Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 151: A Man's Self-Respect

At noon on August 16th, the same time Xin Qiji and others set out from Fei County.

Liu Huai returned to his loyal and righteous army.

Along the way, he gained a deeper understanding of the term "war disaster."

It is not just the organized and disciplined looting and killing by the army that can be called a war disaster. A small group of vagrants or even a soldier who has turned into a bandit can cause harm beyond imagination.

Liu Huai saw with his own eyes a soldier throwing a torch into a barn, easily destroying a family's harvest for the year with just one move; he also saw with his own eyes how a small group of cavalry frightened all the villagers in a village, causing them to stop production and life and flee in a panic.

At first, Liu Huai tried to control the situation with his personal bravery, but after killing several Jurchens, he immediately understood.

A vicious incident of this scale cannot be solved by just a few people like him.

Only the collective can resolve collective incidents.

Even a makeshift team like the Tianping Army can be considered a reliable group, not to mention the more powerful Zhongyi Army.

Moreover, Liu Huai has always been a general and the leader of military and political groups, not a chivalrous knight.

Therefore, Liu Huai almost forced himself to put aside the sporadic military disasters, and headed east along the Jun River, eventually crossing the city of Linyi, which was under martial law.

After two battles with scouts, Liu Huai finally met scouts from the Loyal Army and was led across the river back to the front army's current base: Goujia Ferry.

Goujiadu is the most prosperous ferry on the east bank of Yishui. It is located opposite the outer ferry of Cangcheng, Yizhou. It can be said that after crossing Yishui from here, you can directly deploy your troops and attack Cangcheng.

There were countless food and supplies piled there for the Jin army's southern expedition, and the Loyal Army had been coveting them for a long time.

"Commander!" Deputy Commander Li Huoer was surprised and delighted to see Liu Huai: "You're back."

Liu Huai nodded: "This trip has been quite tiring. I will go to the central army first to report to my father."

Li Huo'er bowed and replied, "Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief. The Commander-in-Chief said that if you come back, the military operations on the front lines will be entrusted to you. You just need to send someone to report back."

"Pang Rugui, Guan Chongyan," Liu Huai immediately ordered, "You two must report everything that happened along the way to the Marshal, no matter how big or small. Do not exaggerate, and do not leave anything out."

After the two men clasped their fists and left, Liu Huai asked Luo Huaiyan, who was already exhausted, to go find his brother to rest, and then asked Li Huoer in detail about the military situation in the past few days.

After half an hour, Liu Huai sighed. It turned out that his adoptive father was still as skilled as ever. He had not even taken any action himself from the beginning to the end, but he had already destroyed the Yishui Shuhe defense line.

After sighing, Li Huo'er continued, pointing to the simplified map spread out on the table, "The vanguard's position is not good right now. Although the two Jurchen villages have collapsed, isolating Hejia Village, and the central army is personally leading the siege, Cui Toad to the south has not surrendered and is still waiting for He Bo to request reinforcements. Therefore, Zhang Xiaoyi of the right army is stationed south of the vanguard to oppose Cui Toad."

Liu Huai touched his chin and pointed at the map on the table: "In other words, the front army is now to the east of Hejiazhuang, to the south is Cui Hama, to the west is Yishui, and opposite Yishui is Linyi City.

The front army and the right army were in this semi-encirclement.

Among them, Hejiazhuang is trapped between the front army and the central army, right or not?"

Li Huoer nodded: "That's right."

"You are in me, and I am in you." Liu Huai shook his head, wondering what kind of situation this was. "Have any Jin thieves crossed the river in the past few days?"

Li Huo'er thought for a moment, "There must have been a constant flow of people, one or two at a time. These farmers don't distinguish between soldiers and civilians, so it's impossible to kill them, or even detain them. But I can guarantee that within thirty miles, there's absolutely no large-scale crossing of the river. Such a momentum would be impossible to conceal. Why do you ask, sir?"

Liu Huai said succinctly, "The Jin bandits concentrated their elite forces to attack the Tianping army, and I happened to encounter them. They initially won, then lost, and in the end, panicked by the news from here, suffered heavy casualties, and retreated in disgrace. Tsk, where can these remnants of the defeated army go? Especially those two Jurchen dogs. They've lost their manor, how can they still remain so calm?"

At this point, Liu Huai said proudly, "Never mind. Summon all the generals of the front army and Zhang Xiaoyi, the commander of the right army, to come for a military meeting."

A moment later, the right army commander Zhang Xiaoyi, deputy commander Li Xiu, and the front army commanders Zhang Baiyu, Shi Qilang, Luo Shenyan, and Wang Shilong also arrived. Before they could exchange greetings with Liu Huai, Liu Huai had already started a formal military meeting.

"I intend to cross the Yishui River tomorrow and attack Linyi. How are the troops prepared? How is their morale? Can they fight? Do they dare to fight? Any remaining questions must be clarified today. Let's talk about crossing the bridge first."

Sensing the solemn atmosphere, Li Huo'er quickly stood up and replied solemnly, "The planks and boats for the pontoon bridge are ready. We'll start setting up the bridge tonight before dark. By breakfast tomorrow, we'll have four pontoon bridges ready. With two thousand men in the front and one thousand five hundred in the right, we can all cross the river within half an hour."

