Chapter 202: The Contest on the Yellow River

"Soldiers: Are you happy now?" Xulagu was wearing military uniform and riding on a war horse, asking loudly about the neatly arranged army.

His words were like a waste of time. Everyone in the Semu army is as happy as a god. They have been doing whatever they want for the past ten days, burning, killing, looting, and rape all the things they want, and they have done all the unhappy things.

The soldiers shouted in unison: "Happy!"

"Do you still want such happiness?" Hulagu asked again.

This is another nonsense. Who doesn’t want to be happy? If you don’t want to think about it, it only means that there is something wrong with him. The soldiers shouted in unison: “I think about it! I think about it too much!”

"This is the golden kingdom, a paradise of happiness. Your current happiness is nothing compared to the happiness you are about to get. You think you have arrived in heaven, but in fact you have not arrived in heaven yet. You are just outside the gate of heaven. The world in heaven is wonderful, with beautiful women like an angel, countless glowing gold, endless wine like the sea, and delicious food piled up into mountains." Hulagu fully utilized his oratory ability to paint a beautiful picture to deceive his soldiers and said, "Do you know where the beautiful heaven is in the golden kingdom?"

For this question, these semen soldiers and Mongolian soldiers who had never been to the Central Plains naturally didn't know anything about it. They shook their heads one by one, and their eyes were filled with hope, and they wanted to get an answer.

"That's the Central Plains! That's the Jiangnan!" Xu Lagu drew out his scimitar, pointed to the south, and said, "I order you to go to the Central Plains! Go to the Jiangnan! Go to the paradise on earth!"

As soon as his voice fell, a shocking cheer sounded: "Go to the Central Plains! Go to the Jiangnan! Go to the paradise on earth!"

"Zhao Liangchun came from the east, Liao Shenggong came from the northeast, and our rear route Shangqiu was taken down by Zhao Qian. Although we were fighting repeatedly, Shangqiu just couldn't get it back." Temuer looked at the map and analyzed: "In this way, we have been trapped in three sieges. The Southern Dynasty had the intention to surround us in the Yucheng area and gather and annihilate us. Although the court invested a large number of troops here, it did not have an advantage compared with the troops sent here by the Southern Dynasty. What's more important is that their artillery is gathering in large quantities in this area. The investment of artillery greatly reduced the advantages of our cavalry. If the Southern Dynasty was allowed to complete the siege, our situation would be extremely dangerous. I mean to evacuate the army before the southwest direction was blocked by the Southern Dynasty."

Timuer's analysis was very insightful and realistic. Their current situation was very bad. He originally wanted to lure Zhao Liangchun to move westward and gather Zhao Liangchun and annihilate him. He set up all the ambush, but Zhao Liangchun was very alert and played hide-and-seek with him, and acted like he wanted to move forward but not, no matter how he tempted him. It was not until Zhao Qian suddenly took Shangqiu and cut off their retreat that he realized that the situation was very bad. His inference was once again proved correct, because then it was heard that Liao Shenggong appeared in the northeast direction, which means that they had been surrounded on three sides.

If this was the case, Timuer would not have to be afraid at all. What scared him was that the artillery of the Southern Song Dynasty was gathering on a large scale on the eastern front under the transport of the navy. Artillery has always been the favorite of the Southern Song army and one of the most sharp weapons of the Southern Song Dynasty. Such a large-scale assembly can only show one problem, that is, the Southern Song Dynasty had a great appetite on the Eastern front.

There were also many Mongols, with more than 1,000 or 2,000 guns. However, there were hundreds of guns in three directions in the east and south directions. This number was much smaller than the number of guns invested by the Southern Song Dynasty on the Eastern Front. Timur originally thought that the guns in his hand could be recaptured Shangqiu, but the facts proved that it was not the same. The more than 100 guns he transferred to Shangqiu were blown up by the Southern Song Dynasty artillery after only a few rounds. They didn't even see the shadow of the Southern Song Dynasty artillery, and they didn't even know where the guns of the Southern Song Dynasty came from, which made him very scared. This only shows one problem. The artillery of the Southern Song Dynasty was much stronger than theirs, so they came to the conclusion that there would be no chance without retreating.

Timuer had no idea that the cannons he had put into Shangqiu were steel cannons, or special cannons. The special cannons were long-range, light and had good mobility. After Zhao Qian rushed to Shangqiu for a long distance, Liao Shenggong immediately transferred more than 20 special cannons to follow and deal with the counterattack of the Mongols.

This kind of steel cannon has only more than 100 pieces in the Southern Song Dynasty. It is small in scale and has low lethality, so it does not pose a great threat to them. Of course, it is impossible for Timuer to know this.

Judging from the current situation, the Eastern Front is extremely unfavorable to the Mongols. The best way for them is to retreat immediately, retreat outside the encirclement and redeploy. Babur had no objection to this point, nodded and said, "Temuer, what you said makes sense, I think so too. However, I think there will be movement in the southwest direction immediately, and we don't have much time left for us, so we have to retreat quickly."

