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

Chapter 541: Connecting South and Central Asia

In late August, after a hard journey back and forth, Kublai Khan finally returned to the north of Rai City and the southern part of the Alborz Mountains.

Along the way back, he gradually gathered some stragglers and horses. When he returned to the original place, he had another 4,000 people and more than 2,000 horses.

This originally gave him confidence to break out of the encirclement, but when he saw the bottom of the mountain again halfway up the mountain, he suddenly took a breath and his heart dropped.

There are no Mongolian troops at the foot of the mountain, they are all Song troops.

The Song army used tall horses to intercept them at the entrance of the mountain. There were more than ten levels in total. Kublai Khan's Mongolian army was stunned when he saw it.

When they rushed out of the city, Tasi's men also used Juma to stop them, but Tasi's men only used three layers of Juma, and the Juma were low and not connected with ropes.

The Song Army's horses were tall and connected with iron chains. There were pits dug behind each layer of horses, and behind more than ten layers of horses, there was another long and deep pit.

Another mud and stone wall was built behind, and the fusiliers of the Song Army were waiting behind the wall to prevent Kublai Khan from returning with his carbine.

"Did the city of Rai go to the Song Army?" Bru Hague knew at a glance that Tasi wanted control of the shipyard and the Caspian Sea, and gave up the city of Rai.

At this time, according to the agreement, everything south of Rai City belonged to the Song Army, which was equivalent to all of Persia belonging to the Song Army.

The Song army is now behind Guyou's army. If the Song army does not attack Guyou, it will be its greatest support to Guyou.

This will be one of the oil and natural gas production centers of the Song Dynasty in the future.

"Hey." Kublai Khan let out a long sigh, feeling that all his abilities were useless.

Li Liang, his son Li Zongwang, and a group of Song troops were watching the melting pots in front of them.

First, walls, sentry towers, and bastions were built next to the copper mining belt, mainly to protect the copper mining belt.

Everyone in future generations only knows the rich people of Dubai. In fact, Turkmenistan is richer than Dubai, but they are relatively low-key, quite conservative and closed, and do not allow people to travel.

Now that the Song Army and the Mongolian Army have agreed to use the Caspian Sea as the dividing line, all Turkmenistan will belong to the Song Army.

"Didn't Guyuk tell us to go to Batu?" Li Zongwang asked his father Li Liang at this time.

"The city of Rai is more important for us to control the whole of Persia, so Liu Zheng went."

"But the fighting has nothing to do with us now." Li Liang said with a smile: "We didn't say we must help Guyu, as long as we don't hold him back."

Now that it falls into Zhao Yurui's hands, he must make good use of it.

It would not be easy for the Song army to attack the shipyards and castles on the Caspian Sea.

After all, after owning the shipyard and the Caspian Sea, the Mongolian army can attack Rai City at any time in the future.

Liu Zheng was not in a hurry to continue the Western Expedition. He trained his troops and horses on the spot, strengthened his local rule, plundered the money of the Persian nobles, and increased the wealth of the Song Dynasty and Zhao Yurui.

This is a famous copper mining belt in Asia and even the world. The copper output is huge and it can also be mined in the open. It was a waste in the hands of the Mongols. Now it is in the hands of the Song Army and can be put to good use.

The Mongolian army named the fort Laman City. There were shipyards, craftsmen and Mongolian troops in the city.

In later generations, Turkmen had a total population of just over seven million. The annual mining was limited, but it was enough for them to use. It was rich in oil.

The two sides had begun to have friction at this time. After seeing the castle on the Caspian Sea, Tasi decided to focus on operating here as a front for attacking the Song army in the future.

Turkmenistan was not valuable in the eyes of the Mongols. Eighty percent of the country's land was desert, so they simply gave it to the Song army.

This is the famous copper mining belt of Iximu River. When Li Zongwang and others came to check it out, a Song army was still dead.

Of course he didn't understand that the Ishim River was between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. In later generations, these two countries, especially Turkmenistan to the south of the Ishim River, were rich in oil and natural gas, and were rich in oil.

In August of the 13th year of Yuanzhen, the Song army and the Tasi tribe jointly captured the city of Lai. Kublai Khan was defeated and retreated to Caspian Sea and Weili, and turned around and surrendered to the Song army.

But the natural gas reserves here rank fourth in the world and are easy to extract. As long as they are willing, they can produce 2400 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 8000 million tons of oil every year. They are richer than Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

At the same time, the Song army continued to immigrate from Srivijaya, Borneo, and Felibin, allowing them to mix with Persians, and then immigrated some Persians to the Malay Peninsula and Borneo, which complicated the local population and eliminated it. Weaken the indigenous forces in various places.
-
North of the Ishmu River.

Liu Zhengdu and the Tasi coalition forces on the other side were attacking the city of Lai. Why did they stop moving when they reached the Ishimu River?

They stationed 10,000 Mongolian troops and expanded the castle. The entire castle faced the sea on one side and mountains on three sides. There were only two ways up and down the mountain. It was absolutely easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was difficult to attack with the weapons of the Song army at that time.

