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

Chapter 575: The Warmongering Song Dynasty

In the 1250th year of Yuanzhen (), the imperial court issued an edict to the Delhi Sultanate, stating that any city that resisted could be controlled by the generals, and the Mongols could learn from them.

This imperial edict is quite interesting. It says that we can learn from Mongolia. Of course, everyone knows how Mongolia did it, and then the commanders can make decisions mostly on their own.

Emperor Zhao Yurui is not to blame.

In February of the 18th year of Yuanzhen, Liu Zheng, the governor of Xinma Province, came to Daming Province again.

Liu Zheng once led the Song army to capture Persia and changed it to the Ming Province. After the Song army captured Persia, Liu Zheng was transferred to Sumatra to help Zhao Qi pacify Java, and later became the governor of Singapore and Malaysia Province.

He has been transferred back and forth between Persia and the Malay Peninsula over the years.

In Daming City, the capital of Daming Province, many generals and people have gathered today.

Two princes also came to the scene.

This was the first time that the two princes appeared in the same place at the same time after the Song Dynasty was divided into feudal states.

Han Wang Zhao Qi and Ming Wang Zhao Yi sat at the top.

The civil and military ministers were divided into two sides.

The atmosphere at the scene was rather strange, and everyone had different expressions.

Zhao Qi sat on the left, surrounded by military generals from Hanzhou, Borneo, and Singapore and Malaysia. Zhao Yi sat on the right, surrounded by military generals from the Ming Dynasty and Central Asian provinces, as well as a small number of local civil servants.

Today is a military meeting, so the people present are mainly military officers, and the only civilian officials participating are some important local officials.

The first person on Zhao Qi’s left is Liu Zheng, followed by Qin Chen, Meng Ying, Meng Zhijing, etc. The first person on Zhao Yi’s side is Zhang Xuan, followed by Li Boyuan, Cui Shusi, etc.

Meng Gong was originally the governor-general and commander-in-chief of the Central Asian Province. If he were there, he would sit the first seat on the right, but Meng Gong participated in the war against the Delhi Sultanate and was not present.

The meeting hadn't officially started yet and people on both sides were whispering to each other.

At this time, someone noticed that Zhao Qi and his younger brother Zhao Yi seemed to be quiet.

Zhao Qi just arrived at Daming Mansion yesterday. Zhao Yi invited his brother to dinner last night. At the dinner table, everyone could see that the two didn't talk much.

On the contrary, it was Qin Chen, Zhao Yi's uncle, who chatted with Zhao Yi from time to time, and there were two people between them, which looked even more strange.

Anyone with a discerning eye might have noticed that the two brothers did not seem to be on good terms.

That’s right, Zhao Qi and Zhao Yi are several years apart in age, and he and his second brother Zhao Xie are only one year apart. The two brothers played together more since they were young, and he and Zhao Yi played less.

Moreover, Zhao Yi was cruel since he was a child. Once, a palace maid made a mistake and was smashed on the head by Zhao Yi with a stone. Although she was punished by Zhao Yurui, Zhao Qi became less close to Zhao Yi from then on, and the two had little in common. Of course, on the surface, they were still pretty good friends.

After everyone chatted in private for a while, Zhao Yi became a little impatient and looked up at his eldest brother.

Zhao Qi was also looking at him, and the two of them understood each other and nodded to each other.

Zhao Yi immediately said, "Everyone is almost here, close the door."

The guards outside immediately closed the door, and the hall seemed a little darker.

"Let's start the meeting. Let my elder brother, His Royal Highness the King of Han, say a few words first." Zhao Yi said politely.

Everyone looked at Zhao Qi.

Zhao Qi thought for a moment and said calmly, "This is also my first time in Persia-Ming Dynasty. Third brother, you should start first. According to what father said, I will be the assistant this time--"

Zhao Yi was not polite and immediately called out Zhang Xuan's name first.

Zhang Xuan stood up and said, "The two Khans of Mongolia fought another big battle last September - and something big happened."

