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

Chapter 314: I wish to illuminate the moon with my loyal heart

Wei Sheng frowned and asked, "Dalang, it's not that I don't trust your ability, but the Song-Jin front is extremely dangerous. Even I am struggling. Can you really handle it with ease?"

Liu Huai said sternly, "It is precisely because the front lines are so dangerous that I must lead the army there. Only then can we turn the situation around. If I go south, I might be harmed."

This was said cryptically, but there were still many smart people among the crowd. They just thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement.

The reason is simple. Wei Sheng is too loyal to the Song Dynasty. If he leads his army to join the Song army, he may be assigned to the most dangerous place by the Song Dynasty, and he will not refuse.

In a large-scale battle involving more than 100,000 people from both the Song and Jin sides, thousands of loyal soldiers could easily be thrown into the meat grinder and killed completely.

In a nutshell, Wei Sheng would really fill all the loyal and righteous troops into the bloody hole of the Song-Jin War.

The more important point is that not only Wei Sheng himself knew this, but everyone in the Loyal Army knew it.

Wei Sheng's old brothers didn't mind, as dying on the Huainan battlefield was indeed sacrificing their lives for their country. However, the generals from Shandong were extremely terrified.

Why?! Why should we, the people of Shandong, bear the calamity that you, the Song State, have brought upon yourself?!
But Liu Huai was different.

This guy usually had a lot of sarcasm and resentment towards the Song Dynasty. Although he did not want the Song Dynasty to be destroyed, and even did not want the Jin Dynasty to occupy Lianghuai, he would never show his feelings on his face.

If the State of Song appointed Liu Huai to guard Guazhou Ferry alone, he would immediately make a gesture of abandoning the land and fleeing.

As the commander of the Song State, who would dare to take a gamble on the Yangtze River defense line?
The saying that peace can only be maintained through struggle is the same principle.

Wei Sheng first looked around at all the generals, and only after seeing that they all agreed did he sigh.

Sometimes, Wei Sheng was not unaware of these principles, but after years of military service, fighting for the Song State, his loyalty to the emperor and his country had been ingrained in him, and this was impossible to change.

Like Wei Sheng, Lu You, and even Yue Fei and Han Shizhong, who were even more advanced, didn't they know the accumulated evils, the cowardice, and the shamelessness of the Song Dynasty? Yet, they were still helpless.

After a moment's silence, Wei Sheng finally asked, "Da Lang, how many troops are you going to take south?"

Liu Huai said: "The fleet can only transport 7,000 regular troops, but if we exclude the 2,000 Tianping troops, we can only transport 5,000 people.

However, father, Shandong is equally important. Therefore, I cannot take 5,000 men with me. I can only take 3,000 regular troops at most."

Wei Sheng frowned: "Three thousand troops, isn't that too few?"

Liu Huai shook his head. "Father, the quality of soldiers is more important than their quantity. Two thousand more soldiers wouldn't make much difference on the Song-Jin front. But in Father's hands, they could play a huge role in the empty Shandong province."

If father can capture Yidu Prefecture, it will be equivalent to an additional 20,000 troops; if father can capture Pizhou and cut off the Jin thieves' retreat, it will be equivalent to an additional 50,000 troops."

Wei Sheng nodded and continued, "Then I will select elite soldiers for you."

Liu Huai shook his head again: "Father, no. This is like going deep into the enemy's territory alone. Only those with high morale can go. Many elite soldiers in Shandong are of great use, but they may not be so useful in Lianghuai."

"What does Dalang mean?"

"Father, although it was me who proposed the three-pronged attack, it still needs to be voted on in the military council. If many people don't think it's a good idea, then even if father and I think it's feasible, it will be difficult to implement it." Liu Huai turned around and looked around at the generals: "Then how about this, let's vote first to see if everyone agrees with the three-pronged attack plan.

If the majority agree, then the General, Lu Dapan, and I will return to the general's tent behind us. You can come in one by one and tell the three of us your ideas privately, and then we will make a unified distribution."

As he spoke, Liu Huai looked at Lu You, the host of the military meeting.

Lu You understood and immediately said, "Those who agree with Commander Liu Huai's plan of attacking from three fronts, please raise your hands."

Except for Kai Zhao and others who hesitated for a moment because they were attending this kind of military meeting for the first time, the rest of the people immediately raised their hands.

It was passed almost unanimously.

This is not to say that Liu Huai's strategy is so great and correct, but because there have been many quarrels within the Loyal Army in recent days. Everyone has not only expressed their own position, but also understood the positions of others, which are simply irreconcilable.

Now that Liu Huai can come up with such a plan that satisfies the interests of all parties and has some feasibility, it is already very good.

Of course, this still requires Zhang Rong's cooperation, but we finally have a general direction.

Liu Huai nodded and said, "Next, I'll give everyone two quarters of an hour to think about it. Starting with the front army, please come to the general's tent in order and express your thoughts."

After saying that, Wei Sheng, Lu You and Liu Huai returned to the general's tent and waited quietly.

The opinions of the four commanders of the front army were actually very consistent. They all trusted Liu Huai very much. Since Liu Huai made the decision to go south, Luo Shenyan, Zhang Baiyu and others would naturally follow Liu Huai to the end.

The same decision was made by Zhang Xiaoyi and others in the Right Army. Liu Huai originally thought that this army, which was mainly composed of the Donghai Uprising, would most likely refuse to move south.

After all, although the Jin Kingdom had a deep hatred for the people of Donghai, the Song Kingdom also refused to let them in, which was not only ungrateful but also resentful.

