Zhao Tai cast his eyes on the sand table, looked at the upper reaches of the Nanyi River, and asked: "Does this mean that if we can block this place, we can prevent the Mongolian army from entering the prefectures and counties under our control?"
Wang Bin shook his head and said, "Report to your Majesty, if we can re-excavate and station troops, we can prevent some Mongolian cavalry from entering. However, if we want to completely prevent the Mongolian army from infiltrating, we still need to deploy troops and horses to patrol the entire Nanyi River Basin. "
Zhao Tai pondered, "If this is the case, I will invest too many troops."
Wang Bin said: "Your Majesty, if it is just to defend against enemy cavalry entering and plundering, I think that not many troops and horses are needed. If we want to prevent the main force of the Mongolian army from attacking, the so-called three horizontal and two vertical methods will not be of much use. Because the river only It can prevent a small group of cavalry from crossing the river easily, but it cannot stop the Mongolian army who wants to invade in a large scale."
Zhao Tai stroked his beard, looked at Wang Wentong, and asked, "What do you mean, sir?"
Wang Wentong said: "Reporting to your Majesty, I think that as long as we can prevent a small group of Mongolian troops from entering and plundering, we can try to restore it. I have collected information in the past two days and found that the defense system of the Northern Song Dynasty was not only a defense against the Liao Kingdom, but also a water conservancy project. Now that the people of the seven states in central Hebei have missed spring plowing, they will definitely need help from the imperial court this year. I thought that we could recruit the people of these seven states to dredge rivers, build new canals, dig ponds, and turn dry land into paddy fields. In this way, we can not only defend against Mongolian cavalry, but also the government We can also use work as relief to pay the people's wages, so that people in the seven states can have money to buy food. Finally, the fields will be transformed into paddy fields, and we may be able to plant a season of rice."
Zhao Tai's eyes lit up when he heard this. Rice is planted at different times in different places. There are two seasons a year in the south and one season a year in Hebei. Farming usually starts around the Qingming Festival.
This means that if the dry land near Nanyishui can be transformed into paddy fields, Zhao Tai will still have a chance to grow rice for a season.
In addition, growing rice requires a large number of ponds and ditches. In addition, compared with wheat fields, the soil in rice fields is much softer, which is not conducive to cavalry galloping.
Now that the people of the seven states have missed the spring plowing, they cannot be allowed to just wait until their families run out of food.
Therefore, Qi State's "leading troops with water" actually does not need to expend too many additional resources.
Zhao Tai nodded heavily, "Okay! Then mobilize, try to force the Mongolian Rangers out, and plant a season of rice!"
If the Qi army can prevent the Mongolian army from plundering Hebei, the people of Hebei can produce with peace of mind.
Then Qi State has two major granaries in Huainan and Hebei. After the autumn harvest, Qi State will be able to reserve enough military rations.
By then, before the Mongols can attack on the ice in winter, Zhao Tai himself will lead his troops to attack Yanyun and drive the Mongolian army out of Hebei.
At this time, Zhao Taigang had just made a decision. Zhao Hu suddenly rushed in and saluted and reported: "Your Majesty, Zhang Rou is reporting urgently that a small group of Mongolian cavalry has crossed the Hutuo River and entered southern Hebei."
Zhao Tai was startled when he heard this and quickly walked to the sand table, "Where did Meng Qi cross the river?"
Zhao Hu said: "The upper reaches of the Hutuo River is Baima Gang in Zhending Prefecture. According to Zhang Rou, the river there is shallow and there is no time to dig the river and build a fort."
It had only been two days since Zhang Rou took office, and he would definitely not be able to establish an effective defense on the front line of the Hutuo River in a short period of time.
Zhao Tai stared at the sand table, his expression became ugly, "It seems that after the Mongols destroyed the seven states in central Hebei, they began to try to cross the Hutuo River and penetrate into southern Hebei to plunder."
Wang Bin frowned and asked, "Do you know how many Mongolian troops came over?"
Zhao Hu said: "There should be only Baiqi, but two villages have been destroyed."
Zhao Tai punched the sand table and said, "Send the order and ask Zhang Rou to step up the defenses along the Hutuo River. The Mongolian army cannot be allowed to cross the Hutuo River again."
"Yes!" Wang Bin clasped his fists.
"Wanyan Chenghu!" Zhao Tai shouted again.
"I'm here!" Wanyan Chenghu came out.
Zhao Tai said in a deep voice: "You send two thousand households to eliminate these more than a hundred Mongolian cavalry in southern Hebei. You must not let them cause panic among the people in southern Hebei."
"I accept your order!" Wanyan Chenghu immediately clasped his fists.
At this time Wang Bin said: "Your Majesty, just relying on the army to pursue and intercept, more than a hundred Mongolian cavalry can mobilize thousands of our cavalry. This way we are too passive. I think the entire people of Hebei should also be mobilized."
Zhao Tai nodded slightly: "Then we will follow the example of Jibei! Now we have to block the Mongolian cavalry, and suppress the Mongolian cavalry. We will use our elite to recover them."
After Wokuotai sent cavalry to destroy production in seven states in central Hebei, the Mongolian cavalry began to penetrate into southern Hebei counties.
After several groups of Mongolian cavalry crossed the Hutuo River, villages in southern Hebei began to be massacred by the Mongolian cavalry.
This immediately caused panic among the people in southern Hebei. However, when the Mongolian army looted central Hebei, Qi had already made some preparations in southern Hebei.
The Song Dynasty had a conscription system, while the Qi State's military system was different from that of the Southern Song Dynasty. It was mainly a conscription system.
The military conscription system involved recruiting adult men into the army with money from the court, while the military conscription system recruited young men from across the country.
This requires that the officials of Qi State have a certain understanding of the situation of young people in the territory.
In this way, Qi State can quickly recruit young people as soldiers during war, recruit corvees in peacetime, and organize people to build large-scale projects.
After Zhao Tai took control of Hebei, the first thing he did was to inventory the land and register the young people.
In the State of Qi, when a man reaches the age of seventeen, he must register with the government. From then on, he will spend one month every year doing corvee service or training. When he reaches the age of twenty, the government will select and recruit outstanding people to become sergeants.
Because the government has information about Qingzhuang, everything must be shaken and organized quickly.
After the Mongolian army entered southern Hebei, the government immediately summoned the village chiefs to hold a meeting in the county and distributed weapons to arm the young people in the village so that the village had a certain ability to protect itself.
That night, more than a dozen Mongolian cavalry came outside a village.
The leading cavalryman had just drawn out his scimitar and was about to enter the village to plunder. Suddenly, torches were raised in the village, followed by the sound of "Dongdongdong" and drums.
Seeing this, the Mongolian cavalry were horrified and quickly fled. As soon as they arrived at the next village, the "dang dang dang" gong in the village immediately rang.
At this time, a village sounded the alarm, and several surrounding villages were immediately alert, and the young men were organized. At the same time, the Qi army officers who were chasing the Mongolian army in this area also received guidance.
"The Tatars are over there in Dongzhuang!" A group of Qi army cavalry immediately got on their horses and galloped away in the direction of the villagers' warning.
For a time, the small group of Mongolian cavalry did not dare to touch the villages of Qi State. Wherever they went, people warned them, and when the people's alarm bell rang, the nearby Qi soldiers could kill them in a matter of seconds, so the Mongolian cavalry could only Running around in panic.
