When the Qi army attacked Hebei, although Wokuotai did not want to fight Zhao Tai, in order to protect the Hebei Plain, a grain-producing area, he still led 40,000 Mongolian cavalry southward.

Wokuotai's army first arrived at Datong, then went south into Hedong. When they reached Taiyuan, they received news of Subotai's rescue and learned that Zhao Tai had arrived in Zhaozhou.

Wokuotai immediately mobilized 40,000 Han troops from Hedong and 40,000 Mongolian cavalry. A total of 80,000 troops came out of Jingxing and stationed troops in Zhending, watching Zhao Tai attack Zhaozhou in the distance.

In the Mongolian army camp, Wokuotai looked at Subutai's letter asking for help with a gloomy face. All the Mongolian nobles under his tent were filled with indignation.

For so many years, only Mongolia has beaten people, and no one dared to provoke Mongolia.

Those countries that provoked Mongolia, like Khwarezm, have been crushed by Mongolia.

This Zhao Tai did not learn his lesson and actually took the initiative to attack Mongolia, which made many Mongolian nobles extremely angry. At the same time, they had to admit that Zhao Tai was very brave.

However, Mongolian warriors are never afraid of challenges. If Zhao Tai dares to provoke, he must be prepared to be slaughtered by them.

"Great Khan! The Zhao thief has gone too far! Let me lead the troops to rescue Zhaozhou!"

"Great Khan! Hebei is a vast plain. Our cavalry can press forward and crush the Qi thieves directly!"

But Wokuotai said with a stern face, "Didn't you see that Zhao Tai only surrounded but did not fight? He wants to lure me to go over for a decisive battle. How can I let him get what he wants!"

Wokuotai was not afraid of Zhao Tai, nor was he timid, but he just didn't want to fight Zhao Tai head-on and consume Mongolian troops.

If Kublai Khan hadn't ruined tens of thousands of Mongolian warriors, Ogedai would have definitely rushed forward and beat Zhao Tai to death.

Now Ogedai only has so few cavalry. If he loses tens of thousands more, how can the Mongolian Empire deter other countries?

Now that the Song army has not participated in the war, Mongolia will fight Zhao Tai to the death. Even if he can win, the Mongolian army will suffer heavy losses, which will only allow the Southern Song Dynasty to reap the benefits.

Wo Kuotai will never do this kind of thing that harms oneself and benefits others.

Wokuotai glanced at everyone, "I have sent Yang Weizhong to envoy the Song Dynasty and ordered the Song army to attack Shandong. Once the Song army launches an attack, Zhao Tai will have no choice but to return to rescue. At that time, I will take the opportunity to cover up the killing. Wouldn't it be beautiful? You wait.

We all have to wait patiently and don’t go into battle easily!”

When many Mongolian nobles heard this, they could only not mention the decisive battle. They were determined to station troops and did not talk about going south for the decisive battle.

…

Early August, Zhaozhou.

After Zhao Tai led his troops to the city, he fired a letter to invite surrender. When he received no response, he immediately ordered the Qi army to build several earth fortresses outside the city at night, which were higher than the Zhaozhou city wall.

Zhao Tai arranged crossbow beds on the earthen fortress and placed artillery carts behind the earthen fortress, so that the Zhaozhou defenders could not show their heads and completely suppressed the defenders in the city.

In recent years, the Mongolian army has only focused on attacking and lacked experience in defending the city, so it was completely suppressed by the Qi army. However, Zhao Tai seemed to be in no hurry to break the city and did not let the Qi army launch a strong attack.

While Zhao Tai was besieging Zhaozhou without attacking, the other two Qi armies were attacking the city and plundering the territory with overwhelming force.

At the end of July, the Qi army on the west route defeated Xiangzhou again. Wuxian immediately left his Huben army to garrison the state to monitor the Mongolian army in Henan. He then led his army northward and joined forces with Zhao Tai in Zhaozhou on the eighth day of August.

The other Qi army, led by Li Fen, surrounded Hejian and attacked. After taking Hejian, they would also move closer to Zhao Tai.

In the Qi army's camp, Zhao Tai met Wuxian and said with a smile: "Brother, you advance quickly!"

Wu Xian was dressed in Zhengchen, with a serious face, "This battle is about life and death, how dare I not sacrifice my life!"

If the Qi army cannot break the situation this time, it is very likely that under the alliance of the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia, it will suffer a devastating blow. The generals of the Qi army know how powerful they are, and many of them are more anxious than Zhao Tai.

