Chapter 19 four

The rare heavy rain in the Sichuan area lasted from early April until April 21 before it cleared up. The next day, Mengge Khan also put more than 10,000 of his guards into the siege battle and stormed the Diaoyu City guard gate.After paying heavy casualties, the Mongolian army finally captured the outer city of Huguomen.Song general Wang Jian personally led the army to launch a counterattack, and soon took back the outer city. In May, the plague was prevalent in the Mongolian army, and the combat effectiveness was greatly weakened. The siege of the city was intermittent and there was no progress.

Jia Sidao, Xuanfu Ambassador of Song Jingxi, Hubei, Hunan, and Sichuan, in order to ensure that the east of Sichuan was not lost, under the pressure of the Mongolian army in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, took the risk of mobilizing troops, and appointed his confidant Lu Wende as the deputy envoy of Sichuan Zhizhi and the governor of Chongqing. The army reinforces Sichuan.At the same time, in order to boost the morale of the anti-Mongolian army, he asked Song Lizong to issue an edict to commend Wang Jian's military exploits.At the beginning of June, the reinforcements arrived in Chongqing after fighting hard all the way. Immediately, the supervisor led more than 1,000 warships upstream along the Jialing River to urgently reinforce Diaoyu City.

In Sancao Mountain, the Song army was blocked by the Mongolian army.Mengge Khan personally supervised the battle, and Mongolian infantry and cavalry troops controlled the two sides of the strait with crossbows and artillery. Mongolian general Shi Tianze followed Mengge Khan's order and personally led the water army down the river to attack the Song Army fleet.Lu Wende's troops suffered heavy casualties and had to return to Chongqing to defend the mountain city. Just as the Mongolian army was besieging the city to fight for aid, the Mongolian general Wang Dechen led his troops to board the wall of Diaoyu City under the cover of night and occupied the Ma Junzhai in the outer city.

In order to recapture Ma Junzhai, Wang Jian organized two death squads to attack the unstable Mongolian army in turn. The two armies fought fiercely until dawn, and the Song army forcibly entered the outer city.At this time, there was a loud thunder, the Mongolian ladder suddenly broke, and the follow-up reinforcements were blocked. The more than 1,000 Mongolian soldiers who occupied Majunzhai first were wiped out by the Song army, which had an absolute advantage in numbers. Seeing that the success fell short, Wang Dechen was so anxious that he galloped down the city alone and shouted to the city: "General Wang, I am here to save your life and the lives of the soldiers and civilians in the city. I hope you will stop making unnecessary resistance and come down and surrender! "

However, Wang Jian's answer to him was that the city was full of artillery and stones, Wang Dechen was unable to dodge in time, and was seriously injured. The generals tried their best to snatch him back, but it was too late. That night, the water surface of the Jialing River was lit up red by torches, and 30,000 Mongolian soldiers dressed in white mourned Wang Dechen. Back at Shizishan Dahan's Tent, Mengge Khan felt chills all over his body and sweated profusely.His eyes were blackened, and he fell to the ground. Su Wei urgently called the military doctor to pay, and Shi Tianze rushed to see Mengge Khan after hearing the news.The military doctor took out some powdered Mongolian medicine and served Mengge Khan to take it.

After an unknown amount of time, Mengge Khan slowly opened his eyes, saw Shi Tianze who was worried beside the couch, and immediately understood everything. "Did I faint just now?" He asked in a low voice. "Profusely sweating, you are suffering from distemper due to overwork and sudden fire. This disease is commonly known as 'Dabaizi' in Han. died." The military doctor was depressed, and then said, "At present, most of our soldiers are suffering from this disease, but the medicine is in short supply, and they can only be controlled with rhubarb and Chinese herbal medicine, and it cannot be cured completely. Please order to call in medicine and doctors from the Central Plains as soon as possible." .”

