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

Chapter 284: The Invasion of Huaibei and Huainan

Whether it is military strategy or tactics, the simpler the better. The operability of a series of tactics that are linked together in a chain is very low in the real world. The reason is that it is too easy to get out of control during the operation of the entire strategy.

For a complete plan, even if each step has a 90% chance of success, after going through ten stages, there is only a 35% chance of success.

Therefore, Hesheli Liangbi's strategy to deal with Wanyan Yong was very simple. He gathered all the elite troops, prepared the war horses, and quickly controlled the leader of the rebellion and usurpation of the throne, and then the matter would be settled.

In Ju County, Liu Huai's strategy was also quite simple and crude.

Gather all the troops that can come and defeat them all within one day.

But the fact is, even with such a simple plan, once it is implemented, all kinds of situations will arise one after another.

On the morning of October 3rd, in Rizhao City, 7,000 Dongping troops and 3,000 Zhongyi troops were fully mobilized.

As soon as the sun rose, the Northern Expedition Army, which had had a full meal, came out in full force and attacked the Jin Navy's Beidaying.

The Shenfeng Army stationed in Beidaying was unwilling to be outdone, but was also worried that the Northern Expedition Army would rush into the camp, so they lined up directly outside the camp and fought the Northern Expedition Army head-on.

Although both armies have tens of thousands of people, even though the Shenfeng Army has almost no cavalry, the combat effectiveness of both sides is still not equal.

Two hours after the battle began, although the Jin army's small camp was unable to send out troops due to the harassment of the defenders of Shijiu Mountain and attacked the Northern Expedition Army from the flank, in the frontal battle, the Northern Expedition Army was slowly pressed southward by the Shenfeng Army.

There were even one or two formations that were directly defeated. If the front line had not been filled in time, the entire army would have been defeated.

Zhang Rong's judgment can be said to be accurate. The current Dongping Army is no match for the main force of the Jin Kingdom on the front battlefield.

Even the Jin army itself knew this.

Pu Nianheda stood under the Shenfeng banner, stroking his bald head and saying, "It doesn't make sense. Why would the Han dogs take the initiative to attack our army? Could it be that these bandits have discovered something?"

Awukui, the deputy commander of the Shenfeng Army, was also somewhat confused.

"That shouldn't be the case. Didn't Wu Chengjun already get rid of all of his troops? How could the contents of the imperial edict be spread everywhere?"

Pu Nianheda grabbed the reins and circled the high ground a few times anxiously. Then he said with some annoyance, "If I had known the Han dogs were going to come out to fight, I wouldn't have let Gao Shi and his men from the Weizhen Army go first. Now, our Shenfeng Army has to pave the way for those barbarians. This is really unreasonable."

Awukui quickly whispered, "General, be careful with your words."

Although as a Jurchen nation, they could bully the Han people without restraint, they still had to show some respect when facing the Xi people, Bohai people, and Khitan people.

Besides, after what happened to Wu Chengjun just now, he should be more restrained no matter what.

Punianheda knew he had spoken out of turn, but he was still a little impatient. After a moment, he finally lost his patience and took out his token, threw it to a personal soldier, and said, "Go, go and urge Gao Shi again. What is he dawdling for? Is he ready? I'll give him another hour. By then, no matter what, I'm going to withdraw!"

The personal guard took the token and rode away.

Awu Kui looked at the receding figure of the personal guard and sighed, "What the hell is going on? How can a war be fought like this?"

Pu Nianheda also sighed, "The imperial edict has made it very clear. Your Majesty has already crossed the Huai River from Wokou and invaded the heartland of the Song Kingdom. We are ordered to dispatch our navy immediately to assist Your Majesty in crossing the Yangtze River."

Hearing this, Awu Kui was still somewhat incredulous: "Didn't Your Majesty say that this time, only a small force was sent? The main force should have gone to Xiangfan. Why are you still thinking of crossing the river?"

Pu Nianheda spread his hands and said, "Who knows? Maybe the battle in Lianghuai went too smoothly! I asked the commander-in-chief, but he said that all wars must be sacrificed for national policy. He told us to put down the Dongping bandits and immediately return to camp and board the ships to support His Majesty. What else can I say?"

As he spoke, he pointed angrily at the distant Dongping flag and said angrily, "Zhang Rong is so ignorant! We could have withdrawn in just one more day. Why is he making things difficult for us today?"

The reason why the two were so angry was very simple.

Unlike the hundreds of thousands of troops that rushed into the Huai River and the Yangtze River in history, this time Wanyan Liang personally led only four Wanhu regular troops. Including Tushan Zhen's three Wanhu troops who marched along the Si River, whose course was taken over by the Yellow River, the total number of Jin troops that invaded the Huai River and the Yangtze River was only 70,000.

