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

Chapter 557: Passing the knife, of course, has to be slow
There is nothing in this box, and it was brought by the palace itself.

What Kublai Khan sent was written on a piece of paper and placed in this box.

Zhao Yi was not polite either. He sat down in the main seat first, then opened the box, picked up the note and looked at it.

Kublai Khan was stationed in Lai City and also did business with the Song people. He and his brother Mongke had accumulated wealth for many years, but later the Mongol-Song coalition forces entered the city and his huge wealth disappeared.

Fortunately, he had a trick up his sleeve. When he left, he hid some of his property in a well. Later, after surrendering to the Song army, he found a way to get it back.

At that time, he kept the wealth in the home of a subordinate, whose house was occupied by a deputy commander of the Song army. For this reason, Kublai Khan found Liu Zheng, the main general of the Song army who had not left at that time, and took out the wealth, and then gave half of it to the Song army.

So when Kublai Khan came this time, the gifts he brought were relatively generous, with several thousand in gold and dinars (Persian silver coins) alone.

Kublai Khan had also inquired about this before coming. The princes of the Song Dynasty were not rich. They received a fixed annual salary and could do business, but they did not receive any other rewards.

So he catered to the emperor's wishes and gave him gold and silver directly. The total value was probably equivalent to more than 10,000 taels of Song Dynasty silver coins.

There are also some other jewelry, high-grade medicinal materials and other items.

This is also a big deal.

After reading the gift list, Zhao Yi put it down with a wry smile: "The court is very cautious about accepting gifts. As a prince, I cannot accept them carelessly."

Kublai Khan was stunned. Zhao Yurui was so powerful? He couldn't even accept his son?

"Sixty percent of the items on this gift list must be handed over to the court." Zhao Yi's last sentence confused Kublai Khan.

Is there such a thing?
What Zhao Yi said was that we cannot collect it randomly, he didn’t say that we cannot collect it.

He could collect it, but he had to report it truthfully to the court and then hand over 60% of it.

"..." Kublai Khan was shocked for three lifetimes by Zhao Yurui's actions.

"Uh, Hu——" Zhao Yi originally wanted to call him the Fourth Prince, but Kublai Khan didn't recognize him. Should he call him Magistrate Hu? It seems that his last name is not Hu either?
After thinking about it, he simply called him by his name: "Kublai Khan, I appreciate your kindness. Don't look at my young age. Just tell me what you want to say."

In fact, Kublai Khan had been sizing up Zhao Yi. Zhao Yi, who was only fourteen years old, seemed much more mature than his peers. Now that he had something to say, he asked him to speak directly. Kublai Khan secretly admired him.

He stood up and said, "I still want to join the army. I was originally working for the king to clean up the Zoroastrians and the issue of wearing scarves."

Kublai Khan said that he had just been to the Governor-General's Office and first met Zhang Xuan, and then learned that the court was going to carry out a strong crackdown in Daming Province.

Kublai Khan believed that once this order was issued, there would definitely be resistance everywhere in Persia. He was willing to lead the former Mongolian army and help the Song army kill and kill to quell these resistances.

That is, he plays the bad guy and the people of Song play the good guys.

"I will lead the Mongolian army to kill them first, and then the imperial court will come to mediate. At that time, we can select a group of people from the Mongolian army, behead them and show them to the public, so as to appease the hearts of the Persian people."

"Hiss" Zhao Yi couldn't help but stare at Kublai Khan when he heard this.

This guy is also a ruthless person. He actually wants to betray his clansmen in order to gain the trust of the Song people.

But I have to say that Kublai Khan's idea was good.

Kublai Khan meant that after the imperial court issued the order, the Mongols would be responsible for this matter, and official documents would require the Mongols to handle it properly and appease the people.

Then Kublai Khan would lead people to forcefully suppress the resistance. Afterwards, the Song people would come forward to reprimand the Mongols for their massacre, and then kill a group of Mongols to appease the people.

After Zhao Yi heard this, he laughed and said, "If you do this, I'm afraid the Mongolian people will not tolerate you in the future?"

"I have longed to live among the Han Chinese since I was young, and have also studied Chinese since I was young. I am willing to serve the Song Dynasty and the king."

From the last sentence, Kublai Khan meant to surrender to Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi smiled again and said directly: "Why do you want to join me? I am just a small king and I don't have much power."

"Your Majesty, if you want stability, of course someone will be there to saddle the horse. The Song army cannot do this." Kublai Khan also said directly: "Kublai Khan is willing to be loyal to Your Majesty."

This is very interesting.

Kublai Khan's words can be understood as meaning that he thought Zhao Yi was like Zhao Yurui, so he was loyal to Zhao Yi.

It can also be understood as: he believed that Zhao Yi could succeed Zhao Yurui in the future, so he was loyal to Zhao Yi.

Both of them spoke directly, but their meanings were not very clear.

