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

Chapter 900 The Song Court's Busy Struggles (Part 1)
Nearly ten days after Zeng Di left, Lu You finally understood Wanyan Liang's strategic intentions.

According to intelligence pieced together from various sources, Wanyan Liang's initial military objective was not the Song army at all.

Because he didn't have the ability to foresee the future, he couldn't possibly know that Shi Hao had been slandered and that Zhao Shen would directly order the entire Song army in Guanzhong to retreat.

If that's the case, why did Wanyan Liang gather a large number of troops in the twelfth lunar month, so that he could immediately launch an attack after the Song army made its move?
Now I understand everything.

Wanyan Liang's initial target was the Western Xia!
On the same day that Lu You defeated the Jin army, Wanyan Liang led the main force of the Jin army to launch a surprise attack on the main force of the Western Xia army in Yan'an Prefecture.

The battle was one-sided.

Since Ren Dejing and the Western Xia ruler he had coerced had already returned to Western Xia, the one commanding the army here was Ren Dejing's younger brother, Ren Decong.

This fellow actually lacked the qualities of a great general; he only rose to power through nepotism because he was from the Ren family.

How could such a person possibly turn the tide when faced with a surprise attack led by Wanyan Liang's army?

The 30,000-strong main force of the Western Xia army, which had gathered in Yan'an Prefecture, was routed, and Ren Decong's head was personally chopped off by the fierce general Wanyan Wangxiang.

The Jin army then split into two groups.

Led by Wanyan Liang himself, the army crossed the Hengshan Mountains, broke through the Western Xia Left Wing Divine Valiant Army Command, and swept across the four prefectures of Yin, Xia, Shi, and You. Incidentally, they also gave Wanyan Guying a good scare across the Yellow River.

The other force was the main force of the Jin Kingdom's 20,000-strong regular army led by Tudan Hexi. They advanced rapidly along the Yellow River, broke through the Jingsai Military Command, and officially arrived at Xingqing Prefecture on the seventh day of the first lunar month.

Even at this point, the nobles of Western Xia still hadn't realized that Western Xia was facing the danger of annihilation before they could even recover from the joy of occupying Yan'an Prefecture.

However, Tu Danhexi did not give Ren Dejing and the others a chance to find the answer.

On the second day of the siege, the Jin army did not even bother to build siege engines such as siege towers, ladders, or siege carts. They simply used explosives to blast open the city gates, trapping Ren Dejing in the vast Chu Prince's mansion and burning him to a crisp. They also captured the Western Xia emperor Li Renxiao, and countless members of the royal family and nobles were also captured.

At this point, although the Western Xia still had vast territories such as Guazhou, Suzhou, Shazhou, Ganzhou, and even the Hetao region that had not been occupied by the Jin army, the Western Xia had effectively perished after the most prosperous Xingling Yinxia land was occupied and most of the royal family members were captured.

The morale of the Jin army was greatly boosted.

First, they defeated and killed their arch-enemy Wu Lin, and now they have destroyed the Western Xia in less than half a month. This is a military miracle that deserves a prominent place in history books.

This will inevitably be the beginning of Daikin's revival.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, when Wanyan Liang personally arrived at Xingqing Prefecture and, surrounded by a group of Dangxiang nobles, held another enthronement ceremony to worship Heaven, Lu You finally deduced from military intelligence that the Jin army was waging war against Western Xia and that it was very likely that they had already made great progress.

Lu You was filled with resentment at this moment. If he had 20,000 troops, he would be confident that he could launch an attack.

Let alone taking Chencang directly, it's not impossible for them to even storm Chang'an.

However, he only had 5,000 regular troops and more than 10,000 defeated soldiers who had not yet rested, so he was truly powerless to help.

Therefore, Lu You could only write down the military situation in writing, sending one copy to the central government and another to Minister Yu in Nanyang.

If Yu Yunwen had learned of this news immediately, he would have surely figured out a question that had puzzled him for a long time.

