The sudden retreat of the Mongolian army was actually somewhat beyond Li Xia's expectation.
Maybe he thought too highly of himself, but he thought that if Kublai Khan retreated in such a dejected manner, some people in the North would inevitably have a wait-and-see mentality.
The opponent suddenly revealed such a big flaw. There might be a solution, but Li Xia had to seize the opportunity no matter what.
The breakthrough points include the Zhang family of Shuntian, the Dong family of Gaocheng, and the Yan family of Dongping. They can even try to persuade the Hao family of Taiyuan to join them because they have captured Hao Tianyi.
Among the princes, the one most likely to win over is the Shuntian Zhang family, but Li Xia does not want to use the Shuntian Zhang family as a breakthrough first.
There are many reasons.
The simplest point is that Baozhou was surrounded by Mongolian forces. Kublai Khan was on guard against the Zhang family and did not give the Zhang family a chance to raise troops and brought the entire family to Guanzhong.
All Li Xia wanted was to wait for the right time, such as during his Northern Expedition, so that Zhang Rou could mobilize troops to respond.
What he wants is the Zhang family's military power and prestige in Hebei. He can't take these away, and it won't be useful if a few Zhang family brothers defect.
There is no need to let the Zhang family rebel too early, at least wait until Henan is captured.
But we can take this opportunity to get closer...
The Yan family in Dongping, the Dong family in Gaocheng, and the Hao family in Taiyuan will not join, but there are important people in the family who are in Li Xia's hands, and they can make some small moves.
But now if you want to stir up the situation, Yang Dayuan is the best breakthrough point.
Yang Dayuan's eldest brother was Yang Daquan, who was once the commander of Cao Youwen's tent and died on the anti-Mongolian battlefield.
Yang Daquan left behind two sons, Yang Wenzhong and Yang Wen'an. After their father died in the country, the two brothers defected to Yang Dayuan to defend Yunshan City and Dahuo City.
Before Yang Dayuan surrendered, he also killed the rebels who came to persuade him to surrender. At this time, their family had both the pillars of Sichuan and Shu and a loyal queen...
"This year, I fought with Yang Dayuan in Yan'an Mansion. I fought and scolded him, and I also heard some things about him."
Zhang Jue didn't want to say that he didn't like Yang Dayuan.
But since he was taking the opportunity to disrupt the situation of the Mongolian army in Yan'an, he still said: "Yang Dayuan said that he was unwilling to surrender, but he had to betray the country for the people in order to beg for the lives of tens of thousands of people in the city."
“Being betraying the country for the people?”
Zhang Jue shook his head and said: "What's the use of recruiting a traitor to surrender? If a surrendered minister like him surrenders and rebels again, his reputation will be ruined and the family will be finished. Looking at the history, there is no repeat.
Is there a good ending? He talks nicely, but in fact he knows in his heart that he will never come back."
"We are not the Song Dynasty." Li Xia said casually, "Because the Song Dynasty was too decadent, he had no choice but to surrender to the foreigners. But when he found a brighter regime, he abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side. It's normal."
"He did not surrender because of the 'corruption of the Song Dynasty'." Zhang Jue corrected: "He did it for the family's future."
"Why bother being more serious?" Li Xia said: "As long as it can weaken Kublai Khan and strengthen us."
Zhang Jue nodded and asked, "What do you want to do?"
"Let me meet him first."
"Okay, I'll make arrangements."
Li Xia could not stay in Yan'an for a long time, so he nodded and said: "I hope it can be done as soon as possible."
~~
Semen Village.
The gate is located twenty miles northwest of Yanzhou City and was built by Fan Zhongyan back then.
The wars between Song Dynasty and Xixia Dynasty mostly involved building forts, setting up barracks, and confronting each other. Only in this way can there be enough food and grass to support a long war.
The Mongols were not good at this style of fighting, so they chose to outflank them when attacking Guanzhong.
Yang Dayuan is good at it.
There were few people in the world who were more experienced than him in building cities and stationing troops.
At that time, among the people who followed Yu Jie and Pu Zezhi to build a fortress to guard Shu, the only one who was more senior than him was Wang Jian, but he was still in Lin'an.
Even Zhang Jue has much less experience than Yang Dayuan.
As for the strategy of advancing from a stronghold, we must first look at waterways.
The Yanhe River flows through Yan'an from northwest to southeast and flows to the Yellow River. Saimenzhai is right beside the Yanhe River.
Yang Dayuan occupied the upper reaches of the Yanhe River. Facing Zhang Jue, he had every advantage on the terrain...
In fact, when Brother Meng died, Yang Dayuan also thought about returning to the Song Dynasty anyway.
But at that time, all the children in his family were trapped in the Mongolian army and it was difficult to escape.
Afterwards, he went north to meet Kublai Khan and was impressed by Kublai Khan's magnanimity, so he gave up on his betrayal.
In the blink of an eye, he became the marshal of the Mongolian capital, and almost became a new prince...
