122 Countermeasures (Part I)

Wanyan Changzhi summoned Zhang Hu in the imperial study in the palace. After giving the gift, Yan Changzhi immediately sat down, and after Zhang Hu thanked him, he also sat down on the side.

After Yan Changzhi said: "Boyi, this time you go back to Bohai to handle the funeral for Mrs. Zhang, is everything going well?" ”

Zhang Hu said: "Your Majesty Domeng has a note, everything is going well. ”

Wan Yan Changzhi nodded, sighed, and said: "Actually, I have been hesitating for the past few days, whether to recruit you back to Beijing, but if I recruit you back to Beijing at this time, it will be too unkind. I don't want you to come back on your own initiative. ”

Zhang Hu said: "Back to Your Majesty, Weichen also knows that my Dajin is in danger now, so after my grandfather is buried, I will rush back to Zhongdu immediately after the first seven days." Bohai's affairs are handled by his uncles and brothers, and without Weichen, there will be no problems, and everything should be done with national affairs. ”

Wanyan Changzhi nodded again, and said, "Then I won't be polite to you, according to Yi Boyi, what are the current crises of my Dajin?" ”

Zhang Hu said: "Back to Your Majesty, the crisis of my Dajin is divided into short-term and long-term, although they are different, but they should not be underestimated. ”

Wan Yan Changzhi smiled slightly and said, "Why recently?" What about the long term? ”

Zhang Hu said: "The immediate crisis refers to Mongolia. His Majesty's personal expedition this time was intended to deal a heavy blow to Mongolia so that it would not be able to threaten our Dajin for several years, but although the Mongol army was defeated, the strength of Mongolia was not greatly damaged, and the disturbance in the north was not lifted. And if it's just Mongolia coming, but at this time, the Southern Song Dynasty in the south is also about to move, and the Song and Mongolia are attacking from the north and south, which is my Dajin's henchmanship, and it is also a long-term crisis, so Your Majesty is worried about this. What did Wechen say? ”

Wanyan Changzhi smiled and said, "Those who know me, Bo Yi also." It's a pity that the other ministers of the court can't see through this, and they think that Daikin is still peaceful, which is really disappointing to me. I don't know if Bo Yi has any good way to solve my worries? ”

Zhang Hu said: "Your Majesty should know that now Mongolia has unified the steppe with the scriptures, and the power is far from being comparable to what it used to be, and Temujin is a rare talent in a hundred years, such a strong enemy, how can it be defeated between a war, everything is not done quickly, and after this battle, it is enough to deter Mongolia, dare not despise my Dajin, and at the same time, it can also boost the morale of my Dajin after the defeat of the Western Xia, and the benefits are not small, so Your Majesty does not have to worry about this." ”

Wanyan Changzhi nodded frequently when he heard it, it was the bystander Qing, what Zhang Hu said was indeed reasonable, he was indeed a little too anxious, before the battle, he did have the idea of wanting to finish his work in one battle, but it is one thing to think about it, and it is another thing to do it or not, and now it seems that this idea was obviously a little too strong at that time. The result of this battle with Mongolia is actually quite good.

But on the other hand, the threat in the north has not yet been lifted, and a way must be devised to deal with it. Therefore, he finished his way: "Although Bo Yi is right, my requirements for this battle are indeed too high. But now that Mongolia's vitality is not injured, it can still move south in a big way at any time, and in my opinion, in the future, Mongolia will no longer concentrate its army and attack our border cities as it is now, but will turn into small forces, attack more points, and plunder the border areas, and we can't guard against it now. If a large army is stationed on the northern border to defend it, the south will already be a little tight. It is difficult to draw so many troops out for a while, and secondly, the money, food and materials consumed are also difficult for me to afford at present, I am just disturbing this, I wonder if Bo Yi has any good plan for this? ”

Zhang Hu said: "Back to Your Majesty, Huichen has already thought that first of all, he can rebuild the boundary trench to block the Mongolian cavalry. As he spoke, he took out a booklet from his sleeve and handed it to Wan Yan Changzhi.

Wan Yan Changzhi nodded and took the booklet to watch. In fact, he also thought about this, and rebuilding the boundary trench to block the Mongol army was also a temporary feasible solution.

The so-called "boundary trench" is also called "trench" or "side wall", in fact, it is a kind of large-scale fortification similar to the Great Wall built by the Jin State in order to protect the northern border, usually composed of two parts of the trench wall and the trench, the trench is usually two to three zhang wide, one zhang deep, the trench wall is built in the south of the trench, that is, the side close to the Jin country, it is trapezoidal, the bottom is more than two zhang wide, the top is about one zhang wide, and some sections also build the battlement. And build a pass at an important traffic intersection, also known as the "boundary trench side fort".

