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

Chapter 751 A Husband's Difficult Role as a Paperhanger

Shan Ding was a surrendered person from the Jin Dynasty and once served as the military commander of Pizhou.

At the beginning of last year, due to the successive battles between Shandong and Hebei, the 30,000 households of Xuzhou, under the command of Heshi Lieliangbi, broke camp and returned north. This gave Liu Bao an opportunity to cross the Huai River and advance north along the Yellow River, arriving at the city of Pizhou and Suqian.

At that time, Suqian was almost an isolated city, and Shan Ding did not want to stage a grand drama of loyalty in the southeast for the Jin Dynasty, so he surrendered to the Song Dynasty.

Who would have thought that after Liu Bao entered the city, instead of stabilizing the situation, he immediately began looting.

Although they were eventually driven out by the combined efforts of the soldiers and civilians of Suqian, the damage caused by the Song army to the people in the city was real.

Later, due to Liu Huai's personal intervention, the Shandong Han army was mobilized and drove the Song army back.

Dan Ding then turned to Liu Huai once again.

Although this fellow is somewhat fickle, he did bring a city with him to surrender, so we can't be too harsh on him.

Therefore, Liu Huai appointed Shan Ding as the garrison commander of Suzhou, equivalent to the deputy of Zhang Anguo, the military governor of Suzhou.

At this moment, enemies meeting again are bound to be extremely hostile, so Shan Ding simply captured Liu Bao and then dispatched troops to gather the Song army.

Although the troops here were only second-line soldiers of the Han army, or even local militia archers, they could still easily capture the Song army, which was already in a state of disarray.

Besides, Suqian is Wei Sheng's hometown, and it was actually plundered by Liu Bao. It's a blatant slap in the face.

This is intolerable! This is not just a military issue, but also a serious political one!

The people of Suzhou also want to raise their political awareness and make progress!
Compared to Liu Bao, Wei You and the others were treated much better. After a hearty meal, they only exchanged a few words about military affairs with Zhang Anguo, the military commander of Suzhou, before immediately following the military envoy to Xuzhou.

Not to mention the chaotic and bustling scene in Suzhou.

At the main force of the Song army in Xia Cai, Shouzhou, two ministers and a grand commander were also bewildered by the military intelligence that arrived almost simultaneously.

Yes, the results of all the major battles that took place across the country, from the Nanyang Basin to Hebei, and now to the Huaibei battlefield, arrived in Xia Cai almost simultaneously on the evening of the second day of the sixth lunar month.

The reasons for this outcome include the different times when the major battles took place, errors in the delivery of military intelligence by military envoys, and a touch of deliberate attempts to take credit and cover up mistakes.

To be more precise, the military envoy sent by Liu Huai to deliver military intelligence was intercepted and killed by Heshi Lieliangbi, and the news of the victory in Hebei was relayed by Wei Sheng.

The defeat of Cheng and Min was transmitted from Xiangfan to the central government, and then through Lianghuai to Xiachai.

After his crushing defeat, Shao Hongyuan still tried to regroup his troops and cover up the situation. He delayed for a day, but when he could no longer deceive them, he finally sent a military envoy to apologize.

As for Li Heng, things were much simpler. When Li Xianzong met Li Heng's military envoy, he knew things were going to go wrong as soon as he heard the military situation. He immediately dispatched General Dai Gao with 7,000 troops to meet him and managed to gather back the few thousand remnants of Li Heng's army.

Four military reports, one a resounding victory that would go down in history, and three undeniably crushing defeats, left Zhang Jun's heart pounding. He felt his emotions surging wildly, almost making him the first prime minister to die for his country since the Longxing Northern Expedition.

Yu Yunwen looked at the document in his hand, flipping through it back and forth, and suddenly felt lost.

"Lord Yu...Lord Yu, you've seen the current situation. Is there anything more to say?"

