Poor Family Chapter 961

  Chapter 961 The Battle to Destroy the Nation (15)

Everyone was thinking about it, Li Yanqing continued: "According to my understanding, in the past, Xixia recruited troops from various tribes and was not commanded by each tribe. There was no division of tribal armies at all, but all tribes were mixed together, and the generals of the imperial court directly commanded them. The Xixia court was extremely strong, but this time it was different. Each tribe actually formed its own army. In addition, Li Zhizong was inexperienced and lacked military power, which led to today's consequences. One Xixia army split into eight Xixia armies.

But the root cause is the decline of the Xixia court, and the ability of the court to control the tribes has been greatly reduced. Before we sent troops, the Xixia court was confronting the tribes over taxes. , but the tribes will never hand over military power to the imperial court because of this. On the contrary, they are more vigilant towards the imperial court. In a dynasty, there is mutual suspicion between the imperial court and the localities, and the top and bottom are not in harmony. When the enemy comes, how can this dynasty be undefeated? "

  Commander Du's analysis was very thorough, which made everyone suddenly realize that they were more confident in defeating the enemy and destroying Xixia this time.

  At this time, a soldier walked quickly to Li Yanqing's ear, whispered a few words, Li Yanqing's eyes lit up, "Where is he now?"

   "Just waiting for Dutong in the side tent!"

  Li Yanqing thought for a while, then winked at Liu Ziyu.

  Li Yanqing asked everyone to continue eating and drinking. He got up and walked out. Not long after, Liu Ziyu followed, "Dutong, what happened?"

   "A tribe in Mobei sent people to ask for help."

  Liu Ziyu understood immediately, and said pleasantly, "Dutong, this is an opportunity!"

   "Let's have a look first."

  The two came to the side tent, and one person came out of the tent. It was Zhang Jiu who was in charge of transporting goods and making money in Xixia.

  Li Yanqing knew him very well, so he asked, "Which tribe is it from?"

  Zhang Jiu was the person who brought the Mobei tribe to seek help this time. He hurriedly said, "It's the Shiwei and Naiman tribes!"

  Li Yanqing frowned, "Isn't Shiwei in the Liaodong area?"

"Reporting to the Economic and Strategic Envoy, the Shiwei Department is no longer in Liaodong. They were forced by the Khitan to move to the Mobei Grassland. This time they were attacked by the Jin soldiers again. The battle in Mobei was tight and they had lost several battles in a row. The Dadan tribe has been defeated, so they jointly asked the Naiman tribe of the Shiwei tribe to come forward and ask the Song Dynasty for help."

   "Let's talk about it after we meet!"

  Li Yanqing walked quickly to the big tent. There were two middle-aged men sitting in the big tent. They were all dressed in the same way, with black-shaven hair and pigtails. They had broad faces and slender eyes.

   "You two, this is envoy Li Jinglue!"

  The two looked at the case and were overjoyed in their hearts. Li Yanqing came to meet them in person, and they both bowed and saluted, "See Li Dutong!"

  Both of them spoke Chinese, which saved the trouble of defense, and they introduced themselves immediately. One was called Muluda and the other was called Hanbel, both of whom were important figures in their respective tribes. "

  Li Yanqing introduced Liu Ziyu to them again, and everyone sat down.

Muruda is the representative of the Naiman tribe and the brother of the current great chief Gule. He was the first to speak: "The Kingdom of Jin has aggressively attacked Mobei since last autumn, and has already wiped out half of the tribes on the grassland. There are killings everywhere. The entire grassland is bleeding, and we are trying our best to resist, but we always lose more than we win, so we have no choice but to ask Song for help."

  Li Yanqing nodded, "The purpose of the Jin soldiers is to conquer you, is it not even allowed to surrender?"

Muruda sighed, "The Dadan tribe is the best example. They surrendered to the Kingdom of Jin at the beginning, but the Kingdom of Jin approved their tax sheep to be 800,000 sheep per year, which is half of the new lambs added each year. Dadan The tribe felt that the tax was too high, and rose up against them again. As a result, they lost five battles in a row. All the chiefs of the tribes were killed. The women of the chiefs were sent to reward the soldiers, and the tribesmen gave other surrendered tribes as slaves as a reward for surrender. , Jin's methods are brutal, if you surrender to him, you will first collect extremely high taxes, make your children and grandchildren their slaves, and if you resist them, you will exterminate the whole family, which is much more vicious than the Khitan people.”

Hanbel from the Shiwei department next to him added: "The strategy of the Jin people is obvious. They mainly destroy the big tribes and dismember them, and then there are only countless small tribes left on the grassland. They are powerless to resist them and can only let them go." They were enslaved by them, so after destroying the Dadan tribe, he basically did not accept the surrender of the big tribes, and if they surrendered, they would have to dismember them, and then use high pressure and high taxes to control them."

