At dusk, Yelvzhu looked up and saw snow all over the sky and a desolate scene on the grassland.
This is not a good time to go on an expedition, as horses lose weight in the cold winter.
However, the opportunity was fleeting and could not be missed. The soldiers and horses of the Western Expedition rushed to Hexi in the winter months.
On this day, we marched to Jiuyuan City and set up camp.
Yelvzhu looked at the setting sun on the horizon and couldn't help but murmured: "Thousands of miles away, the returning geese come in a line or two."
In fact, I haven’t seen any geese returning yet. Wild geese usually don’t return north until spring.
This poem doesn't fit the scene.
Yelvzhu just thought of his long-lost sons and looked forward to their return.
Of course, he not only had those three sons, he also had seven wives and more than ten sons. Among the wives, Chitieji was a gift from Queen Naima Zhen, which was not beneficial to his career.
If it is beneficial to his career, he also married a sister of Tachaer two years ago, and he is considered a brother-in-law with Li Fen.
From this perspective, Yelvzhu seems to be a man obsessed with official career... but this is not the case.
It was not because he was obsessed with his career that he entered into many marriages, but because of his life experience, fame, and talents, every family wanted to marry him.
Although they were Khitan people, Yelu and his son had assisted the Jin family for three generations, so they were favored and attracted by many princes and nobles.
Yelvzhu's status was much higher than that of ordinary Han officials.
This made him incompatible with the Han officials. Although he inherited his father's idea of "ruling the country with Confucianism" and tended to promote Han law, he was not actually close to the Han officials.
Therefore, he maintained a detached attitude and was not active in his official career.
This time, if it weren't for his children, he wouldn't have gone with the army.
Before the expedition, Kublai Khan said, "Prime Minister Yeluzhu is going to the expedition, and there is no possibility of failure in this battle." This shows his trust in Yeluzhu's talents.
They just set up camp and went down to the stronghold that day. He Dan immediately asked Yelu Zhu to discuss the military situation.
…
Jiuyuan City is located in the Hetao Plain, in the middle section of a horizontal line above the "ji" shape of the Yellow River.
When Genghis Khan went on an expedition, Princess Alahai was stationed in Jiuyuan City.
This place is also known as "Deer City". Genghis Khan saw deer when he was hunting here, so he named it "Baotou" because "Baoketu" means "a place with deer" in Mongolian.
The Jiuyuan City built by King Wuling of Zhao was the earliest city. The earthen city wall built against the mountain has long since collapsed. The Mongols did not repair it and only erected large tents in the city.
Hedan's big tent is now the king's tent, where the princess of the prison was stationed.
Yelu Zhu entered the tent and felt as warm as spring inside.
He stepped on the soft and thick carpet and saluted: "I have met the Zong Wang."
"Prime Minister Yelu, sit down and have a drink. The weather is really cold."
He Dan was holding a wine glass and asked Yelv Zhu to sit down.
He was Kublai Khan's cousin. He was already fifty years old. He was wearing a thick robe and a fur hat and looked very easy to get along with.
Hedan was Wo Kuotai's sixth son, a concubine. His easy-going temperament was due to his status as a concubine.
Wokuotai has six queens. The children born by these six queens can be regarded as legitimate sons, but there are only four legitimate sons in total, and there are three concubines. The legitimate concubines have a total of seven sons. Five of them have died now, and only
Six sons are left to combine the elixir, and seven sons are destroyed.
Both brothers Hedan and Mieli participated in the eldest son's Western Expedition.
It was a massive Western Expedition, and several of the most outstanding sons of the Golden Family participated, including Batu, Brother Bie'er, Brother Meng... and Guyu, the eldest son of Ogedei.
The kings united their troops to the west, destroyed all the countries, attacked the cities and conquered the territory, and became invincible.
It was during this Western Expedition that Guyou publicly insulted Batu, paving the way for his own death on the way to conquer Batu, and also paving the way for Batu to help Meng Ge ascend to the throne of Khan.
After the Western Expedition, Guyou became the Great Khan, but he completely looked down on his two concubine brothers and did not grant any fiefdoms.
From this moment on, Hedan and Mieli have turned to Tuo Lei's group to support Meng Ge's rise to power. Meng Ge also reciprocated by dismantling Wokuotai's territory and dividing it among them. Hedan was enfeoffed to Beelse Bali
.
After Meng Ge's death, because Ali Buge and his family received the news in advance, they were cut off from the news of Beslopali and the Central Plains, so Hedan was unable to contact Kublai Khan for a time.
But after Hedan learned the news, he resolutely chose to lead troops to support Kublai Khan.
This is the second time he has made a choice in the battle for the throne, and he firmly believes that it is right...
