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

Chapter 173 More is not necessarily better

"Who among you holds the highest official position?"

"I...I am the head of Yishui County..."

"Okay, then you stay and drag the other three away. I'll ask them later. Remember this, I'll ask the same questions to each of you one by one. If I find out you're lying..."

"Don't dare, don't dare."

"How come you still have grain ships heading south? Don't you know that Linyi has been captured by our loyal army?"

"……do not know."

"Why are you sailing south on a canal boat?"

"The county lord sent us to Linyi to deliver military rations, saying there were bandit attacks in Linyi... No, no, no... There were rebel forces coming to attack, so we should be careful and flee if the situation gets bad."

"Is this autumn grain?"

"It's autumn crops, of course."

"Your Yishui County is actually able to harvest the autumn crops? Your county lord must be very capable."

"You're joking, sir. The county lord said there's no need to hold back because the government... the Jin army is coming. Even if anyone is dissatisfied, just slaughter them."

"Once the Jin bandit army arrives, you will definitely be asked to gather food and supplies, right?"

"Yes... yes... After receiving the news a few days ago, everyone in the county government, including the chief clerk, the county magistrate, and the county magistrate, went to various villages to collect food and fodder... Everyone went crazy... They heard that the Jin bandits were coming, with hundreds of thousands of men and horses, and the warehouses in Linyi County were already empty. The county magistrate said that if we can't feed these Jin bandits, then we will all be thrown into the pot and cooked."

"Hundreds of thousands?"

"Well... maybe not that much, but still tens of thousands."

"Then you are still transporting grain to Linyi?"

"There's no other way. Both sides will be beheaded, so we just have to deal with it."

Liu Huai asked several other people separately, and their answers were similar.

It seems that a large army is really going to enter Yishui County upstream of Yishui.

Moreover, based on the information revealed by the previously intercepted grain ships and captured Jin officials, Liu Huai seemed to believe that Yishui County really believed that Linyi had not yet been recovered and was still fighting.

This was naturally due to the poor information transmission in those days, but also because Yishui County was within the territory of Juzhou. Even if the magistrate of Yishui knew that something was wrong with Yizhou, he did not dare to stop the canal transport without the order of Wanyan Zijin, the magistrate of Juzhou.

So, what was Wanyan Zijin doing?

A large-scale uprising also broke out in Ju County, the capital of Juzhou, and he was being surrounded and beaten at that time.

"Madam, madam... Commander, we've said everything we need to say. Can you spare our lives? From now on, we'll serve you faithfully without hesitation."

Liu Huai stood up and said with a smile, "I really want to spare your lives, but you didn't harm me, so how can I judge you? How about this? Let the group of boatmen behind you speak. If half of them think you shouldn't be killed, I'll let you go. How do you say that?"

Not only the captain who asked the questions, but the others also turned pale instantly.

They had no idea how many civilians they had killed along the way, and they had long been hated by the civilians. How could they survive if they let the civilians decide their lives and deaths?

Some people immediately cried and begged for mercy, and some even shouted and cursed loudly.

But the knights of the Loyalist Army didn't care about that. They dragged one by one and brought them to the boatmen who were wolfing down the porridge.

"Should this person die? Should he be killed?"

The knight did not make any opening remarks. He just kicked the Jin official to the ground as usual, then grabbed his hair and pulled up his upper body so that the boatmen could see his face clearly.

"Damn..."

"Kill, kill him!"

At first only one or two people were shouting, but in the end everyone was shouting almost in unison.

"Kill him!" Amidst the shouts of killing, the knight swung his sword and chopped off the head of the Jin official, then pulled another person over and continued questioning.

A moment later, indeed, none of the Jin officials survived.

Liu Huai lost interest in watching any further when the first head fell to the ground.

To be fair, including the Jin officials killed during the cavalry raid led by Guan Qilang, is there not a single kind-hearted person among these people? Are they all turtles and bastards?

And will this kind of emotion-driven approach really not lead to wrongful convictions? Will it really not kill the few good people who have done nothing wrong?

This is almost inevitable.

But the same thing goes, the chaos in the Jin Dynasty was not caused by a few bad officials, but was caused by the systematic evil deeds of everyone from top to bottom.

Systemic evil can only lead to systematic killing.

Liu Huai turned to He Boqiu and said, "Old He, it's clear now. The Jin Kingdom has already sent a regular army, at least a few thousand, at most tens of thousands, to retake Linyi."

He Boqiu asked, "Could it be that Dalang knew in advance that the Jin thieves would move south along the Yishui River, and therefore personally led his men to survey the terrain?"

