Just when Ezhou City was cheering for a huge military pay, the city was celebrated together.

The north of October has entered a cold winter.

The Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun, which were separated from China, have been ruled by Liao, Jin and Mongolia for more than 300 years. The customs and habits have become different from those of the Song Dynasty in the south. The people here have long been mixed with fish and dragons. The Khitans, Han people, Jurchens, and Mongolians live in each other, and the architectural styles are also messy. Tents, yurts and wooden and stone houses are mixed together. People coming and going are also different in costumes, including Confucian scholars with wide sleeves and large robes, scholars with long robes, and Hu people with felt hats. Those who ride horses and carriages are all Mongolian nobles. The formerly arrogant Khitans and Jurchens are all clamped their tails in front of these Mongolian nobles, pretending to be innocent and pitiful, and waving their tails to beg for mercy and live a life of mercy.

There are five people in a group, including monks, laymen and Taoism, and their dresses are different.

He was riding a horse to face the howling cold wind and fine snow particles, and headed straight for Yanjing along the official road.

Yanjing, the capital of the Jin Kingdom in the past.

The reason why Yanjing is named is that Yan State, one of the seven heroes of the Warring States Period in the pre-Qin period, was established here. It was called Jicheng and also Yandu. Therefore, from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Song Dynasty, Jicheng had been destroyed and repaired for more than a thousand years from war to the Song Dynasty, and the city was destroyed and repaired repeatedly, but it still exists. Especially after the Jin Dynasty's operation for more than a hundred years, the scale expanded a lot. At its most prosperous time, it once lived in nearly one million people, which was comparable to Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty and Hangzhou in the Southern Song Dynasty. It is definitely one of the largest cities of mankind.

Unfortunately, Yanjing is no longer as prosperous and prosperous as before. Since it was captured by the Mongols more than 30 years ago, the Mongols have burned, killed and looted the city for more than a month, and slaughtered one out of ten people. Finally, they set off a fire to burn the luxurious city built by the Jin people for a hundred years. Yanjing has thus completely turned into a abandoned city.

The urinary nature of nomadic peoples has always been like this, they are only good at destruction and not good at construction.

However, once nomadic peoples began to accept the ideas of the Han people, they would start to study hard. The Liao Kingdom and later the Jin Kingdom were deeply influenced by Han culture. After conquering the Central Plains, they began to get rid of the habits of nomadic peoples, learn to farm and build cities and stabilize, and then use Confucian culture to govern the country. Therefore, although the Central Plains and the North fell into the hands of the Liao and Jin Kingdom for more than 300 years, the local people lived a stable life and did not suffer too much oppression and exploitation. There was not much difference between farming and studying and studying in the south.

But history is a process that is constantly repeated.

After the barbaric Khitans captured the north, they gradually became sinicized. They abandoned their ancestral grazing skills and stubbornly picked up their hoes and began to plow the fields and farm. While they became civilized and polite, their wildness also quickly faded. Therefore, the powerful Liao Kingdom only existed for more than a hundred years before being killed by the barbaric Jurchens.

After the Jurchens occupied the north, they envied the Central Plains civilization and abandoned the traditional craftsmanship of robbing families and began to learn to recite poems and paint. They soon became civilized and then were ravaged by another more barbaric guy.

The Mongols are still repeating the paths of the Liao and Jin dynasties.

During the attack on the Jin Dynasty, burned, killed and looted, and robbed a large amount of gold, silver and treasures and population. After robbing a large amount of gold, silver and treasures and population, they did not forget to set a fire, but soon the Mongols began to regret it.

Damn, the people of Jin are so weak that they have not fought much, and their country has been destroyed.

The destruction of the Jin Dynasty made the Mongolians feel at a loss, and they didn't know what to do with the territory of the Jin Dynasty.

It is impossible to give it back to Da Song, after all, I can't bear to spit out the meat I eat after I'm spitting it out.

However, the men who were trapped in horses were not accustomed to farming, chanting poetry and painting, so neither Ogedei nor Mengge did not want to manage these snatched places. Therefore, they randomly enfeoffed some Mongolian nobles to manage. At the same time, in order to appease the Han people, some surrendered Han officials and powerful locals were also granted the Shihou, allowing them to retain their troops to be responsible for governing the towns of the states and prefectures, which led to a large number of separatist forces.

In fact, after the Mongols occupied the northern part of China and the Central Plains, they almost all had a barbaric and laissez-like attitude, except for burning, killing, looting and leaving behind scars all over the ground, and those who were truly in power were these Shihous. More than thirty years later, the power of these Shihous became increasingly huge. Many Shihous were ready to move at the beginning and secretly expanded and cultivated their power. However, due to the weak chickens of the Song Dynasty and the strength of the Mongols, they never dared to resist head-on.

The Mongolian high-ranking officials and most nobles seem to care about these situations. The Mongolian roots are in the grassland outside the pass. They have always regarded the Central Plains as a place for breeding goods and population, and have never really cared about it.

