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

Chapter 315 It’s hard to say goodbye when we meet

Even though everyone knows that speed is of the essence in war, deploying an army of 10,000 people cannot be accomplished immediately.

There are so many things to consider.

For example, Huyan Nanxian had to go north. If the hundreds of Han soldiers led by Liang Yuaner of the Wuxing Army who rebelled on the battlefield were counted, the number of Jin troops was already 3,000.

Do I need to be on guard against them? If so, how should I guard against them? Will Hu Yannanxian feel excluded?
For example, Dong Cheng of the left army and Zhang Qing of the rear army would find it difficult to go south to the Huai River region, but one of them would have to attack Pizhou along the Yishui River, and the other would have to go north to attack Yidu Prefecture.

Who goes north and who goes south, and how should the troops be deployed?
Where was the main attack direction of the loyal and righteous army left behind in Shandong?
In addition, a part of the main force of the central army must be left behind so that Wei Sheng will have enough elite troops to fight. Who will leave and who will stay?
Liu Huai originally planned to take a one-size-fits-all approach, selecting elite troops from the Front Army and the Right Army and then marching south with 3,000 elite soldiers. However, Wei Sheng disagreed and decided to draw elite troops from the Central Army to replace the two weaker units in the Right Army.

Finally, after Liu Huai emphasized the importance of the Shandong war many times, Wei Sheng simply added Lei Ben's troops as his personal guards, and expanded the 300 swordmen in Lei Ben's troops to 500.

Zhang Xiaoyi's unit of the right army needs to be reduced to 1,000 soldiers.

The front army will also be reduced to 1,500 soldiers.

The captured ships could transport a total of 7,000 regular troops. At this time, the combined forces of the Zhongyi Army and the Tianping Army had only 5,000 people, leaving only 2,000 people for transportation. Liu Huai planned to transport more mules and horses to form a more mobile mule and horse corps.

These things must be extremely tedious.

Another thing is the command of the Dongping Army that Zhang Rong wants to stay in.

This was a request that I didn't even know how to ask, but in some inexplicable way, it achieved its goal.

Just when the military meeting had just ended, Zhang Qing and Zhang Baiyu had not yet left, but Zhang Rong had already arrived in person and handed over the remaining 6,000 Dongping troops and the administrative power of half of Mizhou to Wei Sheng.

This matter sounds outrageous.

But according to Zhang Rong's explanation, it seems natural.

At this time, Zhang Rong's identity was no longer just the commander-in-chief of the Dongping Army, but also the deputy chief of Huaidong.

In his mind, the army belongs to the country, and the recovered lost territory also belongs to the country. In the end, it will be taken over by the State of Song. It makes no difference who it is under the command of now.

Therefore, when Zhang Rong heard that the Loyal Army intended to send troops to garrison Shandong, he came directly to entrust the army.

Liu Huai was speechless after hearing this. Although Zhang Rong was selfless, he also knew that entrusting the army to the morally impeccable Wei Sheng was obviously for the purpose of getting it back later.

If we say that Zhang Rong was calculating carefully, he also felt that the position of deputy governor of Huaidong was more important than the commander-in-chief of Dongping Army.

All we can say is that Zhang Rong was not a warlord after all and had no intention of secession.

Actually, these things don’t matter anymore.

By October 25th, everything was brought to a decisive end.

The Song army, Dongping army and Zhongyi army that participated in the siege of Chenjia Island crossed the sea southward in a huge fleet and arrived at Qushan County, the capital of Haizhou.

The time to set out is imminent.

The soldiers who have been selected to go south have already received the first batch of financial rewards, and the reward levels have been set.

On the last night, the whole army had a feast, and Wei Sheng's family also had their first family dinner in the military camp since the Northern Expedition.

Wei Sheng sat in the main seat, with Liu Huai, Wei Jiao, Wei Rujun and Wei Chang sitting on both sides.

The food on the table was very simple. Apart from plenty of pancakes and pickles, there was also a large pot of bacon soup and a jar of wine.

Wei Rujun first served the men some broth, then returned to his seat, picked up the bowl, took a sip, and then frowned: "Alas, my brother is going to the battlefield, so I should have prepared some good food. But even a good cook cannot cook without rice, and it's winter now, so there are no fresh vegetables. We can only eat this."

Liu Huai smiled and said, "We have wine, meat, pickles, and even white flour pancakes. This life is like living in heaven. What else is there to complain about?"

Wei Chang lowered his head and took a sip of the broth, frowning and saying, "Sister, a lot of salt was added when the dried meat was marinated, and now you've added some salt to the broth too. Now it tastes like someone just robbed the Haizhou Salt Field. Really..."

