choke element

Chapter 1006 Punishment (Part )

Tuolei laughed and said, "Father Khan, you don't know how ridiculous those Song people are."

"Tell me, I'm listening."

"In fact, the first person who came up with the idea of ​​​​belly-opening was not me, nor my friends around me, but the people of Song."

The so-called "Ofu" means avoiding the enemy's front and using long-distance and deep detours to directly attack the enemy's weak areas. Over the years, as the scale of wars launched by the Mongols has become larger and larger, the scope of the use of the "Ofu" tactic has gradually shifted from battles to campaigns, and it is not uncommon for the detours to be as long as a thousand miles.

The reason why the tactic of "Wufu" became popular is that it fits the customs and habits of the Mongolians. Every Mongolian who was born in the grasslands has faced the endless wilderness and just wanted to run as fast as he could. The Mongolians' judgment of distance and space is naturally different from that of any other nation.

At least, it’s different from the people of the Song Dynasty who crawled on the soil to farm, right?

Genghis Khan was in high spirits. He was twisting the whip with one hand, and because of his great strength, he could wrap the flexible and elastic octagonal whip around his palm several times like a pair of pliers. At this moment, he suddenly opened his hand, and the whole whip made a snapping sound, twisting and loosening like a python.

"The Song people thought of this first? Did the Song people also understand this?"

"It's not that the Song people understand our Mongolian tactics, but there are a group of people in the Song who hate the Zhou Kingdom so much that they can no longer tolerate it. However, these people are timid and powerless, so they can only pin their hopes of destroying the Zhou Kingdom on us who have come from afar."

"...I heard that the Zhou Kingdom was developing maritime trade and was fighting fiercely with the Song people. Soldiers from the Zhou Kingdom could even sail south to the southern sea border of the Song Kingdom to kill people and establish their authority. This shows that the relationship between the two countries is very close. By the way, Tolui, this is what you told me. You also said that you saw it with your own eyes!"

Having said this, Genghis Khan raised his voice slightly, which made people feel extremely frightened.

Tuolei bowed his head quickly and said, "Father Khan, there are all kinds of people in Song with all kinds of intentions. Their situation is very similar to the chaos in Khwarezm and other countries. In fact, it is precisely because of the prosperity of maritime trade between Zhou and Song that a large number of people who hate Zhou have emerged."

"Keep talking."

"Song State has a vast territory and rich people. It is a rare great country in the world. But since its founding, it has always had a problem: it has no horses."

Genghis Khan laughed and said, "How can we fight without horses?"

"What my father said is true. It was because of the lack of horses that the Song Dynasty often suffered losses in foreign wars. Fortunately, the country had a lot of products, so hundreds of years ago, an official position was set up in Sichuan called 'Du Da Ti Zhu Cha Ma Shi' to exchange tea and other commodities, which were special products of the Southern Dynasty, for horses from the Tubo tribes and the Xia Kingdom. Sichuan produces 30 million kilograms of tea every year, and much of it is used to exchange for horses. The taxes collected by the Song people from tea gardens are as high as more than 2.5 million strings of cash every year, and most of them are used to exchange for horses."

Genghis Khan didn't know about money and didn't care to know about it. But he had conquered countless countries in the Western Regions and had seen a lot of money and wealth. Also, because he had recently employed many Hui people as Bijachi, he couldn't help but hear them talk about it. Because the coins minted by the Song people were circulated in the Western Regions, Genghis Khan was also familiar with them.

But Tolui asked for tens of millions of tea and millions of coins. The numbers were so huge that Genghis Khan felt dizzy. After a long while, he suppressed the greed in his heart and asked in a deep voice, "Wait, how much tea? How much tax?"

"30 million catties of tea and 2.5 million strings of cash in taxes."

Genghis Khan stared and asked: "How many horses can the Song people exchange for so much tea and money? Where can the Tibetans and Xia people get so many horses to exchange with them?"

