Chapter 557 Northward

After the commander of the Yuan army stationed in the northwest, the prince Namuhan, reached an oath on behalf of Kublai Khan and the Great Khans of the four western khanates, Fang Chenqian and Yang Lian Zhenjia immediately set off and returned to Dadu. The 50,000 elite cavalry of the Yuan army, led by Namuhan and Siriji, marched east three days later.

In this way, the crisis of the Yuan Dynasty in the northwest was temporarily resolved. It's just that this is just a drop in the bucket, the 100,000 elite mid-lane army is not the enemy of the Song army's firearms, not to mention the Northwest Yuan Army, which is slightly inferior in combat effectiveness and numbers?

After listening to Fang Chenqian's speech, Kublai Khan pinched his fingers and calculated: "The army is moving slowly, and it will take at least a month or so to reach Dadu. ”

On the way back, Fang Chenqian heard the news of the loss of Zhaozhou, and when he heard Kublai Khan's confirmation, he couldn't help but panic secretly, Zhaozhou has been lost, can most of them be saved? Although he didn't understand military affairs, Fang Chenqian knew the power of firearms, and suddenly had an ominous premonition.

Yin Tianya said: "Mr. Fang, Yang Lian Zhenjia, you are tired all the way, so go down and rest first." ”

"Yes, Lord God." Fang Chenqian retracted his thoughts, and after saluting Kublai Khan with Yang Lian Zhenjia, he left the palace.

In mid-September, the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Middle Song Road, under the command of Lü Wenhuan, successively recovered major cities in central and southern Hebei. On September 21, the 19th Lu Division and the Wenzhang Division of the 1st Division of the Imperial Forest Army, with the support of the artillery battalion, captured Baozhou (now Baoding), an important town in the south of the capital. At this point, only one city remained in Baxian (now Bazhou City) in the southern part of the capital.

Due to the inability to crack the firearms, Boyan, Ashu and other generals of the Yuan Army's Middle Route Army had to lead the remaining more than 10,000 soldiers to withdraw to Dadu, and almost on the same day, Namuhan also arrived in Dadu with 50,000 soldiers under his command. Coupled with the original garrison of Dadu, the total strength reached 140,000 or 50,000, which was equivalent to the total number of Yuan troops besieging Xiangfan.

On the surface, the number of troops of the Yuan Dynasty in Dadu exceeded that of the Song Dynasty's Middle Route Northern Expeditionary Army, and Kublai Khan's confidence seemed to be a lot, but Dadu was a new city, and the solidity of its city walls was not as strong as that of Zhaozhou, so Boyan, Ashu and others, who were quite clear about the power of firearms, were still uneasy.

On 28 September, I convened a military council in my temporary palace in the city of Zhaozhou to continue my journey north.

Gongsun Xiaochen first introduced the situation of the Eastern and Western Expeditionary Army and the Naval Division.

"Generals, at present, under the leadership of Li Tingzhi and Gao Gao, the Eastern and Western Northern Expeditionary Army and the Yuan Army in the two places are still in a state of interweaving, but with the increasing number of projectiles thrown by our army, the attack intensity has gradually increased, so that the Yuan army can only retreat in the city and focus on defense. Among them, most of the cities in Shandong have been recovered by our army, and when the time is ripe, General Li Tingzhi and General Xia Gui will launch the Jinan Campaign. Due to the complicated terrain in the western region, our army has moved relatively slowly to the north, but it has also gained the strategic initiative. ”

Gongsun Xiaochen pointed to the coastal waters on the map and continued: "After the failure of the naval division to land on the Liaodong Peninsula, General Li Beiyang realized that no matter what the special reason, the land combat capability of our naval division was still far inferior to that of the Yuan Dynasty army, so he never chose to land and fight again, but kept attacking the Yuan army's naval division that was shrinking in the Bohai Bay. Liu Quan, the commander of the Yuan Army's naval division, immediately sat in the army after his injuries improved slightly, but he could only defend with all his might, for the warships of the Yuan Army, as long as they encountered the giant ships of our army, they had no power to fight back, even if they did not count the power of the artillery on the giant ships of our army, with the super-large tonnage alone, they were not the warships of the Yuan Dynasty that could compete. It can be said that the sailors of our army have completely gained the upper hand and forced the sailors of the Yuan army to death, so that they have lost the strength to fight back. Generals, the above is the recent situation of our Korean army on land and water, as for the situation of the middle route army, everyone is very clear, I will not repeat it here, and I will ask the emperor for instructions. ”

Although the eastern and western armies did not have the brilliant results achieved by the middle route army, they also realized the strategic transformation from defense to offense, and tightly dragged the two route armies of the Yuan Dynasty, creating favorable conditions for the middle route army to recover Henan and Hebei.

"Generals, today, there will be no more suspense about the outcome of the war, and no one will think that the iron cavalry of the Yuan army can block the firearms of our army, right?" I smiled and said, "In my opinion, even Kublai Khan must have thought so, even though he would still be stubborn in public. ”

Lu Wenhuan said: "Your Majesty, even if Genghis Khan, the ancestor of the Mongols, is resurrected, he is not the enemy of our arms. ”

