"Old Ka, I am not excluding you, the task of escorting the fleet is also very important. The war ahead requires stability in the rear. If our routes and commercial ports cannot effectively generate profits, I can't stand it for long in front. When a cannon fires, all I fight is money. And the war will definitely kill people. I owe you a promise that you must let you home once, and then I will transfer you into the main fleet and follow me to fight south and north. In that way, even if you die in battle, I won't feel guilty, don't you?" When arranging the division of labor of the captains under his command, Carl was very unhappy to be the commander of the escort fleet. Although he was promoted, in his opinion, the task of escorting merchant ships was too simple. It would be enough to hand it over to those intern officers. An old captain like him should not do such work.

"Okay, sir, I accept this task. I want to ask privately, do you think the management method you have developed is feasible? Every time you make a decision, you have to discuss it with others, and sometimes you have to deliberately please them, including me. Why is this? Is the balance you mentioned really that important?" Hearing Hong Tao's explanation, Carl had nothing to say. Hong Tao is his life savior. Don't think that he dares to vote against him at the board of directors, you still think that this will make Hong Tao happier. If Hong Tao did not show such a wish, Carl would not vote against him. He would be more willing to hold a long sword and cut off those directors who really voted against him. Damn it! Who brought your life now? You still have the face to object!

"Old Ka, I don't know whether this is good or bad, just treat it as an attempt. You see Qi Zu and his team casting cannons and constantly try various methods. After failing many times, they finally found the most suitable method. In fact, it is the same for managing a group. Which method is better? It requires constant experimentation. I have had precedents of success in this way, but I have also learned lessons from failure. We might as well try it. It's better to succeed. It doesn't matter if it fails. At worst, we can change the way and continue to live. And you can take a look and think more. When you arrive at your cousin's country, you can also talk to him. Maybe he will feel more touched. After all, he has the experience of managing the country more than us.

Verify. By the way, I remind you. After arriving in Cape Town, don’t bully Lao Mai. It’s not easy for him to guard that land for the company thousands of miles away. He has to risk his life to trade with local natives all day long. If you want to get him furious, I will let you go wherever you go. I will give you supplies once a year so that you can’t even see your son!” Hong Tao was very relieved that Carl was the commander of the escort fleet. He and Bo Jiao were both old people who first went out to sea with him, and he understood many of his ideas the most thoroughly. Moreover, he was also the most familiar with sailing. He was still a ruthless guy, and there would be no mistakes on the technical level. But this guy’s religious tendencies are more extreme and he needs reminders at all times.

In addition to these warships, Hong Tao also has seven whaling ships and four salmon-class cargo ships to use. Although these ships are not designed according to warships, they have no problem acting as transport teams. At least their navigation can keep up with the main fleet. After a few small cannons are installed, they also have enough self-protection capabilities, so they do not have to send warships to escort. The remaining are more than ten small clutches, as long as they communicate between various ports, they have neither combat functions nor enough to act as transport ships.

In terms of manpower, Jinhewan is no longer short of skilled sailors and officers. After years of uninterrupted training, most Jinhewan people have had the experience of voyages and serving on warships. Although they are not professional sailors, they will be able to quickly get on if they need it. If they are too skillful, they can at least meet the daily operation of ships. In addition to the number of whaling ships and sailors lent to merchant ships in the Southern Song Dynasty, Hong Tao no longer has to worry about no one driving the ship for the first time. Even if he gets a main fleet out, he can still drive it out to participate in the war in minutes.

Hong Tao was preparing for war, and the Mongolian army was not idle either. They gathered near the defense line of the Southern Song Dynasty since June of the second year of Duanping. When Hong Tao received this news in August, not only him, but even the Southern Song court believed that a war was inevitable, and they were transporting troops and supplies to the northern defense line all summer. At the same time, in order to reduce the inflation caused by preparations, the Southern Song court began to allocate funds from the inner warehouse to calm prices in the market. From the first year of Duanping to the second year of Duanping, there were 5 or 6 funds, each time hundreds of thousands of chunks.

Originally, after the blow of Duanping and returning from Luoyang, the Southern Song Dynasty lost a lot of manpower and financial resources in Henan, resulting in a bad economic situation in the Yangtze River Defense Line, and both materials and civilians were scarce. But at this time, it was obvious that the economic strength of the Southern Song Dynasty court was still able to rely on its own regulatory capabilities to conduct market intervention, and did not try to increase taxes and increase currency, making prices uncontrollable. Generally speaking, in the era when the Yangtze River Defense Line of the Southern Song Dynasty court was not broken and the regime was relatively complete, the currency depreciation of the Southern Song Dynasty was not very good. It was only at the end of the war that the court could not withstand the consumption of the Mongolian army, which brought the economy into a vicious cycle. This is the potential for war.

