Zhigu Village was called Tianjin Wei in later generations, defending against the sea attack launched against Dadu. Once the village is occupied, the army from the sea can start from the village and launch an attack on Dadu in the northwest direction.

In the spring of 322 of the Great Song Dynasty, after the Song army captured the Zhigu Village, it continued to march towards Dadu, which was 300 miles away. On the second day of February, the dragon raised its head. If it's in the south, it's time to celebrate the festival. The people prayed for the spring rain to ensure a bumper harvest this year.

On the road from Zhigu Village to Dadu, these Song troops from the south hoped that it would not rain. If it doesn't rain, the speed of building a station will be faster. If it doesn't rain, it's easier for the Song army to fight. As for the impact of the lack of rain on Hebei's agricultural production, Song Jun did not care. War seeks victory, not a bountiful harvest.

According to the model of one military station every thirty miles, the Song army only needed to build ten military stations to reach the capital. However, Commander Zheng Jie was more cautious, and he built a military station every ten miles. The strong men who were captured from Zhigu Village were fully used, and they were driven to work every day. Under this standardized process, on the eighth day of the Song army's landing in Zhigu Village, the most front-line military stations were only 60 miles away from most of them.

If nothing goes wrong, in two more days, the advance of the Song army will be able to reach the capital. Zheng Jie was very confident in the siege of the Song army, as long as he could reach the city of Dadu, the Song army would definitely be able to attack the walls of Dadu.

"Rest well. Defend tightly! Every night comes, Zheng Jie gives the same order. The same was true of the commanders at all levels of the Song army. If it can break through the capital, this Song army will naturally be able to make great contributions. In recent years, large-scale battles have been personally commanded by Zhao Guanjia, and commanders at all levels have not been able to make great contributions on their own. This time, the Zhao Guanjia finally took control of the capital city of Hangzhou, and everyone naturally looked forward to such a victory. So the troops were extremely careful.

After nightfall, the interior of each military station was heavily guarded, and some torches were erected more than 30 meters outside the military station. Although the light of the torches is not too bright, it is very noticeable in the night.

The February night in Hebei is still cold, and these flickering flames seem to be easily extinguished, but they continue to burn tenaciously. The orange-yellow flame gives people a strange and cold feeling.

Marshal Boyan looked at these fires from afar, and when the cold wind blew, he couldn't help but tighten his scarf. An hour has passed since nightfall, and those torches have not been extinguished at all, and no Song army has come to replace them. Qianhu of the Mongolian army who was following him snorted and said with awe: "Great marshal, do the southern barbarians know how to demons the law?" ”

"This is the everlasting light in the temple." Boyan said indifferently.

This answer leaves no reason for rebuttal. Mongolians have seen the ever-bright lanterns in the temple, and when the good men and women make their vows, they either donate money to the temple or donate incense oil. With a constant supply of lamp oil, the lamp will not go out.

But this kind of everlasting lantern is only found in large temples where incense is thriving, and even in large temples that can only be counted with one hand, only one hand can dare to make such a pomp. An ordinary military station of the Song army can put more than a dozen ever-bright lanterns outside......

"Tsk! How much does that cost! Another Qianhu said in a staggered manner.

This time, Marshal Boyan did not answer, but carefully observed it again. The wealth of the Great Song Dynasty is not unusual, the problem is the military station of the Song army. After careful investigation, the Mongols learned that the Song army's means of building military stations were very simple. That is, the straw rope bag is packed with soil and then stacked up and tamped. After trying it, Boyan couldn't find a way to crack it. But how long can such a military station last under the onslaught, Marshal Boyan has not tried, so he really wants to try it.

After observing for a while, Marshal Boyan ordered: "Send someone to see if you can extinguish these lanterns." ”

Immediately, a Mongol army was sent out and sneaked to the vicinity of the station. These people walked to a place about 20 meters away from the lantern, and then slowly walked forward. Not long after they walked forward, the ground suddenly flashed with fire, and the sound of an explosion was heard. Soon, Song Jun and other soldiers raised lanterns high on their stations, which instantly illuminated a far away. The pathfinders sent by the Mongols immediately fled back with rolling and crawling, and did not even come to the rescue of their comrades who were killed by the bombing.

Looking at Song Jun's reaction, Boyan smiled slightly and said to his subordinates: "Didn't we bring some Han people and let them go on the road." ”

"What's the use of that?" Mongol Jun Qianhu asked. In order to attack the camp of the Song army, they have been frozen in the field for half a night, and at this time, they are arresting the people, and everyone may not be able to really move the Song army's military station.

