At the end of December, heavy white snow covered the grassland.
Wo Kuotai's heart was as cold as the weather on this grassland.
After the peace negotiations between the Mongolian and Song Dynasties, Wokuotai originally thought that he could rest and recuperate while waiting for the internal fighting in the Southern Song Dynasty, and then take advantage of the opportunity.
What Ling Wo Kuotai didn't expect was that the Southern Song Dynasty was in internal strife, but Mongolia, which was supposed to benefit from it, did not reap the benefits and even lost most of Hebei.
Compared with Mongolia's territory, Hebei is only a drop in the bucket. When Wokuotai withdrew his troops, he didn't think much about it. He felt that the cost of taking it back was too high, so he ordered the Mongolian troops to shrink northward, just to maintain the geographical advantage for attacking Hebei.
After Kublai Khan destroyed tens of thousands of Mongolian troops, Mongolia faced the embarrassing situation of not being able to afford death.
Because in the previous battles, all the elite Han soldiers who could be driven were lost, causing the Han princes in the two rivers to be embarrassed in the alignment battle. When Wo Kuotai fought with the Qi army, he had to use his own troops.
In order to subdue all ethnic groups, Mongolia must maintain enough troops and horses. The Mongolian army will inevitably suffer huge casualties in a battle with the Qi army.
Therefore, in the battle between Mongolia and Song Dynasty to attack the Qi army, Wokuotai always avoided a decisive battle with the Qi army, so he gave Zhao Tai an opportunity to take advantage of it, and finally allowed Zhao Tai to make a comeback.
After the defeat of the Song army, Wokuotai immediately led his troops to withdraw north. During the crisis in the Southern Song Dynasty, the Mongolian army only gathered troops and made a threatening gesture, but did not provoke a new war.
Seeing that Zhao Tai's troops shrank and did not take advantage of the situation to destroy Song Dynasty, Wo Kuotai breathed a sigh of relief.
When he saw that there was no further fighting between Song and Qi, he returned to the grassland.
What Wokuotai didn't expect was that after he returned to the grassland, the subsequent impact of the three-way war between Mongolia, Song, and Qi would really become apparent.
Just after the New Year in the Central Plains, Zhao Tai married the daughters of the Zhang family and the Yan family as concubines, and married the Han princes. Mongolia arranged for Daru Huachi in various Han cities, and news came one after another, and many Han princes began to Dissatisfied with the Mongol rule, he violated Daruhuachi's orders and used various excuses to reduce the tribute to Mongolia.
In Xiongzhou, Hebei, there was a bad incident in which the prince of Hebei killed Daru Huachi and took refuge with Zhao Tai.
Obviously, the rise of Zhao Tai has given many powerful Han people in Hebei a new choice.
If the Qi army cannot be defeated, Mongolia's rule in Han will definitely gradually collapse.
Wokuotai did not expect that this war would be so powerful and would directly shake Mongolia's rule in Han.
At this time, in the Mongolian Khan tent, Wokuotai, many Mongolian nobles, and close ministers gathered in the tent.
Everyone sat around the bonfire, and Wo Kuotai said in a deep voice: "In the past, when we in Mongolia encountered heavy snow, the cattle and sheep would freeze to death, and the tribesmen would starve. A snow disaster can destroy one of our tribes. Now we in Mongolia are not afraid of wind and snow. Why?"
Zongwang Kuolejian said: "It's because the Han people provide us with food and supplies. Even if the cattle and sheep freeze to death, we still have enough food and warm bedding."
Wokuotai nodded and said loudly: "Yes, if we in Mongolia want to live a good life, we must own the land and slaves in the south. Now, if the Han people in the south want to break away from our Mongolian control because of Zhao Tai, this Khan will never allow it. !”
When the Mongolian nobles in the tent heard this, they all agreed and cursed Zhao Tai loudly.
Wokuotai said: "Now Zhao Tai is strong. If I can't suppress him, the south of the Great Wall will not be owned by Mongolia. In order to deal with Zhao Tai, I decided to recall the Western Expedition army and ordered all the people in the West to The king sends troops to help in the battle, and gathers the power of Mongolia to destroy them all in one fell swoop!"
