The most important containment of the Thunderbolt army against the Mongol army was in Yazhou. To say that Yazhou is the territory of the Great Song Dynasty, it would be absurd for outsiders to contain the Mongolian army here. Just existence is reasonable, the reason why the top management of the Thunderbolt Army made this decision is because Cao Zhizhou had secretly communicated with Niu Ling before, and his recent behavior is really weird, and some of his behaviors even harbor evil intentions in the eyes of the Thunderbolt Army.

The first bizarre act is military maneuvers. The Mongolian army captured Meizhou and marched under the city of Jiading, which made Yu Xing really panicked, and urgently ordered reinforcements from Yali and other states to come to the rescue. Yu Xing's official position was the deputy envoy of Sichuan and the deputy envoy of Chengdu pacification, Zhijiadingfu, and was Cao Zhizhou's direct superior. The Sichuan regime in the Southern Song Dynasty became fragmented by the Mongol invasion, and also formed large and small forces that supported their own troops, especially in western Sichuan. In addition, Yu Xing's greed and burning habits led to a heavy looting of the two prefectures, causing the resentment of the two prefectures to boil. Some time ago, Yu Xing ordered Yazhou to send troops to assist Pengshan City, and Cao Zhizhou resisted Yu Xing's order with the fatigue of the people.

Yazhou and Li, Diao, Yan Sizhou and the north of Diaomen Zhai in the West Mountains and Wild Zhufan, a total of more than 20,000 Han and Tibetan households, the population is less than 100,000. Lizhou only governs Hanyuan County, and Diao and Yanzhou belong to the fetters, and the Xishan and Ye Zhufan are only nominally subordinate to the imperial court. Due to the distance from Lin'an, the above-mentioned areas are essentially managed by Yazhou. These areas are vast and have a large population, but these populations cannot be effectively controlled by the government, and the economy is not a rich place, so it cannot afford to raise more soldiers, so there are only 3,500 officers and soldiers under the rule of Yazhou. This time, after receiving the order, Cao Zhizhou was unusual, and immediately sent 3,000 troops, leaving only 500 people to defend.

The exchanges between Cao Zhizhou and Yu Xing's father and son were mostly sycophants and deceit, and it was really generous to raise troops to help each other this time, which made Ouyang Xuan and other high-level people doubt whether they had wronged this good person. Perhaps Cao Zhizhou found his conscience and repented and was determined to serve the country. But his next actions proved the correctness of the saying "dogs can't change eating". Of the 3,000 soldiers in Yazhou, 1,000 were stationed in Mingshan City, and the other 2,000 men and horses stopped when they entered the territory of Hongya. Hongya County is located at the junction of Jiading Prefecture and Yazhou, and belongs to one of the few counties in Jiading that has not yet been warn. Seeing that the Yazhou army refused to advance, Yu Xing sent people to urge Cao Zhizhou again and again, but he was pushed by him under various excuses. The Yazhou army in the famous mountain city had no intention of advancing, but desperately strengthened the city fortifications, and dug countless trenches outside the city.

The movement of Yazhou's troops made Yu Xing extremely dissatisfied, and also alerted the Perak army. If the Yazhou army stopped in Hongya because it was afraid of the Mongol army's advance, then the defensive posture in Mingshan City was obviously to prevent the attack of the Thunderbolt army. The Thunderbolt Army went deep into Yandao County to exterminate the political bandits, and made a lot of propaganda, which made Cao Zhizhou extremely annoyed but unable to attack. Although the thunderbolt army's hand was stretched too long, he had the right to appeal to his boss and ask Ouyang Xuan to be punished. However, the county lieutenant of Baizhangyuan killed the county order Xiancheng to surrender, and he was still a bandit at the boundary of Yazhou, and he was inevitably guilty of negligence. If you really want to put it on the table, both sides are at fault. What's worse is that the Thunderbolts have sent someone to suggest that they have seized important letters, whether including correspondence with themselves is unknown.

If you can't turn your face on the surface, then come to the trick. Cao Zhizhou instructed his henchmen to deliberately make it difficult for the Thunderbolt army caravan to cross the border, but who expected that the soldiers and officials guarding the pass would quit. These soldiers and low-ranking officials were poorly paid, and since the reopening of the caravan, the money boss has given a lot of money in addition to the normal taxes. With this money, they were able to live a good life. If the Thunderbolt caravan doesn't come, the income that accounts for the majority will naturally be cut off, and the wives and children will also drink the northwest wind, but it is the most difficult to go from luxury to simplicity. You must know that more than half of the trade in Yazhou is now operated by Perak army caravans. Cao Zhizhou asked them to do this, which was tantamount to killing chickens and taking eggs, which directly harmed their interests.

