Zhao Mengqi's enthusiasm was mainly for Qiu Yue.
After Qiu Yue resigned as the envoy along the Yangtze River, he stayed in Gusu for a few days when he returned to Lin'an and had many in-depth talks with Zhao Mengqi.
Due to the bad habit of using civility to control military affairs in the Song Dynasty, those who served as frontier officials and commander-in-chief were basically civil servants.
This greatly affected the Song Army's combat effectiveness, which was usually negative. However, not all leading civil servants were useless. There were still many civil servants who were capable of fighting, and Qiu Yue was one of them.
He was a Jinshi in the tenth year of Jiading of Ning Zong, and it has been nearly forty years since he entered the official career. In the first ten years, he was just a pure civil servant, but when he was appointed as the governor of Zhenzhou, he became famous in one battle.
In June of the second year of Duanping, Mongolian Ogedai Khan sent hundreds of thousands of troops to attack Song Dynasty in two directions on the grounds that Song Dynasty had betrayed its alliance.
The second prince Kuo Duan led the army to attack Sichuan in the Song Dynasty, and the third prince Kuo Chu led the army to attack the Jingxiang and Huaihe areas in the Song Dynasty.
At that time, the Song Dynasty still had many talented generals, including Cao Youwen in Sichuan and Meng Gong in Jingxiang. The wars with the Mongols lasted for several years, with both sides suffering heavy casualties and each other winning or losing.
The Mongols are the attackers and have always held the initiative on the battlefield. However, they cannot tolerate the heat, so they usually start fighting in autumn and winter.
In the autumn of the third year of Duanping, Kuo Chu, the commander-in-chief of the Mongolian Eastern Route Army, sent 70,000 troops to attack Huaixi and soon captured Gushi County in Guangzhou.
After the Song generals Lu Wenxin and Du Lin led tens of thousands of troops to occupy Lu'an and Huoqiu, they saw the sharpness of the Mongolian troops, so they were so frightened that they actually rebelled and surrendered.
Subsequently, the Mongolian army continued to march southeast and attacked Luzhou, but they were not able to defeat it due to the strong defense of Huaixi Zhizhi envoy Li Zengbo and others.
Then the Mongolian army abandoned Luzhou and continued eastward, conquered Dingyuan County, and then besieged Chuzhou. Zhao Bangyong, the commander of Chizhou in the Song Dynasty, led reinforcements in time to lift the siege of the Mongolian army.
When the Mongols saw that there was no chance here, they marched eastward and approached Liuhe County. Li Jiang, the defender of Liuhe County, surrendered without saying a word. It must be said that many generals were even less moral at this time.
There was a clan member in the county, Zhao Shixiao, who organized a death squad to fight in the streets with the Mongolian troops entering the city. He was killed on the spot. His younger brother Zhao Shi even protected his mother and fought his way out of the siege.
At the same time, part of the Mongolian army continued to advance eastward and was blocked in Xuanhua City by four generals Wang Hai, Li Xian, Li Xiong, and Liao Lei sent by Chen Wei, the envoy along the river.
After a round of bloody battles, the Song army won, and the Mongols suffered heavy losses. They were eager for revenge, so they also transferred the troops attacking Liuhe, surrounded Xuanhua layer by layer, and attacked with all their strength.
The Song army resisted desperately for three days and three nights, and most of them were killed. Four generals, Wang Hai, Li Xian, Li Xiong, and Liao Lei, were all killed in the battle. The last general named Chen Wan led the remnant army to break out, but the Mongolian army could not stop it.
The Mongols did not get any advantage in this battle. They died several times more than the Song army. Their general Ao Niao Boye was killed in the battle, and their general, the King of Hua, was seriously injured and died soon after.
After capturing Xuanhua, the Mongolian follow-up troops arrived and assembled more than 20,000 troops to attack Zhenzhou.
Qiu Yue, then the magistrate of Zhenzhou, had been well prepared for a long time. With less than 2,000 troops, he defeated the Mongolian offensive again and again. Not only did he drive the Mongolian army away from the city, but he also took advantage of the victory to attack at Xupu Bridge to force The crossbow killed a Mongolian general, and the Mongolian army had to retreat ten miles to adjust its deployment.
Seeing that the strength of the Mongolian army was more than ten times his own, Qiu Yue did not pursue it rashly and retreated to the city. He then set up three ambushes in the west of the city and increased the number of trebuchets.
One day later, the Mongolian army came back and ran into an ambush. The Song army's ambush suddenly attacked fiercely. They fired cannons and rocks from the city and injured a general. The Mongolian army was morally confused and retreated quickly.
Although Qiu Yue didn't know who the general was, judging from the reaction of the Mongolian army, it must be extremely important to them, otherwise they would not give up the attack so easily.
The so-called taking advantage of his illness to kill him, waiting until late at night, Qiu Yue decisively gathered all his troops, raided the Mongolian camp, and set fire to the camp.
This night attack was very successful. However, apart from the large material losses, the Mongolian army suffered few casualties. For the Mongolian army, which has always relied on war to support war, it was just a matter of grabbing supplies if they did not have them.
