But why was it so difficult for the Southern Song Dynasty to attack, even in the heyday of the Mongols, it still took decades to defeat it? Among them, there are internal reasons of the Mongols themselves, as well as objective factors, one of which is because the Southern Song Dynasty is too rich! Because the geographical location of the Southern Song Dynasty greatly weakened the large-scale movement warfare of the Mongol cavalry.

If you look at the map of the Southern Song Dynasty, it is clear that it is a natural barrier to the north of the Huai River, the Han River, and the Qinling Mountains. In the thirteenth century, the volume of these two rivers was much larger than that of later generations, and the tributaries on both sides of the river were dense, and there were many mountainous areas through which they crossed, although they were not as wide as the Yellow River, but the topography and landforms in the basin area were much more complex and steep than those of the Yellow River basin. Especially for the large-scale cavalry operations of the Mongols, the impact was greater, and many areas with dense mountains and rivers were difficult to walk, and the cavalry could not pass at all.

In ancient times, unlike modern times, various railway networks spread all over the country, and there were no railways and roads, so it was really impossible to make do with an airport to make up supplies. In ancient times, there were only a few lines of communication between the north and the south, and if you wanted to mobilize troops on a large scale, you could not find other routes, so you could only follow the old roads, otherwise there would be no way to march and replenish. When the Mongols attacked the Southern Song Dynasty, the westernmost part was from Shaanxi to Sichuan, and they wanted to outflank them in a roundabout way, but the road was too difficult to walk, and they were not outflanked for half a day. To the east, it is to take the Jianghuai, that is, to attack Luzhou from Anhui to the south, and also build a ship in Chaohu with the intention of playing a water war with the Southern Song Dynasty, but the craftsmanship is not perfect, and it is in vain.

In the end, it was the Central Route Army, that is, the army attacking from the direction of Xiangyang. Xiangyang, a place where soldiers must fight since ancient times, why do soldiers fight? Still have to look at the map! After looking at the map with contour lines or satellite maps, you will find out. Xiangyang is located right in the middle of a basin. The basin is surrounded by mountains on all sides. Impassable. If you want to connect the north and south, you have to pass through Xiangyang, and if you want to connect the east and west, you have to pass through Xiangyang. If you want to play a game, build a turret here, which is probably the most profitable. Because the turret is full of monsters traveling from south to north, as long as there are enough shells, you can fight. The gold coins fell into his pocket.

If you occupy Yangyang, let's look south first. Along the Yicheng passage between Jingshan and Dahong Mountain, you don't need to go over the mountains and mountains all the way, you will arrive in Jingzhou, that is, you will enter the Jianghan Plain, and you will trot all the way to the edge of the Yangtze River, comfortable! Not only comfortable, but also strategic, this is the throat of Sichuan water transport out of Sichuan, and occupying this place is equivalent to strangling the whole of Sichuan. I have to listen to you in and out. If you follow the Han River all the way to the east, you will kill wherever you go. Transporting troops and supplies along the river by boat was the most efficient and economical in ancient times. You can go directly to Wuhan, and then go east along the Yangtze River, it's all yours, as long as you have enough troops. At that time, the Mongols attacked Xiangyang, and then the entire defense system of the Southern Song Dynasty collapsed, and there were loopholes everywhere, which could not be blocked, and collapsed for thousands of miles.

Looking to the east, it is also a passage between the mountains. Go to Suizhou, Dawu County, Xiaogan County, or go straight to Wuhan. After occupying Xiangyang, the Yangtze River natural danger is basically useless, because there are too many plains in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and you can cross the river by finding a random place, and you can't use soldiers to fill the entire south bank of the Yangtze River.

To the north of Xiangyang, is the Fangcheng corridor between Tongbai Mountain and Funiu Mountain, and goes out to the hinterland of the Central Plains, to the north is Luoyang, and the northeast is Xuchang. On this road, there are many ancient N cattle people, they sharpened their heads and wanted to run north from here, just because they wanted to take the soldiers to the Central Plains to toss, they had to pass through Xiangyang City, there was no other way! Similarly, if the forces of the Central Plains want to go south to harm, they will still be inseparable from Xiangyang.

When Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army in Xiangfan, Cao Cao was so frightened that he immediately moved the capital from Xuchang, why? Because there is no shield between Xuchang and Xiangyang, when Guan Yu wants to come to Xuchang, he will be there when he goes out, and he can attack at any time, but it is too difficult for Cao Cao to defend.

Yue Feiyue's officials set up an army from Ezhou to the Northern Expedition back then, why didn't they make a detour, knock down Xiangyang first, and then continue north from here? Without it, this is the gateway to the Central Plains, and with Xiangyang, there is a ticket to enter the Central Plains. If you don't have Xiangyang, you have to be beaten back after you go in, because all your logistical supplies have to pass through Xiangyang and send them to the north.

Finally, look at the west, go out of Xiangyang to the north, along the passage of Funiu Mountain and the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains, pass by from the west side of Nanyang, and then go west, pass through Wuguan and Shangluo, and when you show your head, you will arrive at Lantian. Where is Lantian? Guanzhong, raise your head and you'll be in Xi'an City! Back then, the Qin State took a boat down the Han River from Guanzhong to destroy the Chu State, whether you take the land route or the water route, you must pass through Xiangyang in the middle.