The fifth day of March.
Yang Dayuan had just received the news that Hedan and Shi Tianze had withdrawn their troops, so he called his two nephews to discuss it.
"With a fierce attack for a month or two, but unable to break through Li Xia's defense line, Mongolia became increasingly unable to fight. Could it be that the country's power has declined?"
"It has only been a few decades since the country was founded. How can we say that the country is declining when it is at its most powerful?" The speaker was Yang Wen'an, who was twenty-three years old at the time, with a majestic appearance and cold eyes.
In comparison, his elder brother Yang Wenzhong appears to be weak.
Yang Wenzhong sighed and added: "But the Mongolian army suffered defeats one after another against Li Xia. This is an indisputable fact. I just feel that when they surrendered, the Mongolian army was almost at its strongest. As for now...sigh."
Yang Wen'an said: "Brother, you are worrying too much, because the Alibu brother rebellion has not yet been put down, and the strength is still there."
He was not depressed by the retreat of the Mongolian army. On the contrary, he seemed a little excited. He turned to face Yang Dayuan, cupped his hands and said, "Uncle, I think this is a good thing for us."
"A good thing?" Yang Dayuan pondered: "The Song Army can mobilize more troops to support Zhang Jue, how can it be called a good thing?"
Yang Wen'an said: "All roads have been defeated, troops and generals have been lost, and money and food have been wasted. Only my uncle has made progress, and his achievements are higher than those of the generals. He can also take advantage of the confrontation with the Song soldiers to accumulate strength, learn history, Zhang, and the Yan family can be autonomous."
, it is a good thing to manage the power of the army and the people."
Yang Dayuan shook his head and sighed: "You are short-sighted. You only care about the interests of your family, but you forget that the country's power cannot be protected if you lose your family."
For example, the Song Dynasty was in decline and could not protect its family.
Just as he was waiting to say something else, a school general came in in a hurry.
"Commander, Zhang Jue sent an envoy to send a message, saying that Li Xia invites the commander to meet him on the other side of the Yanhe Ferry at noon tomorrow."
"who?"
"It is said that the late king of Pingling County in the Song Dynasty guessed that Li Xia came in person."
Yang Dayuan was stunned.
Thinking about it again, he vaguely understood what Li Xia wanted to do.
But he felt that this reaction was too quick, so the Mongolian army just retreated, and then rushed here non-stop to win over?
What kind of diligent person is this...
"Uncle, is he here to win people's hearts? Is this the time?"
"Um."
The uncle and nephew were silent for a while, with different reactions.
Yang Dayuan raised his eyes and looked out the window, with inappropriate nostalgia in his eyes, as if he was missing his hometown;
Yang Wenzhong disagreed. Although he complained about the defeat of Mongolia, he did not have a good impression of Li Xia and the Song Dynasty;
Yang Wen'an looked a little surprised and unhappy. Li Xia's arrival seemed to have disrupted the Yang family's pursuit of becoming a prince.
Finally, Yang Dayuan turned around and seemed to have made up his mind.
He did not ask his two nephews for their opinions, but Yang Wen'an spoke first.
"Uncle, my nephew thought that he might as well take this opportunity to attack and kill Li Xia and make an immortal contribution."
Yang Dayuan asked in reply: "For whom have you made immortal contributions?"
"Of course Your Majesty."
Yang Dayuan did not answer immediately, but after being silent for a long time, he finally did not answer the question and said to himself: "It would be nice to meet Li Xia."
He stood up and told Yang Wen'an: "You must not arrange for someone to attack and kill him on your own, as this will damage the reputation of my Yang family."
Yang Wen'an couldn't help being surprised and asked: "Since the Yang family has surrendered, what reputation do they have?"
"I have betrayed the country for the people, and I will bear all the stigma. My brother died heroically for the country back then, so you two must not do anything that is detrimental to your integrity."
After Yang Dayuan said that, his eyes were deep, he sighed, and walked out of the lobby with his hands behind his hands.
Yang Wen'an looked at his back, puzzled.
"I don't know what my uncle is thinking about all day long."
"What's so hard to guess?" Yang Wenzhong said, "Isn't it that what uncle has always been worried about is that he had no choice but to surrender and ruin his reputation for life."
"Famous festival? How can a broken mirror be reunited?"
"It's inevitable to regret, isn't it?"
"It's too much to ask for." Yang Wen'an asked, "Where's my brother? What do you think?"
"Everyone says that His Majesty is the hero. Why did the hero lose to Li Xia this time? I can't believe it." Yang Wenzhong said: "Li Xia is the same age as you. How old is Li Xia to force His Majesty to withdraw his troops?"
"As I said, it was not that Your Majesty was defeated, but that he went north to quell the rebellion." Yang Wen'an said, "When we turn around, we can still conquer the world."
"Yes, go north to the grassland. The grassland is more important... Then who is your majesty above us? Or is it the Great Khan?"