The Eastern and Western Khans of Mongolia, Guyuk and Mongke, had been fighting for many years. Guyuk, with the support of the Song army, had been winning victory after victory. The Eastern Khan Guyuk's troops marched out from the city of Sarai and fought westwards.

Last year, we conquered the Principality of Jifu and our troops have now reached the vicinity of Bolan.

Guyu's territory had reached the line of Moldavia and Poland in later generations. His troops were stationed to the east of Poland, ready to invade Poland at any time.

At that time, Batu's power was mainly in Poland, and Mongke was still in Damascus.

It seemed that Batu was in danger, but at this moment, a major event happened in the Eastern Khanate. Guyuk died of a sudden illness, just like what happened in history.

Guyuk lived half a year longer than the original history says, but he still succumbed to his frail health and died in the city of Sarai.

After Guyuk's death, the Eastern Khanate kept the news a secret and, after a brief discussion, decided to establish Hedan as Khan.

Hedan was Guyuk's younger brother, who was in his prime. At this critical moment when the two khans were fighting, they did not choose Guyuk's eldest son Hucha, but Hedan.

But just when they chose Khadan as Khan, Mongke led his army on a detour of thousands of miles from Damascus and, together with Batu, attacked Guyuk's army of the Principality of Jifu from behind.

Guyuk's army suffered a crushing defeat. Mongke and Batu joined forces and pursued the enemy all the way from Jifu to the city of Sarai.

At that time, Guiyou had just died and Hedan had just come to power, and the people of Sarai City were in a panic.

The troops of Mongke and Batu surrounded the city of Sarai. Originally, with the defense of Sarai and the support of the Song army, Mongke and Batu could not do anything to the city. Guyuk built countless cannons on the top of the city. Although they were inferior to those of the Song army, they were enough to fight Mongke and Batu.

But at the critical moment, Guyuk's eldest son Huca was dissatisfied with not ascending the throne, and he secretly communicated with Mongke. He opened the city gate at night, and Mongke and Batu rushed in. Huca was over after only three days as the Khan.

At this point, the two Khans of the East and West of Mongolia had been fighting for many years, and Guyuk, who had always maintained the advantage, was defeated by Batu Mongke.

Mongke returned to Sarai, proclaimed himself the Great Khan of Mongolia, and unified Mongolia again.

Many Han generals from Guyu surrendered to Mongke.

Although the Song army has been fighting wars everywhere in recent years, it has actually been paying attention to both sides in secret and continuing to provide blood transfusions to Guyuk. Originally, Guyuk had always had the upper hand, and Batu and Mongke were stationed in two different places, making it easy to defeat them one by one.

Unexpectedly, Guyu died suddenly, and the whole situation changed drastically.

After Zhang Xuan received the news of Guyuk's death, he immediately felt that Guyuk was doomed. Sure enough, when the Song army found out that Mongke from Damascus had also sent troops, Zhang Xuan, without saying a word, first captured the northern part of Daming City, the shipyard built by Kublai Khan and Mongke, that is, the shipyard on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea.

In recent years, the Song Dynasty has been shipping goods to this port, and then sending them to Sarai City to Guiyou by ship.

This time the Song army attacked suddenly, and the garrisoned Mongolian troops were caught off guard, and the shipyard was occupied by the Song army.

"After our army occupies the shipyard, we can send troops from the Caspian Sea to attack Sarai City at any time."

Zhang Xuan said at this time: "But now Mongolia is unified again. From the information we have received, Mongke has obtained Guyuk's troops and now has at least 500,000 troops at his disposal."

"The court intends to negotiate peace with Mongolia temporarily."

The Song army had not fought a war with Mongolia for several years. This time, they occupied the shipyard but did not send any troops. However, they had gathered troops near the Caspian Sea to prevent Mongke from moving south.

After Zhang Xuan finished speaking, Zhao Yi looked towards Zhao Qi.

