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

Chapter 311: Various Opinions and Questions

In the middle of the curtain, Xu Zongyan, sitting on a stool, stared at the gazes coming from all directions like a criminal being judged. He stood up, bowed to all directions, and started narrating without any nonsense.

"At the end of September, Wanyan Liang led an army of 40,000 across the Huai River and captured Zhongli and Shouchun. The Huaixi garrison commander, Wang Quan, was afraid of the enemy and dared not advance, so he just waited and watched in Hezhou.

On the sixth day of October, Wang Quan bravely arrived in Luzhou at the urging of the court. However, as soon as he found out that the entire Jin army had crossed the river, Wang Quan led his troops to flee. Generals such as Commander Shi Jun stayed behind to the north of Luzhou to meet the enemy, but they were defeated in one battle.

On the eighth day of October, Wanyan Liang led 20,000 troops south to attack Hefei. Zhimige, Luzhou Zhizhou, and Huaixi Pacification Office Gong Tao abandoned the city and fled. Hefei, an important city in Huaixi, was captured in one fell swoop. The defending general Yang Chun fought bloody battles but was ultimately defeated and retreated to Chaohu to protect himself.

On the same day, Jin general Xiao Qi led 20,000 troops, easily captured Qingliu Pass, and attacked Chuzhou. Lu Lian, the Right Imperial Court Official and Chuzhou Governor, abandoned the city and fled. Chuzhou fell.

Yang Kang, the deputy transport envoy of Huainan, gathered militia in Chuzhou to resist, distributed weapons and armor to the militia, built beacon towers, and piled hay and grain underneath them.

But Yang Kang abandoned his army and fled, the militia scattered, and all the military supplies and food were lost to the Jin army. Xiao Qi's troops, which had been exhausted, regained their strength and turned their spearhead towards Yangzhou.

On the tenth day of the tenth month, Wang Quan led his army to flee to Zhaoguan. The Jin army pursued them and the two sides fought fiercely at Weizi Bridge. The enemy commander Yao Xing and others led their troops to fight bravely. However, Wang Quan only cared about escaping and let Yao Xing die in the battle. All the soldiers in Huaixi who dared to fight were killed.

On October 12, Ambassador Liu (Liu Qi was the governor) learned of the results of the battle in Huaixi and led his troops to retreat south to the south of the Yangtze River.

On October 13th, Chuzhou City was captured, and the Chuzhou governor, Lan Shiji..."

At this point, Xu Zongyan's tone finally changed slightly: "Chuzhou Governor Lan Shiji died for his country, and Chuzhou Tongpan Xu Zongyan abandoned his army and fled..."

In the end, Xu Zongyan finally couldn't bear it anymore, tears fell down and he cried uncontrollably.

At this time, all the Shandong generals, whether they had known it for a long time or had just heard about it, whether they were loyal to the Song State or despised the Song State, whether they had guessed it or were not mentally prepared, were all speechless after hearing it.

What the hell is going on?

It turns out that Huaixi in Song State was an inflated pig urine float. It looked huge and scary, but if you poked it lightly with a bamboo stick, it would explode with a loud bang.

If the situation in Lianghuai is like this, then what is the situation in Jingxiang, where the Jin Kingdom has the strongest military forces?
Is the State of Song going to be destroyed?
A buzzing sound of whispers and chattering arose.

Lu You looked at Xu Zongyan who was crying inconsolably, and felt mixed emotions.

He had actually heard this news from the other party a long time ago, and now after hearing it again, he still felt upset and speechless.

Lu You turned his gaze to Wei Sheng again.

The veteran's face was as hard as iron, and it was impossible to tell whether he was sad or happy. Of course, it was also impossible to tell whether he was anxious inside.

Wei Sheng really wanted to say now, stop discussing, and move the entire army south to fight the Jin thieves.

But he also knew that if he said so, out of the more than 10,000 loyal and righteous troops, it would be a lot if 5,000 were willing to go south with him.

Moreover, these five thousand people can be said to have no combat effectiveness at all.

The hometown of ordinary soldiers is Shandong, and most of the grassroots officers are also promoted from Shandong. Their words and deeds influence their superiors at all times.

On the other hand, these mid-level officers also have a lot of prestige among the grassroots soldiers. As long as one mid-level officer can be convinced, they are likely to lead hundreds of people to rise up together.

War is something that requires too much subjective initiative.

If subjective initiative is expressed concretely, it is morale.

In an army with high morale, a dozen people dare to chase and fight hundreds of people.

Take He Boqiu for example. As long as he clearly expresses his intention to go south to Lianghuai to participate in the war, many people in Yizhou will also think that since someone as knowledgeable as He Sanye thinks it should be done, it means that this is absolutely correct.

This is long-established prestige.

But is He Boqiu willing?

When the alliance was being held that day, this guy almost drew his sword and killed Li Bao.

Thinking of this, Wei Sheng turned his gaze away from the silent He Boqiu and looked back at his adopted son. He found that Liu Huai was already frowning. He asked Xu Zongyan, "President Xu, now that things have come to this, I won't waste any more words. Did the Jin army plunder Lianghuai? Did they massacre the city?"

The crowd suddenly became quiet.

Xu Zongyan wiped his eyes and looked up at the former commander of the Loyalty Army, who had been a young man a few months ago, but now showed the majesty of a general. After a moment, he nodded with difficulty: "From what I know, there was large-scale looting and petition collection in Hefei. As for further away, I only heard that Haozhou had become a living hell."

Liu Huai frowned and pondered.

The current development of the situation is actually very different from history.

