Winter is about to fall, and a cold current is moving south from the north, and a cool breeze is blowing in Ezhou City.

Kublai Khan sat in his tent, worried, for nearly a month had passed since the division of his troops to the north, and the reality had not progressed as smoothly as expected.

Kublai Khan successfully divided his troops to the north according to Zongzheng's strategy, avoiding Ali Buge's sight, Zhang Rou and Dong Wenbing successfully attacked Ali Buge's defenders who were unstable in Kaiping and Yanjing, and set up positions in Kaiping and Yanjing.

However, just as Zhang Rou and Dong Wenbing were about to lead the troops south, Ali Buge suddenly gathered heavy troops in the north, always looking at Kaiping and Yanjing, Zhang Rou and Dong Wenbing's general report to Kublai Khan, Kublai Khan summoned Liu Bingzhong, Zhang Xi and Xie Cheng and others to discuss the military accounts.

Kublai Khan first asked Liu Bingzhong's opinion, Liu Bingzhong proposed to let Zhang Rou and Dong Wenbing continue to stay in Kaiping and Yanjing, otherwise, once they lead the troops south, Kaiping and Yanjing will easily fall into the hands of Ali Buge, and then the hard-won results of the previous division of troops will be in vain, Kublai Khan was unwilling, and hesitated for a while.

Kublai Khan took the letter from the inner chamberlain, and the chamberlain hurriedly withdrew from the tent, Kublai Khan opened the letter, his face changed greatly, and he scolded angrily: "How can this be justified!"

Zhang Xi asked with concern, "What makes the king so angry?"

Kublai Khan said to everyone: "The king of Mobei intends to call him Khan in Helin, and has secretly gathered the support of many tribal leaders. ”

Liu Bingzhong was afraid that Kublai Khan would not agree with his proposal to lead the troops back to the north, so when he saw this situation, he immediately added: "King, nowadays, the civil strife is not peaceful, it is not enough to take over the world, if you let the king of Mobei call Khan, establish a firm foothold in Mobei, and then want to calm the civil strife, I am afraid that it will be more difficult. ”

Zhang Xi and Xie Cheng felt that it was reasonable, and also agreed, and persuaded Kublai Khan to lead his troops back to the north, and swore to fight for Khan with the king of Mobei.

Kublai Khan thought that he had been in a stalemate in Ezhou, and if there was no reinforcement from Zhang Rou and Dong Wenbing to the south, he would not be able to open up a new situation, and the winter was about to begin, and the grain and grass would definitely become a problem.

Liu Bingzhong and the other three finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Kublai Khan had finally made up his mind to return north with Wang Shi.

However, Kublai Khan still looked solemn, he knew that Jia Rudao and himself were privately negotiating peace, which was a disgraceful act, so this time he led the troops to retreat north or was afraid of the pursuit of the Song army.

Liu Bingzhong had long known that leading the troops to the north would definitely have this problem, and this old strategist, who had a long-term vision and a three-step approach, had already thought of a way to deal with it.

After Kublai Khan said that the north was still worried, Liu Bingzhong immediately said: "The king does not need to worry, the old minister has already thought of a plan to attack the west and secretly control Chen Cang, and he will ensure that the king and the king will return to Kaiping and Yanjing safely." ”

Kublai Khan asked: "I don't know, what is the general's clever plan, I would like to hear about it!"

Liu Bingzhong explained: "Before returning to the north, we threatened to make a desperate bet to go east to Lin'an, and sent forward troops all the way east, the Song Emperor was born timid, if Jia Rudao fanned the flames on the side, the Song Emperor would definitely order the main force of the Song army to be transferred to the east, and then, when we were halfway to the east, we suddenly led the troops to turn the road to the north, and then left a small number of men and horses in the East Road Bridge to be responsible for the break, you can successfully escape the Song army's pursuit." ”

Zhang Xi and Xie Cheng felt that this plan was very good, and Kublai Khan also felt that it was feasible, so he handed over the matter to Liu Bingzhong with full planning and responsibility.

