When Cao You heard this, he moved the Da'an army to camp. The Mongolian army, which had previously been afraid of the steep mountains in Mianzhou and did not dare to invade easily, swarmed in and occupied Mianzhou, and then launched a fierce attack on the Da'an army. The Da'an army was located on flat ground and could not defend itself. Only Jiguan Mountain in the northwest could be defended. The Song army had a fortress on the mountain, but it did not store much food. Cao Youwen then decided to fight to the death. He ordered Cao Wan to lead 10,000 old and weak men to defend Jiguan Mountain, then open the gate of Yangpingguan and let the Mongolian army enter. He himself led 10,000 people to sneak into the back of the Mongolian army from a remote trail and wait for the Mongolian army. The army was unable to attack Jiguan Mountain. When their morale was low, they suddenly launched a night attack and fought to the death with the overwhelmingly superior army. This is an unprecedentedly bold plan. If successfully executed, Kuanduan's army of more than 100,000 will be repulsed again, and Cao Youwen will create an unprecedented miracle in the history of the Great Song Dynasty. At the beginning of the plan, Cao Youwen¡¯s chances of winning the bet seemed high. The Mongolian army saw that Yangping Pass was unguarded, so they rushed in. As a result, they were attacked by the Song Army's ambush inside the pass. Then Cao Wan and others led the troops to rush out of Yangping Pass and fought with the enemy in front of the pass until the end. The Mongols The people finally retreated. Cao Wan then withdrew his troops and returned to Jiguan Mountain. The Mongolian army followed to the foot of Jiguan Mountain and surrounded the mountain with wooden fences. Prepare to attack. After Cao Youwen heard that the main force of the Mongolian army had entered Yangping Pass, he ordered the troops to prepare. He gave a final speech to the soldiers, in which he mentioned that this Cao family army had won many battles over the past few years and was famous in Qinlong. The courage to be loyal to protect the country can be learned from the sun. Now the Mongols come to capture Bashu with millions of tigers and wolves. All the troops are supported by the salary of the court and the taxes of the people. This is the time to be loyal to the country and serve the country. When the people are working hard. He also said that there had always been only two or three hundred men in night attacks, but today they attacked with ten thousand people. It was a night battle, not a night attack, so they could not retreat, they could only attack until all the enemy troops were defeated. So all the soldiers wrapped their arms with white cloth towels and took the word "complete victory" as their agreed slogan. Rush to Yangping Pass from the rear and prepare to attack the main enemy force at the foot of Jiguan Mountain. Unexpectedly, twenty miles into the journey, the weather suddenly changed and a storm arose. The army marched against the storm in the night. Before the battle, their strength and morale had been greatly reduced. A deputy general asked Cao Youwen to withdraw temporarily. Wait for the storm to pass before launching a surprise attack. Cao Youwen sighed and said that there was a shortage of food and grass on Jiguan Mountain for less than five days. Now the soldiers have been holding on to Jiguan Mountain for more than five days. Jiguan Mountain is in danger of falling at any time. If we don't take advantage of the situation to attack today, when the Mongolian army captures Jiguan Mountain, there will be no more. There was no chance of winning, so it was decided to stick to the attack. The Song army marched for dozens of miles at night and finally broke into Yangping Pass in the middle of the night. The Mongolian army set up a guard force of about 300 cavalry in Yangping Pass. Cao Youwen ordered the 500 vanguard troops to attack. At this time, it was windy and rainy, and the soldiers were completely alert. The direction was unknown, but because of this convenience, Cao Youwen's army finally broke into the Mongolian army's line after repeated fierce battles and destroyed dozens of Mongolian barracks. The Mongolian army was heavily guarded in front of Jiguan Mountain, but neglected the defense of the rear route. Many people were hiding in tents to avoid the rain, so they were unprepared and were killed by the Song army. Cao Wan opened the city again and came down to attack. In the wind and rain, tens of thousands of troops shouted for a fierce battle. The Song army still had the determination to fight to the death. In Mongolia There were conflicts in the army, and the blood of the generals on both sides flowed ten miles away under the heavy rain. Xichuan produces cotton, and most of the army horses in