A border fort is a small frontier city with a certain scale and facilities, built in a dangerous place behind a trench or boundary trench. It is stronger and larger than a moat, and it is surrounded by a military facility and a moat, forming a castle that can be fought independently. The border fort is integrated with the trenches and the moat wall, so that the army can attack when it enters and can defend it when it retreats. During the period of Jin Shizong, the boundary trenches were mainly used to block the Mongol army, and there were 19 border forts in Taizhou alone, and 24 in Linhuang Mansion.

The Jin Kingdom began to build the boundary moat in the first year of Jin Xizong's reign (1138), and it continued to build it for nearly 40 years. Although the scale of the boundary moat was much smaller than that of the Great Wall, the cost required was not small, so it was mainly completed during the Kim Sejong period, when the Jin Kingdom was at its most powerful. In total, more than 4,000 li were built.

The boundary trenches also played a certain role in preventing the northern Tatar tribes from plundering southward and protecting the northern border of the Jin State. However, because of the limited national strength of the Jin State, the trenches were far inferior to the Great Wall in terms of scale and quality, so the defensive power was also greatly dismantled, and the location of the boundary trenches was more northward than that of the Great Wall, so it was easier to be filled and eroded by the wind and sand, and lost its effectiveness. Once the general boundary trench is not well maintained, it will gradually lose its function after ten years.

Moreover, in recent years, the Jin State first went south to supply the southern expedition, and later because of the grassland melee, the Mongolian Department went south flawlessly in order to unify the grassland, and the north was much more stable, so the imperial court also ignored the role of the boundary trench. When Wanyan Changzhi led the army to meet the Mongol army, he found that the boundary trenches in many places had suffered varying degrees of damage, most of which were the result of poor cultivation.

However, after all, the construction time of the boundary trench is not too far away, and most of them have been built in the past ten years, so except for a few longer places that need to be rebuilt, most of the places only need to do some repair work, without large-scale reconstruction, it is enough to use another four or five years, and the cost of construction is also less than that of pure construction, and after the boundary trench is perfected, the garrison required will also be greatly reduced, about 150,000 to 180,000 is enough. For the current Daikin, it is still very cost-effective.

At the same time, according to Zhang Hu's plan, for the places where the damage is more serious and it is necessary to increase the construction, the trenches will be excavated first, and the trench walls will be built more simply. This also greatly reduces the cost and time of meal repairs. Such a boundary trench may not have been very effective in blocking the southward movement of the Mongol army, but it was enough to intercept a small group of Mongol cavalry harassing the border.

After Yan Changzhi finished reading Zhang Hu's plan, he also nodded again and again, praising Zhang Hu for thinking thoughtfully.

Zhang Hu then added: "Repairing the food boundary trench is just the first way to prevent Mongolia. It is impossible to completely block the Mongols with boundary trenches, as if the dynasties of the Central Plains were building the Great Wall, but in that generation, the Great Wall could not completely block the southward movement of the northern peoples. Second, after the boundary trench is repaired, it must be repaired regularly every year, which is also a large expense, so Mongolia cannot completely rely on the boundary trench to prevent this. ”

The way of the long face: "Then Boyi's second method is what?" ”

Zhang Hu said: "It's better to raze and raze." ”

Wanyan Changzhi was a little puzzled, and said: "Boyi, I have also thought about this, but now that the Mongolian Ministry has unified the grassland with the scriptures, Temujin is enough to cover the sky with one hand, and what if the policy of razing and razing is implemented?" ”

Zhang Hu said: "Your Majesty, the minister is divided into two parts by razing and razing, first of all, my Dajin's Arrow-Breaking Army is composed of steppe Tatars, they are familiar with the regional environment and climate of the grassland, and at the same time there are a lot of connections in the grassland, so you can transfer all the Arrow-Breaking Army to the north to garrison, and also divide it into small units, go deep into the grassland, go deep into the grassland, to plunder small camps, caravans, herds, and retaliate against Mongolia. ”

Wanyan Changzhi nodded and smiled: "Good way, really a good way, the Mongolian Tatars can come to rob us, so we can also rob them, Bo Yi really didn't disappoint me." ”

Of course, Wanyan Changzhi knows that once the Jin army enters the grassland, it is tantamount to turning a blind eye, but for the Arrow-Breaking Army, which also belongs to the grassland people, it is equivalent to returning to their hometown, like a fish in water. This time, he dared to lead the army to surprise the Mongolian camp by the fishing sea, precisely because he had this group of grassland maps under his hands. Therefore, putting the Arrowbreaker Army on the steppe to plunder Mongolia not to mention that it can turn the steppe upside down, but it is enough to give Temujin a headache for a while.

Zhang Hu continued: "In addition, although Temujin unified the steppe and wiped out the tribes, after all, the time is still short, and its foundation is not stable. The surrender of the various tribes to Temujin and the merger into the Mongol part was not willing, but Temujin's power was too large to match, and he had to submit to himself. Once there is external help, they may not be willing to lie dormant in the Mongolian tribe. On the one hand, it is best to send people to rebel and regain their own independence.