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

Chapter 574 Encountering Ban Chao Again

Kong Duanqi's run was certainly not a waste of time.

He didn't know the contents of Liu Huai's letter, and he worried that if the officials of Lianghuai also gave the Loyal Army some advice, Kong Duanqi could still manage to appease Geng Jing by going there.

The feeling of galloping on a horse was not pleasant, especially since the official road in Dongping Prefecture had not been repaired. Although Kong Duanqi knew how to ride a horse, he had not developed an iron butt and was soon shaken to his core.

Fortunately, Xucheng is only about 60 li away from Dong'e. With his amazing willpower, Kong Duanqi did not fall behind at all and arrived in Dong'e at noon on September 11.

At this time, the Taiping Army had already amassed a large number of troops in Dong'e, eyeing the north with predatory intent.

Geng Jing's choice of Dong'e as the location for launching his troops was naturally based on careful consideration.

Dong'e is located on the south side of the Ji River, which is also known as the Beiqing River or the old course of the Yellow River. In any case, the Yellow River has been turbulent for the past hundred years, sweeping across the Central Plains, Hebei and Shandong, and there are several old courses of the Yellow River.

Starting from Dong'e and following the Ji River downstream, you will reach Jinan Prefecture.

Crossing the Ji River and heading north, you will reach Liaocheng, the capital of Bozhou. Then, heading west for no more than two hundred li, you will reach Yuancheng, the core of Daming Prefecture.

Once the Yuancheng is captured, the Taiping Army's situation will be completely opened up. They can either march north to attack Hebei or go southwest along the Grand Canal to attack Bianliang.

Conversely, this also made it easier to attack the Taiping Army, whether in Bianliang or Hebei.

As an important town in Hebei, Daming Prefecture would not be easily abandoned no matter how incompetent Wanyan Yong was; there would definitely be an elite field army stationed there.

In fact, even though the eastern and western routes of Hebei were still in chaos at this time, Wanyan Yong still dispatched 6,000 elite cavalry south to Daming Prefecture.

The commander of this army was none other than Geng Jing's old acquaintance, the general who had driven him out of Jinan Prefecture along with Wanyan Bendu that day, Heshilie Zhining.

This is bound to be a major battle between elite field armies.

However, it seems that the Jin army wants to first implement a policy of appeasement.

As soon as Kong Duanqi arrived at the gate of the military camp, he saw more than a dozen men who looked like merchants taking off their hemp clothes and putting on Jin Dynasty official robes in front of the soldiers guarding the camp.

The leader took out his staff and loudly proclaimed to the Taiping soldiers who had surrounded him, "Yila Dao, the Minister of Revenue of the Great Jin Dynasty, has come to pay homage to Geng Jiedu of the Taiping Army by order of the Emperor!"

The leading Taiping general dared not take direct action, but instead ordered his soldiers to surround the Jin envoy while reporting the matter to his superiors.

Liang Atai, who was in charge of affairs around the camp, did not dare to be negligent. In addition to continuing to send military envoys to report to higher levels, he personally went out of the camp to see what the Jin thieves were up to.

However, after leaving the camp, the first person he saw was not the Jin envoy, but Kong Duanqi, who should have been in Xucheng.

"Mr. Kong," Liang Atai bowed respectfully, then asked with some curiosity, "Did these Jurchen envoys come with you?"

Even though Kong Duanqi was already feeling a bit nervous due to the events of the past few days, he was speechless in the face of such questions.

“Of course not.” Kong Duanqi shook his head in denial, then pointed to Bi Zaiyu: “I came with the envoy of the Loyal Army. However, we can’t just leave the Jin envoy hanging like this, we should…”

Before Kong Duanqi could finish speaking, Liang Atai's expression changed drastically. He suddenly drew his sword, spurred his horse, and leaped forward to slash.

Kong Duanqi was startled, thinking the knife was aimed at him, and quickly rolled off his horse, awkwardly hiding to the side.

"when!"

"stop!"

"How brave!"

After a few clashes of weapons and shouts, the scene fell silent again.

Only then did Kong Duanqi hide behind the horse and look closely, only to see Bi Zaiyu holding a bow and arrow, sitting proudly on his warhorse, looking down at Liang Atai.

Liang Atai, also with his sword drawn, stood between Bi Zaiyu and the Jin envoy, looking rather breathless. There was a broken arrow beside the hoof of his warhorse.

It seemed that Bi Zaiyu had just shot an arrow at Yiladao, and then Liang Atai, with quick reflexes, cleaved it in mid-air with his knife.

The military envoys following Bi Zaiyu and Liang Atai's personal guards had already drawn their swords and were facing each other.

"What are you doing?"

"I should be asking you what you're doing!" Bi Zaiyu said coldly. "I'm going to kill the Jin traitors, why are you stopping me? Has the Taiping Army already defected to the Jin traitors?!"

Liang Atai found Bi Zaiyu somewhat unreasonable and snorted coldly, saying, "You don't think this place belongs to the Loyal Army, do you? The Taiping Army is none of your business, you junior."

Bi Zaiyu ignored Liang Atai and turned to look at Yila, whose face was pale, saying, "I did make a mistake and forgot to ask a question. Are you here to join the Taiping Army?"

Yila Dao snorted coldly and remained silent.

Bi Zaiyu grinned and said, "Then it seems that's not the case."

