The Pili Army's most important check on the Mongolian Army was in Yazhou. To say that Yazhou was a territory of the Song Dynasty, it would be absurd for outsiders to contain the Mongolian army here. Just existing is reasonable. The reason why the top brass of the Pili Army made this decision is because Cao Zhizhou had secretly communicated with Niulin before, and his recent behaviors are really weird. Some of them are even weird in the eyes of the Pili Army. Concealing evil intentions.
The first strange behavior was military mobilization. When the Mongolian army captured Meizhou and approached Jiading City, Yu Xing was really panicked and urgently ordered reinforcements from Yali and other states to come to rescue him. Yu Xing's official position is the deputy envoy of Sichuan Zhizhi and the deputy envoy of Chengdu pacification to Jiading Prefecture. He is Cao Zhizhou's direct boss. The Sichuan regime in the Southern Song Dynasty became fragmented due to the invasion of the Mongolian army, and various forces, large and small, were formed, especially in western Sichuan. In addition, Yu Xing was greedy and plundered the two states of Yali and Li very heavily, causing resentment among the people in the two states. Some time ago, Yu Xing ordered Yazhou to send troops to assist Pengshan City, but Cao Zhizhou resisted Yu Xing's order because the people were exhausted and money was lacking.
There are more than 20,000 Han and Tibetan households in Yazhou and the four prefectures of Li, Diao, Yan, and the Xishanye tribes north of Diaomenzhai, with a population of less than 100,000. Lizhou only governed Hanyuan County, Diao and Yanzhou also belonged to Jisi. As for the tribes of Xishan and Ye, they only submitted to the imperial court in name. Because it is far away from Lin'an, the above-mentioned areas are actually managed by Yazhou. These areas are large and have a large population, but the government cannot effectively control these populations. In addition, the economy is not a prosperous place and cannot support more soldiers. Therefore, there are only 3,500 officers and soldiers under Yazhou's rule. This time, after receiving the order, Cao Zhizhou went out of his way and immediately sent out 3,000 troops, leaving only 500 for garrison.
The interactions between Cao Zhizhou and Yu Xing and his son were mostly flattering and deceitful. The generous help this time made Ouyang Xuan and other senior officials wonder whether they had wronged this good man. Perhaps Cao Zhizhou's conscience found him remorseful and determined to serve the country. But his next actions proved that the saying "a dog can't change its habit of eating shit" is correct. Of Yazhou's three thousand soldiers, one thousand were stationed at Mingshan City, while the other two thousand troops entered Hongya territory and stopped advancing. Hongya County is located at the junction of Jiading Prefecture and Yazhou, and is one of the few counties in Jiading that is not at war. Seeing that the Yazhou army refused to advance, Yu Xing repeatedly sent people to urge Cao Zhizhou, but he made various excuses. The Yazhou Army in Mingshan City had no plans to advance. Instead, they desperately strengthened the city's defenses and dug countless trenches outside the city.
The movement of Yazhou's troops made Yu Xing extremely dissatisfied and alerted the Pili Army. If the Yazhou Army stopped in Hongya territory because they were afraid of the Mongolian army's front, then the huddled defensive posture in Mingshan City was obviously to prevent the Perak Army from attacking. The Pili Army anti-traitor company went deep into Yandao County to wipe out the political bandits, and promoted it with great fanfare, which made Cao Zhizhou extremely angry but unable to get angry. Although the Pili Army stretched its hand too far, he had the right to appeal to his superiors and request that Ouyang Xuan be punished. However, the former county captain of Baizhang killed the county magistrate and surrendered to the city. He was still a bandit in Yazhou territory. He himself could not avoid the crime of negligence. If we really put it on the table, both sides are at fault. What's even more terrible is that the Perak Army has sent people to hint that they have seized important letters. It is unknown whether they include letters to and from themselves.
If you can't turn against someone on the bright side, then you'll resort to underhanded tactics. Cao Zhizhou ordered his confidants to deliberately make things difficult for the Pili Army caravan, but unexpectedly the soldiers and officials guarding the pass quit. The salaries of these soldiers and low-level officials are very meager. Since Boss Qian reopened the caravan, he has also given a lot of gifts in addition to normal taxes. With these money and materials, they lived a good life. If the Perak Army caravan stops coming, the bulk of the income will naturally be cut off, and the wife, children, and children will also follow the northwest wind. But the transition from luxury to simplicity is the most difficult thing. You must know that more than half of the commerce in Yazhou is now operated by the Perak Army Caravan. Cao Zhizhou asked them to do this, which was tantamount to killing the goose to retrieve the eggs, which directly harmed their interests.