Therefore, Qiu Yue did not relax his guard and kept tight guard waiting for the Mongolian army to attack again.
Who knew I had to wait for two days?
The Mongolian army actually retreated on its own initiative, and another cavalry force that had penetrated deep into Gaoyou not only did not attack the city, but also did not launch an attack when it encountered the Song army's Qingye troops.
Soon after, other Mongolian armies gradually slowed down their attacks and then retreated north.
Just when the Song Dynasty was feeling strange about the behavior of the Mongolian army, news came that Kuo Chu, the commander of the Mongolian army's east route, had died.
Then, Kuo Duan of the West Route Army broke through Chengdu and was plundering the hinterland of Sichuan. After hearing the news of Kuo Chu's death, he quickly led the main force to withdraw from Sichuan and return to the north, leaving only some troops to guard important places such as Mian, Jie, Xingyuan and so on.
Kuochu, also known as Quchu, was the third son of Wo Kuotai, and he was intended to be his successor.
After his death, Wokuotai designated Kuochu's eldest son Shiliemen as his successor, which shows Kuochu's status in Mongolia.
Regarding the cause of death of Kuo Chu, the Mongolian official gave a very vague answer, saying that he died of illness.
However, when a leading commander in his prime died of a sudden illness, it always felt like something was wrong.
Judging from the time, Zhao Mengqi had to suspect that the Mongolian general who was injured by Qiu Yue with a stone cannon might be Kuo Chu.
In fact, at that time, the Song Dynasty had similar suspicions. However, it is not easy to talk nonsense without evidence. Qiu Yue himself had no intention of coveting this credit. In addition, Mongolia himself said that he died of illness, and the Song Dynasty did not forcefully engender hatred. necessary.
So suspicions are just suspicions. After all, Kuo Chu might have had some other accident, such as falling off a horse, taking the wrong medicine, and getting sick immediately...
Anyway, after Kuo came out of the cold, Mongolia's offensive against the Song Dynasty eased a lot. Until the first year of Chunyou, after Wokuotai's death, the main force of the Mongolian army returned north, and the six-year Mongolian-Song War temporarily came to an end.
Qiu Yue gradually became more important, and his subsequent posts were mostly military-related. He guarded and governed Lianghuai for many years before Jia Sidao.
Qiu Yue has rich experience in commanding and fighting, and also has unique insights in military management. When this general is withering away and military talents are in short supply, he becomes even more precious. Zhao Mengqi cannot help but ignore him.
"I originally said that after returning to Lin'an, I would go to visit Mr. Qiu at his house, but it turned out..."
While talking, Zhao Mengqi led the three guests to a warm pavilion.
When I walked in, I found that there were quite a few people sitting there. Yang Dong, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Jiang Wanli, the Censor of the Ministry of Supervision, Hong Tianxi, the Censor of Supervision, Feng Mengde, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Wang Yao, the Minister of the Ministry of War, Mou Zicai, a member of the Zhongshushe...
Good guy, isn’t this a blatant gathering of the Yan Party?
Zhao Yumin was confused and felt like he had run into a "wolf's den".
In this situation, let alone asking for mercy, whether you can take it out afterward is a big problem.
Normally, it would be absolutely illegal for so many powerful ministers to gather at the prince's house, and no official would allow it.
But, everyone is here to pay New Year's greetings to King Yan, so it is understandable that they bump into each other accidentally.
Besides, the Zhao Guan family had completely let go of King Yan and didn't bother to be suspicious at all.
What's more, the Yushitai can be said to be controlled by Zhao Mengqi, so how can he be impeached.
Moreover, everyone in the government and the public knew clearly who belonged to King Yan's lineage, so there was no need to hide them.
When new guests arrive, they naturally exchange greetings and then sit down one by one.
"Hey, your highness, your pavilion is quite warm. There are no fire pits, stoves or other facilities outside."
Qian Tao took off his thick fur coat and felt very comfortable.
Prince Yan's Mansion used to be his family's manor, and he was very familiar with this house, but he didn't notice any major changes.
Zhao Mengqi explained casually, "This place has been slightly renovated. The ground has been re-paved. There is a hollow fire tunnel below. Burning twenty or thirty pieces of honeycomb briquettes can keep you warm all day long."
"briquettes? Isn't that a penny a piece? It can be so warm for thirty pennies. It's really cheap. Even ordinary people can afford it." Qian Tao marveled.
Coal is not expensive, but the cost of rebuilding the earth dragon is not cheap. The materials and labor will cost you thirty or forty dollars.
After chatting for a few words,
Zhao Mengqi looked at Qiu Yue and said, "Mr. Qiu, I have something to ask you."
Qiu Yue's white eyebrows jumped, "Your Highness, please speak."
Zhao Mengqi said, "Now that the Mongols occupy Dali, they are like a sharp knife pointing towards our heart. Although the mountains in the southwest are stretching, which is not conducive to the Mongols' fighting, and our country has also set up defenses on Jinghu South Road, I think this is a bit too much. Passive."