Communicating the southeast and northwest, it is still the only channel, Xiangyang is a little south in the middle of this crossroads, and there is the Han River in the north of the city to help defend the city, it is not important to think about it. Looking at our current map, we can also find an interesting place, the two cities of Xiangyang and Nanyang are obviously in the same basin, why does Nanyang belong to Henan Province and Xiangyang to Hubei Province? Isn't it better to manage when put together? This issue has to be considered politically, if Nanyang and Xiangyang are put into one province, what if this province becomes independent? It closes the doors, and it is very uncomfortable in both the South and the North. Now divide the basin into two halves, one to the north and one to the south. Henan Province wants to become independent, and the army in the south can directly attack Nanyang through Xiangyang; Hubei wants to become independent, and the army in the north can pass through Nanyang Chen Bing Xiangyang at any time.

This is called the rule of provinces, and this wisdom can be seen in many places on the map of China. The ancients summed up thousands of years of history and finally came to a conclusion, that is, you can't put all the important things in the hands of one person! It's so uninsured!

The Mongols attacked and the Southern Song Dynasty defended, there is a problem here, since the Mongols entered the Central Plains, they couldn't play the tactics of fighting with cattle, sheep and horses, and their people needed a lot of grain and forage to eat horses and chew, where did these things come from? Two sources, one is to take local materials, grab! snatched all the food of the local people as military rations; One was to expropriate grain and grass from the land occupied by the Mongols at that time, that is, the land of the original Jin State.

This time, the Mongols didn't plan to grab a circle and leave, they wanted to take the hinterland of the Central Plains and the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River as their own, so they couldn't use the first way to grab it. After robbing and killing all the people, who will grow food for them to eat in the future? Now these places are owned by the Mongols, so they still love them. Then it can only be levied, that is, the logistics supply base for the Mongols to attack the Southern Song Dynasty is the Central Plains north of the Huai River.

Then Hong Tao will find a place to put eye medicine, I will not confront you head-on, I will go to your rear to scourge your family, and make your family unable to live a stable life, do you still have the strength to attack the Southern Song Dynasty? Even if you are ruthless and don't care about your family, then if your rear is unstable, can you still provide a steady stream of supplies?

Hong Tao felt that obviously not! As long as he can hold back some of the energy of the Mongols, then the pressure on the Southern Song defense line will be less; The more he dragged on, the less pressure there was in the Southern Song Dynasty. In the absence of himself, the Southern Song Dynasty could resist alone for decades, and with such a powerful-stirring stick as himself in the world, he caused chaos to the Mongols, and it made no sense that the Southern Song Dynasty could not resist for another ten or eight years.

As long as the war can be extended, Hong Tao will achieve his goal. With the sea route, the Southern Song Dynasty will be continuously replenished, not only will it not be weak, but it may become stronger and stronger. The Mongols, on the other hand, have now got everything they can get, and the rest is all consumption. This war will eventually turn into a war of attrition in which national power is contested against each other. The war of attrition is about the economy and resources, and Hong Tao is the best at this thing, at least more than the real knife and gun on the frontal battlefield. Being able to drag the enemy into the area where he is good at fighting is a victory in itself at the level of grand strategy.

Historically, the Mongols rose very quickly and collapsed very quickly, and the Western Expedition eventually became a great division, and the entire Mongol Empire fell apart into several pieces, not only did they care about anyone, but they also hated each other. Therefore, Hong Tao felt that he had the capital to consume with the Mongols for a long time, and once they were frustrated, it would stimulate internal contradictions, and then there would be internal friction left. At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty may be able to counterattack and counterattack, a country that has already raised its feet into the capitalist era, after decades of development, plus his own veterinarian who has nothing to do with a needle in his hand, there is no reason why he can't beat a nomad. As long as you take it step by step, fight steadily, and cooperate with some advanced weapons and tactics, even if you exchange it in a ratio of two to one, you can replace the Mongols.

And Hong Tao still has a back hand, this trick is more insidious. Depending on the situation, he would provoke or force the Arabs and Europeans to put more pressure on the Mongols from the Western Front. At that time, the progress of the Mongols on both the eastern and western sides will not go well, and the internal contradictions will intensify even more, and perhaps they will fall apart sooner. To do this is not only to weaken the Mongols, but also to weaken the Arabs and Europeans, which is tantamount to driving the wolf and devouring the tiger, so that they will lose both. On the other hand, the Southern Song Dynasty has become the biggest winner, not only being able to push back, but also taking advantage of the trend to complete the social change and directly upgrade into the next new era. And in this new era, the Song Dynasty, which was one step ahead, was certainly the undoubted world leader.

Of course, the time and extent of this lead completely depend on the continuous efforts of subsequent generations, and Hong Tao can only show them a way, but cannot help them go. How fast and how far to go is all a matter for the Song people, and once this wish is really realized, it is time for Hong Tao to retire. He would take those who were willing to go with him, to the other side of the sea, and continue to torture the Indians, a place that had to be occupied, not left to the Europeans, and certainly not to the Song. (To be continued.) )