Kublai Khan was about to execute a few people when he saw a group of people approaching. The leader was Hedan, the concubine of Wo Kuotai.
Several soldiers saw him and shouted to him quickly: "Your Majesty, save us!"
With a dark face, Kublai Khan pointed at the captured Mongolian soldiers and asked, "Hedan, are these your subordinates?"
Hedan nodded, "Kublai Khan, they just killed a few Han people. You don't have to do this! Do you want them to be buried with a few untouchables?"
Kublai Khan said with a dark face, "Hedong is now my Mongolian territory. They are harming our family's slaves and property!"
He Dan said: "We have come all the way to rescue Hedong, can't we just find something to eat by ourselves?"
Kublai Khan could not control Guyu's troops and said in a deep voice: "Hedan, I can forget about this matter today, but I hope you will restrain your troops. After all, Hedong is my eldest brother's fiefdom!"
After Kublai Khan finished speaking, he hurriedly drew his horse and left.
Hedan rescued several of his subordinates and looked at Kublai Khan's retreating back, but he snorted coldly, "Huh, kill a few Han people and see how excited he is~"
Kublai Khan returned to Taiyuan City with a heavy heart, only to find that it was not only the Guyu tribe and Batu tribe outside the city who were looting, but Meng Ge's subordinates also participated in the robbery of Taiyuan people.
Now that 200,000 Mongolian troops have gathered in Taiyuan, Kublai Khan can only reduce and control the army's supplies.
This made all the Mongolian troops dissatisfied, and they began to harm the people one after another.
Kublai Khan found the Mongolian army and grabbed a lot of food, cloth, pots and pans. He immediately became furious and ordered several people to be executed, and then hurried to see Meng Ge.
In Taiyuan City, in the palace, Meng Ge stood in front of the map with his hands behind his hands, lost in thought, when Kublai Khan broke in with an angry look on his face.
Brother Meng heard the noise and turned around to see him, with a puzzled look on his face, "What's going on?"
Kublai Khan said angrily: "Brother, the people of Guyu and Batu are so shameless. They have completely ruined the villages and towns outside the city."
Meng Ge heard this but didn't take it seriously, "They're just some Han people, why do you have to be so angry?"
In Mongolia's war to conquer various ethnic groups, massacres were commonplace, but Brother Meng didn't think this was a big deal.
Kublai Khan said: "Brother, Hedong is our fiefdom now! Furthermore, now that Zhao Tai is stationed in Yangquan, and Guiyou and Batu are treating the people like this, will these people turn to Zhao Tai?"
Meng Ge frowned, finally realizing the seriousness of the problem.
This time they were fighting defensively, not in an enemy country.
Then Zhao Tai stayed in Yangquan, fearing that unrest would break out in Hedong just as he was waiting.
Brother Meng walked a few steps in the hall and said, "Are you worried about the rebellion of the people in Hedong?"
Kublai Khan said: "Not just the people, but also the princes of Hedong. Now two hundred thousand troops have gathered in Taiyuan, relying entirely on Hedong for support. The princes and people of Hedong are full of complaints."
Previously, Mongolia knew that it did not have the ability to rule the Han region, so it adopted a tax farming system in the Han region.
They divided the Han land they occupied among many princes and collected a fixed tax every year.
Under this tax farming system, princes from various places actually supported Mongolia quite a bit.
After they paid taxes to Mongolia, they were able to intercept some of them themselves. But now in order to support the army, Mongolia had to break its promise and ask each noble family to pay an additional sum to support the army in addition to the taxes they should pay each year. Naturally, each family will The prince of the family is dissatisfied.
Brother Meng narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, "What a Zhao Tai, so that's what he had in mind."
Kublai Khan's words awakened Brother Meng and made him understand Zhao Tai's plan.
Now that Zhao Tai is stationed in Yangquan, with Hebei at his back, there is a steady supply of food supplies that the Qi army can afford.
The cultivated land area in Hedong is small, and it is very difficult to support 200,000 Mongolian troops.
As long as the Qi army delays, the situation in Hedong will change.
Kublai Khan said: "Brother, have you seen Zhao Tai's conspiracy?"
Mongolia nodded, "I can see it. He knows that the food in Hedong cannot support an army of 200,000. He will wait until there is unrest in Hedong and Mongolia loses all our hearts before launching an attack."
Speaking of this, Brother Meng said: "It seems that the chaos outside the city should really be taken care of."
Kublai Khan said: "Brother, I can't control it at all. I just wanted to get rid of a few soldiers who committed murder and robbery, but He Dan stopped me. Now we can only control our own tribe, and we have no ability to restrain Guyu and Batu." people."
When Meng Ge heard this, his cheeks twitched, "Get your horses ready, I'll go find them myself."
…
Outside the city, inside the Mongolian army camp.
The three giants Guyu, Meng Ge, and Batu sat together, and the atmosphere in the tent was quite heavy.
After hearing what Brother Meng said, Guyu glanced at everyone and asked: "What do you think of what Prince Meng said?"
After Meng Ge talked with Kublai Khan, he took the initiative to find Batu and Guyu and explained the current situation. Guyu immediately called everyone together to discuss countermeasures.
Batu said in a deep voice: "The warriors have been accustomed to this for a long time. I think it is difficult for them to make changes. Especially now that the military supply is insufficient, it is even more difficult to restrain the army."
Batu is telling the truth. It has long been a habit for the Mongolian army to grab whatever they go, and it is also an important source of the Mongolian army's combat effectiveness.
If the army had sufficient supplies, it might be possible to restrain them. But now that the food in the army is so poor, it is basically impossible to restrain the subordinates.
Brother Meng frowned, "Now that Zhao Tai has his back to Hebei, he doesn't have to worry about military food. The food production in Hedong is far less than that in Hebei, but he has to support an army of 200,000 people. Now in order to support the army, Hedong is already short of food. If we can't restrain the troops, If Hedong is destroyed by everyone, we will no longer be able to support such a large army. If Zhao Tai's troops are not stationed, they will wait for us to run out of food and the Han people will rebel before launching an attack."
Guyu looked at Yang Weizhong, "Prime Minister, do you have any countermeasures?"
Yang Weizhong muttered: "Great Khan, our original intention was to attract Zhao Tai to Taiyuan and then destroy him in one battle. Our previous strategy was to defeat him quickly, but I don't know if Zhao Tai heard the news. , knowing that we entered Hedong, he felt that he had insufficient troops, so he did not fight to Taiyuan. Now that he is stationed in Yangquan, it seems that his plan is indeed to delay and wait for unrest in Hedong. "
Guyu asked: "Do we still have a chance now to lure Zhao Tai over for a decisive battle?"
After hearing what Brother Meng said about the situation in Hedong, everyone understood that the money and food in Hedong would not last long, and the Mongolian and Qi armies could not afford it. If they wanted to win, they must fight quickly.
Yang Weizhong shook his head, "Zhao Tai should have figured out our strength by now, and he will definitely not come. If the confrontation continues like this, the people of Hedong and even the princes will definitely fall to Qi. I think we are going to win now, and we can only Take the initiative to join forces and then go find Zhao Tai for a decisive battle."
