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

Chapter 796 Border Reports Convey Military Intelligence (Part 2)
Yang Chun was no fool. On the contrary, as the former prefect of Luzhou who had been intimidated by Liu Huai's military might before the Battle of Chaoxian and later obeyed orders under the Jingnan Army, he knew Liu Huai's temperament very well.

Having spent a long time in the Song army, he knew all too well what kind of veteran soldiers they were.

Therefore, upon seeing Wei Chang, Yang Chun immediately brought him to Yu Yunwen and summoned his personal guards to prepare for any eventuality.

Li Xianzong was naturally a veteran general. As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the commander's tent, he immediately sensed that something was wrong. However, just as he was about to make an excuse to leave, several armored soldiers flashed out from behind him and blocked his way.

Li Xianzong stood there for a moment, pondering, and found that there was indeed no oversight. Even the court had already been taken care of. So he gritted his teeth and went in openly.

Even if Yu Yunwen tries to show off his power, he can't just kill his general on the battlefield.

Upon meeting Li Xianzong, Yu Yunwen offered no pleasantries, but pointed to Wei Chang, who was eating soup noodles, and said, "This is Wei Gong's second son, Wei Chang. He came from Hebei after receiving Wei Gong's letter for help. Wei Gong is currently being besieged by 15,000 Jin rebels. At this time, Liu Dalang has also led his elite cavalry south and arrived near Danzhou four days ago."

Li Jiedu, is there anything you'd like to say?

Li Xianzong was stunned when Yu Yunwen spoke his second sentence, and his expression changed drastically when Yu Yunwen mentioned that Liu Huai had led his troops south.

He immediately spoke up to explain: "Lord Yu, Second Brother Wei, I swear to heaven that I absolutely did not withhold or destroy Lord Wei's military intelligence documents. I also dare to guarantee that the entire army of Chizhou would never do such a heinous thing."

Although Li Xianzong kept speaking to Yu Yunwen, his eyes involuntarily drifted toward Wei Chang: "Prime Minister Yu, please think about it. The world's strategy is like a game of chess. If we sit idly by and watch the loyal army be swallowed up by the Jin invaders, how can our flanks be guaranteed? We might even face an attack from all sides in Xia Cai."

"If things get to that point, the Chizhou army won't be able to escape unscathed either. There's absolutely no benefit for me in doing this."

Li Xianzong must extricate himself from this situation at this time and absolutely cannot get involved in such trouble.

Since Liu Huai has already led his elite troops south, it means that the situation in Hebei has reached a definite conclusion. And since Liu Huai has the ability and confidence to fight the Jin army in Henan to the death, the outcome of the Hebei battle is self-evident.

Has Li Xianzong gone mad by making an enemy of this kind of person?

If you think about it carefully, the Jin army's five thousand troops had been heading east for more than ten days, and Wei Sheng must have suffered heavy casualties in the rush.

If even Wei Sheng himself were to suffer some mishap, then Liu Huai, even if only to appease the loyalist forces, would have to find a way to fight the main Song army that had "failed to come to his aid" after the war.

Wouldn't it be Li Xianzong who takes the place again then?
I'm going to fight Flying Tiger?

real or fake?

After hearing these earnest words, Yu Yunwen nodded slowly, then looked at Wei Chang and asked, "Second Brother Wei, how is the war in Hebei going?"

Wei Chang finished his food and said with bloodshot eyes, "Daming Prefecture has fallen, and the main force of the Jin bandits, numbering 60,000, has been completely annihilated."

After finishing his brief statement, Wei Chang gritted his teeth, stood up, looked at Li Xianzong, and said, "Commander Li, I am a dullard and cannot distinguish right from wrong. You should leave your words to my elder brother."

Immediately afterward, Wei Chang, disregarding Li Xianzong's already pale face, cupped his hands to Yu Yunwen and said, "Lord Yu, I still need to go to Lord Shi Ju's army to discuss the matter of surrendering to him. I hope Lord Yu can provide me with a small boat to cross the river."

Yu Yunwen's eyes twitched violently, and he suddenly stood up: "Shi Ju? Is it Shi Ju, the prime minister of the Jin Kingdom? When did he get in touch with Liu Dalang?"

Wei Chang chuckled, his face covered in dust and his body filthy, sounding like the roar of a wild beast: "How can we contact each other when we are thousands of miles apart? Master Shi has been corresponding with my father to make repeated agreements."

The document my father passed down to my brother clearly records this matter. I imagine the military intelligence document my father passed down to Minister Yu would also have detailed it in detail.

"Lord Yu, given the current situation, are you going to blame my father?! Or are you going to suspect my brother?!"

Yu Yunwen's breathing became heavy for a moment, but he calmed down after a while and looked at Wei Chang and said, "Young Master Wei, the situation in Huaibei is chaotic. It's not necessarily that someone is withholding military intelligence documents; it's possible that the military envoy was intercepted and killed by the Jin cavalry."

These are things to be discussed after the war; we still need to get things done now.

After saying this, Yu Yunwen immediately ordered: "Have Dai Gao return to the east bank of the river, and have Zhang Zhen retreat to the camp north of the Huai River to show some sincerity to Minister Shi."

"Wei Erlang, would you like to rest for a while longer?"

