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

Chapter 819 Sordid Methods Are Unbearable to Look At

On the first day of the eighth month, Zhang Jun, who had personally crossed the Huai River and arrived at Xia Cai, sat in the head seat with a smug look on his hand and said, "Ha, Liu Huai has finally come? I thought he would put on a fuss for another two years!"

At this moment, the generals of the Song army were also relaxed and laughed in agreement.

Only Yu Yunwen and Li Xianzong, who were seated at the lower left and right, still had gloomy expressions.

Zhang Jun was relaxed at this moment for a simple reason: he had no idea how serious the situation was.

In his view, Wei Sheng's death was nothing more than the death of a major general in Shandong, so what was the big deal?
Zhang Jun personally dealt with Qu Duan, the main general of Guanzhong, but Guanzhong did not rebel!
Even Yue Fei, wasn't he executed by the imperial court without hesitation? Did Yue Fei's army rebel? Didn't Yue Fei's generals still submit to the imperial court's appointments?

As for the Huaixi Incident, Zhang Jun believed that it was because Li Qiong had not changed his treacherous nature and had nothing to do with him.
The other Song generals had even simpler ideas.

It is true that the relationship between Shandong and the State of Song is complicated, especially now that Wei Sheng has died in battle and all Han military affairs are decided by Liu Huai. It is not surprising that he would do anything.

However, the fact that Liu Huai is willing to come and personally visit the Song army camp in Xia Cai to meet the two ministers means that there shouldn't be any major problems.

Although the Song army is weak, when Liu Huai is in the Song army camp, surrounded by tens of thousands of Song soldiers, whether to kill or torture him will be entirely up to Zhang Xianggong.

Seeing that neither Yu Yunwen nor Li Xianzong responded, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Huaidong Army, Liu Bao, stood up and said, "What you said, Minister Zhang, is somewhat inappropriate. Although Commander Liu is young, he is a renowned general who has fought in many battles. He will be serving in the court in the future, and may even become a minister. Why would he be so petty?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jun's eyes flickered slightly, and he nodded with a smile: "What General Manager Liu said is absolutely right. I misspoke. However, since Governor Liu has come in person, do you have any arrangements to make for his arrival?"

Shao Hongyuan immediately stood up: "Of course we have them. All kinds of military ceremonial equipment are ready and can be used at any time."

Since his defeat, Shao Hongyuan had suffered heavy losses among his core generals. In addition, his abilities were rather poor, so Yu Yunwen had been keeping him under house arrest in the central army under the pretext of consulting him.

During the Battle of Xia Cai, command of the Huaixi army was actually in the hands of Zhang Zhen.

This means that Shao Hongyuan suffered only one major defeat in this Northern Expedition and achieved almost no merit.

Of course, according to military regulations, Shao Hongyuan should share in Zhang Zhen's merits, but the court and the ministers also have their own set of rules, and Shao Hongyuan is very likely to be labeled as incompetent and a disgrace to the country.

Therefore, Shao Hongyuan immediately began to save himself after the war, and his specific actions included actively moving closer to Zhang Jun.

Zhang Jun was tricked by Yu Yunwen into crossing the Huai River before the battle even began. Therefore, despite the fierce fighting at Xia Cai, Zhang Jun ultimately only had hard work but no real merit. He and Shao Hongyuan were practically brothers in misfortune.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and the two hit it off almost immediately, forming an alliance.

Zhang Jun nodded upon hearing this: "Then I'll trouble Steward Shao to make the arrangements."

At this point, Zhang Jun seemed to only then notice the two people sitting below him: "Lord Yu, Steward Li, do you two have anything else to say?"

Yu Yunwen seemed utterly exhausted, and simply shook his head slightly.

After a moment of silence, Li Xianzong stood up and bowed, saying, "Master Zhang, Liu Dalang cannot be judged by ordinary standards. He is as fiery as fire and is definitely not the same kind of person as Yue Pengju."

Zhang Jun laughed heartily, "Young heroes are bound to be proud. Besides, what about Yue Pengju? You only see his mature and composed side, but you don't know that he was impulsive and rude in his youth. When he was drunk, he almost beat his subordinate to death. It was only because the Emperor Emeritus issued a special decree that Yue Pengju was forbidden from drinking... Alas..."

As he finished speaking, Zhang Jun seemed to recall past events, and his tone became strained, letting out a long sigh.

If Yue Fei hadn't died, he wouldn't have needed to rely on those two worthless cowards, Shao Hongyuan and Liu Bao; he would have already pushed the battle lines all the way to Bianliang.

Li Xianzong opened his mouth, but sat back down under Yu Yunwen's cold gaze.

He originally intended to subtly remind Zhang Jun that generals like Liu Huai, who launched the Northern Expedition independently and conquered a large territory, were highly independent and quite different from Yue Fei, who had served in Zhao Gou's Marshal's Office from the beginning, and even from Qu Duan, who had never broken away from the Song army system.

Using methods for dealing with internal Song affairs to deal with Liu Huai could lead to serious trouble.

But it seems Zhang Jun didn't understand his meaning, and Li Xianzong couldn't speak openly, so he could only remain silent.

On the fifth day of the eighth month, the day of the military council, Liu Huai, still dressed in mourning clothes, led several generals of the Han army, along with two hundred personal guards and armored cavalry, to Xiachai.

Moreover, the Huai River basin is densely covered with waterways. This refers not only to the tributaries of the Huai River such as the Fei River, Huan River, and Ying River, but also to many tributaries and tributaries of tributaries that are not shown on large maps. Together with the irrigation ditches dug from the small rivers, they formed the prosperous Huaibei region.

