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

Chapter 331 The World Situation is in Your Heart

Seeing Yu Yunwen's face full of questions, Liu Huai did not keep him in suspense.

"My reasoning is simple. What's important isn't the pontoon bridge itself, but the elite Jin troops guarding the east side of it," Liu Huai explained slowly. "There are eight hundred elite Jin cavalrymen guarding Dongcaishi. While they're guarding the bridge, it's also effectively a barrier. If we don't deal with them, we should burn the bridge first, forcing the Jin thieves to attack and clear the area. They'll be truly unstoppable."

Yu Yunwen's face was serious: "Could it be that even the Jingnan Army can't defeat it?"

Liu Huai shook his head: "Of course it is possible, but when the majority of our army arrives, the majority of the Jin army, and even the navy, will arrive. Then what we have to face will not be these 800 cavalry.

Today, apart from the several hundred Flying Tigers who came over from a long distance, the rest of the Jingnan army was unable to arrive."

Having said that, Liu Huai walked forward, dipped his hand in the tea, and started drawing on the desk in front of Yu Yunwen.

"Yu Sheren, the most important thing has never been natural defenses, but people. A natural defense without a garrison is nothing compared to an army of tens of thousands." Liu Huai drew a diagram of the Yangtze River on the table and roughly marked the relative positions of the Jin army and Caishi Town. "If I were the Jin thief Meng'an Aligua, I would simply ignore the pontoon bridge. No matter how you fight, I will gather all my troops and attack Caishi Town directly. First, defeat all the Song troops in front of us, and then, with the prestige of this great victory, force the surrender of Dangtu City and drive out all the Song troops within a radius of fifty miles."

"By then, even if the pontoon bridge is destroyed, what difference will it make? We have a thousand elite soldiers firmly established on the east bank, tens of thousands of regular troops on the west bank, and a navy on the river. Wouldn't it be easy to build a pontoon bridge?"

In fact, it is not that simple. After all, this is the Yangtze River, not the Yellow River.

However, building a floating bridge at Caishiji has a military and political tradition, so it cannot be said that it is absolutely impossible.

Yu Yunwen deduced in his mind according to Liu Huai's statement. Although he knew nothing about military affairs, he immediately felt a chill on his back.

If the thousand elite Jin soldiers really ran wild and caused trouble in the south of the Yangtze River, even if the Jingnan Army arrived in advance, it would be difficult to kill them in the first place due to the long-distance attack.

After all, the Jin army is composed of cavalry, so if they can't win, they will just run away.

"It seems that the gold thief named Ali Gua has also fallen into a misconception. We must not help him wake up." Liu Huai finally came to the conclusion.

Yu Yunwen nodded slowly: "Then Dalang, do you have a comprehensive plan now?"

Liu Huai nodded. "It's just a rough outline, and we have to start tomorrow night at the latest. We have to destroy this gang of Jin thieves and cut off the floating bridge. Both tasks must be done at the same time and completed at the same time."

Yu Yunwen's face was heavy: "Is it feasible?"

"We still have to consider the cost." Liu Huai said with a bow: "The Flying Tiger Army will also arrive one after another today, and we should be able to gather 300 armored cavalry. But we can't conquer the world with only 300 armored cavalry."

"Are you going to use the defeated Huaixi troops?"

"It's the Huaixi defeated army!" Liu Huai's eyes swept across Shi Jun's face and continued, "The outcome of this battle, or whether we can stop the Jin thieves on the Yangtze River, depends on whether we can mobilize the Huaixi defeated army today."

Yu Yunwen said seriously, "What if it doesn't work?"

Liu Huai was equally serious. "Then these 5,000 Huaixi soldiers are of little use. Let them die here. The Jingnan army will camp in Dangtu. They will first destroy the pontoon bridge with fireboats, and then engage the Jin troops who land... no matter how many there are, we will fight to the death."

By the end of his speech, Liu Huai's tone had become somewhat vicious.

