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

Chapter 322: War, Not Peace

After Ye Yiwen returned to his tent and washed his face with clean water, he suddenly remembered that Liu Qi was going to have a detailed discussion with Lu You the next day, and he immediately made a decision.

This must be Liu Qi's attempt to win over Lu You. No, I must strike first!
Thinking of this, Ye Yiwen acted like a husband again, changed his clothes, and asked his confidant to invite Lu You over, saying that he wanted to talk in detail all night and reminisce about old friendship.

After seeing Lu You up close, Ye Yiwen suddenly realized that he seemed to have underestimated him.

Originally, he thought Lu You was just a noble official with some literary fame. However, after experiencing the baptism of blood and fire, he had an aura of majesty without anger just by standing there, which made Ye Yiwen feel that Lu You was more like a husband than himself.

"Please sit down, Lu Sizhi." Ye Yiwen did not feel ashamed of himself, nor did he have any jealous thoughts. The pro-war faction in Song State had been suppressed for decades. The best figures were either exiled or unjustly killed, and many of them had become old and frail.

Now that the Jin Kingdom has dealt a heavy slap in the face to the pro-peace faction of the Song Kingdom with its actual actions, the pro-war faction has found its place. Even Zhang Jun, who had ambitions but little ability, has been reinstated. How could they reject fresh blood?
Lu You had been in the officialdom for many years, so he naturally had some tricks. He quickly finished reminiscing with Ye Yiwen, and established a connection through the relationship between his grandfather Lu Dian and Ye Yiwen's uncle. The 63-year-old Ye Yiwen soon recognized the 37-year-old Lu You as his nephew and called him his nephew.

"My dear nephew, thank you for your hard work on this journey." Ye Yiwen personally poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of Lu You.

Lu You took it and sighed softly, then immediately said, "Serving my country, I dare not complain about the hardship."

Ye Yiwen also sighed: "If all the officials of the Song Dynasty were like my nephew, how could the world collapse to such an extent?"

Lu You leaned forward and lowered his voice, saying, "Uncle, forgive my frankness. This is a problem that has plagued our Song Dynasty since the prosperous Jingkang years, and it has only erupted again now. If we don't take this opportunity to correct it, then even if we can hold on this time, what will happen in twenty years?"

Ye Yiwen nodded: "My dear nephew, what you said is indeed reasonable. Now is the time to recruit talented people and put an end to the idea of complacency."

This is the area that Ye Yiwen is good at. Political struggle has always been the strong point of the literati since the beginning of the Song Dynasty. Although in recent decades, Qin Hui, the old dog, has relied on the power of the Jin Dynasty to suppress all figures and even forced Zhao Gou to hide his sword in his boot, now that Qin Hui is dead, various political factions have naturally become active.

Of course, even though the pro-war and pro-peace factions accuse each other of being villains who are misleading the country, it is impossible for the pro-war faction to be harmonious within itself.

For example, Ye Yiwen and another pro-war leader Tang Pengju were really incompatible. Ye Yiwen even scolded Tang Pengju, saying "one dies and the other lives".

Even when faced with a formidable enemy, political struggles cannot be stopped; they must fight to the bitter end. Even when their goals are aligned, the reason they dislike each other boils down to this: How can we maintain the Great Song Dynasty if we're surrounded by these insects?

In history, Ye Yiwen's power was relatively weak. Moreover, as a Privy Councilor, he had no knowledge of military affairs. He made a lot of fools when he was in charge of the war in Lianghuai. Anyone could fool him, so after the Jin army withdrew, Ye Yiwen was demoted to the bottom, held responsible for the defeat in Lianghuai, and was banished to a Taoist temple.

But now, although the Song army was still completely defeated, Ye Yiwen felt that he could still rescue it. At the very least, he must not let the Jin army cross the river. It would be best if he could win a few beautiful victories.

The Shandong rebel army, which had already won a great victory and clearly had no foundation in the imperial court, became Ye Yiwen's main target for winning over.

Liu Huai was well aware of this, but without anyone to act as a go-between, he simply said that exchanging interests was too much of a military act, so he pushed Lu You to negotiate with Ye Yiwen.

This is not to say that Liu Huai was determined to surrender to the State of Song, but even though they had already gone south to join the war and everyone was in the same boat, there were always people who were blind enough to do small things. For example, the supply of food and fodder was short of some weight, or arrived one or two days late, which were very common tactics.

If you make friends with a Privy Councilor, you will always avoid the open and covert attacks.

Therefore, both Liu Huai and He Boqiu urged Lu You to meet Ye Yiwen as soon as possible, and to make sure to trick this Privy Councilor.

Seeing Ye Yiwen's statement, Lu You bowed and said, "The men of Shandong have been fed up with the Jin thieves and have raised their flags to resist them. They have also come south to help the Song Dynasty. They are truly loyal. I beg you, Lord Ye, to give them an explanation and not to discourage these brave men."

"Okay, okay." Ye Yiwen breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that this was Lu You expressing his opinion on behalf of the Shandong rebel army heading south.

As long as they requested rewards through Ye Yiwen, then according to political tradition, these people would be considered to be in the same political faction as Ye Yiwen.

Of course, this is not a rigid binding. The system of the Song Dynasty destined this alliance between civil and military officials to be loose, and it can only be constrained by morality rather than political rules. However, if it is rashly rebelled, it will inevitably suffer backlash.

