Chapter 282: Dreaming of a Night's Sorrow and a Different Heart

Menghu retreated very thoroughly, and Li Ye sent scouts to chase him for twenty miles, but he did not see any trace of Menghu, just like water poured on the sand in a dry weather, and disappeared in an instant.

According to their itinerary, there were so many mules, horses, and carts, which used to travel hundreds of miles every day, but today they were delayed by the war, and they had to spend the night in a small town called Zhengqu. This place Li Ye guards Xuzhou often comes, it was originally a small town, because of the north gate of Xuzhou, the merchants who come and go between Xuzhou and Jinguo often choose this place as the foothold of Xuzhou. Later, after the completion of the concrete road from Xuzhou to Daimyo, it became a traffic hub, and the population grew from thousands to more than 10,000. It is both a small town and close to Xuzhou, so there are few precautions, only an old and dilapidated earthen wall.

However, when they arrived in the evening, they found that this section of the ancient and dilapidated earthen wall had also been bulldozed, and all the houses in the entire Zhengqu had been pulled down, and there were broken walls and ruins everywhere.

"Dog Menghu, it's clean, I'll have to sleep in a tent tonight!"

Shi Dasco was the first to jump up and scold, in such a cold winter, if you can sleep in the house, it is naturally more comfortable than sleeping in a tent. In particular, they are accustomed to the warm climate, and in this cold northland, they are somewhat uncomfortable.

"You big colander, hurry up and set up camp with barbed wire!" Li Ye roared, and then was slightly stunned.

As far as he knew, Xuzhou had already made preparations for the fortification of the wall and the clearing of the wilderness - this was still a plan formulated by him and a group of young generals of the Military Counselor's Office, even if this is the case, what is there in this Zheng Qu worthy of Menghu's attention, not only will the earthen walls be torn, but even these good houses will be demolished?

And it was dismantled so thoroughly that it was clearly put on the horse with a rope to drive the horse down.

Thinking of this, a sneer appeared on the corner of Li Ye's mouth, no wonder he withdrew his troops after only a slight test during the day, presumably because he wanted to attack at night. If you change to another unit, you may be afraid, but the Guards ......

Menghu is afraid that he doesn't know that the Guards have a special night combat training program.

"Set up the camp tent and give you an hour, whoever can't complete the task will be responsible for emptying the toilet tonight!" Li Ye roared.

It is not an easy task to camp with nearly 10,000 people, and it is really necessary to hurry up if you want to complete it in an hour. In the carts of the Song army, there were supplies, the gang began to cook, there were soldiers singing while working, and there were patrolling soldiers who kept patrolling outside Zhengquji.

If someone is looking at it in the grass or trees, these Song soldiers are really relaxed after winning the battle.

The winter night came early, and it was only six o'clock in the afternoon, and there was no light outside. There was still laughter and laughter in the Song camp, but it was much quieter, and outside the camp, dozens of torches hung high, illuminating the passage in and out of the barbed wire fence as if it were day.

Polu stood on the hillside and looked at the Song camp from afar, because it was several miles apart, so all he saw was a field of lights.

The war horse snorted a little uneasily beside him, and the horse's hooves gently struck the ground with a rustling sound. Polu caressed the horse's neck and withdrew his gaze to stare at the paws of the horse's hooves.

Attacking at night, with many blows and few blows, should be taken by surprise and should be ...... No problem, right?

Although it is easy to overlook his age due to his composure, he is actually only thirty-three years old this year, and if we look at the unchanged history, he originally died of illness shortly after Temujin's death, but history has changed, and he is still alive now, and he is more far-sighted than he was in the original history.

The iron palm on the horse's hooves was nailed by the Hanfa brought by Li Rui, although there were also ways to protect the horse's hooves before, but it is rare to use iron like this. For these horseshoes, they had to buy iron tools from the Song people through smuggling - in fact, whatever iron tools were purchased, as long as it was something that Da Yuan needed, the Song people could almost find a way to produce and sell it.

Every time he thought of this, Polu couldn't help but sigh softly, the relationship between Mongolia and the Song Dynasty was originally good, and when the previous emperor of the Song Dynasty, the two sides even formed an alliance. At least during the period when he was in charge of Yanyun, the skins and other goods of the Mongols were constantly loaded by the big ships that went to the south and exchanged for various goods that could improve the quality of life of the Mongols. If it weren't for the instigation of those damned Weyghurs, if it weren't for Genghis Khan's old age and confusion, how could the relationship between Mongolia and the Song State break down so quickly!

"What is the Taishi thinking?" Yan Shi leaned over and asked.

"I'm thinking about you Han people...... Polu's voice was faint, with a hint of a strange smell.