Liu Huai nodded: "How about the cavalry?"

Zhang Baiyu quickly bowed and said, "Those two Jurchens have quite a few war horses. The vanguard has been allocated approximately 700 horses, but there are too few skilled knights in the army.

Many of the men who started the rebellion in the Jurchen village have also joined the army to seek revenge. About five hundred of them were originally Jurchen cavalry slaves. Their riding skills are decent, but they're still in training and can't follow orders. Only three hundred armored cavalry will be able to be deployed tomorrow."

"How about the infantry?"

Shi Qilang, Wei Chang, Luo Shenyan, and Wang Shilong all exchanged glances before Wei Chang spoke up, "The infantry are certainly adequate. They've won battle after battle, with clear rewards and punishments. Furthermore, they've begun distributing land in the conquered areas. The soldiers are all holding their breath."

Although it was a bit funny that Wei Chang, who was not even twenty years old yet, called most of the soldiers older than himself "erlang", no one found it strange.

In this day and age, class distinctions are clear and personal dependence is obvious. His identity as Wei Sheng's biological son is a golden sign in itself, and everyone in the loyal army will recognize him.

Liu Huai nodded in agreement: "What I mean is that I will personally lead the armored cavalry across the river and serve as the first vanguard.

Luo Dalang and Wang Wulang's troops were heavily armed with spears, forming the second vanguard. After crossing the river, they quickly formed a strong battle formation.

Luo Shenyan and Wang Shilong bowed in agreement.

"Achang concentrated all his crossbows to form the third vanguard, cooperating with Luo Dalang and Wang Wulang."

"Shi Qilang's sword and shield soldiers serve as the fourth vanguard, supporting the entire army."

"Li Huo'er is at the end, supporting the vanguard of the Loyalty Army."

Zhang Xiaoyi was about to speak when he saw Liu Huai looking at him, so he quickly bowed.

"Brother Xiaoyi, the right army must guard my rear while the front army crosses the river." Liu Huai said sternly, "In other words, no matter how many people from Hejiazhuang or Cui Hema attack us, the right army must hold on and not disrupt the morale of the front army."

“Unless the central army comes to our aid and takes over Goujiadu, the right army will be unable to move!”

"This is a heavy responsibility, Brother Xiaoyi, please do not take it lightly."

Zhang Xiaoyi hesitated to speak after hearing the first part, but when he heard the second half that Hejiazhuang and Cui Hema might attack with their entire army, he couldn't help but feel extremely happy. He nodded repeatedly, thinking that he finally had a chance to make a contribution.

He seemed to be happy when hearing about war.

God have mercy on us. During the battle with Zhang Chou a few days ago, although the spearmen of Zhang Xiaoyi's right army relied on the military formation to scare the farmers of Zhangjiazhuang into collapse, the formation was both the key to success and failure.

In order to maintain the integrity of the formation during the war, it was impossible to send people to capture prisoners. This led to the fact that although the right army had the greatest contribution and received the most rewards, when it came to individuals, the lion's share went to the subordinates of Shi Qilang and Zhang Baiyu.

In particular, one of Zhang Baiyu's men carried five fishing nets with him and captured seven prisoners by himself, which was directly regarded as the first meritorious service. Not only was he commended in public by Wei Sheng, but he also had an entry in the military merit book. In the future, no matter whether he was promoted or allocated land, he would be very advanced.

Everyone knew that Marshal Wei and Commander Liu were good men who kept their word and would give benefits if they were promised, so everyone was jealous.

Zhang Xiaoyi's subordinates have been eager for a big battle. They are not afraid of fighting a tough battle, but they are afraid of not fighting.

Seeing that he had easily persuaded Zhang Xiaoyi, Liu Huai looked around at the generals in the tent and asked, "Anything else you want to add?"

Zhang Baiyu, who had been taught by the Liangshan heroes, quickly added, "We need to send more small boats upstream and set up more hooks to prevent the enemy from using fireboats to burn the pontoon bridge and cut off our retreat."

Shi Qilang also said: "We also have siege equipment. We have made some ladders and battering rams. Let our fourth vanguard take them over.

If the Jin thieves are really bold enough to go out of the city and fight, after defeating these thieves, we can attack the city. At the very least, we must capture Kuai Kuai Cang City, otherwise these thieves will definitely burn the food.

If the Jin thieves dare not leave the city, please allow me to personally lead the attack with sword and shield."

Liu Huai thought about it and nodded in agreement.

After collective discussion, a plan to cross the Yishui River for a decisive battle was quickly perfected.

"Since nothing has been missed, send a copy of the record to the Central Army. After General Father agrees, the entire army will cross the river and attack Cangcheng at 9:00 PM tomorrow."

"No matter how many tricks or skills the Jin thief has, he can use them all. I will go all the way and attack him, and he will surely come to the rescue. This battle will surely succeed, and Yizhou can be pacified."

After Liu Huai finished speaking, he slammed the table hard, and all the generals of the Loyal Army responded loudly.

(End of this chapter)