In the autumn and winter of last year, the Zhongdu City of the Kingdom of Jin was besieged by foreign enemies for the first time since it was built. At that time, the Mongolian army had little to do with the deep ditches and high fortresses in the central capital and many surrounding passes. They could only hold their troops outside the city, occasionally attack the city with bluffs, and use Mongolian cavalry to repeatedly sweep away King Qin's army.
The main problem facing Zhongdu at that time was not actually the difficulty of defending the city, but the food shortage caused by a large number of refugees fleeing into Zhongdu. Even if many families have food, no one dares to go out to collect firewood for fear of being robbed and killed by the Mongolian cavalry. Therefore, there is a shortage of firewood and it is difficult to cook.
Four months later, Zhongdu stood still, while the mobile troops of the Kingdom of Jin in response to King Qin's call suffered heavy losses in the process. Moreover, the more loyal and brave the army is to the imperial court and taking the security of the country as its own responsibility, the more likely it is that the death will be happy. On the contrary, most of the smart people who supported troops in various places to avoid war were active and active.
This time, Zhongdu was attacked by the Mongolian army again, and the situation was slightly different from last year.
Although the troops and horses that attacked this time were under the banner of the Mongolian army, they were actually the Chi army and the Han army that originally belonged to the imperial court. Even their banners and organization were the same as those who had recruited Si and Beijing on the Northeast Road. The left-behind secretary generally eats the imperial food without exception.
They had invaded Zhongdu Road since the end of December, and relied on the support of the Mongolian cavalry in the field battle to fight steadily. Conquering cities and plundering territory was their specialty. They devoured the area under the jurisdiction of the military envoys east of Zhongdu, successively attacked Pingzhou, Luanzhou, Jizhou, Shunzhou and other cities, and at the same time captured the city that ran through the northeast of Zhongdu. The strategic location is Liuoring, which is Gubeikou.
As usual, the grain, armor, staff, and equipment stored by the imperial court in a series of military fortresses and fortresses all fell into the hands of the Mongolian army. As a result, the Mongolian army's work became more and more leisurely.
Of course, as usual, the imperial court continued to issue edicts to various military and state capitals to urge King Qin. However, Hebei Xuanfu envoy Pusan Anzhen was busy reorganizing Meng'an Mouke in Hebei, and the response was not positive. Outside of Hebei, the powerful generals who could promptly reinforce Zhongdu were generally far away.
So for a while, the only people who could deal with the Mongols were the emperor and the civil and military officials in his Zhongdu court.
By the beginning of Zhenyou's third year, everything west of Daxing Prefecture in Zhongdu had changed hands, and only a few places such as Lu County in Tongzhou were still under Dajin's control. More than a hundred Mongolian elite cavalry even drove hundreds of miles at one time, coveting Qingzhou, Bazhou and other places.
Pusan Anzhen's reaction was very quick. He quickly led his troops to station ten thousand elite troops at Yijin Pass in Bazhou, and stood ready, which made the Mongolian sentry cavalry retreat slightly.
Last year, the Mongols went south from Juyong Pass and Zijin Pass and entered the Central Plains. Therefore, many people from Hebei Road and Zhongdu Road fled to the states east of Zhongdu Road. In addition, because Linhuangfu Road had long been lost, the court also transferred Zhongdu Road to The east side is regarded as the area to receive the escapees from Linhuang Road.
But at the beginning of the third year of Zhenyou's reign, these people's homes were destroyed again, and they had no choice but to flee west of Zhongdu. The deserted beaches and salt fields from Baodi County to Zhigu Village are full of people carrying their only belongings on their shoulders, or carrying their old, weak, women and children on their backs to escape to the west.
Their faces were frightened and miserable, more often confused or desperate. They are all people rooted in the land. Every time they leave their hometown, they will suffer huge losses. But they have experienced such losses twice in two years!
A few shabby houses and several acres of thin fields in their hometown had long since vanished into thin air, but for God's sake, they wouldn't even let them stay in a temporary shack and hundreds of wild wheat plants. What should the people do?
In this great turmoil, even An Muke, the daughter of the Zhenfang Village, was in the same miserable state. They mixed in the endless stream of people and fled westward together. At most, there was a cart with old people or children sitting on it. Their lives in the past were definitely much better than Han'er's, but now they have long since lost everything.
Occasionally, there are a few people who think they are noble and want to show off their dignity during the escape, but most of them will die in unknown circumstances. Those who can mix with other refugees are all poor Jurchens. The most important possessions they carry with them are probably a few clothes and quilts. At most, they hold a rug with a few pieces of dry food and a few Ding Tongbao in it.
Among the refugees, there are also soldiers. Most of them had discarded their helmets and armor, and looked extremely embarrassed.