Now Kublai Khan ordered Hedan to lead 60,000 troops from Kaiping to attack Li Xia from the west. These troops were originally preparing to conquer Ali Buge's territory in the north. This shows that there is not much time to fight this battle.
Kublai Khan obviously hoped to destroy Li Xia as soon as possible and then quickly return to the north.
Hedan understands this strategic intention.
"The Great Khan hopes to end this war in the spring. Maybe we should march faster. Prime Minister, tell me, how should we go?"
Yelu Zhu said: "After arriving at Jiuyuan City, we have two roads to choose from. One is to reach Lanzhou along the Yellow River and attack Longxi; the other is to go south and take the Qinzhi Road."
There was a somewhat crude map in the tent, but Yelu Zhu knew the mountains and terrain well without a map.
"The advantage of traveling along the Yellow River is that the Hetao Plain is along the Hetao Plain. The journey is easy, and we can get supplies at Xingqing Mansion. The news we got two days ago is that Li Xia has captured Liangzhou. We can rush there just in time to cut off Li Xia's attack
The way back..."
At this point, Yelu Zhu thought for a while and said: "But within the next few days, the situation in Hexi may also change."
He Dan asked: "My second brother Kuoduan's sons even despise cattle and dogs and cannot stop Li Xia... Is this what the Prime Minister means?"
He has no respect for Kuo Duan because his direct brothers have always ostracized him.
Yelvzhu nodded slowly and talked about Qin Zhidao again.
"Jiuyuan City is the end point of the Qin Straight Road. From here, you can go straight south and pass through Ansai, Ganquan, Fuxian, Huangling, etc. to reach Chang'an."
He clicked on Yan'an Prefecture on the map, which is what he called Huangling.
"Yang Dayuan is now facing off against Zhang Jue here. The terrain here is made of loess and mountains, making it difficult for him to defeat the opponent. If we take this route, the advantage is that we can take advantage of the emptiness in Guanzhong and go straight to Li Xia's hinterland. But..."
He Dan added: "But the road is not easy to walk, and Yan'an Prefecture is not easy to break. We may not be able to kill it? We will have to go back then."
"That's the truth."
"Which way do you think the Prime Minister should take?"
"..."
Discussions were going on here, and a messenger arrived in the snowy night.
"Prince Zong, Prime Minister, this is news from Xingqing Mansion."
"Come in and talk."
Hedan let the messenger enter his account and rewarded him with a cup of hot wine to warm him up. He took the letter written in Uighur-style Mongolian and took a look at it before handing it to Yelu Zhu.
"Zhongshu Zuocheng, governor of Xixia, Zhang Wenqian, reported urgently that the enemy Li Xia captured Yongchang, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Shazhou and other places within ten days, killed King Yongchang, the King of Ganzhou, and captured the three queens of Huteni..."
Yelu Zhu read it and said: "The news came so quickly because Li Xia must have let Zhang Wenqian know on purpose. This was a tactic to intimidate."
If it were Han Chen, he would definitely be shocked, but Hedan and Yelvzhu were not.
They had been in Hara and Forest for a long time and knew the Mongolian kings better. They knew that Kuoduan's son was not outstanding.
It is precisely because the direct lineage of Wokuotai is in total decline that Hedan chooses to firmly support the Tuolei family. How can he have expectations for the Kuoduan disciples?
As for the three queens being captured, he didn't even care.
According to Mongolian custom, a son has to take in his father's concubines, so who cares about this? How long can Kuo Duan's mother live in her seventies?
Instead, He Dan thought this was a good opportunity and said, "Li Xia is still in Hexi. What should the Prime Minister say we should do?"
Yelu Zhu said: "It can be calculated that his strength does not exceed 20,000. Let's go along the Yellow River, pass through Xingqing Mansion, and surround Liangzhou first. We can try to annihilate Li Xia. If something unexpected happens, we can recover Lanzhou, station in Lanzhou, and attack
Gong Chang."
"Without this change, our 60,000 cavalrymen would have pounced on the wild dogs like a pack of wolves." Hedan lamented: "The greedy wild dogs have forgotten the dangers around them."
…
That night, Yelvzhu left Hedan's tent, already full of confidence in this battle.
In his opinion, Ali and Li Xia were just like the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion in the Han Dynasty, while he and He Dan were like Zhou Yafu leading thirty-six generals to crusade.
The only thing I don't know is what happened to my son who was living in the Western Regions now. If Zhaojun left the country, there would be no news...
"But the Han envoy replied with a message, the thirty-six generals of the Han family. I advise you not to talk about the matter of making a marquis. It will make you sad and you don't want to hear it."