Deep in the rolling Yimeng Mountains, there is a huge mountain village hidden in the shadow.

As early as when the Zhongyi Army moved from Henan to Shandong, military advisor Wang Bin expected that after the Mongolian army destroyed the Jin Dynasty, the strength of the Zhongyi Army would not be able to defend the city of Shandong.

At that time, Zhao Tai proposed a strategy of building more fortresses, building more sea-going ships, and stocking grain on the islands to prepare for Mongolia.

In the past two years, although Zhao Tai has controlled many states and counties, he has not dared to invest or develop because of the threat from Mongolia.

Because the investment in land reclamation and construction was huge, and it was not possible to recoup the cost in one or two years, he invested money, but before he could get it back, once the Mongolian army came and destroyed everything, his investment would be in vain, and the people would be massacred.

Therefore, Zhao Tai obviously controls Huaibei and a large area of ​​plains in southern Shandong, but rarely cultivates it intensively. Instead, he orders the soldiers and civilians to build a large number of guard posts and villages around Yimeng Mountain, and to reclaim land and grow food in the hills and mountains with relatively harsh farming environment.

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In addition, handicraft workshops were established in Haizhou, near the sea, to develop commerce and overseas trade.

The village in front of us is surrounded by a wooden fence. There are watchtowers on the left and right in front of the village gate. A red dragon flag is placed in front of the main hall in the village, with the four characters "loyalty and justice to serve the country" written on it.

This stronghold is one of the strongholds built by the Zhongyi Army in the depths of Yimeng Mountain in the past two years. It can accommodate 5,000 people.

There are many such cottages in the Yimeng Mountain area, mainly distributed in the four prefectures of Yan, Teng, Yi and Ju. Dazhai can accommodate thousands of people, while small villages can only accommodate a hundred people.

These mountain strongholds are located in dangerous locations. It is not easy for the Mongols to find and attack them. They have to pay a lot of money. They are relatively safe.

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However, with security, there will be weaknesses in other aspects, that is, most of these cottages are not self-sufficient and need to reserve food in advance.

The living conditions in mountainous areas are far different from those in the plains. The land here is barren, irrigation has not changed, and large-scale agricultural production cannot be carried out.

When Mongolia did not move south, Zhao Tai sent a batch of grain into the mountains. Now Kublai Khan led the army and stationed it in Shandong, making Shandong soldiers and civilians afraid to go out to farm. In order to avoid sitting in the mountains and eating nothing, Zhao Tai led the soldiers and civilians in the valley.

Inside, it is difficult to survive by opening up land, digging wild vegetables, and peeling bark from trees.

At this time, on the trail leading to the village, Zhou Quan led a group of ragged and thin people, stooped at the waist, carrying bags of grain, and staggered to the gate of the village.

Behind him, there was an official wearing the official uniform of the Southern Song Dynasty and several guards. In February, the cold wind blew in the mountains, and everyone was sweating profusely from the climb.

The sentry on the gate beside the village gate saw a group of people and recognized that it was Zhou Quan leading the team. Knowing that it was a grain transport team coming, he immediately cheered, "Zhou Tongpan is back."

At this shout, the busy soldiers and civilians in the village stood up, stopped what they were doing, and gathered around the gate of the village.

With five thousand people in the stronghold, the daily consumption is quite large. The food reserves are already running low. The food supply for the soldiers and civilians has dropped sharply. Naturally, I feel happy when I see the food transport team arriving.

At this time, Zhao Tai, who was wearing cloth clothes and wearing a Fan Yangmao, also came to the village gate and saw soldiers and civilians happily accepting the food.

Zhou Quan saw Zhao Tai coming over and saluted, "Your Majesty! The food has been shipped."

The Mongols did not have enough troops to besiege Yimeng Mountain. The soldiers and horses were mainly stationed in the city and could not control the surrounding areas, which gave the loyal army an opportunity to transport food.