But there is only one exception, that is Kublai Khan.

Kublai Khan was brave since he was a child. He could ride a horse and shoot a bow at the age of seven or eight. He was also very filial. Therefore, Temujin also liked him very much and specially invited many knowledgeable Confucian scholars to teach him to learn the culture of the Central Plains. When he grew up, Kublai Khan even recruited a large number of Han staff who defected to him. He not only learned the ethics of the Three Bonds and Five Constant Persons, but also was very enthusiastic about Confucianism's knowledge of self-cultivation and governing the country and pacifying the world. He read a large number of Confucian books. Among the Mongolian nobles, Kublai Khan was definitely an alien and very familiar with the culture of the Central Plains.

Because of this, after the Jin Dynasty surrendered, Kublai Khan was appointed by Mengge as the highest official in charge of Han affairs. In the first year of Baoyou of the Song Dynasty, Mengge divided Jingzhao to Kublai Khan to govern. Kublai Khan built a yamen in Chang'an and assisted in the conquest of Tubo and Dali.

Now Tubo and Dali have long surrendered, leaving only the small Southern Song Dynasty court living in Jiangnan.

This time, Mongge Khan personally led an army of 150,000 to conquer the Song Dynasty. In the eyes of all the Mongols, the surviving Song Dynasty would definitely be wiped out in one fell swoop without any strength or opportunity to resist.

As the general leader in the Han area in the southern desert, Kublai Khan naturally focused on the territory under his jurisdiction.

When the Mongolian army happily burned, killed and looted the Jin Kingdom, and slaughtered the city everywhere and left a large number of dilapidated cities. No one expected that these cities would become their own territory today.

Although more than 30 years have passed, these dilapidated cities in the past have gradually recovered their vitality, compared with the prosperity under the rule of the Song and Jin Dynasties in the past, it is completely unbearable.

Especially the former capital of the Jin Kingdom, Yanjing, is still a piece of dilapidated rubble and ruins, and its population is only 100,000.

Kublai Khan was familiar with the culture of the Central Plains and also liked the Central Plains. Moreover, Yanjing was an important geographical location, and it was the gate and gate to the Central Plains outside the pass. Therefore, in Kublai Khan's view, Yanjing must be firmly guarded. To guard Yanjing, the first thing to do is to repair it.

However, the dilapidated Yanjing City in front of me was burned by the Mongols themselves.

Therefore, in this snowy winter, Kublai Khan came to Yanjing and brought some Han staff to recruit some Han craftsmen who were familiar with architecture to discuss and improve the restoration work of Yanjing City day and night. After discussion, after Mengge Khan completely conquered the Song Dynasty, he would report to Mengge Khan, hoping that he could station in Yanjing to protect this important throat leading to the grasslands in the north of the desert.

As for the possibility that Mongge Khan might die in this war to fight against the Song Dynasty, not to mention Kublai Khan, all the Mongols had never thought about it.

This time, Mengge's expedition not only did not allow him to lead his troops, but also did not allow him to return to the capital and the forest. This also made Kublai Khan feel uneasy and depressed.

Because he was unhappy and was eager to learn more about the latest news of Mengge's conquest of the Song Dynasty, he couldn't help but use the excuse of inspecting the territory to come to Yanjing from the stranded Kaiping. While discussing the restoration of Yanjing, he kept arranging people to explore the changes in the battle situation in Mengsong.

It has been two months since Kublai Khan came to Yanjing. The restoration work in Yanjing is still on paper, but the war between Mongolian and Song dynasties has been heard day and night, and these news has made Kublai Khan gradually become anxious, because Mengge's personal attack was not as smooth as he had imagined, but it was full of obstacles.

First of all, the 100,000 elite troops led by Meng Ge personally were not good at attacking Sichuan. Because he was not familiar with Chongqing's complex mountains and rivers and was not good at siegeing the city, the 100,000 army is still firmly blocked by the Song army on the front line of Chongqing, and there has been no progress for two months.

The 50,000 troops of Tachar, who attacked the two Huaihe Rivers, were even more powerless. From March to October, it was blocked by the Song army on the front line of Jingshan for half a year, with thousands of casualties, but it was difficult to advance.

Although the Song Dynasty lived in Jiangnan, the army was not strong in combat, but it was prosperous and prosperous. When fighting at its doorstep, various military supplies were sufficient and fast. Now, half a year has passed, reinforcements mobilized from various places have been continuously replenished to Sichuan, Jingxiang and Lianghuai Fronts. If the situation in Sichuan cannot be opened, if it delays for three or five years, it may fail.

Although Kublai Khan himself was unable to lead his troops to fight, this was not the result he wanted to see.

