At the end of July in the fourth year of Duanping, one month after Zhao Tai issued the proclamation, the Qi army mobilized troops, dispatched generals, transported grain, grass and equipment, and completed the deployment of troops and horses.

Zhao Tai was not joking. He personally led the nine armies of Wuwei, Huben, Feijie, Wuyi, Ninghai, Xiaosheng, Huqi, Xiaoqi, and Guiyi, and combined them with 60,000 soldiers from Dongping, Bozhou, Jinan, and Dezhou.

, a total of 150,000 horse and infantry troops marched into Hebei.

This move instantly shocked the world.

The failure of Mongolia's southern invasion affected Mongolia's prestige in the Han region and caused many princes to begin to waver.

When the Qi army entered Hebei, they made a big announcement that Linyi King Zhao Tai would lead the tiger and wolf divisions to drive out the Tartars and recover the two rivers.

The Qi army numbered 150,000, falsely claiming to be 300,000. Their military power was so great that even the Mongols, not to mention the princes of Hebei, were frightened.

As soon as the Qi army entered Hebei, Shi, Zhang, Yan, Liu and many other Han armies fled upon hearing the news. The people of Hebei, as if the rain had come after a long drought, started eating pots of pulp to welcome the king's army.

Zhao Tai attacked Hebei several times before, which made the princes of Hebei unable to develop and weakened the strength of the princes of Hebei in order to reduce their threat to Shandong.

The last time Mongolia went south, some princes suffered fatal blows, causing them to completely lose the capital to confront Zhao Tai.

In the past two years, Zhao Tai has resumed production and trained troops in Shandong, and the princes of Hebei have also been idle. However, in order to restore their troops in a short period of time, they can only scrape the land and recruit young men.

Although they joined forces with Mongolia to exploit Hebei, when Zhao Tai entered Hebei, there were still only 50,000 Mongolian and Han troops.

Facing Zhao Tai's army, Subotai, Shi Tianze and others could only abandon most of the states and counties, guard a few key cities, and then send fast horses to request reinforcements.

At the end of July, the Qi army entered Hebei in three groups with great momentum.

Along the way, Wuxian defeated Puzhou, Kaizhou and Huazhou, recruited Weizhou and Junzhou to surrender, entered Xiangzhou and swept north of the Yellow River.

Li Fen went all the way to defeat Cangzhou, Jingzhou, and Xianzhou, and surrounded Hejian.

Zhao Tai personally commanded the Chinese army, defeated the famous enemy, Enzhou, Jizhou, and surrounded Zhaozhou. Suddenly, there was a big earthquake in the two rivers.

Zhaozhou is located to the south of Zhending and west of Jingxing, guarding the road from Zhaotai to Hedong.

If Zhaozhou is captured by the Qi army, the Qi army can advance westward into Hedong, or control Jingxing and prevent Mongolian reinforcements from entering Hebei from Hedong.

At the top of the Zhaozhou city, Subotai, dressed in Mongolian armor, was standing on top of the city, looking at the military camp outside the city with a frown.

"Damn it, Zhao Thief's men came so fast!" Subotai held one hand on the wall and said with a depressed face: "This guy had a conflict with the Southern Song Dynasty, and I didn't mess with him, but he actually came to beat me!

"

In June, Subotai received news that the Qi army was stationing troops on the border. By the end of July, half of Hebei was under the control of the Qi army.

Zhao Tai's progress was so rapid. First, the people in Hebei had suffered from Mongolia for a long time. Second, in order not to put pressure on Zhao Tai and the Southern Song Dynasty, Wokuotai deliberately did not station heavy troops in Hebei and Henan.

This made Zhao Tai's advance very smooth, and in less than a month, he reached the gates of Zhaozhou City.

The Hebei plain is as vast as the plains. Mongolia's idea of ​​controlling Hebei is not to guard the cities, but to control the passage from the grassland into Hebei.

For the Mongolian cavalry, as long as the access to the Hebei Plain can be controlled by the Mongols, there is no fear of rebellion in Hebei or being captured by the enemy.

Because as long as the Mongolian cavalry enters the Hebei Plain, no matter how bad the situation was before, it will get better.

