On the eighth day of April, Li Xia led 2,000 cavalrymen from Ruzhou to the southeast. When they arrived more than ten miles west of Jiacheng County, they encountered a blockade of 1,000 Mongolian and Han troops.
The two sides fought and suffered casualties on each other. Afterwards, the Mongolian and Han troops were defeated and retreated to Jiacheng County. Li Xia passed through the city without entering and quickly headed north to Junzhou.
There is a large iron-smelting workshop in Junzhou. Last year, Ahema inspected Henan and found 3,000 households with hidden household registrations. He ordered them to make iron and handed over 500,000 kilograms of iron in six months.
Li Xia immediately invaded Junzhou that day, opened warehouses to release grain, distributed all weapons from the iron smelting workshop to the people, and went north to attack Xinzheng County.
More than 150 miles northeast of Xinzheng County is Kaifeng. Now Shi Tianze has sent soldiers and horses from Henan to Shandong to quell the rebellion. Grains and supplies are being transferred from various places. Li Xia's soldiers and horses have killed them, and they also robbed and kidnapped...
Dong Wenyong led five thousand cavalry and chased Li Xia all the way. When he found out the news, he was shocked.
What worried Kublai Khan about Li Fen's rebellion was never the rebellion itself, but the psychological changes that this rebellion caused to the Mongolian princes.
Once Li Xia was allowed to capture Kaifeng, Henan would be shaken, the whole country would be shaken, and the rebellion would be in full swing. Dong Wenyong would definitely be guilty of a serious crime, so he had no time to camp and rest, so he led his army to pursue him overnight.
This area is already an open plain, with flat plains, Mang Mountain, Song Mountain, Ji Mountain, and Waifang Mountain left to the west by them.
Dong Wenyong was still pursuing Li Xia toward the northeast, but Li Xia had turned toward the southeast.
On the ninth day of April, Li Xia passed Xuzhou and once again got rid of Dong Wenyong's pursuers, and then turned to the southwest.
On the tenth day of the lunar month, Li Xia passed through Xiangcheng, Fangcheng, and Biyang counties, entered Nanyang, and approached Tangzhou.
…
Nanyang Prefecture is now under Mongolian rule.
The border between Song and Mongolia is in Dengzhou and Tangzhou in the south of Nanyang.
As the junction of Song and Mongolia, the Huaihe River runs from east to west to the source of the Huaihe River in Tongbai Mountain.
Separated between Huaiyuan and Qinling is the Nanyang Basin, the junction of Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi.
This place is Xiangyang to the south, you can trace the Han River to Hanzhong to the west, and you can enter Guanzhong by taking Wuguan Road to the northwest... The strategic location is very important.
When Shi Tianze was conducting military operations in Henan, he appointed his two nephews Shi Quan and Shi Shu as the general manager of ten thousand households. He ordered them to guard Tangzhou and Dengzhou respectively, one to farm fields, and the other to attack Xiangyang, an important town in the Song Dynasty from time to time.
Shi Shu was the son of Shi Tian'an, Shi Tianze's second brother. He made great achievements in the surprise attack on Kuzhu Pass during the expedition to Shu. Unfortunately, he was ambushed by Li Xia in Jinyun Mountain and died not long after.
Shi Quan is the son of Shi Tianze's eldest brother Shi Tianni. He originally guarded Tangzhou. Thanks to Li Xia's blessing, he was able to guard Tang and Dengzhou...
This time, Li Xia's strategy was to attack Tang and Deng states.
He wants to hold off Shi Tianze not because he thinks there are not enough Mongolian troops in Henan, but because Shi Tianze must go to Shandong sooner or later. If he delays for a while now, Li Fen will be able to hold on longer, and the situation will be better in the future.
To hold Shi Tianze back, the only way to save him is to attack him.
The Mongolian lords who own Uluse are one of them, and Shi Tianze's nephew is the second.
Therefore, if Shi Quan is attacked, Shi Tianze will surely save him.
On the other hand, Shi Quan was also the easiest to fight. The two states of Tang and Deng were already facing three enemies. Li Xia came from the north and killed him again, like a sharp knife thrust into Shi Quan's belly and back.
