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

Chapter 597 Military Envoys Busy Commuting

The Han army that gathered in Zhangqiu this time, preparing to take the initiative, consisted of more than 20,000 regular troops alone. If the accompanying civilian laborers are included, the number may reach 40,000.

If we also include the laborers who transported grain and fodder within the Shandong East Road region, dredged waterways, and leveled roads, the number would be even greater.

This was because the march was along the Beiqing River and Xiaoqing River; if it had been a purely land route, the number of laborers would probably have been more than double.

There's no way around it; war in this era is just that troublesome.

The wave of refugees that Pusanhuntan drove westward from Hebei caused some chaos for Zhang Xiaoxiang, but when Lu You arrived with a large number of civil officials, he quickly formed an administrative force and used various methods to settle the refugees, which greatly alleviated the manpower shortage of the Han army.

Many able-bodied men were incorporated into the labor camp, which greatly relieved the burden of supplies. Lu You was also able to send some of the laborers conscripted from Shandong East Road back to their hometowns.

It's a blessing in disguise.

After resolving logistical issues, the Han army launched a series of simultaneous attacks, engulfing the entire Jinan Prefecture like a vast net.

The Han army today, whether it is the Jingnan Army or the Zhongyi Army, is no longer the same as before. They are no longer the troops that suffered a setback at Hejiazhuang.

Especially the Jingnan Army, which had experienced the Huaihe River War, had too many elite soldiers and fierce generals. Often, a single commander would lead a few hundred men to carry out military operations independently.

Those scattered strongholds and manors in Jinan Prefecture were no match for the fierce attack of the regular army and were destroyed like ant nests under a flood. If it weren't for the time spent explaining the policies, the Han army might have been even faster.

In general, the method of attacking these manors was quite simple. The commander would arrive at the manor with several hundred men, and then send the military clerk to negotiate with the powerful family. After explaining the conditions, they would be given an hour to discuss the matter. If the manor surrendered, the army would take the powerful family away, leaving only the collateral branches and tenants. Then, the land would be distributed and the people would be registered.

If they wanted to resist, the army would attack directly. Zhang Xiaoxiang had already selected people familiar with the local area from among the refugees to lead the way, and those originally very dangerous winding roads became as easy as paper.

How could ordinary farmers withstand a surprise attack from elite soldiers in a head-on battle?

The rebellion of the powerful clans only brought the generals more military merits.

To put it bluntly, the reason Liu Huai did not exterminate all the local tyrants and landlords was simply for political reasons. It was because the landlord class was a class that was bound to form in the feudal era, and it was impossible to eliminate them all by killing alone.

It wasn't because Liu Huai's sword handle wasn't strong enough to defeat those wealthy manor owners.

Now that we have a legitimate excuse, it would be strange not to take this opportunity to clean things up.

Of course, some people in the military had ulterior motives during this period.

Some escalated the situation, dragging in small landlords who owned dozens of acres of land;
Some wanted to force the wavering warlords to revolt completely, so they could kill them and gain military merit.

Some, however, indiscriminately kill innocent people, plunder property, commit rape and kidnapping;

Even worse, some wanted to target the military judges and clerks Liu Huai had sent to various armies in order to cover up their own actions.

Liu Huai led his main force of 6,000 men westward along the Xiaoqing River. They didn't fight much along the way, and spent almost all their time dealing with these trivial matters.

The methods used were, of course, the usual: those who deserved to be beaten were beaten, those who deserved to be killed were killed, and those who deserved to be demoted were demoted.

The officer who wanted to kill the military judge naturally became a typical example, because he came from the Dongping Army, so Liu Huai simply ordered Xiao En to deal with him personally.

But before Sean could even set off, this commander was captured by his men for trying to incite a rebellion and was taken to the central command for punishment.

Are you kidding me? Now all the soldiers have been allocated land and received rewards. Many have married, had big, healthy sons, and brought their parents over to live with them. What makes them so bored that they'd follow you into rebellion?

