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

Chapter 274: Twenty Years of War in the South

The time came to September 15th.

Shandong has been completely calm in the past few days, and the Jin navy has given up its attack on the Dongping army under the threat of internal strife.

Even the Loyal Army only surrounded Yishui County from three sides, hoping to force the Wuxing Army out. But the Wuxing Army just cowered inward, not moving a muscle.

The only relatively important thing was that Wang Youzhi, a local tyrant in Bozhou who had invaded Daming Prefecture, was hit head-on and defeated head-on by Shi Zhanxie of the Wei Yi Army. Most of the tens of thousands of Tianxiong troops under his command were defeated, and he only led thousands of remnants back to Bozhou.

Shizhanxie also led his troops in pursuit and took advantage of the situation to attack Shandong.

If Wang Youzhi was defeated again in Bozhou, he would most likely flee to the southeast, towards Tai'anzhou and Yizhou, where the Tianping Army was stationed.

Maybe Shizhanxie will start a war with Geng Jing that will be as big as Mars hitting the Earth.

But overall, Shandong was relatively calm at this time.

But everyone knows that this is just the calm before the storm.

The Jin navy could not stare at the Dongping Army forever, and the Zhongyi Army could not let the Wuxing Army get away with it. Even the Weiyi Army that had invaded Shandong, the reorganized Tianping Army, and the Tianxiong Army that was fighting like a trapped beast were not easy to deal with.

Everyone was waiting for the start of the Song-Jin War.

And today, the war has indeed begun.

On the afternoon of September 15th, Tushan Hexi, who was in Guanzhong, launched the attack first. He joined forces with Zhang Zhongyan and led 5,000 cavalrymen to break through Dasan Pass and attack Fengzhou along Chencang Road. After marching for 30 miles, they set up three military camps and faced Huangniu Fort, where the Song army was stationed.

Li Yanjian, the defender of Huangniu Fort, asked for help from the rear.

Wu Lin led his army north, preparing for a head-on confrontation with the Jin Kingdom.

Thirty years after the brothers Wu Jie and Wu Lin fought the Jin army at Heshangyuan nearby, Wu Lin once again set out on this Chencang Road.

At this moment, the veteran secretly made up his mind that this time, he must recapture his hometown.

Around the same time, Xu Zongyan, the prefect of Chuzhou, who had refused the Donghai rebels' submission to the Song Dynasty and had also supported Wei Sheng's Northern Expedition with practical actions, crossed the Huai River and arrived at Linhuai County, Sizhou, in the Jin territory, and met the Jin envoy carrying a silver medal.

Xu Zongyan snatched the briefcase of the Jin envoy and found out the Jin's manifesto to attack the Song Dynasty, as well as words denouncing Zhao Gou and issuing an ultimatum to the Song Dynasty.

On the banks of the surging Huai River, Xu Zongyan, who prided himself on being smart and capable, was completely stunned.

Even though he was mentally prepared for the Song-Jin War, Xu Zongyan was still terrified by the fact that the war between the two countries thousands of miles apart had officially begun.

Just like the upper and lower millstones grinding, no matter which side finally collapses, the first one to be crushed into powder will definitely be the bean in the center of the millstone.

And now, Chuzhou is right in the center of the millstone, at the forefront of the war.

"Ha ha ha ha ha……"

The silver medal envoy, whose mouth was covered in blood after being beaten, was still knelt on the ground with his hands tied behind his back. But even though his hair was grabbed and his scalp was bleeding, he still had a ferocious smile on his face.

"You Song dog, you're still reading these surrender documents and declarations of war, but you don't understand that speed is of the essence in war. You're so clueless, you probably don't know that the Left Supervisor of the Great Jin arrived in Sizhou yesterday. Now that I think about it, he should be crossing the river to attack Huaiyin by now."

"Song Gou, when you go back, you'll see your entire family, including your wife, children, and grandchildren, all chopped into pieces!"

"Ha ha……"

"Ha ha ha ha!!!"

The silver medal envoy knew that he had no hope and his smile became more and more crazy.

Xu Zongyan's heart sank.

He had crossed the Huai River for two days. In order to investigate the situation personally, he crossed the river from Xuyi Army upstream of the Huai River and wanted to go around to Suzhou from the side.

But what he never expected was that it was such a coincidence and the timing was so different that he was completely unaware that he had passed by the 30,000-strong army led by Tu Shan Zhen.

"Kill him." Xu Zongyan calmed himself down and said to the attendant who was escorting the envoy with the silver medal.

The servant drew his knife and was about to attack, but Xu Zongyan raised his hand to stop him.

"Give me the knife." Xu Zongyan's cheeks twitched. "The war between Song and Jin has broken out again. The next ten or twenty years may be filled with endless fighting. As a minister of state, how can I not kill people?"

As he said this, Xu Zongyan ignored the reactions of his other companions and swung his sword to chop the Jin man's neck.

He used the wrong force and too little strength, so the blow did not behead him, but only cut off half of his neck.

The golden man's neck was bleeding profusely, and he twitched on the ground for a while, leaving the hems of the clothes of several people around him in disarray before he died.

Xu Zongyan's face turned pale, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go!"

He also has to go to garrison Chuzhou and fight back against the Jin army, so he can't delay here.

At this moment, Xu Zongyan believed that even if he was not the protagonist in history books, he should occupy a pioneering position.

However, decades later, when historians sorted out historical materials of this era, they were surprised to find that in this great war between Song and Jin, the first counterattack of Song was not by famous ministers and generals such as Wu Lin, Wu Gong, and Cheng Min; nor was it by local governors such as Lan Shiji and Xu Zongyan; nor was it even by Liu Huai and Wei Sheng, the northern expedition generals who were destined to appear in another history book.