But having a small number of people has its advantages. The Jin army's mobility is much better now than in real history.

Historically, the Jin army crossed the river on October 2nd, but now it is several days earlier than in history.

However, even though the Jin army had fewer troops, the Song army was still as weak as it had been in history.

The war between the Song and Jin dynasties had already begun, but Wang Quan, the Song general who was in charge of the war in Huaixi, was still in Hezhou on the Yangtze River, afraid to move forward.

Under such circumstances, the important towns of Zhongli in Haozhou and Shouchun in Anfengjun on the Huai River were almost captured by the Jin army in one fell swoop. The 40,000 troops led by Wanyan Liang personally gained a firm foothold in the two Huai regions without any losses, and turned their spearhead directly to Hefei, an important town in the west of the Huai River.

It has to be said that under such an advantage, even the most conservative Jin ministers had many fantasies, and even Wanyan Liang was greatly emboldened.

It turns out that the Jin Dynasty was so strong and the Song Dynasty was so weak!

My Great Jin is invincible!

It wasn't just the Jin Dynasty's top brass who were happy.

Because in history, the Jin army crossed the Huai River and Huai River with a large army and had enough troops to guard the rear. If conditions permitted, it would be feasible for Wanyan Liang to play the role of a wise ruler who won the people over with virtue. Therefore, Wanyan Liang was able to establish the strict military law of "those who kill or plunder will be beheaded."

However, there were not enough troops to guard the rear, so the Jin army naturally began to eliminate possible threats.

Otherwise, if the fighting on the front line was fierce and the retreat was cut off by the Song Dynasty's righteous army, the situation would be serious.

Of course, clearing the threat is just a nice way of putting it.

Specifically, they began to collect signatures, and organized strong Han people and surrendered Song soldiers into a signature army to serve as cannon fodder. During this period, looting and slaughtering occurred continuously. After discovering that Wanyan Liang did not order to stop, the scale of looting began to expand rapidly.

Everyone in the Jin army made a lot of money, and the morale of the army was greatly boosted.

Originally, there were some grassroots officers who were worried about their future and some envied the troops who stayed behind, but now their tone has turned to mocking those cowards.

When Liu Qi, who was stationed in Huaidong, heard about the war in Huaixi, it was like a bolt from the blue.

At this time, he was on high alert in Xuyi and Chuzhou in Huaidong, fighting with Tushan Zhen's three thousand-household troops across the Yishui River. Suddenly, he heard that his flank had been breached, and he was immediately shocked.

This isn't some small ditch, it's the Huai River!
Was it broken through so easily?

What does Wang Quan do for a living?
When he found out that Wang Quan was still fishing by the Yangtze River, even Liu Qi, who was usually gentle by nature, was almost furious. He issued several orders in one day, forcing Wang Quan to move to Hefei and to keep Luzhou at all costs.

At the same time, west of Shouchun, Li Xianzhong, the general of the Song State, who was at the junction of Lianghuai and Jingxiang, was also shocked by Wang Quan's behavior.

After all, this person was a general who lived next to Huaixi. He immediately realized from various official documents that the morale of the Huaixi army was in chaos, and even if Wang Quan went to Hefei to station, he could not save the situation.

Li Xianzhong wanted to directly organize the Huaixi army to resist on the spot, but he was worried about committing a huge taboo. After hesitating for a long time, he could only lead his troops to retreat to the south of the Yangtze River and then head east along the river.

Li Xianzhong knew that if Huaixi fell, the flank of Huaidong would be wide open, and Liu Qi would have no choice but to retreat. As the general reserve force of the two Huai regions, Li Xianzhong had to lead his troops to support them. Otherwise, if Liu Qi was surrounded by the Jin army, the Song Dynasty would have no troops left in the two Huai regions to fight.

By then, even the great river might not be able to be saved.

If you save the land and lose the people, you lose both the land and the people; if you save the people and lose the land and the people, you gain both the land and the people. Li Xianzhong may not know these words, but he still understands these principles.

But it is undeniable that Li Xianzhong's retreat must have been intended to protect himself. The Song army in Huaixi was certainly not trustworthy, but his behavior objectively further aggravated the chaos in Huaixi.

This gave Wanyan Liang and Wanyan Bendu, Wanyan Yuanyi and others who were in charge of military affairs an opportunity to fight.

Therefore, a military order drafted by the Privy Council and stamped with the emperor's seal, as well as Wanyan Liang's personal letter, were quickly delivered to Su Baoheng.

