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

Chapter 769 The Chanyu Hunts Fire to Illuminate Wolf Mountain (Part 2)
Yu Yunwen was not lying; he immediately took action.

Yu Yunwen first used the charge of failing to properly transport supplies to arrest Zhang Guang, who had just been reinstated. After Yang Qin, who had served as the commander of the Jiankang navy for the past two years, regained control of the navy, Yu Yunwen immediately executed Zhang Guang on the spot, giving him one hundred strokes of the cane, which crippled him.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Jun rushed over, only to find Zhang Guang unconscious. He was furious.

Zhang Guang caused a major blunder when Wanyan Liang fled north, and was stripped of his position.

After Zhang Jun became the Pacification Commissioner of Lianghuai, he recommended Zhang Guang back, valuing Zhang Guang's prestige in the Jiankang navy and the fact that Zhang Guang had lost all his connections and could only rely on himself.

Now that Yu Yunwen has actually dealt with his own people, isn't he showing too little respect for me, the Grand Chancellor?

Yu Yunwen directly presented the witnesses and physical evidence to Zhang Jun to show that he was absolutely impartial.

After carefully examining the evidence, Zhang Jun's expression grew increasingly grim.

After leading the Jiankang navy to the Huai River via the Grand Canal, Zhang Guang seemed to know that his official career would not last long—after all, Zhang Jun was already that old and probably didn't have many years left to live—so Zhang Guang made smuggling and making money his biggest life goal.

Not only did he use the logistics fleet for smuggling, but as the war progressed, Zhang Guang even began to traffic people and slaves from within the Jin territory.

Even at this level, it still falls under the category of corruption and is not a major issue.

It's normal for military men to be greedy and despicable. Do you really expect all the military men of the Song Dynasty to be as upright as Yue Pengju?

The key point is that the war has now officially begun. The Jin army is heading south and is only a day away from Xia Cai City. Their vanguard cavalry has already started fighting. Zhang Guang is also sending people north to transport people to Lianghuai while Henan is in chaos, which is really outrageous.

After catching Zhang Guang red-handed, Yu Yunwen naturally accused him of treason and collusion with the enemy.

Who gave you the right to send people to do business along the river during such a tense situation? One should be lenient in assessing the enemy; you might have already been bought off by the Jin!
After reviewing a series of witnesses and physical evidence, Zhang Jun, despite the urgency of the military situation, wished he could tear Zhang Guang to pieces, yet at the same time had no choice but to clean up the mess this fellow had made.

Yu Yunwen had also planned ahead, which was to have Zhang Jun stationed at Bagong Mountain south of the Huai River, thereby securing a retreat route and preventing the Jiankang navy from causing trouble.

It was only then that Zhang Jun realized that they had been waiting there all along.

However, Zhang Jun was unable to refute it.

Firstly, although the veteran general Yang Qin had served as the commander-in-chief of the Jiankang navy for two years, he was ultimately not as deeply entrenched as Zhang Guang. Having a prime minister in charge would be more secure.

Secondly, once war breaks out, someone needs to be stationed south of the Huai River to secure the rear; it would have to be either Zhang Jun or Yu Yunwen. Now, who made the mistake of choosing the person Zhang Jun recommended, while Yu Yunwen proved to be more capable?

Thirdly, and most importantly, Li Xianzong was now fully armored and standing behind Yu Yunwen.

They're all people who've been navigating the officialdom for a while; some things don't need to be said too explicitly. Just making a political gesture is enough for everyone to understand.

If it were earlier or later, Zhang Jun would naturally have had a good fight with Yu Yunwen. However, the current situation is that the Jin army is about to attack, and infighting could very likely lead to the collapse of the entire army.

Therefore, after receiving Yu Yunwen's assurance, Zhang Jun could only suppress his anger, sigh deeply, and cross the river.

Yu Yunwen's dazzling series of actions took only two hours. Judging from how smoothly it went, this guy had clearly planned it all along.

But it didn't matter anymore. After driving Zhang Jun south of the Huai River, Xia Cai finally became Yu Yunwen's personal fiefdom, and the first thing Prime Minister Yu did was naturally to convene a military council.

Because the Jin army was already close, there was no unnecessary talk at this military meeting. Yu Yunwen, holding a staff and with a sword at his waist, stood solemnly before the map: "The Jin invaders have arrived, and a great battle is about to begin. I will be frank with you."

Yu Yunwen's round face was now devoid of any smile, and he had shed his boyish demeanor, transforming into a prime minister overseeing the military and political affairs of a vast nation.

"I will join the army to fight against the Jin invaders. Anyone who dares to retreat behind me, regardless of rank, will be executed without mercy!"

The defeated generals, including Shao Hongyuan, Li Heng, and Liu Bao, all tensed up, then their faces showed panic.

But that wasn't all. Yu Yunwen's voice grew even colder: "If I die in battle, Prime Minister Zhang will be stationed at Bagong Mountain, south of the Huai River. Troops have already been gathered there. Anyone who escapes across the Huai River will be executed there!"

Now, even fierce generals like Zhang Zhen, Dai Gao, and Yang Chun became serious and looked up at Yu Yunwen. This was truly a fight to the death; not only was Yu Yunwen going to fight, but he was also going to lead over 50,000 Song soldiers to fight together.