central Sichuan are equipped with cotton armor, which is light and resistant to arrows. However, rainwater penetrated the cotton robes during the heavy rain, making it difficult for Cao Youwen's men to move due to heavy loads. Soon after, the sky became bright again, and the scattered Mongolian troops recovered from panic. After reacting, they gathered towards Cao Youwen's department. They were divided into hundreds of teams and ten teams and took turns to charge towards Cao Youwen's department. The Song army, which had become less and less wary, was finally completely surrounded by the Mongolian armored cavalry. In the end, only five or six soldiers were left. There were only a hundred men. Cao Youwen was hit by several arrows, then dismounted and fought, and was finally killed. All the generals around him also died in battle. In the end, Cao Wan only had 500 men left. Because there was no food in Jiguan Mountain and the only way to die was to be trapped, so the entire army rushed out of the fortress and charged towards the Mongolian army, but the entire army was wiped out. Sichuan pacification envoy Zhao Yanna only had some old and weak people left in his hands, so he hurriedly fled into Shu along the Jianmen Road. This battle was extremely brutal. The corpses of the two armies were piled as high as a hill. The Mongolian army was afraid that Cao Youwen was still alive, so they searched back and forth on the battlefield until they found his body and the famous battle flag full of fear. Peace of mind. Wang Shixian, the Mongolian commander-in-chief of the 24th Gongchang District who made great contributions in this battle, said to the shocked Kuanduan that Cao Youwen had been eliminated. From now on, there was no obstacle in front of the Mongolian army, and they could easily rush into the flowery Land of Abundance to fight. Wash and plunder. This is exactly the case. South of the Da'an Army, the Song Dynasty no longer had large-scale troops, and the Mongolian army never encountered a strong opponent all the way south. Most of those stationed south of Shukou were the Xiang Imperial Army. These original regular main forces of the imperial court, after the establishment of the garrison system in Shaoxing years, have become security forces to maintain local security and basically have no strength to fight against the regular army.The Mongolian army then broke through the sword pavilion and marched straight into Langzhong. The army divided into three groups and marched directly to Chengdu along the Jialing River. They broke into the city from the east gate. The Chengdu prefect and counselor were killed together, and Chengdu was completely occupied by the Mongolian army. After occupying Chengdu, Kuo Duan ordered the fortune teller who accompanied him to conduct divination. The fortune teller came up with a divination and said: Sichuan people's hearts are unstable and they will eventually be unable to surrender to Mongolia. If they don't rebel today, they will definitely rebel within two years. Kuo Duan was convinced and ordered the massacre of the city. The prosperous Jinguan City, which has been accumulated for thousands of years, has since suffered a rare disaster in human history like Samarkan and Jade Dragon Chijie in the Western Regions. After the Mongolian army completed the massacre of Chengdu, they immediately went out to attack surrounding prefectures and counties. The entire prefectures and counties in Sichuan were shaken. Officials abandoned the city and fled in panic. Soldiers and civilians fled to eastern Sichuan to escape. Sichuan Road faced the entire territory. Danger of fall. The problem is not just Sichuan. Sichuan is the upstream of Jinghu Lake, and the terrain is so constricted. If the Mongolian army builds ships on the Three Gorges and sails down the river, it can easily invade Jiangling and Ezhou, which are currently weakly defended in Jinghu Lake. At this time , the main force of the Song army was all concentrated on the Xiangfan front line. Once the Mongolian army surrounded Jiangling, Jiangling's deputy envoy Bie Zhijie only had 10,000 horses in his hands, which was completely unable to resist the Mongolian army. The top priority is to rush to the mouth of the gorge to defend it. Meng Gong said: "After receiving the report from the deputy commander, I quickly dispatched two supporting troops. My brother Meng Ying led 3,000 people to Xiazhou, and Liu De led 2,000 people to Guizhou. When the two arrived, they immediately set up defenses and guarded them tightly. They could not let the Mongols sail eastward. "Zheng Yunming nodded and said: "There are five thousand people stationed at the mouth of the gorge, which is enough to support a hundred thousand people. The key now is to prepare a group of troops to go. Sichuan is cleaning up the mess. Jin