The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 526 Reorganizing the Army
Grain was being transported out of the woods next to Kaifeng Prefecture, cart after cart.

The ministers who were in charge of counting and distributing the grain stared wide-eyed at it.

Zhang Jun scratched his head and said, "Is Young Master Yue's family so wealthy? How many cartloads have been transported already? Why aren't they finished yet?"

Li Gang didn't ask such a naive question. What he was thinking was: When exactly did Young Master Yue put all this grain here? As soon as the meeting of the regents ended, he went straight to this grove of trees. When he came in, he saw that the grain was already piled up like a mountain.

How many laborers will be needed to transport so much grain, and how long will it take?
Why is it that I am in Kaifeng City, yet I have not heard a single word of it?
horrible!terrible!

Wu Jialiang, who came with them, appeared very calm and said with a smile, "Don't worry about the details of Young Master Yue's affairs. Just trust him. Not only should you trust his abilities, but most importantly, you should trust his character."

When Li Gang heard the phrase "believe in his character," he understood that Wu Jialiang was reminding the officials of the Southern Song Dynasty not to doubt Yue Gongzi's motives.

Does this person truly have no selfish motives?
Did he really not intend to become emperor himself?
Thinking about it carefully, if he really had that ability, it wouldn't have been too difficult for him to unify the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties by force and ascend the throne as emperor. But he didn't take that path.

Li Gang's thoughts were in turmoil...

On the other side, Han Shizhong and Yue Fei were overjoyed: "With so much grain and a large number of firearms, how can we not succeed in the Northern Expedition?"

Just as the two were having a good time, Yue Wenxuan, Gong Erniangzi, and Wu Jialiang came over with a group of Northern Song Dynasty generals. They also pulled up Han Shizhong, Yue Fei, Zhang Xian, and Yue Yun, and led them to a clearing next to the woods.

Yue Wenxuan said, "The civil officials are already busy, and the military officers shouldn't be idle either. Let's discuss how to carry out this Northern Expedition."

After he finished speaking, his gaze first fell on Yue Fei!

Yue Fei had already come up with a plan. Seeing Yue Wenxuan looking at him expectantly, he said without hesitation, "This time, because there are puppet Qi generals like Zhang Xiaochun acting as inside agents, I suggest that our Northern Expeditionary Army be divided into two parts, one as the fast army and the other as the slow army."

Wu Jialiang: "What's the difference between fast and slow forces?"

Yue Fei: "The swift army is a fast-moving force, responsible only for attacking cities and seizing territory. It will break into Daming Prefecture as quickly as possible, cooperate with internal collaborators, and capture the capital of the puppet Qi state in one fell swoop, thus securing victory. The slow army, on the other hand, is a slow-moving force, whose purpose is to clean up the battlefield and stabilize the defensive line. It will advance in a carpet-like manner, building a large number of fortifications such as gray forts, digging trenches, and constructing breastworks along the way to prevent the Jin cavalry from harassing our recovered areas."

Yue Wenxuan immediately understood. The "fast army" that Yue Fei mentioned was actually a deep penetration tactic that the Jin army had used in the past. However, the Jin army only knew how to penetrate into enemy territory with knife-like speed, but they had no follow-up measures. After the attack, they had to retreat, leaving behind a devastated land.

Yue Fei, however, was different. He supported the slow-moving army behind the fast-moving army. The slow-moving army was responsible for cleaning up and reorganizing the territories recovered by the vanguard troops. In this way, the fast-moving army could strike the enemy's core area, while the slow-moving army could consolidate the grand strategy.

Wu Jialiang nodded and said, "This plan is excellent! Our veteran generals in the Northern Song Dynasty have always used slow-moving tactics. Every veteran general is very good at consolidating the defensive line, but fast-paced attacks and rapid strikes are the weakness of our Northern Song generals."

The Northern Song Dynasty also had a naval admiral named Li Bao, who was skilled in surprise attacks.

But Li Bao is still stationed in Dalian, keeping the Jin Dynasty's Liaodong region in check.

Wu Jialiang had no choice but to say to Yue Fei, "It seems that the swift army will be led by a former general of the Southern Song Dynasty."

Yue Fei and Han Shizhong stepped forward simultaneously: "Let's go!"

The fact that the two of them were going to act together gave Yue Wenxuan a strange sense of security.

He nodded and said, "Okay, I'll leave it to you two."

Yue and Han clasped their hands in a fist salute, received the military order and tally from Gu Mingtang, and immediately went to arrange the reorganization of the troops...
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The entire army of the newly established Song Dynasty began to reorganize... The goal of this Northern Expedition was to destroy the puppet Qi regime and recover large areas of Shanxi and Shandong. It was a major national strategy, and apart from a small number of troops left to guard the border, the entire nation's army was to participate in the war.

Generals Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Yue Yun, Zhang Xian, and others marched toward a temporary military camp.

The soldiers gathered in this large military camp were all former soldiers from the Southern Song Dynasty.

The unification of the two Song dynasties had lasted less than a year, and the soldiers of both dynasties were not yet fully integrated. When assembling, they had to be separated and stationed in different barracks.

As soon as Yue Fei reached the gate of the barracks, he heard someone shouting loudly, "Marshal Yue! It's Marshal Yue!"

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a burly middle-aged man rushing over and kneeling down in front of him with a thud: "Marshal Yue, when I heard that you died at Fengbo Pavilion, I cried for three days and three nights. It wasn't until the two Song dynasties were united that I learned you were still alive. I... I... sob... I'm so happy to be back under Marshal Yue's command..."

Yue Fei recognized him; he was a junior officer in Yue Family Army.

After Yue Fei "died" at Fengbo Pavilion, the Yue Family Army scattered. Many patriotic warriors fell under the command of cowardly and incompetent generals, while others simply left the army, some becoming deserters and others becoming outlaws. Seeing Yue Fei again now is truly a great joy.

A large group of people rushed out of the barracks, knelt down in front of Yue Fei, and wailed loudly.

Yue Fei quickly helped them up one by one...

Han Shizhong laughed loudly: "A bunch of men crying like women, what kind of behavior is this?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than another group of men rushed out of the barracks, knelt down before Han Shizhong, and cried out, "Marshal Han, we've finally seen you! It's me..."

Han Shizhong: "!"

He had just criticized Yue Fei and hadn't even recovered when the same thing started happening to him.

The entire story of their recognition of each other can only be omitted here...

It took Yue Fei and Han Shizhong a long time to finally calm down the emotions of these old subordinates before they began to select the "fast army" soldiers for this Northern Expedition.

Select loyal veterans from among Yue Fei's former subordinates, preferably those who fought guerrilla warfare with him, as they best understand the importance of speed in warfare.

In addition, the Beiwei Army, the most elite former troops of Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, were also gradually recruited from the former soldiers of the Southern Song Dynasty and reorganized to serve as the core of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

The two were extremely busy in the barracks...

From afar, Yue Fei saw a man sitting in a corner of the barracks, his back to him, so he couldn't see the man's face. But just from his back, he could tell that the man had an extraordinary aura and was definitely a hero.

Yue Fei walked over and patted the man on the shoulder: "Brother, which army did you serve in before? Would you like to join my Northern Expeditionary Army?"

The man turned around and said, "Please kill me!"

Yue Fei looked closely and saw that it was Yang Yizhong.

(End of this chapter)