The Western Expedition Army fought with great success, but the "trap" he carefully laid was in danger of failing, which surprised and anxious. He couldn't understand why this was the case. The combat plan formulated this time was said to be without any mistakes, and it can be said that all kinds of situations were taken into account. However, after the Song army launched the deployment, the Mongolian and Yuan army became hesitant, just like fish in the river, and tried every means to avoid entering the net.

Now that the Song army has been launched, Zhao Bing understands that the longer the mobilization of nearly 100,000 troops will be delayed, the greater the danger will be exposed. Once their attempts are seen through by the enemy, the entire combat plan will fail; on the other hand, with the arrival of winter, the survival conditions of the soldiers stationed in the field of the camp will become worse, and as the wait time is longer, morale will decline and their thoughts will become slack.

"Officials, don't worry. Maybe the Mongols refused to go out if they think it's cold!" Wang De has been with the young emperor for more than ten years and knows that he has always been very active in eating. If he can't eat anymore, he is either sick or worried. Now that his Majesty hasn't eaten a Hu cake for half a day, this is extremely abnormal, so he comforted him.

"Hey, after following me for so many years, why don't you even know some military knowledge? How could Mongolians be afraid of the cold in the north?" Zhao Bing said angrily after hearing this.

"Hehe, the Mongols have occupied the Central Plains for decades, and maybe they are not resistant to the severe cold. Although the winter in Jiangnan is not as good as Jiangbei and Central Plains, I heard from the old people in the palace that the wet and coldness in Jiangnan is even more unbearable than that in the north." Wang De said with a smile.

"Haha, what you said is not unreasonable, but I think they hope it will be colder. You ordered someone to issue an edict to the heads of the Ministry of War and the Privy Council to go to the palace to discuss matters. What they said is much more reliable than you!" Zhao Bing smiled and said, in his previous life, the jokes of men from Northeast China crying in Jiangnan and going home to spend the winter. But he knew that even though the Mongolians had been settled in the Central Plains for more than 40 years, they would not have transformed to such an unbearable state. There must be another reason.

In fact, everyone knows that weather has a great impact on war. The same is true for severe cold wars. For example, the famous Battle of Sanfeng Mountain in Jinmeng, which caused serious non-combat reductions in the Jin army due to the sudden cold weather. In addition, there was also the Battle of Snake Water in the Tang Dynasty in Goguryeo, where the Tang army had a knee-breaking cold.

So what about the weather? A typical case of war that heat affects wars occurred when the Northern Song Dynasty attacked Vietnam. It is reported that in this war, the Northern Song army made a smooth progress at the beginning, successfully recovered the lost territory and defeated the Vietnamese army. However, as they penetrated into the enemy territory, facing the humid and hot weather in Vietnam, the Song army officers and soldiers from Shanxi, Hebei seemed unacceptable. More than half of the soldiers were killed by 300,000 civilians. As a result, the Song army had to withdraw their troops because they had lost too many non-combat troops.

As for the northern ethnic minority troops living in cold and cold areas, such as the Khitan troops, their reaction to high temperatures was even more obvious. In the late Liao Dynasty, the Emperor Yelu Hongji of Daozong had the habit of avoiding the summer heat and discussing politics in the "Xia Nabo". In mid-April, the Buji area was a place to enjoy the cool air. At the end of May and early June, they lived in fifty years. They discussed state affairs with ministers from the north and south, and hunted on their spare time." It can be seen that in the Liao Dynasty, people living in the northeast also chose places to escape the summer heat. After occupying the Central Plains, the Mongols also inherited this tradition and generally went to Shangdu to escape the summer heat every summer.

In terms of sending troops, the "History of Liao" also clearly records: "The attacks on the south are mostly in Yuanyangpo, thousands of miles north of Youzhou... If advance in September and retreat in December, the order of action is like this. If spring (sending troops) are in the first month and autumn (sending troops) are in the September, the general will not be destined to be the chief minister." From the perspective of time, the nine months of the lunar calendar is often equivalent to the current tenth month of the Gregorian calendar. At this time, the autumn is already in autumn, which is the cool and dry time. December is the coldest season. For North China, it is the coldest time of the year, and it is thankless to stay. Therefore, the Khitans will get used to advancing in September and withdrawing in December.

In addition, for the nomadic army, sending troops in June and July is not only high temperatures, but also faces heavy rain. Once it encounters heavy rain, many weapons, especially bows and arrows, will not be used. In addition, heavy rain is often accompanied by various infectious diseases. In the later period of Kaixi Northern Expedition, when the Song army besieged Suzhou, the heavy rain caused water to accumulate in the military camp, and the internal chaos was chaotic, and it was eventually defeated by the Jin army.

In addition to the Khitan army, the Jurchen army sometimes became uncomfortable in the face of damp heat in the southern region. When Jianyan of the Southern Song Dynasty crossed the south, there was a dispute between Lin'an and Jiankang when choosing the ruling center. In the end, the Lin'an faction had the upper hand, considering the difficulty of the Jurchen army to endure the high temperature in summer. In addition, since ancient times, guarding the rivers must have been guarding the Huai River, but with the dry and cold climate, the freezing and dry water periods of the Huai River began to advance.

