Cao Zhizhou's head was wide-eyed with anger, and he looked like he was dead in death. Cao Ergou spat contemptuously when he saw it, and had someone pickle it with lime so that it could be spread throughout the counties of Yali and Li prefectures. The certificate of surrender sent by the Yazhou Army was not only the head of Cao Zhizhou, but also included the official seal of Yazhou, maps and population lists of the four Yali Diaoyan states. According to Ouyang Xuan's instructions, Cao Ergou came here not only to defeat the Yazhou army, but also to incorporate Yali and Diaoyan prefectures into the territory to completely solve Cao Zhizhou's problem.
The reason why Cao Zhizhou died with eyes closed was because he really couldn't understand how a good situation could turn so suddenly. He couldn't understand that Niulin secretly withdrew his troops at a critical moment, and he couldn't understand that his confidant for many years would stab him in the back. In fact, Cao Zhizhou's death was not unjust. Although he and Liu Da'er were both powerful figures in power, they were also greedy and corrupt men. They had already made the people in the government angry and resentful. Many of his subordinates had already secretly defected to the Perak Army. . The "Fire Fox" in the Meizhou Army was extremely active, and the Yazhou Army was also riddled with holes by the Pili Army. Of course, the biggest problem between them is that they lack strategic vision and cannot clearly see the general trend of history and the impact of the conflict between the two Mongolian Khans on the situation in Sichuan. To be precise, Cao Zhizhou did not die at the hands of his henchmen, nor did he die from Niulin's treachery, but from the internal strife of the Mongols.
The reason why Niulin hurriedly retreated was because he received shocking news-the secret secretaries Huoli and Qitai Buhua were killed. Both men were personally friendly with him and pledged their full support to his military campaign before the attack on Jiading. News from Chengdu claimed that Lian Xixian quietly entered Sichuan on the orders of Kublai Khan and killed the Mongolian generals who supported Ali Buge one by one. Wang Weizheng, the commander-in-chief of the Mongolian Marshal Dongchuan Mansion, killed the Mongolian general Qitai Buhua in Qingju City. He was also trapped and killed by Liu Heima, who was in charge of Chengdu, in the fire of a feint attack. Although Niulin remained neutral on the surface, he had many contacts with the Mongolian generals who supported Ali Buge. After learning the news, he was afraid that he would be implicated. He took the initiative to withdraw his troops back to Chengdu to prove that he had no objection. If necessary, he would go to Kaiping where Kublai Khan was stationed.
Niulin withdrew his troops because there was no chance of winning the battle of Jiading, and he might even be completely defeated. The execution of Secret Man Huoli and Qitai Buhua made the Mongolian soldiers in central Sichuan panic. It was impossible to contain the Song army, let alone offer military help. Nulin's hope that other Mongolian generals would cooperate in military operations also came to nothing. Hunduhai stationed in Liupan Mountain had more than 20,000 cavalry, which was the largest military force left by Mongke Khan. His promise to send cavalry from Longyou south to Songzhou and Maozhou was also followed by his promise to send cavalry to Songzhou and Maozhou. Kublai Khan's execution failed. The situation in the direction of the Dali Kingdom was also not good. Wu Liang Hetai was also recalled due to the suspicion of Kublai Khan. His promise to send troops from Dali to attack Lizhou via Dajianlu was naturally ignored. The Mongolian army drove the barbarians of the Dali Kingdom to attack the Miao border area, but without the strong endorsement of the Mongolian cavalry, the two sides were just noobs pecking each other and had no impact on the Sichuan war situation at all.
Although these diversionary actions had an impact on the Battle of Jiading, they were not decisive. In fact, although there was no restraint by the Mongolian army such as the Qitai Buhua Department, Yu Xing of Chongqing Prefecture, Liu Zheng of Luzhou and others did not lead their troops to relieve Zan Wanshou, nor did they send some war supplies. What made Niulin feel that he had no chance of winning was the powerful combat power shown by the Pili Army. If the Battle of Pengshan was Shi Mo's trick, and because the Mongolian army was not good at water warfare, a defeat was acceptable, then the powerful firepower displayed by the Pili Infantry and Cavalry Army in the battle to regain Meizhou , makes him feel scared. Although the cavalry of the Perak Army was slightly inferior, the infantry was well-trained and had many artillery. Together with the overwhelming advantage of the navy, the Mongolian army besieging Jiading had no chance of winning. If you don't retreat, it will be absolutely difficult to escape intact, and the entire army may even be destroyed.
