Demoness, Where Are You Fleeing To?

The route of Li Xuan's northern expedition after leaving the fortress was similar to the route of Taizong's second northern expedition.

All 700,000 troops passed through Zhangjiakou to Dalu City, and then crossed the vast sea with the help of two clear water sources in the north and south and Saihan Mountain to reach Mobei. Then they attacked Ulaanbaatar directly from Qinhu Mountain and Jieshenggang.

The so-called "Hanhai" is also called the desert, which is the Gobi Desert in later generations. The vast sea stretches for thousands of miles, connecting the Tianshan Mountains to the west and the Daxinganling Mountains to the east. The Mengwu took this as the dividing line and divided it into southern Mon and northern Mo.

In the Monan area of ​​​​the Mongolian area, after Li Xuan was defeated in April last year and killed hundreds of thousands of Tatars, the Mongols could no longer hold on.

Over the past year, Zhenshuo General Zhu Guoneng and Xuanfu Commander-in-Chief Fan Guang continued to send troops to raid the north. Most of the vast grasslands north of the Great Wall were swept by the Jin army...

All the Mongol tribes on this grassland either temporarily retreated to Mobei or surrendered to the Jin Dynasty.

Therefore, Li Xuan's goal this time was exactly 'Ulan Bator' in the Mobei Grassland, where the Tatars' sweat tent was located.

This place is very close to Helin, the earliest capital of the Mongol people. After Helin City was destroyed by the Jin Dynasty in the past, the Tatar tribes had to move their capital to Hulunbuir in the east to rely on this place to fight against the Jin Dynasty. for decades.

During this period, the battle of "Yuerhai" was just south of "Hulunbuir". General Lan Yu defeated the Mengwu here and beheaded hundreds of thousands of people, which made the Tatar tribe unable to recover for decades.

It was not until Taizong died of illness that the Tatars gradually moved back and chose to rebuild their Khan tent in Ulaanbaatar near Helin.

There are rivers and fertile grasslands near Ulaanbaatar. Most of the Tatar tribes today gather nearby. The surrounding area is densely populated with flocks of cattle and sheep.

Taizong's second northern expedition was to attack Ulaanbaatar. He defeated the Oara people nearby and drove the Oara people to the east of the Aluhun River.

This northern expedition route is one of the few routes that can provide enough water to supply hundreds of thousands of troops to cross the vast sea.

Li Xuan and Yu Jie were both decisive and resolute people. They had been planning and preparing for this northern expedition for several months. They had sufficient food, grass and weapons.

When the two men led an army of 700,000 people out of the fortress, they quickly moved northward at an astonishing speed.

In less than five days, the entire army's outpost had crossed 1,900 miles and arrived at Mount Saihan in the south of the vast sea.

This marching speed can be said to be extremely exaggerated. Since ancient times, it can be said that it is rare to defend hundreds of thousands of troops and travel hundreds of miles a day.

But this time, the army under Li Xuan marched extremely boldly, almost without considering the possibility of being ambushed or intercepted, and the whole army advanced at full speed.

On the one hand, the army has been mounted from top to bottom. The 270,000 horsemen in the army have double horses. All firearms units in the Shenji Battalion and the Tenth Regiment Battalion are equipped with pack horses, and the remaining infantry camps are also equipped with pack horses. You can ride on a sidecar pulled by ox horses.

It was not until near Saihan Mountain that the army stopped for a while to rest and recuperate. On the one hand, they cultivate their spirits and restore their physical strength; on the other hand, they restore the structures that were scattered due to the urgent march and reorganize their troops.

Saihan Mountain is very close to Erenhot, only more than a hundred miles away.

The night Li Xuan arrived at Saihan Mountain, he handed over the subsequent troops and horses to Yu Jie's command. He personally led 80,000 cavalry and seven battalions of the Shenji Battalion, totaling 160,000 people, to sweep towards Erenhot.

