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

Chapter 699 The Spy from Youzhou on the Run

Liu Huai was completely baffled by the Jin army's tactics.

It costs money to assemble a large army; that's an objective law. It's not like you can go without food just because you're on the offensive and morale is high.

The Han army was like this, and so was the Jin army.

If a large army is mobilized and doesn't make a profit, then it's a loss.

If the Jin dynasty wanted to use this method to deplete the people's strength in Shandong, then it was truly wishful thinking.

The Jin state did not assemble its entire army, and the Han army also did not conduct a general mobilization. Moreover, the Han army was engaged in defensive operations on the inner line, so in any case, its losses were less than those of the Jin army.

If they didn't want to attack, why did the Jin army go through all this trouble?
To disrupt Liu Huai's wedding preparations?

With this in mind, Liu Huai simply led his personal guards into Liaocheng, Bozhou, to observe the movements of the Jin army up close.

Aside from giving Wang Youzhi a big fright, Liu Huai didn't get any intelligence.

It seems that He Shilie Zhining merely took advantage of the winter to lead his army on a tour of Hebei's scenery, then enjoyed the sunset over the Yellow River. After causing chaos among the forces in Shandong and Henan, he leisurely returned to Daming Prefecture and remained there.

This is utterly outrageous.

"Commander-in-Chief, could this be a feint by the Jin invaders?"

On the city wall of Liaocheng, Wang Youzhi listened to the intelligence gathered by the scouts and remained silent for a long time before speaking to Liu Huai with a strange expression.

Liu Huai was equally bewildered: "The mobilization of a large army is impossible to conceal, especially now that people in several prefectures in southern Hebei have turned to the Jin. Even if the Jin bandits can keep it from one household, how can they keep it from everyone? Moreover, our army has sent out so many scouts and cavalry. If the Jin bandits were to attack from other prefectures, our army would have discovered it long ago."

Wang Youzhi remained silent for a long time before shaking his head and saying, "No matter what, Commander-in-Chief, please return to Dongping Prefecture and do not stay in Liaocheng any longer. This humble general is sufficient to guard this place."

Liu Huai snapped out of his reverie and said with a smile, "What, are you worried that I'll give reckless orders and ruin things for you, Chief Steward Wang?"

Wang Youzhi quickly waved his hand: "Commander-in-Chief, you are joking. You are a famous general in the world. How could you be afraid of these petty villains? However, as the saying goes, Shen Sheng died inside and Chong Er was safe outside. If a great battle really begins, it will be better for you to lead the army outside and come to support us so that we can properly handle the overall situation."

Faced with the obvious misinterpretation of the metaphor, Liu Huai could only laugh and cry, without refuting or correcting it. He simply nodded and said, "In that case, I'll leave Bozhou in the care of Steward Wang."

Having said that, Liu Huai didn't waste any more words and turned to leave the city wall.

Only after Liu Huai had gone far away did Wang Youzhi finally breathe a sigh of relief, and his tense muscles finally relaxed completely.

His deputy, Chen Zhongkan, also let out a long sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his brow, and said, "Our commander is truly..."

Even though it was in private, Wang Youzhi remained cautious: "Don't talk nonsense."

Chen Zhongkan quickly shook his head: "How could I dare to speak ill of the Commander-in-Chief? It's just... he really loves taking risks too much."

Wang Youzhi could only nod slowly.

These days there are many storytellers, and vernacular novels are gradually becoming popular.

The story they listened to most often was naturally "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

At that moment, both of them were thinking of Sun Ce, the Little Conqueror of Jiangdong.

They were equally brave and fearless, equally swift and unstoppable, and equally established a vast empire in the chaotic world.

However, Sun Ce also paid the price for his recklessness.

Generals are not immune to dying on the battlefield, and earthenware pots are not immune to breaking at the well. No great general can be in armor and ready for battle 24 hours a day. There will always be times when they are lax, and then a few arrows will threaten their lives.

Sun Ce had Sun Quan to succeed him. Although Sun Quan was terrible at it, he was still able to manage to live a simple life on his small plot of land.

But Liu Huai doesn't even have a brother with the same surname. Is he really going to hand over the reins of power to Wei Sheng? Wouldn't that be the same as handing it over to the State of Song?
But can Wei Jiao and Wei Chang serve as backup and shoulder heavy responsibilities?

Wang Youzhi and Chen Zhongkan pondered this for a while, but Wang Youzhi finally spoke up and advised, "Next time we write a private letter, let's both advise the Commander-in-Chief not to take such a risk."

Chen Zhongkan spread his hands and smiled wryly: "How could the Commander-in-Chief listen to us?"

Wang Youzhi waved his hand: "Whether the eldest son listens or not is his business, but we must adhere to our duties as subjects."

"Also, I'm not one to meddle, but since the eldest son needs to get married and have children soon, I'll subtly remind him in a private message."

Seeing that Wang Youzhi was getting more and more incoherent, Chen Zhongkan simply chased his guards even further away. The two of them looked to the northwest, in the direction of Yuancheng in Daming Prefecture, and fell silent.

However, what the two did not know was that although the more than 10,000 elite Jin troops in Yuancheng had not retreated and the banner of Heshilie Zhining was still flying on the city wall, Heshilie Zhining and Wugulun Yuanzhong had already left Daming Prefecture and were rushing towards Zhongdu Daxing Prefecture.

Daxing Prefecture is the core of Youyan, which is Yanjing in the usual sense.

At this time, Daxingfu had become the central capital of the Jin Dynasty. In order to unite the people inside and outside the pass and to appease the powerful clans of Youyan, Wanyan Yong also held a coronation ceremony in Daxingfu and rewarded his officials, temporarily establishing the capital of the country there. When Heshilie Zhining returned, although no one came out of the city to greet him and he did not raise any banners, he still had dozens of personal guards, and his procession through the streets of Daxingfu was quite impressive, instantly attracting the attention of many people.