But he was an unknown person near Lianshui.

At a small ferry crossing on the north bank of the Huai River, a thin old man who had once helped Wei Sheng's 300-man Northern Expedition Army cross the Huai River looked up at the sky with a single thought in his mind: What was my name?

It's funny.

Even Wei Sheng only called the thin old man Liu Daguan.

Even his sons and grandsons only knew the old man's name.

How is that actually possible?
Daguan is a general term for people who are in charge. Who would give their child such a big name?
Liu Daguan thought about it and finally felt a little discouraged.

He couldn't tell how old he was, but he remembered he was probably in his fifties. This wasn't surprising; forgetting one's age and name wasn't uncommon these days; it was common for people whose families were destroyed at a young age.

Judging from the chaos that had lasted from the prosperous Jingkang period to this time, there were naturally many people whose families were destroyed.

At this time, Liu Daguan only vaguely remembered that his family was from Jiangnan. As for whether his family was destroyed by Fang La's rebellion or the earlier Hua Shi Gang, he could not remember it no matter how hard he tried.

He was still young at that time, and he followed his family to escape in a daze. It was a blessing that he did not starve to death. Later, his family was separated and he was sold to Huaibei as a slave. After the Jingkang Incident, the world was in chaos, and he joined Han Shizhong's army again, and met Wei Sheng and others in the army.

Oh...Wei Dadao, I wonder how his Northern Expedition went?

Alas, can he accomplish what even the King of Han couldn’t do?
After his thoughts wandered for a long time, Liu Daguan suddenly remembered the reason why he recalled his original name.

Because this little ferry is so quiet.

To escape the war, the villagers had already evacuated south of the Huai River, some even going as far south as the Yangtze River. For the poor, pots and pans were precious, and they took everything they could.

The few chickens and dogs we raised were also taken away.

Thinking of this, Liu Daguan felt a little disappointed again. At least he should have kept the raccoon.

Anyway, both of his sons dislike this raccoon, so it is better to keep it as a companion for him.

After sighing, Liu Daguan put on a set of wooden armor woven from wood chips, picked up a sharpened wooden spear, stood up, and pushed open the wooden door of the yard.

A sound like muffled thunder came from afar. Liu Daguan listened attentively and felt inexplicably happy in his heart. Finally, there was some sound.

Then he locked the door, put on wooden armor, leaned on a spear, and slowly walked to the village entrance.

The thunder in the distance grew louder and more frequent, and soon a line of black emerged from the horizon.

The Jin army cavalry, wearing silver armor and black robes, surrounded a large flag. Although their speed was slow, they pressed forward with unstoppable force like a collapsing mountain.

Seeing so many cavalrymen, Liu Daguan was a little scared at first, but finally he stood firm again, leaning on the wooden spear and straightening his chest even more.

At this time, the cavalry leading the army had already seen the old man. They did not think he was a threat, but instead pointed at the old man's strange attire and laughed.

Soon, the armor of hundreds of Jin soldiers was torn apart, and the Jin general named Tudan seemed to want to see this wonder.

"This is the thief chief."

Liu Daguan said something to himself silently, and then under the gaze of hundreds of Jin army cavalry, he took the first step with a spear in hand.

Then comes the second step.

The cool autumn breeze blowing on his face made Liu Daguan feel a little surprised. He felt that his old arms and legs had regained some strength, as if he had really returned to his youth.

At that time, Liu Daguan had just joined Han Shizhong's team. After experiencing repeated escapes, he finally mustered up the remaining courage in Huangtiandang and besieged the Jin army.

At that time, some people wanted to escape and did not want to fight. Han Shizhong said to them: If you all escape, will there be any place for us Han people to survive in this world?

Perhaps it was this sentence that allowed Liu Daguan to suppress his fear and fight to the death.

And a few days ago, he also said this to his two sons who wanted to take him away by force: If they all escape, will there be any place for us Han people in the world?
Facing the autumn sunshine, Liu Daguan felt his steps becoming lighter and lighter, and he ran faster and faster, as if he was not charging towards the Jin army, but returning to his youth in the long river of time.

The dullness of old age, the struggle of middle age, the confusion of youth, and the fear of youth were all passed by one by one, and suddenly, he ran to the beginning of his memory.

It was a warm afternoon. Liu Daguan's father was sitting behind his desk, looking at his homework, shaking his head and sighing.

"Ada, how come you can't even write your own name, 'Liu Zhaorui', correctly?"

I... I finally remembered my name.

At this moment, Liu Daguan was so excited that he almost wanted to laugh out loud.

The next moment, the old soldier who once followed Han Shizhong raised his wooden spear high and roared while running.

"Liu Zhaorui of the Divine Martial Left Army is here. The Jin thieves can come and fight to the death together!"

The armored cavalry rushed past, crushing the dust.

"On September 15th, the troops arrived at Lianshui. They encountered a madman blocking the road and demanding a fight. They killed him."

——"Notes on the Southern Expedition" by Tu Shanzhen
The old man of history only paused briefly by the Lianshui River, glanced sideways, and then continued to drive his long carriage forward, rolling up everyone's desires, prayers, lives, and cries, stirring them into a pile of fragments and spreading them across the sky and earth.

On this day, the war spread from Xichuan to Xiangfan, from Shandong to Lianghuai. After twenty years of peace, the Song and Jin countries officially began to fight.

(End of this chapter)