Of course, if Sichuan and Shaanxi dare to transfer the main force to Nanyang, the Mongolian army in Shanxi will also cross the Yellow River to attack Guanzhong... However, the Mongolian army in Luoyang was led in a circle by Li Xia and is still behind Li Xia.
It is equivalent to using the mobility of cavalry to shake off more than 10,000 enemy soldiers from the entire battlefield.
This is exactly how the Mongols fought.
Li Xia even took the same route as he used to drag thunder and use roads to capture gold...
Dong Wenbing guessed Li Xia's tactics.
But it was too late. When Dong Wenbing was sitting in Luoyang City and guessed that Li Xia was going to attack Nanyang, Li Xia had already led the cavalry through Ruzhou in person.
When Dong Wenbing sent a messenger to remind Shi Quan, Li Xia had already broken through the blockade of the Jiacheng County defenders.
When Li Xia had arrived outside Tangzhou City, Dong Wenbing's messenger was able to pass Ruzhou.
…
In terms of military strength, Li Xia not only had two thousand cavalry.
Before setting off, he ordered Liu Jinsuo to lead 2,000 men down the Han River, and Yang Ben to lead 1,500 cavalry to leave Shangzhou and go down the Wuguan Road.
The three armies gathered in Tang and Deng had only more than 5,000 troops. It was not that Sichuan and Shaanxi did not have more troops, but that the main force needed to be left for defense.
And how many troops can be mobilized for an expedition is often limited by the ability to transport food and grass.
This is the reason why Li Xia always likes to fight with a small group of two to three thousand troops. The lighter the baggage and pressure, the more flexible the whole strategy will be.
Of course, this also means taking risks, and using small to win big is an adventure in itself...
~~
Shi Quan is a famous general.
During the years when he was stationed in Nanyang, he fought against Gao Da and Lu Wenhuan, the generals in the Xiangfan area of the Song Dynasty. They won and lost, and he also developed his extraordinary ability to lead troops.
At that time, Shi Shu followed Meng Ge to attack Shu, but Shi Quan was different and followed Kublai Khan to attack Ezhou.
This is a turning point in the fate of the two brothers...
This time Li Fen's rebellion also had an impact on Shi Quan's residence.
Since Li Fen had the possibility of cooperating with the Song Dynasty, Shi Quan had to be prepared for the Song army from Xiangfan to attack.
He was also on guard against Li Xia's troops and horses at Hanshui and Wuguan... But Shanxi was already preparing to attack Guanzhong, and Nanyang was more prepared to send troops to push into Wuguan Road to cooperate with Shanxi's troops.
Shi Quan was still preparing in Tangzhou when he suddenly heard that Dengzhou was besieged.
For a moment, an extremely absurd idea flashed through his mind.
"It's Liu Zheng who is preparing to cross the Yellow River, right? Liu Yuanzhen, who recruited him to surrender, has defected. Now, will even his hometown of Dengzhou be lost? So what's the point of Liu Zheng's surrender?"
Shi Quan shook his head and dismissed this inexplicable thought.
"Dengzhou hasn't lost it yet."
He quickly gathered three thousand soldiers and horses and left Tangzhou to support Dengzhou.
The border between Tang and Deng states was a river named Baihe. Before Shi Quan led his troops to Baihe, he suddenly saw a scout horse galloping towards him.
"Enemy soldiers! Enemy soldiers..."
~~
By the White River.
The scenery in Nanyang in April is very beautiful, with green grass by the river.
But the anxious horse hooves and footsteps trampled the green grass.
Blood splashed into the mud puddles, gathered together, and flowed toward the White River, dyeing the water red.
The corpse fell down, and his eyes widened with reluctance until death.
Everyone who dies is very unhappy.
Whether they are Han or Mongolian.
The strange thing is that in this battle, the Mongols were fighting for the Han people, and the Han people were fighting for the Mongols.
In fact, they are all fighting for themselves.
"No retreat! Reinforcements are coming soon..."
Having been fighting for most of the day, the two soldiers and horses fell into a final hand-to-hand fight.
…
The long spear in Li Xia's hand pierced the chest of another enemy general.