Liu Huai naturally had nothing to say. After a brief interrogation, he beheaded him and displayed his head to all the armies, so that the generals of each army would be made to uphold military discipline.

Meanwhile, the military envoys Liu Huai had dispatched were also running for their lives.

They are not following the same path, nor even having the same goal.

Several military envoys traveled south through Tai'an Prefecture to Dongping Prefecture, intending to contact the Tianping Army's cavalry and thus enter Xucheng.

Several military envoys traversed Jinan Prefecture and arrived in Bozhou, directly searching for the Taiping Army.

On November 16th, the two groups of military envoys found their targets almost simultaneously.

Dongping Prefecture, Dong'e.

"Whose troops are those, bearing the character 'Xin' on their banners? Are they Commander Xin Qiji?"

"Who are you?!"

"We are here to deliver a message on the orders of Lord Flying Tiger. If Commander Xin is present, we will go and pay our respects immediately!"

"It is General Xin, but it is General Xin Jingwei, who is the cousin of Fifth Brother Xin. Fifth Brother Xin is still behind."

"Thank you very much."

"Wait, I'll go with you. With things in such a mess right now, if you run around like this, you might get mistaken for Jin spies and killed!"

The military envoy and the scouts of the Taiping Army exchanged a brief exchange of information, and then the group immediately turned their horses and headed north.

Troops marched swiftly along the official road, but their discipline was poor, morale was low, and many bore wounds, appearing utterly defeated. The military envoy couldn't help but ask curiously, "Has the Taiping Army suffered a crushing defeat? Why...?"

The moment the words left his mouth, the military envoy realized he had made a mistake and immediately shut up.

Sure enough, the Taiping Army scouts immediately frowned: "There are some things I don't know whether I should say or not. Commander, please ask Brother Xin Wu yourself."

The military envoy nodded repeatedly, but just then, he saw a familiar face.

"Lin Jiulang! You are Lin Jiulang!"

The constable, who had been walking dejectedly, looked up somewhat impatiently when he heard someone calling him. However, upon seeing the military envoy, he immediately exclaimed with a mixture of surprise and joy, "Ma San! What are you doing here? Has the Commander-in-Chief arrived?"

Upon hearing the words "Commander-in-Chief," many soldiers looked up and around, their previously low morale lifted.

Of the several thousand men Xin Qiji brought back to the Tianping Army, four thousand had participated in the Battle of Chaoxian. Theoretically, they were Xin Qiji's subordinates, and even more so, Liu Huai's subordinates.

Although they had been scattered and placed in various parts of the Taiping Army, and some of them had become officers such as commanders, some were eventually assigned to Xin Qiji's command to cover the rear.

Upon seeing familiar faces in the Jingnan army, Lin Jiulang assumed that Liu Huai had already led the main force to arrive, so how could he not be overjoyed?
Ma San shook his head. He had originally wanted to catch up with Lin Jiulang, but then he remembered the heavy responsibility he carried. He didn't dismount or even stop, but simply passed by Lin Jiulang. For a moment, he could only shout, "Commander-in-Chief, you haven't arrived yet, but you'll be here soon. The army has already set out. Once we break through Jinan Prefecture, we'll come to fight the Jin invaders. You must hold on! You must hold on!"

The last few lines were barely audible, but Lin Jiulang remained standing still, and he and dozens of others all stood still and looked back, craning their necks to gaze at Ma San's back.

"The Jingnan army is coming! The Flying Tiger General is coming!"

"really?"

"The military envoy couldn't possibly lie about something so important, could he?!"

Ignoring his subordinates' whispers, Lin Jiulang took a deep breath and shouted, "Stop talking nonsense! March on! Once we reach Liaocheng, we can rest!"

Someone asked in a low voice, "Chief Lin, you once followed that Flying Tiger Gentleman. Tell me the truth, will he lead a large army to rescue us?"

Lin Jiulang shouted, "Of course he will! Lord Feihu even went to rescue the Song Kingdom. Are we, the heroes of the Tianping Army, less worthy of our aid than the Song Kingdom? Lord Feihu never fails to live up to expectations; he will surely come!"

