The Qi army's breakthrough in Sichuan was something the Southern Song Dynasty did not expect.
Not only the Southern Song Dynasty, but also Qi State did not expect that Sichuan would open the situation first.
After deciding to attack Song Dynasty, Zhao Tai's goal was to occupy Lin'an as soon as possible.
Because Sichuan was the farthest away, Qi State did not invest many resources in the West Route Army from the beginning.
Unlike the Central and East Route armies, which assembled a large number of elites from the Qi State, the main force of the West Route Army was mainly the private soldiers of Shihou led by Wang Shixian.
Now this group of private soldiers was the first to open up the situation, shocking Lin'an and making Zhao Tai laugh.
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Xiangyang.
Seven days ago, under the fierce attack of the Qi army, the Song army abandoned Fancheng.
Song general Liu Zheng led several hundred remaining soldiers and retreated by boat to Xiangyang City on the south bank.
Zhao Tai captured Fancheng without stopping. The army only rested for one day before setting up a pontoon bridge and leading his troops across the Han River to reach the gates of Xiangyang City.
Xiangyang is made of iron and Fancheng is made of paper lakes.
Although the Qi army captured Fancheng, they suffered heavy losses.
After all, Fancheng's defense was not bad, and the Song army defending the city was also elite. As the attacking side, the Qi army killed more than 3,000 people and injured more than 6,000 people.
Such a loss left Zhao Tai at a loss when facing Xiangyang.
There are 50,000 Song troops in Xiangyang City. If the Qi troops attack by force, the losses will be extremely heavy.
Zhao Tai had to deal with the Southern Song Dynasty and guard against the Mongols, so it was impossible to leave his elite troops under the gates of Xiangyang City.
These days, the Qi army has set up camp outside Xiangyang City, but the Qi army generals have been unable to come up with a plan on how to capture Xiangyang.
Zhao Tai asked Wang Bin and others to assess the price of attacking Xiangyang. At this time, the Jinyi Guards sent news from the grassland that Meng Ge had raised troops to march north to fight Guiyou.
The duel between two tribes on the Mongolian grassland does not involve any siege warfare and will not take too much time.
As long as Meng Ge and Guyu meet, it may only take a cavalry battle of unprecedented scale to distinguish them.
Mongolia is about to be reunified.
This gave Zhao Tai a sense of urgency.
Zhao Tai received the news and was about to fill the river again when news came that the West Route Army had entered Sichuan, which caused Zhao Tai to laugh wildly.
"Hahaha~ God help me!"
In the military tent, Zhao Tai waved the military newspaper, his face full of excitement.
"I didn't expect the West Route Army to successfully enter Sichuan!" Wang Bin also sighed, "I really didn't expect this. Sichuan is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Zhao Yanna also has sufficient troops at hand, but he doesn't want to be so vulnerable."
Zhao Tai stopped laughing wildly, "This Zhao Yanna, Gu Ye thinks highly of him!"
The Southern Song Dynasty was very powerful in Sichuan. Zhao Tai remembered that it took many years for the Mongols to attack Sichuan.
Therefore, Zhao Tai did not have much hope for a breakthrough in Sichuan. He never expected that Zhao Yanna would escape before the battle, which would directly lead to the collapse of the Southern Song Dynasty on the western front.
This is not to blame Zhao Tai, after all, Zhao Yanna had been singing a high profile before, making both Qi State and Southern Song Dynasty believe that he was good at fighting.
However, if Zhao Tai fully understood Zhao Yanna in history, it would not be surprising why the Qi army entered Sichuan.
Zhao Tai was a little excited. He walked to the map, looked at it carefully for a while, and couldn't help asking: "What do you think?"
Everyone recovered from the news that the West Route Army entered Sichuan.
Wang Bin thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, the West Route Army's advance into Sichuan is indeed an unexpected surprise for me, Da Qi. However, we had invested the least in the West Route Army before, but now we want to provide resources, but it is too late. Now It is still unknown whether the West Route Army can capture Chengdu and control Sichuan. I think this matter is worthy of joy, but it should also be treated with caution."