"As for rewards and official titles, I explained everything to you before this Northern Expedition. If you have forgotten, then I will repeat it again." Yu Yunwen said, leaning on his sword, "To reward merit, the court has prepared appointments for five military governors, seven prefects of border regions, three defense commissioners, and two commissioners. The Emperor has made promises and has also distributed all the wealth of Jiangnan and Zhejiang as rewards."

"Gentlemen, the nation's affairs have reached a critical juncture. Though difficult, this is an opportunity won by the Han people of the Huai River region, the Central Plains, and Shandong through their valiant efforts. How can we let it slip by?! Gentlemen, proceed with your previous troop deployments and await the battle!"

Even though this was in the Song Dynasty, where there were many unruly soldiers, with the prime minister supervising the battle and the Grand Chancellor waiting behind the Huai River with a ghost-headed sword, the generals still dared not act recklessly and all stood up and loudly agreed.

Afterwards, the generals returned to their camps to prepare for battle.

Although the Song army was concentrated in Xia Cai, not all of its more than 50,000 troops were stationed in the city.

In this era, defending a city never relied solely on a single city wall. The most typical example is the defensive system Liu Huai deployed along the Bozhou line of Shandong West Road, which consisted of fortresses, cities, towns, and rivers working together.

A simpler approach would be similar to how Heshilie Zhining defended Yuancheng, establishing camps along the old course of the Yellow River and the Yongji Canal, with cavalry providing support from there. Using Yuancheng as a defensive stronghold, the defenses would spread out in all directions, forming a flexible defensive system.

Although the defenses around Yuancheng had been largely dismantled by the Han army, making it seem as if Heshilie Zhining's efforts had been in vain, the Jin army might have been in a tragic situation from the very beginning, having to use the city walls to withstand cannon fire.

The Song army did not rely solely on a single city for defense in Xia Cai.

The city of Xia Cai in this era had already been renovated once by Wanyan Wushu. The original Xia Cai city, located on the north bank of the Huai River and east of the Fei River, but far from the Fei River, had been abandoned in several wars. The current Xia Cai city was much closer to the Fei River.

Therefore, when the Song army captured Xia Cai, they took into account the defense west of the Fei River and set up camp there.

At this time, Shao Hongyuan was placed under house arrest by Yu Yunwen under the pretext of consulting with him. The more than 10,000 troops of Huaixi were actually controlled by Zhang Zhen, while Dai Gao led 5,000 armored soldiers from Chizhou to join forces with Zhang Zhen.

The comrades who fought side by side in Caishi and Chaoxian reunited to face the southward-bound Jin army, and both were filled with emotion.

Of course, if the intelligence is true, Zhang Zhen and Dai Gao will only be facing 20,000 Han soldiers. The real main force of the Jin army is east of Feishui, where Li Xianzong leads 25,000 troops from Chizhou, plus the Huaidong army and nearly 20,000 newly arrived reinforcements from Lianghuai, to deal with Pusan ​​Zhongyi's fierce attack.

This must be extremely difficult.

However, the commander-in-chief also held real power. As the de facto swordsman of the Song Dynasty's Northern Expeditionary Army, Li Xianzong had nowhere to retreat or avoid.

However, even though this battle was a decisive one between the Song and Jin dynasties, the battlefield situation was completely different from that of the Battle of Daming Prefecture.

On the day the Han army and the Jin army fought a decisive battle in Hebei, Liu Huai believed that the Jin army had divided its forces, which was a good opportunity to swallow up the main force of the Jin army; while He Shilie Zhi Ning also believed that the Han army had finally crawled out of its shell, which was a good opportunity to fight a decisive battle in the field.

Therefore, both sides simultaneously gathered their main forces to attack each other head-on.

However, both the Song and Jin armies were facing numerous troubles at this time, making them somewhat apprehensive. The Jin army, on the other hand, held a certain strategic initiative and wanted to break through the situation in the Central Plains to salvage its unfavorable position, which is why it launched the attack.

This led to both armies adopting a conservative approach in their military operations.

On June 25, the Jin army marched south, and the scouts of both sides began to fight. With the advantage of cavalry, the Jin army quickly wiped out the Song scouts and took control of the battlefield.

However, due to the dense network of waterways in the Huai River basin, with countless small rivers and canals, and the Song army's skill in maneuvering boats, the Jin army, despite having an intelligence advantage on the battlefield, could not completely sever the Song army's military intelligence exchanges.

On June 27, the Jin army advanced step by step. After clearing out the outposts and villages of the Song army, they set up camp seven miles north of Xia Cai City, between the Fei River and the Song army's camp, which was only four miles away.

On June 28th, two Jin armies launched a full-scale attack, using conscripted soldiers to build bridges and fill ravines, heading straight for the Song army's main camp.

The Song army, which had been waiting in ambush for a long time, was not to be outdone and launched an attack in formation.

This should have been a fierce battle like a comet hitting the earth, but strangely, the battle between the two sides did not immediately escalate to a fever pitch, but instead remained deadlocked.

(End of this chapter)