Chapter 17 10. Roundabout attack, Subotai defeated Hungary

In 1235, Wo Kuotai convened a meeting of kings, and decided to make an expedition to the unconquered Western countries such as Qinchao and Orosi, and ordered the eldest sons of each clan to lead the army. This expedition is called the "Eldest Son's Western Expedition" by historians.The Western Expeditionary Army was led by Batu as the commander, with General Subotai as the deputy commander, commanded 150,000 troops, and marched westward in a mighty manner. The army attacked all the way, and first wiped out Burial and Qincha. In 1240, he conquered the kingdoms of Oros.Then, the troops divided into three groups and attacked the Central and Eastern European region in the Danube River Basin.

To launch an attack on Central and Eastern Europe, the primary enemy is the Kingdom of Hungary.The Western Expeditionary Force is intensively doing various pre-war preparations. Winning by seeking has always been the most important thing for the Mongolian army.The Western Expeditionary Army traveled long distances and was unfamiliar with the place, so the strategy was even more important.Therefore, the Western Expeditionary Army sent a large number of spies to collect intelligence on the enemy extensively, including politics, economy, military, geography, customs, etc., all of which became the objects of their collection.Because only by understanding the opponent, that is, fully grasping the enemy's intelligence, and the intelligence is comprehensive, sufficient, and true, can we make correct responses and judgments on the battlefield according to the needs of the situation, and formulate correct strategies and tactics.

The Western Expeditionary Army Staff Department carefully studied each report.According to the intelligence, they preliminarily determined the basic idea of ​​​​the battle against Central Europe, that is, they must not be allowed to unite to deal with themselves. For this reason, they suggested that the troops be divided into three groups and attack Poland and Hungary from north to south at the same time. Hungary, the two wings contain and gradually close to the middle, and finally meet under the city of Budapest, the capital of Hungary, to fight a decisive battle with the main force of Hungary.

According to the suggestion of the General Staff, Subotai first sent envoys to Hungary to accuse King Bela IV of Hungary of taking in the Kipchak, the enemy of the Mongols, and demanded that they immediately return the Kipchak and voluntarily surrender them.At the same time, the large army approached the Polish border, covering up the attack direction and route of the main force of the Mongolian army, making it impossible for the enemy to judge and carry out key defenses. At the beginning of March 1241, the left and right wings of the Mongolian army first launched an attack. On March 12, the Central Route Army of Batu and Subotai also launched a surprise attack on Hungary, trekking 280 kilometers in three days, and surrounded the capital city of Pest on the 15th.

Budapest was originally two cities.So far, the part located east of the Danube is still called Pest, the part west of the Danube is called Buda, and the two parts together are called Budapest.Both Buda and Pest are large cities in Hungary.In modern times, with the increase of bridge passages over the river, the two cities merged into one city.In the Mongol era, there was still a difference between Buda and Pest. The capital of Hungary was Buda, while Pest had buildings such as the palace of Bela IV. Although the Mongols arrived in Hedong, Bela IV was not panicked, because the wide Danube could prevent the Mongols from crossing the river, and he believed that the city of Pest in the east of the river was strong enough to resist the Mongols for a long time, so he could not avoid the battle , just patiently waiting for other noble troops to come to support.

Subotai once again implemented the tactic of luring the enemy used in the attack on Jinshan.He ordered the Mongolian army to set up camp on the outskirts of the city, while waiting for the enemy to fight, while sweeping the surrounding areas, stimulating the Hungarian coalition forces and luring them to fight. The Mongols provoked repeatedly, and the Hungarian generals insisted on going to war, but Bela IV firmly disagreed.On the fourth day, the archbishop (an archbishop in the Middle Ages was also a great lord, if the land was entrusted to the princes, then the archbishop is also the vassal of the princes) Yuguolin couldn't bear it anymore, so he took a few heavy cavalry to fight.The Mongols feigned defeat and retreated, leading their pursuers into the swamp.The cavalry and horses all have armor and the armor is heavy, and they move slowly. They can't play a role at all in the swamp, but they are easy to get stuck in the mud.The Mongolian army lured the enemy, took the opportunity to turn around to hide the kill, and shot all the Huns to death in the quagmire with arrows and crossbows. Only four archbishops fled back to the city.