After Kublai Khan lost tens of thousands of troops, Wokuotai felt that he could no longer suppress the Qi army.
With the power Wokuotai currently has, it will be very difficult to fight Zhao Tai. In order to deal with Zhao Tai, he can only take back all the scattered Mongolian troops.
Mongolia has fought several wars in the Central Plains in the past few years, all of which were fought against Zhao Tai single-handedly. Mongolia also has more than 100,000 troops for the Western Expedition, tens of thousands of troops for the Eastern Expedition, as well as the Chahatai Khanate and the West Asian Servant Army who did not participate in the war. War in the Central Plains.
Now Wokuotai decided to gather the power of Mongolia, mobilize the army of the slave state, and defeat Zhao Tai, thereby stabilizing Mongolia's rule in the Han Dynasty.
…
Because of Zhao Tai's appearance, the Mongolian Western Expedition was three years earlier than in history.
At this time, the Western Expeditionary Army commanded by Batu had conquered the Kipchak grassland tribes, captured Moscow, defeated Novgorod, and directed its troops towards the Grand Duchy of Kiev in the Dnieper River Basin.
While Mongolia, Song and Qi were fighting in China, the Western Expeditionary Army also launched a war against the Principality of Kiev after resting for several months in the Volga River Basin.
In January 1238, the Western Expeditionary Army broke through Kozelsk, killed the enemy general Vasily, and then marched to the east bank of the Dnieper River, across the river from Kiev.
The prestige of the Mongols made the Principality of Kiev tremble. The Grand Duke of Kiev was afraid of the Mongols and fled to Poland to ask for help. The city of Kiev was handed over to Count Dmytro, who led 50,000 soldiers and civilians to guard it.
In the afternoon, waves of deep horn sounds came from the fields outside Kiev. The Mongolian army crossed the river on the ice, crossed the Dnieper River and arrived at the eastern suburbs of Kiev.
At this time, in the wilderness, groups of Mongolian cavalry galloped back and forth, and the low horns of the Mongolian army sounded on the battlefield.
Under the banner of the Mongolian army, Meng Ge and Guiyou rode proudly on their war horses, behind them were the vast Mongolian cavalry, Kipchak cavalry, and Slavic servants.
During the three years of Mongolia's Western Expedition, the Mongolian army conquered the Kipchak and most of the Russian states. The Mongolian army expanded to 150,000 people and became the most powerful force in Eastern Europe.
Although when the Mongolian army attacked Kozelsk, the Grand Duke of Kiev sent an envoy, hoping to become a vassal of the Mongols like the Principality of Novgorod, the Mongolian army commander Batu did not agree to the request of the Grand Duke of Kiev.
The Principality of Novgorod is located in a remote area with barren mountains and rivers, so it is not very attractive to the Western Expeditionary Army. The Grand Duchy of Kiev is located in the Ukrainian Great Plains and is located at the transportation hub of Eastern Europe. It is the only place that the Mongolian army must pass through to continue the Western Expedition, and the Principality of Kiev is extremely Rich, Batu wanted to seize it and control it directly.
At this time, Brother Meng and Guyu saw the city of Kiev from a distance. Brother Meng couldn't help but be a little surprised, "I didn't expect that this city of Kiev would soon catch up with the big city of the Jin Kingdom."
The city of Kiev is located on a high hill on the west bank of the Dnieper River. The city was built in the late Tang Dynasty almost three hundred years ago. It is the first city of the Slavs and is known as the "Mother of Ten Thousand Cities".
When the Mongols entered Eastern Europe, the Kipchaks were nomadic people and had few cities. The Russian states in the north had cities, but they were all made of wooden walls. They were nothing compared to the Mongols who had attacked the cities in the Central Plains.
This city of Kiev can be said to be the first city that the Mongolian army encountered that was entirely made of bricks and stones.
Guyu snorted coldly, "Such a small city can also stop my Mongolian army. Watch me slaughter this city to establish my power!"
