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

Chapter 420: Report your favor on the golden stage

On December 5, after two days of marching, the Wusheng Army finally arrived at the mouth of the Fei River.

This is where the Fei River flows into Chaohu Lake. From here, we left the Jin army's sphere of influence and entered the area where the Song Dynasty's righteous army was concentrated.

In order to ensure the marching speed, the food and supplies were kept on the boats and not transported down. Therefore, Da Huaizheng was always worried that Liang Zichu would suddenly rush out of Chaohu Lake and burn the grain ships at all costs, thus forcing the Wusheng Army to return.

As it turned out, Da Huaizheng's worries were unnecessary.

Except for a few fishermen rowing small boats who appeared and disappeared in the withered reeds, no soldiers or horses emerged from Chaohu Lake.

However, this did not make Da Huaizhen completely relieved. On the contrary, this veteran who had been in the army for a long time became more and more uneasy. After spending two peaceful nights by Chaohu Lake, Da Huaizhen's uneasiness reached its peak, and he was even a little panicked. Even his nephew Da Hongshan could not bear it and came to ask him privately.

"Butler, what happened? Why do you look unhappy these past few days?"

Da Huaizhen was slightly stunned, then sighed: "Even you can see it?"

Da Hongshan was somewhat helpless. "I'm not stupid, so how could I not understand what the General Manager is thinking? But please forgive my frankness. Since I can see it, Huang Hengsan and the others can too. If the General Manager continues like this, in two days, morale will be completely destroyed."

Da Huaizhen stroked his beard and smiled bitterly, "Oh? Then tell me what I'm thinking about?"

Da Hongshan: "It's just that we don't know whether we can quickly capture Chao County, and we don't know how long Hefei can hold out."

Da Huaizhen was silent for a moment before he said, "So, you still think that Song Gou of Chao County is just a minor problem, and the real threat is Cheng Min?"

Da Hongshan nodded. "Cheng Min is a well-known general of the Song State. He has inherited Han Shizhong's reputation and military prowess. His combat power cannot be underestimated. As for the Song dogs in Chao County ahead, since they are not led by Li Xianzhong, and Liu Qi is also unable to move at Guazhou Ferry, it means that they have simply taken advantage of the surprise attack and are not to be feared."

Da Huaizhen said: "Song Gou from Chao County defeated the number one Meng An of the Wurui Army."

The Wusheng Army was stuck in traffic with Wanyan Liang in Hezhou, and the army had to go around in a long circle to communicate, so Da Huaizhen had some misunderstandings about the war there. Until now, he still thought that the Jingnan Army had only defeated the first Meng'an of the Wurui Army.

If Da Huaizhen knew that the Jingnan Army almost wiped out the Wu Rui Army's most powerful army at Yuxikou, he would definitely not dare to be so arrogant at this time.

Da Hongshan did not understand the combat capability of the Jingnan Army: “My nephew calculated the situation at that time.

Although the Wurui Army's top commander was considered the elite, they had been charging into battle since the army crossed the Huai River, and had even suffered a defeat at Zaojiaolin. They then blocked the area from Hezhou to Yuxikou, leaving them with no time to rest.

Plus, after all the running around that day, it's no surprise that Song Gou took advantage of the situation and took advantage of it."

Although Da Huaizhen thought so too, he shook his head directly at this time: "At the beginning, I did think the same as you, but in the past two days, I feel that the situation is a little abnormal."

Da Hongshan was stunned: "I would like to hear the details."

"Whatever methods Song Gou used, the fact that he was able to inflict a loss on Han Tang shows that this group of Song Gou has some discipline. They're not just a mob." Da Huaizhen looked at the already hazy Zhegao Town. "But have you seen any of Song Gou's cavalry in the past few days? Have you heard of any clashes between the scouts?"

"Also, Yang Chun in Chaohu is like a dead bone in a grave, a defeated general, so it's normal for him to lose his spirit. But that's not the case with Brother Liang. He usually stirs up trouble even when there's nothing to do, so why has he completely gone quiet in the past two days?"

Da Hongshan completely understood his steward's thoughts and couldn't help but move closer. He whispered, "Steward, even if Huang Hengsan made a million mistakes, he did make one point. Our army is in a dire situation right now. We need to make a decisive decision and press forward. If we fight tooth and nail, we might still have a chance of victory. If we hesitate, we'll likely lose everything."

Seeing that Da Huaizhen remained silent, Da Hongshan made his words clearer: "I understand what the general manager means. This situation is very likely caused intentionally by Song Gou. They are not only elite troops, but also have recruited Yang Chun and Liang Xiaoge from Chaohu.

Not harassing our army at this time is to lure us to Chao County and swallow us up in one fell swoop."

Of course, there is another, less likely possibility, which is that the Jingnan army was already exhausted and unable to meet the enemy in a field battle. However, in military affairs, one should be lenient in predicting the enemy's situation, especially when discussing military strategies in private, and one should not take chances.

After a pause, Da Hongshan continued with a bow, "Of course it's possible. The general manager can use this as an excuse to withdraw his troops, return to defend Hefei, and fight Cheng Min to the death. My nephew said privately that since Cheng Min has come, the war in Lianghuai has become a bubble. Your Majesty should not think about crossing the river, but should think about preserving Hefei, the important city in Huainan, for the future.

