June. After Batu led the remaining troops to withdraw from Guanzhong, Qi quickly took over the Guanlong area. However, the Qi army did not fully control the land of Kansai.
Batu ran too fast. After the Mongolian army lost the battle of Shayuan, they withdrew to Hetao without making any resistance.
Because the Mongolian army moved quickly and many cities were occupied by nearby princes, the Qi army did not take over many states and counties. It only controlled the Weihe River Plain and some states and counties in northern Shaanxi.
Of course, those Han princes immediately expressed their allegiance to Qi after the Mongols fled, so Qi had nominal control of the Guanlong land.
After Ogedai's death, Mongolia rapidly declined and collapsed. Zhao Tai originally thought that it would take several years of hard work to unify the north. Unexpectedly, it only took two years to seize the Central Plains, Hedong and Guanzhong and complete the unification of the north.
Zhao Tai did not expect this. The lack of anticipation means that Qi's preparations are not sufficient.
Therefore, Zhao Tai did not show any displeasure with Wang Shixian and others occupying many states and counties. Although there was friction and unhappiness between the Qi army and some princes' troops when they took over the city, they were quickly suppressed by Zhao Tai and the whole army was very harmonious.
Now that the Qi army has continuously occupied the Central Plains, Hedong, and Guanzhong, Zhao Tai's territory has expanded, and Zhao Tai's troops are insufficient. Zhao Tai even encouraged these Guanlong Shihou's troops to move west to capture Liangzhou and Suzhou after meeting with Wang Shixian and others.
This encouraged Wang Shixian. After coming to Xijing to meet Zhao Tai, he led his men and horses into the old lands of the Xixia Kingdom and expanded Qi's territory westward.
At the end of June, after the Qi army took control of Guanzhong, Zhao Tai announced that he would be exempted from taxes for one year in order to pacify the people of Guanzhong, and then left Wuxian to guard Xijing while he led his troops to Yecheng.
After Guanzhong announced the tax exemption, the Qi army was unable to collect grain from Guanzhong this year, and the transportation of military grain was extremely labor-intensive. In order to relieve the pressure, Zhao Tai decided to lead his army back to Yecheng for food.
This time, Zhao Tai did not return the same way. Instead, he listened to Wang Bin's advice and entered the Central Plains via Tongguan to inspect Luoyang and Kaifeng to choose a new capital for Qi.
After occupying Xi'an and renaming Xi'an to Xijing, Zhao Tai inspected the Guanzhong area. Although Guanzhong is a land of four fortresses and is easy to defend and difficult to attack, with the development of the times, it seems that it is no longer suitable to be the capital of the unified dynasty.
This is the capital of Guanzhong. The transportation is inconvenient and it is difficult to concentrate the materials and wealth of the country. It is easy to cause the separation of Guandong and Guanxi like the Tang Dynasty.
Secondly, the population and economy of Guanzhong lag far behind that of Guanzhong. Anywhere in Guandong that rebels has a population and economic strength that almost exceeds that of Guanzhong.
Therefore, after the inspection, Wang Bin rejected the proposal to establish Xi'an as the capital. Of course, in addition to the two points Wang Bin considered above, when Zhao Tai gave up his capital in Xi'an, he also considered one more thing.
The first point is that Xi'an is too far from the ocean. With Xi'an as its capital, Qi must be a country that pays more attention to land rights, and may miss the development of the ocean.
Early July, Luoyang. The Mongolian-Jin War caused extremely serious damage to Henan, and the population of the Central Plains dropped sharply.
After Zhao Tai regained the Central Plains, he has been migrating people to Henan to restore the land of Henan. In the past three years of hard work, the Central Plains has recovered somewhat, but compared to Hedong, Hebei, Shandong, and Huainan, the population is still very sparse.
