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

Chapter 714 Strategic Planning and Military Maneuvering

Zheng Fasan's method was actually very simple.

Fuzhou is a fertile land, but because it was a hunting ground for the Jin dynasty royal family, the people were not allowed to farm it.

The most absurd thing about this policy was that the Jin royal family would usually go hunting in Linhuang Prefecture, both to train the army and to show their goodwill to the Khitans and to intimidate the Mongols.

This resulted in Fuzhou being theoretically a royal hunting ground, but the royal family never actually came there.

From the Jurchens to the Han Chinese who were enslaved, everyone lived a miserable life.

If it weren't for the presence of some merchant ships in the Bohai Rim Economic Zone, the people of Fuzhou would basically be starving.

Historically, the problems in Fuzhou were solved by the dead Wanyan Saohe. During Wanyan Jing's reign, he petitioned to lift the ban on farming, which enabled the people to become prosperous.

What Zheng Fasan needs to do now is simply to lift the land ban ahead of schedule and, in accordance with the Han army's system, register households and distribute land to the people.

In fact, whether they were Jurchens, Han Chinese, or a small number of Goryeo people, they had all suffered from the ban on farming for a long time.

Now that the Han army has come to relieve the people's suffering, it has immediately caused a huge sensation. Because of the lack of food, it is rare to see people rushing to bring food and follow the crowd, but there are far too many people cutting down trees to make weapons and raising bamboo poles as flags.

In less than half a month, Zheng Fasan had gathered 5,000 troops and, together with the Han army's navy, launched an attack on Hesuguan Road.

Of course, this is a story.

On the second day of the fifth month, while He Zizheng and Li Gongzuo were busy taking over Fuzhou, Zhang Baiyu also rushed back to Bozhou.

"Ten thousand Jin rebel troops are marching south, attempting to attack Xuzhou?" Liu Huai narrowed his eyes. "Is this information reliable?"

Zhang Baiyu, panting heavily, said, "It's pretty close, because based on the number of animal footprints, it seems there really are 10,000 people."

I watched them cross the Yellow River; they were either heading to Xuzhou or attacking the Song army. They couldn't possibly be going to raid Bianliang, could they?!

Upon hearing this, Liang Su cupped his hands and said, "Young Master, the question now is not where the Jin bandits are going, but that a total of 10,000 Jin bandits are marching south."

Regardless of where Heshilie Liangbi went, the Jin bandits in Daming Prefecture were indeed short 10,000 men. This was an opportunity.

Xin Qiji stood up immediately, seemingly wanting to volunteer for battle, but after thinking for a moment, he sat down again, just holding his sword, looking eager to try.

Whether to begin the decisive battle at this point was a decision that Liu Huai needed to make. The others could only analyze the pros and cons, but they were simply not capable of shouldering such a great responsibility.

Liu Huai paced back and forth, leaning on his sword. After looking at the map and remaining silent for a moment, he said, "Mr. Liang, after you've gathered intelligence on both sides, how many troops does the Jin rebels in Daming Prefecture still have?"

Liang Su had already prepared a response and immediately replied, "There should still be 60,000 elite troops. If we include auxiliary troops and conscripts, the army could very well exceed 100,000."

Liu Huai continued to ask questions: "In Mr. Liang's opinion, after this division of forces, is it possible that the Jin invaders will divide their forces again in a short period of time?"

Liang Su and other military advisors had already prepared a contingency plan, and Liu Huai was aware of it, but he still wanted to get a precise answer from Liang Su.

Liang Su was also a little nervous, and said with slightly heavy breaths, "There are four possibilities."

Firstly, the Mongols or Khitans rebelled;

Secondly, the Song Dynasty's Northern Expeditionary Army advanced with unstoppable momentum, capturing Bianliang (Kaifeng).

Thirdly, Wu Lin of Guanzhong defeated Wanyan Liang, crossed the Yellow River at Puban, and attacked Hezhong Prefecture in Jin.

Fourth, He Zizheng and Li Gongzuo attacked and captured Liaoyang Prefecture, thus occupying all of Liaodong.

Besides, it would be difficult for the Jin invaders to divide their forces on a large scale again.

Are these four possibilities most likely?

"Very small."

Liu Huai adopted a somewhat aggressive tone: "In other words, this is very likely the time when Daming Prefecture is at its weakest?"

Liang Su forced a smile and replied, "Exactly."

Liu Huai let out a long sigh of relief: "Then there's nothing more to say."

"Issue my order that He Boqiu personally lead 20,000 regular troops westward along the Ji River to join me."

"Zhang Silang, lead the main force of the Dongping Army north to Bozhou. Don't forget to bring those four treasures with you."

"Here!"

"Send orders to Luo Shenyan and Wang Shilong, instructing them to leave troops to defend the city and then lead their elite forces to garrison Tangyi."

"Order Lu You and Li Tong to be in charge of logistics and transport of supplies. Do not slack off."

After Liu Huai finished speaking, he looked at Liang Su.

Liang Su understood and added, "And the Flying Tigers."

Liu Huai continued speaking: "Order Guan Chongyan of the Flying Tiger Army to strictly guard Jizhou and seize the opportunity to intercept and kill Heshi Lieliangbi."

If Heshi Lieliangbi were to lead these 10,000 troops to the vicinity of Xuzhou, it would pose a huge threat to both the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Song Dynasty and Wei Sheng.

"Is there anything else?" Liu Huai asked loudly.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Then so be it!" "With May 10th as the deadline, the entire army will attack Daming Prefecture!"