"Well, yes, firearms are invincible. Ladies and gentlemen, to this day, the soldiers and soldiers who were injured in the battle of Zhaozhou have basically recovered, and the Bianliang Military Region is growing stronger and stronger, completely taking over the guarding task of our Central Route Northern Expeditionary Army, therefore, our Central Route Army is now strong and strong, coupled with the sufficient military supplies transported by the gunpowder superintendent, it is time to attack the heart of the Yuan Dynasty. At present, the Northern Expedition army in the middle of our road has 100,000 troops, including 20,000 musketeers, the cavalry has been expanded to nearly 10,000, 32,000 grenades, 62 artillery pieces, although the number of Yuan troops in Dadu is more than our army, but its comprehensive combat power is inferior to our army, plus in recent months, the Yuan Dynasty court in order to prepare military expenses, keep looting the wealth of the people, resulting in public resentment, from the news of the dragon's teeth feedback from all over the country, it can be seen that the Yuan Dynasty has lost the hearts of the people, therefore, the upcoming battle of Dadu is only a matter of time, once the battle of Dadu is over, our army then waved its troops south, defeated the Yuan Dynasty's East Route Army, recovered Shandong, and then went west to Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places to eliminate the Yuan Dynasty's West Route Army, and recovered the lost territory of our Dynasty in one fell swoop. ”

Speaking of this, I took a sip of tea, eased my excitement and continued: "Next, I announce the personnel arrangements for attacking Dadu. General Wu Songhan, General Meng Tianxiang, and General Duan Donglou listened to the order. ”

"The end will be."

"Three generals, I ordered the three of you to serve as the vanguard of the front, General Wu Songhan led the second vanity soldiers in the center, General Meng Tianxiang led the Zhongshun Army on the left, and General Duan Donglou led the Xingfu Army on the right, set off on October 1, rushed to Baozhou, and after joining up with General Wenzhang and General Lu Shikui stationed in Baozhou, the troops divided into two routes, all the way to Fanyang County (now Zhuozhou), all the way to Xincheng County (now Gaobeidian City)."

"Yes, the last will obey."

"General Yin Yinglei, General Zhao Huai."

"The end will be."

"You led the 3rd Division of the Royal Forest Army and the 17th and 18th Carriage Soldiers to protect the artillery battalion and set off on October 3 and arrived at Baoding."

"Yes, the last will obey."

"The rest of the Central Route Army will set off with me on October 4, and the city defense of the city of Zhaozhou will be handed over to the Bianliang Military Region."

Everyone said in unison: "Yes, the last general will obey the order." ”

On October 9, when I arrived in Baoding with my army, the two counties of Fanyang and Xincheng had already been conquered by our army, and the defenders of these two counties basically withdrew under artillery fire without resistance.

Baozhou City was built in the Warring States Period, its history is long, it is the hometown of Emperor Yao in ancient times, to the Northern Song Dynasty, Baozhou became the dividing line between Song and Liao, the two countries have fought here many times. In the last years of the Jin Dynasty, the city of Baozhou was in ruins in the war. In the twenty-second year of the Mongolian Taizu (1227), the general Zhang Rou was ordered to rebuild the city of Baozhou, plan the market, set the dwellings, build the government office, build temples, build gardens, build earthen city walls, and dredge the moat, which laid the foundation of Baozhou City.

After Kublai Khan established the capital as the capital, the city of Baozhou became the southern gateway of the Yuan Dynasty's capital division. In the eleventh year of Yuan Taizong (1239), Baozhou was the place of Shuntian Road. According to the course of history, the Yuan Dynasty to the twelfth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1275), changed the Shuntian Road to Baoding Road, the name of "Baoding" has since begun, meaning "to defend the capital, stabilize the world". It's just that all this has changed because of my arrival.

In this new city, there is an ancient lotus pond built in the first year of the Tang Dynasty. Later, it was expanded by Zhang Rou, named Xuexiang Garden, and became his private garden. Lu Shikui, Wen Zhang and others, who were the first to invade Baozhou, unanimously agreed that this garden has Jiangnan characteristics, which is quite similar to the pattern in Lin'an Palace, and can be used as a temporary palace during my time in Baozhou.

As soon as you walk into the Snow Fragrance Garden, you can see the small bridge and flowing water inside, the pavilions and pavilions, elegant and chic, the clumsy and clever, the simplicity is strange, although the season of lotus blooming has passed, but the green leaves in the pond and the surrounding creation complement each other, which is pleasing to the eye. In addition to the beautiful scenery, more than a dozen stone carvings in Xuexiang Garden are also famous, including the majestic Tang Dynasty grass saint Huaisu's "self-description post"; There is a vigorous and majestic Yan Zhenqing's "Duobao Pagoda"; There are also inkblots of Wang Xizhi who leaps over the dragon gate and the tiger lies in the phoenix.

"Yes, that's where I live."

Fang Ling said happily: "I didn't expect to see the scenery of Jiangnan in this Baozhou City." ”

Wen Zhang, who accompanied him, said: "Your Majesty, Concubine Lingniang, according to the old man of Xuexiangyuan, the craftsmen who expanded this place are all Jiangnan people who were captured by the Mongols. ”

I nodded and said, "No wonder it is somewhat similar to the scenery in Lin'an Palace." North-south exchanges would have been a good thing, but they should have been done on a voluntary basis, just like the Mongols forcibly plundering the craftsmen of our dynasty, which is clearly a bully. ”

After living in Baozhou for two days, I led my army to Fanyang County, which was only a hundred miles away from the capital. Compared with Baozhou, Fanyang County is much smaller, and the army can only camp outside the county.

Speaking of Fan Yang's name, people in later generations don't know much, but when Fan Yang's original name is mentioned, many people know it. Zhuo County, the hometown of Liu Bei, the founder of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period in the late Han Dynasty. More than 1,000 years ago, Liu Bei met Guan Yu and Zhang Fei when he was selling straw shoes in Zhuo County, and married in Taoyuan and performed a good story.

However, in the Song Dynasty, Fanyang County occupied a pivotal position.