[Lightscreen]
[Before his death, Genghis Khan arranged for a Song–Mongol alliance against Jin, and this was by no means baseless.
In fact, after the Battle of Yehuling, Mongol dominance was already clear. Both Western Xia and Jin, feeling threatened, sent envoys to Song. To prevent a three-way coalition from forming, Temujin likewise dispatched messengers south to the Southern Song.
At the time, however, the Southern Song had only recently gone through drastic political upheaval. The headless tomb of Chancellor Han Tuozhou still reminded everyone what reckless war policy could lead to.
Moreover, Shi Miyuan, who had orchestrated Han Tuozhou's assassination, now held power. As the chief architect of the Jiading Peace Agreement with Jin, he naturally had no interest in launching campaigns.
Thus the envoys from Mongols, Xia, and Jin were all rejected by the Southern Song. Even the anti-Jin militias gathering in Henan and Guanzhong and appealing at the border for submission were refused. The Song strictly enforced the treaty clause forbidding the acceptance of defectors.
Later, however, the situation changed rapidly, and Southern Song policy began to waver.
When Emperor Xuanzong of Jin made the disastrous move of "losing the north and compensating in the south," it badly embarrassed the peace faction and gave the war faction new influence.
During this period, the Southern Song even sent envoys, escorted by Mongols, all the way to Central Asia to meet Temujin, who was still campaigning westward, to discuss destroying Jin together.
But when Emperor Aizong of Jin came to the throne and advocated restoring relations with Song and Xia to resist the Mongols, Song policy toward the Mongols turned ambiguous again, and Mongol envoys were refused entry.
In the second month of 1227, as Temujin saw the conquest of Western Xia nearing completion, he decided to intimidate the Southern Song. He temporarily sent a cavalry force to attack Jiezhou and then besiege Xihe Prefecture, hoping to frighten Song into granting passage.
The result was that the scare exposed Southern Song weakness completely.
When the Sichuan military commissioner heard of the Mongol advance, he followed a fine Southern Song tradition. Without verifying enemy strength, he waved his hand and ordered: abandon five prefectures and defend three passes.
Aside from Jiezhou, which had already fallen, Fengzhou, Tianshui, and Chengzhou withdrew their garrisons without even seeing a single Mongol soldier. The countryside was burned and devastated. Only the deputy commander He Jin, who refused to withdraw, prevented Xihe Prefecture from suffering the same fate.
This absurd incident is known in history as the Dinghai Incident. It also opened Mongol eyes wide.
If this is how you handle things, then dealing with you will be easy.
In 1231, Tolui forced passage by arms. He smashed through Maling Fort, Fengzhou, and Xingyuan Prefecture, then captured Xihe, Mianzhou, and Da'an. Cities he seized were massacred extensively.
The Sichuan pacification commissioner Gui Ruyuan immediately and gladly agreed to grant passage, sending the Mongols onward to destroy Jin.
In 1232, Jin and Mongols fought at Mount Sanfeng. Jin suffered catastrophic defeat, and the general Wanyan Chenheshang was killed.
In 1233, after Jin lost Bianjing, the dynasty entered its final countdown. That same year, Shi Miyuan died, allowing Emperor Lizong of Song to take personal control of government.
In 1234, the Southern Song provided three hundred thousand shi of grain to aid the Mongols against Jin. Meng Gong led troops to jointly besiege Caizhou, and Jin finally fell. He returned in triumph, bringing back half the corpse of Emperor Aizong.
That same year, newly ruling in person, Emperor Lizong was eager to accomplish something. Hearing that the Mongols were exhausted after years of war against Jin, he insisted on launching the Southern Song's final northern campaign, known in history as the Duanping Advance into Luoyang.
And thus the last two great generals of the Southern Song hurried toward their respective battlefields.]
---
"One incompetent commander… and Hanzhong suffers disaster like this!"
