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

Chapter 709 It's hard to tell whether someone is loyal or treacherous.

Among the generals of the Song state's northern expedition, two held extraordinary positions.

One of them was Cheng Min, who led his army out of Xiangfan to attack the Nanyang Basin.

The other person is Li Xianzong.

The reason for their superior status is quite simple.

Because they all actively participated in the Battle of Chaoxian, they turned the tide in the Huai River region, enabling the Song state to recover from danger and the imperial artifacts to be restored from obscurity.

In the words of later generations, both men were seasoned feudal warriors who had demonstrated their bravery and loyalty with their lives.

One more thing to say is why, despite Liu Huai's massive disturbance in Shandong, the Song court only remained on guard and did not take any strong countermeasures.
Ultimately, it was the success of the Battle of Chaoxian that provided a safety net.

In the eyes of later historians, the Battle of Chaoxian was because Wanyan Liang was already at his last gasp.

However, the Song emperor and his ministers, who were in the midst of the conflict, saw the Jin army's unstoppable advance, already drinking from the Yangtze River. But the situation was reversed by the famous ministers and generals of the Song in Chaoxian.

Even though there was some suspicion of unauthorized military action, since the outcome was good, Song generals like Li Xianzong would naturally be commended and given important positions.

Besides the promotion in rank and title, the more important thing was that the troops were given priority in replenishment, the deduction of rewards and military pay was reduced, and food and training were generally able to keep up.

After a year of careful training, Li Xianzong's army in Chizhou, while not quite on par with the top elite troops, was still considered one of the best in the Song Dynasty's fighting force.

Since they are elites, they must have some skills.

At the very least, they won't be stopped by the local troops of mere local tyrants.

After three days of preparation, Li Xianzong ordered a full-scale attack on Xia Cai City.

Apart from 8,000 elite troops stationed north of the city to defend against the Jin army, the rest of the 30,000 troops from Chizhou swarmed forward, each using their own abilities—some pushing goose carts, some carrying siege ladders, and some pushing well ramps—to launch an attack on Cai Cheng from four directions.

After suffering over a hundred casualties, the Song army captured the outer city wall of Xia Cai in just one day.

The next day, Li Xianzong personally entered the city, posted notices to reassure the people, and ordered his army to attack the inner city.

Within three hours, the inner city fell, but Du Wuji was not captured; only his younger brother, Du Yourong, was captured.

Under careful interrogation, Li Xianzong discovered that Du Wuji had already taken advantage of the chaos of the night to break through the encirclement and escape with his elite troops.

Li Xianzong was not overly angry about this.

They're just stray dogs; they've run away, so be it.

When Li Xianzong brought Du Yourong to Zhang Jun's presence and reported back that Xia Cai City had fallen, Zhang Jun couldn't help but glance at Yu Yunwen.

Zhang Jun had already witnessed firsthand how fiercely the Chizhou army had attacked the city these past two days.

In his view, it was nothing for these soldiers to risk their lives.

Yu Yunwen's words immediately made Li Xianzong dare not be perfunctory in the slightest; this is true skill.

As a pragmatic bureaucrat, Yu Yunwen naturally didn't have such messy thoughts. He politely encouraged Li Xianzong, and then said to Du Yourong, "General Du, although you and I were sworn enemies before, now that your life is in my hands, do you still want to be loyal to the Jin Kingdom?"

Du Yourong appeared to have been beaten for resisting fiercely; he grinned, revealing teeth stained red with blood.

"It seems you are also a prime minister of the Song state?"

"I am Yu Yunwen, the Vice Minister of State Affairs and Deputy Pacification Commissioner of Jianghuai in the Great Song Dynasty. Naturally, I can make some promises."

"Hehe, it's truly a wonder of the world that the Prime Minister of Song dares to take to the battlefield." As she spoke, Du Yourong sighed inexplicably: "Now that I have met the Prime Minister of Jin and the Prime Minister of Song, I can die without regrets."

Yu Yunwen remained silent for a moment before asking, "Why must you die? If you nouveau riche had some ideas before, now that you see the might of my Great Song army, are you not afraid?"

Du Yourong was tightly bound and could not maintain the kneeling position for long before collapsing to the ground. However, he still smiled and said, "Lord Yu is sincere, and I cannot be hypocritical in return."

