Chapter 406 Obtaining a Deer
On the 16th day of the first lunar month in the tenth year of Jianyan, which was the beginning of spring, the Song army sent a large force to launch a tentative attack in the direction of Jingxing. At the same time, troops from the large army gathered around Taiyuan also began to move eastward at a slower pace.
The strategic intention behind this action is self-evident.
Moreover, perhaps from the perspective of the hypocritical Emperor Zhao and the thoughtful civil and military leaders on the Taiyuan front before the war, it was very difficult to make up their minds to take this step...what about the position of Eastern Mongolia, the sudden increase in the combat effectiveness of the Jin cavalry after gathering in the wild, and the possibility that the Jin army's mourning might lead to a quick and unexpected decisive battle, including Emperor Zhao's own considerations after the war, and Prime Minister Lu who rushed from Linfen to Taiyuan to urge him despite his illness... These are all real experiences worth narrating and discussing.
The whole thing is a process of suffering and overcoming.
But in fact, from a macro perspective, from the perspective of the bureaucrats and civilians in the rear, from the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers, from the Jin people on the opposite side, and from the allied reinforcements that had just arrived in Datong, the advance of Emperor Zhao and the main force of the Song army was without hesitation and without gaps, to the point of view that made the onlookers feel suffocated.
The reason is simple.
First of all, it was natural that Emperor Zhao's hesitation and struggle occurred during the necessary interval and preparation period between battles. It was like washing teacups, although it took a lot of effort, but the teacups were washed during the period of boiling water at the beginning, so it did not delay the subsequent important work.
Secondly, and most importantly, the fall of Taiyuan City was too shocking.
Looking back now, after the Queshu Valley was opened up, the speed of advance, the speed of division and encirclement, the speed of breaking the city by Emperor Zhao and the army of Hedong Road, as well as the scale of the troops' advance in all directions and their logistical preparations, even without taking into account the mythical process of breaking the city, still gives people a shocking feeling.
To put it bluntly, when a very small number of people began to quickly consider the decisive battle in the field that was likely to occur after the city was captured, everyone else, including enemies and allies, was still immersed in the two-way city-breaking performance that was destined to go down in history in all aspects.
In fact, if this battle is to be discussed in the future, the capture of Taiyuan City and Yuan City may be considered together as the second stage of the Northern Expedition and the same battle. In this strategically significant battle, the Song army achieved decisive victories in two directions at the same time, causing the Jin army to lose the entire Hedong region and further lose the subsequent strategic options, forcing the Jin army to enter the single strategic track preset by the Song army.
"So, Kublai Khan himself is not against our psychology, but he is simply unable to enforce discipline on the Eastern Mongolian tribes?" That afternoon, in the empty central army tent, Zhao Jiu was thoughtful, and seemed not surprised by the result.
"yes."
After learning about the dispatch of troops, Ren Baozhong, who was asked by Wu Jie to return quickly, ignored his fatigue and immediately explained while holding a cup of warm salt tea and wiping his sweat. "According to the information we have learned during this trip, the tribe with the highest status and the largest number of people in Eastern Mongolia is of course the Borjigin-Taichiwu tribe led by Kublai and his cousin, but the Merkit tribe is also very powerful. The two factions have always been in opposition in Eastern Mongolia, and they were forced to merge together only because of the rise of the Jin Dynasty..."
"So this time it was the Merkit tribe that was secretly colluding with the Jin people, and Hebule had no control over it?"
"No." Ren Baozhong was also somewhat helpless. "According to the investigation and guesswork of Wu Dutong and I, the Tatars should be the ones who secretly colluded with the Jin people... But we are not sure. It is hard to say that there are tribes that secretly colluded with the Jin people. Maybe the Jin army retreated too quickly and the Eastern Mongolian troops could not advance in time. We can only say that the Tatars are the most likely to have colluded with the Jin people."
Zhao Jiu was stunned for a moment, obviously digesting the information, and then asked back: "Isn't the Tatar tribe a border tribe artificially formed by the Jin people to fight against Eastern Mongolia?"
"Yes." Ren Baozhong became more and more helpless. "But the Jin people had previously transferred all the Tatar tribe and its territories to Eastern Mongolia in order to show their goodwill to Kublai Khan."
"You want it if you don't want it?" Zhao Jiu was completely speechless.
"So that the emperor knows that Hebula is not that stupid." Ren Baozhong felt really dry in the mouth. "But Hebula took advantage of the rise and fall of the Jin Dynasty and the smuggling trade between the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty to expand his tribe in the grasslands. After the expansion, he divided the accounts with his cousin Ambahai according to tradition. Ambahai lived in the south, and his tribe gradually became stronger and renamed the Taichiwu tribe. Its power gradually became not weaker than Hebula's own Borjigin clan... The two families are one, and Ambahai is Hebula's biggest helper, but after all, they have become two families..."
"Let me guess." Zhao Jiu suddenly sneered at the top. "The Tatars are a group of small tribes supported by the Jin Dynasty. Naturally, Ambahai and his Taichiwu tribe have always been responsible for dealing with them on the southeastern border of the grassland. If they move to Eastern Mongolia, they will inevitably become a direct subordinate of Ambahai and the Taichiwu tribe. Ambahai actually has no intention of turning against the Song Dynasty, and he also knows that the Tatars are destined to be inseparable from the Jin people. But anyway, Hebula will support him if the sky falls, so he is happy to shed less blood and expand his own power at the same time, so he directly accepted the Tatars, and Hebula has no way to turn against his cousin for this... Is it true or not?"
"Yes." Ren Baozhong hurriedly bowed his head. "The emperor is wise and sees clearly."
"Bullshit is obvious." Zhao Jiu stopped smiling and felt bad. "What I fear most is this kind of primitive tribe that has no bad intentions but can be called an enemy. They can argue but not do anything, and can cause any kind of trouble..."
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