Now that the Southern Song Dynasty has abolished the title of Zhao Tai, they are regarded as rebels by the Southern Song Dynasty. Since they are rebels, there is no way to retreat, and everyone can only fight desperately.

Wu Xian asked: "Your Majesty, Zhaozhou is trapped, how will Mongolia react?"

Zhao Tai walked to the map, pointed at it and said: "Wo Kuotai led a small hundred thousand troops and has reached Zhending. However, as we expected, Wo Kuotai stood still and obviously did not dare to fight us head-on!"

Wu Xian frowned, "What should we do? We can't keep fighting Mongolia like this!"

The Southern Song Dynasty cut off trade with Shandong. The Qi army had limited war preparations and supplies, and the money and food could not support a long-term war.

The Southern Song Dynasty blocked the Huaihe River and stationed troops on the south bank instead of marching into Shandong. The Mongols continued to delay the decisive battle. If the Qi army stayed for one more day, their money and food would be reduced. If they continued to delay, sooner or later they would run out of money and food.

Zhao Taidao: "Since you have led your troops here, we will capture Zhaozhou and then push towards Zhending. If Wokuotai accepts the challenge, then we will give him a small shock so that he will not dare to look south. If

He refused to fight and continued to retreat to avoid a decisive battle. We could also create enough space to the north, station a small number of troops in the cities of Hebei, and then move the army south to appease the enemy."

At that time, the Liao Kingdom was the most powerful country in East Asia, suppressing the Central Plains for decades. Zhou Shizong wanted to unify the world, but was worried about the interference of the Liao Kingdom, so during the military confrontation with Hou Shu, he patrolled Cangzhou in the north, and then suddenly made a northern expedition to the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun.

, whipped several people in Daliao with a slap on their ears.

This battle caught the Liao Kingdom off guard, tested the Liao Kingdom's attitude towards Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and also made the Liao Kingdom realize the power of the Later Zhou Dynasty.

】

After that, the Liao State did not dare to intervene rashly in the war in the Central Plains, which can be said to have laid the foundation for Zhao Kuangyin to wipe out the southern separatist forces.

Now Zhao Tai's situation is much worse than that of later weeks. Mongolia is like a hungry wolf, ready to bite him at any time.

If Zhao Tai did not create some psychological shadow on Mongolia, Zhao Tai would not have the conditions for a decisive battle with the Southern Song Dynasty.

In Zhao Tai's heart, he still remembers the history of Nanming.

If the Mongol threat is ignored and internal strife occurs with the Southern Song Dynasty, the history of the Southern Ming Dynasty may occur in advance.

Wu Xian immediately clasped his fists and saluted: "Your Majesty, our troops are willing to be the vanguard and capture Zhaozhou."

Zhao Tai patted Wuxian on the shoulder, "You have swept through several states in southern Hebei. Now take a rest and watch me capture Zhaozhou!"

If the troops stationed at Wokuotai are really unable to advance, then it would be meaningless for Zhao Tai to surround Zhaozhou.

Now it seems that the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia are both in trouble, Zhao Tai cannot afford to delay, and must fight as soon as possible to break the situation.

Wuxian came to join them. The Qi army outside Zhaozhou City had 50,000 soldiers, and there were 30,000 Xiangyong soldiers. Their strength was about the same as the Zhending Mongolian army, and they could directly approach Zhending.

At that moment, Zhao Tai summoned the generals and went out of the camp to peek at the city defense.

Zhao Taiyu's subordinates directly climbed onto the earth platform and stood behind the bunker overlooking Zhaozhou City.

Under continuous bombardment by the Qi army, the city wall of Zhaozhou was riddled with holes, and the artillery batteries of the defenders in the city had also been destroyed by the thunderbolts thrown by the Qi army's artillery batteries.

Many of Zhaozhou's city walls are now in ruins. Facing the condescending Qi army, the defenders inside the city dare not stand on the wall. They can only build an inner city behind the city wall by using the houses in the city and setting up obstacles on the streets.

Zhao Tai looked down at Zhaozhou and had a clear view of the situation in the city. He found that Zhaozhou had been chewed up by artillery groups and crossbow beds, waiting for the infantry to swallow it.

Zhao Tai said nothing and waved his hand, "Li Xizhu, I give you one day to capture Zhaozhou!"
Chapter completed!