When the Pili army saw the Mingshan army fleeing, they did not pursue it. Speaking of four-legged cavalry, it is easy to catch up with two-legged infantry. Seeing that the crisis was over, Chief Cao opened the gate, welcomed the cavalry company in, and ordered the militiamen to clean the battlefield. Although the quality of the swords and spears was not good, the bows and crossbows were urgently needed in the village. The cavalry company commander and he were acquainted with each other, and they were all booed for a while. At the same time, he sent people back to the Qiongzhou Field Brigade headquarters to report the situation, and ordered the company to seize the time to rest and recuperate in case the famous mountain troops came back to retaliate. It is said that after traveling forty miles from the training ground to get here and join the battle, the men and horses were exhausted.
The cavalry company stayed in Mengshantun for two days, but no famous mountain troops came to retaliate. On the contrary, officials kept coming to learn about the situation, and messengers on horseback kept coming and going on the official road. On the third day, another large group of cavalry arrived from the direction of Baizhang City. They were the other four cavalry companies of the camp. I heard that brigade commander Cao Ergou was coming with two other infantry battalions from the field brigade. Chief Cao Ergou was Cao Ergou's clan brother. He decided to wait until Cao Ergou arrived at Mengshan Village to find out whether, as they said, a pig-stealing incident had alarmed the Pili Army's strongest land combat force. Field Brigade.
In fact, the Mingshan Army only injured dozens of people in this conflict. Most of these people were not injured by the Perak Army, but were injured by trampling or falling while fleeing for their lives. In comparison, the Mengshantun militiamen also suffered injuries. More than ten people were injured, three of whom were seriously injured. Although they were not fatal, they were inevitably disabled. However, most of the weapons of the more than 300 people were lost, which not only disgraced the leading captain, but was also severely punished by the guard of Mingshan City. Rao had an old friend in the army who helped him to plead for mercy, sold his family property, and gave him a gift. After giving a lot of money to his boss, he could barely keep his position.
After the Mingshan City Guards learned the news, he was very angry and had no intention of drinking wine with his concubine. At the same time, he sent messengers to question Baizhang City, and at the same time he sent people to arrest and summon the members of the Perak Army caravan stationed in Mingshan City. The guard general is also a sober person. On the one hand, he does not want to make the matter a big deal, lest Cao Zhizhou reprimand him for his incompetence. On the other hand, there is really no benefit in breaking up the relationship with the Pili Army. Since settling in Mingshan City, he has "borrowed" a large amount of property from the Perak Army caravan, which is fully ten times his annual salary. It was with this money that he could afford to buy a mansion, keep a concubine, and drink wine every day.
Mingshan City is an important financial and taxation center in Yazhou, and it is also the only place to go to Fan District. It is very important to the Perak Army caravan. After being scolded, the caravan management staff certainly did not dare to neglect, and immediately sent someone to understand the situation and reported the situation to the famous mountain guard. Although the famous mountain guard did not believe in the Pili Army, he was cautious when he saw that the feedback was completely contrary to what his subordinates said. He first ordered the caravan personnel to bring evidence to confront the captain, who naturally put all the responsibility on Mengshantun. It is said that the famous mountain guard is also an official. Although it is true that he is a direct subordinate of Cao Zhizhou, he does not dare to confuse right and wrong and offend Ouyang Xuan for no reason. After all, the deputy ambassador of Chengdu Comfort is also his nominal superior.
Both sides insist on one side, and one side must tell lies. The famous mountain guard also knew the urine nature of his soldiers, so he immediately sent people to separate the more than thirty soldiers who caused the trouble for questioning. After asking a few people, they found out the real situation. Knowing that the incident was caused by his subordinates stealing pigs, it was not unreasonable for him to send troops to take revenge. At that time, the team leader was called in for confrontation. The team leader first denied everything, and then admitted the fact of theft and corruption in the face of conclusive evidence. This sudden reversal made the captain so angry that he took a whip and beat the team to death, leaving no good flesh on his body.
Now that the misunderstanding has been clarified and the Perak Army has agreed to return the captured weapons, the matter could have been settled. But Cao Zhizhou quit. He had already learned about the situation from the eyes and ears of Mingshan City, and wanted to use this matter to get Baizhang City back. In his opinion, the weakness of the Perak Army lies in the caravans. At present, a caravan of several hundred people from the Pili Army was preparing to return from Lizhou. Cao Zhizhou wanted to use this caravan as a threat to let him take over Baizhang City. If the Pili Army refused to comply, he could destroy the caravan, annihilate the Pili Army's forces in the direction of Lizhou, and seize the mines together.