The stick was covered in blood and was not slippery, but rather sticky.
He was leading more than a hundred people to hunt down Shi Quan.
Shi Quan was even worse. His soldiers and horses had been routed. He led his guards and fled to the Baihe River. He turned around and stared at Li Xia with wide eyes. Then he turned back and killed him.
It is normal to lose in a battle. Shi Quan has fought with Gundam and Lu Wenhuan in the past, and there have been victories and defeats, but it has never been so tragic.
Because Li Xia is too crazy.
There is no testing, and there is no step-by-step advancement.
Li Xia suddenly came out from the north, a direction that Shi Quan had never expected, and directly inserted into Shi Quan's formation, dividing his troops.
Decisive and ruthless.
Shi Quan was caught off guard.
This is how victory or defeat is decided.
From the moment Li Xia left Tongguan until he entered the Shi Quan formation, he took the initiative, so his morale was stronger and he had the momentum to win.
In war, what matters is the psychology of the soldiers.
When the soldiers under Shi Quan were surprised by the enemy soldiers falling from the sky, they had already lost...
~~
"Surrender! I won't kill you..."
Shi Quan ignored the shouts of the soldiers in front of him and raised his sword to kill Li Xia.
"puff."
Shi Quan was stabbed again and fell to the ground.
Knowing that he could no longer recover, he raised the knife to his neck.
Li Xiace immediately stepped forward and asked, "Do you have a reason to die for Mongolia?"
"If you kill my brother, I will never be humiliated by the enemy!"
Shi Quan shouted and slashed his neck with the knife.
He actually muttered another sentence to himself before he died.
"I'm not convinced..."
~~
"I'm very convinced."
Hu Legen said with a smile, got off his horse, stepped forward, and cut off Shi Quan's head with his own hands.
While he was doing it, he was still murmuring a song.
"I sacrificed the fluttering banner, beat the war drum of the cowhide curtain... Suitian Khan mounted his horse to fight with the enemy!"
Humming, Hu Legen looked up and saw Li Zeyi sitting on the horse looking at him lightly.
This is not the first time Li Zeyi has looked at him like this.
He had been riding his horse on the road before, but now that the battle was over, Hu Legen couldn't help but ask: "What do you want me to do?"
"I'm observing you." Li Zeyi said very bluntly: "I'm observing how loyal you are to the prince."
Hu Legen was greatly surprised. He threw the head in his hand to his guards, waved the knife in his hand and shouted: "Do you know how many years I have been with King Jun?! You don't know, because you have only been here for two years."
Nian, you’re new here!”
"But I am Han and my surname is Li, but you are a Mongolian."
"What's wrong with the Mongols? Compared to you guys from Longxi and Lin'an, we are the most loyal. We are all believers..."
"Yes." Li Zeyi said: "If you traitors return to the hands of the Mongols, you will die the worst..."
"It's not because of this. Let me tell you, I have tolerated you for a long time..."
"Shut up, everyone!"
Li Xia rode his horse past and shouted: "Take the wounded and rush to Dengzhou immediately!"
He knew that Dong Wenyong was about to catch up again.
After that, there were Dong Wenbing, Shi Tianze, Liu Zheng, Yang Dayuan, Ahema...
Shi Quan is just a small beginning, the first step to disrupt Shi Tianze's plan.
~~
at the same time.
Jinghu North Road, Qizhou, Xia Gui, who was the envoy to Henan in the Song Dynasty at that time, finally received the edict from Lin'an and prepared to swear an oath to march north.
Huainan East Road, Huai'an, Qingyang Mengyan, who had the power to set up the sexton in Huainan, also received military orders and crossed north to Lianshui to prepare to support Li Fen.
Huainan East Road, Haizhou, Song Dynasty Navy Commander Zhao Maer was ordered to lead the fleet to Dengzhou and Laizhou lines, preparing to harass the Mongolian army.
…
In Jinan, the Mongolian sect king Hebichi had led seventeen troops to assemble, preparing to join forces with Shi Tianze and surround Li Fen.
~~
If the world situation this year is a chess game caused by Li Fen, then in early April, all chess players finally put their pieces in place.