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

Chapter 317: Alone in the East Sea with Thunder

"Are the Jin thieves' navy like turtles? So slow?" Liu Huai asked Li Gongzuo from the ship, holding his belt. "How come they're so much ahead of us, and arriving right after us?"

Li Gongzuo held the helm and said with a smile, "General, God is fair after all. During the Battle of Rizhao that day, our army was certainly unable to stop the Jin pirates' navy from advancing southward, but when the seas are rough, the north wind is not so easy to come by. Even if we are extremely lucky and no ships sink, it is inevitable that the fleet will be separated, and it will take time to regroup."

As he spoke, Li Gongzuo looked at Li Bao's flagship, which was leading the way in the front. "Even the Zhejiang navy, trained by my father, took more than ten days to gather its troops after encountering a strong wind. I'd say the Jin navy is quite nimble."

Liu Huai nodded: "That makes sense. But are we going to have a decisive battle with the Jin navy today?"

Li Gongzuo thought for a moment, then shook his head again. "The sea is different from the river, and a large river is different from an ordinary stream. Although the difference between upstream and downstream in a river is the result of a naval battle, the river is too vast. Who knows? It's better for father to make the decision on the spot."

Liu Huai's questions continued today: "With your knowledge, Li Sanlang, can we fight today?"

Li Gongzuo thought for a long time before shaking his head with difficulty. "It's very difficult. After all, the Jin bandits are only half a day's journey away from us, and they are all sailing upstream with the east wind. Unless the Jin bandits stop to fight, or there are Song navy blocking them in front, it will be difficult to engage in battle."

Liu Huai nodded in agreement.

From a strategic perspective, the Jin navy's decisive entry into the Yangtze River was definitely not intended to engage in a decisive battle with the Song navy.

If that's the case, we should fight to the end in Rizhao.

The Jin navy actually had only one purpose, which was to assist the Jin army in crossing the river, or to create opportunities for the Jin army to cross the river.

Or to put it more clearly, it was to make the Song State believe that the Jin army had the ability to cross the river.

You don't have to be able to answer the questions, but the sound of turning the test paper must be loud.

As long as the Jin navy's military power was projected onto the Yangtze River, even if nothing was done, it would itself be a major strategic threat, which would pull on the Song Dynasty's military power and force the Song army to respond.

To give a simple example, if the Jin navy was cruising on the Yangtze River, even if they were only on standby in the inner crossing where the Jin cavalry and infantry were stationed in the city north of the river, then Zhang Guang of the Jiankang navy could only stay in Jiankang, and even if he wanted to take the initiative to fight, he would not be able to do so!
Naturally, Jin Navy Commander Su Baoheng and Wanyan Zhengjia also knew this.

Of course, neither Li Bao nor Zhang Rong wanted to fight a decisive battle on the water at this time.

Being located downstream, the strategic position is too poor for one thing, but the most important thing is that the Zhejiang Navy and the Dongping Army are fine, but the 3,000 Jingnan Army and the 2,000 Tianping Army are completely unable to fight a naval battle. They are all armored cavalry and heroes on land. It is good that they don't get seasick.

If Li Bao and Zhang Rong wanted to take any action, they had to put the Jingnan Army and the Tianping Army ashore first.

"According to the previous agreement, the main forces of the Jingnan and Tianping armies will be stationed outside Zhenjiang Prefecture, with Wang Shilong in command, to establish a camp." Liu Huai then said, "Then we will send our 200 cavalry to Guazhou Ferry. No matter what, we should meet with Liu Jinglüe."

Li Gongzuo nodded heavily, then used flag signals to command the fleet behind him to move towards the south bank of the river.

Because the Zhejiang navy took the lead, the large fleet of transport ships was not blocked and directly arrived at a ferry outside Zhenjiang City and began to build a camp on the spot.

Liu Huai, together with Xin Qiji, brought 200 armored cavalrymen to the north bank of the Yangtze River, outside Guazhou Ferry.

By this time, the sun was already setting and it was almost evening.

However, as soon as he arrived at the huge camp, Liu Huai didn't even see all the flags on it before he saw the camp wide open and hundreds of Song army cavalry swarming out.

Behind the leading mighty general was a large banner with the word "Wei" on it. He was about forty years old, with eyes like lightning and a tall stature. Even when he was standing still on his horse, he had an imposing aura.

This person was none other than Wei Yongshou, a fierce general under Li Xianzhong and commander of the cavalry.

Liu Huai raised his right hand and signaled the two hundred armored cavalrymen behind him to stop.

The elite armored cavalry of the Jingnan Army stopped advancing with a bang, pulled the reins together, and both men and horses were still, waiting for the orders of the officers.

Wei Yongshou's eyes narrowed.

