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

Chapter 262 The world is like a wave that never ends

Just when the Loyal Army won a great victory, a military meeting was being held at Chenjia Island, nearly 300 miles northeast of the battlefield, where the Jin navy was stationed.

The person sitting in the first seat was a middle-aged scholar. He was holding a scroll in his hand and reading it carefully under an oil lamp. He frowned or squinted his eyes from time to time, as if he was thinking about something.

This person was none other than Su Baoheng, the Minister of Works of the Jin Dynasty and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of East Zhejiang Province.

Civil and military generals filed in, but slowed down their pace when they saw this scene. Two armored generals even held down their armor with their hands for fear of making noise and causing disturbance.

Under the guidance of the leading general, these people first saluted Su Baoheng who was sitting in the first seat, and then stood on both sides and sat behind the desk.

Su Baoheng put down the scroll and picked up the brush to mark it several times before saying, "Since we are all here, let's not waste time. Zheng Jia, tell me about the current situation."

"Follow the order!"

The armored man who was the first one on the left stood up upon hearing this, first bowed to Su Baoheng, and then bowed to everyone around him, which could be said to be the most thorough etiquette.

This person was none other than the second-in-command of the Jin navy, the prefect of Yidu, the deputy commander of the Zhejiang East Road navy, and a member of the imperial clan, general Wanyan Zhengjia.

I would like to add one more thing here. What really reflects the high status and power of the Wanyan Zheng family is not the position of deputy commander-in-chief of the navy, but the prefect of Yidu.

The Jin Dynasty had three military command offices and three military control offices, all of which served as strategic pivots for the Jin Dynasty to control the world. The Shandong Military Control Office was located in Yidu Prefecture, demonstrating the importance of the Yidu Prefecture Governor.

If it's not obvious enough, the previous prefect of Yidu was named Wanyan Bendu.

This guy is the 'gold medal prince' that Wanyan Aguda promised a bright future to! The current Duke of Qi!

The others were not surprised to see such a powerful person acting like this, and they all returned the greetings.

"I recently received military intelligence, sent two days ago." Wanyan Zhengjia said loudly, holding his sword, "The Wuxing Army can't help it and has already started fighting with the loyal and righteous bandits. That Meng Tian, the state defender, said he has a high probability of victory and can recapture Linyi before September 10th. Humph, I don't think that's possible!"

"Haha." The first man on the right laughed out loud. "Indeed, it's not that we underestimate Meng Tian's ability to protect the country, but at this moment he has more courage than wisdom. It's fine for him to follow the army and fight on the battlefield. To suppress bandit uprisings, we still need to use both suppression and appeasement, and cooperate with the local authorities. This guy is definitely not capable of carving a peony on a grain of rice!"

The man who was speaking had gray hair and beard, and his face was full of wrinkles, but his complexion was rosy and his voice was loud. He did not look old, and his stature was actually older than Wanyan Zhengjia, who was much younger than him.

This person was none other than Xu Wen, commander-in-chief of Wucheng Army, defense envoy of Junzhou, and water conservancy inspector of the acting capital, Xu Yanwu.

Xu Wen's life can be described as legendary. Although he could not be the protagonist, he was an important figure in every major drama.

He was a prominent figure who rose to prominence in the Jingdong and Jingdong regions during the Jingkang period. A native of Mizhou, he initially served as the Left Tenth General of Mizhou's Banqiao Commandery. Later, he became the Eighth General of the Imperial Camp, stationed in Mingzhou.

In the third year of Shaoxing, Xu Wen surrendered to the pseudo-Qi with 60 warships and was promoted to the governor of the sea route. After the Qi was abolished, he was appointed as the commander of the Jin Nanjing infantry and the acting commander of the cavalry and infantry.

His former direct superior was even more famous, the general Li Cheng of the Qi Dynasty.

That is Li Cheng, who was often beaten by Yue Fei.

It's a sad thing. Li Cheng could be considered a hero and even defeated Han Shizhong, but he could never defeat Yue Fei.

As an early experience pack for Yue Fei's army, Li Cheng's troops not only provided Yue Fei with many war horses, but also provided Yue Fei with many elite soldiers and generals. As Li Cheng's trusted subordinate, Xu Wen naturally suffered many blows.