Leaving aside the fact that Minister Shi promoted us, a group of nouveau riche, to the positions of county magistrate and prefect, I would also like to ask Minister Yu to answer my brother's question from earlier.

"If we join the State of Song, will we be loyal ministers or treacherous ministers?"

"In the future, the Song and Jin kingdoms will negotiate peace again. If the Jin prime minister says that the Du family must be killed before peace can be negotiated, can Prime Minister Yu protect the lives of my Du family, which numbers over a hundred?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jun felt a surge of mixed emotions—shame, anger, fear, and dread—rising within him: "Drag him out immediately and execute him! Send his head far and wide!"

Yu Yunwen remained silent for a moment, then could only shake his head, sigh, and wave his hand.

Seeing that the two ministers had reached a decision, Li Xianzong immediately picked up Du Yourong himself and dragged her out.

Du Yourong showed neither fear nor anger, but instead burst into laughter.

"You...you two Song state ministers are truly laughable. You can't even answer such a simple question...hahaha..."

Zhang Jun and Yu Yunwen both looked very unpleasant, but ultimately had nothing to say.

The fact that Yue Fei was wrongfully killed is undeniable, even though it is recorded in history books. The three high-ranking Song officials present were also witnesses to this scandal.

It's perfectly normal for Jin generals to be unwilling to surrender.

What about Han Shizhong, this daring and unruly rogue who dares to be the first in the world?

After Yue Fei was unjustly killed, Han Shizhong lost all his spirit. How could he expect the Jin generals to be loyal to the Song Dynasty?
"Lord Yu, this..."

"It doesn't matter." Yu Yunwen waved his hand at Zhang Jun and said, "Since we can't make them respect us, let's make them fear us. Fighting our way through and showing our military might is also a way."

Zhang Jun could only sigh and nod: "It's just that we didn't capture Du Wuji, and that scoundrel escaped. We couldn't finish the job in one battle, which is truly infuriating." Du Wuji, who was being talked about by the two Song ministers, was currently leading dozens of his confidants on a frantic run.

The small cavalry unit moved very quickly, arriving at Xiangcheng in Chenzhou in just two days.

A large army has already gathered here, with military camps stretching for miles.

The 20,000-strong new army trained by Shi Ju set up camp here, like an arrow with full potential, ready to be released.

Du Wuji showed his waist token outside the camp, and soon an officer guarding the camp gate came forward to meet him and led him directly into the central command tent.

"Lord Shi!" Du Wuji knelt down as soon as he entered the command tent, crawling forward on his knees and wailing, "Lord Shi, this humble general is incompetent, Xia Cai has fallen. My brothers too... Waaah..."

Ignoring the ongoing military meeting, Shi Ju quickly stepped forward to help Du Wuji up, saying, "It's alright, it's alright. The great battle has already begun, and the gains or losses of a city or place like Xia Cai are insignificant now. It's good that you've returned safely."

As for your brother, once we defeat the Song state, we can retrieve him. At that time, you two brothers will be promoted and ennobled, becoming two Grand Commandants in one family, bringing glory to your lineage.”

Seeing that someone in the tent seemed to want to voice their objection, Shi Ju turned around and scolded them: "The Du brothers defended the city at the front. Although they were defeated, the Song army was so powerful. Isn't it normal for them to be defeated? On the contrary, those who dare to face the Song army's advance under such circumstances are the true heroes."

"Not to mention the Du brothers, Hou Yuanliang in Mengcheng and Xie Fuyao in Yingshang, regardless of victory or defeat, I will reward them handsomely."

Only then did Du Wuji realize that all the prominent generals of the Jin army were gathered in the commander's tent. He immediately realized that he had spoken out of turn and should not have made such a fuss at this time, so he stopped crying immediately.

Du Wuji's actions, at best, damaged morale, and at worst, shook the morale of the army. Even if Shi Ju used the pretext of losing the army and disgracing the country, it would be only natural to execute him.

"Lord Shi, is this the result you wanted us to achieve by ordering our entire army to retreat and clear the Huai River defense line?"

Pu Chashijie was too lazy to get entangled with Du Wuji, so he continued to attack Shi Ju, following up on his previous words.

Shi Ju retorted without backing down: "According to General Pucha's idea, our main force should be lined up along the Huai River in a straight line, running around in circles?"

Pucha Shijie's eyes widened in anger: "Then is the loss of the city and the fall of the territory the fault of Minister Shi?!"

