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

Chapter 786 Advancing and Retreating, Courage and Cowardice, Life and Death, Fortune and Misfortune

Time always moves forward, and it will not change according to anyone's will.

Regardless of which side it is, no matter how hesitant, panicked, or fearful they are, they must act resolutely in order to find even the slightest chance of survival in the chaos.

The Han army may seem to be in a terrible state of chaos, but Liu Huai is, after all, the victor of the war, the hero who annihilated the main force of the Jin army and captured Daming Prefecture, so his situation is ultimately still good.

As for the two Jin states, or rather, the Jin state with the Jurchen people as its main body and the Wanyan clan as its royal family, it can still be considered a relatively unified military group. After losing tens of thousands of Jurchen men in recent years, it has truly reached a point of strategic collapse.

Otherwise, Heshi Lieliangbi would not have gone all out to attack the Zhongyi Army, and Pusan ​​Zhongyi would not have handed over his elite troops to Heshi Lieliangbi.

Do you really think Marshal Xijindu is someone to be trifled with?
Ultimately, we still have to fight for a way to survive.

However, this is ultimately just a strategic plan, a grand scheme of the world that spans thousands of miles in terms of space and decades in terms of time.

Specifically on the Suzhou battlefield, He Shilie Liangbi led his mighty army and pressed forward squarely, forcing the loyal and righteous army to retreat again and again, and finally retreat to Qixian.

During this period, the morale of the Loyal Army inevitably declined, resulting in a decrease in combat strength.

With such high morale, Wei Sheng knew that it was unlikely that the loyal and righteous army alone could defeat this elite Jin army. Therefore, before the encirclement was even fully formed yesterday, he sent military envoys to all directions.

On the morning of the fifth day of the seventh month, just as the Han army's armored cavalry set off from Hebei with one man and three horses towards Huaibei, Zhou Xinglie, the military commander of Xuzhou in Pengcheng, and Xiao Zhongda, the magistrate of Linhuan in Linhuan, both learned of the military situation in Suzhou.

Zhou Xinglie, needless to say, was a former subordinate of Wei Sheng and was located in the strategic location of Pengcheng. Naturally, he would not sit idly by and watch the loyal army be destroyed. He immediately relayed the military intelligence to Dong Cheng, the military commander of Pizhou, and Wei Jiao, the prefect of Yizhou.

Subsequently, Zhou Xinglie immediately led two thousand capable local garrison soldiers to march towards Fuli to provide support and assistance.

Compared to Zhou Xinglie's decisiveness, Xiao Zhongda appeared much slower and was actually caught in a dilemma.

As a Jin general who was captured alive by the Jingnan army during the Battle of Chaoxian and underwent a series of labor reforms, Xiao Zhongda was quite fanatical about converting to Christianity.

This mentality was already evident when Xiao Zhongda tried to persuade his uncle Xiao Qi to surrender.

Xiao Zhongda's mindset became more stable after the Battle of Daming Prefecture, not only because he was glad about his past choices, but more importantly because he was happy that his future was already set.

Therefore, Xiao Zhongda longed to make further contributions and return to the position of commander-in-chief.

For this reason, Xiao Zhongda could not possibly stand by and watch Wei Sheng die.

However, as the former top general of the Divine Might Army and Xiao Qi's de facto deputy for a long time, Xiao Zhongda still had some strategic vision.

Linhuan is also located on the Huan River, upstream of Qixian County. However, because the Huan River flows from northwest to southeast, Qixian County is about 100 li southeast of Linhuan.

The key point now is that Mengcheng is located a hundred li south of Linhuan.

This caused Xiao Zhongda to have great doubts.

Should they go downstream to help Wei Sheng defend Qixian, or cross the river south to directly attack the Jin army's rear at Mengcheng?
However, this fellow was, after all, a surrendered general. He hesitated only slightly before an official who had learned of the military situation came to his door.

"Lord Xiao, now that Lord Wei has come to inform you of military intelligence, why have you not yet made any plans to send troops? Are you going to sit idly by and watch the loyal army be annihilated? Can you bear the responsibility for this?!"

Upon seeing this person, Xiao Zhongda felt a headache coming on.

This man, He Laiye, is the patrol inspector of the Liangshan Marsh Patrol Office.

This fellow seems to be just a minor inspector, whose job is to maintain order on the river and oversee the river tax office. He's not worth mentioning.

However, once this minor inspector was given the title of Liangshanbo, the most prestigious lake in Shandong, his status immediately changed.

Because Liangshan Marsh had the largest inland river shipyard in Shandong, and was also a notorious bandit stronghold, as well as the confluence of several waterways connecting several prefectures in Shandong, a special patrol and inspection office was set up there.

In addition, the management of the Yellow River must include Liangshanbo as a redundant part of the design for flood control and drainage. This means that someone must organize the lake residents to survey the hydrology and geography and cooperate with the water management bureau to manage the Yellow River.