At this point, Liu Huai grinned maliciously: "Since the Jin thieves are so ungrateful, we can't let this golden opportunity pass us by. Let's give them a taste of their own medicine!"

"Here!"

The assembly of the Han army takes time, but the troops on other fronts are already poised to go, and some have even reached their tactical positions.

At this moment, Heshilie Liangbi was still marching along the Yellow River. His first stop was Shangqiu, Guide Prefecture, which was Nanjing during the Northern Song Dynasty.

The White Horse Army had already crossed the Yellow River along the pontoon bridge and spread out in all directions to scout the movements of the Jin army.

The Flying Tigers, on the other hand, were poised to pounce on the location of Heshi Lieliangbi at any moment.

Further south, past the Bozhou line, comes continuous rainy weather.

As time goes by, the Huaibei region has officially entered the plum rain season, and this year's typhoon seems to have arrived earlier than usual, so much so that torrential rain has already fallen in northern Shouzhou.

In such rainy weather, any military operation would be greatly hampered, and as a result, all the Song army's northern expeditionary forces came to a halt.

However, even amidst this continuous rain, an army was still marching south along the Ying River with great difficulty.

By evening, the Jin army, numbering as many as 20,000, set up camp and occupied a town for rest.

"Morale is low."

After inspecting the military camp, Pucha Shijie returned to a house in the center of the town late at night. He threw his raincoat on the ground, then took off his boots and turned them upside down. He rubbed his feet, which had turned white from being soaked in the fire.

Shi Ju, who was behind the desk reviewing documents, chuckled: "I told you long ago, in this kind of weather, don't wear boots, straw sandals are better, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what's happened, not only are you suffering, but you've also wasted a good pair of boots."

Pucha Shijie snorted coldly and said irritably, "In the end, you civil officials are no match for me; you can just sit comfortably in your tents."

Just as Shi Ju was about to say something more, he heard the sound of horses' hooves splashing in the water amidst the pattering rain outside the door.

The military envoy then called out the names of those entering and took out a document from his leather bag: "This is a letter from Chenzhou to Minister Shi."

The military envoy's statement was strange, because military envoys are usually instructed by the sender to give a brief summary of the military situation.

This urgent letter, delivered by express courier, was clearly written in a great hurry, yet the military envoy remained silent.

But Shi Ju didn't seem surprised. After taking it and glancing at the signature, he showed an expression of "I knew it."

Pucha Shijie rubbed his feet, looked up and asked, "Where is the military intelligence from?"

Shi Ju tore open the envelope: "Where else could it be? It was sent by Liu Dalang from Shandong."

Pucha Shijie's previous remarks about colluding with the enemy were all aimed at belittling Shi Ju; he never suspected that the current prime minister would betray him.

But at this moment, he hesitated.

Damn, could Shi Ju really be colluding with the Shandong bandits?

Why are the two still exchanging letters at a time like this?

But Pucha Shijie remained calm and asked, "What did the letter say?"

Shi Ju flipped through the papers in his hand and sneered, "This time we've finally gotten to the point. Liu Dalang wants to recruit me. It's really baffling."

Although that's what he said, Shi Ju's face darkened in the end, and his smile vanished.

Upon seeing this, Pucha Shijie stepped forward and held out his hand, saying, "Let me see."

Shi Ju did not hide anything.

Unlike the many previous letters that discussed literature, governance, and scholarship, this letter was an open and sincere invitation to join.

"...I have heard that Lord Shi has lofty ambitions and takes it upon himself to stabilize the Han lands. However, the Jurchens are a small tribe facing a large country. If they cannot weaken the people of the Han lands, how can they last long?"

"...Even with the abilities of Emperor Shenwu of Northern Qi in the past, he could only govern the Han and the Hu people separately. Therefore, Liu Gui contemptuously said that if a Han person lost even a penny, he would die. Gao Ang was so angry that he drew his sword in response."

"...Given Wanyan Liang's unruly nature and Wanyan Yong's shallow talent, it would be difficult enough to make the barbarians live in peace, let alone the millions of Han people?"

"...Therefore, it is no different for Minister Shi to seek peace in the Han lands by serving the Jin state, which is like trying to catch the moon's reflection in the water or climbing a tree to catch fish."

"...Now, Shandong is full of heroes and brave warriors, and everyone is of one mind, all for the sake of stabilizing the Han dynasty. I hope that you, Lord Shi, will not make a mistake and will join me as soon as possible to make great progress together. Once war breaks out, everything will be destroyed, and even the good and the bad will be burned. I hope you, Lord Shi, will think carefully."

To be honest, this letter of persuasion to surrender is not very well written, and it is completely different from the famous letter of persuasion to surrender, "Letter to Chen Bozhi".

However, the strength of this letter of persuasion lies in its concise and incisive language. From the perspective of the overall situation, even Pucha Shijie had nothing to refute.

Are we to tell Shi Ju that from now on, the Great Jin Kingdom will no longer prioritize the Jurchens, but will instead prioritize the Han people?
Pu Chashijie dared to say it, but would Shi Ju dare to believe it?

Pucha Shijie stood barefoot, his expression shifting between light and shadow, before finally asking, "What does Master Shi think?"

Shi Ju responded frankly: "Liu Dalang does have some insight, and some of his views are quite profound, but no matter what, he can't escape the need to pacify a chaotic world. Whether it's my lifelong ambition or his grand aspirations, they can only be put into practice after the world is at peace."

"therefore……"

Before Shi Ju could finish speaking, a commotion broke out outside. He frowned and shouted, "Ayu, go find Du Wuji and have him take the enforcement team to see what's going on!"

(End of this chapter)