Ouyang Xuan hurried back to Chongqing Prefecture and found out that the reason why the Mongolian army was gathering was not to attack the Perak Army, but to prepare to go south to Meizhou and Jiading Prefecture.
It turned out that after escaping from Mingshan City, Cheri went straight to Pengshan City along Hongya, causing a lot of unrest along the way.
The defenders in these places did not expect the sudden appearance of Mongolian cavalry. They thought that the Cheri tribe was still fighting fiercely with the Perak army in Mingshan.
Cherry relied on the mobility of his cavalry to move lightly and quickly. He would sneak attack on cities and fortresses if he could, and if he couldn't, he would take a detour.
Since the land boundary along this road is farther south than the Western Sichuan Plain, the harvest time is several days earlier. It was already late August, and the countryside was full of food that was about to mature. There was no shortage of food for the horses and people.
Therefore Cheli was not in a hurry to reach Pengshan City, but instead went around burning, killing and looting. Meizhou and Jiading Prefecture are the core areas of Yu Xing. There is no place for these hundreds of cavalry to interfere with the top priority of grain harvest. Therefore, he sent a large number of elite soldiers to prepare to encircle and destroy the Cheli cavalry.
It is said that although Yu Xing was extremely greedy, he was quite methodical in leading troops to fight. He was also promoted to the deputy envoy to appease Chengdu and the prefect of Jiading based on his military exploits.
In 1254, the famous Mongolian general Wang Dechen captured Chengdu, but was defeated in Jiading Prefecture, which made Yu Xing even more famous.
Since then, the Mongolian army has not easily entered the territory of Jiading Prefecture, and the people within the territory have also been able to recuperate and recuperate.
Jiading Prefecture, together with Chongqing Prefecture and Kuizhou, became the three core areas of the imperial court in Sichuan. Its population, financial resources and number of soldiers were second only to Chongqing Prefecture.
Jiading's large-scale troop increase made Liu Heima, Mi Zhehuoli and others extremely nervous. The defeat of Hengyuan Fort had already injured the Sichuan army. Could it be that Yu Xing wanted to
"Kill you while you are sick"? In addition to hurriedly seeking help from Niulin, who was attacking eastern Sichuan, Liu Heima also mobilized all his troops from western Sichuan to prepare for Yu Xing's attack. The assembly point was the county where Longzhou belongs.
Ji County is located on the east bank of the Minjiang River, only a few dozen miles away from Pengshan City on the west bank of the Minjiang River. In Yu Xing's view, the Mongolian army's formation was to take advantage of the autumn harvest season to seize food, so they also tried to mobilize all the troops they could fight.
Just as the battle was about to begin, Cheli fled to Pengshan City before the encirclement was formed. At this time, Liu Heima knew that Qiongzhou had been lost and why the Jiading Prefecture army went to war.
Yu Xing's land and sea armies followed Cheli and advanced on Pengshan City. However, seeing that the Mongolian army was heavily defended and could not capture it in a short period of time, and there were a large number of cavalry on the other side of the Min River waiting for an opportunity, they withdrew.
The autumn harvest requires a lot of labor to harvest food, so this is really not a good time to start a war. Although the Mongolian army had the upper hand, it was unable to cross the river to pursue because the waterway was controlled. Seeing that Pengshan City was safe, they also withdrew.
Although the Mongolian army occupied Pengshan City, the navy was suppressed by the Meizhou and Perak armies. Scattered small boats could sneak across the river, but it was impossible to cross the river on a large scale.
It is said that the Perak Army is unable to fight anymore at this time. In fact, despite the continuous battles, the Perak Army's casualties were not large, and the soldiers' physical strength was not seriously affected due to adequate nutrition.
The main problem of the Pili Army is that the weapons and ammunition are too consumed, especially the naval warships, which have run out of ammunition. The gun barrels have also been damaged due to high-intensity use and need to be recast.
Ouyang Xuan ordered the cannon foundry to give priority to meeting the needs of the navy, and the fire salt scraped from the newly occupied cities would be given priority to the navy.
The artillery urgently needed in important pass cities such as Guankou Village, Baizhang City, Pujiang City, etc. were mobilized from Qianjiazhai, Liuli Village, Huaguoshan, Wanjiabao and other places. Even Hengyuan Fort's artillery was mobilized for three points. one.
Although these places are important, they are now in the central area under the rule of the Perak Army. They are protected by naval forces and land fortresses, and the possibility of being attacked by the Mongolian army is extremely small.
Of course, after the Pili Army's artillery production capacity is expanded, these places will again be equipped with sufficient artillery. It was the end of August when the field camp returned to Chongqing Fucheng.
At this time, Ouyang Xuan had summoned the top brass of the Perak Army to Chongqing Fucheng. As soon as Cao Ergou arrived, a joint military and political meeting was held. The theme of this meeting was the autumn harvest.