But after being beaten so many times, Xu Wen is still alive, which is enough to show that this person is extraordinary.

Of course, this is all in the past. After the heroes who rose from Jingkang gradually faded away, people like Xu Wen, who lived longer, also took on important responsibilities and became the top figures in the world. And Xu Wen naturally had reason to mock Meng Tian's reasons for defending the country.

Who am I fighting? Yue Fei, Han Shizhong. Can you fight these people? You can't.

If you don't cooperate with the navy now, can your Wuxing Army capture Linyi before September 10th? If you can't capture it on September 10th, delay it to September 20th, and then to October 1st. There's no more time to delay.

What’s the matter? Do you, the Wuxing Army, still want to be the first army to prepare for the next southern expedition?
"General Xu, please wait a moment." Su Baoheng frowned and stopped Xu Wen from talking nonsense. "Zheng Jia, please continue."

Ignoring Xu Wen's embarrassment, Wanyan Zhengjiafu bowed again, "General Xu's concerns are correct. Meng Tian's first major mistake was failing to ascertain the enemy's situation... I even think that in just a few days, he couldn't even ascertain the exact number of troops in the Loyalty Army. Such a hasty battle could lead to heavy losses."

Su Baoheng nodded and sighed again: "This can't be helped. Your Majesty has always been impetuous when encountering things, and Meng Tian, the guardian of the country, can only follow suit. Everything has been rushed at the same time, just like this southern expedition. It's too hasty."

There was complete silence in the tent.

Su Baoheng dared to say these words, but they didn't dare to listen.

This was not the first time that Shangshu Su had complained about Wanyan Liang in public. In fact, more than one person had reported him to Wanyan Liang, but all fell on deaf ears.

After a few rounds, how could these people not know that Wanyan Liang and Su Baoheng were a relationship that was so harmonious that it was impossible to separate them?
The reason why Wanyan Liang was so lenient with Su Baoheng and let him take charge of a large army as a Han minister was naturally to check and balance the Jurchen nobles, but it was also because Su Baoheng, although he dared to speak out against the emperor and stick to the facts, could complete anything Wanyan Liang was determined to do, no matter how difficult it was.

Compared with those ministers who pretend to obey but actually disobey, Wanyan Liang likes people like Su Baoheng the most.

"Ahem." Wanyan Zhengjia coughed twice, pretending nothing had happened and brushing the matter aside, he continued, "If Meng Tian can win, everything will be fine, but if he loses, the situation in Shandong may get out of control.

You must know that our navy cannot stay in Shandong forever. Sooner or later, we will have to cooperate with Your Majesty in the southern expedition. It is hard to say what the situation in Shandong will be like by then."

This is also a true statement that is fair and just.

Faced with the empty situation of Shandong, the Jin court naturally had some contingency plans.

The general implementation method was that when the Jin army marched south, they would continue to move the Meng'an and Mouke households from their old territory in Liaodong to the south, and continue to settle the Jurchens in Shandong.

In the eyes of the court officials, the chaos in the Central Plains was due to the fact that they had too few people. For example, if ten thousand Jurchen households were to be dispersed and resettled in the eastern part of Shandong, how could the Han people have room to rebel?

However, the naval generals who had been in Shandong for a long time felt that the officials in the court were a little wishful thinking.

Regardless of whether these 10,000 Jurchen households were willing to come to Shandong, or whether they would flee halfway, even if one man from each of these 10,000 households were to be drafted into a 10,000-man force, they would be unfamiliar with the area and could they really pacify the situation in Shandong.

What the Wanyan Zheng family said makes sense.

From a historical perspective, it is hard to say whether these 10,000 households can stabilize the situation in Shandong. They really do not want to abandon their homes and businesses.

In real history, this army, mainly composed of the Jurchens from Hesuguanlu, became dissatisfied as soon as they arrived in Tai'an. They turned back to Liaodong to support Wanyan Yong, playing a significant role in suppressing his rebellion in the early days of his reign.

Even Hesheli Zhining was defeated by them.

The Wanyan Zheng family wanted to rely on this group of Jurchens from Liaodong to maintain the situation in Shandong. They could only say that the dignitaries were really thinking too much.

(End of this chapter)