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

Chapter 206 The situation in Shandong is becoming increasingly chaotic
The first thing is simple.

Kai Zhao and Ming Chun of the Dongping Army were both brave generals who had experienced the Kaishan Zhao Uprising. They had also made a huge noise in the two routes of Shandong, and were the lucky ones who escaped from the sea of blood and corpses.

The reason they did not dare to attack Ju County with all their strength before was because they did not know the situation in Yizhou. They were afraid that during the fighting, the Jin army in Yizhou would send troops to rescue. Not only would all their previous efforts be wasted, but the morale would also collapse, and the entire army might be defeated.

Now, Yizhou has been completely recovered, and the left and right wings are all our own people. Liu Huai even led his troops north to the west of Ju County and set up a camp parallel to them. All possible worries have been eliminated.

So, after meeting with Liu Huai that day, Kai Zhao returned and intensified his attack on the city. Late last night, with the Ju County defenders already exhausted, Ming Chun personally led dozens of brave men up the ladders, opened the south gate, and let the army in.

By the early morning, Ju County was pacified. Wanyan Zijin, the governor of Yizhou, and Deng Xing, the governor of Ju County, and other officials of all prefectures and counties were executed. Ju County was then recovered by the Dongping Army.

This also meant that the upper reaches of the Shu River were also in the hands of the Northern Expedition Army. The two possible marching routes of the Wuxing Army, namely, going south along the Yishui River and going south along the Shu River, both became difficult challenges.

The second incident was relatively smaller and happened right before Liu Huai's eyes.

Furthermore, although Zhang Baiyu had gathered some cavalrymen with local accents to spread the word, the people's first reaction upon seeing the soldiers was to flee in all directions, hardly giving him a chance to preach. However, force is not an option in such situations, as once blood is shed, the original favor becomes an enmity.

Although some experienced people knew what the Han Chinese Northern Expedition Army was and knew that these people had good intentions, they followed their advice and marched south. However, these people were a minority after all, and the people they led were usually just their relatives and friends, so they could not form a large-scale force.

So, Zhang Baiyu struggled for half a day until his voice became hoarse, but he only managed to get about eleven of the people to change their route and head south.

This is also human nature, there is no other way. When people flee, they generally have a set direction, either to seek refuge with relatives, or to a good place they have heard of, or simply go up the mountain to lead bandits.

How could they completely obey the orders of the Loyal Army just because an army of unknown origin said a few words like the Han Northern Expedition Army was acting for the people?

Just when Zhang Baiyu was at a loss, things took a major turn with Guan Chongyan on the other side.

It's simple enough to say.

Guan Chongyan brought a bunch of flags and showed off his power in front of several Zhujiazhuang villages. His original duty was to monitor and intimidate the people of Zhu Tianshou so that he would not dare to organize the farmers to leave the village. As for sowing discord, it was just a side job.

But man proposes, God disposes. Zhu Tianshou is only one person after all. He can only be in charge of one place at a time, and the other villages have to be governed by his trusted relatives.

I don’t know whether it was because some people believed what Guan Chongyan said, or because they were afraid of the loyal army that destroyed such mighty cavalry in one day, but Nanzhu Village in the southernmost part and Zhushui Village east of Yishui all opened their gates and surrendered directly to Guan Chongyan.

This made Guan Qilang helpless, so he quickly asked the farmers to pack up their luggage and head south along the Yishui River.

Faced with the hesitant farmers, Guan Chongyan used all his eloquence to describe the Jin army as man-eating evil spirits and likened the Loyal Army to living Bodhisattvas who saved people.

Yishui County is about to become a battlefield between the Loyal Army and the Wuxing Army. If you don't leave and hide behind the Loyal Army, you will die without a burial place!

Land and houses won’t grow legs and run away. Just wait for the Loyal Army to drive away the Jin Army, and then you can come back!
After persuading the several leading officials, the farmers packed up their luggage and headed south in the direction indicated by Guan Chongyan.

Zhushuizhuang was even more remarkable, for it was right next to the Yishui River, and the farmers were generally capable of sailing, and some even had grain boats of several hundred tonnes. They simply packed up their belongings and headed south along the Yishui River.

Driven by these farmers, nearly a thousand people in Yishui County changed the direction of their escape and also headed south along the official road.

As to whether anyone informed Zhu Tianshou of what happened in these two Zhujiazhuang villages, it is unknown.

Guan Qilang had no time to care about Zhu Tianshou's mood. Seeing that things had taken a turn for the better with him, he led fifty riders straight to the county town without saying anything and started threatening at the city gate. But this time it didn't work.

There was a commotion in the city for a while, but before Guan Chongyan could react, several heads were thrown down from the top of the city. It seemed that someone in the city used drastic measures to suppress the commotion.

Guan Chongyan had no choice but to intimidate other Zhujiazhuang.

The most important news is the third one.

This news was obtained by Liu Huai himself.

At about half past the hour of Si, three light cavalrymen came galloping from the official road. As soon as they turned a corner, they came face to face with more than ten armored cavalrymen led by Liu Huai.

The three light cavalrymen were only slightly stunned, then reined in their horses and turned back.

But it was too late.

Liu Huai had already launched his attack and easily knocked the three men off their horses. One of the leaders seemed to want to throw the leather bag on his back into the river, but just as he raised his arm, Liu Huai broke it with the back of his knife.

The knight dismounted, tied up the three men tightly, and then separated them for a brutal interrogation. Liu Huai was quickly flipping through the documents in the leather bag.

After struggling for half an hour, Liu Huai finally determined what these three people did.

These three men were military envoys who came to deliver orders to Tu Danzhang, urging him to clear the way for the army. At the very least, they had to find out where the defense bottom line of the Zhongyi Army was, so that when the Wuxing Army arrived, they could attack directly according to the military intelligence instead of investigating again.

Why did Wu Xingjun suddenly become so anxious?
Because there is not enough time.

Why isn't there enough time?
Because the Wuxing Army was no longer in charge, Wang Youzhi, who started the rebellion in Bozhou, led his troops and directly attacked Dongping Prefecture, an important town in Shandong.

Grassroots governance in Shandong has almost collapsed.

The Wuxing Army received no support from local governments throughout its march. The only place it wanted to show off was Zibo Prefecture, but its grain collection led to large-scale civil unrest.

The northern part of Tai'an Prefecture, which had been somewhat empty due to Geng Jing leading most of the Tianping Army south to Yizhou, was heavily replenished with a large number of troops.

Regardless of the fighting strength of these rebels, they actually blocked the passage to the north of Tai'an Prefecture.

To put it bluntly, for the Wuxing Army, even if they killed all these people one by one, it would still waste some time, and the deadline given by Wanyan Liang to defeat the Zhongyi Army was September 10th!

Under such pressure, the Wuxing Army had decided to bypass Laiwu and head directly to Juzhou. However, even if this violated a major military taboo, it would still be a day or two later than planned.

After Liu Huai sorted out the situation, his first thought was: the two routes in Shandong have blossomed everywhere, and the momentum of the uprising has simply jumped directly past the spark stage and become a prairie fire. Under such circumstances, Wanyan Liang still insisted on marching south, which is really incredible.

All-in is a kind of wisdom, right?
But his second thought was that with one more day, many things could be taken care of.

At least the people who could evacuate have basically been able to evacuate.

(End of this chapter)