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

Chapter 791 Today, a messenger arrived from the border.

When the Jin army's gunpowder battalion was blown into a mushroom cloud and the terrifying sound swept across the entire battlefield, the battle could no longer continue.

This applies to both sides.

The Jin army was mainly composed of cavalry, and their warhorses were naturally frightened and fled in all directions.

This problem had already alerted the Jin army's high command a few days earlier after their attempt to breach the city gates and seize the city failed.

But as vigilant as they were, retraining the entire army's warhorses was no easy task.

The Jin army's warhorses fled in all directions, causing chaos not only in the northern camp but also in the eastern and western camps.

The Loyal Army, mainly composed of infantry, seemed to have a good opportunity to attack, but they were already too close to the gunpowder camp because they were heading straight for it.

After enduring the heat, retreat, casualties, and a series of arduous battles, the massive explosion became the final straw that broke the camel's back, and the Loyal Army went into near chaos.

Wei Sheng could only order his personal guards to disperse, contain the out-of-control troops, and retreat towards the city.

The outcome of this surprise attack was naturally unsatisfactory to both sides.

All of the Jin army's gunpowder was completely used up, and with the gunpowder craftsmen far away in Youyan, even replenishment was impossible.

Not to mention the hundreds of casualties.

The medical development level in Jin was far inferior to that in Shandong. In this kind of weather, if not handled properly, it was very normal for the wound to become inflamed.

Once the wound becomes infected, life or death is truly uncertain.

Therefore, those wounded Jin soldiers were theoretically already halfway to their deaths.

The Loyal Army didn't fare any better.

Li Huo'er and Yu Yuan were both active generals since Wei Sheng launched his northern expedition. When Wei Sheng led three hundred men to attack Haizhou, the two of them were already squad leaders.

Now that Yu Yuan is seriously injured and Li Huo'er has died in battle, the Northern Expeditionary Army has never suffered such a great loss since the uprising began.

In addition, the Loyal Army suffered hundreds of casualties in this raid.

Even more cruelly, due to the hasty retreat, some wounded soldiers and prisoners were left in the Jin army camp and were taken to the city walls by the Jin army and executed.

This naturally aroused great anger among the loyal soldiers, but it also made the morale of the entire army even more depressed.

It can only be said that the morale of both sides is low, which is equivalent to the morale of both sides being quite high, thus falling into a stalemate once again.

Both sides knew that the solution lay elsewhere, yet neither dared to easily mobilize troops from elsewhere.

Because the nearby troops are either in a standoff or have already engaged in bloody battles, they are already trapped. If they make a move, the entire area could be overrun and completely collapse.

Just as the troops were lowering their flags and drums outside Qixian County, at noon on that day, Liu Huai led his army across the Yellow River branch from Jizhou and arrived at Yutai County in Danzhou.

Although the county magistrate had received the message from the military envoy long ago, he did not expect the army to arrive so quickly, and hurriedly went out of the city to welcome them.

"Greetings, Commander-in-Chief!" The magistrate quickly spotted the man among the knights and immediately bowed deeply in respect.

Liu Huai was also suffering from the heat at this time. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he said, "I remember you. You are Zhang Pingshui, from Zhangjiazhuang in Yizhou. You used to be a military clerk. You made meritorious contributions in the Huaixi War and were transferred to become a local registrar. Last year, you made further contributions and were promoted to magistrate of Yutai County."

A smile bloomed on Zhang Pingshui's wrinkled face: "Commander-in-Chief, you still remember me?"

Liu Huai nodded, but turned to look at a flat area in the east of the city: "Is this the camp you prepared?"

Zhang Pingshui immediately nodded: "The military envoy arrived just the other day and sent over the message. I immediately dispatched people to build camps, dig trenches, and transport supplies. This is all we can do today."

Zhang Pingshui spoke frankly, but inwardly he was somewhat uneasy, because the camp he had built was indeed in a rather disorganized state.

Time was extremely tight, and the autumn harvest had already begun in small parts. It was difficult to mobilize laborers in various places, so Zhang Pingshui only solved the most critical problems, namely accommodation and food. As for defensive structures such as fences and moats, he simply built a simple enclosure.

However, in Zhang Pingshui's view, Liu Huai was an extremely reasonable person. As long as the difficulties were explained clearly, the other party would definitely not blame him.

Sure enough, Liu Huai simply nodded upon hearing this, and then instructed, "Find some more sour plums and salt to make soup so that the army can cool off from the summer heat."

Zhang Pingshui nodded quickly and immediately took charge of the matter.

Liu Huai arrived at the makeshift camp, ordered his soldiers to erect long spears as a wall, and then began to water his horses and rest.

"Order all units to count the number of people, find out how many have fallen behind, and then order all units to rest in Yutai County today and set off again tomorrow morning."

The military envoys, their clothes soaked with sweat, were invigorated by the news and rushed towards their respective military commands. Liu Huai untied his water pouch, gulped down several mouthfuls, and then sighed.

The march was far more difficult than imagined, and the effects of the heat and the river terrain were much greater than planned.

Yesterday, when crossing the Yellow River tributary, even though Jeju has a semi-permanent pontoon bridge, the crossing was still slow due to the width of the bridge. It took half a day to finally cross, and because it was getting late, we had to stay overnight on the south bank of the Yellow River tributary.

This morning, while marching, whether it was because we were near the river or because the temperature was abnormal, the heat was intense, and the entire army was listless.