Zhang Jun slumped in his chair, clutching his chest, sweat still dripping from his forehead, his face utterly dejected: "If we don't take action soon, once the military situation spreads in the court, the sycophantic pro-peace faction will rise to power again, and the Northern Expedition will once again be in vain."

Those who advocate quick victories and those who advocate surrender are two sides of the same coin. When they win a battle, they feel that the other side is doomed; when they lose a battle, they feel that the country is doomed.

They simply don't realize that war is a long-term process, and protracted warfare is the norm.

Unfortunately, the hasty start of the Longxing Northern Expedition revealed that there were too many opportunists within the Song Dynasty. After three major defeats, these people were likely to turn into surrenderists and start advocating that the country would perish if the war was not stopped.

Yu Yunwen sighed and glanced at Zhang Jun.

Isn't the biggest advocate of quick victory Zhang Jun himself?
If it weren't for your constant scheming to seize the position of Pacification Commissioner of Jianghuai, and your desire to lead an army on a northern expedition in your lifetime to achieve unparalleled feats, the Longxing Northern Expedition should not have been launched at this time.

If Yu Yunwen had followed his plan, by the time the two Jin soldiers had fought each other to the death, the Song army would have been fully prepared. Then, from Shandong, Lianghuai, and Xiangfan, they would have launched a pincer movement to conquer the Central Plains and recover the area south of the Yellow River in one fell swoop.

At that time, why would we need to worry about the back-and-forth between the peace faction and the surrender faction?
Now things have turned out badly. Since the main forces of the Eastern and Western Jin dynasties are still intact, Liu Huai has no choice but to lead the strongest Shandong Han army to fight against the main force of the Eastern Jin. Meanwhile, the remaining Song army is no match for the good generals and ministers of the Jin dynasty, such as Pusan ​​Zhongyi, Shi Ju, and Heshi Lie Liangbi.

Unsurprisingly, Zhang Da Xiangong went from being extremely confident and arrogant to extremely pessimistic.

No... the Song army is not easily defeated.

Yu Yunwen glanced briefly at Li Xianzong beside him. At least the 30,000 troops under Li Xianzong's command in Chizhou were quite reliable.

This large army was established right under the noses of Yu Yunwen and Ye Yiwen. The elite soldiers and generals who had experienced the bloody battles of Lianghuai were all placed under Yu Yunwen's command, which was an advantage that the other two armies did not have.

With this powerful army and the fortified city of Xia Cai in hand, and by rallying the defeated troops, this battle might not be impossible to continue!
"The most important thing now is the court." After a long silence, Yu Yunwen finally spoke slowly: "At the very least, we must stabilize the Emperor and prevent him from having any more thoughts of retreating and negotiating peace. Only when the court is stable can we act freely."

"We cannot cover up Cheng Min's defeat there, but we can conceal our two defeats in front of us to some extent. We can explain to the court by saying that we will retreat slightly and lure the enemy deeper. Let's hold out for a month or two first."

Yu Yunwen held up the document in his hand: "The key is this letter from Liu Dalang reporting the victory. We need to use it to exaggerate the great victory and stabilize the morale of the people in the court."

Zhang Jun nodded slowly: "If the two of us write a joint report of victory and let like-minded people sing its praises, we will surely be able to continue to hold the court aloft."

The two ministers were openly plotting to deceive the court, while Li Xianzong, who was beside them, was used to it and simply remained silent.

The two major defeats of Shao Hongyuan and Li Heng could not be completely concealed, because the Song Dynasty also had a system in place, with inspecting censors, military judges, and local officials, and possibly even imperial envoys, all of whom could report to the court.

Zhang Jun and Yu Yunwen naturally knew that it was impossible to completely hide the truth.

Their ultimate goal was to embolden the court—or more specifically, to encourage Emperor Zhao Shen of the Song Dynasty to continue the war.

At worst, we can just argue and fight amongst ourselves. As long as we can hold out for another two months and the situation changes drastically, it really won't matter whether we suffer a crushing defeat or it's a feint to lure the enemy.