"It's not bad to scare Song Jun for one night." Marshal Boyan replied.

For the next night, the Mongol army left only a few men and horses outside the station, and they forced the people to go on the road every once in a while, and each time they were able to keep the Song army on guard. Not only this one, but all nearby stations were harassed by the Mongols.

During the day the next day, the Song army continued to send people to the repair station. It was intercepted by the Mongol army head-on. The Song army was preparing to set off with a battalion, and the battalion commander looked at at the Mongolian cavalry on the opposite side, and he really didn't dare to go out. Moreover, the Mongol army stood outside the range of the Song army's artillery, and the Song army could not do anything to the Mongol army.

Commander Zheng Jie soon got the news. The performance of these Mongol troops did not surprise him, and it would be very strange if the Mongols really allowed the Song army to reach the capital.

Quickly rushed to the front station, Commander Zheng Jie stood on the lookout platform of the station and watched with a telescope, and found that the Mongolian army in front of him had not 10,000, but 5,000 or 6,000. Coupled with the news of other military stations, the Mongols dispatched at least 20,000 cavalry.

Coming down to the lookout, Zheng Jie immediately convened a meeting. When the people arrived, Zheng Jie's first sentence was, "If you can defeat these 20,000 Mongolian cavalry, the Mongols will definitely not be able to hold the capital." ”

Hearing this, everyone nodded heavily. There were cavalry and infantry in the Mongol army, and the Song army did not take the Mongol infantry seriously. In these years of warfare, the Mongol infantry was a head-giving presence in the eyes of the Song army. Only the Mongol cavalry is worth caring about. As long as these cavalry on the opposite side can be annihilated, there are 100,000 infantry outside the capital, and Zheng Jie is also confident that he can use 20,000 Song troops to break them.

"But will these Mongol cavalrymen be willing to fight us?" The chief of staff asked.

"Don't worry, there are more straw ropes, and there are more methods we can use. Two divisions were dispatched to cover the engineer repair station. As long as the Mongol army slackens a little, we will kill it. Zheng Jie replied.

"Don't fall for the Mongol army's tricks to lure the enemy." The commanders of the Song Army who attended the meeting put forward suggestions. Although everyone should be careful and careful, they are all in favor of continuing to approach Dadu. As soon as they approached Dadu, the Mongol army had to come out to fight a decisive battle with the Song army. In the next few days, the Song army had to make full use of the advantages of the military station to force the enemy.

By noon, the Song army had assembled two divisions of troops. The chief of staff and Commander Zheng Jie both marched with the troops. Looking at the commanders and fighters of the Song Army, who were full of energy, the chief of staff couldn't help but ask: "Commander, how do you think the official family will choose if they encounter the current situation?" ”

"This ...... I'm not an official, I can't guess. Zheng Jie replied honestly. Although Zhao Guanjia seems to lack talent, he often makes unexpected decisions. Even now, recalling forcing the Yellow River to divert and return to the north, Zheng Jie still feels that Zhao Guanjia's thinking is beyond the limits of human beings.

The chief of staff thought that Zheng Jie was feeling uneasy, so he said: "Even if we engage the Mongolian cavalry, we can only fight a rout. It always felt like something was wrong. ”

"There's nothing wrong with that. Even the Mongol army, which was defeated several times in succession, could not regain its forces. A rout is not a bad thing either. Zheng Jie is very confident in this.

"In the battle of Huaxian, the Mongol army dared to charge with cavalry. They must not dare this time, how can we fight a rout? "The chief of staff is still uneasy.

"So what, if we can't engage the Mongol army, our army will have to work here. Instead, it gave the Mongol army a chance. At this time, we will attack the city wall of Dadu with lightning speed. As long as they could attack it, the Mongol army would no longer have the courage to defend the city. At that time, we will withdraw our troops. The Mongol army can't hold the city, and they don't dare to fight in the field, so let's wait and see the Mongol army panic by itself. Zheng Jie described his judgment on the future of the war.

This is a situation that has been discussed many times, and the troops who attacked this time are very much in favor of it. After the surrender of Lin'an, most of the officials of the Great Song Dynasty lost the mind to continue fighting, and Zhao Jiaren had no help at all, he completely relied on his own strength to defeat the Mongols, recapture Jiangnan, and stabilize the situation.

