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

Chapter 384: Flag Hunting Wind Ming Brings Beihan

"Name."

"Huang Jie."

"You live in Lianghuai? Where exactly?"

"Liang County, north of Luzhou."

"Liang County... Do you know what happened in Liang County?"

"...Of course I know, but my home is quite far from the county town. It's a small village. It's impossible for the Jin thieves to go there specifically to massacre the whole village."

"If you're not eager for revenge, why do you want to join our Jingnan Army?"

"...Young Master, you're joking. Of course, I want to go home. Home is better than any other place, and a person is worthless when he leaves his hometown. The Jingnan Army has the slogan 'Fight back home,' so I'll give it a try."

"Have you ever had any military experience before? Just tell me the truth. The Huainan and Nan routes are in such a mess, there are so many deserters, no one cares about you."

"To be honest, young sir, I used to be a bowman in the county. I offended the captain because of a minor matter, so I had no choice but to follow the villagers to do business, and that's how I escaped. I do have experience in fighting, not to mention killing bandits when I was a bowman. Even when I was traveling for business later, I also took care of a few robbers."

"That's just some battlefield skills. I see you can read. Did you understand the military benefits written on the recruitment board?"

"I understand it, but I still have some questions."

"Say it."

"If we follow the army back to Shandong, will there really be land to be divided?"

"Of course there are. Haha, no one is stupid. If it weren't for the distribution of land and money, how could the Jingnan Army have fought so many tough battles? In fact, you don't have to doubt it. Some things can be understood after eating a few meals with the army. If the commander-in-chief even delivered the food he ate, how could he lie about such a big thing? How would the morale of the army be maintained at that time?"

"Since that's the case, I, Huang Jie, have done it. I'm willing to follow the Jingnan Army and fight back to my hometown!"

Zhen Baoyu nodded, wrote a few words on the wooden sign, blew on it a few more times, and pushed it in front of Huang Jie: "Take the wooden sign and report to Zhang Tongzhi of the enemy army. They will register you there."

Huang Jie nodded, stood up and left.

Just as Zhen Baoyu was about to stretch, another man sat down in front of him and said, "My name is Zheng Yiqi. I'm from Haozhou and a cowardly deserter. Now I know I'm wrong. Can the Jingnan Army accept me and let me fight my way back to Haozhou?"

Zhen Baoyu looked the other person up and down and found that although Zheng Yiqi had two huge dark circles under his eyes, he was tall and strong, and seemed to be an officer.

"My brave man, I am only recruiting ordinary soldiers here. If you are an officer, you can recommend yourself to various camps." Zhen Baoyu advised in a low voice.

"My brothers are dead or gone, what kind of military leader am I?" Zheng Yiqi said with a bitter laugh. "To command others would be a disservice to them. Fortunately, I still have strength left and can fight in battle. I hope you can give me a chance."

Zhen Baoyu sighed, wrote a few words on the wooden sign, and handed it to Zheng Yiqi: "You are a general, skilled in archery and horsemanship, and you should report to the Flying Tiger Army."

Zheng Yiqi stood up and bowed. Just as he was about to say some polite words, he saw smoke and dust billowing on the northern official road, and cavalrymen coming and going. It seemed that a large army was coming.

Soon, war horses came galloping, and more than a thousand knights came slowly, surrounded by a large flag with the word "Li" on it.

Two people held up the recognition flags high, one side wrote to the Huaixi governor and the Ningguo military governor, and the other side wrote to the Chizhou garrison troops.

Li Xianzhong finally arrived.

If we talk about the most outstanding performance in this battle in Lianghuai, apart from the Jingnan Army that came to support from Shandong, it was Li Xianzhong's Chizhou Army.

During the most chaotic early stages of the war, Li Xianzhong withstood the pressure with his keen strategic insight and deep understanding of the officials in the court.

He did not obey the orders that changed every day, such as sending a single army to Luzhou to meet the enemy or abandoning everything to return to Jiangnan. Instead, he led a large army to Zhenzhou and protected the flank of the Huaidong army. This prevented Wanyan Liang from cutting off Liu Qi's retreat and preserved the manpower for the counterattack.

It can be said that Li Xianzhong played an indispensable role in preventing the Jin army from rushing through the Yangtze River and advancing into the south of the Yangtze River, and preventing the situation in the Song Dynasty from becoming completely out of control.

Of course, Li Xianzhong's repeated acts of disobedience would certainly be criticized by the court. At least the right prime minister Chen Kangbo severely reprimanded him more than once.

What is even more natural is that now is the time to use people. As Liu Qi and other Huaidong generals pleaded for Li Xianzhong, the previous disobedience came to nothing.