Therefore, for Cao Zhizhou's instructions, these officers and soldiers who kept the card did not abide by it, but disobeyed it. As long as Cao Zhizhou's henchmen are not present, he still turns a blind eye. After seizing and selling the goods of a Thunderbolt caravan, the henchman happily celebrates in the tavern, but unexpectedly clashes with a group of people of unknown origin. This group of people Kong Wuli attacked him very hard, beat him and his fox friends to the point that they couldn't get up, and lay in bed for several months. Cao Zhizhou had to send his henchmen again, but these people also learned to be obedient, and no longer made things difficult for the Thunderbolt caravan, but colluded with the card-guarding officials. It is human instinct to seek advantages and avoid harm, and even children can choose between being beaten when they offend others and accepting money.

In addition to making things difficult for the caravan, Cao Zhizhou also instructed his henchmen to report to the bandits. It's just that the bandits along the way have suffered from firearms, especially the head of the county lieutenant of Baizhang is still hanging on the head of the city, where dare to brush the tiger's beard. Cao Zhizhou's yin damage tactics are naturally clear to the Thunderbolt Army, but this will definitely not constitute a reason for the Thunderbolt Army to attack Yazhou. If a caravan is embarrassed and attacks a friendly army, it is an open rebellion against the court.

Cao Zhizhou guarded against the Thunderbolt army like this, and there was only one reason - he was ready to surrender to the Mongols. If this is the case, Yazhou Bingtun is stationed in Hongya County, not to aid Jiading, but to wait for the opportunity. If the Mongol army wins, they will sacrifice Hongya, Danling, Jiajiang and other places as a vote, and if Yu Xing wins, he can follow the defeated Mongol army and bluff.

The Thunderbolts, of course, would not allow the first scenario to arise. It was imperative to prevent Yazhou from falling to the Mongol army and to attack Jiading together. Therefore, Ouyang Xuan made three countermeasures to this. The first is to order the field brigade to move in the direction of Baizhang City. The brigade headquarters of the field brigade was originally in Qiongzhou, not far from Baizhang City. It's just that now the field brigade, except for the cavalry battalion, the other two infantry battalions belong to the heavy troops, and there are not enough mules and horses to tow artillery and baggage, so they marched for two days before arriving at Baizhang City. Cao Ergou led the army to not be idle after that, but frequently conducted drills, and this kind of big battle obviously could not be hidden from the spies in Yazhou.

The second measure is to strengthen the presence of forces in the two states. Now the villages near the Lizhou fire and nitrate mine have benefited from the prosperity brought by the Thunderbolt army, and Qian Bao, with Ouyang Xuan's authorization, has trained the miners into three militia companies, plus a full-time escort company, these four companies can easily thwart the attack of the Lizhou army with the steep terrain and firearms. The population of this Lizhou is less than 10,000, and the standing army is only a few hundred, so it is obviously unable to capture the fire and nitrate mines. In addition, Ouyang Xuan ordered the hoe rape company to return to the hoe and rape ditch, that is, the ravine of the political bandits who had been exterminated, and repaired the original cottage as a safe haven for the Thunderbolt army caravan at a critical moment. As long as this only entrance is guarded with firearms, it will be difficult for the enemy to penetrate several times.

The third measure is to connect with the archery furnace and the Xishan Wild Zhufan Department. In a personal letter written by Boss Qian to Zelang, he said that the caravan had prepared a large number of urgently needed materials in the Tibetan area, and asked him to organize a caravan of villages and grassland tribes around the arrow furnace to come to Lizhou to trade, and the more people the better. Due to the limited supply capacity and the scarcity of troops, the Lizhou authorities have been strictly controlling the merchants in the direction of the arrow furnace to prevent them from causing trouble or even rioting. Because of the above reasons, the Diaomunzhai also made strict restrictions on the Western Mountains and Wild Tribes. Boss Qian also invited these tribes to come and trade. At that time, if Cao Zhizhou did not let the Tibetan merchants enter the customs, it would inevitably lead to dissatisfaction and even violent conflicts among the Tibetan merchants. Moreover, he had to consider the attitude of the Thunderbolt caravans, which were sitting on a large number of goods.