The young man's identity is extraordinary. He is Tuo Lei, the fourth prince of the Great Mongolia.
Tuo Lei led the cavalry a few miles out of the city, stopped at Hongtangpu and looked south.
The Minjiang River rushes southward, and the water potential changes erratically. The sediment settles and accumulates in the center of the river. Over the course of thousands of years, many sandbanks and shoals have been formed. The largest of them is called Nantai Island. The people of the state use Nantai Island as the base and connect it to the north and south.
A row of boats is a beam, and a river of sand is a harbor.
At this time, crossing in front of the cavalry were the north and south bridges of Nangang. The north bridge used sixteen boats and erected pontoons of 500 feet, while the south bridge used 102 boats and erected pontoons of 2,500 feet.
Downstream of the North and South Bridges, there is the towering Jinshan Temple Tower, and below the tower is the very busy and prosperous dock area.
Tuo Lei has been to the dock area many times. He remembers that outside the dock, there is a big cross written on the screen, which is called: "The solitary tower marks the scenic spot, and hundreds of ships gather in Yaojin."
In the past three years, he has worked hard on Han knowledge. Now he can not only speak and write, but can also barely taste the meaning of poetry. He is very different from ordinary Mongolian nobles, so he can remember it firmly.
He remembered more. In the past two or three months, he had accompanied the local Ya people in Fuzhou to discuss business; he had boarded a ship with officials from the Quanzhou Shipping Department and the Taxation Department to check taxes together; and he had also
Accompanying the leader of the strong men who are responsible for transporting goods at the port, he calculates how many people can be supported by next year's income.
Pushing the time forward, in the past six months, he traveled south along the Yangtze River and absorbed the customs and customs of the Southern Dynasties; pushing forward two months, he also spent a lot of money to labor in Xingyuan Prefecture, and then explored
The topography along the Han River.
After constantly summarizing what he saw and heard along the way, Tuo Lei felt that he already understood the Song Dynasty very well.
"Five years ago, when my father Khan began to attack the Kingdom of Jin, I followed my army southward and saw that the land of the Han people was full of fertile farmland and there were countless cities. I knew one thing at that time: the Jurchens of the Kingdom of Jin considered themselves kings of heaven.
People despise the heroes on the grassland because they occupy the land of the Han people and have infinite wealth for their use; even if the Jurchens themselves are weak, they can still support the grand scene."
"At that time, I felt that there were only cattle, sheep and furs on the grassland, but the Jin Kingdom had food, silk and endless slaves. It was the richest country in the world. If we could hold it in our hands and use the force of the Mongols and the Han people
No one in the world can compete with his wealth. As a result..."
Tuo Lei looked around at the people around him and laughed: "In the past two years, we have traveled tens of thousands of miles and destroyed or subdued dozens of tribes or countries. But it was not until we came to the Song Dynasty that we realized that we could not see anything within tens of thousands of miles.
In this way, the Song Dynasty is the place where the world’s wealth gathers, and it is the land of gold that has everything!”
The companions around him nodded repeatedly.
In the traditional thinking of the Mongols, the only way to obtain wealth is to plunder. They gallop across the endless wilderness with horses and swords, killing all men, plundering all women, burning all artificially built things, and turning the land into rich
Pasture, letting countless cattle, sheep and horses gallop on the pasture... is a natural way to get rich.
However, with the establishment of the Great Mongolia and the expansion of its territory, insightful people gradually emerged among the Mongolians, and their horizons were constantly broadened.
They are no longer Mongolians who only know how to herd cattle, but warriors who accompanied Genghis Khan in his expeditions east and west, destroying the country along the way. In terms of broad knowledge, they, especially a large number of people close to the fourth prince Tolei, are far more powerful than those on the grassland. All ancestors.
They were humiliated because they were defeated by Ding Haijun. They knew very well that the eastern grasslands were under direct threat from Ding Haijun. The situation may happen again.