Wei Chang cupped his hands and said, "The military situation is extremely urgent. The sooner we can bring Master Shi here, the sooner we can rescue my father. I must set off now."

Yu Yunwen nodded in agreement, and at the same time gestured for Yang Chun to go out and assist in preparing the ships. Wei Chang walked to the entrance of the command tent, turned back to look at Yu Yunwen: "Lord Yu, when I came here, I passed through Bozhou. Qiao County has already been captured by Xiao Zhongda, the magistrate of Linhuan County. If we can win over Lord Shi and the Chenzhou army this time, the Jin invaders' retreat will be cut off, and the Central Plains can be recovered!"

Having said that, Wei Chang ignored Yu Yunwen and Li Xianzong's stunned silence and turned to leave with weary steps.

After Wei Chang had walked away, Yu Yunwen kicked over the table in front of him. His fat face was full of murderous intent, and he was furious. He suddenly lost his composure: "Who is it?! Who dares to ruin my important plans?! Kill this bastard! I will definitely kill this bastard!"

Li Xianzong also appeared somewhat exasperated.

The consequences of Wei Sheng's letter not reaching Xia Cai were far too severe.

First, it caused the Song army to misjudge the number of the main force of the Jin army camp, leading them to adopt a strategic defensive posture.

Secondly, the Song army used the Chenzhou army on the west bank of the Fei River as a breakthrough point, launching continuous attacks, and the intensity of the battle between the two sides escalated rapidly.

If Yu Yunwen had known about the military situation a few days earlier, he would have sent messengers long ago and begun to collude with Shi Ju.

Even if Shi Ju wanted to play the trick of surrendering to the Han but not to Cao, he could eventually stop the war temporarily, allowing the Song army to gather a large force to launch an attack on the main Jin army.

At that time, the Song army on the east bank of the Fei River will have nearly 50,000 regular troops. Wouldn't it be enough to launch a frontal attack on 20,000 Jin troops?
Unfortunately, this important military intelligence failed to reach Xia Cai, causing all the opportunities for war to be wasted in the past few days.

Besides that, Wei Sheng led 8,000 loyal soldiers to deal with a surprise attack by 15,000 elite Jin troops. More than ten days have passed, and who knows what the situation is in Suzhou?

Despite his anger and frustration, Li Xianzong still managed to say, "What Minister Yu said just now makes sense. With Huaibei in such a state of chaos, it's not surprising that the military envoy was intercepted and killed..."

Yu Yunwen waved his hand forcefully, his hair ornament becoming disheveled, a few strands of white hair falling from his forehead: "You'd better save this nonsense for Liu Dalang, and see if that Flying Tiger recognizes it!"

Li Xianzong changed the subject, stamped his foot and sighed: "Then it must have been Liu Bao who did it. His camp is on the east side, and he is cowardly and dares not fight. This time, the Huaidong army suffered heavy casualties, and he became cowardly. It is normal for him to kill the military envoy to seek peace of mind."

Li Xianzong naturally didn't have the ability to predict the future, but this time the Song Dynasty only had three generals. Shao Hongyuan was placed under house arrest in the central army by Yu Yunwen, and Li Heng died in battle. If this matter was not Liu Bao's responsibility, then whose was it?

Could it belong to Li Xianzong?
When Liu Huai arrives in Huaibei with the glory of his great victory and asks about this matter, how can he let it go if no one is handed over?

As a general who shared the same ecological niche, Li Xianzong knew all too well how terrifying Liu Huai was.

Yu Yunwen waved his hand and said, "I will send someone to keep an eye on Liu Bao. Now that we know the Jin invaders' military situation, should our army continue to confront them here?"

Li Xianzong gritted his teeth and said, "Just now, Minister Yu has ordered Dai Gao to return to his army. At that time, our 40,000 troops will be enough to confront the Jin invaders."

Whether the Jin bandit camp is truly floating like pig urine will be revealed with a single test.

Yu Yunwen nodded in agreement: "Then let's do it that way. Launch the attack as soon as possible, we absolutely cannot delay."

Neither side mentioned rescuing Wei Sheng.

Given the current situation and the unclear battle situation in Suzhou, attacking Pu Sanzhongyi, who is right in front of him, is actually the best way to assist Wei Sheng.

After Yu Yunwen finished speaking, he turned to look at the map, feeling a mix of emotions.

Shandong is truly teeming with talent. How dare a mere county magistrate lead a ragtag army out to fight? What lofty ambition and heroic spirit that is!
An unexpected person doing an unexpected thing at an unexpected time can change the course of the world.

Shi Ju's power base in the Central Plains was in Chenzhou, which was connected to Bozhou to the east and west. If Shi Ju led the Chenzhou army to defect, the Jin army's retreat route would be completely blocked.

The Jin dynasty's 35,000 elite troops in the Central Plains would be completely trapped in the densely networked waterways of Huaibei.

Without these 35,000 men, Pusan ​​Zhongyi would not have been able to defend the Central Plains at all, and it was only by divine intervention that the capital was moved to Luoyang.

Li Xianzong also stared silently at the map. As the panic in his heart gradually subsided, a strange heat arose within him.

If we could truly destroy the loyal and righteous forces of Pusan, wouldn't the Central Plains be restored? The former capital, Bianliang, might not be out of reach!
Such a feat is enough to make any martial artist risk their life!
(End of this chapter)