Yu Yunwen thought for a moment and said, "To motivate people is nothing more than kindness and authority. I have both kindness and authority over the commanders. But I don't know how to do the same for the ordinary soldiers."

Liu Huai: "There are many ways to show authority to ordinary soldiers, just enforce strict military discipline. There are also many ways to show favor, just enforce strict rewards and punishments.

But the greatest threat now is the death that the Jin bandits have come to impose, and the greatest favor is the salvation they have received. Therefore, what we need to do now is to show them that the Jin bandits are nothing special, and that as long as our army unites as one, we will not only survive, but also defeat them."

Yu Yunwen nodded and said with a smile: "Then this matter will need Liu Dalang to do it."

Liu Huai bowed and agreed.

The two men agreed that one would use his position as a member of the imperial court to make promises and threats to high-ranking officials at the commander-in-chief level, while the other would use his bravery to inflict some casualties on the Jin army, thereby encouraging all the defeated troops in Huaixi to fight a decisive battle.

The next moment, Yu Yunwen ordered the servant to put out a door panel, and while grinding ink to write and draw on it, he asked Shi Jun to call the other four Huaixi commanders.

Liu Huai was sitting on the side at this time, and he and Zhang Baiyu were each holding a cup of tea and watching coldly.

"Lord General, why don't we go and deal with the Jin thieves now?" Zhang Baiyu asked in a low voice.

Liu Huai sipped his tea and replied in a low voice, "My men have been traveling for days. Let's rest for a while, water the horses and rest for an hour. Now we have to watch the show. Let's see if this future master is really capable or just a name."

Zhang Baiyu nodded, picked up the teacup and started sipping.

But a moment later, five commanding officers were called in. Although Yu Yunwen came almost alone and was only there to entertain the troops, without even any documents of appointment, the Secretary of the Central Secretariat was, after all, the prime minister in charge, representing the majesty of the central government. With political traditions here, these military officers dared not disrespect him.

After the five commanding officers entered the house, they bowed and did not dare to sit down. They just watched Yu Yunwen write and draw on the door panel with a brush.

Less than half a quarter of an hour later, Yu Yunwen finally stopped writing, wiped his hands, looked up and said to the five commanding officers, "Come, come and take a look."

When the five commanders approached, they found a huge map painted on the door panel.

Yu Yunwen naturally had some abilities. Although he was somewhat weak in specific military strategies, he was, after all, a top figure of the era. He was at the center of the government and had access to all the documents and archives of the Song Dynasty. If he worked hard in a certain direction, even if he could not master it immediately, he would at least be able to talk about it and brag about it.

Although the world map drawn by Yu Yunwen is far from modern satellite mapping, the geography of mountains and rivers is surprisingly similar.

Liu Huai also stretched his neck to take a look at the map drawn by Yu Yunwen, and sighed in his heart that although he could do the same thing, it was, after all, the wisdom of later generations brought by a time traveler.

However, Yu Yunwen was able to draw the terrain almost accurately by relying on the simple maps of the Song Dynasty, combined with his own travels and the geographical records he read in books. It was truly amazing.

"Can you understand it?" Yu Yunwen asked with a smile.

Although people in later generations could tell at a glance from the direction of the mountains and rivers that this was a map of the entire country, Yu Yunwen did not mark it. How could five rough men understand it?
After staring at each other for a moment, Shi Jun finally steeled himself and asked, "I, your humble servant, am not very knowledgeable and talented, so I really don't understand..."

"Then do you know where the key points of our Song Dynasty's defense against the Jin thieves are?"

Shi Jun couldn't understand why Yu Yunwen would say this at this time, and could only shake his head for a moment.

"In my opinion, the most critical line in the confrontation between the Southern Dynasty and the Northern Dynasty is divided into two chaos. To the west, Dasanling, Zhongnan Mountain and Taihua Mountain are connected into one county." Yu Yunwen drew a line at the location of the Qinling Mountains in later generations.

"This line of defense is now guarded by Wu Lin and Wu Xuanfu. Not only has it not been broken through by the Jin thieves, they have even fought their way out and invaded Qinzhou." Yu Yunwen looked at Shi Jun and others like a teacher teaching his students.

