On the tenth day of the fourth month of the second year of the Great Song Dynasty, Marshal Ali Hague returned to the Boyan army. According to Mongolian tradition, Marshal Boyan did not severely punish Marshal Ali Hague. Mongolia has fought many wars in the past hundred years and has been the final victor in many wars. In the course of many wars, Mongolia has also fought many defeats. Because it is not a Mongolian tradition to severely punish a general for a defeat.

Now that the marshal has returned, the Mongol army is also going to make a war summary as usual. Marshal Ali Hague took the summary meeting as the core, and naturally the participants were senior generals. Before Marshal Zhang Hongfan was about to set off as agreed, his cousin came up and said, "Jiulang, when you arrive at the meeting, tell me about the raid on Huating County." ”

Zhang Hongfan couldn't hold back and showed an unhappy expression. Ever since the spy reported that Zhao Jiaren had gone to Songjiang, several meritorious people had suggested that the Mongol army should raid Songjiang along the river. These suggestions are full of wishful thinking, breaking the Song army, running thousands of miles along the river, accurately finding Zhao Jiaren in the Songjiang area, easily breaking Zhao Jiaren's pro-army, and capturing or killing the power minister of the Great Song Dynasty.

These generals have been fighting for so long, why can they make such unreliable suggestions? Zhang Hongfan felt puzzled. This kind of stupidity made even his cousin feel that it was possible, and Zhang Hongfan didn't understand it even more.

However, he always has to save a little face for his cousin, Zhang Hongfan did not answer this question, he just said: "Don't talk nonsense about this kind of nonsense." How do you know where Zhao Jiaren is thousands of miles away. ”

After speaking, Zhang Hongfan left his cousin, who was first stunned and then embarrassed, and went to Boyan Dashuai at the appointed time.

At least there will not be so many low-level words in the meeting of senior generals. Zhang Hongfan was originally a subordinate of Marshal Ali Hague, and knew that the marshal was resolute and decisive, so the marshal's description of the Song army made Zhang Hongfan feel a little chilled. In Zhang Hongfan's opinion, there was nothing wrong with the marshal in the battle of Guide. If it was the previous Song army, with the Mongol cavalry holding the position, the marshal's retreat would not cause any problems at all. But such a small mistake in retreating was caught by the Song army.

After the marshal finished speaking, Boyan opened his mouth and said: "If there was no retreat at that time, would it be advantageous to choose to fight the Song army on the spot than to retreat to the hillside and fight condescendingly?" ”

Zhang Hongfan's first thought was that Marshal Boyan wanted to exonerate Marshal Ali Hague. However, when I think about it carefully, I feel that this is not an excuse at all. According to Marshal Ali Hague, the Mongol army was three or four times stronger than the Song army, and they lined up on the hillside to attack the Song army from a high position. There is no question of the so-called retreat leading to the loosening of the formation. From the point of view of war, this is considered an advantage.

In order to pursue the Mongol army, the Song army and the Mongol army traveled the same distance, and the Mongol army did not have additional physical losses. If you can't win even like this, then you can only say that you can't win when you fight head-on.

By coming to such a conclusion through reason, Zhang Hongfan found that he was completely unacceptable emotionally. Such a strong city as Xiangyang was conquered, and it was thousands of miles away from Xiangyang to Lin'an, and the Mongol army fought and the Lin'an court surrendered in a few months. More than half of the Song dynasty's generals surrendered to the Mongols. Under such circumstances, anyone would feel that the Mongols had won. Zhang Hongfan thought so, too.

Then Zhang Hongfan found that the opposite side of Mongolia was the Song army infantry army that could not be defeated head-on with three times the force, Zhang Hongfan found that the opposite side of Mongolia was the Song army that could easily beat the Mongolian army and did not dare to approach the coastline, this Song army not only killed nearly 20,000 Mongolian sailors in the battle, but even the Mongolian navy Liu Quan, who was captured by them and brought to Fuzhou for execution. Now the heads of Liu Cheng and other Mongolian naval generals are probably still hanging in various parts of the Song Kingdom, used to prove the courage of the Song army to the people of the Song Kingdom.

The Lin'an court surrendered, and the Fuzhou court was established. After Marshal Boyan made the correct decision to evacuate Lin'an, the Fuzhou court became the Lin'an court again. Judging from the results, Zhang Hongfan felt that he had fought with him before a fake Song State. Mongolia crushed this false Song state, and the real Song state rose from the ruins of the fake Song state.

With an idea in his heart, after Zhang Hongfan retracted his thoughts, he only heard Marshal Ali Hague reply: "...... I'm just afraid I'm going to lose even worse. ”

Even though he knew that the marshal was telling the truth, Zhang Hongfan's heart was still extremely resistant. If this is regarded as the basic attitude of the Mongol army, then the Mongol army will have to see the Song army walking around in the future.

Boyan said coldly: "Everyone, the rainy season in Jiangnan is coming again, let's withdraw our troops back to Dadu." ”

The successive blows made Zhang Hongfan difficult to accept, and he stiffened his neck and said: "Dashuai, maybe Song Jun's firearms are even more difficult to use in the rainy season." Even if he wants to withdraw, at least he will fight with the Song army before leaving. ”

"Regardless of whether the Song army works or not, our bows and arrows will definitely not work. In case the firearms of the Song army could still be used, we would have to use infantry to fight the Song army on muddy ground. Boyan replied coldly.

