1235, the second year of Duanping in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Although there was more Zhao Tai, the world continued to move forward with extremely strong historical inertia. After the Mongol Empire destroyed the Jin Kingdom, it officially launched a large-scale attack on the Southern Song Dynasty.

At this moment, the historical trend of Chinese civilization has reached a critical node.

In December, the main force of the Mongolian army gathered in Luoyang suddenly attacked eastward and besieged Kaifeng. When the news came out, the whole world was shocked.

The Mongolian army defeated the Song army outside Kaifeng and surrounded less than 30,000 Huai troops in Kaifeng city.

The city wall of Kaifeng is very tall. After Quanzi took office here, he expected that such a day would come, so he ordered the soldiers and civilians to strengthen the city defense.

Wokuotai was on guard after seeing Quanzi, and was not in a hurry to attack the city. Instead, he surrounded Kaifeng and waited for the Shandong Mongolian army to move south.

Of course, more than 100,000 Mongolian troops gathered under the city, and they could not wait. In order to reduce the logistical pressure and prepare for a long-term siege of Kaifeng, Wokuotai sent Mongolian cavalry south to clear grass valleys, which became a regular project of the Mongolian army.

For a time, the Mongolian cavalry was divided into several teams of hundreds and thousands of people, and went out to plunder the camp.

Due to the long-term war around Kaifeng, there were no human settlements within hundreds of miles. The direction of the Mongolian army's looting was naturally towards the southern states and counties that had not been damaged by the war.

Sizhou, located in the north of the Huaihe River, was originally the territory of Zhao Tai, but Zhao Tai gave it to the Southern Song Dynasty two years ago in exchange for the Southern Song Dynasty sending troops to the Central Plains.

After the Mongolian army provoked the war, a team of ten thousand people marched down the Yellow River and quickly captured Guide and Suzhou. When the news reached Sizhou, the people immediately rushed to flee.

Lu Cunhou is the proprietor of a wine shop in the city. He runs an inn and a restaurant. He lives a relatively prosperous life and is a wealthy family in Sizhou City.

When Zhao Tai dedicated the two prefectures of Su and Si to the Southern Song Dynasty and led his troops to move to Shandong, many people followed Zhao Tai to Shandong, but Lu Cunhou chose to stay.

Because the Jin Kingdom had just fallen and Zhao Tai was weak at that time, staying in the city as a citizen of the Southern Song Dynasty would undoubtedly have a better future than following Zhao Tai to Shandong.

In fact, compared to the people who followed Zhao Tai to Shandong to spread panic, Lu Cunhou had a pretty good life in the past two years. But what Lu Cunhou didn't expect was that he had not lived a stable life in Sizhou for two years before the Mongols came.

Already.

These days, rumors are spreading in the city. Some people who escaped from Suzhou claimed that after the Mongols captured Suzhou, they massacred all the people in the city.

This made Lu Cunhou fearful. After all, his life was more important than his family's wealth, so he decided to flee with his family.

The Lu family has been here for many years. There is not much else but a large number of people, including sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and granddaughters, totaling nearly twenty people.

With so many people fleeing to the south, it will definitely cost a lot in the future.

Lu Cunhou wanted to sell his restaurant at a low price, but everyone in the city was running away. Even if it was sold with broken bones, no one would take notice.

Seeing that the Mongolian army slaughtered Suzhou and was about to kill Sizhou, Lu Cunhou could only pack the valuable things at home and lead his family southward.

The group of people left the city and came to the edge of the Huaihe River. Looking around, they saw a bustling crowd of people crossing the river on the ice.

The Lu family and the others were walking among the huge crowd, and the people around them were walking slowly, supporting the elderly and the young.

Among the crowd, those who were in good condition were driving mule carts, but most of them were on foot, carrying luggage and children, and leading sheep and cattle. The beginning and end of the team could not be seen at a glance.

Lu Cunhou hugged his grandson and looked at this scene. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart. His grandson, whose face was red from the cold, cried and crawled into his arms, "Grandpa, I'm cold. Where are we going? I want to go home."

!”

Liu Cunhou hugged his grandson tightly and said, "Be good, grandson! Let's go to our new home!"

"Why are we going to our new home?" The grandson stared with bright eyes.

"Because the Mongols came and the army couldn't defeat them, we had to leave, otherwise it would be terrible if we were caught by the Mongols!" Lu Cunhou explained in a very calm tone.

"Grandpa, why can't the official army defeat the Mongolian army?" the little grandson asked curiously.

Lu Cunhou's son, who was standing by, saw him breaking the casserole and asking for a hundred thousand reasons. He took his son from Lu Conghou's arms and said, "Xiufu, don't ask so many questions. You will know later!"

When the Mongolian army besieging Kaifeng sent troops south to attack the grass valley, the Mongolian army trapped in Pizhou also divided into two groups. One group was led by Kublai Khan, who continued to besiege Pizhou, and the other group was led by Wu Liang Hetai, who continued to move south.

At this time, in the military tent, Kublai Khan stood with his hands behind his back, with a map behind him.

Wu Lianghetai and Yang You walked in, bid farewell to Kublai Khan, and saluted: "Your Majesty!"

"Are you all ready?" Kublai Khan asked casually.

Wu Lianghe nodded: "Report to the prince, we are ready and can set off at any time!"

Kublai Khan looked at the two men and said, "Pizhou has not been captured yet, and I can only give you 50,000 troops. Can you capture Huainan?"

Wu Lianghetai smiled and said: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, although there are many Song troops in Huainan, they are not elites! Back then, I followed the old prince through the Song Dynasty to attack the Jin Dynasty. I once defeated nearly ten thousand Song troops with a thousand cavalry. Please.

Your Majesty, don’t worry!”

Kublai Khan nodded and walked to the map, "To capture Huainan, the key is to capture Chuzhou. This is the key point between the north and the south and the gateway to the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers. If we capture Chuzhou, we can control the canal, Yellow River and Huaihe River waterways at the same time. By then, even the Huaihe River

After thawing, we can also gain a foothold in Huainan!"

Wu Lianghetai and Yang You immediately accepted the order, "Yes!"

There are always some well-informed people in Chuzhou City. Not long after the Zhiji Department got the news, many well-connected dignitaries and wealthy households in the city got the news about Mongolia going south.

Fear and despair spread everywhere, and a large number of gentlemen who had not left immediately became anxious and gathered at the Xuanfu Si Yamen, asking the Xuanfu Si to order the city to be opened and allow them to escape from the city.

Zhou Simao did not expect that the Mongols would really launch an attack. He heard the loud noise from the crowd outside the Yamen and was temporarily confused.

He had good ideas when he came to take office, but he had no countermeasures when the problem came. He could only sneak out of the Yamen quietly and go to find Zhao Fan, hoping that Zhao Fan would have countermeasures.

After all, Zhao Fan was the envoy of the Huaihe system and the first person responsible. When Mongolia went south and the people were in chaos, Zhao Fan had to take responsibility.

Zhou Simao came to the Zhizhi Envoy Office, but found that Zhao Fan was no longer at the Yamen, but had gone to the Xicheng Gate.

At this time, at the west city gate, the people who wanted to leave the city had blocked the city gate. At the same time, people outside the city who wanted to enter the city to cause trouble also gathered in large numbers.

Mongolia took the initiative to attack, and the hope for peace was shattered. The officials and people who had had any illusions became anxious.

Many wealthy households in the city, as well as officials, were loading their belongings into trucks to be transported to the south.

Looking at the situation, everyone was worried that if the Mongols attacked and they didn't run away, the tragedy of massacre would happen to them again.
Chapter completed!