The relationship between Shi Ju and Pu Chashijie was actually somewhat delicate.

There is no doubt that both of them wanted to preserve the Jin Dynasty.

However, the two men belonged to two different factions, Wanyan Yong and Wanyan Liang, and were of different ethnicities, Han Chinese and Jurchen. This led to subtle conflicts between their thoughts and policies.

For example, when facing the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Song Dynasty, Shi Ju thought of retreating first, avoiding the Song army's sharp edge, relying on the strong cities of the Central Plains to block the Song army layer by layer, and finally gathering elite troops to drive the Song army back.

But in Pucha Shijie's view, this was simply a case of a son selling his father's land without a care in the world.

Henan was territory under Wanyan Liang's jurisdiction. Losing it would damage Wanyan Liang's reputation. Even if the land were regained, it would be a big question whether these Han people and powerful clans would continue to obey Wanyan Liang's orders.

It is very likely that Shi Ju had his own selfish motives in this; he used his status as a Han Chinese prime minister to win over the powerful families in Henan under the guise of sharing the same language and culture.

If this war lasts for two years, Henan may very well become a place where people only know about Shi Xiangong and not about the Jin emperor.

Shi Ju sneered and said, "General Pucha, in such a national war, it is truly laughable that you only focus on the gains and losses of a single city or place."

"So, are we just going to let the Song people arrive in Bianliang safely?" Pucha Shijie slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "Since Minister Shi is afraid of death, the Wujie Army is brave and capable of fighting. Let's watch them fight!"

"Enough!" Zhang Shousu, who had been silent all along, finally lost his patience and shouted, "You two are both important ministers of the state, are you just going to make yourselves a laughing stock?"

Pucha Shijie and Shi Ju finally fell silent.

The other generals who participated in the military council looked at each other in bewilderment. When Shi Ju waved his hand, they got up and silently left the command tent.

After everyone had left, Zhang Shousu looked at Shi Ju and slowly said, "Master Shi, tell me the truth. You were corresponding with Liu Dalang from Shandong. Did that fellow make you any promises?"

Shi Ju was stunned, not expecting Zhang Shousu to launch an attack from this angle.

A moment later, Shi Ju flew into a rage: "You two old scoundrels, when have I not read every letter with you? And when have I not let you read every reply first?! We agreed together that we wouldn't show weakness in front of Liu Dalang, and now you want to blame me?!"

Pucha Shijie was taken aback by Zhang Shousu's question and Shi Ju's strong reaction, and was stunned for a moment.

Zhang Shousu stroked his beard and sneered, "That's hard to say. After all, it's just a letter. It's not that hard to hide. With so many documents going in and out of the camp every day, who knows if a letter might be sent to Shandong without anyone noticing?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Ju calmed down instead: "If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext."

Pu Chashijie joined the conversation: "It's hard to say for sure. Liu Dalang loves the Han people very much, and Shi Xiangong also loves the Han people deeply. You two are birds of a feather. Why don't you join forces and do something for the Han people of the world?"

That sarcastic remark was spot on.

In order to avoid heavy casualties among the Han people in Henan these days, not only were conscripted soldiers not allowed, but even laborers and auxiliary soldiers were refused to be conscripted in large numbers by Shi Ju. At this time, the military rations were still supplied by the Chenzhou government granary.

Shi Ju's ambition was to stabilize the Han lands, and the first thing he had to do was to stabilize the livelihoods of the Han people in Henan.

However, for Pucha Shijie and Zhang Shousu, Shi Ju's actions were tantamount to treason.

If we lose the great battle because of insufficient food supplies and laborers, then the entire Henan region will be lost to the Song state!
Upon hearing this, Shi Ju calmed down: "You two old bastards, stop trying to provoke me with your words. You can speak your mind directly."

Zhang Shousu immediately abandoned the previous topic and asked seriously, "Is the army just sitting idly in Chenzhou? We need to give you a definite answer on when we will set out to meet the Song Dynasty!"

Just as Shi Ju was about to speak, he heard a military envoy calling out names outside the tent.

An urgent document arrived. After examining the sealing wax, Shi Ju tore it open in front of everyone. He only glanced at it briefly before becoming very excited.

"Lord Zhang, didn't you ask when we would send troops?!" Shi Ju said, spreading out the intelligence report in his hand: "We can send troops now!"

(End of this chapter)