choke element

Chapter 1005: Abdomen (Part )

Perhaps because he had learned too much truth in such a short time, Dong Juyi was somewhat lost and staggered. Fortunately, he was surrounded by a group of Mongolian guards, so he didn't have to worry about returning late or causing trouble for the Mongols.

Tuolei smiled as he accompanied Dong Juyi and walked him several hundred steps away to the other side of a ravine. He stared at the figures of Dong Juyi and others until they disappeared in the smoke and dust, then he turned his horse back.

The army was located between the Qinling Mountains and the Longshan Mountains, with the Weihe River and its tributaries cutting through the high slopes of the wasteland for millions of years, creating continuous trenches and valleys. This terrain was not suitable for the army to march, and it was impossible to open up the front to speed up.

Moreover, this place has been a border that has been repeatedly fought over by Jin, Song, and Xia over the years. The local military and civilians had long since scattered, and the roads had been abandoned for a long time. In order to avoid leaking the news and arousing the vigilance of the Zhou army stationed in Fengxiang, Jingzhao and other places, the army did not carry out any repairs before marching.

Fortunately, the Mongols were the best and most hardworking warriors in the world. Their army was like a herd of migrating cattle and sheep, and they would follow orders without hesitation as long as the herder whistled, without thinking too much or stopping.

Especially at this moment, when Genghis Khan rode his horse and stood under the umbrella, the prestige of the Khan was the best spur, prompting everyone to speed up the march regardless of all difficulties.

Tolui raised his head and looked at Genghis Khan.

Genghis Khan was taller than the average Mongolian. When he was young, he was even more sturdy and well-built, and he was handsome. That was why he was recognized by the Jurchen officials and received support in terms of fame and material resources.

He is a little old now. Tuolei clearly felt that Genghis Khan had aged significantly since the disastrous defeat in the Central Plains. His figure was a little hunched, his back was not as straight as before, and his hair and beard had become sparse.

But his spirit was not weakened at all. To outsiders, it seemed as if Genghis Khan's energy did not come from his body, but from the army, from the army's continuous slaughter and conquest. Tolui also felt the same way. At least after sweeping the Western Regions and Transoxiana and reorganizing the army of the Yekmongol Ulus, Genghis Khan's spirit and energy were recovering rapidly. He was happier than usual and was not as irritable and depressed as he was at the beginning of the Western Expedition.

After releasing his anger in the palace tent, Genghis Khan was in a better mood than Tolui had expected. He looked at the endless stream of cavalry, as well as the vehicles, camels, cattle and sheep that followed the army, with a look of satisfaction in his eyes.

This time, the army suddenly marched into the Xia Kingdom without any warning. Many thousand households initially thought that Genghis Khan intended to let the Kangli and Kipchak armies severely deplete the Zhou army and wait until the next spring when the snow on the grassland melted before the army could attack. Therefore, when the army was dispatched, most of the thousand households were unable to prepare enough supplies in advance.

When many cavalrymen set out, they only had time to grab one or two lambs and wrap them in their coats, and then ate them all on the way, preparing to fight the Xia people on an empty stomach.

But the soldiers were not hungry. After the army entered the territory of Xia, there was no fighting.

On the contrary, thanks to the help of King Xia, the army obtained a large amount of food and livestock support along the way. The armor and weapons requisitioned from the arsenals of various parts of the Xia State were also piled up like mountains, which were enough to arm an army of 100,000 to the teeth.

Genghis Khan knew that after his fourth son was sent back to the east, he had been operating in the territories of Xia and even Song under various pretexts. But he did not expect that Tolui's operation would be so effective.

This prompted Genghis Khan to immediately take over Tolui's previous arrangements. Genghis Khan felt that he should use the methods he was familiar with to eliminate the hidden dangers for Xia King Li Zunxu and fulfill his friend's promise.

At this time, in the garrison, the roars of the Dangxiang nobles had gradually become inaudible, and a faint smell of barbecue began to waft around.

When a group of Xia countrymen who followed the army approached the garrison, they slowed down their pace suddenly, perhaps because they heard or smelled something. Genghis Khan pointed his finger and the Qiexue cavalry came over immediately, led them to the side of the road, and began to line them up and behead them one by one.

The blood of the dead quickly seeped into the dry sand. Hounds in the cavalry ranks howled excitedly, wanting to pounce on the corpses and tear them apart. At the turn of autumn and winter, the last batch of blood-thirsty flies also buzzed and gathered.