Therefore, during the Western Expedition, the Mongols not only stopped at plundering wealth, they also tried their best to expand the strength of the Mongolian army, striving to establish a reliable base that could continuously provide soldiers, food, and weapons.
In this process, tow mines played a huge role.
After he was captured by Guo Ning, his reputation suffered a heavy blow. For a time, he could hardly retain the favor of Genghis Khan. He was also despised by the nobles in the Mongolian army who relied on their bravery, especially his brothers Chagatai and Ogedai, who were vaguely mocking him.
But later, even Genghis Khan himself and the Qie Xue army that suppressed the entire Mongolian plateau were defeated. In order to downplay this defeat, it became necessary to improve the strength of Guo Ning and Ding Haijun, and the failure of Tu Lei was not so It's shameful. Some people even think that if he can escape from Guo Ning's hands unscathed, at least he is smart and energetic.
When the Mongolian army took the initiative to launch a western expedition in order to avoid Ding Haijun's attack, the situation changed again.
The nobles, scholars and warriors in the far west don't care about Tuolei's previous failure at all. They only know that the Mongols are the most terrifying conquerors in history and ruthless killers. But in the face of tens of thousands of Among the Mongols, only Tuo Lei and his men were the outliers.
This smart and capable fourth prince never pretended to be a conqueror. He was willing to stoop down, get close to those who were forced to surrender, ask about their needs for surrender, and rescue their relatives who were treated as slaves; Among Lei's subordinates, there are also many gentle and talented people who are willing to restore order as soon as possible after every war and serve as Daruhuachi with heavy tasks.
Therefore, Tuo Lei is supported by many people. The more people are willing to follow him and help him, the more Tuo Lei learns from the people around him.
He was able to realize that the systems of various countries were different, was curious about the reasons for the prosperity or poverty of various countries, and gradually delved into the basis of a country's foothold in the world, and then became an increasingly important assistant to his father.
It's a pity that the result is not so good.
Tuo Lei's performance made many Mongolian nobles uncomfortable, and regarded it as surrendering to the loser and losing the face of the Golden Family; the ruling strategy he advocated made many people who were accustomed to direct slaughter and looting feel impatient. I think it's unnecessary.
As Tuo Lei's influence expands, so do the number of people who are dissatisfied with Tuo Lei.
At the beginning of last year, after two years of hard fighting, the Mongols conquered Yulong Chijie and Samarkand, and brought Xiliao, Khwarazm, Khorasan and other places under their rule. Tuo Lei, as the fourth prince, But suddenly he got an order from Genghis Khan.
The content of the order was that he should take the lead in returning to the east and become a humble spy.
After receiving the order, Tolei's subordinates were furious, thinking that there was a traitor around the Great Khan. His important ally, the Prince Consort Chiju, was currently on the south bank of the Amu Darya River, working with Prince Khwarezm and the brave general Zalandin.
The troops fought fiercely; after hearing the news, the red horse prince-in-law rushed back at night and asked Tuo Lei to obey his father Khan's order, but he might as well wait until the Khulil Tai convening to share his difficulties in front of many Mongolian nobles.
But Tuo Lei flatly rejected Chiju Prince Consort's suggestion. He immediately responded to Genghis Khan's order, abandoned his own soldiers, horses and people, and meandered eastward with only a few trusted subordinates.
A whole year has passed from then to now.
Genghis Khan sent tow mines to turn back. First of all, he was worried that the Xia Kingdom would unite with surrounding tribes and take advantage of the absence of the main Mongolian force to penetrate deeper into the grasslands.
After Tuo Lei arrived at Huolan Bashi, he ran into a messenger coming from the grassland. The messenger reported that the Xia State had mobilized the Shenyong Army Division in the left compartment, and the main forces of Shun Army Division, Zhuoluo and Nan Army Division in the right compartment.
He sent his troops eastward to compete for the territory that originally belonged to Dajin. However, the Dajin Kingdom had actually perished, and what followed was the Great Zhou Dynasty established by Guo Ning!