Zhang Fei's eyes bulged. He looked ready to drag that useless official out of the screen and strangle him.
The place names on the screen were unfamiliar, but judging from Chang'an's location and the terrain, it was easy to see that the Mongol ravaging described there was happening in Hanzhong.
In earlier campaigns, from Zigui to Jiangzhou had been pacified largely by his elder brother alone. The entirety of Yi Province had also relied on Zhao Yun's efforts, bringing peace to the region and forcing Liu Zhang to move to Jiangling.
As for the corridor from Baishui Pass to Yangping Pass to Hanzhong, though Pang Tong and Fa Zheng had planned strategy and Wei Yan carried out surprise attacks, the nominal commander had still been Zhang Fei himself.
And the warmth with which the elders of Hanzhong had greeted him upon hearing he was the sworn brother of Imperial Uncle Liu… he had never forgotten it.
Now, watching the small Mongol cavalry icon on the map creeping toward Jiameng Pass, and hearing the screen explicitly mention massacres, Zhang Fei could not hold back any longer.
"When the Central Plains are settled, I will return to Yanshan. I will guard You and Yan forever, manage the lands south and north of the desert, and never let our descendants suffer slaughter like this!"
Liu Bei stood and pressed his sworn brother's shoulder, finally persuading him to sit.
"No wonder later generations say this Genghis Khan was not famed for literary grace or romantic flair, only for war alone."
Zhang Fei turned his head aside.
At that moment he hated most of all the thousand years separating him from the Mongols.
He knew their disaster. He knew their eventual fall. Yet he could not bear to see their massacres.
That was his true feeling.
"Actually…"
Lu Su thought of the suffering he had seen among the people before entering Jiangdong, then of the devastation caused by Cao's armies in the Huai region, and then of the Mongol destruction said to be ten times worse. He could not help sighing repeatedly.
"When we first heard Temujin's words about the joys of life, we could already guess the disasters his people would bring."
But realizing that these calamities still lay nearly a thousand years in the future left him with the same helplessness as Zhang Fei.
"If one day General Yide guards You and Yan, I would gladly go with him. For men of Han from the south to defend the northern frontier… that is only our duty."
Zhang Fei glanced at him and shook his head.
"Strategist Lu should take care of his health first. The northern winds of You and Yan are harsh. Not a place that nourishes a man."
The words warmed Lu Su slightly, though he still intended to insist. Someone should set an example for the southern generations, so north and south would not drift apart.
But before he could speak, Zhang Fei muttered,
"I should ask Strategist Pang later whether he wants to see the great snows of Yanshan."
Zhuge Liang said nothing. He only waved his fan slowly, staring at the map on the screen for a long time.
They already knew the climate would soon grow colder for more than a century. The lands south of the desert would suffer unprecedented severity, driving the tribes southward. Then would come eighty years of warming, followed by another even harsher cold period lasting over a century.
Could those two waves of cold be used to bring the battered lands of the southern steppe and the Hetao fully under Han control?
The northern steppe was too far for now, but to resist northern nomads most effectively, one needed Han settlers in the southern steppe.
Ideas were already forming in his mind. Yet Zhuge Liang also knew that even the finest plans required grain reserves first, fiscal reform second, and strong industry third.
Confucius had said: if one's conduct is upright, orders need not be issued; if one's conduct is not upright, orders will not be obeyed.
Could this also mean that if one possessed the strength to campaign against the disobedient, then without issuing commands the tribes would submit? And if martial virtue declined, then no number of commands would matter?
After all, the Book of Songs speaks of "rectifying the four quarters." Perhaps rectifying also implied punitive campaigns.
Turning the thought over, Zhuge Liang shook his head with a faint smile.
Had he been led astray too much by the later scholar's wild interpretations?
Still… it might be worth writing down first.
He scribbled quickly in his notebook when he heard Lu Su murmur beside him,
"This Duanping campaign into Luoyang… was far too hasty."