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

Chapter 768 The Chanyu Hunts Fire to Illuminate Wolf Mountain (Part 1)
Yu Yunwen frowned as he looked at the note in his hand.

Li Xianzong sat to the side, absentmindedly drinking his cold tea, seemingly lost in thought.

After a moment, Yu Yunwen finally said, "I'm not surprised that the Jin invaders are attacking, but why are they attacking at this time?"

This place is Yu Yunwen's command tent, where only a general and a prime minister are meeting in private, which is quite disregard for political rules.

But what was that saying again?

Rules are meant to be broken.

Both of them were incredibly bold and unconventional, so naturally they didn't pay much attention to such things.

However, Li Xianzong was clearly distracted. After Yu Yunwen asked him a couple of questions, he put down his teacup and said, "Minister Yu, I don't know much about what's going on inside the Jin bandits. I'm also not entirely clear about what's going on in their rear. But now that the Jin bandits have launched a full-scale attack, we have no choice but to fight back."

Yu Yunwen nodded in agreement, but put down the note in his hand and picked up several other documents on the table to read them carefully.

In recent days, Wei Sheng has been passing messages to Xia Cai, and the most important of these messages is the intelligence that Henan is conscripting soldiers and is about to descend into chaos.

To be fair, even with Yu Yunwen's political acumen, he didn't understand Heshi Lieliangbi's tactics before receiving the intelligence from Wei Sheng.

Isn't this clearly an attempt to destabilize several prefectures in Henan?
How can you make a mess of your own rear before the battle has even begun?

However, once Yu Yunwen learned about the situation of Chenzhou Army, he immediately understood.

Heshilie Liangbi did not intend to disrupt Henan, but rather, from the perspective of the Jin state, Henan was already in chaos, and the Han Chinese army in Henan was showing signs of getting out of control. Whether Heshilie Liangbi's purpose was retaliation or suppression, he ultimately used this method to suppress them.

Thinking of this, Yu Yunwen sighed again.

The conflict between the Han Chinese army in Henan and the Jurchen troops had intensified in just a few days, leaving the Song army with no time to react. The Han Chinese army in Henan also seemed extremely disappointed with the Song Dynasty, preferring to seek out Wei Sheng in Suzhou rather than come to Xiachai to negotiate, which made Yu Yunwen feel very uneasy.

As for killing Du Yourong, Yu Yunwen did not think he had done anything wrong.

Throughout history, forgiveness without the backing of military force has been nothing but cowardice. The true measure is to combine kindness with severity; only by demonstrating power can kindness be bestowed. If the garrison commander of Xia Cai is easily forgiven, who will then take the Song army's military might seriously?

Thinking of this, Yu Yunwen felt a surge of anger rising in his heart again.

Even if the relationship between the Han Chinese army in Henan and the Jurchens deteriorated rapidly in a short period of time, there must have been some initial rifts. Yet the Huaixi army was defeated in one blow. Isn't that a bit too useless?

Shao Hongyuan deserves to die!
After calming himself down for a moment, Yu Yunwen slowly said, "Grand Commandant Li, is there any way to contact the Chenzhou army and win over Shi Ju?"

Li Xianzong shook his head and said, "No, it won't work. The Chenzhou army contacted Wei Gong to discuss surrendering after Liu Dalang's great victory in Daming Prefecture."

What Prime Minister Yu said earlier was absolutely right. Most people in this world fear power but not virtue. Before our army achieves a great victory, the Chenzhou army will not have any dealings with us.

Li Xianzong's words already subtly implied a confrontation between Shandong and the Song Dynasty, but he was oblivious to this and openly stated it.

Yu Yunwen didn't pay attention or refute, but sighed again and looked up at the top of the tent: "Hebei is where the main force of the Jin bandits is located. How could Liu Dalang defeat them so easily? And the main force of the Song Dynasty is dealing with the detachments of the Western Jin and Eastern Jin after they split their forces. How could it be so difficult?"

Since they were in private, Li Xianzong had no reservations, but he was too lazy to talk about people's hearts and systems. He simply said, "Because Liu Dalang dares to go to the front lines, while our emperor will only stay in Lin'an. The ones who came to Xia Cai are just two ministers with similar powers and responsibilities."

"With Liu Dalang personally overseeing the battle, how could the arrogant and fierce generals like Da Qingsi, Zhang Baiyu, and Wang Wu dare not fight with their lives on the line? And if the Emperor were in Xia Cai City, how could Liu Bao, Shao Hongyuan, and the others dare to retreat again and again? If they did retreat, they would be punished on the spot as a warning to others. How could we have the current situation where these useless people are allowed to continue leading troops?"

Yu Yunwen waved his hand and said, "Do not speak recklessly; criticizing the emperor is a serious crime."

Li Xianzong crossed his arms and sneered: "How did you, Minister Yu, discuss the Supreme Emperor and the Sage Yuan, and even the current Supreme Emperor, back at Caishiji? Now you accuse me of criticizing the Emperor? Have you lost your mind?"