At this time, Zhao Tai stood on the mottled Luoyang City, looking at the shabby streets in the city, and couldn't help shaking his head and sighing: "Sir, the population of Luoyang is not as good as that of Xijing!" Wang Bin shook his feather fan,
"Your Majesty, Luoyang's current population and commerce are indeed not as good as Xi'an, but it is located in the world, and I am very optimistic about it. Although Luoyang is dilapidated now, the Central Plains has always been a place where the population gathers. I think that within ten years , he will surely recover." Zhao Tai glanced around Luoyang City again,
"So, sir, I am very optimistic about Luoyang. However, all the palaces in Luoyang City have been destroyed. If we want to make the capital here, we must build a large palace. How much manpower and material resources will this consume?" Zhao Tai shook his head as he said,
"The world is not unified at the moment, so I don't think it's appropriate!" Wang Bin knew what Zhao Tai was thinking. Although Qi State unified the north, the Mongols were still very powerful after they retreated to the grasslands, threatening Qi State's northern security.
In addition, Zhao Tai's ambition was to unify the world, and while the Song Dynasty was separatist in the south, Zhao Tai's ambition must be to save money and food, and then destroy the Southern Song Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhao Tai definitely does not want to waste Qi's national strength to build the capital and delay the unification of the world.
"I understand that the king is worried! The king does not want to waste money and food and affect Qi's unification of the world." Wang Bin said: "However, for now, the king can continue to use Yecheng as the capital, but after the destruction of Song Dynasty, it is obviously not possible to use Yecheng as the capital. It's appropriate. Building the capital is not something that happens overnight. It may take more than ten years. What I mean is that the population of Luoyang is sparse now, like a piece of blank paper. The king can plan in advance and build slowly. In this way, the Song Dynasty will be destroyed. After that, within a few years, we can move the capital to Luoyang." After Zhao Tai pondered for a while, he nodded slightly: "Sir, what you said makes sense. If Luoyang is to be the capital, we really need to plan in advance!" Zhao Tai and Wang Bin were on the city wall, They were discussing the merits of making Luoyang the capital, and at this moment, Yang You hurriedly climbed onto the city wall and trotted to the two of them.
"What's wrong with you, dear?" Seeing his anxious look, Zhao Tai couldn't help but ask. Yang You swallowed a mouthful of saliva,
"Your Majesty, there is news from Hetao that the Mongols are in civil strife!" Zhao Tai was a little surprised when he heard this.
"What? Civil strife in Mongolia? What's going on? Tell the lonely king!" Yang You quickly explained: "Your Majesty, I have just received news from Xijing. After Batu led his army to withdraw to Hetao, he went to The nomadic Mongolian tribes in Hetao asked for cattle and sheep. These Mongolian tribes were afraid of Batu's identity and initially provided some cattle and sheep. However, there were too many people in Batu and the local tribes could not afford to provide them. The two sides accumulated conflicts. At the end of June At that time, Batu suddenly went into rebellion on the grounds that the Mongolian tribe in Hetao did not provide him with military rations, and led his army to attack and kill the leader of one unit, and the two sides started fighting." Zhao Tai and Wang Bin looked at each other, and both of them There was a hint of surprise.
During the Jin Kingdom's rule in the north, the Great Wall was in disrepair and the defenses were full of loopholes. Zhao Tai was also worried that Batu's troops stationed in Hetao would go south to plunder after the autumn was high and the horses were fat.
Now that the Mongols are fighting on their own, it will undoubtedly reduce the pressure on the Qi army. Yang You paused.
"Your Majesty, the Mongols in Hetao are in chaos now. Thousands of Mongolians have moved south to Lingzhou and want to surrender to Daqi. Wu Guogong asked your Majesty if he would accept their surrender!"
"Accept, why not accept!" Zhao Tai was already happy, but he was even happier when he heard that thousands of Mongolians came to vote.
Wang Bin shook his feather fan,
"Your Majesty, Mongolia has lost the Central Plains. There is no Central Plains to transport money and food to them. There is a shortage of materials on the grasslands. I think the chaos in the Hetao is just the beginning of the Mongolian chaos."