The news of the defeat spread, and the people in Pest City were passionate. They heard that the Mongols were attracted by the Kipchak people, and everyone rose up to attack and kill the Kipchak people.One of the Kipchaks was attacked and killed, and the other was forced to move to Bulgaria. They burned, killed and looted along the way, destroying the rear of Hungary. A few days later, the cautious Bela IV finally waited for the aid troops, and all the ministries gathered in Budapest to verify the number. There were no less than 100,000 troops, and their strength was significantly higher than that of the Mongolian army.Therefore, Bella left the city in early April to start a decisive battle with the Mongolian army.

Seeing Bella IV going to battle, Subotai and Ba did not attack immediately, but took the initiative to retreat to the east.Because they knew that if they want to fight, they must first occupy favorable terrain and fight under the city of Pest. The terrain is not good for the Mongolian army. The two sides are most likely to fight a war of attrition, and this is what the Mongols fear most.Therefore, they sent 10,000 light cavalry to harass, retreat slowly in front of the enemy, and lose no time in looking for opportunities to seize the enemy's weak points to attack.The large troops quickly searched for favorable terrain suitable for their own operations, waited for work, and waited in formation.

The army retreated to the banks of the Saujo River, a tributary of the Danube, about 160 kilometers northeast of Pest.The Mongolian army retreated to the mountainous jungle about eight kilometers east of the river and camped in concealment.This place is surrounded by water on three sides, so it will not be raided, and there are many swamps around it, which is not suitable for the maneuvering of heavy cavalry. There are many trees around the camp, which can well hide the movement of the Mongolian army.There is a large stone bridge on the river. The Mongolian army deliberately gave up control of the bridge, trying to take advantage of the enemy's halfway across the river and launch a surprise attack.

However, the cunning Bela IV did not cross the river rashly, but controlled the bridgehead, left the main force in the west of the river, built a strong bridgehead with part of the troops on the east side, and stationed a thousand elite soldiers on the bridge to guard the bridge.In order to prevent the Mongolian army from attacking suddenly, he also ordered vehicles to form a circle to strengthen the material supply of the camp.For the Hungarians, the river was wide and deep, and the only option for the Mongols to cross the river was to cross the river by bridge, so they focused on the bridge.