As Jurchens who lived in the cold areas of Baishan and Black Water prefer to send troops when the weather was cool. In the third year of Jianyan, the Jurchens sent troops in the first month of the year, and finally went south to Yangzhou, which scared Song Gaozong to cross the river. After the Jin people did not catch Song Gaozong, they plundered and massacred, making a prosperous Yangzhou "only thousands of scholars and people survived." In March, after the Jurchen army plundered, they began to withdraw their troops back to Huaibei. When the Southern Song Dynasty and the Jin and Mongols and Yuan regimes confronted each other in Huainan, the rainy season in Huainan would not only cause trouble for the Jurchens, but also for the Southern Song army.

Anyway, in general, cold weather and hot weather will have a great impact on the marching and combat of ancient troops, but if the preparations are sufficient, the cold will be easy to overcome. For example, in the Battle of Sanfeng Mountain, the Mongolian army prepared a large amount of supplies to deal with the cold weather, thus defeating the Jin army. However, the hot weather is difficult to deal with. For example, in the later battle of Kublai Khan's defeat of the Song Dynasty, the Yuan army was in a hot weather and stalemate with the Song army when Xiangyang had already surrendered in March, and it was not until 1980s and 1900s that great progress was made. Therefore, Zhao Bing still felt that this should be the best time for the Mongolian Yuan to move troops, and there may be another reason for his remand...

Due to the inherent shortcomings of Zhiyuan Hall, there is not much room for renovation, and Zhao Bing regards this as the main office and residence. Not only does he handle official duties here, he also becomes a place where concubines often go in and out. This will be inconvenient for foreign ministers to meet. It is still possible to be in Lengquan Hall in summer, but not in winter. So Zhao Bing asked someone to build a new two-story warmhouse on the east side of Zhiyuan Hall as an office space. The two places are connected by corridors, making it very convenient to travel.

"Your Majesty, I think the Yuan Dynasty has been reluctant to cross the river, so I must have discovered something, so I have given up my attempt to use troops in Jiangnan!" After the ministers who came to the imperial edict sat down, Chen Renweng answered the questions raised by His Majesty directly.

"Shangshu Chen thought the fighter had been lost, so there was no need to prepare for the war?" Zhao Bing frowned and said. Although he understood that although his words were obscure, it meant that his strategic intentions had been exposed, so there was no need to waste any more troops and financial resources.

"I was ordered to leave the Beijing Army to pacify the army a few days ago and inspected the front lines. I found that the living environment of the officers and soldiers preparing for ambush in Kunshan was very harsh. They went out to camp and stationed in the wilderness. In order not to expose their targets, they could only scatter in the wilderness. The troops near the front lines were even more difficult. They could not cook in order to hide, nor did they dare to raise fires to keep warm. They could only endure hunger and freeze, and their physical strength was consumed. In addition, the people who moved in the interior also complained. They left home for a long time and were homesick, and some even returned home secretly. Now the weather is getting colder, and the wind and snow are sleeping in the wild, and the wounds are increasing day by day. I think it is unnecessary to continue to waste. It is better to order the army to return to the camp." Chen Renweng said sincerely.

"Your Majesty, I think what Chen Shangshu said is very much." At this time, Lu Shiwen, the doctor of the Ministry of War's Naval Army, answered, "I was ordered to go to the First Naval Army to inspect. They are now away from the river mouth and standby on time. They have been wandering on the sea for more than two months and have not been able to rest by the port, and it is very difficult to replenish supplies. As the monsoon is approaching, the storms are becoming more and more frequent, and the fleet stays at the sea for a long time, and the risks are increasing."

"The opinion of your Ministry of War is to give up this battle?" Zhao Bing looked at the generals of the Ministry of War and asked. Seeing that they all nodded and said yes, he turned his face and asked Han Zhen, "Does the Privy Council also agree with the Ministry of War's opinion!"

"Your Majesty, I have objections to the Ministry of War giving up this battle!" Han Zhen said clearly.

"Oh, please tell me!" Zhao Bing's expression was not fluctuating at all. He knew that he had to listen to opinions from all parties, but could not express his attitude, which would affect other people's ideas.

"Your Majesty, I think that our troops have made sufficient preparations for war at the moment and have not exposed our strategic intentions. Although the Mongolian Yuan did not launch large-scale combat operations, small-scale conflicts often occur, especially in recent times, more than ten battles have been dispatched, and most of them have occurred in the areas we have decided. Therefore, I judged that the enemy's attempt to invade Jiangnan was not dispelled. I was just waiting for the opportunity or plaguing other things, which led to them not taking large-scale actions." Han Zhenyan said.

"What do you think is causing the Mongolian Yuan side to delay the deployment of troops?" Zhao Bing continued to ask with a sip of tea.

"I may consider two reasons: First, the Mongolian Yuan hopes to use troops when the severe cold comes, because the land and streams are frozen at that time, which will facilitate the cavalry to move quickly without considering the obstacles of the marching roads and rivers; second, there may be problems within the Mongolian Yuan, but due to intelligence limitations, I cannot find out for a while!" Han Zhen replied after pondering for a moment.

"You guessed that there was a turmoil within the Mongol Yuan. What should you do with your guess? Even if you say it boldly, it doesn't matter if you are wrong!" Han Zhen's words flashed in Zhao Bing's mind. He knew that the coldest winter in Jiangnan would not be like the north, as if the land was frozen three feet long. Although small streams would freeze, rivers with large amounts of water would still not freeze. Then the biggest possibility was civil strife.
Chapter completed!