As he spoke, Bi Zaiyu put the bow and arrows back on the saddle. Before Liang Atai could even breathe a sigh of relief, he drew a hand knife from his waist and bent over on his warhorse.

"Since your Taiping Army can't make up your minds, then I'll make the decision for you!" Bi Zaiyu said to Liang Atai with a sinister grin. Liang Atai remained expressionless, only the throbbing veins on his forehead betrayed his turbulent emotions.

What the hell are these Loyal Army soldiers?!

Just as tensions were running high and a fight was about to break out, a loud shout came from the gate: "Brother Bi, stop!"

Upon hearing this voice, Bi Zaiyu sneered, then sheathed his sword and turned to say, "Brother Xin Wu, long time no see."

Xin Qiji hadn't seen Bi Zaiyu for about half a year. When he saw him again, he was surprised to find that the other man had grown to be almost as tall as him: "Brother Bi, our Taiping Army also wants to resist the Jin. There's no doubt about our stance. It's just that our methods are different. What are you doing here..."

As if nothing had happened, Bi Zaiyu raised the leather bag in front of him and said, "Lord Wei and the eldest son have a letter for Commander Geng, and they sent me to deliver it."

Kong Duanqi then brushed the dust off his clothes, cupped his hands in greeting to Xin Qiji, and said, "I also have important business to discuss with the governor."

Upon seeing Kong Duanqi, Xin Qiji, no longer as enthusiastic as before, said directly, "Then you two will come with me to the commander's tent."

As he spoke, Xin Qiji looked at Liang Atai and said, "Please keep these Jurchen traitors under your guard. The governor will meet with them later."

Liang Atai dared not presume before Xin Qiji and readily agreed.

Yila Dao watched this scene with a cold eye, seemingly lost in thought.

"Strategist, what brings you here?"

When the announcement was made and Geng Jing entered the Tianping Army's command tent, he showed no surprise, only astonishment.

Why did Kong Duanqi, who was in charge of political affairs in the rear, come to the front line?

"Commander, I happened to meet this military envoy and we came together." Kong Duanqi pointed at Bi Zaiyu, then fell silent.

Geng Jing understood and said gently to Bi Zaiyu, "Bring the letter here."

Bi Zaiyu took out his leather bag from his pocket, then took out a document wrapped in oiled paper and handed it to Xin Qiji with both hands.

Xin Qiji, without any hesitation, checked the sealing wax seal, nodded to Geng Jing, and then opened the letter to read it.

Geng Jing was not well-educated and struggled with reading and writing, so he always had someone by his side to act as his full-time secretary.

Xin Qiji was the one who took on this important task at that time.

Apart from Bi Zaiyu, everyone present was a high-ranking member of the Taiping Army, so Xin Qiji did not shy away from the topic and read it aloud directly.

His words started off light and cheerful, but gradually became hesitant and heavy. When reading the last few sentences, Xin Qiji would pause for a moment after each sentence, as if he were thinking about something.

However, the others didn't pay much attention, as they too were lost in thought.

The situation described by Liu Huai was indeed very dire. Although it contained some alarmist elements, it still made people hesitate, wondering whether they should continue the northern expedition.

Geng Jing was extremely hesitant.

Unlike later computer games where you can simply select an area and right-click to send an army out, troop deployment in this game was not a simple matter of manipulating a large army.

It requires the cooperation of many officials, the mobilization of laborers, and the allocation of massive amounts of money, grain, and supplies.

It's like pushing a stone ball down a mountain; it might only take one finger. But once this huge stone ball has started rolling, stopping it would require a huge price.

Now that the Taiping Army has turned its attention to Daming Prefecture, changing its strategic direction is not so simple.
"I already know, but I need to discuss with my confidants how to proceed." Geng Jing said to Bi Zaiyu with a gentle smile, "Please inform Lord Wei that although there were various misunderstandings before, I am still very grateful for his reminder."

The conversation made no mention of Liu Huai leading his troops out of Pizhou, which shows how dissatisfied Geng Jing was with Liu Huai.

Bi Zaiyu naturally didn't care about that, and cupped his hands to take his leave. However, just as he turned around, he turned back and asked, "I wonder if Commander Geng wants to meet with the Jin envoy?"

Geng Jing nodded: "I want to hear what kind of nonsense this guy is going to spout."

Bi Zaiyu remained silent for a moment before saying, "The Jin invaders have also sent envoys to Linyi."

"Oh?" Geng Jing became interested: "What did the Jurchen traitors say?"

Bi Zaiyu shook his head: "I don't know. The Commander-in-Chief didn't let them speak. He just arrested them on the spot at the city gate and tortured and interrogated them."

“Geng Jiedu, although I am young, I know one thing: the stance against the Jin cannot be shaken in the slightest.”

Geng Jing's gaze sharpened: "You little brat, do you doubt my resolve to resist the Jin?"

Bi Zaiyu shook his head: "I don't doubt it, but the Tianping Army comes from diverse backgrounds. If Geng Jiedu is not firm to the end, and his subordinates misunderstand that the Jin invaders are negotiable, what should we do?"

Geng Jing laughed and waved his hand, saying, "Kid, at your age, it would be bullying a child for me to argue with you. But I still want to tell you that the principles of the world are more complex than you think. It's not just your Commander-in-Chief's principles that matter. I naturally have my own principles as well."

Upon hearing this, Bi Zaiyu didn't bother to persuade him anymore. After bowing to Geng Jing and Xin Qiji again, he turned and left.

(End of this chapter)