After Liu Bingzhong finished the plan, he also deliberately mentioned the importance of one person to Kublai Khan, that is, Jia Yidao, Kublai Khan did not understand what Liu Bingzhong meant.

Liu Bingzhong is a long-term person, and this time he negotiated with Jia Nidao, he realized that if the Southern Song Dynasty continued to be made bigger by Jia Nidao, it would definitely cause disaster to the whole country, so in his heart, he had already planned a big game of chess for Mongolia. He asked Kublai Khan,

"I wonder what the king thinks of Jia Yidao?"

Kublai Khan said disdainfully: "Although he is the prime minister of the Southern Song Dynasty, in the eyes of this king, he is just a traitorous villain who plays with power. ”

Liu Bingzhong shook his head and said: "The king shouldn't look at Jia Yidao like this, after all, this time, if there is no such traitorous villain, I am afraid that we will not be able to go smoothly, and the person who can make the enemy weaker is our friend on the other hand." ”

Zhang Xi and Xie Cheng didn't quite understand what Liu Bingzhong meant, but Kublai Khan seemed to understand what Liu Bingzhong meant, and the two glanced at each other, and the tacit understanding between the monarch and the minister had been reached.

Liu Bingzhong continued: "Jia Rudao is an extremely greedy person for money and power, I heard that he was in charge of the Ezhou war this time, so he secretly formed a gang, as the saying goes, 'If you want to take it, you must fix it.'" If we pave the way for Jia Nidao to succeed, so that he can make great contributions to be promoted, according to Jia Nidao's virtue, three years and five years can control the Southern Song Dynasty government, the king thinks carefully, if this is the power of the Southern Song Dynasty government, he day, the king ends the civil strife, and then leads the troops south, it is better to drive the sheep with a tiger. ”

Zhang Xi and Xie Cheng suddenly realized after listening to Liu Bingzhong's further explanation, and also admired Liu Bingzhong's long-term vision, Kublai Khan deeply agreed, and secretly admired Liu Bingzhong's strategy.

"How is the general going to help Jia Rudao to make meritorious contributions?" Kublai Khan then asked.

Liu Bingzhong hesitated for a moment, as if he had concerns, but finally said: "The East Road Bridge is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but someone must be broken to drag the Song army, if the king leaves more than 100 weak veterans to break the rear and pretend to be a large army, and inform Jia Nidao in advance, let Jia Nidao lead the troops to seize the East Road Bridge, and then we pretend to be defeated and flee, then Jia Rudao can seize the East Road Bridge and defeat our Mongolian army as a pretense to ask for merit and reward." This not only sells Jia Nidao a face, lays the foundation for follow-up cooperation, but also helps him to ascend to the position, killing two birds with one stone. ”

Zhang Xi Hexicheng felt that this plan was exquisite, and Kublai Khan did not deny it, but he heard that something was wrong, which was also the reason for Liu Bingzhong's hesitation.

"Why did you leave more than a hundred old and weak soldiers?" Kublai Khan asked sharply,

Jia Nidao replied: "These more than 100 people must pay the price of blood, otherwise, Jia Nidao has no basis and cannot gain the trust of Emperor Song, besides, no matter what, someone will be sacrificed, why not"

Before he could finish speaking, Kublai Khan said angrily: "It's not that the general doesn't know the way of this king to lead his troops, and this king will never allow you to do this." ”

Liu Bingzhong did not feel resentful of Kublai Khan's scolding, but he felt happy, because only such a king was worthy of his full assistance.

