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

Chapter 175: The Newspaperman and the Righteous Man

After talking with Kai Zhao for a while and roughly understanding each other's situation, Liu Huai asked Zhang Baiyu to temporarily take over his command of the army. He walked towards the stable, led his warhorse, called several personal guards, and headed towards the mountainous area in the northwest.

After walking about seven or eight miles along the path between the hills, we saw a bare stone mountain. At the foot of the mountain was a village that was almost deserted and only broken walls and ruins remained.

In the hilly areas of Shandong, there are many similar rocky mountains with almost no grass growing on them, let alone trees.

Originally, Liu Huai wanted to set up a small camp on this rocky mountain, but after an on-site investigation, he found that this rocky mountain was even rockier than the mountain in Jieting. Not only was it impossible to draw water from the well, it was inconvenient to go up and down, and even the trees used to build the camp had to be transported from the foot of the mountain.

If they really set up camp on the stone mountain, Liu Huai would become a bigger joke than Ma Su.

"May I ask if this is Liu Dalang, the Loyal Army's general?"

As they approached the village, several people appeared from behind the broken walls. A big man with a curly beard came out and asked loudly.

Liu Huai dismounted and also rushed forward. Although several of his guards were still sitting upright on their horses, their hands even on their weapons, confronting the men brought by the bearded man, Liu Huai's action still expressed his sincerity.

After all, even if you are wearing armor, if you are shot by bows and crossbows, you will most likely end up in trouble.

"Brother Zhu, I've heard a lot about you."

Liu Huai stepped forward, grasped the bearded man's clasped hands, and laughed heartily: "I've long heard from the nobles of Yishui that there's a man named Zhu Tianshou, Zhu Sanlang, upstream of Yishui. He's a man of exceptional martial arts and profound wisdom. Seeing him today, I can see that his reputation is truly well-deserved."

The bearded man was startled by the string of compliments, and then he also held Liu Huai's hands: "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. I didn't expect that my humble reputation would be praised by Mr. He San, and it would reach Mr. Liu Dalang's ears. I really don't deserve it."

The two of them boasted to each other for a while, praising each other loudly, and only got to the point after a while.

Liu Huai did not find a place to sit down and drink with Zhu Tianshou, but stood there and started chatting with him.

"Zhu Sanlang, you hurriedly contacted me secretly, but you also want to talk to me in person. Is there something serious going on?"

Zhu Tianshou sighed deeply, "Don't be fooled by my elder brother. I'm just a simple man living a simple life. I wanted to live a peaceful life by protecting my family business. But I didn't expect the war to come again. Although I'm a wealthy man, I still can't avoid the destruction of my family. After much thought, I can only rely on the Loyalty Army."

Liu Huai nodded and said sincerely, "What Zhu Sanlang said is true. The Jurchens do not regard the Han people as human beings. However, we ourselves cannot belittle ourselves and die for the Jurchens peacefully."

Zhu Tianshou nodded heavily. "That's exactly what I meant. But I figured even if I came to join the Loyalty Army, I couldn't just do it with empty words, so I brought a message as a gift."

Liu Huai's expression remained unchanged: "What news?"

Zhu Tianshou looked around and used his eyes to force back the black-clothed warriors who were following him. Liu Huai followed suit and asked the personal guards who were still riding on horses to step back a few steps.

Seeing this, Zhu Tianshou whispered, "Sir, this time we're coming from the Wuxing Army. Twenty thousand regular troops, divided into two groups, are preparing to march south along the Yishui and Shuhe Rivers simultaneously to sweep through southern Shandong." Liu Huai's expression remained unchanged upon hearing this news. "Oh? How did Zhu Sanlang know of such a crucial military secret?"

"A family like mine naturally holds some kind of official position in the county. My ninth brother-in-law is the county's chief clerk, and he heard the magistrate say that day." Zhu Tianshou said with a wry smile, "I know Mr. Liu doesn't trust me. I have no evidence, and empty words are not trustworthy. But there are two things that can support my claims."

Before Liu Huai could ask, Zhu Tianshou continued, "First, the county clerks are desperately requisitioning grain... No, it's more like outright robbery. They're even robbing smaller, more respectable households. Even wealthy families like mine can only send a few thousand dan of grain. The magistrate said... that we should either hand over the grain now, or wait until the army arrives and let the soldiers take it themselves."

At this point, Zhu Tianshou was a little angry, but he immediately recovered and said, "Secondly, the county magistrate sent his chief clerk, my ninth brother-in-law, to the Shu River, 30 miles east of the county seat, to recruit laborers. He only said he was going to set up camp, but he didn't say what he was going to do."

"Lord Liu, these are things that any scout would know at a glance. I would never try to fool you with something that would be easily exposed."

Liu Huai pondered in silence.

If it is true as Zhu Tianshou said, that the Jin army's Wuxing army sent 20,000 regular troops and divided them into two groups to fight southward along the Yishui and Shuhe lines at the same time, then things would be very troublesome indeed.

Because there were only a few thousand Dongping troops on the other side of the Shuhe River besieging Ju County, and although Kai Zhao and Ming Chun were called Dongping troops, it was obvious that their current troops were definitely the same ones they had fought guerrilla warfare in Shandong in the past.

You can call them righteous army, civilian army, or bandit army. They are certainly first-class in terms of geographical familiarity, but forget about fighting against the regular army of the Jin Dynasty and deploying a large formation to meet a powerful enemy.

The vanguard led by Liu Huai had only more than 2,000 people. How could they block the Yishui channel and the Shuhe channel at the same time?

Liu Huai's silence made Zhu Tianshou think that Liu Huai was dissatisfied with him. He was a little worried. Regardless of the sweat on their hands, he said again sincerely: "Sir, I know that no matter how much I say, you, as a general, will not believe me just because of a few words and entrust the lives of the entire army to me.

But I still have to say that the Wuxing Army has not arrived yet, so Dalangjun might as well take this opportunity to occupy Yishui County for defense. The Jin thieves must either attack the city or march their entire army across the Shu River. The river is too narrow to accommodate 20,000 troops at the same time, and logistical supplies can only be transported from farther away. By then, we can even defeat the enemy without fighting.

When the time comes, we, the entire Yishui County, will be willing to serve you like a slave."

Liu Huai thought about it in his heart, but just smiled for a moment and did not agree.

Zhu Tianshou felt a chill in his heart, but he still said to himself, "Lord, you must make a decision quickly. Within seven or eight days, the vanguard of the Wuxing Army will arrive. It doesn't need to be many, just a thousand people. We will be unable to do anything and can only submit to the Jurchen dogs.

If all 20,000 Wuxing troops arrive, then even if Yishui County is loyal to the Song Dynasty, they will have no choice but to oppose it. I will even have to personally fight against Dalangjun in exchange for a chance of survival for my family... Dalangjun, please save us..."

At the end of his speech, tears welled up in the eyes of Zhu Tianshou, a big bearded man, and he even looked like he was about to cry.

Seeing that the time was almost right, Liu Huai was about to speak, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a black-clothed warrior standing behind the broken wall on the right holding up a crossbow with a fine bowstring and pointing it at him.

(End of this chapter)