In Tolui's opinion, although these servants were from the Tangut family, which was close to the former Xia King Li Anquan, they were probably too tired and wanted to rest, not to commemorate the dead. But Genghis Khan never thought too much about the losers, and killing these people was no more of a concern to him than crushing a few ants.

All the Mongolian nobles saw this and looked indifferent, with some even looking very excited.

In fact, this was a bit too much. From the Tiemen Pass to Gongzhou, it was only a few hundred miles, and no less than 3,000 Xia people who were demoted to military servants had died on the way. The old, weak, women and children who were found hiding along the way were also killed.

When Tuolei promised Li Zunxu that he would eliminate all enemies for him and protect his position as the king of Xia, he did not say that he would kill so cruelly. The current situation is simply going to wipe out the noble families that have existed in Xia for hundreds of years. In this way, how many people can Li Zunxu use in his court?
Hey, do I need to apologize to Li Zunxu?

Amid the laughter of the Mongolian swordsmen, some heads were chopped off and rolled past Tolui's feet. Tolui quickened his pace and walked away from these servants.

These Dangxiang people were quite calm. No one begged for mercy and no one cried.

Perhaps they were frightened by the massacres during the Mongol invasion a few years ago, and knew that begging for mercy was useless, and would only arouse the Mongols' brutality and torture them more before death. It is also possible that the Tangut kings had been killed in coups for several generations, and they had become numb to fighting each other, knowing that the losers would die sooner or later, and the sooner they died, the easier it would be.

Many Dangxiang people believe in Buddhism. In the view of Buddhists, life is so painful that when the sword falls and the blood surges, it may be a liberation.

Tuolei saw a boy of about fifteen or sixteen being kicked down not far in front of him. The boy was very tall, with very broad shoulders and strong bones, and was obviously a warrior. Unfortunately, he was skinny and his body and face were covered with scars. Blood flowed as he moved, and there was no intact skin.

With such injuries, unless a good doctor treats them in time, the wound will break out sooner or later and they will die. Even if they don't die immediately, they will suffer from great pain all the time.

So the boy did not resist at all, but just looked up at the sky, muttering to himself. The sky was dark, and when his sight passed by Tolui, it was also dark.

A shirtless Qiexue stood behind the boy, holding a knife and gesticulating twice, trying to find the right place to strike. Tuolei could hardly hold back and wanted to speak up to save the life of the Tangut boy.

This was not out of pity. To the Mongols, massacre was not a sin, but an inevitable part of the conquest process. Whether in the Central Plains or in the distant Western Regions, they killed millions of people without any psychological pressure, irrigating the land with blood and flesh. Tolui himself once ordered the massacre of the population of several cities, and even watched the enemies die in different ways for entertainment.

But after all, people have more than just the two options of life and death. They can also be divided into useful or useless.

Tuo Lei had been constantly gathering useful talents around him in the Central Plains and the Western Regions. The Tangut boy in front of him might also be useful. He might have resentment towards the Mongols now, but as long as he followed the Mongols to fight a few battles and kill some people, he would naturally integrate into the Mongolian circle over time and become a bloodthirsty warrior.

Not only this young man, if handled properly, the Xia Kingdom's Bubazi, Tieyaozi and other soldiers can also be used as fierce dogs of the Mongols.

Tolui was very confident about this because at this time in the eastern part of the grassland, the armies of the Cumans, Kangli people or other Western ethnic groups who were about to fight with the Zhou army were full of such people.

But Tolui also knew that he would not ask to spare the boy's life.

During the Western Expedition, Tolui was not the one who fought the hardest and made the most contributions, but he was the one who gained the most power by governing the local area and winning the hearts of the people. Genghis Khan was not happy about this, so he split up Tolui's trusted subordinates and threw him back to the grassland from the Western Regions, asking him to lead the army back.

Now that the Wufu plan has been launched, the father Khan will not allow the army's retreat to be controlled by Tolui, so he will kill as many Tanguts as possible. This method can not only weaken the Xia Kingdom completely, but also make Li Zunxu, who obeys Tolui, become a dictator hated by all his people, and suppress Tolui's influence again.

In the past, Genghis Khan relied on his relatives to suppress the thousand households of various Mongolian tribes, and relied on his sons to suppress his relatives. After his sons' power expanded rapidly, he began to suppress his own sons.

This has nothing to do with trust or distrust, favor or disfavor, but is the instinct of a conqueror and ruler. Tuo Lei put himself in his brother's shoes and felt that there was nothing wrong with it, just as he felt that there was nothing wrong with his brother Jochi having his own army early on.