Boyan's voice was cold, and the scene described by this cold voice made Zhang Hongfan shudder. The Mongol army, which had lost its ability to maneuver, may not be able to win against the previous 'fake Song army'. Not to mention fighting the now wolf-like Song army.

Seeing that all the generals had no objections, Boyan arranged a plan to retreat. Huaixi was handed over to the surrendered Song army to guard, and no matter whether they won or lost in the face of the Song army, the Mongols did not care.

The stride attack failed, so Boyan chose to retreat in stride. The Mongol army only held Xiangyang and Yingzhou south of Xiangyang, and Hunan and Hubei west of Huaixi, and Boyan also gave up decisively and handed it over to the Song army generals who surrendered. What the people could plunder had already been plundered by the Mongols, and there was no point in bothering to garrison here.

Listening to these correct arrangements, Zhang Hongfan felt extremely painful in his heart. No matter how much the Mongols gained in this war, the grand strategy of destroying the Song Dynasty was ultimately not achieved. The Mongol army could only return to their starting point. With the combat effectiveness of the Song army now, Zhang Hongfan did not think that the Mongol army had a chance to revisit the old place.

After the strategic arrangement, Zhang Hongfan returned to his camp. He was unhappy in his heart, and he couldn't help but think of his cousin's stupid question before. I don't know why, Zhang Hongfan now thinks that this stupid question is actually stupid and funny. Calling his cousin, Zhang Hongfan asked him how his cousin could believe such a question.

"I don't think that if I can kill Zhao Jiaren, Song Guo will be able to take it." The cousin replied embarrassedly.

"Huh!" Such a straightforward idea made Zhang Hongfan laugh out loud, and he said jokingly: "If you can win Zhao Jiaren, what are you going to do next?" ”

"What's next?" The cousin scratched his head and replied very neatly, "After the Song Kingdom is finished, won't we be able to go home." ”

The words "go home" struck Zhang Hongfan's heartstrings heavily and made him stunned. Even if he fails to destroy the Song Kingdom, at least he can go home. Zhang Hongfan came out to fight for several years, and he couldn't remember clearly what the family's old house was like. The word "go home" made Zhang Hongfan clearly recall the tears in his mother's eyes before he first went out to the army when he was young, and reminded him of the first time he secretly cried because he was homesick when he was young.

The appearance of home may be forgotten, but the feeling of homesickness will never be forgotten. At this moment, Zhang Hongfan even felt that no matter what success or fame, what Wang Tu hegemony was, it was not as good as the joy of going home.

Marshal Boyan never procrastinated, and since he decided to withdraw the army, he immediately began to make arrangements. The first is to ask the military generals of the Song State to surrender and send their families to live in Dadu. With the light of Zhao Jiaren's propaganda of patriotism, and knowing that Zhao Jiaren would not forgive Song Traitor's decision, these people decided to leave some foundation in Mongolia anyway, so they listened to the words of Marshal Boyan and arranged for family members to gather under Boyan's account.

As the governor of Lianghuai, Fan Wenhu was more thorough, and he sent all the children in the family to Boyan's account. It didn't take long for Boyan to send someone to tell Fan Wenhu, "Of course, when you go to Dadu, you have to celebrate the birthday of the Great Khan, is it appropriate for you to wait for your children to go empty-handed?" ”

There is no need for the envoy to say it so clearly, after only listening to the first half of the sentence, Fan Wenhu knows what Boyan is going to say later. This is to knock another stroke from Fan Wenhu. Fan Wenhu said to the envoy with a smile: "But I don't know what the rules are for my Great Mongolian birthday." ”

The messenger took out a list and handed it to Fan Wenhu. Even if Fan Wenhu was a person who was particularly flattering, after reading the list, his face showed a momentary dull expression. There are too many requirements on the list, and Fan Wenhu's family property is not so much at all. However, since he was good at greeting, Fan Wenhu immediately humbly asked the envoy for benefits, "This is too much, and the lower officials really can't take it out." ”

The Mongolian envoy was naturally Mongolian, and he didn't care about these gentle and elegant talk, and when he heard that Fan Wenhu actually dared to object, the envoy shouted: "Ah! As the governor of Lianghuai, the entire Lianghuai is yours. Can't you get this thing out? ”

Fan Wenhu was speechless by the messenger's words, and could only sigh: "Both Huai are mine?" This is too much to look up to. ”

The envoy shouted again: "Where can I manage the boundaries of tens of thousands of miles in the east, west, north and south of Mongolia!" Let you be the governor of the two Huai, of course these two Huai are yours. No matter how you take care of the two Huai, the Great Khan only cares whether you can pay the tribute according to the custom. If you can't do it, the Great Khan will not let it go. If you can do it, the two Huai will be left to you except for the tribute to be handed over to the Great Khan! ”

After being reprimanded by the messenger, Fan Wenhu nodded again and again and thanked him. Although he did not dare to fully believe the envoy's words, Fan Wenhu felt that he had some understanding of how the Mongols governed the country. The Great Song Dynasty has a complex set of laws and many ideas. Mongolia is simple and straightforward, the lords in various places have to pay money, grain, and ladies to the Great Khan. When there is a war, troops must be sent.

If you can do this, you are a good official. After the lords did it, what did they do to the people of the land. The Great Khan thought that it was the power of the lord, and that the Great Khan should not have bothered with it. Fan Wenhu, who learned this, regretted in his heart, if he could become such a lord in Mongolia early, how cool his life would be!