During the Shandong Incident, Zhao Tai used an undercover agent to falsely accuse Li Fen of rebellion, forcing Li Fen to rebel against Mongolia.
Li Fen was the largest warlord in Shandong, with an army of 80,000 on paper. His rebellion was undoubtedly a fatal blow to Mongolian rule in Shandong.
In this incident, the fifteen thousand cavalry led by Kublai Khan lost thousands of people, and the team was scattered during the breakout.
The 5,000 Mongolian troops guarding Jinan, led by Wanhu Haseer, broke out from the north city. They were attacked by Li's cavalry not long after walking.
The 20,000 Mongolian army finally fled to Kaifeng. Kublai Khan gathered only 3,000 horsemen. They fled to Tasi, Hebei, and only gathered more than 10,000 horsemen. Seven thousand Mongolian soldiers were killed or separated and became horse thieves.
In this incident, the Mongolian army suffered a small loss in strength, but it lost Jinan and the entire Shandong region, which later fell into the hands of the warlords Li Fen, Zhao Tai, and Wuxian.
After taking Shandong, Zhao Tai and Wuxian led their troops westward to sweep Bozhou, Puzhou, Huazhou, and Damingfu, while Li Fen went north, capturing Cangzhou, Jingzhou, Xianzhou, Hejian, and threatening Jinzhong. All.
Zhao Tai knew that after Wokuotai defeated Kaifeng, he would attack Shandong, so he led his troops northward to continue to inflict heavy losses on Hebei and destroy the potential of the Hebei warlords.
Hebei warlords Zhang Rou and Shi Tianze had just suffered heavy losses and had not yet regained their strength. The three towns of Qilu and Qilu invaded their territory. The two of them did not care about much and fled in a hurry with a group of subordinates and subordinates.
Zhao Tai chased Zhang Rou to Weizhou and besieged Zhang Rou, while Li Fen went all the way north and approached Jinzhongdu. He met more than 10,000 horses collected by the Mongols from the grasslands, and then stopped at the river. He did not hit the center in one blow. All.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, outside Kaifeng City, inside the Mongolian army camp.
A bonfire was lit in the handsome tent of Wokuotai, which made the tent a little hot and made the people in the Mongolian army feel irritable.
"I really didn't expect that Zhao Tai's fellow had colluded with Li Fen a long time ago. Now that Li Fen has rebelled, the entire situation in Shandong has collapsed in an instant." Yang Weizhong was shocked by the news brought back by Kublai Khan.
The faces of many Mongolian nobles in the tent were both surprised and angry.
Subotai said: "Great Khan, now Shandong is lost, what should we do?"
Wo Kuotai said with a dark face, "I know that this Zhao Tai can always cause trouble for me. The land of Shandong and the way of transporting grain can directly threaten Hebei. I must not let Zhao Tai occupy Shandong." .”
At this point, Wo Kuotai stood up and said, "This Khan will mobilize his troops immediately to destroy him!"
"Yes! Destroy him!" Many Mongolian nobles in the tent agreed, wishing to eat his flesh raw.
Seeing this, Yang Weizhong stood up and said: "Great Khan, you must not raise your troops in anger and let Zhao Tai disrupt the position."
Wo Kuotai said solemnly, "You asked me to ignore Zhao Tai's occupation of Shandong!"
"Great Khan, Zhao Tai is very scheming and plans very carefully. There are almost no flaws in his plan. He is indeed a wise man." Yang Weizhong said sincerely.
These words made many Mongolian nobles in the tent feel a little unhappy. Subotai snorted coldly, "You are trying to increase other people's ambitions and destroy my Mongolian prestige."
Wo Kuotai trusted Yang Weizhong, his adopted son, and regarded him as his own think tank. He said solemnly: "How can Zhao Tai's plan be so comprehensive?"