He Shilie Zhining was originally just keeping a straight face, pondering important national military and political affairs, when he suddenly realized that someone seemed to be staring at him closely. He couldn't help but look up, and his lightning-like gaze shot directly at a restaurant on the street.

"Ouch!"

The person peering curiously down from the restaurant seemed startled, falling off their chair and overturning the table with a loud crash.

He Shilie Zhining chuckled, assuming that someone was just watching the show, and didn't pay any attention to it.

Liu Yungu, who was in the restaurant, got up from the ground, shook off the dust, and looked at the waiter and servants who ran in. He said with some embarrassment and anger, "Hurry up and clean up."

The waiter bowed and scraped, then began cleaning.

At this moment, the innkeeper also came upstairs upon hearing the noise. Seeing the scene, he couldn't help but apologize, saying, "It was my fault for not being a good host, please forgive me, Mr. Liu."

Liu Yunggu waved his hand, and with the help of his servants, he took off his dirty outer robe and put on a new one. He said generously, "It's alright, it has nothing to do with you. Bring out another table of good dishes. I need to entertain my friends here, so don't be late. I will compensate you three times for the loss of these dishes!"

The restaurant owner knew that this Mr. Liu, who had recently risen to fame in the Youyan business circle, was well-connected and never lied, so he could only bow and smile apologetically.

A moment later, new food and wine were laid out on the table, and everyone left the private room. Liu Yunggu, the official, returned to the table as if none of the previous turmoil had ever happened, and began to drink alone.

Fifteen minutes later, someone finally arrived by climbing the stairs.

Liu Yung-ku stood up and greeted him with a smile: "General Wendun, it's been a long time! You're still as dashing as ever!"

Wen Dunqizhi casually sat down in a chair, warmed himself by the fire, took a sip of warm wine, and then let out a long sigh before saying, "Still my ass, it's freezing cold, I almost lost half my life."

After saying that, Wen Dunqizhi picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of beef, and began to eat it in large bites.

Liu Yunggu was not surprised to see this, and took out a letter from his pocket: "General Wendun, this is your family letter."

Upon seeing this, Wen Dunqi immediately put down his chopsticks, wiped his hands on his clothes, and then respectfully accepted the document, opened it, and began to read it carefully.

After Liu Yung-gu drank alone for a while, Wen Dunqi-zhi put the letter back into the envelope, carefully placed it back in his bosom, and with tears glistening in his eyes, sniffed before saying, "I'm sorry, Mr. Liu."

Liu Yung-gu shook his head and said, "A letter from home is worth a fortune; it's only human nature."

Wen Dunqi calmed himself down and said, "Since you have such a kind intention, we entrust the spoils of our Loyal and Filial Army to you for sale."

Wendun Qizhi was originally a marching warrior of the Shenwei Army. After being brought back to the north by Heshi Lieliangbi, he was given important positions because of his Jurchen identity. He also became the commander of the Zhongxiao Army when Wanyan Yong formed a new army.

This army was not organized according to the traditional Meng'an-Muke system, but rather according to the Han army system, so the Zhongxiao Army only had 6,000 men at full strength.

Even so, the Loyal and Filial Army was still a relatively powerful force.

After becoming the general, the most pressing task facing Wendun Qizhi was to find a merchant to accompany the army.

We had no choice but to look for them. These days, most armies made their fortunes through plunder, and what they plundered included everything from people and livestock to clothing, iron pots, and hoes.

The saying "bandits pass by like combs, soldiers pass by like combs" illustrates this point.

Soldiers who constantly carry a bunch of hoes and iron pots, lead a flock of pigs and sheep, and tie up a group of slaves are not capable of fighting, so they need merchants accompanying the army to provide cash.

However, the merchants accompanying the army couldn't carry a large pile of copper coins around, so after receiving the goods, they would issue redemption tickets so that the soldiers could exchange them when they returned to the city.

This meant that Wen Dunqizhi had to find a reputable and powerful merchant for the Loyal and Filial Army.

However, because his clansmen were all in Shandong, he couldn't find a reliable person for the time being.

At a critical moment, a local Han general introduced Liu Yung-gu, saying that this man had connections everywhere, not only with various wealthy and powerful families, but also with business dealings in Han areas.

Liu Yung-gu and Wendun Qi-zhi hit it off immediately. After the Zhongxiao Army swept through the Mengwu tribes after leaving the pass, Wendun Qi-zhi couldn't wait to sell slaves, cattle, sheep, and hides through Liu Yung-gu.

However, what Wendun Qizhi did not expect was that Liu Yunggu would give him such a great gift, actually bringing a letter from home from Shandong, to the point that Wendun Qizhi could no longer even negotiate the price.

Liu Yunggu knew what Wendun Qizhi was thinking, and shook his head and said with a smile, "General Wendun, don't worry about the men's profits. We are doing long-term business. How could I cheat you? Let's stick to the price we agreed on before."

Wendun Qizhi nodded, but hesitated for a moment: "Are you going to sell all these things to Han China?"

Liu Yung-gu shook his head again: "I'll sell wherever the price is high. It doesn't matter if it's Han territory or not. It's fine with Korea, Japan, or even the Mongols. If it weren't for the fact that the Western Liao is too far away, your things really wouldn't fetch a good price. I might have to make a trip to the Western Regions."

Wen Dunqizhi listened to Liu Yunggu's brazen talk about his plan to treason, and was dumbfounded. He could only stammer, "Doesn't Master Liu fear the laws of the country?"

(End of this chapter)