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

Chapter 332: The General Doesn't Fight

"Logically speaking, there's not much point in saying this to you. I simply want to teach you some truths." The smile on Yu Yunwen's face suddenly vanished, and the majesty of the Prime Minister was fully displayed at this moment. "You have retreated all the way here, your army is disheartened and your generals are cowardly. You are so reluctant to accompany a scholar like me to investigate the enemy situation. Don't you think that the Song Dynasty is about to fall and that military and national laws are no longer applicable to you?"

With a few thuds, the five commanding officers, including Shi Jun, knelt down again.

Yu Yunwen, his beard and hair standing on end, shouted at these defeated generals, "Let me be clear with you. As long as Bashu is still there, reinforcements will flow down the Yangtze River to Ezhou and support Xiangfan. And as long as Xiangfan is there, there will be a steady stream of reinforcements flowing down the river to Lianghuai to join the battle. The Song Dynasty will not perish this time!"

"The Huaixi war situation has deteriorated to such an extent that Wang Quan cannot escape the blame, but ask yourselves, are your heads so solid? Do you really think that your entire family won't be executed for the pretext of losing the army and humiliating the country? Wang Quan is still called the Grand Marshal, after all, but what about you? You are just mere commanders, with no backing, no official position, and certainly not from a scholar-official background. Killing you would be a piece of cake, not even a bonus!"

Yu Yunwen slammed the door heavily, his voice stern: "Even so, you still dare to avoid the enemy and fear fighting, without thinking of redeeming your sins. You are truly seeking death!"

As he spoke, Yu Yunwen pointed at Liu Huai, who was watching the show from the side. "Today, Liu Du, the commander of the Jingnan army, is coming to support us with 5,000 elite soldiers. The army will arrive in two or three days. Tell me. When that happens, what chance will you, the 5,000 defeated soldiers, have to redeem yourself? Even if you are all demoted to mere clerks in the army, it will not be enough to hide your guilt!"

Liu Huai cooperated very well and stood up with his sword in hand, sneering without saying a word.

Wang Qi knelt forward two steps and kowtowed repeatedly: "Prime Minister Yu, we were confused before. It's not that we didn't want to contribute, but we were really frustrated by the repeated defeats and losses in Lianghuai. Now that the Prime Minister has explained everything to us, how can we retreat? We will lead the way for the Prime Minister regardless of life or death! We hope that the Prime Minister will help us cross the river!"

Yu Yunwen turned back to the main seat, picked up the tea, took a sip, and was silent for a moment before sighing, "Get up, after all, the country is in need of people. What about the people of Huaibei and Huainan, the people of the world, and the continuation of the Taoist tradition? I don't want to talk to you. Because these things are what I care about, but you don't. I only ask that when you are fighting in the battlefield and feel a little hesitant, think about your family, think about your own heads, and then think about fame and fortune."

"Wuwuwu..." At this moment, one of the five commanding officers actually cried out.

Yu Yunwen asked coldly, "Shi Jun, why are you acting like a child? Are you afraid of death?"

"Why would I be afraid of death? I'm just thinking of my fellow countrymen in the Huaibei and Huainan regions, and the elders back home in Jiangnan. They're my breadwinners, my brothers, and my sisters. These past few days, I've been thinking about them day and night, unable to sleep. Every morning, I wake up with tears soaking my bed. How could I not care?" Shi Jun pounded his hands on the ground, tears streaming down his face. "Thinking about the fact that my fellow countrymen in Huaibei and Huainan are being slaughtered, I'm even more worried that the elders back home will suffer the same disaster tomorrow."

"Today, Minister Yu said we didn't care, and I really wanted to refute him. But we've all been defeated all the way here, abandoning the people who have treated me with such care. After thinking it over, I have nothing to say and can only cry bitterly." Shi Jun wiped his tears, stood up, clasped his fists, and said, "I'm tired of running and don't want to run anymore. Minister Yu, you are a responsible man. I will listen to you and do whatever you say!"

"What about you?" Yu Yunwen looked at the other four people who were still kneeling.

Zhang Zhen and others stood up suddenly. No matter whether it was their lives, fame, fortune, or even the lives of the common people, they could not afford to let these people escape from the battle any longer.

Who made it so that this was the only organized Song Dynasty army nearby?

Do you really think Yu Yunwen wouldn't dare to execute one or two commanders to enforce military law?

"Let's do it!" "Fight the gold thieves!" "Beat them!"

Seeing the five commanders express their opinions, Yu Yunwen nodded, put down his teacup, and said seriously, "Since that's the case, let's establish a rule today. According to General Liu Qi's order, anyone who takes another step back will be executed. Then I will say that during every battle, I will supervise the battle from behind the formation. Anyone who steps back from me will be executed. How do you say that?"

"Yes, sir!" the five commanding officers answered in unison.

"Very good!" Yu Yunwen stood up from his chair, looked at the five people and nodded.