Mengge Khan sat up sideways: "Oral order: Order Shaanxi Minister of State Liu Taiping to quickly dispatch medicine, grain, grass, and medical personnel to the front line of the Song Dynasty. Those who delay will be severely punished." Two Khan messengers rushed out of the Mongolian army camp and rushed to Shaanxi.A few days later, Mengge Khan felt that his body was a little more relaxed, so he ordered all the soldiers of Commander Shi Tianze to continue to attack Diaoyu City. Mengge Khan's younger brother Mo Yanjin remonstrated: "Brother Khan, we have assembled a large army to attack Diaoyu City for more than three months. We have spent countless costs and suffered heavy casualties, but we have been unable to attack for a long time. Our army's capture is now only for a small fishing city. It not only restrains the main force of our army, but also dampens the morale of the soldiers, and also affects the entire military deployment. My brother thinks that the gain is not worth the loss. In my opinion, it is better to stay Three thousand elite troops will monitor Diaoyu City, surround it without fighting, and the main force will go down the Jialing River to attack the mountain city of Chongqing. Once Chongqing falls, Diaoyu City will become an isolated city. Over time, it will run out of ammunition and food, and it will collapse without attack. This is the middle plan. "

Montgomery was expressionless. Brother Mo's analysis hit the point, which deeply hurt his self-esteem.As a Mongolian Khan who was invincible during the Western Expedition and in other battlefields, he has experienced many turbulent waves, but he lost his face in such a small place as Diaoyu City—however, he has become a horse riding a tiger at this moment. Potential, unable to stop.Yet another brother Mo, who is ignorant of current affairs, said to his face what others wanted to say but he knew in his heart. One can imagine his inner feelings.He looked at Brother Mo with piercing eyes, and asked calmly: "Then, what about the best plan?" Although his voice was deep, it was firm and powerful.

Mo Ge replied bluntly: "Divide troops to encircle Chongqing and Luzhou, isolate Hezhou, encircle without fighting, cut off all land and water transportation, concentrate troops, besiege the city and fight for reinforcements, give full play to the advantages of our army's cavalry, crossbowmen, and artillery. Annihilate or severely injure Song's land and water reinforcement troops, and when they are exhausted, they will conquer Luzhou, an important city on the Yangtze River, and Chongqing, an important city on the Jialing River. In this way, Song's defense line on the Yangtze River that has been painstakingly managed for more than 20 years will completely collapse."

Mengge Khan nodded, a blush appeared on his pale face, and there was a smile that was not a smile at the corner of his mouth. "Let's talk about your bad plan, my little brother Mo." Shi Tianze stared at Mengge Khan, secretly sweating for Brother Mo.Brother Mo didn't care, he had to spit out the words he had held in his heart for a long time. "The worst policy is as it is now. No matter what you spend, continue to attack Diaoyu City, which is difficult for monkeys to climb up. On both sides of the narrow stone mountain, it is difficult for our army to deploy. Even with artillery, crossbowmen, and cavalry, it will not help. We also It took heavy casualties to forcefully invade the outer city, but what was the result? The soldiers entering the city were exhausted, and the follow-up troops could not keep up, and more than a thousand soldiers were in vain as ghosts from other lands." He picked up a bowl of Luzhou Laojiao and drank it down. "At present, there are 70,000 soldiers in the whole army, but more than 40,000 of them suffer from dysentery and cholera. It is reported that no less than 150 people die of plague every day. Ten people, if things go on like this, the whole army will be in danger of being wiped out..."

"That's enough! As a descendant of the Bo'er Jijin family, you can actually say such depressing words that increase the ambition of others and destroy your own prestige. I really feel humiliated for you. If you continue to scare people and disturb the morale of the army, I will definitely Don't take it lightly." Meng Ge Khan became angry and roared hysterically, "All generals and ministers listen to the order: From today on, all soldiers in the army will be disinfected and treated with Luzhou Laojiao wine captured by the Song Army, regardless of the wounded, sick or uninfected. Soldiers, whoever violates this order will be dealt with according to the military law. We seized 280 fine wines from the ships of the Song Army, enough for the entire army to drink for a week. When the plague is over, I must take down Diaoyucheng!" The generals were shocked and knelt down on the ground.Mengge Khan stepped down from the table and issued an order in an indisputable tone: "Seven days later, cook food at Yin time, attack the city at Mao time, deploy all the reserve troops, and my 10,000 old guards will act as siege vanguards. The seven gates of Diaoyu City launched an all-out attack!" "Observe the order!" Everyone received the order with uneven voices. Brother Mo hesitated to speak, his face flushed red. Shi Tianze lowered his head, covering his worried eyes.