As for the Song dogs in Dongguan and Chao County, I'll leave it to Your Majesty to deal with when he returns. They're just a few thousand Song dogs, but Your Majesty's 30,000 regular troops can easily defeat them in one fell swoop." Da Huaizhen listened quietly, standing still for a moment like a statue, before saying, "You and I are both warriors, so we should only engage in fighting. Your Majesty has the final say on the national strategy, and we have no right to interfere."

Upon hearing this, Dahongshan could only sigh.

This uncle of his was so loyal to Wanyan Liang that he would obey his orders unconditionally.

When the Wusheng Army was transferred from the front line to the rear, Da Huaizhen obeyed unconditionally. Today, when the Wusheng Army was ordered to attack Chao County and Dongguan, Da Huaizhen still obeyed unconditionally.

Call it loyalty or blind loyalty, it did not stop Wu Shengjun from following Da Huaizhen on the adventure. It was like walking on a muddy riverbed. No one knew whether they would fall into a mud pit and drown in the next step.

Even so, Da Hongshan still tried to persuade him, "Your Majesty didn't know Cheng Min would come when he issued the military order. We also didn't know the combat effectiveness of this group of Song troops before we sent out the troops. The key now is not Dongguan Chao County, but Luzhou."

The easiest way to determine whether a troop is elite is to see how well it controls its surroundings.

The Jingnan army entrenched in Chao County was able to force Brother Liang from Chaohu to give up the most basic harassment, which shows his control over the army.

You must know that Brother Liang from Chaohu had an indomitable will to fight in the eyes of these Jin army generals. The only reason why he stopped at this time was that the Jingnan army wanted to let the Wusheng army go before fighting again.

It is hard to say whether this kind of army is strong or not, but they will definitely work together and be of one mind.

The common desire of the superiors and subordinates is itself a kind of fighting power.

It should be said that both Da Huaizhen and Da Hongshan were veteran generals who had fought in many battles. They realized that something was wrong through just a small incident and were worried that the Jingnan Army would not be so easy to deal with.

Liu Huai naturally knew that blindly giving in might make the generals of the Wusheng Army alert, but he had no choice.

Because the naval forces gathered in Chaohu at this time were too powerful.

Yang Qin and Liang Zichu were already very strong, enough to have an overwhelming advantage over the Jin army's grain ships. In addition, not all the Jingnan army were landlubbers. He Boqiu, Zhang Baiyu, Zhang Xiaoyi, and Li Xiu were all skilled in naval warfare.

What if, by accident, all of the Jin army's baggage and grain ships were burned? What would the Wusheng army do if they saw the situation was not good and quickly retreated to Hefei?
Da Huaizhen naturally didn't know Liu Huai had such happy troubles. After listening to Da Hongshan's advice, he stood still for a moment, leaning on his sword. He said in a hoarse voice, "I am just a bastard. My mother was a Song person who was captured from Han. She was not valued at home and was even abused. My mother's health was not good to begin with. Finally, she fell seriously ill and passed away when I was ten years old."

Da Hongshan didn't know why Da Huaizhen was talking about the past, but he didn't dare to interrupt and could only listen quietly.

"At that time, my family had many children, and without my mother, I was neglected and almost reduced to a servant. It was my cousin who saved me, taught me martial arts and writing, and allowed me to recognize my eldest mother as my mother. He even introduced me to General Longhu, the current emperor. As a result, I became a gatekeeper, and my career as a military officer began."

Da Huaizhen turned around and looked at Da Hongshan. "Ashan, I'm not a man of steel. Compared to my brother, I'm even a coward. I just want to muddle through, to live a peaceful life. But the two people who have done me the most good in my life are in Hezhou, and both have been cut off from retreat by Song Gou. In this situation, I'm not completely incompetent. How can I just sit back and do nothing?"

Since ancient times, the favor of being promoted from a humble background is the most difficult to repay, especially in feudal society, where class crossing is really too difficult. Being promoted from the bottom to the top is a great favor.

Just as Zhuge Liang said in "The Memorial to the Emperor on Leaving the Capital": The ministers who serve as guards at home are diligent, and the loyal and upright men who sacrifice themselves for the country are all embracing the special treatment received from the late emperor.

What is special treatment?

To promote a little servant girl to the position of military commander, this is a special honor!

For Dahongshan, Dahuaizheng promoted him to Xingjun Meng'an, which was a special favor and he had to repay it!
Da Hongshan bowed and sighed, "Since the General Manager has made up his mind, I will naturally make up my mind as well to help him quell the rumors in the army. I just hope that he will not panic anymore."

Da Huaizhen nodded and patted Da Hongshan on the shoulder: "Ashan, it is possible that I am overthinking it. The situation is not that bad. In any case, we cannot abandon this expedition halfway, otherwise the morale of the army will be affected and we will not be able to fight a major battle next time. We must fight a battle in Chao County.

Tell my men, after we've dealt with this bandit army, I'll allow them to remain in Chao County and Hefei for three days!"

(End of this chapter)