Therefore, the officers and soldiers guarding the card did not abide by Cao Zhizhou's instructions, but violated them in both positive and negative ways. As long as Cao Zhizhou's confidants were not present, he would still turn a blind eye. After the confidant seized and sold off the goods of a Perak army caravan, he celebrated happily in the tavern, but unexpectedly clashed with a group of people of unknown origin. This gang of people, Kong Wuli, struck very hard and beat him and his friends until they couldn't get up and they lay in bed for several months. Cao Zhizhou had no choice but to send his confidants, but these people learned the lesson and no longer made things difficult for the Pili Army caravan. Instead, they colluded with the officials guarding the card. It is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Even children can choose between offending others and getting beaten or accepting money.
In addition to making things difficult for the caravan, Cao Zhizhou also instigated his confidants to tip off the bandits. It's just that the bandits along the way have all suffered from firearms, especially the Baizhang County Lieutenant whose head is still hanging on the top of the city. How dare they stroke the tiger's beard. The Pili Army is naturally aware of these destructive tricks of Cao Zhizhou, but this certainly does not constitute the reason for the Pili Army to attack Yazhou. If a caravan is in trouble and attacks friendly forces, this is an open rebellion against the imperial court.
There is only one reason for Cao Zhizhou to defend against the Pili Army in this way - he is ready to surrender to the Mongols. If this is the case, the Yazhou soldiers stationed in Hongya County are not to aid Jiading, but to wait for the opportunity. If the Mongolian army wins, they can offer Hongya, Danling, Jiajiang and other places as a pledge of surrender. If Yu Xing wins, they can follow the retreating Mongolian army and make a bluff.
Of course, the Thunderbolt Army would not allow the first situation to occur. Preventing Yazhou from falling to the Mongolian army and jointly attacking Jiading is the top priority. Therefore, Ouyang Xuan took three countermeasures. One is to order the field brigade to move towards Baizhang City. The headquarters of the field brigade was originally in Qiongzhou, not far from Baizhang City. However, except for the cavalry battalion, the other two infantry battalions in the field brigade are all heavily armed troops. There are not enough mules and horses to tow artillery and baggage, so it took two days to reach Baizhang City. Cao Ergou led the army and did not sit idle after that. On the contrary, he conducted frequent drills. Obviously, such large-scale battles could not be hidden from Yazhou spies.
The second measure is to strengthen the presence of power in Yali and Li states. Now the villages near the Lizhou Fire Salt Mine have benefited from the prosperity brought by the Perak Army, and Qian Bao, with the authorization of Ouyang Xuan, has trained the miners into three militia companies, plus a full-time guard company. These four With the steep terrain and firearms, the company could easily defeat the Lizhou Army's attack. The population of Lizhou is less than 10,000 people, and the standing troops are only a few hundred, so it is obviously unable to capture the fire salt mine. In addition, Ouyang Xuan ordered the hoeing company to return to the ravine where the political bandits were wiped out, and repair the original mountain stronghold as a safe haven for the Perak Army caravan in critical moments. As long as you use firearms to guard this only entrance, it will be difficult for multiple enemies to break in.
The third measure is to contact Dajianlu and the tribes in the Western Mountains. In the handwritten letter written by Boss Qian to Zelang, he said that the caravan had prepared a large amount of urgently needed supplies in the Tibetan area, and asked him to organize caravans from villages and grassland tribes around Dajianlu to come to Lizhou for trading. The more people, the better. Due to limited supply capacity and sparse troops, Lizhou officials have been strictly controlling the Tibetan merchants in the direction of Dajianlu to prevent them from causing trouble or even riots. Because of the above reasons, Diaomen Village also imposed strict restrictions on the tribes of the Western Mountains. Boss Qian also invited these tribes to trade. At that time, if Cao Zhizhou does not allow Tibetan merchants to enter the customs, it will inevitably lead to dissatisfaction and even violent conflicts among Tibetan merchants. Moreover, he also had to consider the attitude of the Perak Army caravan, which had a large amount of merchandise.