Yang Weizhong saluted everyone, and then said in a deep voice: "Great Khan, as far as this Shandong Incident is concerned, Zhao Tai is almost impeccable in terms of early preparation, analysis of the situation, and timing. He was very good at dealing with the Shandong Incident. After Li Fen colluded, he severely wounded Zhang Rou and Shi Tianze in advance. As a result, after the Shandong Incident, the Great Khan was unable to mobilize troops from Hebei to pacify Shandong. In addition, the timing he chose was also very tricky, just after the Great Khan besieged Kaifeng. If he launched Tai Early in the morning, the battle of Kaifeng has not yet begun, and the Great Khan may march into Shandong and kill him directly. If he launches too late, the Great Khan takes Kaifeng, and the entire army can enter Shandong, and Zhao Tai will also be destroyed."
Wo Kuotai nodded slightly, "Zhao Tai is really thoughtful."
"He took action when the Great Khan attacked Kaifeng, and it was actually his conspiracy. If the Great Khan entered Shandong in a large scale, then the efforts of attacking Kaifeng these days would be in vain. Therefore, Zhao Tai has the confidence, he thinks that the Great Khan If nothing can be done to him in a short period of time, then he dares to seize Shandong!" Yang Weizhong said.
Wokuotai grimaced and gritted his teeth as he said, "This Zhao Tai is sure that Ben Khan will never give up on seizing Kaifeng. That's why he is so arrogant and rampant."
Subotai frowned, "Are we going to let him occupy Shandong like this?"
Yang Weizhong said: "That's all we can do now. We can only free up our hands to deal with Zhao Tai if we take Kaifeng first."
Wokuotai stood up and paced back and forth in the big tent. Now he had reached a critical moment in besieging Kaifeng.
If we send troops to encircle and suppress Zhao Tai, if we send too few troops, we will not be able to defeat Zhao Tai. If we send too many troops, it will affect his ability to attack Kaifeng.
In addition, the Southern Song Dynasty's army crossed the Huaihe River, entered Suzhou, and directly peeked at Kaifeng. Once he divided his troops to attack Zhao Tai, the Southern Song Dynasty's army might go north to Kaifeng.
Speaking of which, Suzhou was originally Zhao Tai's territory, but he gave it to the Southern Song Dynasty, allowing the Southern Song Dynasty to contain the Mongolian army and share the pressure faced by Zhao Tai.
This Zhao Tai is really a fox who is shocked by calculations.
This time was Wo Kuotai's third siege of Kaifeng. He had to capture Kaifeng no matter what.
There are only three things that can be done. If Wo Kuotai returns without success, he will not be able to show off his face without others telling him.
Thinking of this, Wo Kuotai had already made a decision in his heart, "I have decided to ignore Zhao Tai for the time being. I will let him dance around for a while. After I capture Kaifeng and destroy the Kingdom of Jin, I will deal with him again." This dog of national subjugation.”
Many Mongolian nobles in the tent heard Ogedai's words. Although they could not make Zhao Tai pay the price immediately, which made everyone feel a little unhappy, after listening to the conversation just now, they also knew that this could only be done now.
After all, they surrounded Kaifeng, and this time they had already lost more than 20,000 troops and a lot of money, food and materials. It would be a pity to give up halfway.
"We will all listen to the Great Khan's arrangements!" Subotai and the others expressed their opinions with little enthusiasm.
At this time, when the Mongolian monarchs and ministers in the tent reached an agreement, the tent curtain was suddenly raised, and a general came in hurriedly and saluted and reported: "To report to the Great Khan, Zhang Rou sent a messenger to report. Zhao Tai led his troops into Daming Mansion. Sweeping across many states and counties on the north bank of the Yellow River!"
"What?" Wo Kuotai stood up, his face full of shock and anger, "How dare the traitor? He has taken Shandong, but he still wants to take Hebei?"
Yang Weizhong hurriedly persuaded, "Great Khan, don't fall for Zhao Tai's plan. No matter what tricks Zhao Tai pulls out now, I think we should take Kaifeng first."
