Mongolian people came out of the camp and Cooking outside?
Looking at the guys at the scene, I realized that the Meng people were learning from Song Jun again?
(End of this chapter)