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

Chapter 647 Auspicious Day for the Whole World on the First Day of Longxing
Liu Shi's thinking was simple, but how could wealthy and powerful families be completely clean?

Do you really think that all the landlords in the old society were great philanthropists?
If you don't pick on a few small flaws, fine; but if you do, you'll find a whole bunch.

Several of these establishments are of the "I don't eat beef" type.

With Liu Huai personally leading troops to support him, Liu Shi transformed into a righteous official and began to cause trouble for these powerful figures one by one on the pretext of assisting the Jin army in breaching the dikes.

There's no need to be in a hurry, because the sharp drop in temperature has already caused some flood victims to freeze and starve to death. The plight of lacking food and clothing has only been alleviated, but has never been fundamentally resolved.

Meanwhile, Liu Huai, who was stationed in Suzhou, received two pieces of news.

One was that Wu Jie's army had arrived in Shouzhou and established a military camp at the confluence of the Fei River and the Huai River, recruiting soldiers, as if they had received specific orders from Wanyan Liang to launch a major campaign.

The other one resolved the question that had puzzled Liu Huai and Liang Su for several days.

Why did the powerful figures of Xuzhou attempt to intimidate Liang Su without Cheng Feng's knowledge? And why did they try to assassinate him after they confronted him directly?

Did they not know that Liang Su represented Liu Huai's authority and the will of the entire Han army?
Did the wealthy family in Xuzhou eat dinosaur penis? It's that powerful!
On December 28th, just as things were calming down and people were preparing for the New Year, Zhao Baiying personally led a force to capture a mountain stronghold in the southwest of Pengcheng County, wiped out the bandits, and then personally dragged back several wealthy families who had escaped.

Upon returning to Pengcheng, without any questioning or interrogation, these people confessed everything.

This story begins when Heshi Lieliangbi arrived in Xuzhou and seized command of the 30,000 households in Xuzhou.

As the saying goes, when disaster strikes, everyone flies away. As the situation became increasingly tense, the wealthy families of Xuzhou also sought their own way out.

For example, Cheng Feng and others contacted Liu Huai early on.

Meanwhile, another group secretly made contact with the State of Song.

To be precise, they made contact with Zhang Zigai and received a promise.

Of course, if you asked Zhang Zigai to lead his troops across the Huai River into Jin territory to fight the Jin army to the death, he wouldn't dare.

But it can still be used as a troublemaker.

Zhang Zigai was waiting for the Shandong rebels and the Jin army to fight to the death so that he could take advantage of the situation. At that time, no matter who occupied Xuzhou, he could cooperate with these powerful families to take it back.

Recapture of Xuzhou was something even Han Shizhong failed to accomplish.

If Zhang Zigai succeeds, Cheng Min, Li Xianzong, and Wu Gong will all have to take a backseat; he will be the new Marshal of the Song Dynasty!

For this reason, Zhang Zigai had even prepared to fight Liu Huai to the death.

As long as Xuzhou is in our hands, even Yu Yunwen will have to reluctantly acknowledge Zhang Zigai's contributions!

This plan is incredibly well-thought-out, and it certainly has a certain degree of feasibility.

Because the Jin army's fighting strength is undeniable, and even if they were defeated, it would still inflict heavy casualties on the various units of the Shandong rebel army.

But there's a saying that goes, "Man proposes, God disposes."

Around October, Zhang Zigai caught a slight cold while hunting near Shanyang. By December, his condition had worsened, and he soon died.

He passed away at the age of fifty-one.

It's both surprising and expected that this guy died in the same year and month as the real historical figure.

But the butterfly effect that followed was something no one expected.

While attempting to gain control of the troops, Liu Bao, the deputy commander of the Huaidong army, informed the Song court of this news.

At this crucial moment, Liu Bao discovered Zhang Zigai's collusion with powerful figures in Xuzhou while sorting through Zhang's official documents, and was instantly smitten.

Zhang Zigai wanted to use his great achievement of retaking Xuzhou to become the first marshal of the Song Dynasty, and Liu Bao also wanted to use such merit to secure the position of commander-in-chief of the Huaidong army.

Therefore, while preparing to send troops, Liu Bao also forcefully ordered the powerful clans of Xuzhou to maintain their stance and not succumb to Liu Huai's tyranny. Some may wonder, could Liu Bao really send troops across the Huai River without authorization?
Yes, because the Huaidong army had a military order from Ye Yiwen, the Jianghuai Pacification Commissioner, to station them in Shanyang and be ready to go north to support the Shandong rebels.

