Ding Haijun dispatched more and more troops to Monan day by day, but was in no hurry to advance northward. As for the Jinshan and Guichuan lines to Juyongguan, the activities of Dinghaijun Sentinel and Cavalry became more and more intensive day by day.
They move around in teams of twenty or thirty people in shifts on the grassland. Whenever they encountered the Mongols, fierce fighting immediately broke out. What makes the Mongols angry is that two years ago, one or two Mongolian Aljinchis were enough to chase down the Jin army sentries and kill them. But now, two years later, these enemies have not given birth to four arms and two heads, but they have the courage to do so. Several times stronger. So much so that the Dinghai fleet of 20 or 30 men was dispatched, and the Mongolian army mobilized hundreds of cavalry to fight, but they all found it difficult to chew hard bones.
It is precisely for this reason that the hundreds of cavalry accompanying the tow mine did not dare to cross Dongluo Mountain. After all, no matter how many cavalry are used, it is just a waste of time. On the contrary, the towing and light cavalry are simple and can get close to investigate. If anything goes wrong, they can retreat quickly.
In fact, before Tuo Lei went to Jinshan, many of his subordinates did not want him to go at all.
Yelv Tuhua even privately begged Tuolei to stop rushing around with Genghis Khan's trivial matters. Since the Great Khan was eager to conquer the west, he had no control over the situation on the grasslands, and the navy might not have the confidence to march north in a big way, so it didn't mean much whether the peace agreement was successful or not.
If Tuo Lei did not encounter Guo Ning in Jinshan, but was sent to Zhongdu by the local garrison of Dinghai Navy, no matter what the final result was, the coming and going, the layers of stations, and the layers of negotiations, I am afraid there is no need to say much. It must be almost two months, right? If someone in Zhongdu suddenly gets a whim, it is not impossible to keep Tuo Lei for another three to five years.
At that time, what will Yelu Tuhua and others do?
These Khitans, Jurchens and Han people have successively taken refuge with Genghis Khan in the past few years. Because Genghis Khan intended to conquer Daikin, and they knew the inside story of Daijin, knew the means to defeat Daikin, and more or less proposed strategies for managing Daikin's vast territory, so they were given special promotion.
But after the disastrous defeat of the Mongolian army at the beginning of this year, no one among the Mongolians from Genghis Khan on down was willing to mention the words "Great Jin Kingdom" for a while, and the value of these people was greatly weakened.
For example, Yelu Tuhua, he and his brother Yelu Ahai were two of the nineteen people who drank muddy water with Genghis Khan at the Banjuni River and made an oath. Now Yelu Ahai can still follow Genghis Khan, but Yelu Tuhua can only lead a group of Khitan people to serve as Qianhu under Tuo Lei.
If Tuo Lei never comes back, Yelu Tuhua simply doesn't know who else he can rely on. Should he go to Hesar and O Chijin? But even if he had the intention, those two were pure Mongolians and had no intention of accepting outsiders.
Fortunately, everyone's understanding of the Great Jin Kingdom was still of some use. What everyone guessed was correct, and Guo Ning was indeed keeping a close eye on the situation on the grassland. Now, it only took Tuo Lei an hour to agree on the big deal and everyone felt happy and congratulated.
Now everyone continued heading north, running through the night. It wasn't until the moon was high in the sky that the cavalry crossed the large rock ridge with many cliffs. It seemed that they had completely left the control area of Ding Haijun, and then they were ordered to choose a place to rest.
Guo Baoyu led the troops in the first half of the march to break up the rear, and in the second half of the march he turned to the front troops to clear the way. After receiving the order to drag the mines, he camped by a small river. Because they did not carry felt bags, the cavalry only leveled the grass slightly and dug a few wild stoves for the nobles to drink hot water.
Mongolians all carry mutton jerky or cheese close to their bodies, using their body temperature to keep warm, and now they take out these crude foods from their arms and chew them.
Autumn is approaching, the sky looks extraordinarily high and vast, and the twinkling brilliance of the stars becomes more eye-catching. Tuo Lei recalled that when he was young, he once sat in his father's arms and listened to him telling stories passed down on the grassland for thousands of years.
My father said that in distant ancient times, people on the grasslands conducted a great conquest of unprecedented scale. Millions of herdsmen and troops, driving countless herds, are heading due west. They walked during the day and at night. One day, a group of people suddenly strayed off the road. They drove their herds and unknowingly went to the sky.
Their path in heaven continues forever and ever. As soon as it's night, people on the ground can clearly see their figures holding torches high in the night sky and see the path they take. This path is the Heavenly Road, what Han'er calls the Milky Way. , Xinghan.
Thousands of years have passed, and the people on the grasslands will once again embark on an unprecedented westward conquest. The person leading them was Tolei's father, the great Genghis Khan.
