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

Chapter 148: Farewell Advice May Be Harsh to the Ear

At three quarters past noon on August 14th, the rain gradually stopped and the sun pierced through the dark clouds. It was a good time to behead someone.

The morale of the more than 1,000 Tianping troops who were marching in pursuit on the west bank of the Anzi River had risen to such an extent that they had to rely on officers to control them in order to slow down their march.

At this time, Liu Huai's prestige had reached a certain level, so that every time he arrived at a place on horseback, he would cause cheers.

War is the time to build prestige, and whoever is the commander-in-chief will naturally have the highest prestige.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Xin Qiji was broad-minded. He did not stop the ordinary soldiers from praising and cheering for Liu Huai. If he were a narrow-minded person, he would have been thinking about killing Liu Huai by now.

"Liu Dalang, although our army has won, if you don't let us run, how can two legs catch up with four? Wouldn't that let the Jin thieves escape and make this battle a waste?"

When Liu Huai was riding his horse back and forth to arrange the troops, a cook named Xin asked loudly.

Liu Huai just smiled: "You are out of breath from running, and the Jin thieves are also out of breath. When you two meet, you two lie on the ground for a quarter of an hour to catch your breath, and then stand up and fight. Do you think this is a good thing?"

The captain, clutching his spear, sighed in a mock manner, "I just feel... I feel that so many of our brothers died without knowing why the other night. Now that we have the upper hand, if we can't take advantage of them and chop off a few more heads, how can we comfort the dead? Don't you agree, Liu Dalang?"

Although the crowd was moving, they could hear these things clearly and turned their heads to look.

Liu Huai continued to smile and said, "What do you think we are doing? This is killing the enemy. Some ways of killing the enemy are with swords and guns, some with words, and now we are killing the enemy with physical strength."

Seeing that the leader seemed to be puzzled, Liu Huai continued to explain: "Pan Wulang, why don't we make a bet? I dare say that before sunset, we can harvest at least 200 exhausted war horses and capture at least 100 gold thieves. Do you dare to bet?"

The captain, Pan Wulang, didn't respond immediately. Instead, he asked in surprise, "Liu Dalang actually knows me too?"

Liu Huai nodded. "You've taken two heads today and made great contributions. How could I not recognize you, Pan Huaihua, Pan Wulang? Do you dare to bet?"

When Pan Wulang heard Liu Huai say his name loudly, his face immediately turned red again: "I wonder what the bet is?"

"If you win, I have a dagger made of tempered steel, which I'll give you. If you lose, I won't ask for anything from you. How about you sing a few songs in the ranks to boost morale?"

Pan Wulang grinned and said, "What's the big deal about singing? I'm the one who gets the upper hand anyway. Let's gamble!"

Before he could finish his words, a Khitan cavalryman galloped down the path cleared by the infantry column. "General, there are over twenty exhausted Jurchens ahead. Even though their horses are down, they're gathered on the hillside and refusing to surrender. Young Master Zhenjin asked me to ask the General what to do? Should we send in the infantry?"

Liu Huai nodded and tilted his head towards Xin Qiji who had been observing silently beside him. The two of them ran to the front of the queue with several personal guards.

Pan Wulang opened his mouth wide, while the others laughed out loud: "Pantou, we are waiting to hear you sing!"

"Go, go, go away." Pan Wulang frowned in thought while making sure the queue was in order.

What should I sing?
After Liu Huai and his group had slightly separated from the formation, Xin Qiji smiled bitterly and said, "How come you even know the name of a squad leader? If this goes on for a long time, I'll start to doubt whether my Xin Army has been taken over by you, Dalang."

Liu Huai said nonchalantly, "I'm surprised you don't know Pan Wulang's name. He's a man of merit and a man we'll focus on promoting. Yet you don't treat him with any special regard. It's simply unbelievable."

Xin Qiji rubbed the tip of his nose to hide his embarrassment. "It's been really busy these past few days... a bit chaotic." Liu Huai continued to nod perfunctorily and changed the subject. "We need to march this way. We need to leave a path for the cavalry to move along the roadside. We need to speed up the establishment of a scout and messenger system. Yelu Xingge is not your subordinate after all. The Khitan light cavalry is useful, but it's difficult for you to use it..."

Xin Qiji listened to these words that sounded like entrusting an orphan to someone else, and finally asked in confusion, "Why are you saying this suddenly?"

Liu Huai explained, "After I capture Fei County at the latest, I will return to command the Loyal Army. Regardless of whether the Jin bandits are weakened or not, a decisive battle will always await me in Linyi. It's just a matter of difficulty."

Xin Qiji's heart was shocked. Although he knew that this moment would come sooner or later, he immediately felt a complex emotion of reluctance and fear.

Sometimes he wondered how much the overall combat capability of the Tianping Army would be improved if Liu Huai could stay in the Tianping Army.

But Xin Qiji also knew that not only him, but even Geng Jing, the leader of the Tianping Army, did not have the money to keep Liu Huai.

In terms of closeness, Liu Huai was the adopted son of Wei Sheng, the commander-in-chief of the Loyal and Righteous Army; in terms of status, Liu Huai was the second-in-command of the Loyal and Righteous Army; in terms of prospects, Xin Qiji did not dare to say that the Tianping Army would definitely be stronger than the Loyal and Righteous Army.

But reason is reason, and emotionally, Xin Qiji did feel extremely reluctant to part with this close friend who stood up for him in a critical moment but left afterwards, hiding his status and reputation.

"Wu Lang, don't act like a child."

Liu Huai had just given his advice when he arrived in front of the twenty or so Jurchens.

The exhausted Jurchens had abandoned their tired war horses and came to a hillside, but the foot of the mountain was easy to climb, and a little higher, Mengshan quickly became steeper. They could neither go up nor down, and anxiously searched for a way to survive.

At the foot of the mountain, there were not only Khitan light cavalry, but also a dozen archers with divine arms and more than twenty lightly armed infantrymen.

Seeing this, Xin Qiji rode forward and said, "Jurchen bandits, are you willing to surrender?"

More than twenty Jurchens were in an uproar, but one of them was so bold as to shout, "Han dogs!..."

When Xin Qiji heard this, he didn't want to know what the Jurchen was going to say. He just waved his hand and ordered the infantry of the Xin army to launch an attack.

First, crossbows fired arrows, and then the infantry climbed the mountain and attacked.

These Jurchen cavalrymen, who were originally well-trained, were exhausted and suffered casualties. After abandoning their exhausted horses, they had no power to resist at all and were easily killed by the Xin army.

Liu Huai looked up and continued to ramble like an old woman, "We must keep some of the surrendered Jurchens alive. Otherwise, it would be like telling them that if they resist, they will die, and if they don't, they will also die. This will make the Jin thieves allies share a common hatred for their enemy."

After he finished speaking, Liu Huai also felt a little bored, so he asked his guards to stay away. He then said to Xin Qiji sternly: "After I leave, if Chief Geng can come back, it's fine. You can kill people and rectify things as needed. But if Chief Geng can't come back, Wulang, you have to make the decision."

Xin Qiji had a splitting headache, feeling that Liu Huai was setting a trap for him before leaving, and that he was such a jerk. The sadness of parting that he had just felt quickly flew to Java.

But he couldn't stop Liu Huai from talking.

(End of this chapter)