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

Chapter 389: Meeting a Fellow Villager on the Road

On the night of November 28, Li Jihu returned to Gaotou Village on the side of Chaohu Lake, covered in sweat and dust.

In addition to Yang Chun and Liang Zichu, Guan Chongyan, who was responsible for investigating the surrounding situation, also returned here.

After the meeting, Li Jihu didn't even have time to drink a sip of hot water before he quickly reported: "The commander-in-chief said that on November 30th, the entire army will cross the river, take Yuxi, go down Dongguan, and attack Chao County. Within one day, we will cut off the retreat of the Jin bandits!"

Even though Yang Chun had been prepared for a long time, he couldn't help but feel a jump in his heart when he heard the accurate news, and then he became excited.

As for Liang Zichu, he was rubbing his hands in anticipation, grinning grimly as he said, "We've already contacted the brothers in Dongguan and Chao County. When the time comes, someone will naturally open the city gates to welcome the Jingnan army."

Some of the defeated Huaixi troops defected to the Jin army and were trained as signed soldiers, while others became civilian laborers. Among them, some were completely loyal to the Jin Kingdom, while others naturally harbored other ambitions.

As the commander of the Chaohu navy and one of the leaders of the Song army in Chaohu at that time, Liang Zichu naturally had some connections and means.

However, Yang Chun still added: "If the Jingnan Army does not come, even if we capture Dongguan and Chaoxian alone, it will be difficult to hold them."

What he meant was that the remnants of the Huaixi army in Chaohu would never take the initiative to attack and open up a path for the Jingnan army.

It is human nature to be wary of matters of life and death when there is no mutual understanding and no cooperation.

After all, before they fought side by side, not only did Yang Chun and others not trust the Jingnan Army, but the generals of the Jingnan Army also had reservations about Yang Chun.

But it doesn't matter. This battle was a surprise attack by the Jingnan Army, and the defenders of Dongguan and Chao County had no way of reacting.

Even if we take a step back and say that the defenders of these two places were mainly soldiers from the Qian army, the Jingnan army could easily take them down by sending elite troops to attack the city by force.

The only thing to be feared is that the Jin army will react and send a large army to pursue and kill them. At that time, Li Xianzhong, Li Dao and others will have to turn the feint attack into the main attack and join the Jingnan army to meet the enemy at Dongguan.

After hearing this, Guan Chongyan stood up and said, "Since that's the case, we will set out and return to the army immediately. Take care, everyone, and we'll see you tomorrow when you succeed!"

After saying that, Guan Chongyan, Li Jihu and Cao Dache all bowed.

Including Yang Chun, several remaining Huaixi soldiers and officers were moved and simultaneously bowed their hands in agreement: "We will wait here and wait for the Jingnan army to arrive!"

Guan Chongyan and the other two took advantage of the night and left with torches.

During the exploration of the surroundings in the past few days, Guan Chongyan has already figured out the surrounding terrain. In addition, he was born in Huainan, so even if there are only stars in the sky tonight, Guan Chongyan can see the road clearly and distinguish the landmarks.

However, just as he passed the East Gate from the small path, Guan Chongyan discovered something was wrong.

The Jin army's cavalry basically disappeared.

Unlike the previous few days when the Jin army had set up checkpoints at every level and cavalry were patrolling at night, tonight not only were the checkpoints at key points on the road gone, but even the cavalry patrolling with torches were gone.

Guan Chongyan instinctively felt that something was not right, but before he could figure out what was going on, the three of them followed the trail to the pass of Qibao Mountain. After they got out, they arrived at the plain south of Dongguan. The three of them did not dare to continue their journey at night, so they temporarily found a cave in the mountains, started a fire, cooked some bean porridge, and after watering their horses, they rested until early morning.

On the second day, after the three of them had a good rest, they continued on their journey in the hazy morning light. Originally, Guan Chongyan wanted to bypass the mouth of Yuxi River and cross the river from further upstream, but he always had a bad premonition. After discussing with the other two, the three of them took the risk and headed east along Yuxi River.