Wei Rujun was originally listening to Liu Huai's words with a smile on her face, but when she heard Wei Chang provoking her, her eyebrows immediately raised: "Eat it or not, if you think it's too salty, just eat more pancakes!"

Wei Chang shrank his neck, closed his mouth and stopped talking.

Wei Sheng just stroked his beard and smiled, then sighed: "Let's eat."

Wei Sheng's family education was quite strict, at least he could still manage to keep his mouth shut while eating or sleeping. The few of them just lowered their heads to eat and didn't say anything else.

However, while eating, Wei Rujun looked up and saw Liu Huai and Wei Chang who were about to go south, and then looked at Wei Sheng and Wei Jiao who needed to stay in Shandong.

Even during the Northern Expedition, a family that hadn't been separated was now separated by thousands of miles. In the midst of the ravages of war, not knowing when we'd be able to meet again, let alone if we could ever meet again, she couldn't help but feel grief-stricken, sobbing softly.

The four grown men must have noticed Wei Rujun's misconduct, but Wei Chang just looked up, then lowered his head and pretended not to hear.

The simple meal was quickly eaten up. Wei Rujun wiped his eyes and cleared away the dishes.

Wei Sheng, who was sitting in the main seat, looked at Wei Rujun's back, sighed and said, "Da Lang, don't blame your sister. After all, she has little experience."

Liu Huai shook his head. "Although crying when seeing off a loved one is considered unlucky, the army is setting out, soldiers are on a long journey, and life and death are uncertain. How many families can truly not grieve? Although there haven't been any soldiers pulling at clothes and stamping their feet to stop them crying these past few days, some have shed tears."

Wei Sheng: "Of all things in the world, only war is difficult."

Liu Huai nodded, but did not say anything more on the matter: "Father, do you have anything else to say?"

Wei Sheng was silent for a long moment before he spoke with difficulty, "Dalang, I know you have many complaints against the Song Dynasty, but I am still a minister of the Song Dynasty. As we lead the army south this time, you need to do your best."

Liu Huai said nonchalantly, "Don't worry, father. As long as I'm here, I will never let the Jin Kingdom take over the Huai River and the Yangtze River."

Liu Huai's statement was full of confidence. The current strategic situation was very clear. After the situation in Shandong got out of control, the strategic change made by the Jin Kingdom was to push its main force to Jingxiang. Wanyan Liang personally led a detachment to attract the main force of the Song Kingdom in Lianghuai.

Wanyan Liang's battles along the way went so smoothly that he had already established a firm foothold in Lianghuai. Therefore, the Loyal Army, which was mainly composed of local troops from Shandong, had the motivation to move south.

However, it is undeniable that a major reason why Wanyan Liang was assassinated in history was that he forced the army to cross the river and established an extremely strict system of beheading the troops, which caused senior military officers to rebel collectively.

The regicide Wanyan Yuanyi even sent Ugulun Yuanzhong back to Bianliang to kill the crown prince Wanyan Guangying after Wanyan Liang's death. From this, we can see that this was really an accidental event.

If Wanyan Liang saw no hope of crossing the river and led his army back north, the Jin Dynasty might still fall into civil war, but Wanyan Liang had been the real emperor for more than a decade after all, and he would definitely not be so weak as to scatter like monkeys when the tree falls.

The current situation is that Wanyan Liang's psychological bottom line is very likely to be Lianghuai, and he has already won the military victory. He is very likely just making a move to cross the river to continue to distract the main force of the Jin army attacking Jingxiang.

Of course, given Wanyan Liang's ambitious character, it is possible that when he saw that the Song Dynasty was so weak, he would simply repeat history.

Therefore, Liu Huai's strategy of going south was very clear. He did not fight the Jin army directly, but instead defended the Yangtze River in the south of the Yangtze River. At least, this would allow the Song State to see hope and not cede land and surrender.

However, when the news of Wanyan Yong's rebellion arrived, the morale of the Jin army on the southern expedition was disrupted. The Loyal Army took advantage of the Jin army's return to the north and pounced on it.

This plan is actually very complete, but there is only one thing.

Liu Huai didn't know that Wanyan Yong had been suppressed by Hesheli Liangbi.

If he knew, he would never be so calm.

Wei Sheng didn't know what Liu Huai was thinking. In his opinion, this trip south would require a fight to the death. If the Shandong heroes hadn't been worried that Wei Sheng was too stubborn and would put them through the meat grinder, and hadn't agreed to Wei Sheng's trip south, he might have led his army to fight to the death.

Wei Sheng was silent for a long moment before he spoke again, "I wanted you to protect yourself, but the current situation requires a life-and-death battle. But if I ask you to die for your country, what father would wish for his son's death? Perhaps this is the dilemma facing us all."