Zhao Qi didn’t know much about military affairs, so he glanced at Liu Zheng politely.

The first military officer on his side is still Liu Zheng.

Liu Zheng thought for a while and asked, "Our army suddenly occupied the shipyard, but Mengge didn't react? Is he willing to negotiate peace?" Peace talks are not one-sided. If the Song army wants to negotiate peace, it depends on whether Mengge agrees. Moreover, the Mongols have suffered losses from the Song army several times, so it is difficult for them to trust the Song army again.

"Mongke sent someone a few days ago, wanting to negotiate peace with us, and asked for the shipyard. Of course, we refused and gave him the shipyard."

Mengge wanted to take back the shipyard mainly because he was afraid that the Song army would use the shipyard to march into Sarai City.

"Mongke is actually willing to negotiate peace?" There was some noise all around.

Of course Mongke wanted to negotiate peace. He had just pacified Guyuk and recaptured the city of Sarai, and now he needed time to rest and recuperate.

But Mongke also hated him very much. It is said that except for Hucha who opened the door, almost all the other princes and nobles of Guyuk's clan were killed.

But he left behind a large number of Han generals, and the combined strength of both sides exceeded 500,000, so their strength was not damaged.

"Mongke said that they have already taken root in Poland and Damascus and don't want to return to the grasslands or the Central Plains. As long as we, the Great Song Dynasty, negotiate peace, both sides will use the current border as the national boundary and are willing to sign a contract with us to stop fighting for a hundred years."

When Zhao Yi heard this, he chuckled.

"He's dreaming." Zhao Yi said, "He can't beat us now, so he wants to negotiate peace and recuperate."

According to Zhao Yi, it would be best to completely destroy Mongolia.

The education he received since childhood was that the Mongols were cruel.

However, fighting Mongolia is not Zhao Yurui’s first choice now.

After Zhao Yurui drove the Mongols away, they had already reached Europe and posed little threat to him.

His main focus now is on grabbing resources for future generations.

The Mongolian city of Sarai was always within his attack range. Even if Zhao and Rui did not fight, his sons and grandsons could attack at any time in the future.

Moreover, the current territory of the Mongolian army mainly includes Poland, Xiong'ali, the Principality of Jifu, the area near the Volga River, as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, etc. The resources in these places are mediocre, but they are obviously still a little worse than Zhao and Rui's next goal.

"The imperial court is preparing to negotiate peace and has sent Duoerji (Kublai Khan's eldest son) to negotiate. The border between the two countries will be the city of Sarai--"

At this time, Zhang Xuan stated the court's intention and then showed the map to everyone.

The Song Dynasty demanded that Mongolia cede territory and draw boundaries.

Zhao and Rui demanded that all the territory west of the Caspian Sea, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Damascus, be ceded to the Song army.

In this way, except for the city of Sarai, the areas south of Sarai, west, south, and east of the Caspian Sea were all occupied by the Song army.

The northern shore of the Caspian Sea was used as the boundary, with the south belonging to the Song army and the north belonging to Mongolia. Kazakhstan was used as the boundary, with the west of Kazakhstan belonging to Mongolia and the east belonging to the Song army.

"Will he agree to cede so much territory to Mengge?" someone questioned.

"If Mengge doesn't want to go to war again, he will definitely agree." Zhang Xuan said.

The Song army is strong now, and Mengge certainly does not want to continue fighting with the Song army.

He and Guyu had fought for several years, and their men and horses were exhausted, and the Mongolian army was also tired.

The Song army focused on development, recuperation, and became stronger and more powerful. If Mongke and Batu were not stupid or crazy, they would definitely be willing to negotiate peace.

Once the peace talks were confirmed, the Song army prepared to declare war on the Abbasid Caliphate.

The Abbasids are a huge dynasty that currently controls the entire Iraq region, as well as parts of Saudi Arabia and other places.

This is a fertile land with huge resources, and its value far exceeds that of Mongolia.