The five commanders nodded hurriedly to show that they understood.

"The eastern defense line is constructed along the Huai River and its tributaries, forming the Huainan and Huainan routes. The western Huainan route, where you are stationed, has been breached by the Jin thieves. As a result, Liu Qi, the governor of the eastern Huainan route, has been forced to retreat hastily to the Yangtze River, otherwise he would be attacked from both sides."

Yu Yunwen circled and dotted on the map, and the five commanders nodded repeatedly.

Only now did they truly understand the overall strategic situation, and they couldn't help but feel some respect for this civil servant from the capital.

But Yu Yunwen's next words frightened the five commanding officers so much that they fell to their knees.

"Although Wang Quan was primarily responsible for the fall of Huainan West, are you truly completely innocent? The Huaixi defense line was lost so easily. Think about it, can Wang Quan's head really silence the world's gossip? Can it really do justice to the people of Huainan who were ravaged by the Jin bandits? Shi Jun, Wang Qi, Liang County, where you were once stationed, has been massacred. Did you know that?"

The two commanders whose names were named kowtowed repeatedly to apologize.

"Stand up," Yu Yunwen said calmly. After asking the five commanders to stand, he pointed at the map and said, "These two lines of defense are not completely continuous. There is a gap in the middle, and that is Xiangfan."

"Xiangfan is extremely important, it is the center of the world. If our dynasty wants to launch a northern expedition, we can either leave Xiangfan and head north through Nanyang to the Central Plains, or we can go west through Wuguan and directly take Chang'an, or we can go north to take Luoyang.

If Xiangfan were captured by the Jin invaders, they could follow the Han River into the Yangtze River to capture Ezhou. Moving south, they could seize all of Jinghu. Going west along the Han River, they could capture Lizhou Road and attack Wu Xuanfu from both sides. Yu Yunwen finished drawing on the map with a small stick and sighed, "If Xiangfan is lost, the Song Dynasty will be overthrown."

Seeing the five commanders were confused, Yu Yunwen smiled and said, "If you don't trust me, you should at least trust Yue Fei, Yue Pengju, right? Why do you think he wanted to recapture Xiangfan as the first battle of the Northern Expedition? Isn't it because if that place fell into the enemy's hands, the Song Dynasty would be in danger of collapse at any time?"

"On the other hand, as long as Xiangfan remains in the hands of the Song Dynasty, even if the Jin bandits become powerful for a while, they will not ultimately destroy the Song Dynasty." Yu Yunwen said to the five commanding officers, "Do you know who is guarding Xiangfan?"

Before anyone else could respond, Yu Yunwen revealed the answer: "It's the two Grand Marshals Wu Gong and Cheng Min. You understand their abilities better than I do."

The five commanding officers nodded in panic and looked at each other in panic.

Wu Gong, the eldest son of Wu Jie and the oldest nephew of Wu Lin, was a ruthless warrior who, while still a teenager, had joined his father in the battlefields. He earned numerous military honors. After the older generation faded, Wu Gong became the pillar of the family.

Cheng Min was a general under Han Shizhong. Han Shizhong had once said that he considered himself unrivaled, but even after seeing Cheng Min, he had to give him some distance. Regardless of whether Han Shizhong was just putting his dignity aside to brag about him, for someone like Han Powu to say such a thing, his abilities were naturally unquestionable.

In addition, the Xiangfan defense line had been managed and transformed by Yue Fei. Even if it was messed up by Tian Shizhong, the geographical location of the mountains and rivers remained unchanged. Even if the Jin Kingdom attacked with its main forces, as long as we defended with all our strength, it would not be a problem to hold Xiangfan.

...Doesn't this mean that even if Lianghuai suffers a major defeat, the Song State as a whole is safe and will not be overthrown?
As the five commanding officers were thinking this, they suddenly discovered that Yu Yunwen's round face, which had always been smiling, had turned cold.

(End of this chapter)