Yu Yunwen remained unperturbed, simply staring intently at Li Xianzong: "Grand Commandant Li, what exactly do you want to say?"

Li Xianzong slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "This humble general is here today to demand a definite answer from Prime Minister Yu. Does Prime Minister Yu's promise still stand?!" On the day of the battles at Caishi and Chaoxian, the reason why Li Xianzong, as Grand Commandant, bowed down to Yu Yunwen, a mere Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat, was naturally out of respect for the heir apparent. But more importantly, Yu Yunwen promised that after securing a place in the court through military merit, he would urge the Northern Expedition to destroy the Jin Dynasty, allowing Li Xianzong to return to his hometown in Guanzhong with dignity and pay respects to his father, Li Yongqi, and the more than one hundred family members who had died unjustly.

With the decisive battle imminent, Li Xianzhong could no longer tolerate the current situation of the Song army and came to demand his promise.

Yu Yunwen chuckled: "I thought you and Minister Zhang had already reached a consensus, and that I wouldn't need to take charge of the overall situation."

Li Xianzong chuckled as well, then said seriously, "This humble general's friendship with Minister Zhang was for the sake of military strategy, and now I have come to see Minister Yu for the same reason."

Yu Yunwen nodded again.

That's true, because Yu Yunwen and Wei Sheng had the same idea: to send troops out immediately before the autumn harvest to bring the war to an end.

However, Li Xianzong wanted to maintain stability, so he naturally mingled with Zhang Jun, who also sought stability and wanted Wei Sheng to help the Song army escape danger.

Now that the Jin army is pressing in, Li Xianzong must align himself with Yu Yunwen if he wants to take the initiative in fighting.

This has nothing to do with political integrity; it's simply a matter of assessing the situation militarily.

Ultimately, it comes down to Zhang Jun's poor military skills.

One was based on the Battle of Fuping, and the other was a general who led the troops in the Battle of Chaoxian. Even a fool would know which one to choose when it comes to truly taking charge.

“The promises made before still stand,” Yu Yunwen said sincerely. “But I still need to hear your opinion, Grand Commandant Li. We can’t just let Wei Sheng lead the attack as suggested by Minister Zhang, can we?!”

Li Xianzong shook his head decisively: "Of course not. Forgive my bluntness, but Minister Zhang's intentions are too obvious and too dangerous. If anything happens to Lord Wei, how can Flying Tiger let us go? At that time, even if it's just to completely control Shandong and make Lord Wei's old subordinates submit, he will have to fight us!"

This is something that cannot be said aloud, because on the surface, Shandong and the State of Song are still one entity, closely connected.

Throughout Shandong, everyone held official positions from the Song state. Whether in the military or in local areas, there were officials dispatched by the Song state. Even Wei Sheng was a local military general from Chuzhou.

Therefore, no one openly discussed the undercurrents between Shandong and the State of Song. Those who understood understood, and those who didn't were simply clueless.

As a high-ranking military officer and a hero who had experienced the chaos of the early years of the Jianyan era, Li Xianzong naturally knew what it meant to hold military power in a chaotic world. He also knew what it meant for the Han army to defeat more than 60,000 of the Jin army's main force in a frontal battle.

Therefore, if the Shandong issue can be resolved politically, it must be resolved politically. If it can be resolved without resorting to force, it should be avoided. Otherwise, who knows who will suffer a great loss in the end!
Li Xianzong continued, "Our army now has 54,000 regular troops, but more than 20,000 of them are regrouped defeated soldiers. Apart from Li Heng and Zhang Zhen's main force, the armies in Huaidong and Huaixi are no longer of great use."

If we wish to win this battle, then Prime Minister Yu needs to oversee the entire situation, while I, this humble general, will act as the actual commander, just as we did at Caishi.

This means they want command of the entire army.

In fact, Li Xianzong had proposed it once before, but the plan to launch a three-pronged northern expedition had been agreed upon long ago in the hope of quickly breaking the deadlock. Therefore, Zhang Jun and Yu Yunwen rejected Li Xianzong's proposal.

In fact, even with the support of Prime Ministers Zhang and Yu, Li Xianzong would not have been able to secure military power.

You are a Grand Commandant, and so am I. Why should you command me?

However, now that Shao Hongyuan and Li Heng are both defeated generals and guilty of crimes, they are much easier to manipulate.

Moreover, since this matter was ultimately handled by a third party, with Yu Yunwen as the commander-in-chief, it was to help calm the two Grand Commandants down.

After a moment's thought, Yu Yunwen finally smiled slightly: "What about Minister Zhang? Do you want a military coup, or do you want him placed under house arrest?"

Li Xianzong scoffed, "Does Prime Minister Yu expect a military man like me to accomplish anything for the country? What use is a prime minister like you then?"

The words were extremely impolite, but Yu Yunwen didn't seem to care. He simply stroked his beard and nodded, saying, "I understand. Go and prepare for the battle. I will settle this matter today!"

(End of this chapter)