"Father Khan, the Tea and Horse Bureau of Song and the profiteers attached to it only exchange 5,000 war horses every year. The price they reported to the court of Song for a horse was sometimes 200 strings of cash, sometimes 300 strings of cash, and sometimes as high as 500 strings of cash. In any case, this group of people can consume all the tea tax of Song. Anyway, what they have to pay to the court every year is only 5,000 horses."

"Only five thousand?"

Genghis Khan almost wanted to laugh.

You should know that in the Mongolian army, an ordinary knight usually brought four to five horses with him, which were used for daily riding, carrying supplies, fighting and milking. The number of horses left in the tribe was even greater. If the number of horses controlled by the Mongols at this time was counted, it would probably be at least one million.

What is five thousand horses? Not to mention the Tibetans, even if it is the exhausted Xia Kingdom, it would not be a big deal if you asked them to gather five thousand horses every year!
He couldn't help but shook his head and said, "This business is easy to do. These people must be living a comfortable life! If I were the emperor of the Song Dynasty, I would have killed them long ago!"

"Father Khan, these people have the support of the Song State, and every year they have mountains and seas of wealth in their hands. They really live a comfortable life. Moreover, over the past hundreds of years, they have long regarded this as a matter of course. But these good days are over. After the rise of the Great Zhou, trade with the Southern Dynasty was mainly based on horses. Every year, the Great Zhou used ships to load horses from Hebei, Northeast China and other places to transport them to the south. The number exceeded 10,000, and the price of each horse was usually around 100 to 150 strings of cash..."

Genghis Khan immediately said: "Since the Song Dynasty court has a new source of horses, it will not need these people from Sichuan anymore."

"The Song court not only had no use for these people, but also coveted their money. Five years ago, the Song court had been discussing that since the horses from the border cities of Sichuan were no longer needed, the tea tax from Sichuan should be transferred to the central government. However, 5,000 horses were easy to give, and they didn't cost much. But how could millions of tea taxes be paid? Once this money was paid, how many families' wealth would fly away? How many people were so angry that their eyes turned red and their teeth were broken? So this matter was delayed until An Bing, a native of Sichuan, stepped down, and the Song court sent many officials from Lin'an to directly manage Sichuan."

"The guy named Dong Juyi just now is one of them."

"Yes. Dong Juyi and others are the lackeys of Shi Miyuan, the powerful official of the Song Dynasty. After they came to Sichuan, they did not make any achievements. Their only purpose was to seize power and wealth for their masters, so they would never let go of the tea tax. They were vicious and threatened to kill people at any time. They abolished many institutions of the Tea and Horse Department and directly demoted a large number of officials. As a result, a large number of local officials lost their wealth and official positions. They all had great resentment, but they could not confront the high-ranking officials from the central government head-on."

At this point, Tuolei chuckled:
"So, at first, they found me through the relationship with the merchants of Xia State. They wanted to pay the Mongols to let us go deep into Sichuan to stir up riots, kill some court officials stationed in Sichuan, and preferably disrupt eastern Sichuan, so as to prevent the Song court from easily intervening in Sichuan again. Of course, the most important thing is that they asked me to do everything possible to pin the riot on Zhou State, or extend the war to Zhou State, so as to force the court and Zhou State to become hostile again and stop the trade between the two countries. In this way, Song State can only resume the tea-horse trade in the border states of Sichuan, and they can continue to make huge wealth and maintain the share of the spoils for dozens or hundreds of years."

Genghis Khan commented: "They are a bunch of pigs and dogs. They have a clear mind and know that the key lies in the trade between Zhou and Song...but they are too bold."

"I was dissatisfied with my father Khan. At first, I just regarded it as a joke. But I never thought that not long after, Dong Juyi also came to me and asked if I could borrow the Mongolian troops to suppress the rebellion in Pingchuan."

Tuolei could hardly suppress the smile on his face. He paused before continuing, "The officials in office in Song want us to send troops, and the dismissed local tyrants in Song want us to send troops, but they have no idea how powerful we Mongols are. They don't know that once we send troops, the world will be turned upside down! ... Father Khan, I didn't do anything, but a good opportunity came to me. It's clear that Changshengtian wants to use our hands to punish the sinners. How can I refuse?"

Genghis Khan laughed out loud.