Moreover, if Zhao and Rui want to occupy the Suez Canal, they must break through the Abbasid Dynasty.

His goal in life was to break through Abbas, dig out Suez, and then occupy Suez permanently.

The on-site meeting that day was discussed for a long time, and two main preparations were made: one was what to do if Mengge was unwilling?
Because of the discord between Mengge and Song, the Song army mainly defended in the north and did not attack the Mongolian army, but focused on attacking Abbas in the west.

It would be even better if Mongke made peace, and the Song army would still fight Abbas. As for whether Mongolia and Abbas would join forces to fight the Song army, the Song army didn't care at all. As long as they defended the north, Mongke would not be able to attack.

With the current weapons and equipment of the Song army, it has already entered the mid-nineteenth century, which is almost seven or eight hundred years ahead of them.

If there were not so few Song troops here and they were attacking the Delhi Sultanate with all their might, they could fight the Mongols and Abbasids at the same time.

But Zhao Yurui didn't want to have so many battle lines, and tried not to invest too much manpower and supplies.

At the same time, the Song army began to draw troops from five provinces, namely Central Asia, Daming, Hanzhou, Borneo, and Singapore and Malaysia, and gather in Daming. Various supplies also flowed to Daming, and the war was about to break out.

Among them, Liu Zheng was the commander-in-chief of the attack on Abbas, and the Song army was divided into three routes.

The commander of the Northern Army, Meng Zhiying, led 30,000 soldiers and 5,000 civilians from Daming City, first attacked Mosur, then passed through Deir ez-Zor and headed straight for Damascus.

Liu Zheng, commander of the Central Army, led an army of 50,000 men and 5,000 civilians from Daming City and headed straight for Abbas's capital, Salam City (Baghdad).

Li Boyuan, commander of the Southern Army, sent 30,000 troops and 5,000 civilians from Yizhou (formerly Isfahan, Persia), first attacking Kewit and then advancing into Saudi Arabia. His goal was to see the Gulf of Aden in the end, so that the future navy of the Song Army could reach Africa at any time.

This battle required the mobilization of an army of 110,000 and 15,000 civilians, of which about 70,000 were real Song troops, fully equipped with firearms, and another 40,000 Persian, Mongolian, Malay and other ethnic vassal troops, all equipped with cold weapons.

Zhang Xuan was responsible for defending against Mongolia in the north, and Meng Ying was responsible for the logistics supply of each army.

The Song army dispatched 300,000 war horses, which was the largest expedition in many years.

The southern army has to enter Saudi Arabia and see the Gulf of Aden, which is a very long distance, about 4,000 miles.

This time the two princes are cooperating, and each province has to send troops.

Zhao Qi had another mission after returning to Borneo. He would organize a navy in Borneo to transport immigrants from the Delhi Sultanate.

The immigrants from the Delhi Sultanate were moved to these places in Abbas, especially Saudi Arabia.

When the Song army's navy returned, they relocated the people from these places to the Delhi Sultanate.

The first time, the Song Dynasty navy took an empty ship and took a long detour, first arriving near Mumbai, and then from Mumbai to Oman, crossing the Arab Sea, a distance of more than 2,000 miles, transporting immigrants on both sides back and forth.

A trip only takes a few days, and is relatively safe and efficient.

At present, the Song army's northern army that is fighting against the Delhi Sultanate has occupied Mumbai and other places specifically for transportation purposes.

This was a huge war, with the mobilized Song army and logistics volume rarely seen in the past decade, second only to the attack on the Delhi Sultanate.

At this point, the Song army had already started fighting on three fronts: Goryeo and Japan, the Delhi Sultanate, and the Abbasid Caliphate.

A total of about 400,000 troops and about 100,000 civilians were deployed.

It may seem a bit warlike, but the Song army had been resting and recuperating in the past few years, and the wars were all small-scale wars in local areas, mobilizing at most 20,000 to 30,000 people.

(End of this chapter)