Indeed, the Southern Song Dynasty had already surrounded from three sides. They had put in such great strength and would never fail to surrounded from the southwest. Until now, the southwest is still very calm, which can only explain one problem, that is, the strength is not enough, and it is the time to withdraw, and Brother Sang and the others agreed.

The opinions were unanimous, and at the order, the Mongolian army began to retreat from the southwest direction.

"Come out, you damn it. Even if you hide in the Hall of Yama, I will catch you." A Mongolian soldier stabbed into the haystack with a gun, and a scream came out of the haystack. Then, an old man in his fifties came out of the haystack and said repeatedly: "Sir, please spare me, please spare me."

The Mongolian soldier kicked the old man down and cursed: "You damn, I'm immortal. I'm not here to kill you. What are you afraid of? Just hide, hide."

The old man shouted and said, "Sir, you are holding weapons, so the little one is naturally afraid."

In fact, the old man was afraid when he saw their fierce look. It was not because he was afraid of the weapons in their hands. He said so because the old man had experienced too many things and was very good at speaking. Otherwise, the Mongolian soldiers showed a smile on their tense faces and asked, "Do you think I am so majestic?"

"Majestic and majestic. Is the general?" The old man skillfully complimented again.

A small soldier was not a general, but the soldiers heard it and were happy in their hearts. They were very happy. The evil spirit just now disappeared, so they patted the old man on the shoulder and said, "Old man, clean up and follow us." He felt so good about his flattery for the old man, and actually changed his words and called out to the old man. It was really rare.

"General, where are you going to be young? What do you want to pack up?" the old man asked quickly.

The soldier cursed: "You old guy, there are so many problems. Why do I just need to arrest people on orders? How can I know where to go? Oh, you are a carpenter, bring your carpenter tools, like axes, saws, and chisels. It seems that you are going to build a ship, saying that there are troops to cross the river." After talking a lot, it finally made it clear.

The old man repeated loudly and said, "I want to bring an axe, a saw, a chisel, and I want to build a ship, saying that there are troops crossing the river."

"Hey, you are so old, you are still chanting scriptures. Hurry up, pack up and leave." The soldier cursed, lifted his feet, and was about to kick the old man, who jumped away quickly.

After the old man packed up his things and followed the Mongolian soldiers, a middle-aged man emerged from the haystack. He looked around and confirmed that there was no one. He then came out and walked away quickly, and soon disappeared from sight.

"The Tartars are catching carpenters and preparing to build ships." Zheng Jinghe put the information in his hand on the table and said, "needless to say, this is prepared for the Tartars Hulagu."

The answer to this point is very clear, no one will object, the generals nodded in agreement and said, "I don't burn incense in normal times, and I will be too late to make it."

Zheng Jinghe corrected: "It's not that the Tartars did not burn incense, but that their boats were blown up by us and had to be rebuilt. I guess the Tartars would cross the river from Yuanyang to Fengqiu, and we should strengthen patrols in this area. At the same time, we will take another action to burn the boat."

"Why did you stop?" Babur asked with a pulling back.

A spy came and shouted from afar: "Report!"

"What's the situation?" Babur shouted, "Speak quickly."

The spy took a breath and said, "Report to the general, and the Southern Dynasties army was found in front of him."

"Did the Southern Dynasty have already ambushed the army here, just waiting for us to leave the camp to ambush us?" Babur's heart skipped a beat, and began to be scared, and asked, "How many people are there?"

"Many, all of them are cavalry." The spy replied immediately.

Babur slapped his horse's back and galloped forward. When he came to the formation, he saw a water line appearing in his sight. The water line did not flow quickly, but flowed slowly. When the water line became clear, countless cavalrymen appeared in his sight, riding tall horses, bright helmets and armors, dazzling swords and guns, people like dragons and horses like tigers, and they lined up to him in battle formations.

There were too many cavalrymen, advancing in combat formations, needless to say, they were ready to fight with them, and the sound of thunderous hooves made the earth tremble.

Babur roughly estimated that this cavalry had at least 60,000 to 70,000. From his perspective, they were all elite troops. Needless to think about it, this cavalry appeared here to break through and prevent them from breaking through the southwest. In other words, Li Jun was already ready to take action on the eastern line.

Babur, who understood this layer, gasped and ordered, "Prepare for battle."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Southern Song cavalry let out a shocking cry: "Long live the emperor!"

Only then did Babul see that Li Jun's imperial umbrella cover was walking at the forefront of the team. At this time, Li Jun was wearing a golden helmet and a white horse under his crotch, holding a majestic, like a god. Li Jun raised the sword in his hand high above his head, galloped in front of the formation, and gave a pre-war speech: "Soldiers: The first battle of the Northern Expedition has begun! I order you to use the sword in your hand to end the life of the Tartars! Use your heroic behavior to repay the blood debt! Our sword is hungry, and use the flesh and blood of the Tartars to feed our sword!" The sword pointed at the Mongolian army and shouted: "Kill!"

This wave seemed to be transforming into magic. Countless Southern Song cavalry shouted, and came out of their horses and rushed towards the Mongolian army.

At this moment, Babur felt that the sky collapsed! Although the Mongolian army was defeated repeatedly, it was not good at fighting. The current situation was that Babur had no time to prepare and was attacked by the Southern Song Dynasty cavalry. He could not resist anyway. Not to mention that Babur could not resist, even Genghis Khan was powerless to do anything.

