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

Chapter 689 The Oriole Is Also Behind

Of course, no matter how much Wanyan Liang and Zhang Zhongyan schemed against each other, the outbreak of war was something no one could prevent.

On October 1st, with the autumn harvest completely over, Wu Lin launched the first attack, and the Song army marched straight towards Yuanzhou along the rugged mountain roads of Longyou.

In actual history, the Battle of Yuanzhou did not end well. The veteran general Yao Zhong was defeated by Wanyan Zhang, with more than 30 generals killed in action, which greatly dampened the morale of the Song army.

However, due to the change in the timeline, not only did Wanyan Zhang not come to Guanzhong, but Yao Zhong was also injured early on and returned to Xichuan to recuperate.

Last year, the Song army launched a probing attack on Yuanzhou, but suffered a minor defeat because the follow-up troops could not provide support. However, the attack did not cause any serious damage.

Yuanzhou is so important because three tributaries of the Jing River—the Hu River, the Yang River, and the Puchuan River—flow through it, making it a transportation hub in northern Longyou. Occupying this place allows for both offense and defense. Even if one cannot conquer Guanzhong, one can hold the position and ensure the gains made in Longyou.

At this time, Li Shiyan led 25,000 Song troops in a fierce attack on Yuanzhou. In one day, with the help of an inside agent, they captured three camps: Ping'an Village, Xincheng Village, and Xihao Village, and moved towards Yuanzhou from the northwest.

The Jin army was equally unwilling to be outdone. Tudan Hexi led an army of 20,000 to attack, but ignored Li Shiyan and headed west over mountains and valleys, making a show of attacking Deshun's army.

This sudden shift in strategy completely bewildered Li Shiyan. He decisively dispatched Hui Feng with 6,000 troops to cross Ping'an Village in an attempt to stop Tu Danhexi.

But little did anyone know that Tu Danhexi was just feinting.

He dispatched some troops to ambush Hui Feng near the new city fortress, and then, taking advantage of the chaos among Hui Feng's six thousand troops, he personally led his cavalry to attack from the flank.

If Wu Lin hadn't personally led 10,000 troops to provide reinforcements, Hui Feng might have died here.

As Li Shiyan led his army south and joined forces with Wu Lin, the two armies were once again locked in a stalemate.

Although the Song army currently holds the advantage in Yuanzhou, the final outcome remains uncertain because the Jin army in Jingzhou has not yet made a move.

However, what the Song army did not know was that the Weiguo Army guarding Jingzhou was not unwilling to move out, but because they had already lost a large number of soldiers in the previous battles with the Song army. Now they had only forty organized units of soldiers, which was a serious blow.

Moreover, the morale of the Weiguo army is low at this time. If they are forced to fight, not only will they fail to defeat the enemy, but they may even cause the morale of the entire army to collapse.

Now that the main forces of both sides are locked in a stalemate in Yuanzhou, everyone's attention has turned to the flanking forces.

On the third day of the tenth month, Wu Ting bypassed Longzhou and arrived at Wulipo, the border of Fengxiang Prefecture.

"Water!" Wu Ting ordered his soldiers to change horses and rest within fifteen minutes. After gulping down two mouthfuls of cold water, he wiped his mouth and asked, "Has the military envoy been dispatched?"

A staff officer, panting heavily, said, "They've already been dispatched. As agreed, Zhang Congjin should be at Wulipo by now. If our envoy is quick-witted, he'll bring Zhang Congjin to the young master soon."

Wu Ting drove his horse to a hillside and gazed into the distance.

After passing Wulipo, travel southeast for thirty li to reach Baoji, also known as Chencang.

East of Chencang lies the vast Guanzhong Plain.

Once they cross Chencang, Wu Ting's 1,000 elite cavalry and 5,000 mounted infantry will be unstoppable, like eagles soaring in the sky or tigers entering the forest.

The key now is the Han Chinese army under Zhang Congjin's command.

“General, is it too reckless to put all our eggs in one basket with Zhang Congjin?” The military advisor looked around and then whispered to Wu Ting, “Fifth Master, it’s not that I want to shake the morale of the army at this time, but I’m getting more and more anxious.”

"Li Jiu, what do you say?"

"It's one thing for the military governor to trust Zhang Zhongyan, but it's quite another for us to trust Zhang Congjin. There are several layers between them," the military advisor named Li Jiu continued in a low voice. "Even if Zhang Zhongyan is of one mind with us, does that mean Zhang Congjin is the same?"

Because the communication between Zhang Zhongyan and Wu Lin was a top secret, no one except a few generals knew about it.