Zhao Yi was silent for a moment, then slowly said: "You were originally a civil servant, but suddenly you changed to a military position, and you want to lead the Mongolian army. I can't make the decision on this matter. Let me ask the court for its opinion. If the court agrees, then we will do so."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Kublai Khan believed that there was a great possibility that Zhao Yurui would agree.

Kublai Khan is now powerless and has surrendered to the Song army for more than a year. The more than 3,000 Mongolian troops who followed him have been scattered everywhere. Many of them do not serve in the army, but live as ordinary citizens in the city. He is no longer a threat to Zhao and Rui, so there is no reason for him to disagree.

He only needed to gather another thousand soldiers. With these thousand Mongolian troops, they could not cause any harm to Persia, which had been controlled by the Song army for more than a year, but they could suppress the Persians who dared to resist with iron-blooded force.

Persia was too far away from Lin'an of the Song Dynasty. After Zhang Xuan and Zhao Yi discussed it, they decided, according to the court's order, that important matters could be executed first and reported later.

They were going to order the removal of veils throughout Persia in the next few days, so this matter could not wait, so they agreed to Kublai Khan's request.

At this time, Zhao Yi also received important news that the battle between Batu Mongke and Guyuk had already been decided.

In the 13th year of Yuanzhen, after Kublai Khan surrendered to the Song army, Guyu gathered a large force and marched towards Sarai City.

At that time, Guyu did not occupy a city, but he brought nearly 700,000 people from the north and the Central Plains, which showed his strong mobilization ability.

After occupying the shipyard on the Caspian Sea north of Lai City, the shipyard and more than a dozen large ships that Mongke and Kublai Khan had painstakingly managed for several years also fell into Guyuk's hands.

Guyuk continued to build ships and set out from the Caspian Sea, first going down to Tabriz, then entering the Volga River along the Caspian Sea and heading straight for the city of Sarai.

When Batu was running the city of Sarai, the Caspian Sea was also under the control of the Mongol army. He never thought that the Mongol army would come from the Caspian Sea.

Sarai was a famous city at that time and was extremely difficult to conquer, but it had no way to deal with the navy coming from the Caspian Sea because Batu had not built up a powerful navy of his own.

In the early stage, he mobilized a large number of craftsmen and manpower to build the city of Sarai. Less than two years after the construction of the city of Sarai, the Mongolian army split.

Guyuk's ship was equipped with the Hongwu cannon they built themselves, and they rushed forward to bombard the enemy. In addition, the Mongolian army was engaged in an internal war, and Batu's resistance was not resolute enough.

Sarai was lost, and Batu had no choice but to flee to Damascus with tens of thousands of elite cavalry to join Mongke. The two Mongol Khans fought for more than a year, and finally Guyuk occupied Sarai and won temporarily.

Fortunately, Wulianghetai led his troops and drove away Huduhu from Xiongyalibuda City, and regained control of Xiongyali and Bolan.

In this way, the two Khans of Mongolia, East and West, now occupy Central Europe and Damascus, one and part of Eastern Europe, respectively.

The two sides fought for more than a year, and the Song Dynasty provided continuous material support to Guyu, which was an important reason why Guyu was able to win.

After Guyuk defeated Batu and occupied Sarai, he also started large-scale construction, focusing first on managing Sarai. At the same time, he set up a shipyard in Sarai to prepare for building a navy to guard against future attacks by the Song army.

But he was obviously overthinking it. Now the Caspian Sea was controlled by the Mongolian army, and it was impossible for the Song army to be in the Caspian Sea shipyard, so it was impossible for the Song army navy to come.

But it can be seen that while Guyuk wanted to attack and destroy the rebel forces of Mongke and Batu, he was also on guard against the Song army.

Kublai Khan must have thought that the downfall of Mongke and Batu was imminent, and he became even more determined to surrender to the Song Dynasty.

Just as Kublai Khan had expected, after the Song Dynasty's announcement was issued in the 15th year of Yuanzhen, strong resistance broke out throughout Persia.

Many people who had been allocated land by the Song army also rose up.

The Song army immediately took ruthless action, with a thousand Mongolian troops, led by Kublai Khan himself, to suppress the rebellion everywhere.

This guy is also a ruthless person. He would kill people in one village after another, regardless of how many people in the village rebelled.

But people are so easily conquered. Under the bloody suppression of the Mongol army, fewer and fewer Persians dared to rebel.
-
In March of the fifteenth year of Yuanzhen, Kublai Khan was still carrying out a frenzied suppression campaign in Persia.

The city of Sarai in the distance was also welcoming its new master, Khan Guyuk.

After Guyuk conquered the city of Sarai, he took over Batu's palace and rebuilt it, officially turning it into the Khan's palace of Mongolia.

He felt temporarily comforted.

At that time, 700,000 to 800,000 troops migrated westward to avoid the Song army. They traveled thousands of miles to come here. It was not until they defeated Batu that they found a real place to stay.

Fortunately, all the hard work was worth it, as the big city built by Batu was very suitable for them.