Zheng Jie's suggestion has always been to attack the city wall, but he does not spend much effort to engage in street battles in the capital. The purpose of breaking through the city wall was to shake the will of the Mongols, just as the Mongol army did not dare to engage in a field battle with the Song army now.

Sure enough, seeing the two divisions of the Song army coming, the Mongol army immediately retreated, completely out of the range of the Song army's guns. The neatly organized Song army continued to advance, stopped at the predetermined location, and began to quickly build a military station. The station was quickly built, and the Song army continued to flank it, allowing the sappers to hurry up and build a station ten miles away. And before dark, under the cover of the cavalry coming and going between the barracks, they retreated back to the place of departure.

The next day, the troops continued to do the same. The Mongol army was still approaching from a distance, and the Song army had no cavalry to drive the Mongol army further, and could only watch the Mongol cavalry watch from afar. Despite this, Zheng Jie is also very relieved, and what is needed at this time is patience and prudence. Originally, he could advance thirty miles a day, but now even if he can only advance ten miles a day, as long as he persists, it will only take five days to reach the capital city.

In the afternoon, the three military stations that had been stretched forward side by side were repaired, and they returned to the head to make up for the one military station that was missing yesterday. At this time, there were only forty miles left from Dadu.

On the third day, the troops continued their departure. The troops were accustomed to the strong onlookers of the Mongol cavalry, and the commanders at all levels were very careful to lead the troops in a confrontation. At noon, the Mongol cavalry suddenly moved, first the sound of horses' hooves rumbling on the ground, and listening to this movement turned out to be a sign of the impact of thousands of horses.

The troops immediately prepared for battle, and listening to the rumbling hooves, the commanders on the front line were nervous, but they were also very happy. If the feat of destroying the Mongol heavy cavalry in the Battle of Huaxian can be reproduced, what a great merit it it must be.

The Mongol cavalry array opened and gave way to several passages. And then a lot of strange stuff rushed out of these passages. In terms of height, these things are not much different from Mongolian horses. However, these are much wider than Mongolian horses, and they do not have a raised head.

These things are covered with wood, and you can see four legs running in front of you, and many long wooden spikes are fixed to the wooden ones. The front-line commander had never seen such things before, and he was frightened for a moment. But after all, everyone was well-trained, and then they shelled these strange things.

The shells flew into the bunch and hit a dozen of them at once. As the wooden gadgets outside cracked, the things inside let out a terrible bull roar and fell to the ground. Only then did the Song army know that these things released by the Mongolian army turned out to be cattle.

The cannon roared and the cattle roared. The herds with torches tied to their tails were frightened and rushed towards the Song army. Marshal Boyan, who was in the rear, indifferently watched as the once invincible artillery of the Song army was overwhelmed by an array of thousands of cattle, although they had knocked down hundreds of cattle. The Mongolian marshal Boyan raised his arms high and slashed forward. It stopped straight, showing a posture of pointing directly at the Song army. The horns sounded, and the Mongol cavalry swung their swords and galloped their horses, following behind the herd and charging towards the Song army.

Seeing that the artillery was no longer able to play its role, and the Song infantry did not watch dryly, they quickly began to shoot in a row. More cattle were defeated, but the Mongols released too many cattle, and the cattle with wooden shields were much more defensive than horses. After killing and wounding thousands of cattle, the red-eyed herd finally rushed into the front line of the Song army.

Bullets can't solve cattle, and bayonets can't do it. To make matters worse, the Song army, which had a broken front, had to deal with not only the rampaging of the cattle, but also the Mongol cavalry following the herd. The rifles did not have time to be loaded, and the infantry had to use bayonets against the swords of the Mongol army.

Although the Song infantry fought with all their might, they were finally at a disadvantage. The battle column was overwhelmed by rows, and the Song and Mongol armies began a fierce melee battle.

Commander Zheng Jie was originally on the observation deck of the newly built military station, wishing with a telescope, and could even see the faint shadows of the mountains on the horizon. That should be the Yanshan Mountains. After receiving the information, Commander Zheng Jie hurriedly rushed to the front line, and then found that the Song army and the Mongolian army were in a full-scale melee.

This kind of situation has not happened before, and whenever such a situation occurs, it is the Song army that is giving the final blow to the enemy. What Zheng Jie didn't expect at this time was that he had been in the army for so long, and for the first time he saw the Song army forced to engage in fierce battles with the enemy who had attacked the position.