Before the high-speed march of tens of thousands of cavalry, all creatures are prey, and no matter how hard the prey tries, no matter how hard they try to resist or escape, there is only one result.
The rows of corpses piled up beside the road at this moment prove this.
Behind the road, there was black smoke rising in the early morning sunshine. That was because in the early hours of this morning, a group of farmers hiding in a hidden shack was discovered, and the Mongols tried to set fire to smoke them out. As a result, the weather was dry and the fire was very intense. It almost got out of control and burned half the village.
The residents of the village fled in all directions. They were all familiar with the surrounding terrain, so it took some time for the fifty cavalrymen ordered to chase them to surround them. In order to vent their anger, the cavalry tied the men's arms with ropes and tied them to the tails of their horses. Dragging to death. Women were treated better. Regardless of age, they were shot to death by bows and arrows after experiencing happiness with the Mongolian warriors.
When they returned to the village to report, the centurion who led the team was whipped several times by the centurion because there was no one left alive. Fortunately, after experiencing the training of the Western Expedition, the Mongols had a good understanding of how to search. Even if no one gave them advice, they could Hidden cellars can be found through the echoes of horses trampling, and the grain hidden by the villagers and a little copper coins or cloth in jars can be found.
As the cavalry was marching, Tuo Lei saw some Mongolians walking back carrying some of the last belongings and food they had found, chatting and laughing.
Everyone's face is filled with relaxation, freedom and comfort, and there is no sense of fatigue after a long-distance attack. This is not only because of the Mongolians' naturally strong physique, but also from conquering countless countries in the Western Regions and constantly confirming their own strength. Strong and developed strong self-confidence.
They feel that there is no difference between the people who are killed and the animals. The lives of these people, the wealth accumulated by these people, or everything else, will eventually be enjoyed by the Mongols. And war is the process of taking these as a matter of course, and their own lives. Slaughtering cattle and sheep on the home grassland is no different.
This idea is absolutely correct. This is what a strong person should do, and this is the purpose of this trip.
"Fourth Prince, the Song Army is monitoring us ten miles south. Do you want to send some people to disperse them?"
"No need. They won't move. The most powerful man in the Song Dynasty has strictly ordered them not to conflict with us under any circumstances."
"But……"
"Don't worry, even if the soldiers kill people and slaughter villages, it will still be the same. The officials of the Song Dynasty are only concerned about their official positions and how the central government feels about them. They don't care about the things below."
Having said that, Tuo Lei sat on the edge of the bridge and waved to the cavalry, instructing them to cross the bridge quickly and not waste time for some trivial benefits.
This is Xiaoshangqiao.
Tolei had heard of this place.
Looking further back, this is the place where a brave general of the Song Dynasty fought a fierce battle with the Jurchens; and looking back closer, this is the main road that Zhao Fang, the general in charge of the area west of Beijing, passed through when he last sent his army to the Central Plains.
Four years later, another army crossed here and headed north rapidly, but it was not the Song army that always shrank in fear, but the Mongolian army that had driven thousands of miles and had a high fighting spirit.
The weather is very cold, it is said that it is colder than in previous years. There are traces of snow on the roads in front and behind Xiaoshang Bridge, and the river is also frozen, which is enough for horses with heavy loads. In the eyes of the Song Dynasty, this was probably very harsh.
The weather has changed, but for Mongolians, this weather is no different from what they experience in daily life, and can even be called comfortable.
In such an environment, everyone was full of energy and felt full of strength. As they marched, they couldn't help but draw their swords, wave them, and shout. They even galloped with great vigor on their horses.
An ordinary army will not easily allow the soldiers to disperse and plunder. Once the soldiers' pockets are filled with other people's property and their hands are stained with blood for the purpose of venting and torture, the army will not be able to assemble in a short period of time and wait for orders to go into battle.
Fighting.
But the Mongolian army is different from ordinary armies. The Mongols come from barren grasslands. No one has a real industry, and no one knows how to manage and accumulate. Therefore, their thirst for plunder and capture is much stronger than anyone else.
The only support for the huge Mongolian army is conquest and plunder. Like a wolf that can never fill its hungry stomach, it can never stop killing.
When Tuo Lei participated in the Western Expedition, he once felt that this was not good.
He and the Khitans, Jurchens and Han people under him all felt that they should find ways to establish a perfect system in the newly conquered land, and then build a society that could continuously generate wealth and keep everyone in their place.
country.
But this idea was only half implemented before it came to nothing.
Genghis Khan did not want Tuo Lei to over-expand his power, nor did he allow Tuo Lei to seriously establish a national system and waste the murderousness and violence of the Mongols on the operation of the system. Tuo Lei, on the other hand, returned to the East for two years.
After figuring out more reasons, he found that it was too difficult to build a perfect country.
In terms of improving the system, no country in the world can compare with the Song Dynasty. But the Song Dynasty definitely had problems, and it was already terminally ill.