Quchu is dead, and Kuoduan will not be entrenched in Sichuan for long. The most important thing is to sort out the broken states and counties in Sichuan in order to restore it. "This is the case, but the imperial military order has not been issued, who dares to use the army without permission? In the Jinghu area, Zheng Yunming could rely on his status as an official to go around. The two envoys before and after him were all his father's old subordinates. Who else could control him? However, cross-theater operations involve the strategic layout of the imperial court, and the Privy Council will inevitably ask questions. According to the military system of the Song Dynasty, anyone who uses troops and horses privately will be executed. Even Zheng Yunming can hardly guarantee his escape from Lin'an's investigation. According to the rules, the general must first submit a letter to the court stating the reasons for deploying troops to protect Shu, and then the court will approve the official document, and also direct the General Consul Division to allocate food and salary, and the Envoy Division to deploy troops for reinforcements. This approach ensures everything is stable in peacetime. This method is very effective in dealing with local disturbances or local conflicts on the border. But it seems clumsy to deal with the Mongolian army, a top-level army that is strategically open and close. "In this case, we will immediately submit a document to the political hall and apply for the deployment of military horses to Sichuan for support." Zheng Yunming said decisively: "With the help of Tasi, there is no shortage of horses in the army now. We will use express delivery to speed up the horse racing. On the 15th, It will be enough to arrive at Zhengshitang within 10 days. If Zhengshitang can reach a conclusion in ten days, there will be a response within 40 days at the latest. We will immediately start preparing food and fodder for the army and horses. Once the order from the imperial court comes, we can dispatch troops quickly and save some. The situation is better than just sitting here and waiting." Before Zhao Kui could comment on this, he suddenly heard the guard outside the door shouting: "There is a gold-letter sign coming from Lin'an!" Zhao Kui was stunned. At this critical moment, the court suddenly sent a gold-letter sign. The card was delivered urgently, I don¡¯t know what the purpose was. The envoy from the express delivery shop entered the study and met with Zhao Kui, who presented an official document and said: "The imperial court has learned that Shukou has been lost, and has sent me to come here at starry night to wait in Yingzhou to observe the victory or defeat in front. If the army is defeated, I will I will rush back to Lin'an. If the official army wins and the Hu people are defeated, I will immediately send this official document to Beijing and Shanghai and place it in the envoy's office." Then he asked, "Who is the deputy commander of Jing'e?" "Mr. Zheng Yunming?" Zheng Yunming stood up and said, "That's me." The courier took out a letter from his arms and said, "The official also has a handwritten letter from the imperial family, and I have specially ordered it to be opened by the deputy governor of Jing'e. " According to the law, there is no need to kneel to receive the emperor's personal letters. Zheng Yunming took the emperor's letter with both hands, and the deliveryman saluted and left. Bai Yijie shook his feather fan and suddenly smiled and said: "Congratulations, Vice-Capital. This letter from the official family will definitely benefit you." Zheng Yunming became confused and said: "How can I know that it will benefit me without even opening the letter? And the emperor's How come the letter came by such a coincidence, and someone was specially sent to wait in Yingzhou, and I am the deputy governor, why would the emperor write to me directly? "There must be something strange in it," he said, unfolding the letter in his hand. , the handwriting is indeed the emperor's handwriting. He has seen many of the emperor's handwriting since he was a child, and he is determined not to admit it wrong. The letter wrote: "You once said that there are disadvantages in the mouth of Shu, and now all of them are correct. When the barbarians entered Sichuan, their lives were ruined, and the country was also in danger of collapse. This is the autumn of life and death, and ministers who are not sincere and brave are not enough to serve Liang. Zhu. Since you became an official, your merits have been outstanding and you are famous all over the world. Who is your minister in the crisis of Bashu?If you can take it, the strategy proposed by you to move the brocade and strengthen the border has been achieved with great success. The urgent need in Shu depends on one person."