choke element

Chapter 1030 Roar (Part )

At noon that day, Tolui, who was at the command center, began to feel that something was wrong.

The movement and assembly of the Mongolian army was always fast and effective. This nation grew up on horseback, and hunting was their daily life. Once faced with a situation, the Mongolian army could instantly gather from scattered positions, and then form a powerful fist to hit the enemy's most critical pain point.

So at first, no one took the captives' rebellion in the Pangang area seriously. In the eyes of the Mongols, there was no difference between Han captives and looted cattle and sheep. Those who were useful would be used, and those who were useless would be killed. The particularly obedient ones would be kept for a while, and then killed or not depending on the situation. Since the Han captives were rebellious, they would transfer some people to kill them all as soon as possible. It was that simple.

But now the Mongols found that their scattered men were being hindered everywhere.

Initially, the two hundred-man teams that were supposed to rush to Pangang overnight to kill indiscriminately did not report any victory. Later, when more people were sent to inquire, they found that they had not even reached Pangang, and the captives in Pangang had already repelled several attacks by the Mongols and were ready to start a prairie fire!

This situation alarmed Tolui so much that he sent additional people to investigate, only to find out that the two hundred-man teams might have chosen to leave the main road and march along the old course of Sui River in order to save time.

The Mongolian army quickly paid attention to scouts. In the past few days, although they controlled a large area in order to create momentum and their manpower was slightly insufficient, Tolui still ensured the number of Tolchi responsible for patrolling and reconnaissance every day.

Hundreds of Tolechi cavalrymen traveled a hundred or two hundred miles, ambushing residents and travelers everywhere to assess the strength of each place and ensure that they had the initiative on the battlefield. However, after all, they were unfamiliar with the place, and it was too difficult for them to fully grasp all the movements around them and understand every blade of grass and tree in this land in just a few days.

The area around the old course of Suishui River was a new landform created by the flooding of the Yellow River. Many muddy beaches froze, which could easily cause horses to stumble, not to mention the endless reeds and thorny trees. Therefore, the Mongolian scouts seldom went to check it out, because the people running around were just fleeing Han soldiers and civilians, not their enemies.

Perhaps the two Mongolian centurions also thought so. They rushed into the area without hesitation, thinking that they could reach Pangang as soon as possible. The result was the current scene. Two hundred Mongolian elite cavalrymen who had traveled thousands of miles and never suffered any loss just disappeared out of thin air!

The Mongolian scouts chased them along their route, only to find traces of blood in the sand somewhere along the river, as well as discarded arrows, broken swords and other signs of fighting nearby.

There were several experienced veterans among the scouts, who immediately dismounted and dug in the sand, and indeed found the hastily buried bodies of the Mongolian cavalry, all with deep wounds. The scouts immediately searched again and found traces of the horses being driven away.

Those traces had been covered up. It was obvious that the person who commanded the ambush was an expert who was well versed in military tactics and familiar with the Mongolian combat routines. However, due to time constraints, they could not do it perfectly, and traces were left after all.

But what would happen? Could the Mongols send more troops to pursue us through the endless sand dunes and reed marshes?
How many troops and horses are needed to flatten the complex terrain formed by the flooding of the Yellow River?
The scout leader did not dare to act on his own and immediately returned to report.

Shortly after he met Tolui, before noon, urgent reports of military intelligence came in from all over.

With Kaifeng as the center, within a radius of 100 miles from east to west, there were at least five or six ambushes where Mongolian cavalrymen of hundreds of people were ambushed; some strongholds occupied by the Mongols were suddenly attacked, and the Mongols had to retreat in embarrassment.

The more dispersed the Mongolian troops were, the more resistance they encountered. One team of ten had all their horses secretly killed, and they had to travel on foot, which was extremely difficult. They were besieged by thousands of soldiers and civilians along the way, and in the end only two of the ten escaped alive.