After a few days of final observation, Li Liang reported to Meng Gong that the Song Dynasty decided to build Daqing City southwest of the Ishimu River, in the middle of the Caspian Sea, at the intersection of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

According to the previous discussion between Liu Zheng and Tasi, the surrendered troops in Lai City will be returned to the Mongolian army.

"Surrender." In Kublai Khan's long sigh, the Mongolian army finally decided to surrender.

This is near the capital of Kazakhstan in later generations. The Mongolian army originally lived here in Mongolian tents. After the Song army came, they planned to build a small base first.

"We have more than 30,000 troops and 10,000 civilians are here just to build a city?" Li Zongwang didn't understand.

"We can't get out, surrender." Blu Hague also said simply. Seeing that the Song army was defending like this, it was definitely impossible to get out, so he had to persuade Kublai Khan to surrender.

Tasi finally saw Song Jun's lack of martial ethics.

But Liu Zheng later refused, because these surrender troops were not from Lai City, but were brought over by Kublai Khan, and said that Kublai Khan did not agree and was unwilling.

Originally, if the Mongolian army in the castle did not surrender, Tasi's troops might not be defeated even if they fought for ten and a half days. This was why Kublai Khan was willing to climb the mountain.

Now according to the agreement between Meng Gong and Guyu, all the east of the Caspian Sea belongs to the Song Army, and the Yixi Mu River is also considered the territory of the Song Army.

This is also the birthplace of sweat-blooded horses, rich in high-quality war horses.

The design of Daqing City had been thought up by Zhao Yurui and the craftsmen a few years ago.

That day, Li Liang led his people from the east to the south of the Ishim River, and then to the west. After running in a circle, they entered the Turkmen territory and inspected it one after another.

The Caspian Sea is surrounded by steep mountain walls, and the Mongolian castle is built against the mountain, which is much more difficult to attack than the city of Rai.

The city must be able to accommodate millions of people and 20,000 garrison troops. The main population is composed of garrison troops and people of various ethnic groups, with Han immigrants accounting for one-tenth.

Daqing City is expected to take ten years to complete, and immigration will also take more than ten years to complete.

Li Liang and the others followed Meng Gong out this time, with more than 30,000 people, and they will be stationed here all year round. This is the border with Mongolia. While stationed, they will help build cities and cultivate livestock in the local area.

Of course, while Guyuk and Batu are fighting it out, the Song army will march westward to attack the remaining Mongols at any time.

In September of the 13th year of Yuanzhen, the Song army Liu Zheng and the Mongolian army merged and destroyed the city of Lai. However, Meng Gong's tribe stopped moving forward on the east bank of the Caspian Sea and began to farm and build the city. At the same time, Zhao Yurui, who was far away in Lin'an, also announced the establishment of the Central Asia Province. The provincial capital set up Daqing City, established an envoy department, and commanded the envoy department.

Meng Gong will be doing both for the time being, and the imperial court will gradually move to Central Asia to immigrate and mobilize human resources.

This Central Asian province is also quite large, including later Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and parts of Pakistan.

These areas were all occupied by the Mongols before. Now the Mongolian army has withdrawn and all belong to the Song army.

Among them, the more populous areas are still the Uzbek and Bakki regions. Part of the Bakki region belongs to the Delhi Sultanate, and about a small half belongs to the Song Dynasty.

The combined population of all ethnic groups in these areas belonging to the Song Dynasty, after two years of statistics by the Song Army, was close to 8 million people, most of them in the Bakji area. After all, there were more than 200 million people here in later generations.

Central Asia was also a very special province in the Song Dynasty. The densely populated areas were too dense, such as the Uzi and Bakki areas, while the sparsely populated areas were too sparse, such as the current Turkmen and Kazakhs, which had experienced the conquest and migration of the Mongols. After the apprenticeship, there was not much population left.

If the Song army wanted to build the provincial capital of Central Asia, they had to immigrate and move people of all ethnic groups to and near Daqing City to increase the population of the provincial capital.

At this time, the Central Asia Province of the Song Dynasty was adjacent to Guyu on the Caspian Sea to the west, the Sultanate of Delhi to the south, and the Principality of Rus (now controlled by Batu) to the north.

Zhao Yurui planned to digest and consolidate the rule of Central Asia Province first, and then besiege the Delhi Sultanate on three sides.

When Batu and Guiyu decide the winner, Zhao and Rui can open up India, Bengal, Annan, Thailand and other places in later generations, and connect the entire South Asia and Central Asia into one.

At that time, from Yunnan to Persia, all the territories of the Song Dynasty would be occupied.

The human resources that can be used are tens of millions, and the Song Dynasty will not be affected.
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In September of the thirteenth year of Yuanzhen, Lin'an.

Zhao Yurui summoned some members of the cabinet, and everyone came to Chui Gong Hall. They saw His Majesty the Emperor looking at the map on the wall, and knew that His Majesty the Emperor was probably going to fight again.