"What do you think, Your Highness?" Qiu Yue was very interested.
"The Mongols' advantage lies in horses, so they are good at using large movements and large detours strategically and tactically. However, our country's advantage lies in ships. Relying on the vast ocean, we can actually also use the strategy of large detours and large movements."
Zhao Mengqi's words made Qiu Yue think about it, "Your Highness, please continue."
"We are good at making weapons. In terms of ship navigation, there is still a lot of room for development. If we have the shipping capacity to deploy 50,000 troops at a time, it will be easy to find Mongolia whether we are going north or south. It is a long-term vision to attack people's strategic weaknesses."
"For the Mongolian army in Dali, we can fully utilize our maritime transport capabilities to develop the Guangnan West Road so that it can garrison a large army. When necessary, we can invade Dali and relieve our enemies."
"Furthermore, Nanyang countries are rich in grain, wood, spices and other resources that our country needs, which can completely help the development of Qinzhou, Guangzhou and other places. Therefore, this development process will not only not deplete our country's national strength, but also promote our country's economic revitalization." "
"Fundamentally speaking, the war is still fought on the economy. In recent decades, our economy has been in decline and is not far away from running out of oil. We can no longer rely solely on the Jiangnan area for support. Huaihuai, Jingxiang and Huaihe are war zones. It cannot develop steadily, but Guangdong and Guangxi still have great potential to become a new economic source for our country."
Qiu Yue listened quietly to Zhao Mengqi's words and nodded from time to time, "Does His Highness mean to use overseas trade to promote the development of Guangdong and Guangxi?"
"Yes, the goods produced by our country have always been popular overseas, but in the past, they mostly relied on Dashi merchants for transit. Now the Mongols are attacking Dashi, and they may be destroyed in a few years, so I North Korea’s foreign trade has shrunk sharply.”
"In the past, Quanzhou could collect a million guan in shipping tax every year, but now it only collects a few tens of thousands guan."
"Since we can't rely on others, we should take the initiative to find markets, not too far away. In addition to Chenla, Bagan, Jiaozhi, Champa and other countries, there are also more than ten countries in the Tianzhu region."
In addition to developing trade, Zhao Mengqi's most important purpose was to obtain excellent war horses from Tianzhu and Arabia.
These places are all under attack by the Mongols. Using appropriate commercial and diplomatic means, there is still great hope to achieve this goal.
After listening to Zhao Mengqi's idea, Qiu Yue and others felt that it was feasible.
"Your Highness, I understand roughly what you mean, but how do you plan to implement it specifically?"
Zhao Mengqi took a sip of tea, moistened his throat and continued, "I would like to suggest that the court establish the Guangdong, Guangdong and Guangxi envoys to unify power, and plan to elect you to take up the post. What do you think?"
Qiu Yue thought for a while and slowly shook his head, "There is no problem in setting up the Guangdong, Guangxi and Guangdong systems, but the old minister is not qualified for the job. It's not that the old minister is shirk. It's really that time is not forgiving, and the old minister's body can't bear it. Go. Otherwise, it will delay His Highness’s grand plan.”
Zhao Mengqi saw that Qiu Yue's expression did not seem to be hypocritical, and he did not force him to persuade him. He couldn't find a suitable candidate, so he couldn't help but fall into distress.
At this time, Yang Dong spoke, "Your Highness, your plan is too huge. I feel that it should not be rushed. The establishment of envoys in these two provinces can also be postponed. I am willing to recommend myself and go to Qinzhou to pave the way for Your Highness's plan."
After hearing this, everyone present was stunned. It was not because Yang Dong took the initiative to ask for an official position, but because he took the initiative to ask to go to that remote place in Qinzhou, as if he was in exile.
Yang Dong's current term as Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs is about to expire. According to tradition, he will usually be assigned to a better state capital. After that, he will return to the central government and he will be an official at the level of minister.
Then Feng Mengde also said, "I am also willing to serve in Guangdong and Guangxi."
To a large extent, he was affected by the Salesian Bureau case. He has recently provoked many people in the court.
There are many criticisms, and I want to avoid the storm temporarily.
The most surprising thing is that Mou Zicai, who has always had the trust of Zhao Guan's family, also said, "Your Highness, let me go too."
Zhao Mengqi thought about it in his mind and said, "Let's do this. The teacher only serves as the magistrate of the state, and his power is still too small. I will get you a transfer envoy to Guangdong and Guangxi. As for Feng Shilang, he will serve as the comfort envoy of Guangdong and know Guangzhou. Mou Zhongshu will serve as the envoy of Guangxi. Promote the Changping Division and know the two states of Lei and Qiong..."
In a few words, Zhao Mengqi decided on the matter of Guangdong and Guangxi, and then looked at Qiu Yue.
"Mr. Qiu, I also want you to be able to roam in the forest, but I hope you can help me even more. This new sect is also related to my big plans, so please bear with me and take the helm for me." ap.
Seeing that Qiu Yue still hadn't escaped, Qiu Yue couldn't help but laugh and cry, twirling his snow-white beard, "Okay, okay, I'll leave this old bone to His Highness."