Huang Dagen learned from the inside line installed in Yazhou Yamen that the reason why Cao Zhizhou dared to do this was because he had always been worried about the Pili Army occupying Baizhang City. It's just that the Perak Army was captured from the Mongolian Army. If it caused a big fuss in the court, it would appear that he was incompetent. If the Pili Army mismanaged Baizhang City, and its subordinate settlements harbored bandits, and allowed bandits to rob and attack friendly forces as an excuse, then they could occupy the moral high ground and recapture Baizhang. On the other hand, Cao Zhizhou has the support of the Mongolian army. He has secretly made an agreement with the Mongolian army. The Mongolian army will send people to raid Lizhou from the grassland in the direction of Dajianlu. They will attack front and back with the Yazhou army and wipe out the Pili army strongholds along the way. and the pro-Perak Army forces.
Next, the Mongolian army can move troops from Dali, Longyou and even Tubo into Yali and other prefectures, attack the weakly defended abdomen of the Perak Army and Jiading Army, and then occupy the entire Xichuan in one fell swoop. By then, the Sichuan Song Army will be left with only a few cities along the river such as Luzhou and Chongqing, making it even more difficult to resist the attack. Of course, Cao Zhizhou will also receive huge benefits. In addition to continuing to maintain the boundaries of Yazhou, Jiading Prefecture in Meizhou will also belong to him, and his official position will also be granted to ten thousand households. As for the Western Sichuan Plain and the territory of the Perak Army that he had in mind, the Mongols did not relent at all.
The top brass of the Perak Army had known for a long time that Cao Zhizhou was secretly collaborating with the Mongols, and also knew that he sent people to Lin'an to lobby important officials in the court in preparation for seeking a higher official position. It's just that for the sake of fame and fortune, he was so vicious and disregarded the life and death of the people, which still angered everyone. Ouyang Xuan, Lu Dezhi, and Dong Huyuan were far away in Bozhou. At that moment, Li Shuang convened Huang Dagen, Cao Ergou, Le Quan'an, and others for a meeting. It was decided that Cao Ergou would lead the field brigade out of Mengshantun, and the caravan would retreat to the Jiejie Valley to hold on. , the special brigade sent people to sneak into Lizhou to assist Qian Bao in defending strongholds and mines. If Cao Zhizhou wants to get things done, the Pili Army will accompany him to the end.
It is said that the interior of Yazhou is not monolithic. Not only those who benefited from the Pili Army caravans did not want to fight, but even many Yazhou Army generals and soldiers did not want to fight, because they also knew that they would definitely not be their opponents once they started fighting. At present, Cao Ergou's field brigade has stationed troops on the border. Not to mention that the cavalry battalion that controls firearms is extremely difficult to deal with. The two infantry battalions alone are also very powerful. The heavy artillery they carry cannot be recognized by that section of the city wall. Stay away from its attacks. There were also discerning people around Cao Zhizhou, and his dog-headed military advisor told him that the Chuejiao Valley was easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Pili Army caravan guards also had a large number of firearms, and even if they attacked, they would suffer heavy losses. Without strength, how can we bargain with the Mongols? It will only be profited by other forces.
The reason why Cao Zhizhou did not have a showdown in the end was because of the defeat of the Mongolian army. The 500 Mongolian cavalry coming from the direction of Dajianlu failed to capture Zelang's village, and then suffered another setback at the foot of Lizhou City. The defenders of Lizhou City wanted to abandon the city and flee, but the city gate was blocked by the caravan in the city, so they had to fight the Mongolian army with the caravan to the death. The Mongolian army was unable to attack for a long time, and was frequently harassed by pro-Perak forces, so they had to retreat to the grassland in frustration.
Now that Cao Zhizhou stopped, the Pili Army also withdrew its troops, and both sides turned the page as if nothing was wrong. For the Pili Army, after all, Cao Zhizhou had not yet publicly surrendered to Mongolia. At least in name, it was not an enemy but a friendly force. Rushing to start a war with friendly forces will not only bring happiness to the enemy but also pain to the enemy, and will also bring moral reproach to the Perak Army.