For Niulin, if the 10,000 new auxiliary troops were destroyed, it would only affect the reputation of his famous general. At most, he would lose his official position and be deprived of the right to lead troops. But if the two thousand cavalry under his command suffered heavy casualties, even if the royal nobles interceded on his behalf and the Great Khan spared his life, he would not be able to gain a foothold in the imperial officialdom and would only be despised wherever he went. Previously, Mi Zhe Huoli lost a small number of his own cavalry and hundreds of Khitan cavalry in the Battle of Hengyuan Castle, which caused him to lose the trust of Meng Ge Khan, which greatly damaged his status. As a result, he was also regarded as a Khitan. Liu Heima and others were jealous of him. We must know that cavalry, especially the cavalry of our own tribe, is the foundation of the power of the Mongolian Empire. The entire cavalry of our tribe is only more than 110,000 people. They are distributed over a vast territory. There are only a few in each place. Even the cavalry in Kaiping is in the hands of Kublai Khan. There are only more than 10,000 Mongolian cavalry. If the whole cavalry army of Niulin were destroyed, they would lose their heads and even affect the whole family.
Based on the above reasons, Niulin abandoned the new vassal army at the foot of Jiading City. This was definitely not his original intention, and it was really a helpless move. On the one hand, it was to prevent the newly attached troops from running around in panic, fighting for ships to block the ferry, and affecting the cavalry crossing the river; on the other hand, it was to allow them to continue to attract the attention of the Jiading defenders and block the pursuit of the Perak Army. In fact, Jianzhou and Longzhou also had 2,000 new auxiliary troops who crossed the river before the arrival of the Pili Army and Navy and returned to their respective stations. For the Mongolian army, although these new auxiliary troops have low combat power, they are still of great use. They can undertake logistical tasks such as guarding city strongholds, collecting and transporting grain and grass, and they must also try to avoid losses. But there is a premise, that is, only when the Mongolian cavalry crosses the river safely and reaches the east bank of the Minjiang River, Newlin will let the new auxiliary troops cross the river.
Niulin's 2,000 cavalrymen retreated completely, and of the 5,000 new auxiliary troops they brought with them from Jianzhou, Longzhou and other places, only 2,000 returned to their bases, which was a heavy loss. Of course, they were lucky compared to the new auxiliary armies in Meiya and Yazhou. These two new auxiliary armies were directly cancelled, and even the head coach was missing. Compared with this, the losses of the Perak Army were insignificant. They only lost a total of more than 300 people, of which 200 were injured and more than 100 were killed. Half of them were the special forces who assisted Jiading in defending the city. The losses in Jiading City were more serious. Nearly a thousand soldiers were killed or injured, hundreds of civilians in the city were killed or injured, and the houses in the city were also severely damaged.
This disparity in exchange ratio, in addition to factors such as strategy, morale, and geographical location, also reflects the dimensionality reduction impact of the new firearms army on the cold weapon army. Cao Zhizhou refuses to rest in peace because he does not understand that times have changed. Behind the fierce firepower of the Pili Army is not only technological leadership but also the reform of the governance model, and even the crushing of the economic foundation. In this battle of Jiading, the Perak Army dispatched more than 10,000 men, and fired tens of thousands of large and small artillery shells. The iron used in the artillery shells was more than 100,000 kilograms, and the food, gunpowder and other war materials consumed were countless. It is not an exaggeration to say that victory was achieved with money. The money spent in this battle made Li Shuang, who was in charge of government affairs, jump with heartache, and urgently ordered all armies to recycle all useful materials when cleaning the battlefield.