Tuo Lei was horrified and immediately sent a messenger to report to his father Khan. He himself changed his original plan and rushed to Xixia territory disguised as a merchant, trying to enter Guanlong from Xixia to find out the details of the so-called Great Zhou Dynasty.
But after he arrived at Xingqing Mansion in Xixia, he realized how chaotic the situation in Guanlong was.
Those who continue to advance there are not only the soldiers of Xia State's general Asha, but also the troops of General Li Ting under the command of Emperor Guo Ning of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the Fengzhou and Tianshui garrisons of the Song State. The three countries are either fighting or fighting.
They fought and negotiated at the same time, and their soldiers and generals also got into a group in various places in Qinlong, confronting each other and entangled endlessly.
Tuo Lei had no way to cross the battle line, so he had to resort to the next best thing. He knew that the Southern Song Dynasty was a big country that had been at odds with the Jin Kingdom for hundreds of years, and was also the old master of the Central Plains, so he felt that when his side was confronting the Great Zhou Dynasty, he might be able to
Invite the Song Dynasty to help.
With this idea in mind, Tuo Lei bribed people from the Xia Kingdom, then changed his name and surname, traveled through the territories of the Tubo tribes, and entered the Song Kingdom. That happened in July last year. After that, he wandered around the Song Kingdom for a full half a year.
.
There have been no wasted flowers in the past six months. Tuo Lei and his companions thought that their horizons had been broadened enough, but they had to admit that the economic prosperity of the Song Dynasty exceeded the most exaggerated imagination before.
Not to mention anything else, he only talked about the mountains of porcelain, tea, spices, medicines, books and even weapons he saw in Fuzhou, all of which were sold by sea. The payment for one ship often amounted to tens of thousands of dollars.
What's even more frightening is the speed at which money is accumulated. A seagoing ship can bring two ships of goods in and out in half a year, and one ship of goods can earn half the price of the ship, while Ping An can go back and forth for the whole time.
The ship can make back its money, and after the second trip, it will be a complete huge profit!
Tuo Lei tried to calculate what he could get in exchange for the benefits of a voyage. The result was that even according to the highest standards, it would not take tens of thousands of weapons to arm hundreds of Mongolian warriors to the teeth.
One ship is like this, but what about ten ships? What about the ships in Fuzhou? I heard that there were sixteen military states along the coast of the Song Dynasty. How much could they earn from sea trade with so many military states?
How much revenue does the entire Song Dynasty make every year, and how powerful an army can it be armed with? No, the army does not even need to be strong, it just needs to maintain a sufficient scale, with millions of people fighting in battle, one person and one kick are enough
Trampled all the enemies into mud, right?
When Tuo Lei first thought about this problem, he felt dizzy.
Fortunately, he quickly thought that maybe Chang Shengtian couldn't stand the wealth and arrogance of the Song people. The officials of the Song Dynasty were incompetent, the military was weak, and the soldiers were loose, which was rarely seen in ordinary times. He went south all the way.
, occasionally met a few warriors in the army, and their conversations were full of resentment towards the court, which was beyond the group's previous imagination.
If the Kingdom of Jin was rich but weak, like a yellow sheep being raised on the grassland, then the Kingdom of Song was ten times richer and ten times weaker, so much so that the Mongolians, who were accustomed to comparing things common on the grassland, suddenly
There is no suitable domestic animal to compare with.
Thinking of this, Tuo Lei couldn't help but shake his head: "We marched thousands of miles westward and fought hundreds of battles before we gathered enough strength to look back east. But Guo Ning, the Ding navy, was so lucky... He
By sending a few ships to Fuzhou, you can earn huge amounts of wealth, and those assets will be turned into war horses and swords! It turns out that the Song Dynasty is a big fat pig next to him, and he can bite off large pieces of meat as soon as he stretches his neck.
!If he eats the entire Song Dynasty, what kind of strength can he get? How much strength can he gain?"
He looked at his companions and asked: "Can our gains from the Wanli expedition in the Western Regions be as good as the benefits Guo Ning gained from the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty?"
The companions were unable to answer for a moment.