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

Chapter 359: The Lord and the Lord Fight and the Lord Defends

On November 13, Xu Zongyan, the quartermaster of the Loyal and Righteous Army and the former Tongpan of Chuzhou, came to Yu Yunwen in person to take over the task.

"Prime Minister Yu."

"Xu Erlang, why do you look so haggard?" Yu Yunwen looked Xu Zongyan up and down from behind the desk. "Even if you're tired from the journey, it's definitely more than just this."

Xu Zongyan was now even thinner. Although not emaciated, his cheeks were sunken and his face was weathered. Hearing this, he saluted and said, "As a governor, I failed to defend the country and left the people at the mercy of the Jin bandits. I deserve death for this. A mere loss of weight is nothing."

"Alas..." Yu Yunwen sighed, and after a moment's silence, he said, "It's not your fault. Once the Huaidong army retreated, Chuzhou was indeed unable to hold on. You have done your best. The court will certainly reward you. If you have been wronged in the Jingnan army and do not want to return to the court, then why not come to my tent and obey my orders? I am indeed short of manpower here."

Xu Zongyan wasn't completely without a stronghold in the court, and if he were a Tongpan (prefectural magistrate) from another place, he might actually be a power-hungry loser. However, Chuzhou was a frontier between the Song and Jin dynasties, and most second-generation officials wouldn't dare take charge.

He does have some abilities after all.

The court leader who promoted Xu Zongyan and recommended Yu Yunwen as military advisor was the same person, the current right prime minister Chen Kangbo.

Because of this relationship, Yu Yunwen and Xu Zongyan were naturally close politically.

That is why Yu Yunwen said this just now, and he was not afraid that Liu Huai would not release him.

But Xu Zongyan slowly shook his head and said to Yu Yunwen: "I am now the baggage officer of the Jingnan Army. I have a heavy responsibility and cannot escape."

Yu Yunwen looked directly into Xu Zongyan's eyes and said, "Xu Erlang, for someone of your status, being a quartermaster in the army is truly a waste of your talent."

This is a euphemism. With Yu Yunwen's intelligence and talent, how could he not have imagined how Xu Zongyan would be squeezed out by the Shandong rebel army?

As one of the governors of Chuzhou, Xu Zongyan's responsibility was to liaise with the Shandong Central Plains rebels. Previously, the Song Dynasty had provided very little support to the Shandong rebels. Now, having grown stronger, the Shandong rebels were coming south to aid the Song in its fight against the Jin. However, Xu Zongyan was so panic-stricken that it would have been surprising if he hadn't been ridiculed.

In fact, this is exactly the case, especially the rebel army from Donghai, who are still brooding over Chuzhou's failure to save them last year. Even with Liu Huai's prestige, no one would kill Xu Zongyan directly, but cold words are inevitable.

After hearing this, Xu Zongyan still shook his head and handed several documents requesting the transfer of money, food and supplies to Yu Yunwen.

Yu Yunwen took the document and continued to ask, "Xu Erlang, do you have any desire to atone for your sins?"

Xu Zongyan finally sighed and said seriously, "There are some, but they are not the main ones. Minister Yu Chu, after Lord Lan died for his country, I suddenly realized something."

"Things have come to this point because the emperor is wrong, Chen Xianggong is wrong, Lord Lan is wrong, I am wrong, everyone is wrong. On the contrary, Wei Sheng, Wei Dadao, the warrior who has been calling for the destruction of the Jin bandits from the beginning, is right."

"Some battles cannot be avoided. They must be fought. There can be no shortcuts. They must be fought with human lives."

"If we don't fight today, our descendants will. If we don't shed this blood, our descendants will shed double the amount."

"We've been trying to find a compromise for twenty years, but what has it achieved? Twenty years from now, the Jin invaders will be ready to attack again. If the Song Dynasty still only wants to hold on to Jiangnan and negotiate peace with the Jin invaders, then in another twenty years, will our descendants still be fighting against the Jin invaders in Jiangnan?"

"That's why, even if I'm humiliated and scorned, I'll stay in the Jingnan Army. It's not because of anything else, but because Wei Dadao and Liu Dalang are the only ones who can truly fight and recover the lost territory. If I really stay in a corner as Minister Chen said, in twenty years, I'll be as old as Minister Yu Chu, and even if I want to fight the Jin bandits to the death with a sword, I won't be able to do it!"

It seemed as if these words had been brewing in Xu Zongyan's chest for a long time, and he said them all in one breath, leaving Yu Yunwen silent for a moment.

As a master of political struggle, Yu Yunwen naturally knew why Xu Zongyan wanted to criticize his own sponsor Chen Kangbo.

The reason is very simple. Although Chen Kangbo was in favor of war at this time, it was because the Jin army had already arrived and he had to advocate war.

The Jin army's behavior of seeking peace at its doorstep, such as Tang Situi's, can generally be regarded as surrender.

But in terms of the political spectrum, Chen Kangbo is an undoubted conservative.

The defensive faction advocates closing the door and living our own lives, but if the Jin Kingdom attacks, I will still rise up to resist.

As for the lost land, I can’t recover it anyway, and I think you’re all in trouble too, so let’s leave it to the wisdom of future generations.

Since the Jianyan Southern Migration, there have been too many scholars and officials who have held such political stances.

Some people thought that the Song Dynasty's military level was too poor, and it was also frightened by the Jin Dynasty. They were afraid that if they had a hasty northern expedition and suffered a great defeat, not only would they lose soldiers and generals, but the land of China would be submerged and they would not even be able to keep their own land.

There were also some scholars and officials in the south of the Yangtze River who did not feel any pain about the loss of territory in the north, but felt that the Northern Expedition would increase taxes in the south of the Yangtze River and was not worth it.

