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

Chapter 287: I heard the north wind was blowing hard

Liu Huai was confused by Zhang Rong and Li Bao's attitudes.

It took him a moment to understand.

Because Wang Quan was once a general under Han Shizhong, Wei Sheng, who was once Han Shizhong's personal guard, should know him much better than others.

Why don't you just go back and ask your dad?
But matters were urgent, and there was no time for further consideration. After a moment's reflection, Li Bao, who had once served under Han Shizhong, said, "Wang Quan has few strengths; he is too mediocre, but this is also the reason why he can hold military power.

If it weren't for this, not to mention loyal figures like Marshal Yue and the King of Han, even a cautious person like Liu Xinshu (Liu Qi) would be suspected just because he was from the north, so how could he have a chance to stand out? "

Li Bao didn't know much about Wang Quan. After he finished speaking, he thought for a long time before saying, "But there is a rumor that I have also heard, but it was from Han Yanzhi, the son of King Han. It can't be completely false..."

The story is simple and a little magical.

It is said that Wang Quan was good at shooting crossbows. After becoming a commander, he often went out hunting and especially liked shooting birds.

Later, one day, he heard a bird singing and shot an arrow into the bird's nest with his crossbow, but he didn't pay much attention to it. But when he turned to leave, he heard someone behind him say: What if you also had one eye shot out?
Wang Quan turned around in surprise, but there was no one behind him. He knew there was something strange about the bird's nest, so he quickly dismounted and climbed a tree. He saw a magpie in the nest, shot in the eye by a crossbow arrow, wailing and writhing, and about to die.

Only then did he realize that the sound just now was made by a magpie. He was shocked and regretful. He drew his sword and chopped the crossbow into pieces, and vowed never to shoot a bird again.

A few days later, Wang Quan led his army to fight the enemy and was hit in the face by a stray arrow. The arrow hit him right between the nose and the eye, almost blinding Wang Quan.

Wang Quan thought of the bird shooting incident a few days ago, and sighed and said: It's all my fault. I shouldn't have shot the bird. Now I'm injured as retribution.

After listening to this somewhat weird story, Liu Huai just felt that something was strange, but before he could think about it, a military envoy with two small red flags on his back came galloping towards him.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! It's urgent! Get out of the way!"

The military envoy roared as he came up to Liu Huai, dismounted, and despite being sweaty, he pulled out a wax-sealed bamboo tube from his backpack and said loudly, "Commander-in-Chief, a letter from General Wei."

Liu Huai examined the wax seal, opened it, and spilled out a few pages of letter paper. After reading it quickly, he was stunned for a moment before speaking with mixed feelings, "Uncle Zhang, General Li, the Tianping Army's leader Geng has obtained accurate intelligence. Wanyan Liang personally led four thousand-man troops from Bianliang along the Wo River into the Huai River region. They have already crossed the river and captured Shouchun.

My father also received accurate information today: Tushan Zhen, stationed in Xuzhou and Pizhou, has only three thousand households, and is facing Liu Qi's troops across the river."

Amidst the mixed expressions of surprise and confusion on the two veteran generals' faces, Liu Huai continued, "The Jin Kingdom didn't attack Huaibei with its main force! Not at all... but the Huai River defense line was still breached."

As soon as these words came out, Li Bao and Zhang Rong suddenly felt that their situation was shaky.

The good news is that the Northern Expedition of the Loyal Army was indeed effective. The Jin Kingdom did not dare to send hundreds of thousands of troops to Lianghuai at the risk of having its logistics routes cut off. The Song Dynasty did not face the risk of having its river defenses penetrated by a wave of enemies and could continue to survive.

But the bad news is that even if the main force was not coming, the Huaihe River defense line was still not held, and the Jin army easily invaded the two Huaihe Rivers.

"This... this is simply... simply..." Li Bao's mouth moved and repeated for a long time without saying any specific words.

On the other hand, Zhang Rong's expression could be described as distraught.

"I... I thought, I thought, that the peace talks back then really meant ten years of gathering strength and ten years of learning lessons." Even after today's defeat, Zhang Rong was still furious, but upon hearing this news, he seemed to have aged ten years, his entire body hunched over. "In order to negotiate peace, Yue Pengju was even harmed... So many people died, is this the only outcome?"

"Just for this result?!!"

Zhang Rong couldn't help but roar, drew out his sword, and slashed it hard on a big rock beside him.

The clanging of metal and stone made a huge noise, which made the guards who were watching from afar panic for a moment.

Liu Huai took a deep breath and whispered, "Uncle Zhang, don't lose your composure. Pay attention to the morale of the troops. As long as we are not dead, there will always be room for recovery."

Even though the matter was urgent, Li Bao still looked at Liu Huai with surprise.

In this situation, he can still remain calm. Wei Dadao, this adopted son, is really extraordinary.

In fact, Liu Huai was also a little confused at this time because he had really changed the course of history, and everything that followed became very uncontrollable.

Of course, the key to his ability to remain calm at this time was that he himself had no hope for the State of Song.