By the end of the summer, the Mongolian army finally began to attack. The first one they moved was the Western Route Army. The second son of Ogedei, Kuorui, the forefront Ta Navy sent troops from Fengzhou and captured Hechi (Hui County, Gansu) in one fell swoop, and at the same time launched a full-on attack, from Qinzhou (Tianshui, Gansu), Gongzhou (Longxi, Gansu), and many armies advanced towards Jiezhou (Chengxian, Gansu), Xiliangzhou (Mian County, Shaanxi), and Fengzhou (Fengxian, Shaanxi).

In fact, at the beginning of the year, the Mongolian army had already begun to clear the surrounding areas of these places and recruited the remnants of the Jin Kingdom. After the demise of the Jin Kingdom, these Jin teams refused to defend the city in this area and did not recognize the Mongolian Kingdom. They often had contact with the Southern Song army. If the Southern Song court had moved faster at that time, they would not take in the remnants of the Jin Kingdom, and they would not surrender to the Mongols out of thin air. The Jin people and the Mongols were mortal enemies, and if they had a place to wait, they would not surrender to the Mongols. Unfortunately, the Southern Song court was looking forward to the front and back, but they were not sure of making up their minds. On the one hand, they were afraid that these remnants of the Jin Kingdom would not be able to control, and on the other hand, they were afraid that they would stimulate the Mongols. As a result, they threw a bunch of charming eyes over in vain. The Southern Song army did not reach a consensus with the remnants of the Jin Kingdom until the Mongols' attack began.

Now, even if it is a mortal enemy, it is better than a real death. Some of the remnants of the Jin Kingdom died in battle, some surrendered to the Mongols, and were immediately formed into a vanguard by the Mongolian army, turning the spearhead, and directly becoming the vanguards attacking the defense line of the Southern Song Dynasty. The remnants of the Jin Kingdom have been stationed here for many years, are familiar with the local terrain, and become the perfect leader. They quickly broke through the defense line of the Lizhou East Route Army and drilled into the Lizhou defense zone. They were unstoppable and difficult to stop.

The Southern Song Dynasty court did not release people in the Sichuan defense zone, and they also knew that this place was very important. Once Sichuan was lost, the Mongolian army could advance eastward along the Yangtze River, which would be difficult to defend. The four imperial troops responsible for guarding Sichuan were the Mianjun Army, stationed in Mianzhou, guarded Xianren Pass, governed Chengzhou Army and Tianshui Army; the Lifu Guard Office, stationed in Lizhou, guarded Qifang Pass, controlled Jiezhou Army and Xihezhou Army; the Xingyuan Guard Office, stationed in Xingyuan (Hanzhong, Shaanxi), guarded Wuxiu Pass, controlled Fengzhou Army; the Jin Guard Office, stationed in Jinzhou, guarded Raofeng Pass, controlled Liangzhou Army and Yangzhou Army.

These four troops are known as the four major garrison divisions, with a total of more than 80,000 people. They were originally strong and had more than 15,000 war horses at their heyday. However, since Wu Xi rebelled and invaded with the Jin** team, they have been continuously delisted. By the time the war started, there were only more than 5,000 war horses left. Moreover, they could not decide on their own how to fight and needed to be assigned by the Sichuan Pacification Commander.

In fact, these four major garrisons were quite capable during the Song and Jin War, and they never allowed the Jin ** team to step into the defense zone. Unfortunately, Wu Xi later rebelled and led the Jin soldiers into Shu, destroying almost all the passes along the way, and it has not been fully repaired until now. Without the protection of the pass, it was difficult for the Southern Song army to deal with the Mongolian cavalry in the field. They basically had no victory in a few battles, and were pushed to the city of Mianzhou by the Mongolian army.

Mianzhou was the gateway to the southwest or the garrison of the Sichuan Commander. At that time, Zhao Yanwei, the commander of the commander, escaped at the time, and only Mianzhou governor Gao Jia fought desperately. When Hong Tao saw this battle report, Mianzhou was still in Gao Jia's hands.

Compared with the western front, the Mongolian army on the middle road was much gentler. They did not rush to attack, but played the trick of farming. While transporting food and grass from the north, they were clearing up grain in their gathering places. This was not that the Mongolians were not in a hurry, but that it was useless to be anxious. After more than ten years of war between the Mongolians and the Jin Dynasty, the Yellow River to the Huaihe River in Henan became a barren land of thousands of miles, similar to the no-man's land. When the Southern Song army left Henan to recover the three capitals, they could not get food on the spot. When they were defeated and fled, the Mongolians chased after it for a while and stopped chasing it. It was not that they did not want to chase it, but that the Mongolian army also had to eat and horses had to eat grass. At this time, the Mongolian army was no longer a nomadic tribe that drove cattle and sheep to march. After entering the south of the Yellow River, the sheep and horses still had no grass to eat.

In such a place, you must first do the logistics, otherwise you will be hungry once the front is frustrated and you will be defeated without fighting. Therefore, the Mongolian Central Army was slow to move, and even some of them became Eastern Army, wanting to find a breakthrough in the Huaixi area.
Chapter completed!