In the past, Zhang Zigai would just use various excuses to evade the issue, but now that Liu Bao has decided to resolutely carry out military orders, no one can say anything about it, and the two governors can take the blame for him.

There are smart people and there are fools in this world.

Cheng Feng and others were able to understand the complex relationship between the Shandong rebels and the Song Dynasty. However, the others were not.

This was especially true of the powerful families of Xuzhou who bypassed Liu Huai, who was so close at hand, and sought help from the State of Song.

In their view, since the Shandong rebels had submitted to the Song Dynasty, they were also subjects of the Song Dynasty. So why should the powerful families of Xuzhou simply submit to the Song Dynasty directly, instead of having to find another master for themselves?
Therefore, when Liu Bao's military order arrived, these muddle-headed local tyrants immediately adopted the air of being the masters of Xuzhou, wanting to let Liang Su know who was really in charge of Xuzhou.

This is the cause of a series of disputes in Xuzhou.

After clarifying the cause and effect, not only were Liu Huai and Liang Su helpless, but even Cheng Feng was somewhat bewildered.

When we raised an army to resist the Jin and recapture the Su Causeway, it couldn't have been clearer. At that time, Cheng Feng not only cited Emperor Gaozu of Han and Xiang Yu as examples, but also raised the same 'Han' character flag as Liu Huai. So you still don't understand the meaning?

How can someone be so politically obtuse?

Liu Huai could even discern Liang Su's speechlessness from the letters that were delivered.

"Issue my military order: Wang Xiongyi shall lead the Loyal and Righteous Army to pacify the unrecovered counties and prefectures in the south, and in the southwest, with the Huan River of Suzhou as the boundary, recover the entire territory of Suzhou, Sizhou, and Pizhou."

After a period of helplessness, the task still had to be done. At this time, there were still several counties that had not been recovered. Since Wang Xiongyi's contribution was relatively small, the task was handed over to him.

After issuing the military order, Liu Huai thought for a moment and then personally wrote a letter to Li Tong.

As a seasoned politician who has been dealing with the Song state for twenty years, Li Tong is considered a "treasure trove" for dealing with the Song state. In negotiations with the Song state, asking him is more effective than asking anyone else.

Liu Huai did not intend to break with the Song state at this time, but he was determined to report the victory to the Song state.

Even if Liu Huai disagreed, Wei Sheng would definitely do it anyway. Rather than having Wei Sheng lay bare all his secrets, it would be better for Liu Huai to make it a fait accompli by writing a plausible victory report, and then have Wei Sheng sign it in the end.

Presumably, Wei Sheng wouldn't offend Liu Huai over such a trivial matter.

Moreover, Liu Huai also needed to give an explanation to his political ally Yu Yunwen. Although Yu Yunwen did not send troops on his own initiative, he still provided some provisions.

This great victory will likely increase the influence of the pro-war faction in the Song court.

In addition to that, there is another major problem.

Now that we have recovered much lost territory, what should we do if the State of Song sends officials?
We can't kill them all, right?

If such a matter could be dealt with superficially from the beginning, that would be ideal. What kind of political exchange should be made is a matter that needs careful consideration.

After the letter was sent out by express courier, Liu Huai began preparing for the New Year.

Although they were in the army and unable to reunite with their families, and their food supplies were somewhat scarce, Liu Huai still decided to have a good time. He took out the dried horse meat that had been sealed away, chopped it up, and cooked it with millet and wheat, feasting the entire army.

Then, on New Year's Eve, the soldiers danced and sang songs, spending a joyous night.

This was not the first time Liu Huai had spent the New Year in the army, and it was unlikely to be the last.

After the entire army had settled down for the night, Liu Huai finally fell into a deep sleep in his command tent, only getting up and putting on his armor when it was broad daylight the next day.

He gazed at the rising sun, lost in thought for once.

On this day, which was the first day of the Lunar New Year, the era name Shaoxing finally became a thing of the past. This complex era, filled with heroes and villains, cheers and anger, northern expeditions and appeasement, nobility and baseness, and weakness and brutality, finally became a symbol in history.

On the first day of the first month of the first year of the Longxing era, great fortune was bestowed upon the world.

(End of this chapter)