In the original history, Wanyan Liang, in order to win over the hearts of the people in Lianghuai, actually implemented a military law that would kill anyone who stole a penny. However, this was only done because he had a large army stationed behind him and was safe from danger. It was not because Wanyan Liang was kind by nature. In fact, in history, a big reason why Wanyan Liang was assassinated was that in order to stabilize the morale of the army, he sent Hezha Meng'an to Taizhou to plunder, which gave Wanyan Yuanyi and others an opportunity to seize the opportunity.

Now there are only 70,000 regular troops of the Jin Dynasty in Lianghuai. The military force is actually not strong, and it is even difficult to occupy Lianghuai. If the Song army can really make a concerted effort, it is possible that they can really use the Lianghuai water network to surround the Jin army.

At the very least, it is still possible to confront the Jin army across the Huai River.

I don’t know whether to say that the Song army performed poorly or stably, which led to the current mess.

Wanyan Liang should have realized this, so he had no intention of enforcing military discipline. He carried out large-scale plundering and solicitation to boost the morale of his own troops while weakening the strength of Lianghuai.

Just as Liu Huai was thinking deeply, some officers could no longer bear it and began to attack Xu Zongyan.

Wang Xiongyi frowned and asked, "President Xu, what exactly do you want to achieve by joining our loyal and righteous army?"

This is a question you ask even though you already know the answer.

Xu Zongyan bowed and said, "I have come with the Loyalty Army to seek out General Wei and ask him to go south to save the Song Dynasty."

Wang Xiongyi feigned confusion and said, "Ha, that's easy. Tianping Army's leader Geng has already decided to attack Yanzhou and Dongping Prefecture. If our Zhongyi Army then attacks Pizhou and Xuzhou, we can cut off the Sishui River passage. Then the Jin army's baggage train will be cut off. How do you do that?"

This is also the most popular option besides sending troops directly to Lianghuai.

Many people supported this plan before because it is indeed a good plan.

At this time, the main force of the Jin army was in Lianghuai, and Pizhou and Xuzhou were short of troops. However, they were the places where supplies were concentrated and transported. As long as they were taken, they could make a huge fortune.

Especially Xuzhou is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Once you occupy it, you can stay there. Opportunity is fleeting and you will never get it again. Once you miss it, you will never get it again.

However, as the Song State became more prominent in Lianghuai, fewer and fewer people supported this strategy.

Because many people were worried that the Song Dynasty would not be able to hold out until the Loyal Army cut off the Yellow River channel.

Sure enough, Xu Zongyan shook his head with difficulty: "Lianghuai is in a difficult situation. I hope the general can take the people of Lianghuai into consideration and send troops to rescue them as soon as possible."

Wang Xiongyi had also stood up at this time: "Xu Tongpan, you are a scholar, yet you can run so far to seek help, and you can debate with the scholars like Prime Minister Zhuge Liang in the storybook. I still have some respect for you, so these words are not directed at Xu Tongpan.

But there is one more question that my sons will surely ask me, but I cannot answer it. I would like to ask Judge Xu Tong to enlighten me."

"General, please speak."

Wang Xiongyi spread his hands and said sincerely, "The people of Huainan regard us Shandong Han people as enemies, and the Song State has never been kind to us. Why should we risk our lives for the Song State?"

Xu Zongyan's face turned pale: "If we lose Lianghuai, then Shandong..."

Wang Xiongyi waved his hand and interrupted him directly: "The commander-in-chief has also told us this reason, and many of our comrades who support the southward campaign have also emphasized this. But to be honest, many of us can't even read a single word, so how can we know anything about world strategy?

In Shandong, even if the loyalist army was defeated, they could hide in the mountains and forests, or they could still make their way back home. But if they went to Lianghuai, it would be a win-or-die situation.”

As he spoke, Wang Xiongyi bowed to Wei Sheng to show that he had no intention of offending him.

Wei Sheng waved his hand indifferently.

But Xu Zongyan was completely speechless.

Seeing this, Wang Xiongyi stopped nagging and asked another question, "Come to think of it, two months ago, our Zhongyi Army, along with the Dongping Army and the Tianping Army, jointly submitted a memorial to the Song Dynasty court. I think it was submitted through the hand of Chuzhou Magistrate Lan. Two months have passed, but have we seen any progress?"

"No response." As the second-in-command of Chuzhou, there was no way to hide this kind of thing from Xu Zongyan. He also had no way to deceive the Shandong generals at this time, so he could only shake his head for a while.

Wang Xiongyi laughed instead: "Excuse me, Judge Xu, why didn't the Song court reply to our letter?"

"What else can we do?" He Boqiu, who had been listening for a long time, grew impatient. He pointed at Zhang Xiaoyi and Li Xiu and said, "Last year, Xu Tongpan was able to suppress the news of the Donghai righteous army's surrender. So, today, some minister is so angry that he just threw the memorial into the sewer. Is it any wonder?"

Seeing He Boqiu, who had already formed a grudge against him in the past few days, speak up, Lu You finally couldn't bear it anymore: "He San, if you keep bringing up old scores, this military meeting won't be able to proceed."

He Boqiu rolled his eyes and said coldly, "In my opinion, we should dig up this old score and see who is wronging whom."

Seeing that both sides were about to start arguing the same repetitive arguments they had repeated many times in the past few days, Wei Sheng finally knocked on the table in front of him and said, "Time is pressing. During the military meeting, we should stick to the facts and avoid discussing past grudges."

The situation on the field became quiet again, but unlike before, this time there were several people with visibly angry expressions on their faces.

Even with Wei Sheng's prestige, it was difficult to suppress the Shandong men's decades of anger and grief with just a few words.

(End of this chapter)