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

Chapter 793 Under the Bright Moonlight, a Night Raid (Part 1)
Kiyotomi Kagaya is not the kind of person who can keep his questions to himself.

In fact, after the military council ended, Jia Gu Qingchen came to the front of the commander's tent again and sat opposite He Shi Lie Liangbi, who was sitting at the entrance of the commander's tent, holding a cup of tea and looking up at the moon.

Heshi Lieliangbi seemed to be in a daze these past few days. After seeing Jia Gu Qingchen, he did not say anything, but just drank alone.

After waiting for a moment, Kiyotomi Kagaya finally decided to start the conversation himself.

"Lord Liangbi, I've been thinking these past few days, if we had brought seventy or eighty gunpowder barrels with us during the raid, would we have been able to blow up the Zhongyi bandits' wagon formation? Wouldn't we have already achieved a great victory by now?"

Heshi Lieliangbi nodded easily: "That's natural."

Jia Gu Qingchen slapped his thigh hard and sighed, "Why didn't I think of that back then?"

Heshi Lieliangbi said in a nonchalant tone, "Because our army came here for a surprise attack, we couldn't carry too much baggage. All the gunpowder barrels were given to Wulibu, who was to go upstream to find a suitable crossing point to blow up Qixian County."

Who could have imagined that the traitor's chariot formation would be so fortified, rivaling even the strongest fortified cities?

"Later, after all the gunpowder had arrived, the loyalist bandits had already retreated to Qixian County, and they could only blow up the city. But unexpectedly, Wei Dadao was so intelligent and brave that he actually figured out where our army had placed the explosives, which led to today's... oh no, yesterday's disaster."

After observing the moon's position in the sky, Heshi Lieliangbi smiled and changed his tune.

However, the more relaxed Heshi Lie Liangbi was, the more terrified Jia Gu Qingchen became.

But he suppressed his inner panic and continued to slap his thigh, saying, "One wrong step leads to another. Our army, which initially launched a surprise attack with superior numbers, has now reached a difficult stalemate with the Shandong bandits. Is it all because of that small oversight at the beginning?"

He Shi Lie Liangbi sipped his tea and shook his head in response: "Naturally, it's not because of that. Rather, it's because every offensive our army launches has been desperately blocked by the Loyal Army, which is why we are in this predicament now."

Jia Gu Qingchen couldn't help but recall He Shi Lie Liangbi's words from a few days ago, feeling somewhat ashamed, but still managed to reply with effort: "Then, Left Prime Minister, where exactly did things begin to go wrong in the Great Jin Kingdom's current predicament?"

Heshi Lieliangbi finally turned his gaze away from the bright moon and stared intently at Jia Gu Qingchen by the moonlight, remaining silent for a long time.

Jia Gu Qingchen felt a chill run down his spine from the gaze, and after a moment he finally spoke: "Left Prime Minister..."

Heshi Lieliangbi shook his head and replied, "I don't know either."

"Ok?"

Heshi Lieliangbi sighed: "I originally wanted to say that it was the Battle of Daming Prefecture, when Zhi Ning was defeated. But then I thought about it again, before that, the Great Jin Kingdom had already split into two, so it could be said that the country's fortunes were declining and the situation was about to fall into chaos."

Later, I thought it was because Digunai was warlike and disruptive to the people's livelihood. After his disastrous defeat in the southern campaign against the Song Dynasty, he chose to live a life of ignominy and returned to the north to divide the country. But then I thought, didn't the emperors of the Jin Dynasty before Digunai do the same thing?

Digunai was simply trying to make things more thorough.

Going back further, after Emperor Taizu, the political situation in the Jin Dynasty was turbulent. It was a zero-sum game where it was either you killing me or me killing you. What good was Master Gu Shen's extraordinary talent? He still couldn't fully realize the Han system before he died.

The tribal customs remain unchanged, and everything is decided by the sword, leading to rampant killing and a climate of fear among the people.

However, we Jurchens are a small tribe facing a large country. How can we suppress the Han people without killing them?

But we can't say that Emperor Taizu's rebellion against the Liao was wrong, can we? Nor can we say that the Second Prince was wrong to march south and seize the Song throne after seeing the Song people's incompetence, can we?

Heshi Lieliangbi seemed to have been pondering this issue for a long time, and now he spoke about it so passionately that he was completely unstoppable, leaving Jia Gu Qingchen stunned.

"Alas, because of this, I don't know who to blame or who to resent, and I don't even know where the Great Jin began to decline." Heshi Lieliangbi looked up at the bright moon: "But it's no use thinking about these things now. The rise of the Han people is already difficult to stop. Let's do our best and leave the rest to fate. Let's try our best to win more national fortune for the Great Jin."

After hearing these words, Jia Gu Qingchen completely forgot the purpose of his visit. Thinking about the moving stories that had happened during the Song, Jin, and Liao dynasties since Wanyan Aguda raised an army against Liao, he was completely mesmerized by the moonlight.

Bathed in the same moonlight was Xiao Zhongda, who lived in Qiao County.

This fellow led over 1,800 men upstream along the Bao River, arriving in Qiao County on the afternoon of July 9th.

