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

Chapter 401 Hidden Heroes and Their Minions

Even though it was relatively warm in the Huai River and Yangtze River regions, the wind blowing in your face was still biting when you were galloping on horseback.

The cold wind was like a lover's delicate hand holding a snowball, reaching in through the gaps between the robes and armor, entangling the knights' bodies, trying to take away the heat from their bodies in a soul-stirring way.

However, Xin Qiji felt nothing at all. Rather, as the East Gate got closer, his blood was almost boiling, and the biting cold wind felt as comfortable to him as the drizzle under the willows in spring.

As long as they captured the East Gate, they could cut off the supply routes of the 30,000 Jin troops in Hezhou. This feeling of being in the game but being able to influence the overall situation of the world made Xin Qiji unable to stop, and he even became a little addicted to it.

As a Shandong man who had been determined to fight against the Jin Dynasty since childhood, he had been waiting for this day for too long.

A real man should wield a three-foot sword, accomplish unparalleled feats, determine the fate of the world, and become a hero of the time. How can he settle down in a corner and spend the rest of his life in seclusion?
With such a mood, when Xin Qiji saw that the city gate of the East Gate was still open, he did not stop for a moment and rushed in alone.

Facing the astonished city gate guards and civilians, Xin Qiji, holding a longbow, shouted: "The Jingnan army has arrived, Huaixi Han people, follow me to kill the Jin thieves!"

As he spoke, Xin Qiji drew his bow and shot a shaved-headed warrior to the ground.

"Kill the gold thief!"

Several more knights rushed into the East Gate, waving swords and spears and shouting loudly.

In fact, this was not to mobilize the masses to go to war with the Jin army. In fact, after Xin Qiji shouted, the streets, which were already sparsely populated, were instantly empty, and the people closed their doors and windows to protect themselves.

This loud shouting was a signal to the insiders in the city to start moving.

Today's battle was too hasty, and everyone had to respond to each move and adapt to the situation.

The accomplice in Dongguan had agreed with Yang Chun to meet tomorrow, and they had just gathered together a group of people today. When they heard the shouting and killing sounds coming from the city gate, they were all shocked and confused.

"What should we do?" The captain named Lan Junhao asked someone beside him in a low voice.

The other party was also a captain. Upon hearing this, he looked at Lan Junhao speechlessly: "Aren't you good at both civil and military affairs? How come you can't even see the current situation clearly? Is now the time for us to make a choice?"

Lan Junhao blushed, and became a little annoyed again: "Gong Erchuan! Instead of just making sarcastic remarks, why don't you come up with a plan with me? That Lu Yuanhua guy is no fool, why wouldn't he be on guard against us? Is this a test from him?"

When Gong Erchuan heard the other party still say this, he sighed.

These three people, like Liang Zichu in Chaohu, were actually from the Chaohu navy. On that day, the Chaohu navy commander Sheng Xin was afraid and obeyed Wang Quan's military order, burning the ships and leading his troops to escape.

The Chaohu navy fled and scattered all the way. Among them, the commander-in-chief Lu Yuanhua arrived at his hometown Dongguan, gathered his troops and stood firm.

Originally everyone thought that Lu Yuanhua was a loyal and righteous man who wanted to fight against the Jin army at Dongguan. However, what no one expected was that after the Jin army came after him, Lu Yuanhua and the county magistrate Zhang Wen killed the chief clerk and the county magistrate who wanted to fight against the Jin army, and surrendered the city.

In order to set an example, Wanyan Liang naturally praised Lu Yuanhua's behavior. Not only did he immediately appoint him as the commander-in-chief of the Haner Army, but he also allowed him to continue to be in charge of the military power and still garrison the East Gate, obeying the orders of the marching commander Wanyan Guo.

Because Dongguan surrendered the city, it was spared from massacre and looting. However, although Dongguan was Lu Yuanhua's hometown, the vast majority of his soldiers were not locals.

Lan Junhao and Gong Erchuan were from Chao County. They were in Dongguan, and their hometown Chao County was only thirty miles northwest, but they could not return. They could only hear news from their hometown bit by bit.

The day before yesterday, your third uncle was killed by a Jin bandit's warhorse while going to the street to buy rice. Yesterday, my cousin was abducted by the Jin bandits because of her beauty. Today, his father was hanged on the street in order to protect the family's food supply. Regardless of whether it is true or false, these news have made the navy officers and soldiers whose homes are around Chaohu Lake feel terrified.

They wanted to rebel, but there were two Jin troops stationed there on weekdays, and their more than a hundred people could never be a match for the Jin army. What's more, their immediate superior Lu Yuanhua was a die-hard traitor and had many confidants, which made it extremely difficult for Lan Junhao to connect with the army.

Seeking external help is the only solution. Therefore, when Liang Zichu expressed his intention to cause trouble, Lan Junhao and Gong Erchuan almost immediately agreed and quickly began to secretly recruit people.