Especially in the Song Dynasty under the leadership of Zhao Gou, anything that happened was not surprising. Even a traitor like Qin Hui could be promoted, and a hero like Yue Fei could be unjustly killed. What else could not happen?
After a moment's silence, the two veterans finally calmed down, but immediately realized a problem: if the main force of the Jin army did not come to Lianghuai, then where would they go?
The conclusion is obvious, they will definitely go to Jingxiang.

"Although the Jingxiang defense line was established by Marshal Yue, it has been tormented for a long time by Tian Shizhong, and it is no longer useful." Li Bao was an official after all, and he immediately made a final conclusion: "If the Jin army really presses towards Xiangfan, the area outside Fancheng will be undefendable.

Xiangfan is located on both sides of the river. If we can defend it, we will defend it. If we cannot defend it..."

At this point, Li Bao sighed deeply, "If we can't defend it, we can only hold on to Jiangling by the Yangtze River. But if Jingxiang and Huaibei are completely lost, how many years can the Song Dynasty last?"

Zhang Rong smiled bitterly. "Let's not even talk about the fall of the Song Dynasty. Even if Lianghuai falls to the Jin thieves, what good will it do us to create such a powerful situation in Shandong? Can we withstand sieges from all sides?"

At this time, Liu Huai needed to comfort the two of them: "Don't be so pessimistic. The Jin Kingdom was founded on military power. Now that the army has already marched south, it is impossible for them not to have a major internal chaos. Let's wait and see."

Where is Wanyan Yong? Please save him!

"Furthermore, Wanyan Liang was an impatient man. He did not clean up his own internal affairs first, and was unwilling to use a large army to attack the Shandong rebels like us. Instead, he marched south to attack the Song Dynasty. This shows that he is ambitious.

Such individuals have always either achieved great success or suffered great failure. Even the slightest hindrance to their military momentum would cause them to lose their composure. Especially with Wanyan Liang still in the army, if he pushed the soldiers too far, it's not impossible that he would be killed."

After listening to Liu Huai's analysis, Li Bao felt relieved, but for a moment he could only say: "I just hope that Wang Quan can fight back and hold on to Luzhou, and never let the Jin thieves occupy Hefei."

Liu Huai smiled and wanted to say something, but was immediately stunned.

He finally figured out what was wrong with the story about the kingship.

Apart from the part about gods and monsters, the rest is actually the royal power looking for reasons not to continue hunting.

But in this era, hunting was not just for fun; it was also for training military coordination and honing archery and horsemanship. What made hunting even more effective than ordinary training was that it also allowed the hunters to catch some meat, increasing their meat intake.

And he is unwilling to even do such a thing. Doesn't this mean that Wang Quan has become completely corrupt and degenerate, and is far away from military affairs?
For a person like this, even if Wanyan Liang did not lead the army south at this time and there were only four thousand households, could Wang Quan really muster up the courage and determination to hold on?

Thinking of this, Liu Huai couldn't help but pace on the spot, and at the same time realized another fact.

Han Xin's famous saying, "The more troops, the better," has anyone ever matched his skill? For most generals, the larger the army, the more chaos. Hundreds of thousands of troops combined might even produce a result where one plus one is less than two.

The most typical and recent example is the five-way expedition against the Xia during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. The army had just set out and had not even started fighting when its own baggage and logistics collapsed. Most of the casualties died of starvation and freezing.

Although Wanyan Liang's army is smaller this time, does that mean its combat effectiveness will be very poor?
Thinking of this, Liu Huai couldn't help but sweat on his forehead.

As Zhang Rong said, if the Jin Kingdom could gain a foothold in Lianghuai, as long as it did not cross the Yangtze River, the Song Kingdom could still survive.

But by then, the Shandong rebel army would be surrounded on all sides, and they would not even have a way to retreat, let alone rely on the Song State.

Just when the three commanders were feeling somewhat panicked, another scout came to report that many ships were coming from the north and south on the sea, so densely packed that there was almost no end in sight.

Liu Huai and others immediately mounted their horses and rushed to Shijiu Mountain, where they saw hundreds of boats competing with each other and sailing south along the coastline.

Although they were far away, Liu Huai immediately realized that the Jin navy was coming out in full force to head south to participate in the attack on the Song Dynasty.

"Alas, Manager Li was only a few days late, and ultimately failed to stop the Jin thieves on Chenjia Island." At this time, only Liu Huai could still force a laugh to comfort Li Bao.

Li Bao's face turned pale as he muttered to himself, "My army arrived late because of the hurricane. Could it be that this is God's will?"

Zhang Rong gritted his teeth and said, "Is this the time to talk about this? How can we let the Jin navy sail south safely? Li San, I also have some navy. Let's unite our forces and fight together to stop the Jin thieves!"

Li Bao looked confused, his thoughts unclear. Liu Huai quickly grabbed Zhang Rong's arm and said sternly, "The navy is all crossing in Rizhao County. Time is running out. The 3,000 elite Song soldiers have already fought a battle today. How can they continue to fight? If we rush the troops and fail, won't we lose our last chance? Uncle Zhang, we need to think long-term."

Zhang Rong became extremely anxious upon hearing this, but he also knew that what Liu Huai said made sense, so for a moment he could only look up to the sky in silence.

The general situation in the world is becoming increasingly chaotic.

(End of this chapter)