Liu Huai wanted to comfort Wei Sheng, but he didn't know what to say for a moment.

"This is all your father can give you now." After Wei Sheng said this, he waved to Wei Rujun: "Ajun, bring here what you have prepared in the past two days." Wei Rujun responded, then came to the tent on the side and took out a red package.

After Liu Huai stood up and took it, he found that it was a flag with black words on a red background.

"Open it and take a look." Wei Sheng said with a smile.

Liu Huai opened the flag as instructed and found the two huge characters "Jing Nan" written on it.

"Actually, this should have been done a long time ago," Wei Sheng said, "but time is too tight. Since the Northern Expedition, we've been fighting every day and every moment, but in the end, we're still a step too late."

Wei Sheng walked up to Liu Huai, who was still looking at the banner, patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Da Lang, you will be the commander-in-chief of the Jingnan Army from now on."

Liu Huai was originally a little amused. Although the name Jingnan means to quell disasters, people who are familiar with history will inevitably think of Zhu Di's Jingnan Campaign when talking about Jingnan.

Now, a northerner led the Jingnan Army to fight in Jiankang, and he always had a sense of forcibly recreating a famous historical scene.

However, when Liu Huai heard Wei Sheng say that he would be the commander-in-chief of the Jingnan Army in the future, he suddenly reacted.

Jingnan was not just a slogan.

But it is the bugle call of the army.

From now on, Wei Sheng and Liu Huai will no longer have a subordinate relationship. Liu Huai will be the commander-in-chief of the army, on an equal footing with Wei Sheng, and can even call himself a Jiedushi.

Wei Jiao and Wei Chang, who were watching quietly from the side, were also a little surprised, but after being surprised, they felt it was natural.

The Loyal Army is now divided into two groups. Those who remain in Shandong are fine, but those who go to the Song State to help in the war can no longer act as commanders.

On the one hand, he was unable to make decisions when faced with major strategic issues. On the other hand, the State of Song was full of high-ranking officials, including general managers and military governors. Without the identity of a commander-in-chief, he would be easily manipulated.

Some governor of Huaixi comes and asks Liu Huai to stop the enemy. If he doesn't go, it would be considered as insubordination. What should he do?
This is not to say that Liu Huai is afraid of them, but once hatred is formed in the army, it often has to be settled with knives and human lives.

Having the identity of a general, even if it is a self-proclaimed general or governor, will always scare some people and make them afraid to act rashly.

For Liu Huai, Wei Sheng's move was more than just a simple sharing of power; it was also a sign of immense trust in him. With Liu Huai's new status, the strongest part of the Loyalty Army had automatically become the Jingnan Army, theoretically free from Wei Sheng's control.

"Father." Liu Huai held the big banner, not knowing what to say.

"Da Lang." Wei Sheng patted Liu Huai's shoulder, a trace of emotion on his face: "In the blink of an eye, you have grown up so much and become a man of integrity.

I still remember when I picked you up, you were just this tiny, wrapped in a big red flag with black words."

Speaking of this, Wei Sheng looked melancholy: "At that time, I was just a captain, sailing on the Huai River to guard against the Jin bandits. Although Song and Jin were negotiating peace, the Jin bandits would sometimes cross the border, robbing property or slaughtering villages.

That day, I was rowing a small boat, hiding in the reeds, when I heard a faint cry. At first, I thought it was a fox spirit or ghost and was terrified. But then I looked where the sound came from and saw you in a bucket, entangled in the reeds, as if it had been washed down from upstream. You were wrapped only in a large red flag, and there was no letter or token of trust.

Not only Liu Huai, but even several people from the Wei family heard about Liu Huai's life experience for the first time. At this time, they all listened quietly, afraid to miss a word.

"Your cries were already muted. You must have been hungry for days. I had just finished my last piece of bread, and the camp was two or three hours away." Wei Sheng mimed holding a baby. "That's how I held you, frantically running around in the boat, but there was nothing I could do. I could only pray to God. If He could spare your life, why not be a good person to the end?"

At this point, Wei Sheng revealed a hint of surprise. "Just as I finished praying in my heart, a fat fish jumped directly onto the deck of the boat. I quickly killed the fish, scraped off the meat, and fed it to you. You were so hungry at the time that you swallowed the meat directly. You actually ate half of that fat fish, haha."

Liu Huai also laughed.

Wei Sheng laughed for a moment, then sighed and continued, "I brought you back to the military camp, intending to find a family to foster you. However, after returning, I discovered that a small group of Jin thieves had slaughtered the entire farm I was familiar with. Alas, there was no other way. A rough man like me could only travel with you.