Why did Pusan ​​Kui take the initiative to attack Nanyang?
In retrospect, this was undoubtedly intended to draw the attention of the Song army in order to coordinate with Wanyan Liang's attack on Western Xia.

However, Yu Yunwen was destined not to receive this military intelligence in Nanyang and to respond immediately.

On the 20th day of the first month of the fourth year of the Longxing era, in Lin'an city.

After dismounting, the first thing Zeng Di did was to reach into his groin.

Unsurprisingly, a hand was pulled out and found to be covered in blood.

In just over twenty days, Zeng Di ran all the way from Dasanguan to Lin'an, which can be considered a great feat.

Along the way, even though there were places where you could take a boat, you still had to travel on horseback for the vast majority of the journey.

Zeng Di's horsemanship was only so-so. By the third day, blisters had formed on the inside of his thighs. After the blisters burst on the fourth day, both of his thighs became bloody and sticky to his clothes. Even the slightest movement caused excruciating pain.

However, despite the threat of his entire clan being exterminated, Zeng Di gritted his teeth and persevered. He dared not stop along the way, eating, drinking, and relieving himself on horseback. He even slept while tied to his horse and continued on his journey. Finally, he personally delivered the military intelligence from Guanzhong back to China.

The imperial guards, after much effort, finally recognized the man in charge of the palace gates. Seeing that he was carrying a small flag with urgent messages, they disregarded the rule that military intelligence should be reported to the Western Privy Council first and immediately welcomed him into the Chui Gong Hall.

Inside the Chuigong Hall, the verbal sparring between the Left Chancellor Yu Yunwen and the Right Chancellor Shi Hao, who had just returned, had been going on for some time.

Upon learning that Zhao Shen intended to withdraw his troops from Shaanxi, Yu Yunwen ordered the Song army in Xiangfan, which was already poised to launch an attack, to come to a sudden halt. He then personally traveled from Nanyang to Lin'an to try to stop Zhao Shen and to reaffirm Zhao Shen's determination to launch a northern expedition.

Shi Hao also knew that the critical moment had arrived, and he completely exposed his political leanings. He came to the Chuigong Hall and began to present the facts and reason on the grounds of the local economy.

"Lord Yu, whether or not we should fight the Jin invaders is none of your business!"

Shi Hao, his hair and beard bristling, exuded the air of a prime minister: "You keep talking about the Northern Expedition, the Northern Expedition, but do you know that while you're fighting valiantly on the front lines, the military pay and provisions are all borne by the people of the Song Dynasty? Now the Song Dynasty is utterly exhausted, do you even realize that?"

Compared to Shi Hao, the travel-worn Yu Yunwen didn't look as presentable. But at first, he simply looked at Shi Hao with his bloodshot eyes, without saying a word.

Shi Hao felt a little uneasy under his gaze, but he still straightened his back and said loudly, "And there's Bashu. Wu Taiwei has been fighting in Guanzhong for four years, leaving Bashu impoverished. The Lu envoy you sent actually used the method of killing powerful families in Shu to collect funds in order to supply the front line with food."

"If the fighting continues, will Envoy Lu start a massive purge?! Must this beautiful land of abundance be turned into a living hell by you?!"

"How can you bear to see so many people suffer to build your achievements, Prime Minister Yu?!"

Yu Yunwen simply stared coldly at Shi Hao until the latter was breathing heavily before asking in a deep voice, "Master Shi, have you finished speaking?"

Shi Hao also looked back coldly.

Yu Yunwen sighed and looked up at Zhao Shen, who seemed somewhat lost: "Is Your Majesty persuaded by these words?"

Zhao Shen held his forehead, feeling utterly confused, his mind racing with all sorts of thoughts, and his ears gradually ringing. He seemed not to hear Yu Yunwen's question.

Yu Yunwen seemed to have no expectation of Zhao Shen's reply, and instead turned his attention to Shi Hao.

As prime minister, Shi Hao could not possibly act alone or by his own family. He must have represented the interests of many people and had many like-minded people cheering him on.

