Chapter 22 5. Surrounded but not attacked, Shi Tianze captured Li Fen alive

In 1262, when Kublai Khan and Ali Boke were vying for the position of Khan, and the killing was inextricably linked, it was reported that there was a change in the Han area. Li Fen rebelled in Shandong and killed all the Mongolian soldiers. Go ashore and attack Yidu, Putai, Zizhou and other places.When Kublai Khan heard this, he galloped back to the south. He knew that Li Fen was the most powerful prince in Han. His rebellion was more dangerous than his younger brother's disaster. top priority. To rectify the Han people, of course we should listen to the opinions of the Han people. On the way back to Dadu, Kublai Khan had a long talk with Yao Shu to discuss how to deal with Li Fen's rebellion.

Yao Shu said: "Your Majesty, you don't have to worry. Your subordinates think that Zhuzi's lack of thoughtfulness in doing things is nothing to worry about!" Kublai Khan said, "How can you see that?" Yao Shu said: "If you are vacillating, you can't be trusted; if you are arrogant, you can't be sympathetic; if you are treacherous and vicious, you have no helpers; if you are simple-minded, you lack strategies." Kublai Khan said with a smile: "Sir, can you explain in more detail?" Yao Shu said: "Your Majesty, you only need to understand the deeds of their father and son. His adoptive father, Li Quanyuan, was the leader of the bandits. He was also in the Mongolian and Song Dynasties, haggling and bargaining, how could Li Fen be consistent in appearance and inward, and loyal and loyal after receiving such influence from childhood?"

Seeing that Kublai Khan was thinking, Yao Shu continued: "After Li Fenzi took over his father's position, it was already the period when I, the Mongolian Great Khan, was in control of Monan. He played a long way between Song Ting and us. On the one hand, he took refuge in our Mongolian Empire and became the prince of the Mongolian country, but he secretly had shady dealings with the Southern Song Dynasty. His credibility has long been lost, and you, the emperor, should be able to understand this." Kublai nodded.Yes, how could he not understand?This Li Fen, using his geographical location between Mongolia and Song Dynasty and his own power as an excuse, asked him for money, food and military power many times, and sent him to go out many times, but he refused to listen to the dispatch.He has never lost his fortune, and he has heard about privately selling military horses.However, he thought that at the beginning of the Great Ding, it was the time to employ people, so he turned a blind eye and closed his eyes, and was very accommodating to him. Wang Wentong, the father-in-law, was promoted to Pingzhang Zhengshi of Zhongshu Province and became the first prime minister of the new court. He even persuaded Prince Tachaer to marry his own sister to him.These are just expectations that he can contribute to the court and set an example for the Han people.I don't want him, but I betray myself. It seems that the deep-rooted orthodox thinking of the Han people will not accommodate the rule of the Mongols.

But Kublai Khan did not say these words, especially to an aide who was also Han.He went on to say: "I know the details of Li Fen and his son. However, since he surrendered to the Han court, he was still very brave in war. His father died on the battlefield of attacking Yangzhou, and Li Fen also assisted me in attacking Yangzhou." Song. When I succeeded the Great Khan, Li Fen and Wang Wentong were the first to show their loyalty to me, even the princes and relatives are not as good as him!" Yao Shu understood what Kublai Khan meant, and continued: "This time, Li Fen used the slogan of protecting the Song Dynasty and driving Mongolia, trying to win over the Han princes to work together. , can raise one's arms and call out, and the crowd responds. As everyone knows, since the Liao and Jin Dynasties, the orthodox concept of the Song Dynasty has been indifferent in the north for a long time, so it is difficult for the call to restore the Song Dynasty to have much political appeal. Especially the emperor, you are wise and prohibit killing , save the people from the fire and water; tax cuts, taxation on agriculture and mulberry, has become a king supported by all people. And those Han princes are even trickier and slippery people, they will not follow Li Fen to take risks! If Li Fen really Maybe they will make a move, but they are just watching at this moment. If the emperor sends troops to suppress the rebellion now, they will definitely show their sincerity to you, and send troops to send generals to invite their credit."

After Kublai Khan listened to Yao Shu's analysis, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. What is this smile? Is it the approval of the common people?Is it an insight into the current situation?Or is it disdain for the intrigue among the Han people? But he didn't show anything, just said worriedly: "However, we can't be careless. After all, Li Fen and his son have been operating in Shandong for thirty or forty years, and this time they contacted the Song Dynasty again and offered Lian, Hai Erzhou, I think Song will definitely send troops to the north, and then we will face three-sided battles, plan to go out?"