At present, the plain area between Jinma River and Nanhe River is controlled by the Perak Army. This fan area includes Dayi, Yizheng, Anren, Pujiang, Huojing and six counties of Linqiong where the city is located in Qiongzhou; there is Chongqing Prefecture Yongkang, Jiangyuan, Xinjin and Jinyuan County where Fucheng is located; Qingcheng County, part of Daojiang County and the surrounding areas of Guankou Village under the jurisdiction of Yongkang Army; and Baizhang County of Yazhou.
In the thirteen counties of the four prefectures (government and military) involved, there are more than three million acres of fertile land, all of which are first-class fertile land.
However, due to war and banditry, only less than 800,000 acres of grain are grown in this area. Judging from the agricultural production level of the Southern Song Dynasty, it took about five acres to feed one person, and about ten acres to support a soldier.
However, these thirteen counties belong to the fertilized land of western Sichuan. The land is extremely fertile and can be planted for two seasons. Two acres of land can feed one person, and about five acres of land can feed a soldier.
Since this area had just been conquered, there is no precise population number. It is roughly estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000 people. There should be enough food, but the premise is that there can be no mistakes in the autumn harvest.
These grains were coveted not only by the Mongols, but also by bandits and refugees hiding in the mountains. Even Cao Zhizhou of Yazhou had ideas - he wrote a letter asking for the return of Baizhang and autumn grains.
For this reason, the military and political meeting decided that Huang Dagen would lead the navy to prevent the Mongolian army from crossing the river to grab food, while Cao Ergou would lead the field battalions to suppress bandits in various counties, and to provide assistance to Baizhang City, Guankou Village, Pujiang City and other places at any time, without assuming any military tasks. All the soldiers also participated in the autumn harvest; in the economic sector, except for the continuous construction of Guankou Village, Baizhang City, and Pujiang City, the rest of the laborers participated in the autumn harvest on the spot.
As for factories and mines, in addition to military factories and cement plants that continue to operate at full capacity, other personnel also need to temporarily participate in the autumn harvest.
In addition, tens of thousands of refugees in Jiguan Mountain also need to come down to participate in the autumn harvest. After the Battle of Hengyuan, Li Shuang and others began planning to move the refugees to cities and settlements in the plains. However, the refugees were not allowed to leave until the Mongolian army in Qiongzhou fled westward. It is estimated that it will take about five days to complete the migration, and they will be able to participate in the autumn harvest. .
At the meeting, Ouyang Xuan proposed to move the Perak Army headquarters to Chongqing Fucheng. In these troubled times, Wanjiaping is indeed a good place to take refuge.
But everything has its strengths and weaknesses, but its terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack also creates serious bottlenecks in transportation and economic development.
On the other hand, Chongqing Fucheng is located in the core area of the rich plains, with convenient water and land access and the Jinma River and Wenjing River as a barrier. Moving the headquarters here will help to slowly map the entire western Sichuan area.
As for security issues, there is no need to worry. The Perak Army headquarters is not located in Fucheng, but on an island in the middle of the river outside Fucheng. Even if the Mongolian army attacks, they can only look at the water and sigh.
In Ouyang Xuan's positioning of the entire city under his rule, Chongqing City will be the political center, while Qiongzhou City will serve as the economic and commercial center, and Dayi City will also become an important industrial city.
Factories and mines in Jiguan Mountain will also be gradually moved away. In addition to the gradual depletion of resources in the mountain, it is also because the resources in Qiongzhou and Dayi Mountain are even worse than those in Jiguan Mountain. Not only are iron, coal, limestone and other ore resources extremely rich, but also There are small amounts of copper, fire saltpeter, mercury and other resources, and even natural gas and other resources.
Xinjin City, Baizhang City, and Pujiang City are built as fortress cities. Yongkang City, Dayi City, Qiongzhou City, and Qingcheng County are extremely rich in wood resources, and navy shipyards will be established respectively.
Over the past year, the Pili Army has been developing industry and reclaiming land in Jiguan Mountain, and almost all of the big trees suitable for shipbuilding have been cut down.
In terms of trade, which the Pili Army attached great importance to, in addition to using Qiongzhou as the most important center, they also used Guankou Village and Baizhang City as the distribution centers for tea and horse trading in the north and south respectively.
It goes without saying that Baizhang City leads to Diao, Yanzhou and Dajianlu. Guankou Village is the choke point leading to Wei, Maozhou, Songzhou and other Tibetan areas. Although these places have now surrendered to Mongolia, they are still willing to trade with the Han Dynasty.
After all, the local lords needed tolls and taxes, and the peasants also needed daily necessities such as tea and cloth from Han.
Economic interests are the most unbreakable and cannot be cut off even by the Mongolian scimitar.