Erenhot is also called Sunit Otok. There is also a fertile grassland there, which is the pasture for 70,000 households on the left wing of the Tatar tribe.

It was also the only place where the Tatar tribe was still holding on after the Xuanfu war last year.

Although the 70,000 households on the left suffered heavy losses in the battle of Xuanfu, they still had tens of thousands of strong men. At the limit, they could mobilize 50,000 light cavalry.

Therefore, during this year, the 70,000 households on the left wing were still able to compete with Fan Guang, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, and hold on to a piece of grassland near Erenhot.

At this time, when Li Xuan led his army to the Northern Expedition, Erlianhot became the biggest threat to their flanks, enough to outflank and block the Jin army's retreat.

So Li Xuan regarded it as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh.

Before his troops leave Mobei, the 70,000 households on the left wing of the Tatars must be eliminated.

At the same time, Fan Guang, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu, has also led the cavalry directly under his jurisdiction and the "Three Thousand Battalion" with a total of 70,000 cavalry to take the lead and cross the vast sea to the north to seize the Capture Hu Mountain in Mobei.

Qinhu Mountain is also called "Yidu", which is an important transportation point between the north and south of the desert.

In the past, when Taizong of the Jin Dynasty was still King of Yan, he had a great victory over Mengwu here, and captured Beiyuan Taiwei Nai'er Buhua, the prime minister and others here.

In the 16th year of Yongle's reign, Emperor Taizong passed through this place again during his Northern Expedition. He ordered his officials to pay homage to the mountains and rivers, and renamed the mountain "Qin Hu Mountain". He also carved an inscription on the boulder as a stele: "Hanhai is Tan, Tianshan is E", and in Guangwu City was built on its land and warehouses were set up to store military supplies.

Unfortunately, after Taizong's sudden death, the fortress Cangtun that had been used to capture Hu Shan fell into the hands of Mengwu, and Guangwu City was razed to the ground.

As long as the Jin Dynasty occupied this place, the Mongol hinterland all the way to the Mongol Khan's tent "Ulaanbaatar" would be flat and there would be no danger to defend.

What happened next was as Li Xuan expected. Although the 70,000 households on the left wing of the Tatar tribe in the direction of Erenhot learned about the Northern Expedition of the Jin Dynasty several days in advance, the leaders of the 70,000 households on the left wing had no time to evacuate. They are scattered among the cattle, sheep and tribesmen in the hundreds of miles around Erenhot.

They didn't dare to attack the army that Li Xuan swept over. They just hurriedly gathered the core troops under their jurisdiction and retreated to Mobei.

As a result, tens of thousands of herdsmen and thousands of cattle and sheep were abandoned to the Jin army in the rear.

The hundreds of thousands of huge cavalry under Li Xuan pursued them north to Zamyn-Uud before stopping.

When he arrived here, Li Xuan found a hill to climb up and get a distant view.

He first glanced at the vast vast sea to the north, and then scanned the surrounding terrain. Then he pointed to a low mountain to the east and said to a doctor from the Ministry of Industry who was accompanying the army: "The terrain there is good and there is water. You can choose to build a fort here against the mountain. The fort must be four miles long and six miles wide. It has a ridged face and can store 500,000 rations, garrison 70,000 troops, and house 30,000 livestock.

The king has mobilized 90,000 troops from Datong to garrison here, and sent another 150,000 civilians from Datong to build the city. Materials for building the city were sent from Xuanfu. If you have any difficulties, you can tell me in advance and I will try my best to satisfy you. This king only asks for one thing. Within three months, this city must be fully built! "

During Li Xuan's northern expedition, he also recruited 120,000 garrison troops and up to 150,000 civilians from the direction of Datong.

However, in order to prevent the Mongol people from being alert beforehand, except for the Datong cavalry, the rest of the Datong troops did not gather in the direction of Xuanfu.