Yao Shu said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, because of his vacillating character, Song Dynasty will not fully trust him. You think, his father was killed by Song Dynasty, and he has been fighting against Song Dynasty. Can Song Dynasty trust him so easily?" ?Although he offered two cities as a bargaining chip, the Southern Song Dynasty court would not have a substantial alliance with him, at most it would just reward him with a nominal title, just pretending. As for sending troops, on the one hand, we have a large number of troops on the southern front On the other hand, the Southern Song Dynasty was politically corrupt, Jia Sidao was in power and misled the country, and he signed a secret agreement with us. He will never provoke a war for no reason and disrupt his enjoyment plan. Not to mention, if Li Fen and his son could love the people like their own sons like the emperor, and be sympathetic to the public, maybe the people would die for them at a critical moment. However, they are notorious and notorious in Shandong. Money made the people miserable, their wives were separated, their families were destroyed, and they never knew how to sympathize with the suffering of the people. The people hated them deeply. I heard that the people saw Li Fen's rebellion, and they all formed villages to protect themselves, and even fled from their homes and fled into the deep mountains and forests How can I work with him if I avoid it for fear of not being able to do so? Besides, since the emperor took control of the Central Plains, the people of Shandong have only been spared from the suffering of wars. They have just lived a small life in peace and contentment. How can they respond to a bandit that everyone can kill?"

Kublai Khan felt relieved, so he asked, "Then why did Li Fen raise his troops?" Yao Shu said: "It's just that you are blinded by profit!" "Where will they go next?" Khubilai asked. "Li Fen attacked our Dayuan Empire. I thought there were three routes to choose from. The best strategy is to attack my Yanjing by water, occupy Juyongguan, cut off our army's retreat to the south, and choke our throat. Our army fell into Ali Buge Surrounded by him and him, we cannot advance or retreat. This will inevitably cause panic and chaos, which is extremely detrimental to us."

Kublai Khan thought it made sense, and asked, "What about the middle policy?" Yao Shu said: "The best strategy is not to attack us, but to form an alliance with the Song Dynasty, hold on to our own territory, and send troops to harass our frontiers from multiple directions, so that our Mongolian army is busy running for rescue, tired of coping, and can still protect itself." Kublai Khan asked again: "What is the next strategy?" Yao Shu said: "The worst strategy is to attack northward after the incident, and wait for solidarity and response from all over the world."

Kublai Khan asked, "Why?" Yao Shu went on to say: "If he wants to attack, he must first take Jinan Mansion, and wait for the support of all ministries here. Jinan is located in the basin, which belongs to a tiny place. Li Fen has 50,000 to 60,000 horses. If they are besieged, there will be no response from the outside, and if there is no supply inside, how can it be possible if they are not wiped out?" Kublai Khan asked, "In your opinion, which path will Li Fen choose?" Yao Shu said contemptuously, "Li Fen is arrogant and conceited. He loves great achievements, and he doesn't listen to other people's opinions. He belongs to the kind of cowardly person with big ambitions, little ability, and short-sightedness. Therefore, I think he must take the wrong policy."

Kublai Khan nodded in satisfaction, and continued to ask, "Which general do you think should be sent there?" Yao Shu offered advice and said: "The right prime minister, Shi Tianze, has a great strategy and is worthy of great responsibility." Kublai Khan did not want to rely entirely on the Han people this time. After all, this was a rebellion against the Han people. Who can guarantee that they will not unite?Thinking of this, he said: "Okay, then let Shi Tianze go, and together with Prince Hebichi and Wuliang Hetai's son Ashu, lead the troops from Shandong, Hebei, and Henan to conquer. Shi Tianze has a great plan, Both He Bichi and A Shu are veteran warriors who have gone through hundreds of battles, and they cooperate with each other, and Li Fen is sure to lose!"