You could say this is a gambler's rage, but it's clear now that both sides are fighting for their lives. Whoever loses their nerve will inevitably suffer a crushing defeat. Even someone as composed as Yu Yunwen has to grit his teeth and persevere.

"Secondly, the Henan battlefield is in such a chaotic state that even if our army gathers the defeated troops, the Jin army is strong and it is dangerous to confront them head-on."

At this point, Yu Yunwen gritted his teeth: "We still need to bring Wei Sheng over! The Loyal Army is formidable. If they send ten thousand troops here, our army will be able to prepare for a proper battle with the Jin invaders!"

Given Wei Sheng's loyalty and bravery, he would certainly not hesitate to die fighting for the Song state.

With 40,000 regular troops from the Song Dynasty, plus the routed soldiers they had gathered, and reinforcements brought in from Lianghuai, they could put up a fight against 50,000 to 60,000 Jin troops.

However, Zhang Jun and Li Xianzong did not immediately agree, but instead hesitated.

Because Liu Huai had made it clear in his previous document that he could fight the Jin invaders to the death in Hebei, but Wei Sheng was to be in charge of defending Xuzhou.

Although Liu Huai did not say it explicitly, the meaning was already quite clear.

If Wei Sheng were to suffer any mishap, Liu Huai would definitely hold someone accountable.

After defeating Daming Prefecture, who in the world would dare to disregard Liu Huai's threat?

Yu Yunwen continued, "Liu Dalang later relented, saying that as long as I go to Wei Sheng's army to take command, Wei Sheng can send troops. Now I will set off immediately for Xu..."

Li Xianzong, who had been speaking little today, suddenly spoke up seriously: "Lord Yu, our soldiers are in a state of panic right now. If you leave again, I fear that chaos will break out among them."

As Li Xianzong spoke, he glanced at Zhang Jun out of the corner of his eye, seemingly exchanging glances with Yu Yunwen.

Yu Yunwen immediately realized that this must be because Zhang Jun's past achievements were too 'glorious', to the point that Li Xianzong was completely afraid of this guy, fearing that after Yu Yunwen left, Zhang Jun would give chaotic orders again and completely ruin the already critical situation.

Zhang Jun did not see Li Xianzong's subtle actions, but still acknowledged the other's words: "Prime Minister Yu, let's both sign another document and ask Wei Sheng to leave Xuzhou, or at least go to the front line in Suzhou, to threaten the Jin army's flank. If we make the wording more sincere, I believe Wei Sheng will definitely not refuse."

Yu Yunwen's cheek twitched.

To be honest, if there were any other way, he would not want Wei Sheng to lead the army to attack, especially now that Liu Huai is running rampant in Hebei, Wei Sheng is an important bargaining chip for the Song state to control Shandong.

Even after escaping the coldness of politics, Yu Yunwen still felt a certain admiration for Wei Sheng, a leader of the Northern Expeditionary Army whom he had never met but who shared the same ideals.

If he were in Yu Yunwen's shoes, he would not believe that he had the courage to lead a lone army on a northern expedition against a vast country, nor the ability to sweep away the Jin dynasty's rule in Shandong, nor the loyalty to remain even after effectively expanding the territory.

But... so here comes the but: now the Song Dynasty's Northern Expeditionary Army has been defeated on both flanks by the Jin Dynasty, and the two Jin armies are attacking the Song army like a pair of pincers. What can Yu Yunwen do?

The only option is to gather all available forces, even mobilizing the garrison troops of Lianghuai, and fight the Jin army to the death!
"The sooner the better. Summon the military advisors immediately to draft military orders," Zhang Jun said.

Yu Yunwen waved his hand in response, then sat down behind the desk himself: "This is not a military order, and it cannot be delegated to anyone else. I will draft it myself and make sure it is delivered to Wei Sheng within two days."

(End of this chapter)