Having said that, as if he had been greatly encouraged, Lin Jiulang took the lead and strode off south with his troops.

Around the same time, Ma San also met Xin Qiji, who was leading his personal guards on a march.

At this moment, Xin Qiji reeked of blood even more. Although he looked extremely tired, his eyes remained sharp: "You are Uncle Ma, Ma Sanlang, right? Did Liu Dalang send you?"

Ma San was surprised that Xin Qiji remembered him. He immediately wanted to dismount and pay his respects, but Xin Qiji grabbed him and said, "We don't have much time. Let's talk as we walk."

"Here!"

Ma San responded loudly, then took out a wooden box from his bosom: "General, this is a letter written by the Commander-in-Chief to Commander Geng."

Xin Qiji pushed the wooden box back: "Since it is a letter from Liu Dalang to Geng Jiedu, I naturally cannot read it. Just tell me what you know."

Ma San repeated what he had just told Lin Jiulang, and then concluded: "Commander-in-Chief, you have instructed the Tianping Army to hold out for twenty days. At that time, he will naturally break through Jinan Prefecture and come to Dongping Prefecture to join the battle. With the combined forces of 40,000 regular troops, where in the world can't they go?"

Upon hearing this, Xin Qiji stood frozen on his horse for a long while before finally saying with a wry smile, "Where are the remaining 40,000 troops..."

"what?"

"It's nothing," Xin Qiji said seriously. "What I'm about to say can't be written down. I'll tell you what to say, and you can remember as much as you can. Go and report to Liu Dalang immediately."

Ma San was somewhat flustered, and then he summoned another young military officer: "My mind is a little muddled, let's take notes together."

Xin Qiji nodded indifferently: "Wanyan Yong's general, Jia Gu Qingchen, came from Hejian Prefecture and led two thousand elite cavalry to pursue our army."

"Our army was already exhausted and weary at Daming Prefecture, and with Xucheng besieged, morale was in disarray. During the retreat, morale was even lower. I led my troops to fight two battles against Jia Gu Qingchen, but we still could not annihilate him completely."

"On the contrary, Jia Gu Qingchen gained momentum, and even Wanyan Shoudao of Daming Prefecture led three thousand garrison troops to join forces with Jia Gu Qingchen to attack me."

"The army fought and retreated, but it was still not a good time to reach Bozhou, so they had to continue retreating to Dong'e."

“Tianxiong Army’s Wang Youzhi did not want to abandon Bozhou again, so he led his three thousand troops to defend Liaocheng and block Jiagu Qingchen, which allowed most of our army to retreat to Dongping Prefecture. However, along the way, we suffered heavy losses and low morale, and the people were scattered, and there were deserters.”

"Although I haven't taken stock of my troops yet, I should only have four thousand men left here, and the governor should only have a little over ten thousand."

"Moreover...and it seems that things are not very stable in Xucheng either. The Jin bandits have reinforced their troops, and there are already two banners of ten thousand households. Moreover, the banner of the Left Chancellor of Heshi Lieliangbi is also under Xucheng. I can't say what the situation is like around Xucheng."

At first, Ma San was just trying to remember things, but as Xin Qiji narrated, he gradually became flustered and eventually broke out in a cold sweat.

Has the Taiping Army already split once? Is Wang Youzhi truly loyal and righteous, or is he trying to preserve his strength and disobeying orders? Who can say for sure?
Moreover, two Jin army commanders arrived and surrounded Xucheng like a bastard. Many of the Taiping army's families were in Xucheng, so the army had no will to fight.
Xin Qiji sighed and slowly said, "I will try my best to hold out for twenty days, but... never mind, tell Liu Dalang exactly what I said, and tell him that as long as I, Xin Qiji, am alive, Shandong West Road will never be completely occupied by the Jin invaders!"

Ma San nodded emphatically. He handed the wooden box in his hand to another experienced and prudent military envoy, instructing him to personally deliver it to Geng Jing. Then, he cupped his hands to Xin Qiji and said, "General, let's set off now and return to report!"

(End of this chapter)