Li Xuan had no intention of taking them to Mobei. The only mission of these 90,000 Datong troops and 150,000 civilians was to keep an eye on the flanks of Li Xuan's northern expedition army and at the same time build the military fortress he had planned for a long time. .

The doctor from the Ministry of Works immediately looked slightly solemn, clasped his fists and bowed: "Your Highness, don't worry, if it is just a bastion four miles long and wide, the 150,000 civilians will be more than enough. The materials for building the city are also available in the direction of the Xuanfu. But only There may be a slight shortage of magicians, so please ask the king to make arrangements as soon as possible."

Li Xuan made extremely thorough preparations for building this military fortress. Not only did the Ministry of Works design the blueprints for the bastion early, but as early as half a year ago, the Ministry of War asked the Ministry of War to pile up various building materials in the direction of Xuanfu.

So what they are doing now is very simple. They only need to take physical measurements, choose the best city site, and build it step by step.

Shang Hong, who was following Li Xuan at this time, couldn't help but interjected: "Your Highness, please forgive Shang for speaking bluntly. In the past, our dynasty Taizu Taizong also built dozens of cities on the grassland, but now they are either reduced to ruins." , or it was invaded by the Mongol people."

A few days ago, Shang Hong was temporarily granted the status of 'Deputy Military Envoy' by the imperial court and joined the army.

This can be regarded as a compromise by several auxiliary ministers to the conservatives in the DPRK.

The rest, including Chief Assistant Chen Xun and Minister of Justice Yu Shiyue, were actually not very optimistic about the Northern Expedition.

When public sentiment in the court was boiling and opposition arose, a few people followed suit and appointed Shang Hong as the "deputy envoy to observe the military appearance".

These generals Shang Hong were sent here to act as a check and balance. It is hoped that the supervision of Ji Shanghong can prevent the Jin army from suffering a major defeat, and at least allow the main force of the Jin army to safely return to Monan.

Li Xuan was helpless. He, his young master Yu Jie, and Quan Dingtian only had three votes in total, and they could not go against the will of the public. UU Reading www.uukanshu.net

Li Xuan glanced sideways at Shang Hong, and then smiled.

He heard what Shang Hong meant, but he just didn't criticize him outright for wasting money and wasting people's resources.

Li Xuan didn't bother to argue, and simply threw a map scroll over: "The Royal Chaotian Palace magician explored the south side of the vast sea half a year ago. About one hundred and twenty miles away from here, there is a huge open-pit copper mine. There are also massive gold and silver reserves and associated mineral deposits. It is estimated that the reserves of copper mines alone may reach tens of millions of stones. If it can be mined, the imperial court can increase its annual silver revenue by more than 30 million taels!"

Shang Hong was taken aback and hurriedly opened the map to look at it: "Is this serious?"

His hands were trembling slightly. Although the court had abolished copper coins and used aluminum coins at this time.

However, the demand for copper among the people is still huge. In addition, the imperial court also needs to use a large amount of bronze to cast cannons and guns.

"It really can't be true anymore." Li Xuan put his hands on his back and raised the corners of his lips slightly: "If you don't believe it, bachelor, you can go and have a look. That place is called 'Oyu Tolgoi', which means Turquoise Mountain. It is said that Turquoise is available everywhere, and you can find it by digging a little underground."

Turquoise is one of the associated minerals of copper mines.

In the world where Li Xuan came, Oyu Tolgoi was one of the three largest copper mines in the world.

The proven copper reserves on the surface alone amount to 30 million tons, gold reserves are 1,300 tons, and silver reserves are 7,600 tons.

Li Xuan believes that the terrain of the two worlds is similar, so does Oyu Tolgoi in this world also have a copper mine?

The result was that he was frightened. The various mineral reserves in this world far exceed the world he came from.

In addition, not far from Oyu Tolgoi, there is Hamagotay, which is also a world-class copper and gold mine, containing a large amount of copper and gold, but the magicians of Chaotian Palace have not yet found it.