Liu Huai rushed back and forth in the army, checking on the soldiers' condition. No matter how anxious he was, he could only order them to rest for one night.

Besides maintaining morale, the most important thing was that the situation at the front was unclear, and they might have to engage in battle immediately upon arriving at the battlefield. Liu Huai could not afford to exhaust his elite troops and allow the Jin army to take advantage of their rest and fatigue.

In fact, at this point, Liu Huai had no idea what the situation on the battlefield was like, and he didn't even know whether the Jin army had already entered Xuzhou or was still attacking Suzhou.

However, Liu Huai had a premonition that as they got closer to the Central Plains, the military intelligence would soon be clear.

Sure enough, just as the summer heat began to dissipate in the evening, Wei Chang personally led a military envoy into the commander's tent: "Brother, our scouts have just met up with the military envoy sent by Father."

Whether from exhaustion or from the soreness after finally catching his breath, the military envoy collapsed to the ground and pulled a wooden box from his robes. “Commander-in-Chief, the Marshal is being besieged by the Jin invaders in Qixian County. The Jin invaders have sent 15,000 elite cavalrymen, carrying a lot of gunpowder. On the day I set out, which was the fourth day of the seventh month, the Jin invaders blew open the city gates, but our army blocked them. However, this is not a long-term solution. I hope that you, Commander-in-Chief, will come to our aid as soon as possible.”

These few words sent Liu Huai's emotions on a rollercoaster. When he heard that the gates of Qixian had been blown open by the Jin invaders, he almost stood up, but he still suppressed his inner turmoil, gripped the wooden box in his hand, and adopted the demeanor of a great general.

"Okay, I understand." Liu Huai said to Wei Chang, "A-Chang, go and find some food and water so that he can eat and rest here."

After Wei Chang left, Liu Huai opened the wooden box, took out several letters, and continued to ask, "You set off on the fourth day of the seventh month, and today is the ninth day of the seventh month. Why did it take you so long to arrive in Danzhou?"

The military envoy immediately said, "I dare not hide it from you, Commander-in-Chief. We scattered to various places to send messages. I went to Hebei via Guide Prefecture. When I arrived at Caozhou and crossed the river, I learned from the county magistrate that the eldest son had already led his army south. So I turned back to catch up, which is why I was delayed."

Liu Huai nodded slowly as he skimmed through the letter.

The text is very detailed, but the handwriting is very messy, clearly indicating that it was written in a hurry.

Some of the letters were about military intelligence, which were quite clear at a glance. However, the rest were correspondence between Shi Ju and Wei Sheng, including one in Wei Sheng's own handwriting, in which he made a judgment that the Han Chinese army in Henan seemed to be showing signs of surrendering.

Looking at Wei Sheng's handwriting, Liu Huai felt somewhat helpless.

Information transmission is incredibly slow in this era.

The military situation in Suzhou occurred five days ago.

Moreover, since Shi Ju had already expressed his intention to serve the country, there was absolutely no reason for him to only negotiate with Wei Sheng without sending anyone to Hebei.

Perhaps someone has already arrived in Daming Prefecture with good intentions.

Indeed, on the eighth day of the seventh month, Xie Jiuzhong arrived in Daming Prefecture with a letter personally signed by Shi Ju and the Han generals he had connected with, intending to pledge his allegiance in person.

He Boqiu was both surprised and delighted, but dared not act on his own in such an important matter. He quickly sent the military envoy with Xie Jiuzhong, who was practically bouncing off the ground, to chase after Liu Huai. At this time, they had just crossed the Yellow River.

But as I said before, the speed of information transmission was too slow these days, and the matter was too urgent, so Liu Huai could only use half of the information to fill in the other half of the facts.

However, the military situation was changing rapidly, requiring him to make decisions as quickly as possible.

"Achang, are you afraid of dying?"

Liu Huai said to Wei Chang, who had returned to the camp, "Now there is an important task, and after thinking it over, I find that you are the most suitable person."

Wei Chang was somewhat flustered. He knew that his elder brother did not make empty promises. Since he asked him if he was afraid of death, it meant that there was a real danger to his life.

However, as a valiant general who had fought many battles, Wei Chang gritted his teeth and said, "Please give me your orders, elder brother. I will do my utmost."

Liu Huai unfolded a letter and wrote on it with charcoal: "You don't need to die ten thousand times. If everything goes smoothly, you might even be the safest person in this Central Plains war."

"I want you to take my documents, my flags and tokens as a token of my sincerity, and go to Shi Ju's Henan Han army to bring these 20,000 soldiers to my side!"

Wei Chang hadn't read the military intelligence that had just arrived, so he was somewhat bewildered: "Shi Ju... isn't that the Jin bandit's husband? How did he end up joining us?"

Liu Huai shook his head and chuckled: "Who knows? Maybe he couldn't stand being ostracized and bullied anymore; maybe I won a great victory in Hebei, and as a Hebei scholar, he had a choice; or maybe this guy is just an opportunist..."

At this point, Liu Huai paused slightly with his charcoal pencil, then sighed, "Of course, if what Strategist Liang said is true, his senior brother is a man of extraordinary talent, possessing the knowledge to govern the country and bring peace to the land, and taking it upon himself to stabilize the Han territory. Now that the Jin Kingdom has ravaged the Han territory to this state, it is understandable that Shi Ju feels indignant."

Wei Chang was confused by the explanation, but because it was a legitimate military order, he ultimately dared not object and merely nodded in agreement for the time being.

(End of this chapter)