Chapter 211 Entering Shandong
The meaning of Zhao Tai's words is that he defeated Kuo Duan and Shi Tianze got the news and wanted to run away.
It was right for Heda to defeat Shi Tianze. If Shi Tianze was allowed to escape, Heda would be blamed for his ineffectiveness and failure to completely annihilate Shi Tianze.
His words were tantamount to directly attributing Heda's victory in Xuzhou to his defeat of Kuo Duan in Shuanggou.
If he hadn't defeated Kuoduan, Heda would not have defeated Shi Tianze so easily.
Heda felt a little unhappy after hearing Zhao Tai's words, but he saw that Zhao Tai's soldiers and horses were strong, so he did not dare to show it.
Heda originally thought that even if Zhao Tai defeated Kuo Duan, he would suffer heavy losses, but now looking at Zhao Tai's army, it seemed that there was no loss, so he naturally did not dare to offend Zhao Tai.
After all, the crisis in the Jin Kingdom has not been resolved yet, and he still needs Zhao Tai's power to fight against Mongolia.
Now that Zhao Tai has become a self-respecting warlord, Heda can only accommodate Zhao Tai.
Zhao Tai smiled and said: "When I came over, I heard cheers from a distance. The marshal had broken through the Mongolian camp and killed Shi Tianze?"
Heda said in a deep voice: "The Mongolian camp has been breached. I captured and killed about 9,000 enemy troops. Shi Tianze led a thousand cavalry and escaped overnight."
"What a pity!" Zhao Tai sighed, and then suddenly laughed: "Shi Tianze ran away, Marshal, don't be discouraged! I will give the Marshal a big gift. I guarantee that the Marshal will be excited after reading it!"
Although Shi Tianze ran away, he captured and killed 9,000 Mongolian troops and seized a large amount of supplies and baggage. Heda was actually quite satisfied with this battle.
After Heda heard what Zhao Tai said, he felt that Zhao Tai had changed. When he saw this boy before, he was a handsome guy and called him very affectionate. But now he showed the arrogance of a villain everywhere, which made Heda very dissatisfied.
At this time, listening to Zhao Tai's words, it seemed that the results he had achieved were not worth mentioning. Heda felt a little unhappy and said, "Oh, I would like to see what kind of gift Guorui has given me."
"Give it to the marshal!" Zhao Tai waved his hand domineeringly, and his subordinates handed over a wooden box. Heda looked puzzled and asked the official slave to take it.
At this time, the official slave opened it and was shocked. He saw a human head inside, with an extremely ferocious face.
"What is this?" Heda couldn't help but ask.
Zhao Tai smiled and said: "This is Kuo Duan, the son of the Mongolian Khan Wokuotai and the marshal of the Mongolian Eastern Route Army!"
"Kuduan!" The Jin army generals who came to greet him exclaimed and gathered around to watch.
They all felt a little unhappy when they heard Zhao Tai's words just now, but now when they saw Kuoduan's head, they were all shocked. They felt that a capable person like Zhao Tai should be a little crazy.
Heda took the wooden box, his face full of shock, "Guorui, you actually beheaded Kuoduan!"
Zhao Taidao said: "Not only Kuo Duan, but also the 40,000 men under his command suffered a heavy blow! After this battle, the Eastern Front will have no worries for the time being!"
"Okay! Okay!" Heda cheered excitedly, "Guorui, this is really an unprecedented victory! I will report it to Your Majesty immediately and ask for your credit!"
Zhao Tai waved his hand, "Marshal, don't panic, the top priority is that we must gather our troops, march eastward, pursue the defeated Mongolian army, eliminate as many Mongolian troops as possible, and seize some Shandong prefectures and counties, that is the most important thing!"
The Guanhe defense line was breached by the Mongolian army, and the Jin army was doomed to die in the Central Plains.
Since the Mongolian army had opened a gap in the west, Zhao Tai headed east and entered Shandong to expand his living space.
By then, with its back to the sea and the Southern Song Dynasty, there would be at least two directions where it would not be attacked by the Mongolian army.