Seeing that the enemy was not fooled, Batu and Subodei got together again to discuss countermeasures. Batu said: "The enemy soldiers will not fight, and this stalemate will not benefit our army." Subotai said: "Our army has long-distance raids and has no logistical supplies. Naturally, we seek a quick victory. Now, the enemy is focusing on the bridgehead, and our army can make a fuss about this." "What's the best way?" "Why don't we follow the example of the Great Khan's battle plan to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty and make a strategic detour? Since they think that the river is wide and deep, it is impossible for us to cross the river, so we only focus on the bridgehead, so why don't we take this as impossible to them?" Will things become possible?" Subotai understood: "The prophet's indirect strategy wins." Now that the enemy army is focusing on the bridgehead, other places will definitely relax their vigilance.Grasp this point to make a fuss, and it will definitely be effective.He picked up the kumiss on the table, took a sip, and continued: "Our army divides into two groups, feigns a frontal attack, pins down the enemy, then crosses the river from the lower reaches, circles around the enemy's back and launches a surprise attack, and attacks from both sides, we will surely win." He paused, and continued: "The artillerymen must be fully prepared, prepare more fireworks, artillery stones, and more artillery battles, so that these foreign devils can see the power of our Mongolians." Batu was overjoyed, and immediately arranged to follow the plan. That night, Subotai personally led 30,000 light cavalry to sneak downstream, then felled wood and made rafts, successfully smuggled, and detoured behind the enemy's side. Before the attack, Batu deliberately sent a death squad to touch the bridge head quietly, but of course they couldn't escape the eyes of the heavily guarded sentinels.Now that it was discovered, the sneak attack turned into a strong attack, and the two sides fought fiercely, but because they were outnumbered, Batu's troops were eventually repelled. The earth returned to calm again. After a fierce battle, the Hungarian army believed that the Mongolian army's sneak attack had been completely defeated, and there would be no new actions.So, after checking and replenishing the front-line sentries, the Hungarian army went back to the camp to sleep.This is the coldest time at three or four o'clock in the middle of the night.They had no idea that the Mongolian army was preparing to launch a real attack. When the Hungarian army fell asleep, Batu's army suddenly launched a fierce attack on the Hungarian army on the east of the river before dawn, bombarding the bridgehead and the enemy guarding the bridge with dense stone artillery, artillery and arrows.This was the first time gunpowder was used on a European battlefield.The use of artillery, especially the firecrackers thrown by the trebuchet, exploded in the enemy group, and the huge explosion sound made the enemy lose their souls.The cavalry couldn't control their horses, and the infantry couldn't form a formation. The scattered Hungarians in the east of the river were quickly defeated and frantically fled from the stone bridge to the west bank. The Mongolian army rushed forward, and the stone bridge fell into the hands of the Mongols. The army in the Hungarian camp on the west bank of the river heard the attack on the east bank and hurriedly lined up to support them. The two sides started a tug-of-war at the bridgehead.All the Hungarians thought that the Mongolian army that stormed the stone bridge and crossed the river was the main force, so they transferred all the elite troops to the east. When the two sides were fighting fiercely, a powerful Mongolian cavalry suddenly attacked from the side of the enemy.The fierce offensive and huge impact caused the Hungarian army's rear to be thrown into disarray, and they immediately collapsed into formation.At this time, Batu's front army saw the enemy's rear collapsed, and immediately changed their feint attack into a fierce attack. After fierce fighting, they also killed Hexi.The Mongolian army attacked back and forth. These Hungarians were killed or wounded, and the rest retreated to the camp, never daring to come out again.The Mongolian army took the opportunity to encircle and encircle more than 100,000 Hungarian troops in a narrow camp. They were completely passive and beaten. The Hungarians tried to use the camps to fight against the Mongols, but the Mongols had been prepared for a long time. The dense cannonballs flew up to the enemy camp and fell in crowded places, killing and injuring countless people; the locust-like arrows were like clouds Covering the sky, the arrows pierced the enemy's chest.Although the firecrackers were not lethal, the earth-shattering sound scared the Europeans who heard this strange movement for the first time.Rather than waiting here to die, it is better to go out and fight.Luomen and Yuguolin couldn't sit still anymore. They brought some troops to try to break through the siege. The Mongolian army retreated actively. Those who had fallen obediently fled back to the camp.Tens of thousands of terrified soldiers were trapped in the camp, and the arrows and rocks falling from the sky kept hitting them, and the Hungarian army was in a desperate situation. At this time, the Mongols replaced the stones and firecrackers in the trebuchet with burning bales, grass balls, and grass balls.These pellets are specially made and contain other things, such as wolf dung that can produce thick smoke, sulfur that can produce a pungent smell, etc. The thick smoke they produce is also poisonous. This is the first time in the history of European warfare. once. The Hungarians became more and more chaotic like headless chickens in the thick smoke and fire, trying to break out of the siege by rushing and killing in an unorganized manner.Seeing that the time was ripe, Batu ordered to strengthen the offensive in the three directions of north, east and south, and deliberately left a loophole in the west direction towards Pace, so that the remnants of the enemy would rush to the gap and flee westward.Seeing that there was a straw to escape to the west, the soldiers of the Hungarian army rushed westward, even Bela IV and his knights were no exception.Seeing that the Hungarians had been tricked, the Mongolian troops immediately put on fast horses, and chased after the fleeing Hungarian army on both sides and behind them like wild animals.Tens of thousands of Hungarian troops fell to the side of the road, and a large number of heavily armored soldiers were driven into the swamp, unable to extricate themselves.The Mongols' pursuit lasted for two days, and the corpses of the Hungarian army stretched westward from the battlefield to Budapest, a two-day journey.Finally, the remaining Hungarian army was driven to a swamp where the ambush had been laid in advance, and all were shot. Bella IV did not die. When he saw the main force of the Mongolian army ambushing on the way to escape, he immediately took the guards around him and hid in a place with dense trees.Seeing that the journey to the west is a journey of death, this Bella IV is quite smart, so he took the risk to go east, and finally got out of the trap of the Mongols, passed through Transylvania, and went all the way to the border with Oros In the Carpathian Mountains, he finally found his son-in-law, the Polish remnant of the Polish King Breslav, and the two joined forces, and then went back to the west of the Danube after a detour, and the adventure was considered to be over. The Battle of the Saujo River ended with the complete annihilation of the Hungarian army.In this battle, Subotai adopted a detour tactic, with a feint attack ahead, the main force detoured behind the enemy, attacked from both sides, and then took advantage of the Mongolian army's field advantages to annihilate the enemy.The 50,000 army wiped out more than 100,000 people, creating a typical example of winning more with less, which shocked Europe. After this battle, the Mongolian army took advantage of the victory to capture the city of Pest, and then retreated to the mountain pastures to recuperate.When winter came and the Danube was frozen, the Mongols took the opportunity to occupy the city of Buda and swept across the entire northern Balkans.As a result of Wo Kuotai's death, the kings led the way, and the Western Expedition that shocked Europe came to an end.