At present, the food of the Zhongyi Army is mainly purchased from the Southern Song Dynasty.

Military strategist Wang Wentong designed a plan in which each county would relay the troops and transfer them from village to village.

Because of the presence of the Mongolian army, large-scale transshipment cannot be realized and will definitely be discovered by the Mongolian army. Moreover, long-distance transportation is also quite dangerous.

The grain transport ship of the Zhongyi Army docked in Haizhou, and then sent a small team to move the grain to Yizhou, and then transported it to the villages and garrison in Yizhou to Yan, Teng, Ju and other prefectures.

Zhao Tai nodded slightly. Seeing that his subordinates were happy, he waved and smiled and said, "Go ahead and let everyone eat two dry meals today."

Upon hearing the order, the soldiers and civilians in the village cheered and carried the grain to the warehouse.

At this time, the Song Dynasty official had been watching the situation in the stronghold, but Zhao Tai came over laughing and said, "Brother Jia, why are you here?"

The visitor was Jia Sidao, an acquaintance of Zhao Tai, who was still a passionate young man at this time.

Jia Sidao bowed to Zhao Tai, looked away from the soldiers and civilians in the village, and said with emotion: "Brother Zhao, I didn't expect that the Zhongyi Army was in such a difficult situation, but the soldiers still maintained such high fighting spirit and enthusiasm."

Jia Sidao arrived in Haizhou by sea ship, and then, under the protection of the Zhongyi Army, traveled all the way through the prefectures and counties to the mountain village where Zhao Tai was located.

Along the way, Jia Sidao saw that wherever the Mongolian army passed, cities were turned into ruins, villages were burned down, fields were overgrown with weeds, and skeletons were left everywhere. It was a miserable scene.

He did not expect that the soldiers and civilians of Shandong were killed to this extent by the Mongolian army. The soldiers and civilians would rather hide in the mountains, dig wild vegetables, peel off tree bark, and survive like savages than surrender to the Mongols.

Zhao Taidao: "Fighting the barbarians and protecting our homeland will naturally boost the morale of the army and the people."

Jia Sidao came with a mission. After listening to Zhao Tai's words, he felt that the mission of this trip was well established, so he said: "Brother Zhao is truly an unparalleled scholar in the country."

Zhao Tai knew Jia Sidao's intention and waved his hand, "I don't dare to take it seriously. Brother Jia is coming from afar. Please come inside."

When a group of people entered the festival hall, Zhao Tai sat at the main seat, accompanied by Wang Bin and other civil and military officials.

Zhao Tai waited for Jia Sidao to sit down, exchanged a few words, asked about business in Lin'an, and then said with a smile: "Brother Jia has come all the way here to discuss business and opera with me, right?"

After Jia Sidao arrived in Lin'an, he quickly got Zhao Yun's attention due to his relationship with Concubine Jia.

Now he is already Taichang Cheng, but he has been rising steadily.

This time when Mongolia attacked the Southern Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty had always been lucky and did not want to go to war with Mongolia, which resulted in the front being tied.

The result was that if Mongolia really launched an attack, the Southern Song Dynasty immediately fell into passivity. Not only was the Huaihe River defense line broken through, but even the Jiang defense line was threatened.

After the Mongolian army entered the Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty court became anxious. While sending troops to resist the Mongols, they also thought of Zhao Tai in Shandong.

When Zhao Yun learned about the Mongolian invasion, he was extremely panicked. In order to contain Mongolia, Zheng Qingzhi once again proposed a strategy to appease Zhao Tai.

This time, the decision to appease Zhao Tai was passed very smoothly.

It turned out that the requirements set by the Song court were not mentioned at all. As long as Zhao Tai sent troops, Zhao Tai would be recruited as a Song minister.

After the resolution is passed, it is necessary to find someone to go to Shandong to recruit him.

When Jia Sidao got the news, he thought it was an opportunity to make a contribution, so he volunteered to come to Shandong to appease Zhao Tai.
Chapter completed!