Because although northern China has fallen into the hands of Mongolia and looks pretty good under his governance, only Kublai Khan himself knew that the Mongolian leaders and nobles despise the Marquis of the North too much. Once this war dragged on for three to five years, the logistics pressure of the Mongolian army that was struggling to expedition was extremely high. Not all of these Marquis of Han were loyal to Mongolia. In fact, many of them had dissatisfaction. Once the war situation was unpredictable, these Marquis of the Marquis of the Southern Song Dynasty might take the opportunity to rebel and rebel with the Song Dynasty in the south. At that time, as the governor of the Han area in the south of the desert, he would probably be criticized and would be very unfavorable to his position in the family in the future.

Therefore, Kublai Khan came to inspect Yanjing this time to not only obtain the first-hand battle situation, but also to inspect his own territory and secretly investigate the strength and situation of the Shihou in various places, so as not to be in a hurry.

Now that Mengge Khan is in trouble in his personal expedition, Kublai Khan naturally summoned a large number of staff and generals who were familiar with the forces and terrain of the Southern Song Dynasty to discuss and analyze the situation. After analyzing, the result was that the military command of the sect king Tachar was too frustrated. The Lao Shi's expedition did not attack the weak area of ​​the defense of the Song Dynasty, but instead chose Jingshan, a big city just built by the Southern Song court, as a breakthrough point. Moreover, all kinds of sharp firearms were not built, like the giant stone catapults that could not defeat the Western battlefield. It was just like the previous siege model. After the encirclement, people were used to climb the city walls, resulting in missing the opportunity to quickly break through the Song army's defense line.

As the Song Dynasty increased the reinforcements to the defense lines between the two Huaihe Rivers, Kublai Khan and a group of staff sighed after repeated deductions.

If the defense line between the two Huaihe Rivers in the Song Dynasty was still unable to break through the beginning of spring, this unprecedented battle to destroy the Song Dynasty might be ruined again.

Before going to war, Mengge Khan made a bold statement to sank Sichuan for three months and annex the Song Dynasty within one year. By this time, it had long become a joke.

If Chongqing cannot be captured, the 100,000 most elite Mongolian army will be trapped in Sichuan and cannot advance or retreat. Even if Tachaer's 50,000 partial divisions successfully break through the defense line between the two Huaihe Rivers of the Song Dynasty, they will definitely not be able to attack Ezhou if they go deep into the Song Dynasty. If they fall under the attack of the Song army from the front, back and left and right, it is not impossible for Tachaer's 50,000 troops to be wiped out.

If you were to replace Tachar, use a large number of Han soldiers who were familiar with the Song army's tactics to create a large number of fire, thunder and cannon vehicles, even if Jingshan was an iron pass, it would have been broken a few months ago.

But unfortunately, Tachar was not him, and Mengge Khan did not allow him to lead his troops to participate in this battle to destroy Song.

Kublai Khan also knew that he was close to the Han people, promoted Han laws in northern China and the Central Plains, appointed a large number of Han staff members and learned Confucian culture. These unique actions caused dissatisfaction among the top leaders of Mongolia and a large number of nobles.

Under the opposition of many people, Mongge Khan even sent his confidant Alan Daer to set up a hook examination bureau in Guanzhong to verify the financial situation of Kublai Khan in Guanzhong and Henan. Alan Daer finally fabricated hundreds of charges for Kublai Khan, intending to cut off the Han aides and officials around him to weaken Kublai Khan's power.

This incident had a great blow to Kublai Khan. A large number of Han officials and staff who defected to him over the years were killed by various charges, which greatly damaged his strength. In view of Mengge's suspicion, Kublai Khan had to swallow his anger and brave the heavy snow to kowtow to Mengge and apologize to Lin.

Although Mengge forgives his sins, he is also wary of him. He feels that continuing to allow Kublai Khan's development may threaten his status as a Khan, so he stays at Kaiping and is not allowed to return to Jingzhao.

Kublai Khan has never seen Mongke Khan in the past year. Although he is a brother, the family affection between the two has cast a shadow.

In fact, for Kublai Khan, who likes Han culture, he is very unfavorable to the chaotic tribal rule of Mongolia. He has been looking forward to his plan after ascending to the throne of Khan countless times, which is to imitate the Tang and Song dynasties and Confucianism as the leader, create a unified Chinese Empire, and completely abolish the current chaotic tribal rule of Mongolia.

A group of Han officials and Confucian scholars who defected to him also expressed warm support for Kublai Khan's actions of approaching the Han people to promote Han rule. Liu Bingzhong, Xu Heng, Hao Jing, and Yuan Haowen also actively provided advice for him and helped to cultivate his power.

Unfortunately, no matter how beautiful he thought, Brother Meng's personal attack on the Song Dynasty seemed to be getting further and further away from his dream.

Once Mengge really conquered the last remaining territory of the Han people this time and Jiangnan was included in the rule of the Great Mongol Kingdom, the various parts of Jiangnan would inevitably be enfeoffed to other Mongolian nobles, creating a unified Chinese empire, and promoting Confucianism to govern the country would completely disappear.

Looking at the white snowy goose feathers outside the tent, Kublai sighed to the sky.

At this moment, he suddenly had some hope for Mengge Khan's failure in his personal expedition to the Song Dynasty.
Chapter completed!