He was a knowledgeable man and naturally knew how powerful such a cavalry was. Not to mention the knights, even the strong war horses were the best of the best.

With their full body armor and helmets clearly adapted from gourd-shaped helmets, it's easy to see that these armored cavalrymen have experienced more than one bloody battle, and their weapons, armor, and horses were all captured from the legitimate Jin army. I just heard that the so-called Jingnan Army and Tianping Army marched south with a total of 5,000 troops. If they were all this elite, or even slightly less, the situation in Shandong might have improved significantly by now.

Wei Yongshou was not a simple warrior. He had made some judgments while thinking deeply, but he still did not show anything on his face. He just bowed to Liu Huai and Xin Qiji, and then led his cavalry westward.

Liu Huai had already prepared for the other party to find fault with him, and he wanted to fight back to establish his authority, but he did not expect this to happen. It was a bit strange for a moment.

But soon, Lu You and He Boqiu rode out of the camp with their personal guards.

"Sir, Liu Qi is saying that the fighting has already started in Zaojiao Forest. He wants you to follow the instructions given by Wei Yongshou and fight against the Jin bandits."

After He Boqiu finished speaking briefly, he glanced at Lu You again, wanting to hear what Lu You had to say after seeing the two high-ranking civil and military officials of the Song State appear.

Who would have thought that Lu You just nodded with difficulty but said nothing.

"They're asking me to come and pledge my allegiance." Liu Huai folded his arms and sneered, "I heard that Ye Gong, the Privy Councilor of Song State, is here too. Was this military order issued by Liu Qi or by Prime Minister Ye?"

To be fair, if it was Yue Fei's military order, Liu Huai would not have said a word and would have carried it out directly.

But Liu Qi was different.

Selling out teammates is a tradition of the Western Army. Since its establishment, countless teammates have been sold out. Liu Qi is a national hero and a hero of the Battle of Shunchang, but he is also a veteran who has been in the Western Army system for half his life.

God knows whether Liu Qi has the habit of betraying his teammates.

"It is indeed the military order from Liu Jinglue, Lord Ye..." Thinking of what Ye Yi had just asked about the meaning of the reinforcements, He Boqiu couldn't hold back his laughter and said, "Lord Ye knows nothing about military affairs. He is just making clay sculptures and wooden carvings on the side."

Liu Huai was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered the absurd things that Ye Xianggong had done. He couldn't help but shake his head and said to Lu You, who was standing silently by the side: "Mr. Lu, how can I, a general, accept orders from Wei Yongshou, a commander-in-chief? Wouldn't that be self-degrading? But this is a serious matter of resisting the Jin army, and it can't be delayed. I hope Mr. Lu can explain himself to Liu Jinglue and Ye Xianggong.

Liu Huai of the Jingnan Army and Xin Qiji of the Tianping Army will immediately lead their troops to Zaojiaolin to join the battle, but we will seize the opportunity to join the battle and will never obey the orders of any commander.

Lu You let out a long sigh and nodded heavily.

He was so ashamed just now that he suppressed his embarrassment by keeping a straight face.

There was no way, Ye Yiwen was really too shameful; Liu Qi was indeed too ruthless.

The Shandong rebel army is coming to support us in large numbers. As the commander-in-chief of the Lianghuai War Zone, can't you, Liu Qi, meet them, encourage them, make some promises, and then let them fight to the death?

When he was in Shandong, Lu You kept saying that Song State had heroes and great men, and he kept making up for Song State.

Some believed it, some didn't. Among them, the one who thought it was nonsense was He Boqiu who was standing next to him.

And the scene just now simply deepened the stereotype of He Boqiu.

What are the high-ranking officials of the Song Dynasty like?
Fortunately, Liu Huai still put the overall situation first. Even in the face of such unfair treatment, he still led his army to fight against the Jin.

Of course, Lu You also felt that it was too outrageous to let a commander-in-chief command a general. No matter whether the general was self-proclaimed or not, even if the emperor was dissatisfied, he had to strip the general's title first and then let him be commanded by lower-level officers.

Otherwise, wouldn't it be a humiliation?
Is Liu Qi really getting senile and confused?

After thinking about it for a while, Lu You suddenly found that He Boqiu beside him had already fastened his shoulder pads, put on his skirt armor, put on his helmet, and picked up his spear, and quickly transformed from a diplomat into an armored cavalry charging into the battle.

Afterwards, Liu Huai bowed to Lu You and gave an order. Two hundred armored cavalrymen swarmed forward, with the Flying Tiger and Green Rhinoceros flags standing side by side and moving forward.

As the horses' hooves galloped, Lu You's heart was excited and he also wanted to follow his comrades to charge into the battle, but he immediately remembered that he had more important things to do. He could only sigh softly and turn his horse back to the camp.

(End of this chapter)