However, the officers of the Right Army all expressed that since Lord Feihu was personally leading the army south, they would obey his command and fight hard in order to repay Duke Wei's kindness.

It must be pointed out that if Wei Sheng had decided to lead the entire army south and completely abandon Haizhou, the Right Army would certainly not have been so happy. Even if Wei Sheng and Liu Huai split their forces, with Wei Sheng heading south and Liu Huai staying behind, the Right Army would have had to leave some soldiers to defend Shandong to avoid being completely annihilated in Huainan.

But now that Liu Huai is leading his army south, Zhang Xiaoyi and others have nothing to worry about.

Liu Huai would not guarantee that everyone would survive, he could only guarantee that those who died would die a worthy death.

Just having this right is enough to make people like Zhang Xiaoyi and Li Xiu follow him to the end.

Of course, not everyone wants to go south to fight.

Dong Cheng of the Zuo Army expressed his embarrassment.

Because the left army had been stationed in Haizhou, isolated from the main force, they had not participated in the attack on Yizhou, the battle against Wuxing Army and other tough battles, so naturally they had not been trained.

This also led to the separation of the left army and the main force of the loyal army.

This is not to say that they would not obey Wei Sheng's orders, but that if it really came to a life-and-death struggle, where they were in danger of going through fire and water, it would be difficult for them to voluntarily die for the strategic goal.

Apart from anything else, two commanders of the Left Army were even recruited in Haizhou and had never fought side by side. How could they wholeheartedly believe in the vision described by Liu Huai?

The rear army is the same as the left army.

Zhang Qing of the rear army was willing to follow Liu Huai south, but Kai Zhao, Zheng Yun and others were basically the remnants of the Kaishan Zhao uprising, and it was difficult for them to willingly fight for the Song State.

The central army is much more complicated.

Wang Xiongyi and Pang Rugui expressed their willingness to follow Liu Huai south, but Yu Yuan, Yuchi Mingyue, Zhou Xinglie and Lei Ben all had to obey Wei Sheng's orders.

The four of them had no objections and did whatever Wei Sheng asked them to do. They were Wei Sheng's loyal base.

That's pretty much the situation in the military. Because of the military hierarchy, soldiers generally have to obey orders.

But the miscellaneous things that civil affairs officials do are much more outrageous.

The first one was Lu You, the Tongpan of Haizhou. He was determined to go south with the army no matter what. Even though there were many affairs in Haizhou that needed his attention, he still said very resolutely that if they didn't take him with them, he would find a small boat by himself and row all the way south along the coast.

Even if I die, I will die on the sea border of the Song Dynasty.

Luo Guzi was much more pragmatic. Even when his eldest son Luo Shenyan had clearly stated that he would follow Liu Huai south, he remained unmoved. He only said that Juzhou, Yizhou, and Haizhou were already empty, and that water conservancy projects and reclaimed fields would be carried out in winter, and that work-for-relief would be used to provide relief to the victims. The treasury could only last until next spring.

If he wanted to mobilize troops, it would be difficult to mobilize many civilians. Wei Sheng's military operations in Shandong would most likely require him to bring refugees with him as auxiliary troops, using war as a substitute for relief.

The most interesting one is He Boqiu.

As the Tongpan of Yizhou, this person was almost the core of the opposition to the southward movement.

But at this time, He Boqiu expressed his willingness to follow Liu Huainan to the Huai River and Huai River to fight against the Jin army.

Liu Huai didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Lao He, what are you doing?"

Not only Liu Huai, Wei Sheng was also speechless, and Lu You, who had often argued with He Boqiu until they were red in the face in the past few days, was also stunned.

He Boqiu, however, remained calm. "I refused to go south before because of the Loyal Army and for Lord Dalang. Now I am following Lord Dalang south, also for the Loyal Army and for Lord Dalang."

Liu Huai was still speechless: "Lao He, please say something I can understand."

He Boqiu bowed and said, "I opposed the southward march before because Duke Wei and Lu Dapan intended for the entire army to march south. My opposition naturally stemmed from my disdain for the Song State, but more importantly, I felt this strategy was child's play. Throwing the elite 10,000 volunteers from Shandong onto a front line where hundreds of thousands of Song and Jin soldiers were fighting was sheer nonsense."

"If Lu Dapan is seeking death, then he can go with him, but what is the sin of the Shandong man? Why should he be buried with Lu Dapan?"

Lu You's face flushed red as he tried to retort, but Liu Huai interrupted him: "Then why do you want to go south now?"

He Boqiu said respectfully, "I made it clear when I surrendered that I have always been Liu Dalangjun's personal servant. Now that Dalangjun wants to lead his army south, how can I not follow him?
What's more, the loyal and righteous army heading south this time only has 3,000 men. Although I'm not a famous general and can't command an army of 100,000, I often command thousands of farmers in battle. After heading south, I can naturally serve as your right-hand man."

After he finished speaking, Lu You was speechless.

Indeed, when the powerful people of Yizhou surrendered, they had made it clear that they wanted to join Liu Huai.

Regardless of whether they were playing the trick of surrendering to Han but not to Cao, at least on the surface, they were Liu Huai's privates.

Now that his master is going to the battlefield, He Boqiu wants to follow him. This is impeccable both legally and morally. People who know about it even praise his loyalty.

But looking at the age and status of the two people, Lu You felt uncomfortable no matter how he thought about it.

Not only Lu You, but even Liu Huai himself felt uneasy. He twisted his body behind the desk and said, "Then please wait for a moment, Judge He. We will discuss this and make a decision later."

(End of this chapter)