Taiyuan City.
After Wokuotai arrived, he first summoned the princes of the Han Dynasty to stabilize the hearts of the princes, and then while recuperating, he controlled the Mongolian cavalry to harass Hebei.
At this time, in a forest farm outside Taiyuan City, nearly a hundred Mongolian cavalry were galloping, driving away prey in the forest.
Wo Kuotai was riding on a BMW, he drew his bow and arrow while running, and shot an arrow with a whoosh, hitting a sika deer in the middle.
The Mongolian cavalry picked up the sika deer that had been shot and galloped in front of Wokuotai, "The Great Khan is a great shot!"
Wokuotai had already shot several prey today, and he was satisfied. He laughed and said, "Take it back and grill it for Ben Khan."
Taiyuan City is a large city in the east of Hedong. It has a large population and prosperous commerce, but Wo Kuotai is not used to staying in the city. He prefers to live in a camp outside the city.
At this time, Wokuotai returned with a full load. As soon as he returned to the camp, his subordinates reported, "Great Khan, the prime minister is here!"
Wo Kuotai got off his horse and said, "Let him come to the big tent to see me."
In the Mongolian tent, the soldiers set up a bonfire and set up a skinned and deveined wild deer to prepare for the barbecue.
Wo Kuotai sat on the bed, with a table in front of him and kumiss on it.
Yelu Chucai entered the tent and saluted: "Great Khan!"
Wo Kuotai ordered his subordinates to give Yelu Chucai a seat, and then asked with a smile: "Prime Minister, come here, what's the matter?"
Yelu Chucai said: "Great Khan, there is news from Hebei that Zhao Tai has arrived in Xianzhou."
"Hmph!" Wo Kuotai snorted coldly, "So what if he comes to Xianzhou? Could it be that he wants to attack Youzhou?"
Yelu Chucai said: "It's not clear yet, but he must have entered Hebei in order to deal with the plunder of Hebei by our cavalry."
Now Wokuotai's strategy is to use cavalry to harass Zhao Tai so that Zhao Tai cannot develop, while Mongolia rests and recuperates while waiting for the return of the Western Expedition army.
The Han territory occupied by Mongolia, Guanzhong and Hedong are surrounded by mountains and rivers. In a country with four fortresses, the Mongolian army can farm with peace of mind behind closed doors without worrying about being attacked, while Mongolia can continue to send cavalry southward from Youzhou and from the Taihang Mountains. Go east to harass Hebei controlled by Zhao Tai.
According to Wokuotai's estimation, if he harasses for one year, the state of Qi will become exhausted, and if he harasses for two years, the state of Qi's finances will collapse.
By then, Mongolia will be well rested and Qi will be exhausted. Coupled with the Western Expedition army returning from the east, Wo Kuotai is confident of defeating the Qi army in one fell swoop.
"The Southern Song Dynasty is really useless!" Hearing that Zhao Tai came to Hebei to deal with the Mongolian cavalry, Wo Kuotai couldn't help but curse the Southern Song Dynasty, "If the southerners could pose a threat to Qi, Zhao Tai would not come to Hebei so soon!"
Yelu Chucai said: "The Southern Song Dynasty was eager to exchange prisoners and strengthen the military strength in the south of the Yangtze River. They were worried that Zhao Tai would kill Yangtze River, so they could only negotiate peace with Zhao Tai as soon as possible. However, in order to exchange prisoners and restore some strength in the Southern Song Dynasty, Qi State must be in Huainan Stationing more troops will be beneficial to Mongolia."
Wo Kuotai nodded slightly, pondered for a moment and then asked: "The cavalry has been plundering for several months. What is the result?"
Yelu Chucai said: "The spring plowing in the seven states in central Hebei has been destroyed. However, because of the interception by the Qi army and cavalry, the cavalry did not dare to go deep into southern Hebei. The spring plowing there has been completed."