"I don't care how much money you've embezzled or how much food you've embezzled, but I want a definite answer." Yu Yunwen paced back and forth, looking at the warriors. "How many soldiers do you have in your army now? How many can you lead to attack the Jin army? How many of them are armored?"

"Mr. Yu, there are 1,233 people in my camp, including reliable soldiers, not counting those who died in battle this morning, there are about 230 of them, and there are 97 armored soldiers including me." Shi Jun walked out first and responded with a bow.

Seeing that Shi Jun showed off all his family assets first, the other four people did not hide anything either.

"I still have 960 men under my command. Those who can fight hard are my trusted aides, totaling 170. Including me, there are 50 armored soldiers."

"I have over 1,100 men, 207 of my personal soldiers remaining, and 73 armored soldiers."

"I am almost there. I have a total of 1,020 men, 200 of whom are willing to die, and 43 sets of armor."

"I still have 800 men under my command, 130 of whom are personal soldiers, all of whom are skilled in archery and horse riding and are fearless of death. I also have 83 armored infantrymen." Liu Huai and Yu Yunwen's plan was to take the initiative in the attack, so it required a very high fighting will. Therefore, it was impossible for these 5,000 men to rush forward all at once, but they had to be divided into batches, with one group leading another, and accumulating small victories into big ones.

The first batch must be the Flying Tiger Army cavalry under Liu Huai, but the second and third batches must be the defeated troops from Huaixi.

This is also the most troublesome part, because the time it takes to accumulate small victories to a big victory and then destroy the Wuping Army's first fierce security department is only two days at most.

"But it's still not enough. How many divine arm crossbowmen do you have in your army? Send them all to my camp to receive my orders." Yu Yunwen thought for a moment and then said, "A single divine arm crossbow is of little use in battle."

The five commanding officers exchanged glances before Shi Jun, with a bow, said, "May I ask, Prime Minister, whether we shall use the stationed arrows?"

The popular term for the resident arrow is the crossbow version of the three-stage shooting method, which was created by Wu Jie. In the battle at Heshangyuan, he beat Wanyan Salihe so hard that he cried.

"Exactly."

After a brief discussion, Shi Jun cautiously replied, "Prime Minister Chu, we've gathered a hundred divine crossbowmen. Divine crossbows are incredibly valuable, and many of them broke on our way back from Lianghuai. We each need to keep a few for self-defense... And one more thing: these divine crossbowmen won't wear armor."

Yu Yunwen nodded: "Alright, now you go back and select the best troops. I want to see the results this afternoon! There are eight hundred gold thieves in front of us. Today and tomorrow, we will overthrow their camp! When the time comes, I will personally supervise the battle. If we don't succeed, we will die!"

Several commanding officers were also aroused and responded loudly.

The gentlemen coming from the central government are not afraid of death, so what are these tough guys afraid of?
Yu Yunwen added, "When selecting the death squad, we should prioritize those soldiers whose families are located on the northern side of the Huainan and two routes. Do you understand what I mean?"

Shi Jun and others immediately responded to the order, then bowed and strode away.

Yu Yunwen picked up the teacup, his smiling face reappearing. He turned to Liu Huai and said, "Liu Dalang, I have indeed done my best today. Speaking alone is all I can do. What happens next will depend on whether you are the invincible Han Xin or the armchair strategist Zhao Kuo."

Liu Huai, who had been standing there watching the show with his sword in hand, also smiled back, "Yu Sheren, you may not know the bloody battles my Shandong righteous army fought in the north. After we kill these Jin thieves in Dongcaishi, I'll tell you in detail, okay?"

Yu Yunwen held the teacup in both hands and said, "Then I will use tea instead of wine to wish Liu Dalang a successful start."

Liu Huai didn't say anything. He just bowed and called Zhang Baiyu, and the two of them strode away.

The lobby fell silent for a moment.

It was not until this time that the smile on Yu Yunwen's face disappeared, and a trace of sadness crept onto his forehead.

He stood up and walked to the door panel with the map of the world painted on it. After thinking for a while, he drew a few arrows on it.

The arrows for Bashu and Lianghuai are smaller, while several huge arrows point to Xiangfan.

As the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, one of Yu Yunwen's duties was to draft important documents and imperial edicts, so he was very familiar with the situation of the war between Song and Jin. Naturally, he knew the distribution of the Jin army's forces and knew that the Jin army had marched heavily to Xiangfan.

The central government's initial idea was to hold on to Xiangfan, and then support Wu Gong and Cheng Min after the situation in Bashu and Lianghuai was opened up.

Who would have known that Xiangfan was still holding on, but Lianghuai suddenly collapsed like this?

Thinking of this, Yu Yunwen sighed again.

Even though he had made a solemn promise when he threatened Shi Jun and others just now, Yu Yunwen always had a bad feeling in his heart.

Xiangfan...can it really survive this?

(End of this chapter)