Zhao Yurui pointed at the map: "Guiyou and Mengge are fighting for the throne here. The two sides are fighting west of the Caspian Sea and the Volga River. From what I can see."

"Although Meng Ge and Batu have the elite Mongolian troops from the Western Expedition, Guyu's troops have fought more with us. Their experience and tactics are already ahead of Batu and Meng Ge."

"Batu and Meng Ge's old Mongolian army tactics are probably no match for them."

"But they have important towns such as Sarai and Damascus, as well as Shefangli and Bolan as strategic spaces."

"The battle between the Eastern and Western Mongolian Khans will take at least several years to determine the outcome."

All the ministers nodded after hearing this. Anyway, no matter what His Majesty the Emperor said, it was right, because Zhao Yurui rarely made mistakes.

"In accordance with the agreement with Guyu, we sent troops to help him capture the city of Rai and eliminated the main force on Meng Ge's southern flank. We have already done them a favor. Later, we only need to provide food and fodder for Guyu himself and Batu to fight."

Zhao Yurui originally planned to provide Guyu with food and grass later so that Guyu and Batu Meng could go shopping.

Putting this behind is a proper act of supporting fire.

Meng Ge and Ba both need to strongly condemn Zhao Yurui.

Guyou's advantage is that there are many soldiers and horses, advanced tactics, and artillery, but there is no fixed heavy city as a foundation. Although they go to the animal husbandry and guard there, food and grass are still a hidden danger in long-term operations, so Zhao and Rui He planned to use the Caspian Sea to provide them with food and grass in the Caspian Sea to ensure that Guyu's army could fight against Mongol Batu for a long time.

"This side is my Song Dynasty Sichuan, and the other side is Yunnan, oh no, it is Dali."

"Further down from Dali is Annan, and here is Champa."

"There are many small countries here, including the Sukhothai Dynasty founded by the Siamese, and the Angkor Dynasty (Chenla)."

"It's such a mess, it's a place as big as a palm, and there are so many small countries here. It makes me tired just to look at it."

The ministers looked at each other. From the map, these countries combined were not small. Of course, they were far behind the current Song Dynasty.

Any of the Central Asian and Far Eastern provinces of the Song Dynasty far exceeded the combined territory of these countries.

"There is no war in the country, and raising an army of millions is not a problem."

"I plan to send out troops in three directions."

"Go all the way south from Ningxia to Dali."

"The second route went out from Fujian and attacked Annan and Champa from the sea."

"Three groups sent troops from Borneo and Hanzhou, and also from the sea to attack the city."

After defeating Champa and Annam, the three armies merged to attack Sukhothai and Angkor, aiming to destroy all these small kingdoms within one year.

Qin Zhuo, the first assistant, immediately asked, how many troops and horses will your Majesty use and how much will it cost?

"It doesn't take many people to defeat these small countries, and it doesn't cost much money." Is Zhao Yurui afraid of spending money now? Too much money and nowhere to spend it.

Recently, hundreds of millions of dinars (silver coins) have been robbed from all over Persia.
All the lords and nobles of Persia were robbed by the Song army.

There are three armies, each with 20,000 troops, a total of 60,000 people, and each route with 5,000 civilians, a total of more than 70,000 people, known as the 200,000 army.

"It is estimated that in one or two years at most, and spending fifty million dollars, we can accomplish the strategic goals and conquer these countries."

Upon hearing the fifty million guan, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue twitched his lips. Before he could speak, Zhao Yurui said, "Let's grab whatever we want when the time comes - if we take a little, we can get at least several hundred million."

The ministers were suddenly speechless.

It sounds reasonable.

Zhao and Rui fight to get money.

Now that the emperor has decided, the ministers naturally don't want to say anything more.

"Annan Champa is a hot place, and dysentery is common, which will cause the army to be acclimatized. We should try our best to mobilize the southern army and use Dali and the southern mountains to transport horses. These areas are mountainous, and dogs are often used to explore the roads to prevent ambushes. "

"Don't be soft in the early stage. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed. We will use artillery and gasoline bombs to minimize the casualties of our troops. Once we have eliminated the main force of resistance in their country, it will be easier to manage later."

Zhao Yurui knew that Annan and Champa, including Angkor and the Sukhothai dynasty, were not easy to fight. Like Annan, the Yuan Dynasty had fought it but not conquered it. The Ming Dynasty had fought it and conquered it briefly, but finally gave up.

During the Ming Dynasty's rule in Annan, the population was estimated to be more than 3 million households and more than 10 million people. The annual local tax collected was only about 3 million dan, which was considered a relatively failure.

This is in the hands of Zhao Yurui. Annan, which has more than 10 million people with farmland, plus the local three-crop rice production, and their grain field area, will have to be increased at least several times, or even ten times or dozens of times.

Annan was a major producer of grain in later generations, as well as in ancient times.

(End of this chapter)