"Since the king can't bear it, but, no matter what, the army must be responsible for the matter of breaking off, and casualties are inevitable!" Liu Bingzhong said truthfully,

"That being the case, why do we need to deliberately arrange the old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers, just arrange a team of regular soldiers and horses. Kublai Khan said solemnly,

Liu Bingzhong knew that the broken soldiers would not survive, and this time they must quickly withdraw and return to the north, and those old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers would undoubtedly slow down the march of the whole army, so Liu Bingzhong thought of this strategy, and he was already ready to be appeased and persuaded by the army, but after Kublai Khan's serious correction, Liu Bingzhong gave up this idea and turned to Kublai Khan's sincere admiration.

Subsequently, Kublai Khan discussed with Liu Bingzhong, Zhang Xi, and Xie Cheng the route of the northern return, and handed over all the affairs of the northern return to Liu Bingzhong.

In the next few days, the vanguard of the Mongolian army marched eastward at night, rumors of attacking Lin'an in the east, the Song Emperor wavered at first, and then Jia seemed to have a trick on the road, and the possibility of the ancient army attacking Lin'an, which attracted the attention of the Song Emperor, and then ordered Jia Nidao to be responsible for blocking the Mongolian army's eastward attack and transferring the main force eastward.

Kublai Khan saw the Song Emperor's plan, so he led the troops to turn back to the north halfway, Jia Rudao knew the plan, but he couldn't regret it, just when he woke up and wanted to enter the army to pursue, he received a private letter from Liu Bingzhong, Liu Bingzhong's letter made Jia Nidao very happy, and then took tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to the East Road Bridge to catch up.

As Liu Bingzhong expected, after the East Road Bridge was supported for a day, the Song army touched the other side of the bridge at night, and all the 172 warriors guarding the East Road Bridge were killed by Jia Nidao.

After returning with the corpses of more than 100 Mongolian soldiers, he said "all roads have been victorious, the siege of Ezhou has been lifted, the Hui Han has been cleared, the sect and society are in danger and restored, and it is the blessing of the eternal blessing of Xinjiang." "The above table is reported, and the reason for the real retreat of the Möngke army is not reported.

The poor Song Emperor did not know anything about Jia Xiangdao's private peace negotiations and exaggerated his great military achievements, and even gave Jia Xiangdao the Duke of Weiguo and the young master on the grounds of defeating the Mongol army and killing countless enemy troops as a reward, and also ordered the Chinese military officials of the dynasty to greet Jia Xiangdao as 'triumphant'.

Kublai Khan and his entourage successfully arrived at Kaiping and Yanjing, joined the armies of Zhang Rou and Dong Wenbing, and began the battle with Ali Buge, the king of Mobei.

After Liu Bingzhong learned the news that Jia Nidao had been crowned the Duke of Weiguo and the young master, he was secretly happy, and now, he was only willing to help Kublai Khan win the throne of Khan, and he had no time to do anything in the Southern Song Dynasty, but he knew very well that with the wedge of Jia Nidao to enter the Southern Song Dynasty, he would come to the Southern Song Dynasty again in the future, and the ending would naturally not be as difficult as it is now.

After the valley lord of the beauty valley learned that Kublai Khan finally returned north with his troops, he was particularly happy, and he also heard that the proud disciple of the late national teacher Namaya Fa Siba rushed back from the Western Regions to support Kublai Khan, so he had nothing to worry about Kublai Khan's safety, but it was the disappearance of the second and other four people, and the fact that Xianjie had disappeared gave her a special headache, but unfortunately, in order to protect Kublai Khan, the boss and others did not dare to withdraw, and now it is good, just wait for Fa Siba to arrive, she can withdraw the boss and the four, and fully implement her own strategy.

After the news of Kublai Khan's return to Kaiping was known by Ali Buge, he was still angry, and he reprimanded Asutai's subordinates for not doing their jobs effectively, and they didn't know if they were deceived, so Asutai transferred his anger to the ghost-faced old monster and others.

The ghost-faced old monster and others originally only served the Mongol Great Khan, because their home country was limited by the Great Khan, but now that Möngke Khan has died and the new Khan has not been established, they have also lost the goal of effectiveness, and they are still chaotic.