If you calculate it this way, the Liangshan Marsh Patrol and Inspection Office has a lot of authority.

A person with such great power is naturally not someone to be trifled with, nor could they be a marginal figure.

He Laiye is the ninth uncle of He Boqiu, the current Grand Commander of Hebei. Of course, the difference in seniority and age in a large family is huge, and He Laiye is not much older than He Boqiu.

When He Boqiu was still mingling in Yizhou, acting as a powerful figure who had connections in both the legitimate and underworld circles, He Lai was only the second-in-command. Now that He Boqiu is useful, the status of his men has risen accordingly.

There's nothing that can be done about it. Military and political groups are made up of individuals. Where there are people, there will be social circles, and naturally, there will be close and distant relationships, which will naturally lead to the formation of small groups.

The leader naturally has to appoint people based on their own connections; otherwise, what else can they do but appoint people based on their enemies?
The reason why He Lai was transferred to Suzhou before the start of the great battle was to cooperate with Wei Sheng in setting up the Huanshui defense line.

Of course, as one of the hubs connecting the north and south, Liangshan Marsh Water Fortress could not send out all its local garrison troops. Moreover, the journey from the Yellow River branch to Huanshui was difficult, and the several small canals connecting them could not allow large ships of a thousand liters to pass through. Therefore, He Lai only brought twenty small boats and more than a thousand patrol soldiers to Linhuan to provide water support.

However, He Laiye's qualifications and the presence of over a thousand patrolmen were enough to make Xiao Zhongda dare not underestimate him.

"Inspector He, it's not that I don't want to go and provide reinforcements, nor that I'm afraid to fight, but rather that I have some doubts in my heart."

Xiao Zhongda explained his hesitation, then said with a wry smile, "Inspector He, you have a thousand naval troops, and I have a thousand garrison troops. Our combined army only has a little over two thousand men, and none of them are regular soldiers."

According to military intelligence, the Jin invaders have 15,000 cavalry besieging Qixian. If our army rashly advances, the Jin invaders will send 2,000 cavalry, and our army will only suffer a crushing defeat.

"If we go to Mengcheng, even if the patrolmen have to abandon their ships and go ashore, if we succeed in raiding the city, we can cut off the Jin bandits' retreat. However, if we fail, our army will still be wiped out if we encounter the Jin bandits' armored cavalry on flat ground."

At this point, Xiao Zhongda couldn't help but sigh and said, "In the end, it's because our army is too weak and simply incapable of fighting in the field. Otherwise, we could have at least managed to get involved with the Jin invaders."

After hearing this, He Lai also found himself in a dilemma, looking at the simple map that Xiao Zhongda had drawn on the table with water.

However, he quickly slapped his forehead, stepped forward, dipped his hand into the teacup, and added another line to the west of the dot representing Lin Huan and the horizontal line representing Huan Shui.

Xiao Zhongda looked at the line, his brows furrowing slightly as if puzzled. But after tracing the line westward for a moment, he suddenly understood. Now, behind the Huan River were two important towns: Linhuan and Qixian.

Why did Wei Sheng think that Qixian had 4,000 garrison troops while Linhuan only had 2,000?

The key lies in the terrain in front of Lin Huan.

The Huan River merges with its tributary, the Bao River, at this location, forming a river mouth area that is neither too large nor too small.

This type of terrain, with rivers and mudflats all around, is a classic death trap for cavalry.

If the Jin army wanted to rely on the advantage of cavalry to launch a surprise attack, two thousand men would be enough to protect Lin Huan completely.

But what He Lai wants to say now is not that, but that by drawing Bao Shui on the map, he has drawn another possibility to the west.

Traveling upstream along the Bao River for more than a hundred li, you will reach the territory of Bozhou. The closest point is only thirty li from Qiao County, the seat of Bozhou Prefecture.

Capturing Qiao County and capturing Meng City have the same effect: both can directly cut off the Wo River passage.

Moreover, attacking Qiao County had one more advantage than attacking Mengcheng.

Qiao County is more than 200 li away from Qi County. Even if the garrison in Qiao County discovers something is wrong and sends the Jin army back to reinforce, there will be enough time for Xiao Zhongda to react.

After pondering for a moment, Xiao Zhongda slammed his hand on the table and said, "Old He, let's do it this way! You and I will split into two groups. I will take the merchant ships and fishing boats we've gathered and head south down the Huan River to make a show of force. You will take your thousand patrolmen, plus your eight hundred local garrison troops from Linhuan, and launch a surprise attack on Qiao County."

He Lai shook his head directly: "I've heard of you before. You're a top-notch cavalry general in the Jin Kingdom. You're not good at naval warfare."