Yan Shi felt that his body was sweating slightly, and he grinned, wanting to smile flatteringly, but immediately thought that the two of them had the light on their backs, even if he laughed so much that his chin was off, he was afraid that Polu would not be able to see it. After a while, he asked tentatively: "What does the Taishi want the Han people to do, the villain is not a Han, the villain is a northerner." ”

No matter how Tulei adopted the policy of sinicization, the conservative Mongol aristocracy was still very strong in his Dayuan Empire, and they forced Tulei to accept the national policy of dividing people into four classes, the first level was naturally the Mongols, the second level was the northerners, including the Khitan Jurchens who took refuge and the Han army in Hebei, and the third class was the Semu people - because one of the big differences between Tulei and Temujin was that Tulei did not trust and rely on the financial management ability of the Semu people as much as Temujin, and the fourth rank was the Goryeo. Yan Shi called himself a "northerner" and refused to admit that he was a Han Chinese, fearing that he would be hated by the Mongol magnates.

"The northerners are our words, and the Song Kingdom calls you ...... Han. "Polu was a little stubborn and called Yan Shi by the Han Chinese.

Yan Shi lowered his head, even if Polu couldn't see it, he didn't want to show any flaws, he didn't want Polu to notice the look of shame and anger in his eyes.

"You Han people are really amazing...... On the desert steppe, there have been many heroes for thousands of years, but they are like Genghis Khan, become meteors on the grassland, they once brightened for a while, but there is no trace of the scriptures, you Han people are not, occupy a more fertile land than the grassland, for more than a thousand years, as if you are the permanent master of this land. ”

"I have dealt with many Han people, among the Han people are heroes like you, Shi Tianze, Liu Heima and Li Quan, but more are weak scholars, why can you occupy better land for more than a thousand years, while those heroes who are far more brave than you can only act as hurried passers-by on the grassland?"

"Genghis Khan is the most outstanding hero of the steppe, throughout the ages, all those famous heroes together are not comparable to him, my father said to me more than once, as long as we follow the banner of the Great Khan, sooner or later we will become the masters of the Central Plains and Jiangnan. But my father still underestimated you, and I underestimated you...... Yan Shi, you are Han, and the emperor of the Song State is also Han, so tell me, why are you Han people so smart? It can build the strongest city, weave the most beautiful scenery, write the most touching songs, and make the most murderous instruments...... Why do you Han people exist who are so smart? I even wondered that even if Genghis Khan was not killed and laid down a great country, will this country also become your Han people in the future? ”

This question probably bothered Polu for a long time, and he poured it out slowly, but he listened to it with a stern horror. After Polu finished speaking, he didn't say anything for a long time, just turned his face to look at him, although he couldn't see the expression on his face clearly at night, but those blazing eyes still made Yan Shi sweat.

"Taishi, I have a cousin in my family, who has read the scriptures and books, named Yan Congyuan, once wrote a "Treatise on the Northerners", I don't know if Taishi has ever heard of it."

"Oh? Speak. ”

"My cousin Yan Congyuan said, the bird chooses the wood and rests, since ancient times, the martial arts have not had the first emperor, the civil rule has not been and the son of today, so in my Dayuan, no matter what clan he is from, he is all loyal ministers of the Son of Heaven. His real name was changed from Nian to Congyuan, which is to show his heart and follow my Dayuan. ”

"My cousin also said that the Mongolian people are a nation, brave and strong, and good at fighting, so they can conquer the four directions for the soldiers and open up the territory for the Son of Heaven; The northerners know Wentao, the body is the grace of the Son of Heaven, and the Son of Heaven does not give up, and he is lifted in the mud, so he can be a vassal for the Son of Heaven and shepherd all the people for the Son of Heaven. Therefore, the Mongolian people and the northerners are all the right-hand men of the Son of Heaven, and the king of Taishi has passed through Hebei for many days, and he knows that this is true. ”

Polu nodded secretly, of course he knew that since the division of the Mobei Khan's court and the four sons of Temujin competed for the throne, although Tuo Lei had more soldiers, he could share fewer tribes, and he was able to compete with his brothers, one relied on the troops in his hands, and the other relied on the stable tax income brought by his implementation of sinicization. In particular, the tuntian and indoctrination promoted by Li Quan's uncle and nephew made Dayuan significantly richer than the other three khanates.

"This cousin of yours is a knowledgeable person, why don't you let him come out as an official? I remember that the newspapers in the Song Kingdom in the south repeatedly scolded you for being a 'traitor', why not let your cousin write an article to refute it, it can also have the effect of saving people's hearts and public opinion. ”

Yan Shi was dumbfounded for a while, his cousin's skills, he was clear, he read a few books and was praised by him as reading the scriptures, but he was a man who was ambitious and unusable, if he was really recommended as an official, he was afraid that it would not be long before he broke into a catastrophe, and maybe he would be implicated. He has the power of the army, as a Han general, he was already trembling and walking on thin ice, where would he be willing to release such a troublemaker. Therefore, he only vaguely refused Polu's invitation to be a staff member on the grounds that Yan Congyuan was unwell.

The two waited for a while, and saw that the lights in the Song camp had never been extinguished, and they successively sent three groups of scouts to approach, all saying that the Song army was heavily guarded and could not sneak in. Polu had no choice but to give up his plan to attack in the first half of the night and set the time for the attack at 4 o'clock in the morning.