There was even an urgent report from Guide Prefecture that a thousand-man team was attacked by a sudden cavalry attack and was defeated and retreated on the spot. The cavalry was not from Zhongyuan, but seemed to have come from the Song territory!
Isn't this nonsense? What kind of character does the Song people have? Tolui and his confidants know? The reason why this operation was able to advance to this point is because the Song people are weak and can be bullied, and they don't have the courage to take action against a strong enemy! If the Song people dared to turn against us, they would have turned against us when we were burning and killing people along the Han River. Why wait until now?
Just report it carefully. If we find out where there are still remnants of the Zhou army that have not been dispersed, we will mobilize troops to wipe them out. Bringing up the Song army as an excuse is a joke!
A centurion whipped the messenger several times on the spot and ordered him to go back immediately to verify the news.

Then he said to Tuolei: "Han'er is bolder than before. It seems that we need to spread the message to all places, not to hold back when killing people. We also need to carefully identify those who have surrendered."

Tolui frowned and said nothing.

After a long while, he issued orders one after another and sent out more than 40 of his close associates, asking them to hold golden round talismans representing the four princes and go to various armies to inquire again about the surrounding movements in the past two days.

He had a strong premonition that the counterattack against the Mongols had already begun and would intensify. This kind of counterattack was something the Mongols had never encountered before and could not imagine.

Even Tolui himself did not expect this.

He had seen the last time the Mongols invaded the northern Han territory, and knew that although the number of Han people was large, they were all unarmed farmers. When calculating the strength of the enemy and ourselves, they could be completely excluded. He had also gone deep into the Song territory and met those caravans from the Great Zhou. To be honest, the warriors in those caravans were threatening, but the main force of the Great Zhou army had already gone north. Why were those scattered in the villages and towns so fierce and aggressive? Shouldn't they be intimidated by the majesty of the Mongolian army and surrender obediently? Just like in the past!
Tuolei suddenly felt as if he had rushed into a land that was too dangerous. His men were no longer the agile riders who could drive the herds freely, no longer the masters of the vast land, but had become the common gurgling streams on the grassland.

Those streams suddenly appeared because of a certain rain or snow, and they could form seemingly turbulent waters, but as they flowed, the water was absorbed by various kinds of gravel, meadows or swamps, and finally disappeared inexplicably... The same was true for the scattered Mongolian army!
If these attacks became more frequent and continued, the impact on the Mongolian army would be extremely deadly.

The Mongolian army had dispersed before in order to create a huge momentum and force the main force of the Zhou army in the north to move south quickly. But if they could not gather in time after the dispersion, what would it mean? Would they let the Mongolian warriors die? Would they let Guo Ning capture the four Mongolian princes again?
Thinking of this, Tolui suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

What happened just now were all minor matters. The key point was not there, but the movements of the various units of the Zhou army!
Today is the eleventh day of the invasion of the Central Plains. He and his men gradually lost the pleasure of the previous few days and began to feel the counterattack of the Central Plains. But it was only the counterattack of the Central Plains. The Zhou army in Shaanxi did not move, nor did the Zhou army in Shanxi on the north bank of the Yellow River, nor did the Zhou army in Shandong.

Did they not react, or were they waiting for something else?
The whole Wufu Operation wanted to mobilize more than just these local garrisons. Tuolei worked so hard for a real revenge on Guo Ning and a blow to the entire military power of the Great Zhou Dynasty. So, where was the main force of the Zhou army used to conquer the grassland?
If it were the Jin army, it would take half a year to return to the Central Plains from the grassland. But the main force of the Zhou army, like the Mongolian army, was equipped with a large number of mules and horses, and had a large and elite cavalry unit. If Guo Ning got angry, ten days would be enough for him to lead the cavalry to the Central Plains.

Where is Guo Ning?

It is not necessarily the case that these people think that relying on the military force of the Central Plains alone is enough to tie up Tuo Lei's troops. So they are not in a hurry?