Not long after, Guan Chongyan saw a dilapidated temple in the distance, with some firelight coming from it.

The three men rode their horses forward, and Guan Chongyan came directly to the door of the dilapidated temple. Several ragged people standing beside the fire in the temple looked up in surprise.

They knew that lighting a fire might attract the Jin bandits, but in the winter, with only the rags on their backs, they were starving and could not keep warm. Without the bonfire, the cold would have killed them before the Jin bandits arrived. These people were covered in dust, skinny, and their eyes were dull. Even though they saw the soldiers approaching, most of them remained motionless.

It’s not that I don’t want to run, but I really don’t have the strength.

A relatively strong man struggled to stand up and tried to escape through the dilapidated temple door, but was frightened by a feather arrow that stuck in front of him and fell to the ground.

Guan Chongyan reined in his warhorse, drew another arrow from his quiver, and looked at the group of people with a frown.

"What do you do?" Guan Chongyan asked.

No one ignored him.

Li Jihu snorted and fired an arrow into the fire, sending sparks flying everywhere. The refugees gathered around the fire, but without even looking up, simply brushed off the sparks that landed on them. Seeing the fire still burning, they hugged their legs, continuing to warm themselves in the same position.

These ragged people were no longer afraid of death, and they didn't have the energy to answer Guan Chongyan's questions.

"Ah Hu." Guan Chongyan stretched out his hand to hold down the tip of Li Jihu's bow and shook his head slightly.

Afterwards, Guan Chongyan got off his warhorse with a small cloth bag and walked towards the temple.

"I have a few questions, but I don't have many pancakes here. First come, first served!" Guan Chongyan took out a pancake from his cloth pocket and shook it in front of several people.

Seeing that there was food, the refugees' eyes finally lit up and they struggled to get up.

But none of their actions were as fast as the man who was frightened to the ground by Guan Chongyan's arrow. He quickly took the pancake from Guan Chongyan's hand, broke off half and threw it behind him, and stuffed the other half into his mouth.

The thrown half-piece of bread rolled on the ground and rolled into the corner of the dilapidated temple. The rest of the refugees struggled to crawl in that direction and scrambled for it.

"General... What do you want to ask?" After swallowing the pancake with great effort, the man rolled his eyes due to choking, but still asked Guan Chongyan respectfully.

At the same time, his eyes were fixed on the cloth bag.

Guan Chongyan frowned, because he could tell the man's accent didn't sound like Huainan, but rather had a Shandong accent. He asked the man, "What's your name, and where do you live?"

"General, my name is Gu Shun and my hometown is Yanzhou, Shandong." The man answered honestly.

"How did you get here?"

"I used to own dozens of acres of land, and we lived a comfortable life. But then those damn Jurchen dogs came, and we had to find a place to live. The county said my land had been expropriated, and they gave me dozens of acres of barren mountain land." Gu Shun said with a sad face, "That damn old dog Pang, all my land was cultivated!"

"Get to the point!" Li Jihu threatened, holding the knife.

"Alright, alright, Taiwei, calm down." Gu Shun shrank his neck and waved his hands repeatedly: "I had no choice but to go to the city to find a job, but I was drafted at the city gate and enlisted as a soldier, all the way here."

"So, you're also a Jin thief?" Li Jihu drew his knife, threatening, "Do you know who we are?"

"Judging from their accents, the lieutenants must be the Heavenly Army of the Great Song Dynasty." Gu Shun didn't dare to look at the cloth bag anymore. He knelt on the ground with a plop and cried out, "I'm not a regular soldier of the Jin army... Bah! I'm definitely not a Jin thief. We signed the army and were also forcibly conscripted. We get up earlier than chickens, sleep later than chickens, and eat worse than pigs and dogs. The Jin thieves don't treat us as human beings. They make us do any dangerous things. If we disobey, we will be stabbed in the head. But we have never dared to do anything that harms the heaven and earth!"

At this point, the Shandong man completely lost his composure and fell to the ground, crying inconsolably.

(End of this chapter)