Not to mention that after the Northern Expedition succeeded, the north had to be rebuilt, at least the Yellow River had to be repaired. With that in mind, it would be a mystery what motivation the Jiangnan scholars had.

Chen Kangbo is a combination of both.

This man was from Jiangxi and had experienced the war in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty. He felt that people in chaos were worse than dogs in peace, and he really didn't want to fight again.

But as Xu Zongyan said, if you don't want to hit others, others will want to hit you.

You don't want to unify the world, but there are too many people who want to unify the world. What will you do when these heroes who unified the north go south to fight?
Chen Kangbo was already over sixty, with only a few years left to live. He could just get by with the next few years. Xu Zongyan wasn't even forty yet. If he didn't try to launch an attack now, would he have to do it again in twenty years, when he was already old and decrepit? Of course, this wasn't just Xu Zongyan's opinion; many pro-war factions, including Yu Yunwen, would always mention this point when discussing political strategy.

Don't trust the wisdom of future generations. Maybe they will be worse than us today. What will we do then?
However, people are short-sighted after all.

It is really too far-fetched to expect people to give up their current happy life for something that will happen twenty years later.

Therefore, the dispute between those who advocated war and those who advocated peace in the court was extremely complicated, especially since there were a large number of pro-defense factions that jumped back and forth according to changes in the situation at any time. The situation was complicated and the situation was a mess.

Yu Yunwen wanted to take power based on his great achievements, and then launch a northern expedition after sorting out the court.

But after Lan Shiji died for his country, Xu Zongyan could no longer tolerate these red tape and wanted to follow Wei Sheng directly to launch the Northern Expedition.

After figuring everything out, Yu Yunwen felt a little jealous of the young man in front of him for no reason.

If I were twenty years younger, I might just abandon everything and go north like Xu Zongyan, right?

However, history has pushed Yu Yunwen to this position. He is only one step away from becoming the prime minister of the State of Song. Going to Shandong to start as a local governor at this time is actually a move that is far away from what is near.

All the thousands of words can only turn into a sigh.

"Well... well, it's up to you." Yu Yunwen opened the document and found that in addition to the routine request for supplies, there was also a formal document for military expansion.

After quickly reading it, Yu Yunwen exclaimed in astonishment: "The Jingnan Army is going to expand to 20,000 men?"

Xu Zongyan nodded: "To be exact, it is 20,000 combat soldiers, not counting civilians."

Yu Yunwen was even more shocked: "What does Liu Dalang want to do? Is he going to rebel?"

The Huaidong army under Liu Qi's command now has a regular strength of about 40,000 combat soldiers. If the soldiers who are on the payroll and those who are injured or killed are excluded, there are only about 30,000 soldiers left.

Now Liu Huai asks for 20,000 yuan right away, which is really too outrageous.

Xu Zongyan remained unfazed by the news. "Prime Minister, Liu Dalang said he can seize these people's weapons himself. There are so many defeated troops in Lianghuai, and he must absorb them into the army no matter what. Otherwise, who knows what will happen. Besides, after this victory, the Jingnan Army will return to Shandong. There is enough land there to accommodate these people, so there is no need for you, Prime Minister."

Xu Zongyan's words were vague, but Yu Yunwen understood them immediately.

Liu Huai only informed Yu Yunwen that whether he agreed or not, the Jingnan Army must be expanded.

Now that Yu Yunwen agrees, it is possible for him to add some sabotage to win over the people's hearts and even get the roster of the Jingnan Army. However, if Liu Huai is allowed to act on his own, the Jingnan Army will truly become his private territory.

And more importantly, if they could win and the Jingnan Army returned to Shandong, Yu Yunwen would be able to become the commander-in-chief of Lianghuai and Shandong in the next war based on the merits of this battle, that is, a general.

Strengthening the Jingnan Army now is paving the way for Yu Yunwen to take control of the government.

Of course, this is another story.

The fact is that the only army that Yu Yunwen has that can withstand the attack of the Jin army on land is the Jingnan Army. It would be unreasonable not to strengthen them.

Thinking of this, Yu Yunwen could only grit his teeth and nod: "Tell Liu Dalang that I agree, and I will take care of the troubles in the court. But he can't touch Shi Jun and the others, otherwise I will definitely not forgive him."

Xu Zongyan nodded. "Of course. The Huaixi Army has proven their bravery. As the saying goes, loyal ministers and filial sons are respected by all, while traitors and traitors are punishable by all. With the example of General Sheng's martyrdom, the Jingnan Army will also look up to them."

Xu Zongyan knew that Yu Yunwen was worried that Liu Huai would become determined and start a large-scale annexation of the Huaixi Army, directly forming a situation where the tail was too big to be eliminated. He immediately made a guarantee on Liu Huai's behalf.

Yu Yunwen wrote a few words on the document, affixed the official seal, and handed it to the document storage beside him. Then he curiously asked, "What has Liu Dalang been doing these days?"

Xu Zongyan thought for a moment and said, "Reward and punish the entire army, conduct large-scale battle formation training, and oh, yes, also give lectures and teach the soldiers to read."

"What?" Yu Yunwen was completely surprised. "Are you teaching ordinary soldiers or officers?"

"Ordinary soldier."

Yu Yunwen stood up and paced around for a few breaths before he said, "I have nothing to do today. I will go with you to the Jingnan army and see how Liu Dalang organizes his troops."

"Right." Yu Yunwen took two steps before slapping his forehead again and saying to his attendant, "Go and call Commander Li. Let's go to the Jingnan Army camp together."

　Don't be like this, big brother.

　　War is a game of wins and losses. The entire battle line was intertwined. Both Song and Jin had strategic offensive and defensive strategies, and the strategy was also dynamic.

　　You can’t say that whichever side wins is cheating. . . .

　　
　
(End of this chapter)