What Yu Yunwen needed to defeat in front of the emperor was not just the mere Right Chancellor, but a political force.

This political force is roughly composed of a small number of peace advocates and a large number of conservatives.

The conservative faction was not trying to conserve their strength for another northern expedition; most of them were Jiangnan gentry who had never benefited from a northern expedition.

These people may have even been Yu Yunwen's henchmen and staunch advocates of war just months ago.

There was nothing that could be done about it. Could Yu Yunwen possibly use the fruits of the Northern Expedition to feed those powerful and wealthy families first?

Therefore, in this debate before the emperor, Yu Yunwen must defeat Shi Hao, the leader of the pro-defense faction, in order to completely suppress the dissenting voices in the court and achieve the goal of the Northern Expedition.

"Since you have nothing to say, I have two questions to ask you."

"You say we shouldn't take advantage of the situation to launch a northern expedition? Are you suggesting we negotiate peace with the Jin invaders?"

Even if Shi Hao advocated defense, he wouldn't need to negotiate peace under the circumstances of the Jin Kingdom. He immediately shook his head: "That's not the case. We should conserve our strength and wait for the right time."

Yu Yunwen pressed on: "What if the time isn't right?"

Shi Hao was silent for a moment: "The north is in chaos, and there will eventually be a time when all sides are exhausted. When that happens, our army can take advantage of the situation to launch a northern expedition, and wouldn't it be a piece of cake?"

Yu Yunwen raised an eyebrow and said, "Is this what you call the opportune moment? Let me ask you, if someone in the north could sweep through the lands and unify the north, what would be the best course of action?"

Shi Hao sneered and finally asked the crucial question: "The person you're talking about, is it Liu Huai?!"

Yu Yunwen stared wide-eyed: "So what if it is? So what if it isn't? What difference does it make to our Great Song Dynasty, regardless of which of the three families—Wanyan Yong, Wanyan Liang, and Liu Huai—is in power?"
"Isn't it all going to be a northern expedition to the bitter end? Isn't it all going to be a campaign to punish the rebels? By then, we'll have had time to conserve our strength, but the enemy will be a battle-hardened elite force!"

Shi Hao was taken aback for a moment by Yu Yunwen's bluntness.

Yu Yunwen seized the opportunity to continue his attack: "Conserve your strength, huh! By then, our army will be too comfortable to face a battle-hardened force!"

"That's what Prime Minister Kou Zhun thought during the Treaty of Chanyuan. But did the Song Dynasty later defeat the Liao Dynasty and recover Yan and Yun?"

"Qin Hui said the same thing during the Shaoxing Peace Treaty. Did the Song Dynasty launch a northern expedition or wait for the Jin invaders to come knocking on its door?"

"Our dynasty has already learned from two previous mistakes, yet you, Minister Shi, remain so muddle-headed. This is truly outrageous!"

Shi Hao's heart skipped a beat.

Weren't we just talking about the harm war causes to the rear? How did the topic suddenly shift to whether or not we should launch a northern expedition?
Of course, the Northern Expedition must continue; no one can deny that.

This was not only because the north was in chaos and the opportunity was rare, but also because the Jin dynasty had repeatedly slapped the pro-peace faction in the face over the past few decades.

Even Shi Hao was only taking a defensive stance at this time, trying to plan things slowly.

In a debate on this topic, Yu Yunwen could easily defeat Shi Hao on the spot.

Just as Shi Hao was about to gather his thoughts and regroup, Zeng Di burst into the Chui Gong Hall, wailing loudly.

"Your Majesty! During the retreat from Guanzhong, we were pursued by the Jin invaders, resulting in countless casualties. Grand Commandant Wu has died in battle!"

Yu Yunwen felt dizzy and reached out to grab something, but suddenly realized that he was in the main hall, surrounded by empty space, with nothing to hold onto.

The outstretched hand, hidden within the sleeve, slowly paused and clenched into a fist, then tightened firmly.

Yu Yunwen steadied himself and immediately shouted at Zeng Di, "Shut up!"

(End of this chapter)