Unlike Zhu Changshui, the deputy inspector of Liangshan Marsh who came from a peasant background, Xiao Zhongda had ample military experience. Therefore, he did not immediately lead a group of militiamen and tax collectors to fight in Qiao County. Instead, he had Zhu Changshui lead them to set up camp and rest to recover their strength.

He then led several trusted men of Khitan origin to ride to the area around Qiao County to survey the terrain.

However, as soon as he approached Qiao County, Xiao Zhongda was surprised by the cacophony of voices. After passing through a small grove, he discovered that the area around Qiao County was already packed with people.

Although surprised, Xiao Zhongda made no attempt to conceal himself. Instead, he rode his tall horse and swaggered along the official road, occasionally exchanging loud jokes with his confidants. This behavior naturally attracted the attention of many, but Xiao Zhongda and his men were fully equipped with swords, spears, and bows, and were also dressed in military attire, so no one dared to question them.

The group rode their horses forward and soon passed through the thick crowd, arriving near the city gate.

"Do these officials have any travel permits or other valid credentials?"

The city gatekeeper looked at the fierce warriors and initially wanted to pretend he hadn't seen them, but given the current situation, he had to bite the bullet and ask a question.

Xiao Zhongda's response was also very simple.

The crisp sound of the whip struck the city gate official's shoulder, causing him to stumble.

However, Xiao Zhongda seemed to be the one who was wronged. Pointing at the city gate official, he cursed loudly in a thick Liaodong accent: "I have traveled all over the north and south without any travel permits or proof of travel. Today I am following the current prime minister south to quell the bandits. The journey is more than a thousand miles. How come you are the only one who dares to be so bold?!"

The other knights also joined in the commotion.

The city gate officer was in excruciating pain in his shoulder and sweat was pouring down his forehead, but he dared not resist or complain in front of these men who were clearly regular soldiers of the Jin Kingdom.

After cursing wildly for a while, Xiao Zhongda tapped the city gate official's shoulder with his riding whip and said to the crowd of people around him who were obviously commoners, "Tell me, what's going on here?"

The gatekeeper, enduring the pain, reported to the general: "It is a conscript."

Xiao Zhongda raised his whip again, but didn't bring it down. He just yelled, "Don't I know these are conscripts? Do you need me to tell you?! I'm asking you, how did things get into such a mess? How are we going to send them to Xia Cai?!"

The city gate officer took two steps back and said, "General, there's nothing we can do about it. Half of the Central Plains is being conscripted. After the conscription is over, the soldiers are sent south along the Wo River. Qiao County is right in the middle, so naturally, a lot of conscripts have accumulated there."

We initially only planned to properly resettle 20,000 people, but now it's almost 50,000, which is impossible to manage. We had no choice but to send in local troops to surround and control the situation.

Xiao Zhongda shook his head repeatedly: "How can things be done like this? Who is in charge of Qiao County now? Call him out!"

The gatekeeper hesitated for a moment, but still said, "The one in charge now is General Xiao Caole, who also came from the north. He now wields more power than the prefect and county magistrate."

Xiao Zhongda was slightly taken aback, then waved his hand and said, "Go quickly and tell him that an old friend from Liaodong has come with military orders! Tell him to come and receive orders!"

Upon hearing this, the city gate official dared not delay and, supporting his shoulder, ran into the city.

Under the watchful eyes of the other city gate guards, Xiao Zhongda seemed to have discovered something else, cursed wildly a few times, and then rode away with his confidants.

Once he was out of sight of the officials of Qiao County, Xiao Zhongda immediately spurred his horse and galloped back to the side of Baoshui River at dusk.

Zhu Changshui quickly stepped forward and asked, "Lord Xiao, how is Qiao County?"

Xiao Zhongda wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Damn, what a small world! To actually run into an old friend in the heart of the Central Plains. The green ox and white horse are truly an eye-opener."

Zhu Changshui was somewhat puzzled.

Xiao Zhongda first recounted the situation along the way, and then said, "Inspector Zhu, when I saw so many conscripts, I knew there must be someone in charge of the troops here."

I was originally planning to lure him out with words, then stab him to death. That would make our surprise attack on Qiao County much easier.

But who would have thought it would be Xiao Caole, that scoundrel? He's a good friend who went through thick and thin with me. I'd be exposed the moment we met, so I had no choice but to come back first.

Zhu Changshui's heart stirred: "Could we persuade this man to surrender?"

Xiao Zhongda simply shook his head: "If I could persuade him to surrender, I wouldn't have come back. This fellow is a blockhead, and his family is all in Youyan. You can't rely on just words."

Zhu Changshui was somewhat anxious upon hearing this: "Lord Xiao, you are a veteran general and the commander-in-chief of this campaign. We have come a long way. Are you really helpless just because we have more conscripted soldiers and the garrison commander of Qiao County is someone you know?"

Xiao Zhongda chuckled: "Inspector Zhu's words are strange. When did I say I was helpless? Isn't this a golden opportunity?"

Zhu Changshui looked up at the sky, then looked back at the army that had already started cooking, and instantly understood.

(End of this chapter)