Therefore, after much hesitation, the court finally granted Li Xianzhong the crucial post of Huaixi Zhizhishi, allowing him to oversee the Huaixi campaign. Yu Yunwen was appointed Acting Jianghuai Xuanfushi, still concurrently supervising the Jianghuai Military and Cavalry Office and serving as a military advisor, thus playing a pivotal role in both Jianghuai's political and military affairs.

This appointment can be said to be full of Song Dynasty characteristics.

Theoretically, Liu Qi could take charge of the war in Lianghuai, but because he had Li Xianzhong, the Huaixi governor, below him and Ye Yiwen, the privy councilor, above him, he was unable to make a decision on his own.

Theoretically, Li Xianzhong should be able to take charge of the Huaixi war, but because Yu Yunwen, the envoy, was in charge of money and grain, he had to submit to Yu Yunwen.

In fact, according to the political conventions of the Song Dynasty, Yu Yunwen's position could already be considered a general. When he encountered some powerful civil officials, such as Han Qi and Zong Ze, he could use his power to drive the military generals like cattle and horses.

But Yu Yunwen's position as Xuanfushi was only a temporary one. Even if Yu Yunwen wanted to seize power, he would still have to spend some effort facing a genuine governor.

And at the very top, Ye Yiwen, the Privy Councilor who theoretically could command all military affairs, was a useless guy who knew nothing about military affairs.

The so-called layers of constraints and the mixing of different opinions are the characteristics of the Song Dynasty and must be experienced.

Some people think this is a big picture perspective, while Liu Huai thinks it is a cerebral thrombosis.

With this arrangement, let alone another figure like Wang Quan emerging among these four people, even if their efforts are not used in the same direction, there might be a big chaos.

Of course, Liu Huai was relieved about this, because he had opened his third eye and knew the abilities and loyalty of Liu Qi, Li Xianzhong, and Yu Yunwen. He also knew that Ye Yiwen was so incompetent that he could not do anything bad.

But is there any other time traveler in the Song court?

If the Song court did not have the ability to predict the future, wouldn't it be a bit ridiculous for it to still be playing this trick when it was facing a powerful enemy and the Jin army had already reached the Yangtze River?

Of course, Liu Huai’s anger didn’t end there.

At this moment, he looked at the appointment document sent by the State of Song in his hand, and sneered in front of a group of generals.

The appointment document contained a series of praises, but only at the end did it appoint Liu Huai as the Jiedushi of the Jingnan Army, the governor of Yidu Prefecture, and the commander of the loyal and righteous troops in Hebei Road.

What Liu Huai also knew was that Wei Sheng was appointed commander-in-chief of the Loyal and Righteous Army of Shandong Road and commander-in-chief of the front army stationed in front of the emperor in Zhenjiang Prefecture, and he was still the governor of Haizhou.

Geng Jing was appointed as the Jiedushi of Tianping Army, the governor of Dongping Prefecture, and in charge of the loyal and righteous troops in Shandong Road.

This appointment is very interesting.

The Shandong rebel army originally had three major factions, namely Wei Sheng, Zhang Rong and Geng Jing.

Among them, Zhang Rong was originally an officer within the Song State system and was appointed as the deputy general manager of Huaidong at an early stage.

At this time, the Loyal Army was actually split into two parts by the government, with Liu Huai's official position being higher than Wei Sheng.

The Tianping Army's sphere of influence was in western Shandong, close to Hebei, but the Song court gave Geng Jing the power to control the Shandong troops.

The Loyal Army's sphere of influence was in the eastern part of Shandong, but the Song court gave Liu Huai the power to control the troops in Hebei.

As the leader of the Shandong rebel army, Wei Sheng had no power to control the rest of the troops. He went from being the highest-ranking person among the three factions to being at the bottom.

Let’s put it this way, if Wei Sheng, Liu Huai, and Geng Jing had been a little more selfish, they would have directly started a military confrontation when this appointment was issued.

Liu Huai held the appointment document in his hand, his hands shaking uncontrollably, and he couldn't suppress the anger in his heart.

What do these people in the Song Dynasty court regard as the people of the world and the country?

"Lord Commander-in-Chief, Minister Yu has ordered you to attend the banquet."

When a military envoy signed up and came in, Liu Huai could only suppress his anger, put on his cloak, and walked into the cold wind.

I can’t stay in this damn Song State for even a day longer.

Liu Huai was worried that if he continued to be angry like this, sooner or later he would not be able to bear it and let Wanyan Liang go, and would lead the Jingnan army to Lin'an to explain the pros and cons.

(End of this chapter)