This is also why the Yellow River's diversion into the Huai River caused catastrophic consequences, even leading to the formation of a massive flood plain.

Looking at the surrounding scenery, Liu Huai felt a rare sense of unease.

Upon arriving at a pontoon bridge over a small river, the group discovered that it was already occupied by hundreds of Song soldiers. A commander, seeing Liu Huai's banner in the distance, immediately came forward to salute: "Greetings, Commander Liu. The pontoon bridge is ready; please cross the river, Commander Liu." Liu Huai glanced at the pontoon bridge and said with a smile, "This pontoon bridge is so narrow; can it possibly allow over two hundred armored cavalry to cross together?"

The commander's smile stiffened for a moment, then he replied frankly, "Reporting to Commander Liu, that is naturally not possible. Ten men must lead the horses across in groups of ten."

Liu Huai's words remained sincere: "Then why not build a wider pontoon bridge, or prepare more ferries?"

The Song army commander chuckled twice: "Time is simply too tight, and I couldn't find enough ferries. I'm afraid I'll have to trouble Commander Liu."

Liu Huai sighed, then tilted his head slightly. Bi Zaiyu understood and spurred his horse forward, leading more than ten armored cavalrymen across the pontoon bridge.

Then another dozen or so men crossed the river, and only after more than fifty armored cavalrymen had crossed did the Song army commander, Guan Fang, realize something was wrong. His expression remained awkward: "Isn't Commander Liu going to cross the river?"

Liu Huai glanced at the man coldly without saying a word, while Dong Cheng, who had been impatient for a long time, rode forward, grabbed the commander, and then, ignoring the man's resistance, dragged him into his own armored cavalry and threw him hard to the ground.

"Do you really think we can't see through your dirty tricks?!" Dong Cheng, also a former Song soldier, naturally knew what tricks this guy was up to, and immediately flew into a rage: "It's nothing more than that after the eldest son and half of his personal guards cross the river, you will do something to break the pontoon bridge so that the rest of the people cannot cross the river."

Crossing another river, it was the same again, and this continued several times until the eldest son's support was completely cut off, leaving him to enter the military camp alone. "Just now, the eldest son showed you some respect, and you still dare to urge me on? Do you really think I wouldn't dare kill you?!"

At this moment, some commotion broke out on the other side of the river. Bi Zaiyu turned ruthless and grabbed a long spear, whipping it in all directions. The fifty armored cavalrymen exerted their strength together and soon dispersed the Song army on the other side.

Liu Huai did not speak, but after the Song troops at both ends of the pontoon bridge were dispersed, he immediately led his troops across the small river and continued to advance.

Although Lu You was among them, he showed no intention of pleading for the Song army. He simply followed the armored cavalry forward with a cold expression.

The two hundred armored cavalry moved swiftly and soon reached another small river.

Although no pontoon bridge had been built here, a number of ferries had gathered. The Song army captain in charge did not know what was happening ahead. When he saw two hundred armored cavalry arrive, he thought that Liu Huai had initially led five hundred armored cavalry to come. While he was amazed at how arrogant Liu Jiedu was, he also wanted to divide Liu Huai's wings according to the pre-arranged plan.

Needless to say, the Flying Tiger cavalry, like wolves and tigers, attacked from both sides of the river, scattering the two hundred-plus Song soldiers once again.

Liu Huai remained silent and continued crossing the river.

After three or four times, even the most foolish Song soldiers realized something was wrong.

Surely Liu Huai couldn't possibly bring three thousand armored cavalry to the military council, could he?!
Were they here to fight or to discuss important military and national affairs?!

Moreover, the Song army dwindled in number, eventually numbering only a hundred men, so how could they possibly stop Liu Huai?

Soon, someone relayed the message to the main camp. Naturally, this secret plot would not be passed on to the two ministers. Soon, Shao Hongyuan, the person in charge of carrying it out, learned of the news that Liu Huai had not stopped for a moment and had not divided his troops, but led two hundred armored cavalry straight to the main camp.

Shao Hongyuan immediately flew into a rage.

Admittedly, when Liu Huai held the main force of the Han army, Shao Hongyuan didn't dare to utter a word, but now that Liu Huai only has two hundred armored cavalry guards, what is he afraid of?
Shao Hongyuan immediately mustered a thousand soldiers and, under the guise of welcoming Liu Jiedu, arrived at the northeast direction of the camp.

However, as soon as the Song army left the camp, Shao Hongyuan saw an abnormal cloud of dust rising from the north, with several Song cavalrymen blowing their horns at the forefront.

Shao Hongyuan stared in disbelief for a moment, then pointed to the dust cloud ahead and asked his personal guard, "Is that two hundred cavalry?!"

The guard swallowed hard and shook his head rapidly: "There must be over a thousand cavalry, Commander-in-Chief, Commander Liu has really attacked!"

After nodding slightly, Shao Hongyuan stood there for a moment, holding the reins.

However, this posture did indeed appear to the Song army as the demeanor of a general who remained calm even when Mount Tai collapsed before him. The commander-in-chief loudly ordered them to prepare to meet the enemy.

Just as the Song army had set up its formation and the warning horns had sounded, Shao Hongyuan once again revealed his unfathomable depths of depravity.

To the astonishment of the Song army, he actually turned his horse around, intending to flee back to the camp.

However, just as they broke free of the army formation, two hundred armored cavalry suddenly plunged in from the gap of three or four hundred paces between the camp and the army formation.

There was no fighting between the two sides. After seeing the Flying Tiger banner, Shao Hongyuan wisely threw down his weapon and surrendered.

After looking Shao Hongyuan up and down, Liu Huai smiled and said, "Steward Shao, lead the way."

(End of this chapter)