Besides... Tolui slightly raised his head and glanced at Genghis Khan under the umbrella. Although Genghis Khan's physical condition was not as good as before, during the Western Expedition, Jochi even thought that Genghis Khan was unfair and mentally confused, but as long as Genghis Khan was there, everyone had to prostrate themselves under his authority.

It was Genghis Khan who created the Golden Family, the Yekh Mongol Ulus, and even the Mongols themselves. No one dared to question the Khan's orders, and no one could afford to question the Khan's orders.

So Tolui continued to move forward, only glancing at the flash of the knife and watching the Dangxiang young man's head suddenly blown up by the gushing blood.

A moment later, Tolui rode his horse to Genghis Khan's umbrella.

"Great Khan, Xia King Li Zunxu has been properly settled, and the representative of the Song State's Sichuan Governor has also been successfully sent away."

Genghis Khan nodded.

"The Tanguts have always been on good terms with the Kerait tribe. The concubine of the deceased king, Li Anquan, was the niece of Toli Khan of the Kerait tribe... I don't think they can be trusted! So, except for a few close confidants around Li Zunxu, I ordered people to bring all the generals and nobles of the Xia Kingdom into the army and kill them all. In Zhongxing Prefecture, Tuohuchar will lead three thousand-man teams to station there and will also cleanse them up."

Genghis Khan said casually, and then asked: "But I don't understand why Li Zunxu listened to you and agreed to bring in the Mongolian army?"

Tuolei answered without hesitation: "Because Li Zunxu really needs us."

"You mean, you want us to purge his political enemies?"

"Father Khan, that was just a matter of convenience. The Tangut kings have been in power through dog-eat-dog warfare for generations, and it is not worth our attention. What Li Zunxu expects is that we open up the trade routes to the Western Regions and restore trade on the grasslands."

At this point, Tolui paused, and seeing that Genghis Khan did not show any impatience, he continued: "The land of Xia is barren and covered with deserts, but it has hundreds of thousands of officials and soldiers, relying on the support of Uighur merchants for hundreds of years. Generally speaking, the trade route opened up by Uighur merchants goes from the Western Regions to Shazhou and Guazhou of Xia, and then through Gansu and Liang and other places, it is divided into two branches. One branch goes to Xingqing Prefecture and Xiazhou to deal with the Jurchens; the other branch crosses the Tibetan tribes and deals with the Southern Song Dynasty people... I heard that when this road was at its peak, there were tens of thousands of merchants traveling back and forth, and the goods sold often had a tenfold price difference."

Genghis Khan seemed to be thinking about something.

Tuolei continued, "The huge profits gained from this trade route are an indispensable source of income to support the existence of the Xia Kingdom. However, because our army has been fighting in the Western Regions in the past few years, this trade route has actually been interrupted. As a result, no matter how hard Li Zunxu tries, the court and army of the Xia Kingdom cannot be maintained. Without our army's attack, they will only have one ending, which is poverty and division. Therefore, when I promised to reopen the trade route and guarantee that Li Zunxu would get a share of it, Li Zunxu immediately turned to us."

In fact, it is not that easy to interact with the Xia Kingdom.

No matter how often the Xia Kingdom was in turmoil, it was still a big country, and each of its twelve military divisions had tens of thousands of soldiers. When the Mongols attacked its strong city walls, they suffered heavy losses and many people died. Earlier, Tolui had only brought a few of his men to sneak into the Xia Kingdom, and it took him a lot of effort to hook up with Li Zunxu, and he almost died several times. However, the agreement he reached with Li Zunxu was not that simple, and there were several other promises made in private.

But Tolui did not intend to say more. Firstly, Genghis Khan would not be interested in listening to those trivialities, and secondly, this was also a protection for Li Zunxu.

Sure enough, Genghis Khan diverted his attention.

He then asked: "What about the Song people? I heard that the Song people are more greedy than the Tanguts. So, the king or high officials of the Song people also want to resume trade. Have they reached an agreement with you?"

Tolui immediately shook his head.

His dealings with the King of Xia were enough to make Genghis Khan wary, yet the Xia Kingdom had only two million soldiers and civilians.

The Southern Song Dynasty had a vast territory, hundreds of millions of inhabitants, and was even richer than a hundred Xia Kingdoms put together. If the Southern Song Dynasty was also in Tuolei's hands, then Tuolei would probably be transferred to some neglected direction. Before that, Tuolei's reunited subordinates might face another split.

It wasn't a good feeling.