Li Yanqing probably also understood, he pondered for a while and said: "I am willing to help you fight against the Jin soldiers in principle, but how to help you needs to be discussed in detail. I need to make it clear that if it is necessary to tear up the armistice agreement between Song and Jin , this is not something I can decide, you need to go to Lin'an to discuss with the imperial court."

Muluda quickly shook his head, "Our failure is mainly due to the backwardness of our weapons and equipment. The armor can't stop the arrows, and our arrows can't penetrate the opponent's leather armor. We are very short of pig iron. We even use wooden spears and nooses. fight against each other."

Seeing that Li Yanqing was a little confused, Zhang Jiu explained: "All the tribes in the grassland were ruled by the Khitans before, and the Khitans took great precautions against them. It was strictly forbidden for pig iron to flow into the grasslands, and they were not allowed to make armor. Only earth-made bows and arrows were allowed to prevent wolves, so the grasslands The equipment of each department has always been very backward.”

   "Do you want me to help you soldiers?"

  Muluda and Hanbel looked at each other, and said in unison: "That's right!"

Li Yanqing took a few steps with his hands behind his back. He captured a large number of soldiers from the Xixia people. It is not impossible to support the ethnic groups in the grassland to fight against gold, but there is a problem of speed, and he must take precautions. For example, the subordinates of Shiwei A branch tribe, called the Mengwu tribe, later became the famous Golden Family tribe. There are many aspects involved in this, mainly balance and control, such as giving fish instead of fish, cold weapons but not firearms, and they can't give away for nothing. Something has to be given and so on.

  Of course, supporting them is a must. Using their strength to weaken the power of the Jin Kingdom is an excellent way. The more Jurchens die, the easier it will be for the Song Army to counterattack the Jin Kingdom in the future.

   It's better to let them kill each other, hard to stop.

After pondering for a long time, Li Yanqing smiled and said: "We are all bullied by the Kingdom of Jin. Of course, we must help each other and resist the oppression of the Kingdom of Jin. I can support you with 10,000 sets of armor, 10,000 sets of swords, bows and arrows, and spears for free. If you have more needs, then exchange them with cattle, sheep or leather herbs, and the specific price should be a fair price that both of us can accept, what do you think?"

Muluda nodded, and they didn't think about taking the military supplies of the Song Army for nothing. Muluda said: "There is no need for Li Jinglue to give it for free, we will exchange it with cattle and sheep, but we want 100,000 sets of armor. A set of armor includes armor, bows and arrows, knives and spears. According to the price on the grassland, a set of armor includes fifty big sheep or ten bulls. Can Li Jinglue accept this price?"

At present, the price of a big sheep in the Song Dynasty is about ten guan, fifty sheep is five hundred guan, and the cost price of a set of leather armor in the Song Dynasty is about 300 guan. If it's a little worse, it's about two hundred and fifty guan, which is not bad.

  Li Yanqing glanced at Zhang Jiu again, and Zhang Jiu nodded lightly. This is indeed a fair price on the grassland, so Li Yanqing smiled and said, "Just this price! We've made a deal, so how do we deliver the goods?"

  Muruda and Hanbier were overjoyed, and they hurriedly said: "Li Jinglue can use a raft to transport the armor to Hetao in the north. We made an appointment to deliver it in Haicheng in Hetao one month later."

   "This month, can you withstand the attack of Jin Bing?"

   "We have already retreated westward to the Jinshan area. The Jin soldiers are currently attacking the Hanlang Department in Beihai. It will take at least two or three months. There should be enough time."

  Li Yanqing also estimated that he could destroy Xixia within a month, so he nodded happily, "That's it!"

  The two grassland envoys refused to stay and rest. They left in a hurry. Li Yanqing asked Zhang Jiu again, "Apart from the Shiwei and Naiman tribes in the Mobei grassland, which other tribes are fighting against the Jin soldiers?"

Zhang Jiu bowed and said: "These two people actually came here on behalf of the four major tribes, including the Shiwei tribe, the Naiman tribe, the Meiliji tribe, and the Jujiasi tribe. Otherwise they will buy more armor."

   "What if they surrender to the Kingdom of Jin?" Li Yanqing asked again.

Zhang Jiu said with a smile: "They have been enslaved by the Khitan for more than a hundred years, and they are no longer willing to be enslaved. If they surrender to the Kingdom of Jin, it is because they cannot bear the loss. The nine tribes of Dadan were slaughtered by the Jin soldiers, which angered them Even the fact that the century-old enemies of the Naiman tribe and the Hagas tribe can join hands shows their determination to fight against gold."

  Li Yanqing nodded, turned to Liu Ziyu and said, "I will hand over the delivery of the soldiers and cattle and sheep in one month's time to you!"

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end