The city of Kiev fell and a climate of fear spread throughout Eastern Europe.
The Poles and Hungarians in the west of the Principality of Kiev heard about the ferocity and cruelty of the Mongols and were horrified from top to bottom.
At this time, just as they were trembling, worried that the Mongols would continue to advance westward after capturing Kiev, the Mongols who captured Kiev and massacred the city returned to the lower reaches of the Volga River with the looted supplies.
At present, the Western Expedition is progressing smoothly and is about to take control of the Principality of Kiev. However, it suddenly receives a summons from the Mongolian Khan Ogodei.
The original intention of Batu, the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, was to occupy the Principality of Kiev and establish his own khanate in the Dnieper and Volga river basins.
Now that Ogedei asked him to return to his army, Batu was reluctant. However, Genghis Khan Temujin had only left a few years ago, and the top Mongolian officials were still very united, so it was impossible for Batu to disobey Ogedai's will.
Therefore, after Batu got the news, he could only let Guyu and Mengge, who had just captured Kiev, return to the Volga River Basin to join him.
In the Mongolian army camp, all Mongolian ministries were packing up, and Kublai Khan was also packing up his belongings.
At this time, Yang You suddenly came in with the tent and saw Kublai Khan busy. He couldn't help but help and asked: "Your Majesty, did you hear that we are returning eastward?"
Kublai Khan nodded, "Yes, the Great Khan issued a military order to let the army return eastward."
Yang You was a little frightened, "We are fighting well here, why do we have to go back?"
Kublai Khan stopped moving, with hatred on his face, "Because of Zhao Tai! This time the Great Khan recalled the Western Expedition Army to gather the power of Mongolia and destroy Zhao Tai in one fell swoop!"
Yang You was secretly frightened. In the two years since he left, the situation in the Central Plains must have changed. He didn't expect that the king's power would grow to the point where Mongolia would have to deal with it with all its strength.
For a moment, Yang You felt a little excited, thinking that he had chosen the right person, but at the same time, he was a little worried about whether the Qi army could withstand Mongolia's full blow.
It’s no wonder that Yang You was worried. He and Kublai Khan traveled westward from the Central Plains and saw the vastness of the Mongol Empire and its strong national power.
Anyone who walks on such a vast territory will feel the terror of the Mongol Empire.
Being an enemy of such a huge empire, let alone fighting, even walking from the east to the west of the empire is not easy.
Now the Mongolian Empire is going all out to deal with Zhao Tai, which makes Yang You uneasy and worried that Zhao Tai will not be able to withstand the Mongolian attack.
"Your Majesty, will all the Western Expeditionary Army be withdrawn?" Yang You couldn't help but ask.
Kublai Khan said: "Except for the 10,000 troops left by Batu, the rest of the tribes will return. In addition, there will be Kipchaks and some Russians accompanying them!"
Having said this, Kublai Khan became a little excited, "We Mongolia used to attack everywhere, but we couldn't use our full strength to deal with Zhao Tai. This time we gather our troops, it will be Zhao Tai's death!"
Yang You agreed casually, feeling a little worried in his heart. With the Western Expeditionary Army, the Kipchaks, and the Rus, the Mongols might be able to bring back less than 200,000 people.
These soldiers and horses are not ordinary troops, they are elite troops who have experienced hundreds of battles and are extremely bloodthirsty and cruel.
During the Western Expedition, Yang You saw the Mongolian army on the plains of Eastern Europe, invincible and invincible, defeating countries and city-states one after another.
This made him anxious, "The Western Expeditionary Army has suddenly returned. We must try to inform the king of this information so that the king can prepare early."
The Mongolian Western Expeditionary Army decided to return, and the army traveled thousands of miles along the way.
If it were an army from a farming civilization, this would be almost impossible. No dynasty could protect and maintain such a long supply line.
The movement of nomadic armies has an advantage over armies of agricultural civilization. They can march while grazing, and there is no need for civilians to travel thousands of miles to transport food.
At this time, the Western Expeditionary Army returned eastward. In order to ensure that there was enough food along the way, and to prevent the various ethnic groups in Eastern Europe from rebelling against Mongolia after the main Mongolian force left, Batu ordered the Kipchaks to migrate eastward as a whole, and also from the Rus' The country dispatched a large number of cattle, sheep and young people.
The Mongols gathered these Russians and selected less than 10,000 of them as slaves. The rest gathered together and let the selected Russian slaves slaughter all the Russians.
In this way, it can not only consume the Russians, leaving them unable to resist the Mongol rule, but also reduce the pressure of food consumption on the way back.
】
It was February, and after Batu gave the order to return eastward, the Western Expeditionary Army took the Kipchaks and Rus people and carried millions of cattle and sheep to start the long journey back eastward.
…
Shandong Jinan.
After the New Year, Zhao Tai, with the support of his soldiers, proclaimed himself King of Qi, and at the same time rewarded meritorious officials.
In terms of titles, Zhao Tai initially hoped to be called King of Ming and King of Han, but he was not satisfied with the title of King of Qi, thinking that "Qi" was too restrictive.
However, Zhao Tai's thinking was obviously the thinking of later generations. Wang Wentong, Yuan Haowen and other civil servants believed that throughout the dynasties, the kings were respected by Qin, Qi, Jin and Zhao. In many dynasties, whoever became the king of Qin was assumed to be the prince.
Civil servants all believe that the region included in the title is more noble. They believe that Zhao Tai originated from Qi, and using Qi as his title has continuity and can unite people's hearts.
Zhao Tai thought for a while, and since both Mongolia and Zhao Song called him a Qi thief, and the soldiers all thought that he was a Qi army, they had formed an identity and were proud of Qi, so he accepted the suggestion and called himself the King of Qi.
After becoming king, in order to stabilize the newly occupied Hebei and Huainan, the civil servants immediately planned to expand the harem for Zhao Tai.
This move caused dissatisfaction between the princess and Li Fen, but after the two got into trouble, they quickly accepted the fact that Zhao Tai had married multiple concubines in succession.
On the princess's side, Zhao Tai worked hard for several nights to settle the matter on his own, while Li Fen felt the pressure of the entire Qi Kingdom's civil and military forces.
The future of Qi State is related to everyone's interests. Marriage is beneficial to Qi State. Civil servants and generals are trying their best to promote it. Even Zhao Tai can't refuse, let alone Li Fen.
If Li Fen blocked the marriage, it would affect the civil and military future of Qi and make it difficult for Qi to grow. Naturally, he did not dare to offend everyone for this, and in the end he could only agree to the marriage.
However, in order to appease Li Fen, Zhao Tai still proclaimed himself queen and made Li Fen and Wuxian Dukes of the Kingdom. The old generals who followed Zhao Tai also received rewards.
This gave the generals of the Qi army a sudden taste of the sweetness, and many people began to look to Longshu, hoping that Zhao Tai could make further progress, and they could follow suit.
Zhao Tai claimed to be King of Qi, which made the Southern Song Dynasty court extremely dissatisfied. However, because the Southern Song Dynasty was afraid of Zhao Tai's strength, they naturally did not dare to say anything harsh, which only affected the negotiation process between the two parties.
Early that morning, Zhao Tai came to the Political Affairs Hall, and Wang Wentong immediately came over to report, "Your Majesty, I have something to report. Since your Majesty became Queen of Qi, our negotiations with the Southern Song Dynasty have reached a deadlock."
