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

Chapter 556: The Righteous Army Harming the People and Becoming a Bandit Army

Fei County is adjacent to Linyi. Liu Huai went west along the Jun River, a branch of Yishui River. In just half a day, he arrived at Pingyi Town, the border between Yizhou and Yanzhou.

To the north of this place is Mengshan Mountain, and to the south is a vast hilly area. In between, there is a plain corridor about fifteen miles wide from north to south and sixty miles long from east to west, connecting Fei County in Yizhou and Sishui County in Yanzhou.

And now, a huge crowd surged out of this corridor. About thousands of people drove carts and headed west with the elderly and children. They were covered in dust and had pale faces, and they all looked like they were fleeing from famine.

Liu Huai just took a quick glance and found that something was wrong.

Because among these thousands of people, there were refugees with obvious traces of military experience, but they were not wearing armor, and they didn't even have decent weapons. They were just holding sharpened wooden sticks, giving people the feeling of chopping wood for weapons and raising poles as flags.

But even so, these soldiers were indeed some elite. When they saw Liu Huai arriving with the Flying Tiger flag and more than ten armored cavalry, dozens of them began to gather together, raised various weapons, and confronted Liu Huai from a distance.

Liu Huai couldn't figure out what was going on for a moment, so he simply rode his horse forward, came in front of the dozens of people, and said loudly: "I am Liu Huai, you should have heard of my name. If you have any grievances, you can tell me now. What exactly happened?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a portly man rushed out from among the dozens of people and knelt on the ground. "When I saw the flag, I knew it was Mr. Flying Tiger in person, but I was afraid and couldn't recognize him. Now I have troubled Mr. Flying Tiger to come and ask me personally. I am truly ashamed. Please punish me!"

As he spoke, the fat man kowtowed repeatedly on the yellow earth, stirring up a cloud of dust.

"Don't kowtow anymore, stand up quickly." Liu Huai only felt that the man looked familiar, and only recognized him when the other party raised his head again.

It turned out that this guy had robbed his own Jin Dabao when he was out of the camp for inspection on the second day of the Mengshan Night Battle.

"Are you Jin Dabao?"

Jin Dabao didn't seem to think that Liu Huai still knew him. He was stunned for a moment before nodding repeatedly: "It's me, Mr. Feihu, do you still remember me?"

"I'm impressed." Liu Huai's face looked a little strange, but he quickly turned to the main topic: "Old Jin, what's going on? The autumn harvest has already begun, why are there so many refugees?"

Jin Dabao suddenly burst into tears: "Our land has been taken away... Mr. Feihu, there were still ripe crops in the land... All gone..."

Liu Huai looked at Jin Dabao, then at the endless fleeing group to the west. He understood something, but still asked the question: "Who robbed them? Was it the Jin thieves? Or was it the landlords and tyrants?"

"They all have it. The Kong family of Qufu, the Zhang family, and... our general... They all... have taken our land and are making us tenants..."

Amidst Jin Dabao's sobs, Liu Huai said incredulously, "Your general? Didn't Geng Jiedu stop him? Where's Xin Wulang?"

At this point, Liu Huai remembered something and couldn't help but frown and ask, "Could it be that Xin Qiji also did it?!"

Just as Jin Dabao was about to say something, everyone heard a commotion coming from the west, with faint flags waving and smoke billowing, as if cavalry were coming rapidly.

The scout came galloping up on horseback: "General, there is a large banner with the name of Shiyou, and two hundred cavalrymen."

Liu Huai's expression darkened. "Shi? Shi Baiju? Humph! Jin Dabao, you organize these people to go to Fei County. You can only stay on the official road along the way. You are not allowed to destroy the wheat fields on the sides. Violators will be executed! Chen Wenben, you take ten riders and organize local yamen runners and soldiers to maintain order!"

Chen Wenben was a little puzzled: "Lord, if I take the troops away, what will happen to you here?"

This time they came in a hurry, and Liang Su and others stayed in Fei County. Liu Huai only brought twenty Flying Tiger armored cavalry to Pingyi Town. If Chen Wenben took away another ten cavalry, wouldn't it mean that Liu Huai only brought ten armored cavalry to deal with Shi Baiju?

Liu Huai sneered, "A mere two hundred soldiers, can you really stop me?"

After saying that, Liu Huai led ten armored cavalrymen directly westward, heading towards the growing smoke and dust.

Shi Baiju was also in a state of panic at this time.

As one of the defenders of Yanzhou, Shi Baiju did not have many elite soldiers. His troops suffered heavy losses in the Mengshan field battle that day and have not recovered until now. In addition, his abilities were average and he was unable to suppress Yanzhou at all.