However, on the second day, they met a group of refugees who were almost as thin as bones at the edge of the camp. They said they had fled from the north, but the Song Dynasty did not want them and wanted to drive them back. They were homeless and could only find food by the river.

A girl, so thin she was almost bald, saw me holding you in my arms and escaped from the refugees. She told me she would take care of the child and that all she needed was a place to stay and a meal.

Having said that, Wei Shengfu looked at his three biological children again: "This eldest girl is your mother."

"Ah?" Wei Rujun exclaimed in surprise, "It's actually my mother?"

"Yes." Wei Sheng nodded, and sighed again: "I think it was the root of the illness she had at that time that could never be cured, and she passed away early."

Liu Huai held the banner in his hand, lost in thought for a moment before he said, "Father, I was in such a difficult situation in the army that day. Why didn't you think of abandoning me and walking away?"

Wei Sheng shook his head: "The Huai River is sending you off, and fish are leaping over the boat planks. This is because God wants you to live. Why should I harm you? And..."

Wei Sheng stroked the large red banner and said, "Also, the banner that wrapped you had the character 'Liu' on it, signifying our Han hero. Although I later searched extensively to find which general with the surname Liu sacrificed his life for his country, the situation was far too chaotic at the time. While there were no major battles between Song and Jin, smaller ones were constant. After the world calmed down, people on both sides of the Huai River suffered greatly, and it was impossible to find him."

Liu Huai suddenly realized: "Is this the reason why I was given the surname Liu?"

Wei Sheng nodded: "That's right, and because you come from the Huai River, I named you 'Huai'."

Liu Huai finally understood his own life experience, and also understood why Wei Sheng adopted him as his adopted son but did not change his surname to Wei.

Not to mention in this era, even in the future, when encountering something that has a very high probability of happening, people will unconsciously become superstitious.

Wei Sheng continued, "I've always wondered why Heaven favored Dalang so much, sending him off with the mighty Huai River. Could it be that Dalang will eventually accomplish great things? Only today do I realize that my Dalang truly possesses great luck and wisdom, and his future achievements are limitless.

Perhaps it was because the Heavenly Lord could not bear to see the Han family suffer such a disaster that the Star God from Heaven descended to the mortal world to help the Han family achieve its great cause."

Speaking of this, Wei Sheng looked at Liu Huai, his eyes full of the shadows left by the heroes of the Jingkang era. Thinking about the ups and downs of the past few decades, he couldn't help but be a little dazed.

Liu Huai was completely relieved.

Although Wei Sheng's words were full of superstition, there was one thing he said that was not wrong.

God had sent him through time and space not so that Liu Huai could sit back and watch the Han people decline, the world fall apart, and the people of the north be slaughtered to the point where only one in ten survived.

But it allowed Liu Huai to pacify the world and overcome the chaos!
A real man, born between heaven and earth, should carry a three-foot sword and accomplish unparalleled feats. How can he just sit back and watch the ups and downs of the world?
Thinking of this, Liu Huai suppressed the excitement in his chest and said, holding the Jingnan Banner, "Father, since this is all God's will, what is there to worry about? This time we will definitely achieve great success!"

Wei Sheng nodded and picked up the wine cup from the table: "Today I wish Dalang and Achang success!"

Wei Sheng's children also picked up their wine cups and drank them all.

On the second day, the Jingnan banner was flying high, and the generals who had received the notice boarded the ships with their troops.

The north wind is a little strong today. As long as we raise the sails, we can sail south quickly with the help of the wind without rowing.

The Song navy set out first, followed by 3,000 Dongping troops, and finally the main force consisting of 3,000 Jingnan troops and 2,000 Tianping troops.

Liu Huai stood on the helm of the flagship, gazing at the distant coastline, his heart still churning.

By this time, the Shandong volunteer army he led had become an important component in influencing the overall situation of the world. Regardless of success or failure, it would write a brilliant chapter in history. How could one not be excited?
At the same time, Wei Sheng stood on the watchtower of the military camp, also looking at the "Jingnan" flag disappearing in the waves from afar. Finally, he could not bear it any longer, his eyes became sore, and two lines of tears flowed down.

"Da Lang, A Chang, you must be well."

The sound was so faint that it was quickly drowned out by the sound of the wind.

October 26, the 31st year of Shaoxing in the Song Dynasty.

The Shandong volunteer army officially set out and headed south to participate in the war.

(Volume 1: In Shandong, righteous men raised an army to fight against the evildoers. End)

　Sorry, I had some work to do today and needed to sort out the outline, so I only have one chapter left.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)