At the end of last year, in order to show his determination, the imperial court's eastern strategic envoy Ulin Daqizhu located the economic and strategic department in Pingzhou, which is closest to Beijing Road.
As a result, the Mongols' auxiliary troops, mainly Han, Bohai and Xi people, attacked the city. Pingzhou could not hold it at all and was lost in two days. As soon as the commander died, none of the defenders in the cities behind him had any fighting spirit, and they all fled one after another.
"Brother Ran! Brother Ran!" Zhang Pingliang ran over from behind, panting, shouting: "Tatars! The Tatar cavalry is coming!"
This shout was carried by the cold wind to a radius of about a mile, causing hundreds of people to either burrow into the withered grass or run through the muddy water with icy debris to the reed swamps further away.
The main force of the Mongolian army is not here, but sporadic sentries and cavalry come and go, several times a day. Their main goal is to observe the situation in Daxing Mansion in Zhongdu and explore the actions of the defenders. At the same time, they also collect and interrogate escapees to see if they can find large groups of refugees and loot some hidden property.
Soon, a group of Mongolian cavalry appeared in the eyes of Liu Ran and others.
The weather here in Zhongdu is warmer than that on the icy and snowy Beijing Road. This cavalry team wrapped their dirty black leather robes with red skin around their waists, revealing the light armor under the robes. They were one person and two horses, with leather bags hanging on both sides of the saddle. One side of the bag was bulging with bows and arrows of different specifications, and the other side was filled with iron spears, straight knives, iron axes and other weapons.
Obviously, relying on capture, the Mongolian army's equipment is becoming more and more sufficient and complete.
These sentries are definitely not the cowardly Xue army who accompanied Genghis Khan south this time, and they may not even be Mongols in the true sense.
Zhang Pingliang was so flustered that he said "Hei Ta". Liu Ran estimated that they were probably the last group of Tatars to surrender after the rise of Genghis Khan; they might also be the remnants of the Khitans.
The fighting spirit and ferocity of these people are far inferior to the elites of the Mongolian army. But even if they are the lowest-class people in the Mongolian army, the weapons in their hands alone are comparable to those held by Liu Ran and more than ten people. Moreover, it is much more sophisticated.
"They are not coming for us, please don't move and wait for them to pass!" Liu Ran whispered.
Someone walked carefully among the puddles, bringing his words to all the refugees. So more than a hundred people waited quietly in the haystacks, hoping that the Mongols would leave as soon as possible.
There were more than 40 cavalrymen in this group, divided into six or seven small groups. The leading group was already several miles away, and the last five cavalrymen had just appeared, riding slowly along the road.
I don't know if they noticed the footprints on the road or heard some noise. The leader, a cavalryman who looked like a captain of ten, shouted twice, suddenly reined in his horse and stopped, looking around.
Liu Ran held a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, staring at the movements of the enemy's cavalry.
"Everyone, don't move! Don't move! If they ride in, I'll shoot the ten-captain and the two people beside him. You deal with the two people in front. Each person shoots three arrows. After three arrows, follow me and pull them out. The sword comes forward to fight."
What this means is that he is sure to kill someone with one arrow, which can be said to be a highly skilled and daring person.
Including Zhang Pingliang, all the deserters nodded.
While they nodded, they suddenly heard continuous screams.
what happened? Everyone was horrified, and then realized that it was the Mongolian cavalry who was screaming! Their horses are neighing too!
Someone is taking action at the front of the road!
Judging from the sound, the ambushers all used strong bows and arrows. The speed of the arrow cluster was too fast and the power was too strong. It made a sharp sound when it broke through the air, and the dense sharp sounds gathered together, just like the non-stop whistling of the cold wind passing through the cracks in the rocks!
That was a rare elite troop, attacking the Mongolian cavalry at the front of the road!
The Mongolian cavalry who fell behind the road were instantly alerted. The ten-man captain shouted a few times and led his men to urge their horses forward.
Liu Ran stood up from the cold puddle.
The distance between him and the ten-man captain was only twenty steps, which was too close! He drew his bow and arrow, and hit the captain in the back of the head with one arrow. Beside the tenth captain, another Mongolian cavalry reined in his horse and turned back with a face full of fury. Liu Ran quickly stepped forward, and the second arrow penetrated from his open mouth.
The next moment, the third Mongolian cavalry was hit by an arrow in the throat, and Zhang Pingliang and others also rushed out.
A few miles away from this small battlefield, Chen Ran's men had formed an encirclement around a small number of Mongolian light cavalry. Across the continuous grass, Chen Ran couldn't see clearly what was behind the road, but he keenly noticed the change in this direction and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Send a few people to respond." He said to his subordinates: "As soon as our fleet arrived at Zhigu Village, we ran into some heroes fighting with the Mongols. This is a good sign!"
Chapter 500, the book is halfway written!
(End of chapter)