Zhaozhou is one of the important strongholds guarding the passage. It has a circumference of fifteen miles, a city wall three feet high, and a moat fifty steps wide. It was a stronghold in Hebei during the Tang, Song, and Jin Dynasties.

Subotai garrisoned Zhaozhou. In the city, there were enough grain and money collected by the Mongols from various counties in Hebei Province to support the garrison for a year.

The city was fortified, and the food was sufficient. There were more than 20,000 defenders in the city, but Subotai looked at the Qi army outside the city, but he was still terrified in his heart.

When Zhao Tai's army entered Hebei, he announced that Hebei would be exempted from taxes for three years to win over people's hearts. When the troops arrived in Zhaozhou, they immediately issued a letter inviting them to surrender, promising to surrender and avoid death, and then used siege equipment to attack the city.

Because Mongolia did not expect that Zhao Tai would tear up the peace agreement and launch an attack. At this time, Mongolia had few soldiers and horses south of the Great Wall. Zhaozhou could not receive reinforcements for a short time. Subotai could only prepare as many wooden and stone rolls as possible, and arrange bows and arrows. Build artillery carriages to deal with the Qi army's attacks.

That night, the sky was covered with dark clouds, the stars and moon were obscured, and darkness shrouded the earth.

At the top of the Zhaozhou city, soldiers carrying torches patrolled back and forth, watching vigilantly what was going on in the Qi army camp outside the city.

At midnight, a large group of black shadows suddenly appeared from the Qi army camp. Countless soldiers carried bags of earth. Under the cover of night, they came a hundred steps away from the city wall and piled bags and carts of soil under the city wall.

Although the operation was at night, with nearly ten thousand people piled earth together, the movement was still too loud, and it quickly attracted the attention of the defenders in the city.

Subotai was patrolling the city, and a member of the household hurried over and said, "Report to the marshal, the Qi thieves are piling earth outside the city, as if they want to build an earth platform."

Subotai was taken aback and shouted hurriedly: "Quick, bring the archers over!"

The Mongolian archers hurried up to the city and fired rockets outside the city. The arrows lit up the sky like meteors and fire showers, allowing the defenders at the top of the city to see clearly what was happening outside the city. The Qi army had built a mountain of dirt ten feet high.

Shi Tianze hurried over, took a look at the situation outside the city, and said sadly: "Marshal, it seems that Zhao Tai wants to build a high platform, and then attack the city from a high position."

Subotai was not good at defending the city, so he could only ask Shi Tianze for his opinion, "Shi Wanhu, how long do you think we can defend the city?"

Shi Tianze thought of the Battle of Zhengzhou and had no confidence at all, "It depends on when the Great Khan's reinforcements will enter Hebei."

On the grassland, 40,000 Mongolian cavalry were stationed in the wilderness at the foot of Yin Mountain.

The Mongolian army's white-clad military tents stand one after another as far as the eye can see. The cavalry shuttles through the camps and the horses gallop on the grassland. They seem to have regained their former vigor.

After learning that there was a rift between Zhao Tai and the Southern Song Dynasty, and there might be internal strife, Wo Kuotai mobilized tens of thousands of cavalry to graze at the foot of Yin Mountain in order to reap the benefits when Zhao Tai and the Southern Song Dynasty fought.

Although the Mongolian cavalry is now ready and only needs an order from Wo Kuotai to march south again, Wo Kuotai is very calm. He is not in a hurry to enter the Han Dynasty, but is waiting for Zhao Tai and the Southern Song Dynasty News of the war.

Starting from February, Wokuotai waited until June, but Zhao Tai and the Southern Song Dynasty still did not fight.

It can be said that Wokuotai was eager to see through the grassland, but there was no news of internal strife in the Southern Song Dynasty.

On this day, Wokuotai led a group of Mongolian nobles to hunt on the grassland. A group of cavalry galloped up to them. They bowed and saluted on their horses for the first thousand households, saying, "To the Great Khan, there is an urgent message from Subotai!"

Wo Kuotai was overjoyed and thought that an opportunity had come. He quickly said: "Bring the letter."
Chapter completed!