Although Li Jiu was Wu Ting's confidant, he was merely a military advisor directly under the commander and had no right to participate in high-level military meetings.

He only learned about this before setting off, and now he finally had a lot of questions to ask.

Wu Ting glanced at the other man: "Li Jiu, do you think I'm not worried? Father has entrusted me with the decisive move, which is equivalent to entrusting me with the safety of the situation in Kansai. Do you know how heavy the burden on my shoulders is?" Although Wu Ting did not answer the question directly, Li Jiu still nodded haphazardly: "Fifth Master is right."

Seeing Li Jiu's behavior, Wu Ting could only sigh and confide in Li Jiu: "Father originally wanted to carefully assess Zhang Zhongyan, so that everything would be in place after the spring planting next year before engaging in a decisive battle with the Jin invaders. But who would have thought that the Western bandits would actually invade..."

At this point, Li Jiu suddenly realized what was going on.

Li Jiu was young, and although his ancestors were Guanzhong people who fled to Sichuan, by his generation, he no longer had any personal experience of the Western Xia.

For example, if Vietnam were to invade China now, the Chinese people's reactions would certainly be different from if Japan were to invade China again.

The old Guanzhong people, represented by Wu Lin, also reacted strongly to the invasion of Western Xia.

This is not the case where Ren Dejing declared himself the State of Chu, submitted to the State of Song, and then assisted the Song army in attacking the State of Jin.

Instead, Ren Dejing, as the prime minister, led Emperor Li Renxiao of Western Xia on a personal expedition to annex Guanzhong.

These are two completely different political events at their core.

If it weren't for their strategic foresight, the old Guanzhong people, represented by Wu Lin, might have already abandoned the Jin army and turned their attention to dealing with the Western Xia.

Wu Ting simply made a brief comment, and then saw dozens of cavalrymen carrying a large banner with the character "Zhang" galloping swiftly from the southeast along the Xing River.

After the leading knight, a man of imposing stature, personally rode closer, he loudly proclaimed, "I am Zhang Congjin! Who is Wu Ting? Come out and see me!"

Although Zhang Congjin's words were very impolite, Wu Ting knew that time was of the essence and this was not the time to argue about such trivial matters. He immediately led his personal guards forward on horseback and said, "Chief Steward Zhang, I am Wu Ting. Do you have any token?"

Zhang Congjin looked Wu Ting up and down, surprised that this rising general was so young. However, this surprise only lasted for a short while before he took out two letters from his pocket, waved them, and then shrugged.

Where is your keepsake?

Wu Ting took out a waist token from his pocket and casually tossed it to Zhang Congjin.

After receiving the waist token, Zhang Congjin glanced at it briefly and immediately recognized it as something his uncle often used. He then stuffed the token back into his pocket and handed over the letter.

After glancing at the letter, Wu Ting also stuffed it into his pocket and grinned at Zhang Congjin, "Steward Zhang, is there any other arrangement?"

Zhang Congjin shook his head: "There's no time to lose, come with me now! Chang'an is undefended, we can take it in one fell swoop!"

Wu Ting, however, did not panic. Instead, he said seriously, "No rush, there are two more things to clarify. Will your Mighty Army come with me?"

Zhang Congjin did not lie and shook his head decisively: "No, as you all know, my uncle was summoned to Yuanzhou recently, and then he was placed under house arrest by that scoundrel Tudan Hexi under the pretext of discussing military affairs. Not only is he not allowed to return, but he is also not allowed to communicate with others privately."

"With just me, at most I can get the Mighty Army to clear the way; there's no way I can hastily muster the entire army to immediately rebel against the Jin."

Seeing that Wu Ting was about to frown and turn hostile, Zhang Congjin continued, "However, I can still muster over a thousand cavalrymen. I'll have my adjutant lead these troops along with the main army. I'll personally accompany you, how about that?"

As Zhang Congjin finished speaking, his voice involuntarily turned stern.

In his view, this was the biggest concession he could make.

During the days when Zhang Zhongyan was out of contact, Zhang Congjin also bore tremendous pressure. He had finally made up his mind to continue according to his previous agreement with Wu Lin.

If Wu Ting really doesn't appreciate our kindness, we can simply part ways. You can go back to your Deshun Army, and I will remain a loyal subject of the Jin Dynasty in Fengxiang Prefecture. If you have the ability, then go ahead and attack Chencang.

Even Zhuge Liang couldn't break through Chencang, but you did. You're even more amazing than Zhuge Liang.

After looking Zhang Congjin up and down, Wu Ting remained silent for a moment before finally nodding and saying, "Then so be it. I hope Steward Zhang will lead the way."

(End of this chapter)