Tuo Lei successively went deep into the Song Dynasty under false identities. He worked as a guard, a merchant, and a local official. From this, he came into contact with all aspects of the Song Dynasty. In his opinion, no matter taxation, household registration, officials and officials
The Song Dynasty had proper systems for local management, military training and utilization, but everything was a mess.
If you go to the upper level, it will be even more ridiculous.
The officials only focus on quarreling and biting, the emperor hides in the palace and pretends to be deaf and mute, and the prime minister can go crazy for his own status at any cost.
What is the difference between this kind of country and Khwarazm, which was crushed to pieces by the Mongols?
The great enemy of the Mongols is in the Central Plains, and they have no time to pay attention to it at the moment. After the Zhou Kingdom is destroyed one day, it only takes a light kick to crush the empty frame of the Song people and make them all kneel down and become slaves.
If the system that Tuo Lei perfected in the Western Regions ended up making the Mongols become as weak-tempered as the Song people, it would really be over.
Therefore, when Tuo Lei was in the Song Kingdom, he paid more attention to the Great Zhou Dynasty that was entrenched in the Central Plains. Of course, the Great Zhou Dynasty was much stronger than the Song Kingdom.
One thing about the Great Zhou is similar to that of the Mongol Uluth. That is, the Great Zhou is also a country founded by the army, with the army as its core. The army of the Great Zhou is well-trained, and the warriors of the Great Zhou are well treated and full of pride.
, they are terrible enemies of the Mongols.
But Dazhou also has weaknesses that Dazhou cannot get around.
Although their army is powerful, it is rooted in the land and cannot exist without the land and people of the Great Zhou Dynasty. In order to maintain this army, the Emperor Guo Ning of the Great Zhou Dynasty spends huge amounts of wealth every year; in order to absorb wealth,
They must promote the development of trade, which will lead to the prosperity of all industries.
Although he has not personally stepped into the territory of the Great Zhou for a long time, Tuo Lei learned information from the merchants and constantly sketched the current appearance of the Great Zhou.
Tuo Lei has always been concerned about how those roads, warehouses, workshops, forecourts, inns, racecourses, yards, wharves, shipyards, etc. are built, distributed, and operated. So he also understood that the composition of these things
The foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty was destroyed. Once they were destroyed on a large scale, it would be fatal to the Great Zhou Dynasty.
This situation is completely different from the last time the Mongolian army invaded the Central Plains.
The last time the Central Plains was under the rule of the Jurchens, the Jurchens tied the peasants to their fields with harsh regimes and severe punishments. The Jurchen nobles had nothing to do and only had to lie on the peasants to suck blood. This led to the people becoming increasingly depressed and miserable.
And the Jurchen nobles were getting richer and richer. The wanton destruction of the Mongolian army at that time was like cutting weeds for Guo Ning's warrior group; no matter how many people the Mongolian army killed and destroyed many cities and villages, it only caused great harm to the country.
Zhou Teng had room for maneuver.
This time there are no weeds to block the knife.
The Great Zhou Dynasty has built too many things in the yard, and all of these are weaknesses when the Mongolian army is trying to protect its belly. Their tortoise shells on the northern border are as hard as they are, and the flesh and blood under their rule are as soft as the tortoise shells on the northern border.
How plump and delicious.
With so many targets, the Mongolian army can easily destroy them. Then it will destroy the people's livelihood of the Zhou Dynasty, destroy their trade with the Song Dynasty, destroy their possibility of providing supplies to the army, and destroy their large and delicate transportation routes. Together,
It can destroy the family fortunes accumulated by many Zhou soldiers, causing all the Zhou generals and ordinary soldiers to lose their money and return them to poverty.
When the main force of the Zhou army returned to the Central Plains in a hurry and saw the Central Plains destroyed into ruins, would they feel weak?
Can they still fight? I am afraid that the most powerful enemy will become the weakest enemy in an instant. By then, maybe the Tolei Division will be able to win a great victory without the help of Genghis Khan's main force!
"In front of us is our old rival, Guo Zhongyuan, who stayed in Nanjing during the Great Zhou Dynasty. Because his deputy Yin Chang disobeyed orders at the beginning of the year, many officers were implicated and were dismissed. After experiencing the turmoil, his command was ineffective.
Inevitable. At this time, the garrison in each city is fighting on its own. Guo Zhongyuan can freely mobilize the troops of his headquarters to fight with us in the field, up to two or three thousand. If such a small number of people dare to show their faces, they will die! I will personally lead people to deal with him! "
"As you command!"
"As for you, you are not allowed to stay after you break into the territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty. According to the previous instructions, the ministries dispersed and killed and looted within a limit of three hundred miles. The army is not allowed to gather in one place, and there is no need to capture any cities. I only want you to completely defeat them.
Sweep everything outside the city, kill people, and set fires, like a sandstorm covering the grassland, like wolves swarming over the herd! This is a task ordered by the Great Khan himself. Anyone who disobeys the order will be executed immediately!"
"Fourth Prince, please rest assured!"
Seeing that the whole operation went so smoothly, Tuo Lei became more and more majestic, and the captains respected Tuo Lei more and more.