Wokuotai frowned and said, "I heard that there are four major granaries in Khanland, one is Hebei, the second is Bashu, the third is Jingchu, and the fourth is Jiangnan. Now that Jizhongzhou County has missed the spring plowing, the cavalry must continue to penetrate southward and intervene. Production in Jinanzhou County. I want the land in Hebei controlled by Zhao Tai to be barren and famine to occur. Only in this way can Zhao Tai's threat to Youzhou be reduced."
Yelu Chucai was a little worried and said: "Great Khan, Zhao Tai has arrived in Xianzhou and asked the cavalry to go deep south. Will it be dangerous?"
But Wokuotai smiled and said: "Hebei is a flat river. My Mongolian cavalry comes and goes like the wind. Zhao Tai arrives in Hebei. I will not fight with him, but only kill his people. What can he do to me?"
Yelu Chucai heard this and pondered for a while, feeling that as long as the Mongolian cavalry ran away when they encountered the Qi army and specifically attacked the villages and towns of Qi, the Qi army seemed to have no way to defeat the Mongolian army.
"If southern Hebei is also destroyed, then Qi will have nothing to gain from Hebei this year, but will have to spend a lot of money and food, and Qi's national power will be greatly depleted." Yelu Chucai also became optimistic, "We will wait for the Western Expeditionary Army by then Return and the time has come for the Great Khan to counterattack.”
"Hahaha~" Wokuotai laughed heartily. He watched the wild deer dripping oil under the bonfire and greeted him: "The Prime Minister will eat and drink here today. Let's drink." A few drinks.”
~~~~~~
Zhao Tai's original intention was to drive the Mongolian army out of Youzhou, but the cabinet made it clear that neither the Qi treasury nor the people could bear a new war.
Because the cabinet does not support it, and Qi State has newly acquired the land of Hebei and Huainan, and has not yet digested the results of last year's war, it is indeed difficult to restart the war.
】
After all, Mongolia suffered little loss in last year's battle, and Youzhou is Wo Kuotai's bottom line. Once a fight breaks out, there may be no results in a short time.
If the war drags on and Hebei fails to gain anything, the Qi army will be in trouble.
Zhao Tai thought over and over again and realized that no farming regime could maintain long-term and continuous foreign wars, so he gave up the idea of continuing the war.
After Zhang Rou proposed the strategy of "replacing troops with water", Zhao Tai came to Xianzhou in person and conducted on-site inspections. He found that the prefectures and counties currently attacked by the Mongolian cavalry were mainly in the seven prefectures between the Yishui River and the Hutuo River. The area south of the Hutuo River did not suffer much damage.
This allowed Zhao Tai to see that "replacing troops with water" could indeed defend against the Mongolian cavalry.
Zhao Tai returned to Xianzhou City and immediately asked Wang Wentong to collect information to see how to restore the Northern Song Dynasty's three-horizontal and two-column defense system.
Many years after the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Great Water Wall had long been abandoned by the Jin Kingdom. Zhao Tai didn't know what it was like now and whether it could still be used.
Now if Qi State wants to pick it up again, it needs to have a certain understanding of the Hebei water network.
After Zhao Tai returned to Xianzhou City, he ordered his subordinates to collect information, and then discussed with many generals the feasibility of "replacing troops with water".
Two days later, Wang Bin used the collected information to build a huge sand table in the festival hall.
At this time, Zhao Tai and many civil and military officials gathered around the sand table and observed the geography of Hebei's mountains and rivers and the direction of the rivers.
Zhao Tai observed carefully for a while. Decades later, the defense system of the Northern Song Dynasty had been abandoned, but Zhao Tai could still see several vertical and horizontal water networks on the sand table.
"Your Majesty, the Northern Song Dynasty used water to replace troops, mainly relying on the Nanyi River as the first line of defense, the Hutuo River as the second line of defense, and finally the Yellow River as the third line of defense to resist the Liao soldiers attacking Kaifeng." Wang Bin pointed to the sand table. , "According to the information collected by the ministers, due to the abandonment during the Jin Dynasty, the upper reaches of the Nanyi River were silted up and the river was shallow, so people and horses could wade through it. At present, the Mongolian cavalry mainly comes from the upper reaches of the Nanyi River to Baozhou. Looting nearby into our states and counties.”