Liu Huai shook his head. "Actually, it could be anywhere. Let alone going south along the Yi River, even if the Jin army from Pizhou attacks from the north along the Yi River, or if the Jin army from Dongping Prefecture attacks from the west via Fei County, or even if the Jin navy desperately abandons the Jiaozhou Bay fleet and goes over Jiuxian Mountain and Maer Mountain to fight us, it wouldn't be surprising."

He Boqiu resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Why don't you say that the Jin Dynasty Emperor Wanyan Liang gave up the Song Dynasty and personally led the army to fight against the loyal army?

The Jin navy was formed with the express purpose of attacking Lin'an and delivering a powerful right hook to the Song. Were they mad? Abandoning their fleets and trekking across vast mountains and rivers to provoke Wei Sheng?

Similarly, there is Pizhou, which is located at the intersection of Yishui and the former Sishui - now the Yellow River. There is indeed no shortage of soldiers and horses there, but they are elite troops organized to fight to the death with the Song State in Lianghuai. Do they have nothing better to do than to suppress bandits?
Are the wars in Lianghuai still going on?
Therefore, the most likely approach for the Jin Dynasty was to mobilize the troops in the rear, attack the Loyal Army to open up the Yishui Channel, and then march to the front line after a short rest, killing two birds with one stone.

The rear area is either Yidu Prefecture, where the Shandong Military Command is located, or Dongping Prefecture, an important town connecting Shandong and Hebei.

As for transferring troops from Bian Jing, it is not impossible, but it is a bit ridiculous.

After all, although the Loyal Army had already captured two states, in the eyes of the Jin Kingdom, they were still just petty thieves. It was not as if the eastern Shandong Road was completely lost, so why rush?
"During the last military meeting, my father and I agreed that if the Jin invaders came from Fei County, he would resist them by crossing the Jun River. If they came from Juzhou along the Yishui River, I would lead the army to block them and try my best to prevent the Jin invaders from spreading to Yizhou."

"Of course, there are Tianping troops in Fei County. If the Jin thieves want to pass through there, they will be blocked no matter what."

He Boqiu was silent for a moment before he said, "If there really were tens of thousands of Jin thieves heading south along the Yishui River, could Dalang alone stop them?"

Liu Huai laughed and said, "I only said that it could be anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands, but Lao He, you really just picked the biggest number."

After saying this, Liu Huai turned serious again: "If the Jin bandits really have tens of thousands of troops, then we will need to combine the strength of the Loyalty Army, the Tianping Army, and even the Dongping Army to fight together. At that time, we will most likely rely on the manor between the Yishui and Shuhe Rivers to entangle with the Jin bandits. You must be mentally prepared."

He Boqiu seemed to have anticipated this. He just shook his head when he heard this: "Without any reinforcements from outside, and no city to defend within, no one will come to save us. Even if all three armies worked together and died together, how could they truly stop an army of tens of thousands?"

Liu Huai was finally completely helpless: "So this is the shortcoming of powerful people like you, Lao He. The long-term small-scale conflicts have made you think inertialy, and you can't imagine what it would be like to have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. The food and fodder alone is an astronomical figure."

"More troops isn't always better. If the Jin bandits arrive with 50,000, they won't even need us to fight them; they'll collapse due to lack of food. Remember, northern Juzhou is mountainous and hilly; how could they transport food and fodder so conveniently?"

"If the Jin bandits arrive with 30,000 troops, I will personally lead the cavalry to patrol the outside and cut off their food supply. They won't be able to hold out for long."

"The most troublesome thing is that the Jin army only has a few thousand elite soldiers, so we have to fight a tough battle." Liu Huai hung the melon hammer back on his waist and pondered for a moment before saying, "By then, with the strength of the Loyalty Army, we will need to send out the entire army.

Moreover, it would be best to choose Juzhou as the battlefield, so as not to affect Yizhou, which already has some order in the rear.

The work of distributing land and collecting taxes in the rear cannot stop, and when the time comes, we'll have to rely on you, Old He, to provide us with your full support."

He Boqiu was silent for a long time, as if he was weighing the pros and cons, or thinking about something. Liu Huai did not urge him, but just waited quietly.

After a long while, He Boqiu bowed and said earnestly, "Lord, if I cannot go into battle, I would like to send my two sons to the army to serve as your guards and make great achievements. I hope you can take good care of them."

Hearing this, Liu Huai finally breathed a sigh of relief and laughed heartily.

It was not until this time that he was sure that he could absorb this group of Yishui heroes into the army and that there would be no trouble for the time being.

As for when we can officially rely on them as our confidants, that will only be possible after we win a few big battles.

　Draw a simple map
　　
　
(End of this chapter)