Zhao Tai nodded, "I know this very well. Even if the West Route Army can take Sichuan, it will probably be a year before they leave Sichuan. I don't have that much time now. I have to wait for the West Route Army to get on track and must defeat the enemy as soon as possible." "
"What does the king mean?" Guo Xia Tou asked.
Zhao Tai's eyes were sharp, "What I mean is to make some use of the Western Route Army to make the Southern Song Dynasty disorganized."
Wang Bin shook his feather fan, "Then we must create panic and make the Southern Song Dynasty mistakenly think that the situation is about to collapse!"
Zhao Tai nodded, pointed at the map, and asked: "The news that the West Route Army has entered Sichuan should have aroused fear in the Southern Song Dynasty. What Gu means is to leave 30,000 troops to lock up Xiangyang, and then divide the troops into two groups, one group Go straight to Wuchang, pretending to go down the river and threaten the south of the Yangtze River. Along the way, they take Jingzhou and Yiling to the west, and make moves to welcome the West Route Army out of Sichuan. Although we know that the West Route Army cannot leave Sichuan in a short time, but the Southern Song Dynasty It’s not clear. If we let the Southern Song Dynasty think that the lone general and the Western Route Army will join forces in Wuchang, then the Southern Song Dynasty will definitely be afraid!"
If the West Route Army occupies Sichuan, it can move down from Jianzhong and join forces with the Central Route Army.
Then the role of Xiangyang will be weakened.
Because the Qi army can obtain supplies from Sichuan, and at the same time, it does not worry about its retreat being cut off.
Guo Xiatu said in surprise: "The king wants to use this to lure out the Song army in Xiangyang!"
Wang Bin shook his feather fan and muttered: "The Mongolian Communist Party will not be so easily fooled! The strategy of the Southern Song Dynasty should wait for Mongolia to attack. How many cities and lands are lost now is not important to the Southern Song Dynasty. They only need to defend the key cities. , when Mongolia moves south and our army returns to defend Mongolia, they can regain their lost ground."
Zhao Tai smiled and said: "If Meng Gong can keep his composure, can Lin'an do it? Can Zhao Yun do it?"
Meng Ge has already gone north to fight Guyu for a decisive battle. With the speed of the battle for hegemony on the grassland, as long as Meng Ge's army finds Guyu's main force, they can decide who is the overlord of the grassland in one battle.
This time will not last long, and once Mongolia is reunited, neither Meng Ge nor Guyu will give up the opportunity to intervene in the Qi-Song War.
A unified Mongolia would not want to see a unified Central Plains regime.
Therefore, whoever completes unification will send troops south.
In order to defeat the Southern Song Dynasty, Qi State mobilized all its elites. Once the Mongols invaded the border, Zhao Tai would definitely return north.
By then, as long as the Southern Song Dynasty did not lose key cities, they would be able to retake the territories taken away by the Qi army after the main force of the Qi army retreated.
As a famous general in the Southern Song Dynasty, the Meng Communist Party must be aware of the current situation in the world. No matter what Zhao Tai does, he will guard Xiangyang and wait for the situation to change.
Zhao Tai knew that the Meng Communist Party would not be fooled, but the Meng Communist Party, like Yue Fei, was loyal to the Southern Song Dynasty court.
Therefore, the target of Zhao Tai's pressure has always been the Southern Song Dynasty court.
After hearing Zhao Tai's words, Wang Bin raised his brows and walked to the map, "The main force of the Song army is concentrated in the south of the Yangtze River. If we make a gesture of going down the river, the Southern Song Dynasty's Yangtze River defense line will be at risk of collapse. The monarchs and ministers of the Southern Song Dynasty have always been Weak. If so, it is really possible that Zhao Yun gave an order to the Meng Communist Party to fight out of the city and contain our army in Jinghu!"
Zhao Tai looked around at the generals, "That's what I mean! Let Lin'an force the Meng Cong to fight!"