So, what will the road to the west look like this time?
How will future generations imagine this conquest?
In the process of this conquest, what should I do for my father Khan, and what should I win for myself? How will what I win benefit all the Mongols?
Tuo Lei felt that since he started learning Han'er's characters and language, he seemed to have more ideas than before. He looked less and less like a rough and bold Mongolian, and looked a little closer to those cunning shamans, pointing casually. Everything, he can say a lot of words.
At this time, the stream suddenly roared. It turned out that they were two young men, Liu Heima, grandson of Liu Bolin, and Guo Dehai, son of Guo Baoyu. They were walking across the reeds and water grass by the river, with several big struggling and twisting fish hanging on the forks in their hands.
Mongolians usually don't like to touch fish in the river. Unless there is a white disaster and all livestock die, there will be Mongolians digging ice to fish near Haizi.
For Han and Jurchen people, such a large river fish is a delicacy. However, the soldiers under Liu Bolin and Guo Baoyu looked a little preoccupied, and no one stepped forward to greet them. Even the two generals, on the rapid march just now, slowly lost their joy of welcoming Tuo Lei back, and their expressions were a bit heavy.
Tuo Lei guessed that they were different from the Mongols after all. They probably felt that from now on, they would have to live thousands of miles away from home, and their lives would no longer be the normal life that Han'er was used to.
Thinking of this, Tuo Lei stood up and greeted Liu Heima and Guo Dehai with a smile. He endured the fishy smell, took a closer look, and asked, "What kind of fish is this? Is it edible? Is it delicious? How to make it?"
The two teenagers had never talked to the fourth prince so intimately before, and they immediately said: "This is squid! It's edible! It's delicious! We can make it. Fourth prince, do you want to try it?"
After a while, most of the soldiers around the camp were lying on the ground, snoring. Many of the war horses were lying on the ground. Most of the horses were tired and snoring from their nostrils.
Torrey sat by the campfire, holding a branch with half a squid on it.
His gums had just been pricked by a fishbone. It hurt a lot and he bled a lot. But he endured the pain, carefully used his tongue to remove the thorns, and then praised: "Although there are many thorns, it is delicious."
He thought for a while, then smiled and said: "Han people like to eat, and I also like to eat it, because it is really delicious; just like the Han people's stories, I like to listen to them, and they contain a lot of truth."
Liu Bolin, who was accompanying him, immediately showed a happy expression: "Thank you, Fourth Prince, for the compliment."
Tuo Lei continued: "I often think these days that the Khitan people's Daliao and the Jurchen people's Jin Dynasty have all kinds of bad things, and they have produced many fatuous emperors. But the two families have Being able to conquer the Central Plains successively, establish an empire, rule so many Han'er, and amass so much wealth. They rely not only on force, but more importantly, they understand the Han'er's principles and are willing to use these principles. Well, The same goes for Guo Ning from Ding Haijun..."
He stared at the bonfire in front of him, paused for a moment, and then said: "When I first met Guo Ning, I felt that the great thing about this person was that he was brave and invincible when he charged into battle; later, I felt that the great thing about this person was that he was brave and invincible. The reason is that he selected brave warriors from the countless cowardly people under the rule of the Jin Kingdom and formed a fierce army; now I suddenly feel that the power of this person lies in..."
It is not easy to explain these meanings clearly in Chinese. Tuo Lei spoke slower and slower, and finally smacked his lips and stopped.
The men gathered around the campfire waited quietly.
After a while, Tuo Lei continued: "This Guo Ning is not only a powerful general on the battlefield, but also a man who understands Han's principles. He knows how to collect taxes from the people and use the collected materials to support the army; He knows how to develop mines, build workshops, and make weapons; he knows how to build schools and teach fighting skills in schools. There are many truths that I still don’t understand, but Guo Ning not only understands them, but also does it. So The people of the Kingdom of Jin were willing to abandon the emperor of the Kingdom of Jin and follow him instead. His territory became larger and larger, and the larger the territory, the more support he received from the countless people on the territory, and the army he could support would be larger. The more you have, the more elite you are, the more trained you are, the better you can fight!”
He said a lot in one breath. These words were all things he had thought about repeatedly before, otherwise he would not be able to express them clearly at the moment.
As he spoke slowly, Yelu Tuhua, Nianhe Zhongshan and others who were standing far away all gathered together and nodded repeatedly.
"These principles are different from those on the grassland. However, governing a large country is indeed different from managing sheep and pastures on the grassland. In the future, please continue to teach me."
Everyone agreed.
Tuo Lei picked up the branch and took a bite of the fish: "This time with the Great Khan on the Western Expedition, we can no longer plunder and end it like we did when we attacked the Dangxiang and Jurchens before. I want to find an opportunity to try to use these Principle, truly govern the people and establish a real country."
】