Heda couldn't help but nodded after hearing Zhao Tai's words, "Guorui's words make sense! We must try our best to eliminate the Mongolian army on the eastern front so that Kaifeng will not be attacked from both sides."
Zhao Tai said: "Well, the marshal will pack up and join me across the river to pursue the defeated troops!"
In the Battle of Xuzhou, Zhao Tai entangled Jin soldiers from all walks of life, and invited reinforcements from the Southern Song Dynasty, with about 100,000 troops, and defeated the 50,000 Mongolian troops on the eastern front.
Zhao Tai killed ten thousand people and captured ten thousand people in Shuanggou battlefield alone. Heda also annihilated and captured nine thousand enemy troops in Xuzhou.
Zhang Rou and other Mongolian generals fled with their troops and were hunted down along the way. There were hundreds of corpses floating around, and the casualties have not yet been counted. The Jin army seized a large amount of money, food and ordnance along the way, and the harvest was extremely rich.
News of the defeat on the front line spread to the states and counties along the east and west roads of Shandong. Officials appointed by Mongolia in each city fled north before the Jin soldiers arrived.
After Zhang Rou fled to Pizhou in a panic, she learned that the Jin army was chasing her, so she went all the way north and fled directly back to Daming Mansion.
Shi Tianze led a thousand cavalry and fled to Tengzhou. When he learned that the Jin soldiers were pursuing him across the river, he led the remaining troops without stopping and fled to Jinan before stopping.
Of the 50,000 Mongolian troops on the eastern front, under the pursuit of the Jin army, less than 5,000 finally escaped, and they had completely lost their combat effectiveness.
By the end of December, after Zhao Tai commanded the Eastern Front Jin Army to enter Shandong, since most officials in Shandong prefectures and counties fled, the Jin Army quickly took over Pizhou, Tengzhou, Jeju, Yanzhou, Tai'an Prefecture, Dongping Prefecture and other places.
This made Li Fen of Yidu panic, but Li Fen soon received a letter from Zhao Tai stating that the Jin soldiers would not attack his territory.
Zhao Tai even staged a show with Li Fen in Jinan Mansion, causing Chen Zhong, who had entered Jinan's territory, to pretend to be defeated by Li Fen's reinforcements to Jinan and retreat to Tai'an Prefecture.
The Mongolian officials who fled to Jinan were originally planning to abandon Jinan and flee into Hebei, but they stopped in Jinan when they saw Li Fen's reinforcements repulsed the Jin soldiers.
Shandong, Pi County.
Under military escort, Zhao Tai entered this historic city.
After half a year, Zhao Tai captured Pi County again, but in just half a year, Pi County was even more dilapidated than last time.
At this time, Zhao Tai was riding a horse. There was no one on the street. The houses on both sides either collapsed or were destroyed by fire.
Zhao Tai entered the state government office all the way, and saw only a few old men on the road, wearing shabby coats, standing shivering in front of the shack.
At this time, Zhao Tai entered the yamen, where Wang Wentong was leading a group of people busy. When he saw Zhao Tai arriving, he told the officials and then came up to salute, "Ms. sir!"
Zhao Tai asked: "Sir, how is the situation in Pizhou?"
Wang Wentong shook his head, "My lord, this Pizhou is close to the canal. It used to have prosperous commerce and prosperous agriculture, with a population of 600,000. Now it can only be described as "miserable"."
Zhao Tai frowned and said, "How miserable is it?"
Wang Wentong said: "It's not clear how many people there are in each county and countryside. But just saying that Pizhou City originally had 50,000 people, but now there are only 50 households left in the city, and they are all old and weak who can't leave."
Sick and disabled.”
After Zhao Tai entered the city, he took a cursory look at the situation in the city. He knew that the situation in Pizhou was not good, but he never thought that it would be so miserable, with only fifty households left.
Wang Wentong said: "Looking at the situation in Pizhou, I estimate that the situation in Tengzhou is similar."
Chapter completed!