In just a short while, Babur's vanguard had retreated on the entire front. The Song army was in full swing, and rushed the defeated soldiers backwards like a duck. The most troublesome thing on the battlefield was the defeated soldiers. The defeated soldiers had no fighting spirit and were not depressed. Their failure mood was as harmful as a plague and would soon destroy the fighting spirit.

Babur knew the danger well and drew out a scimitar and killed many defeated soldiers, but still could not stop the retreat. Not only could he not stop the retreat, but the defeat became more and more intense. Not only did he lose in front, he also disrupted the troops behind him. As a result, he collapsed completely under the attack of the Southern Song cavalry.

It was not until Temuer received the news and led a reinforcement army to stabilize his position. The way Temuer stabilized his position was very simple and effective, which was to order the archers to aim at the defeated soldiers and shoot them over. After shooting thousands of defeated soldiers, the situation stabilized.

Babur and Temuer were not happy because of the stability of the situation. On the contrary, they were in a very heavy mood because they knew very well that when Li Jun arrived here, their plan to break through from the southwest had gone bankrupt, which means they had been completely trapped in the encirclement. The possibility of breaking through was not not, but was very small and almost zero.

To put it more seriously, what they should do next is to prepare to persevere, and the purpose of perseverance is naturally to wait for help.

Whether reinforcements can arrive depends on whether Kublai Khan has a new force in his hands. If Kublai Khan has a new force in his hands, he will definitely send reinforcements. If there is no new force, he will naturally sit and wait for death.

A bright moon hangs high, and there are only a few floating clouds in the sky. The autumn breeze blows on your body and it is inevitable that it is a bit chilly. At the third hour, it should have been the time to fall asleep, but a group of people are suffering.

"Damn it, hurry up, hurry up, move faster." A soldier shouted and scolded with a weapon and said, "If the work cannot be completed, I will pull you out and bury you alive."

Burying alive is not just a joke, but it is really going to be carried out. In order to rush work, the Mongolians did not care about the life or death of the craftsmen and assigned them impossible tasks to them. For craftsmen who could not complete the task, the way to deal with it is very simple, that is, dig a hole and buried alive. Not only does it have any rewards for completing the task, but there will be a more heavier task.

In a word, this task cannot be completed, and there are many craftsmen who are buried alive in the end of the day.

The craftsman was so scared that he didn't dare to show off his anger. He waved the axe in his hand desperately.

The soldiers were still dissatisfied and kicked him in the leg, then walked away with great might.

This is a temporary shipbuilding factory, where countless craftsmen work day and night.

There was a team of soldiers on duty at the door. They knew that they were urging on the ships tightly, so they didn't dare to be careless and alert. The soldiers who were guarding the post suddenly felt something strange in the air. Before they could react, they pierced their heads and fell to the ground without even shouting.

At this moment, countless black shadows emerged and rushed towards the temporary shipyard. After a while, the craftsmen in the shipyard left in groups, followed by a fire that turned into ashes in the fire.

Hulagu slapped heavily on the table and cursed: "These incompetent wastes, our shipyard, was actually destroyed by the Southern Dynasty. Hutuhu."

A big general took off and said, "The last general is here."

"Hutuhu, hurry up and kill these incompetent officials for me, without leaving any one." Hulagu said coldly.

Hutu replied and was about to go out. Hulagu continued, "Also, you should make the noise bigger and create an illusion that we still have to cross the river in Yuanyang."

"I understand." Hu Tu took the order and left.

Hulagu glanced at the generals and said, "Roske."

Rothke went out of the list and said, "The last one will be there."

"You hurry to Yangcheng immediately and ask the officials near Yangcheng to prepare 300,000 pieces of wood five feet long and thick, and the size of the bowl. There are 300,000 bundles of straw, each with twenty kilograms." Xulagu said coldly: "If you can't do it, just cut off your head."

Luo Sike hesitated for a moment and asked, "Khan, we are going to prepare to cross the river now. We should collect ships. What's the use of getting these?"

"If you want you to go, you go." Hulagu said proudly: "I cross the river, even if I don't have a boat!"

Luo Sike's question was exactly what the generals thought. Unexpectedly, Hulagu said so confidently, and was really a little surprised and puzzled, thinking, "Can you fly?"

They knew that Hulagu was resourceful and very familiar with military skills. He was so confident that Zhizhu was in control, so he didn't dare to ask. Luo Sike responded and went out.

"Look, there are so many straws." A soldier shouted hurriedly from the upstream.

"There is also wood. God, why are there so many?" Another soldier screamed.

Zheng Jinghe on the deck looked in the direction they pointed out, and saw countless straws and wood floating on the surface of the Yellow River. At first glance, he could not see the end. His rough steps were probably dozens of miles long.

"Nothing is great, our salvage boat will be cleaned up soon." A soldier said confidently.

The straw is wrapped in wood, and the wood is connected to the straw. The entire river section becomes a moving fortress that cannot be salvaged at all, and what is more serious is that it cannot be navigated.
Chapter completed!