Kublai Khan then ordered Shi Tianze, Hebichi, and Ashu to lead their troops into Shandong to attack Li Fen. Sure enough, as Yao Shu expected, Li Fen neither went north to "strike swallows near the sea" nor "unite with the Song Dynasty". Instead, he chose the "bad policy" that Yao Shu expected. All sent troops to capture Jinan.After occupying Jinan, the Southern Song Dynasty made him King of Qi County. In March of that year, the Mongolian and Han troops led by A Shu first arrived near Jinan, and Li Fen led the army out of the city to fight and rob the Yuan army's supplies.On the way back to the city, they were intercepted by the Mongolian army, and they were defeated. More than 4,000 people were killed, and Li Fen had to retreat to the city of Jinan.In May, the 17th Mongolian army arrived in Jinan one after another. Shi Tianze and Habichi took full command and supervised all the troops. Outside the city of Jinan, seeing that the unfinished city of Jinan was extremely strong, Shi Tianze said to Habichi: "Li Fen has a lot of tricks in his heart, and his soldiers are very skilled. We can't fight head-on with him. To me, Jinan is surrounded by mountains, like a sheepfold. We dug ditches and built the city outside the city, besieged it, cut off all contact with the outside world, and put them all in the sheepfold. After a long time, they will definitely run out of supplies, and then they will be able to break down without attacking. It’s as easy as flipping your palm.” Habichi agreed with this plan very much, so he ordered the soldiers to open the river to build the city, "open three rivers, build three cities", and surrounded Jinan City like an iron barrel.At the same time, it was ordered that all ministries are not allowed to attack and fight, but to strictly defend to prevent the enemy from breaking out and fleeing. Li Fen saw that he was surrounded by groups, so he went out of the city to challenge them repeatedly, but the Mongolian army did not fight with them, they just shot them from a distance with bows and arrows, and pressed them back with intensive artillery fire.They rushed through the arrow net by chance, but found that they were surrounded by the city wall, like a bucket, and they couldn't succeed at all. They had no choice but to retreat into the city and wait for help. Besides, when the Southern Song Dynasty saw Li Fen surrendering the city, he rewarded Fen's army with 50,000 taels of silver, and sent Qingyang Mengyan (the Qingyang family's compound surname) to lead the reinforcements.Unexpectedly, Qingyang Mengyan rushed to Shandong, and the Song army marching north was immediately blocked by the Mongolian army and the Han army, and was forced to retreat southward steadily.The Song army who entered Binzhou, Cangzhou and other places also had difficulty in doing anything because of their weak strength.In this way, Li Fen's 50,000 to 60,000 troops, who were trapped in Jinan, were completely trapped in a lonely situation waiting to die. Time flies, and the Mongolian army has besieged Jinan City for more than four months.At this time, the food in Jinan City was exhausted.In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Li Fen actually "took the women in the city to reward the soldiers, so as to please their hearts".Seeing that the citizens were unwilling to take out what little food they had, he ordered the soldiers to be divided into households, and each household raised two or three soldiers.Soon, the whole city ran out of food, and ate everything that could be eaten, and finally ate human flesh with grains of salt.These behaviors made Li Fen lose popular support even more, and the soldiers were extremely depressed, and Li Fen himself was extremely depressed. On July 13th, Li Fen reluctantly sent his whole army to fight, hoping to break out of the encirclement.However, due to lack of food and strength, most of them were hunted and killed by the Yuan army, so they had to retreat to the city in a hurry.The Jinan defenders saw that they were sitting and waiting to die, so they "leave the city out" one after another, and countless mutinies came out and surrendered. On the nineteenth night of the seventh month, a big star fell on Fuzhi.Li Fen offered incense and worshiped him, divining good and bad luck, but it turned out that the commander-in-chief was in danger.He smiled dumbly, helplessly.Before he thought about the rebellion, he was filled with emotion and wrote a song "Water Dragon Song": He joins the army with a knife at his waist and a handkerchief in his hand, and leans on the garrison building alone to watch.In the weather of the Central Plains, the fox lives in the rabbit's den, and the evening smoke shines.Throwing a pen into the book, waiting for the next day, Longxi is young.It's better to change the tune than to change the tone when you sigh for the time to switch on the electricity and easily grow fat. The world has changed and the sea has become a field, and Nai Qunsheng has been disturbed several times.The fight is full of violence, and there is no time to rest, who can drive it away?Mountains and rivers in the eyes, career in the chest, a long whistle.In peacetime, it will be close to Yanzhao for a hundred years. Then he murmured: "Li Fen died here!" Sitting in the empty courtyard, he used tweezers to pull out all the long mustaches. The next day, he ordered the army to disband, and everyone asked for a way out, and each asked for his life.He himself carried the sword, killed his wife, concubine and children, and threw himself into Daming Lake, but the water was too shallow to die, and it was captured by the officers and soldiers. After capturing Li Fen, Shi Tianze ordered him to be killed immediately, fearing that his privacy would be involved.After returning to the court, he impeached himself by "killing himself without authorization".Although Kublai Khan did not accuse him of any crime, Li Fen communicated privately with the princes of the Han Dynasty, and he was obviously very clear in his heart.Now the dispute over Khan status has not been completely resolved. If they are pursued too much, they may be forced into a situation of open confrontation with the court, which will do more harm to the regime.Therefore, after Kublai Khan executed Li Fen's father-in-law, Wang Wentong, the political affairs officer of Pingzhang of Zhongshu Province, he soon stopped pursuing the investigation.In politics, he continued to indulge the nobles from all over the world, and at the same time, he also made full use of their self-dangerous psychology that they were afraid of the court's deep investigation, and cut down their power.Since Shi Tianze asked himself to release the military power, the Yuan court successively implemented the military and civilian rule in the northern Han area, dismissed the Marquis, set up the herdsman, moved the law, changed the Han generals and subordinates, and the generals were not good at soldiers. These autocratic warlords became civil and military bureaucrats under the rule of a centralized autocratic monarch.In this sense, the failure of Li Fen's Rebellion further contributed to the Kublai Khan regime's control of all parts of North China and strengthened the centralization of power. This time, the pacification of the chaos also has merits in terms of tactics. Shi Tianze cleverly used the terrain to encircle but not attack, making him self-defeating at a loss of food. Le Road.