The most feared thing about such private matters is accidents. If the coordination is not good, both the inside and the outside will be defeated. Now it has been inexplicably moved up a day, who knows what has happened.

"Forget about it!" After pondering for a moment, Lan Junhao made up his mind. "There are only fifty legitimate gold thieves left in Dongguanzhong now. Wanyan Guo went to Chao County. This is the best opportunity. As long as I can hold Lu Yuanhua down, everything will be settled! Even if that bastard Lu Yuanhua is setting up a trap, I will bite him first to relieve the hatred in my heart!"

Gong Erchuan was also excited. He pulled off his left sleeve and stood shirtless in the cold wind: "Whoever kills the Jin thieves will be left-leaning!"

"He who kills the gold thieves is on the left!"

These two people did launch the mutiny with the determination to die, but facts proved that they were overthinking it.

The two, with over a hundred soldiers linked together, had just broken out of the camp when they suddenly discovered that there were even more determined anti-Jin factions who had already taken action. Chen Ruhui, a wealthy man in the city and a member of a powerful family, brought his servants and guards to raise the Song Dynasty flag, officially proclaiming his rebellion.

Moreover, he was very wise and did not just lead his troops to support Xin Qiji, but sent troops to various important city gates to block the military envoys from leaving the city.

From this perspective, Chen Ruhui is much smarter than the two grassroots officers.

At this time, the battle at the East Gate and South Gate had entered a fierce stage.

After all, the armored cavalry of the Jingnan Army came from afar and attacked in a hurry. They even fought a great battle in the middle, so their combat effectiveness could still be maintained, but falling behind and getting separated during the attack was inevitable.

To use the words of later generations, it means that the troops were connected into a line and the tactics of adding fuel were adopted.

There were only a dozen riders who arrived with Xin Qiji. After they captured the city gate, they were caught in a melee with the reinforcements from the Jin army.

"Close the city gate! Close the gate!" A Jin army officer shouted an order, but just after he said a few words, he was shot to the ground by an arrow that came from nowhere.

Lu Yuanhua, who had just arrived at the battlefield with more than 200 confidants, was stunned. Although he didn't know who shot the arrow, he could clearly see that the arrow was shot from behind him.

The Lu family was a wealthy local family in Dongguan, so Lu Yuanhua's confidants were not only his subordinates when he was with the Chaohu navy, but also had a series of identities such as family sons and slaves.

The situation now wasn't just a matter of an arrow being shot from among the confidants and killing a Jurchen. This was the army, and the archer had acted so presumptuously, yet no one stopped him or reported him. This could only mean one thing.

Lu Yuanhua's confidants were no longer on the same page with him.

Do they all want to resist the Jin Dynasty?
Before he could figure these things out, and before he had time to communicate with his confidants, Lu Yuanhua discovered that the mighty general in front of him, holding the Qingsi banner, had already cleared the city walls and gathered dozens of infantry knights to attack him.

After only a brief moment of resistance, Xin Qiji broke through the resistance of these puppet troops and defeated them head-on.

As if the fall of Lu Yuanhua's flag was a sign, the entire Dongguan was stirred up and boiling with roars of killing the Jin thieves everywhere.

Puliyan, who was guarding the East Gate, faced countless attacking enemies. Faced with the fact that everyone in the city was an enemy, his heart sank to his heels.

If Dongguan was lost and Wanyan Liang, who was at the front line, went hungry, how many heads would he have left to chop off?

This Pu Liyan wanted to fight to the death, but in the end he was afraid and fled to the north gate of the city with a few of his personal guards and armored cavalry.

Just as he turned a corner, a big man with a white face and long beard suddenly rushed out, waving his big knife and cutting off the warhorse's front hooves.

Amid the neighing of the warhorse, Puliyan flew up from the horse's back, rolled with the horse, and raised a cloud of dust on the ground.

"General!"

Some of the guards who had already escaped turned their horses back, wanting to rescue their commander. The moment the cavalry stopped, dozens of light soldiers armed with long spears, short weapons, and even strange weapons such as hook-and-link spears rushed out from various alleys.

The Jin army was caught off guard and was pulled off their horses by these light soldiers. Various weapons were inserted into the gaps in their armor.

"Chen... Chen Ruhui... you bastard..." Pu Liyan didn't know how many bones he broke. He just felt severe pain all over his body. He couldn't get up again. He could only look at the approaching white-faced man with hatred.

"Golden thief, you have come to this day!" After saying this, Chen Ruhui raised his long sword and then swung it down heavily.

Chen Ruhui lifted up Puliyan's head and shouted loudly: "Dongguan has been liberated!"

When Xin Qiji saw this scene while holding two swords, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Wan Sheng!"

"Wan Sheng!"

The Jingnan army cheered, and the other two rebel armies also shouted loudly, and the atmosphere was boiling for a while.

On November 29, the 31st year of Shaoxing, after suffering countless major defeats, the State of Song finally took the strategic initiative in this small corner of Huaixi.

(End of this chapter)