The command is simple.

The navy immediately headed south, entered the Yangtze River along its mouth, went upstream, and helped the army cross the river.

Regarding this order, Su Baoheng clearly stated that His Majesty was becoming arrogant again.

The original plan was to occupy Lianghuai and Xiangfan, accumulate experience for a few years, then take over Shu, and finally cross the river to unify the world. How good a strategy was this?
Now, having only taken the initiative and won tactically for a while, they are already dreaming of unifying the world. They are cautious about their lives when undertaking great undertakings, but forget about their lives when they see small gains. This is exactly what they mean by this kind of behavior.

But after some criticism, Su Baoheng still decided to carry out the military order.

On the one hand, he was loyal to Wanyan Liang.

What's more, it was time-consuming and laborious for the Jin Dynasty to build up its navy, and it also forced many Han people to rebel. It cost so much money and food and expended so much energy. It was impossible for the court to let the Jin Dynasty navy sit back and watch the show in such a national war.

Moreover, no matter how difficult the plan of going upstream along the Yangtze River is, it is much more reliable than attacking Lin'an directly from the sea.

At least on the Yangtze River, with the support of cavalry and infantry, it was a complete military strategy. To take Lin'an directly was a gamble.

Just like that, yesterday the military decision was made, and the commander-in-chief of the Weizhen Army, Meng Bin, led the navy south to Xinyang Town, and the Wucheng Army, which had been stabilized, boarded the ship.

The 15,000 troops of the Shenfeng Army and the Weizhen Army that besieged Rizhao covered each other's retreat and didn't care about Zhang Rong anymore.

After the Shenfeng Army and the Wucheng Army boarded the ship, Gao Shi of the Weizhen Army led 5,000 people to stay in Shandong. The next step was to prevent these bandit troops from getting out of control in Shandong.

After the Jin army won a great victory, they returned and crushed these Shandong bandits like crushing an ant!
Therefore, the 5,000 soldiers of the Weizhen Army had already been transferred to the north. At this time, the only ones left in the two small camps in the east and west were a small number of soldiers from the Shenfeng Army and a large number of signed soldiers and civilian laborers.

It’s no wonder that Punianheda doesn’t want to continue fighting.

What's the point of biting off the tough and stinky Dongping Army and the Loyal Army here? The colorful world of Jiangnan is waiting for them!
Originally, Punian Heda wanted to launch a fierce attack on Zhang Rong, defeat the Dongping army, and then turn around and retreat.

However, who would have thought that although the Dongping Army had poor combat effectiveness, its resilience was indeed too strong. Even when it was attacked head-on, it still held on to the Shenfeng Army and prevented Punianheda from retreating.

Just as Punianheda was becoming more and more angry, a scout came from the west to report that a large army was rushing out from between the Nine Immortal Mountains in the west and heading straight for the flank of the Shenfeng Army.

Punianheda was horrified and had not yet come up with a countermeasure when scouts came from the small camp in the east and said that when they looked from a high place, they saw a fleet coming from the south to the north, and it did not seem to be the Jin navy.

"Isn't this fucking nonsense? Can the Jin navy fly? How can they come from the south?" Even though the military situation was urgent, Pu Nianheda still cursed loudly when he heard such absurd words, and then became shocked and confused.

The ships coming from the south...can't they really be ships from the Song Dynasty?

Although he was surprised and doubtful, it did not stop the veteran from making the most correct response.

He pulled over a personal guard and said, "Quick, tell the governor this news. Don't exaggerate, just tell the truth."

"Awu, our Shenfeng Army is going to be badly harmed by the commander-in-chief. We can't stay here any longer. Zhang Rong is bait. If we stay any longer, we will be swallowed whole by the bandits!" Pu Nianheda then complained to his deputy general manager, "Wait a minute, you lead the five meng'an to retreat first, and I will cover the rear."

Seeing that Awukui wanted to say something, Punianheda waved his hand and said, "Now is not the time to argue. Only if I guard the rear can we ensure that the entire army does not collapse. Send someone to tell Gao Shi that no matter whether he is prepared or not, if he does not want his entire army to be defeated, he must fight to the death!"

After saying that, Punianheda ignored Awukui's reaction, drove his horse forward himself, and took two elite Meng'an who had not participated in the battle, and launched a fierce attack on the Dongping flag.

At this time, Liu Huai had just come out of the Jiuxian Mountain Pass. Looking down from a high vantage point, he saw from afar the scene of the "Shenfeng" flag rushing forward, and was suddenly shocked.

Are all the Jin generals nowadays so powerful?!
(End of this chapter)