The most typical example is Di Qing in the Northern Song Dynasty. He jumped back and forth politically, making himself enemies everywhere in the court, and eventually died of worry.

"My dear nephew, what is the situation in Shandong? Are the Shandong rebels any good? How many battles have they experienced?" After the relationship between the two sides became closer, Ye Yiwen got to the point: "My dear nephew, although I am the co-director of the Privy Council, I don't know military affairs and have made many jokes. The army calls me the Privy Councilor for nothing, and I know that, but it is really difficult for me to refute it. I hope my dear nephew can help me a lot." At the end, Ye Yiwen's face was full of bitter smile.

To be honest, he really wanted to learn from Han Qi, Xia Song and other gentlemen, catch the two troublemakers and kill them directly, and severely punish these warriors.

But the key point is that Ye Yiwen is illiterate in military experience. Even if he wants to kill someone, he doesn't know who to kill. He is afraid that he will kill the wrong person and destroy the morale, making it impossible to defend the river.

Lu You also gave a wry smile: "Uncle, I also don't know much about military affairs, but I have been in the army and handled military affairs with famous generals such as Wei Gong and Liu Dalang. I can also imitate others and talk about military affairs on paper."

Ye Yiwen nodded, then asked again, "Are Wei Sheng and Liu Huai really considered famous generals? How did you two know each other?"

Lu You said solemnly, "If these two are not considered famous generals of the time, then there are no other capable generals in the world. As for my acquaintance with them, it all started when I went to Chuzhou to clean up the prison..."

Soon, the story of the Loyal Army's battles and resistance against the Jin army was told by Lu You.

The hardships of the muddy march, the excitement of capturing Haizhou, the calculations when attacking Yizhou, the uneasiness of the Wuxing Army when facing overwhelming pressure, the determination of the Jin navy when marching south, and finally the excitement of the Jin military force that finally swept across southern Shandong, were all presented to Ye Yiwen through Lu You's mouth.

Of course, some things that may be taboo are also hidden here, such as the flag with the words "expel the Tartars, restore China, establish rules and regulations, and save the people" written on all four sides; for example, the Loyal Army's elimination of local tyrants and evil gentry in Shandong and the distribution of land; and words like He Boqiu and other Shandong tyrants surrendered to Liu but not to Song.

Even so, this thrilling experience of the Northern Expedition made Ye Yiwen sigh repeatedly and he was fascinated by it.

When hearing about Xu Erya being rescued in Dayi Town, Ye Yiwen would lament the hardships of people's lives; when hearing about the Zhongyi Army's deep-rooted troops setting up an ambush in the reed marshes, he would also sigh at the bravery of Liu Huai and others; when hearing about the Tianping Army's southward march to join forces with the Zhongyi Army to attack Yizhou, he would also praise Geng Jing for assessing the situation and wrote a letter of commendation; when hearing about the Wuxing Army's overwhelming attack, his hands would tremble with nervousness.

Only when he heard that Li Bao was heading north to meet up with Wei Sheng and Zhang Rong did Ye Yiwen breathe a sigh of relief. When he heard that the Wuxing Army and the Weizhen Army were completely destroyed, Ye Yiwen finally couldn't help but clapped his hands and laughed.

"It's so refreshing, so refreshing! In the past twenty years, since that Yue Pengju, this is the happiest day for this old man! Of course, everything is clear!"

Ye Yiwen did not suspect that Lu You was lying. On the one hand, it was easy to tell. On the other hand, more importantly, during the story, Lu You kept taking out some odds and ends from his pocket and showed them to him.

Among them was the seal of the commander-in-chief of the Wuxing Army, which could not be fake.

"Wei Sheng and Liu Huai are truly heroes." At this point, Ye Yiwen sighed again, "It's just that only Liu Dalang went south this time, but not Wei Dadao. I didn't get to see his style, which is a pity."

Lu You bowed and said, "Uncle, this is what I want to say..."

As he spoke, Lu You dipped his finger in tea and drew the terrain of mountains and rivers on the table, and recounted in detail the plan of the Shandong rebels to cut off the retreat of the Jin army and disrupt the rear of the Jin Kingdom.

At this point, Ye Yiwen was no longer just feeling heart-pounding, but rather overjoyed.

If this plan succeeds, shouldn't Mr. Ye be able to share some of the credit for saving the world?
If he could perform exceptionally well and kill the 70,000 Jin troops that invaded Lianghuai, along with the Jin emperor, wouldn't he, Ye Yi, become an absolute supporter of the war faction?

By then it will be recorded in history books, a temple will be built for it, and it will be passed down through the ages!
Thinking of this, Ye Yiwen couldn't help but stand up and stepped forward to hold Lu You's hands. "My dear nephew, you have seen today that the troops in Lianghuai have lost their courage and morale, and it will be difficult to use them for the time being. For the sake of the people of the world and the inheritance of the Taoist tradition, I hope that my dear nephew can help me and accomplish this great feat!"

In the end, Ye Yiwen couldn't help but show his greed, which made Lu You speechless.

Although it is a mutually beneficial matter, Ye Yiwen is too anxious.

Isn’t it a bit too early to start enjoying the future before you have even gotten over the shadow of failure?

Ye Xianggong's understanding of military affairs couldn't be that bad, right?!

(End of this chapter)