"This is the time when people sleep the deepest, even if they are awakened, they will feel weak and dizzy in their limbs, and they will be unresponsive." Polu said: "Order the armies to rest and not make fires, so as not to alarm the Song people." ”

On such a night, although Menghu was accustomed to the cold of the north, they still shivered with the cold without a fire. Polu's "good rest" was limited to those cowardly Xue and some of the Tanma Red Army, and most of the soldiers were still frozen for most of the night. At two o'clock in the morning, after Polu was awakened, he washed his face with cold water to cheer himself up.

"The victory or defeat is in this battle, if you win, continue to advance south, if you lose, save your troops and return to my Dayuan, so as not to hurt your vitality." He made up his mind.

At this time, he himself did not realize that the first thing that was hidden in his mind was defeat.

At 3:30 a.m., the Mengyuan cavalry came to a place less than three miles away from Zhengqu, and according to the prior agreement, all the Mengyuan cavalry identified each other with white cloth and arms, and the soldiers were divided into two routes, one was led by Polu to attack from north to south, and the other was strictly led by Yan Shi from west to east.

At 3:50, Polu led the army to the predetermined attack position, and he ordered his subordinates to take off the cotton cloth wrapped in the horse's hooves, which was also produced in the Song Kingdom, and it is said that the origin was this Xuzhou, but this time Polu came, and he did not even see a cotton yarn. When he thought of this, the uneasiness in his heart deepened: this time to attack the Song Dynasty, although on the surface Meng Yuan and Jin Guo beat the Song State by surprise, but in fact, they did not take any advantage.

In addition to entering the Song Realm for hundreds of miles, they didn't even grab a grain of grain or cloth, and it didn't look like they were taking the initiative to attack, but as if they were being led by the nose by the Song people.

This made Polu's heart even more uneasy.

However, no matter how uneasy he was at this time, he could only press it, he looked in the direction of Yan Shi, they were now ready to fly, and they had to send.

When he came, he and Yan Shi had crossed the pocket watch, and four o'clock was soon coming.

In the silence of the night, there was a slight rumbling sound directly west of Zheng Quji, at first it was like a car rolling through a concrete road, but then it was like a flood through the valley, and then it was connected, as if a train from Lin'an to Huating Mansion passed by.

In the Song military camp, where the lights had been extinguished for a long time, the sound became brighter. Yan Shi galloped his horse with red eyes and stared at the target in front of him.

"Three hundred steps...... 200 steps ......"

When the army under his command entered two hundred paces away from the Song army, the field artillery in the Song army camp rang out. Strange to say, at such a night, the sound of field artillery is not as loud as during the day, but a dull low. As a series of cannon fires appeared in the Song military camp, clusters of flames rose among the strict subordinates.

"At most two rounds of shelling, Lao Tzu can withstand it!" He thought to himself.

What worries him the most is the kind of stick that breathes fire, and he can only hope that in this night, the Song people will not organize so quickly.

However, something disappointed him happened, and when his front army rushed to less than fifty paces away from the camp temporarily set up by the Song people, hundreds of fires flashed in the dark darkness of the Song camp. Amid the sound of firecrackers, his troops let out incessant screams, and judging by his many years of combat experience, nearly 100 people were wounded or killed in this round alone.

"The Song army has an ambush!" That was his first thought.

"If there is an ambush, you have to fight!" This was his second thought.

If he turned around and fled, of course, there was no problem, he believed that the Song army would not pursue in such a night, but how to explain to Polu after he returned? is that Polu doesn't care about him, how can he ensure his glory and wealth after he returns to Mengyuan?

"Kill!" He raised his sword and roared.

However, he did not hear his own roar, because another round of gunfire in the Song army camp drowned out his voice. From the last round of gunfire to this round, the gap time was less than fifteen seconds, and it was completely certain that the Song army really had an ambush, otherwise it would be impossible to organize such a defense.

"Even if you take human lives to fill it, you have to fill it out today." A burst of despair swelled up in his heart, thinking of the tactics of the previous vanguard of the Jin Kingdom who consumed the Song people's artillery in front of Qinglong Fort, and now his mood was no different from that of Irabuha at that time.

Round 3, 4, 5...... The sound of explosions in the Song people's camp was endless, and the interval between each time would not exceed fifteen seconds, and it was orderly and rhythmic. Yan Shi watched the rows of men and horses in front of him fall by the light of the lamp and fire, and the few who were lucky enough to struggle in front of the Song army camp in the rain of bullets were immediately knocked down by scattered gunshots flying from nowhere.

This is not war, but a ruthless harvest.

Yan Shi felt that his troops were like ripe crops, and the sound of the Song people was sickles, and the sickles flew by, and his troops fell. Yan Shi was secretly glad that it was night, and if it was daytime, his subordinates would have fallen like this, but he was afraid that their morale would have collapsed long ago. Although it was only a moment, he felt as if it had been a few hours, and he glanced anxiously to the north, hoping that the Polu, who had agreed with him, would attack.

Polu's hands were clenched, and the night raid was only the first part of his strategy, if the Song people were prepared, or if the Song people reacted quickly, then the strict troops would attract the attention of the Song people, and the real deadly attack would come from him.

He led the horse, hoping that he could get as close to Song Ying as possible before turning over on the horse.