Youshang moved more than half of the population into and around the city, and some of the population moved between Tabriz and Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan).

Then new shipyards were built in Baku near the mouth of the Caspian Sea and on the Volga River to prepare to build a large number of ships to guard the Caspian Sea.

The Caspian Sea is now the main place for the Song Army to trade with them. The Song Army's supplies will be continuously delivered from the Caspian Sea, but because the Song Army has no ships here, they have to build their own ships.

On this day, Guiyou was inspecting the newly built shipyard when suddenly General Chongxi came to report that new supplies had arrived from the Song people.

"Okay." Guiyou was overjoyed and hurried to the dock to watch.

The gunpowder production on their side is extremely small. Over the past year or so, the Song army has been supporting them from behind, transporting gunpowder to them so that Guyu's artillery can be used.

But Guyu knew that the gunpowder of the Song army was not good, because the Song army first asked for Guyu's gunpowder, and then mixed it according to the proportion of Guyu's gunpowder, which was not the gunpowder used by the Song army themselves.

Therefore, Guyu specifically asked Shi Tianze to be responsible for the development of gunpowder for the Song army, but unfortunately it was never successful.

When he arrived at the dock, he saw more than fifty ships approaching from afar and docking one after another.

All these ships belonged to Guyuk. Some were built by him during the reigns of Mongke and Kublai Khan, some were built after Guyuk occupied the area for more than a year, and some were forcibly conscripted from local residents or merchants living near the Volga River, as well as from the city of Baku.

These ships usually traveled between the Volga River and the Caspian Sea. The Song army transported supplies to them by land in the southern part of the Caspian Sea, and they then transported them from the north along the Caspian Sea to the Volga River.

"What kind of supplies are being transported this time?" Guiyou asked happily while standing at the dock. His subordinates replied that they didn't know yet and would ask after Luo Lei of the Song army arrived.

The Song army officer in charge of this matter was Luo Lei, a captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Luo Lei was a captain of the Jinyiwei in the Central Asia Province, but he was also responsible for coordinating the supplies of both Central Asia and the Ming Dynasty, and even allocated some manpower specifically to support Guyuk.

Luo Lei has been working in the Persian Gulf for a long time. Over the years, he has not only mastered Persian, but also Mongolian, which makes it very convenient for him to communicate with Mongolians.

At that moment, Guiyou found a place to wait. After a while, Luo Lei and a few people found Guiyou from the boat and handed him a note.

Guiyou couldn't wait to open it and take a look.

The Song army delivered three ships of gunpowder, two ships of copper, four ships of iron, three ships of bows, and ten ships of arrows. Most of them were military supplies. The other civilian cloth, silk, cotton, etc. were mostly used to make armor for them. Of course, their favorite wine, sugar, tea and other items were also indispensable.

Guiyou was not very satisfied after reading it, but he had no choice but to accept it.

He felt that the copper material given by the Song army was too little, because Guyuk had previously occupied the largest copper vein in the north of the Ishim River, and later gave it to the Song army. This mine was a famous copper vein in Asia and even the world, and it was very easy to mine. After it came into the hands of the Song army, the output increased greatly, but the amount given to Guyuk every year was very small.

Of course, Guyu didn't know at this time that the copper mine was so valuable. The Song army had been complaining that mining was difficult and copper was needed everywhere. It was already good enough to be given two ships.

After reading the list, Guiyou put away the note and asked tentatively: "When can your army provide those flintlock rifles and cannons? We can also make these bows ourselves."

The Song army has been supporting Guyuk's bows and arrows. Guyuk was not short of them, but the Mongol Empire and the Song army lost a huge number of craftsmen in the wars in the past few years. Now he is fighting with Mongke Batu and the losses are heavy, so he can only ask the Song army for help with bows and arrows.

Of course, what he wanted most were the Song army's flintlock rifles and artillery.

However, Luo Lei was just as he thought. He smiled and said, "The Mongols are all heroes on horseback. Bows and arrows are what you are good at."

Guiyou was speechless for a moment.

However, Yelu Chucai's son Yelu Zhu, who was beside him, reacted faster: "If you want us to defeat Batu and Mongke as soon as possible, you have to provide us with a large number of flintlock rifles and artillery."

"That's right, that's right." Guiyou nodded quickly. He was actually quite unhappy about the slow pace of the Song army's support materials.

Luo Lei thought, I just don’t want you to defeat Batu as soon as possible. The longer you two fight, the better.

There is still rebellion in Persia on Zhao Yi's side. It will take time for the Song Dynasty to completely conquer and rule it.

When it comes to things like passing a knife and adding fuel to the fire, the longer it takes, the better.

"Even if we give you this thing, you won't be able to use it in a short time. We need to send people to train you. It will take at least one or two years for you to truly develop combat effectiveness. By then, Batu and Mongke will have recovered and launched a massive counterattack, which will be disadvantageous to you." Luo Lei made an excuse.

(End of this chapter)