If it weren't for the numerous landlords and powerful people in this area, and the presence of Ye Shichan, his superior, who could help Geng Jiedu suppress the situation, the trouble that occurred during the autumn harvest alone might have caused chaos in Yanzhou.

No, they are actually already angry now. These people who used to be tenants and now have become refugees are just one chance away from rising up in rebellion and will directly become bandits and rebels.

The rebels forced the people to become new rebels.

What the fuck is this?!
"General! The one flying... the Flying Tiger flag, is Liu Feihuzi!" An officer came back from the front, his face full of panic: "Feihuzi is here in person!" Shi Baiju's heart skipped a beat. Originally, he wanted to cut the Gordian knot and bring all the people back. Then he could say that they accidentally crossed the line and get away with it. But since Liu Huai had already arrived, there was no way to cover it up. The situation would probably get bigger and bigger.

After hearing what the officer said, the others were horrified and couldn't help but pull the reins and slow down the horses.

Shi Baiju forced himself to calm down and asked loudly, "Don't panic. How many people did Fei Huzi bring?"

The officer still looked flustered: "I didn't count them, maybe a dozen or so."

Shi Baiju was speechless and shouted, "Why are you afraid of more than a dozen people? Are they all indestructible?"

The officer's expression was filled with fear: "But that's Liu Dalang, the Flying Tiger!"

Shi Baiju continued barking orders, "Do you still have balls?! Listen to my orders. There are only about a dozen of them. The road is so wide, let's not engage them in a fight. Go around them from the side! After we round up the people and drive them back, Fei Huzi won't be able to stop them even if he wants to. If he does, the people might get trampled to death. He's a very kind-hearted person and will never allow that to happen."

Having said this, the officers finally mustered up their courage again and ordered the knights to continue moving forward.

However, quite a few soldiers felt strange.

Isn’t this Liu Xuande leading the people across the river in the opera?

If Fei Huzi plays the role of Liu Xuande in this drama, then who is Shi Baiju? Who are they playing?
Is this the white-faced traitor Cao Cao?
Although my thoughts were a little mixed, military orders were like mountains, especially orders issued at the last minute of a battle. How could there be any room for argument?

The war horses soon galloped again, and the knights dispersed in twos and threes, forming a horizontal formation, trying to bypass the Flying Tiger flag on the official road and go around it from both sides.

"The commander-in-chief has ordered the entire army to halt. Baiju will speak to me face to face!"

The Flying Tiger armored cavalry came to the front of the formation and shouted orders.

After seeing that the Tianping Army knights had no intention of stopping, the Flying Tiger armored cavalry sneered, then raised the spear in his hand high and swung it left and right three times.

Seeing the signal, Liu Huai spat fiercely and lowered the collar of his helmet. "You're giving me face! Everyone, follow me to capture Shi Baiju and ask him why he has such courage!"

"kill!"

The other eight armored cavalrymen were all in high spirits. The flag bearer held high the Flying Tiger flag and followed Liu Huai in launching a charge.

In fact, both sides had no intention of killing each other, but compared with the Tianping Army, Liu Huai's momentum was too strong. The Tianping Army knights running in front did not dare to confront him and avoided to both sides.

Shi Baiju was originally in a relatively backward position, and originally thought that even if he was attacked, he could hide there. However, he did not expect that his subordinates had the same idea. When he was distracted for a moment, he saw a majestic general holding a spear upside down, rushing to a position only five steps away from him.

In this situation, Shi Baiju had no intention of resisting at all. He just raised his hands and said loudly: "Mr. Feihu, I..."

Before he finished speaking, Liu Huai had already rushed to Shi Baiju, stretched out his hands and directly grasped the other's waist, pulled him off the horse, and tucked him under his armpit.

At this point, isn't it too late to talk about it?

The flag bearer behind Shi Baiju was already a little frightened, so he simply lowered the flag and rode his horse to Liu Huai to beg for mercy.

"Please forgive us, sir. We have no intention of offending your majesty. We hope you can forgive us."

Seeing that the flags had been stopped and lowered, the other Libra knights also reined in their horses, turned around, and stopped at a distance.

Liu Huai naturally wouldn't kill Shi Baiju outright. He threw him to the ground and demanded, "Don't you know it's autumn harvest time now? The Jin thieves all know it's time to slow down their fighting. How could you force the people into refugees? Do you realize how great a sin that would cause?"

Shi Baiju staggered a few steps in embarrassment, stood up, and was about to argue, but didn't know where to start.

After hesitating for a long time, Shi Baiju finally showed a wry smile on his face. Under Liu Huai's gaze, he bowed and said, "Master Liu, this is really a long story."

(End of this chapter)