"But I started my business on the Yi River with He Sanlang, and I'm used to using boats. Therefore, it should be me going to Qixian, and you going to Qiaoxian."

Xiao Zhongda didn't mince words and nodded in agreement.

While marching south to Qixian would certainly allow one to achieve merit under Wei Sheng's nose, attacking Qiaoxian would also be enough to accomplish a real feat, so it's hard to say which is better.

However, both of these jobs are extremely dangerous, and success or failure is left to fate.

After agreeing on the general plan, the two had nothing more to say. Around noon, after a hearty meal, Xiao Zhongda and He Lai led two thousand ragtag troops out in full force.

Xiao Zhongda, together with Zhu Changshui, the deputy inspector of Liangshan Marsh, led an army of 1,800 men and sailed north along the Bao River by ship.

He Laiye led more than two hundred patrolmen, and also recruited some fishermen and sailors. He prepared more than thirty ships of various sizes, raised flags, and beat drums and trumpets, and marched towards Qixian with great momentum.

That evening, the three envoys of the Loyal Army, who had successfully crossed the Huan River the day before, escaped the hunting range of the Jin army's cavalry and headed west. After crossing the Wo River, they finally arrived near Xia Cai.

It was already dark when the three exhausted military envoys arrived at a Song army camp. Instead of investigating carefully, they raised their small flags and tokens to open the gate.

Upon hearing of the urgent military situation, the Song army officers dared not delay and immediately led three military envoys to the commander's tent, which was adorned with a large banner bearing the character "Liu".

The military envoy was exhausted from the weather and the rapid march, and he almost needed to be helped to enter the command tent.

After glancing at the large banner with the character "Song" at the entrance, he didn't care who the commander-in-chief was. He directly presented the wooden box in his hand and began to describe the basic military situation.

"Report! The main force of the Jin bandits, over ten thousand armored cavalry, is attacking Suzhou. The Jin bandit camp at Xia Cai is undefended, presenting an opportune moment for battle. We hope that Lord Yu can break through the Jin bandit camp and then come to the aid of Suzhou!"

A large hand reached out from behind the somewhat dark command tent and took the wooden box, then waved it casually with the other hand.

Upon seeing a certain signal, the guards supporting the military envoy visibly stiffened. However, their obedience to military orders had been ingrained in their bones for many years, and the guards immediately took action.

The guard's left hand still held the military envoy, but his right hand had already reached his waist. He slowly drew out the wrist-cutting dagger and plunged it fiercely into the military envoy's neck.

The military envoy never expected to be ambushed by friendly forces in the Song army's command tent. The disbelief in his eyes only flashed for a moment before dimming.

After the guard finished his task, he simply threw the military envoy to the ground, then drew his sword with his bloodied hand and walked away.

A moment later, the guard returned, sword in hand, bloodstains splattered on the hem of his armor. He bowed and said, "Steward, everything has been cleaned up."

Liu Bao emerged from the shadows of the tent, looking at the wooden box in his hand with an uncertain expression: "Are you wondering why I am doing this?"

The guard, his hands still wet with blood, cupped his hands and said, "This humble general dares not."

Liu Bao shook his head: "It's not that you dare not, but that you secretly resent that I have a long-standing grudge against Shandong, which is why you refused to help when I was in dire need."

The guards dared not speak, and remained silent.

Upon seeing this, Liu Bao sighed and said, "You have completely misunderstood me. My actions were clearly for the sake of the men of the Huaidong army. Think about it, whether it's attacking the Jin bandit camp in front of us or going to support Suzhou, how could the Huaidong army possibly escape?"
Especially in supporting Wei Sheng, now only the Huaidong army is located on the east side of Xia Cai. At that time, our army will definitely be forced to be the vanguard of the entire army and fight to the death with the main force of the Jin bandits!
The Huaidong army has suffered enough casualties, even Commander Li is dead, and his body has not been recovered. I…”

At the end, Liu Bao clutched his chest as if in great pain, sighing repeatedly.

The guard quickly bowed and said, "Steward, please don't say any more. Even if I'm stupid, I was confused when I killed the first person, but I can figure it out when I kill the others."

"The commander is right. The Huaidong army can no longer continue this battle. Forget about Minister Yu and Minister Wei, our Huaidong army absolutely cannot send troops!"

As if he had found some kind of validation, Liu Bao slumped into a chair and handed the wooden box in his hand to his guard: "Quickly, go and burn all these things, as well as these three people, without leaving a trace!"

The guard accepted the gift with his blood-stained hands, bowed in farewell, and then quickly left, tucking it under his arm.

Instead of lighting a campfire, he went directly to the cooks' camp, found a large pot where herbs were being boiled, drove the cooks out, and personally stuffed the wooden box under the stove.

Only after watching the wooden box burn to ashes in the fire did the guards get up, clap their hands, and leave.

(End of this chapter)