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

Chapter 962 The Shu Prime Minister Drives the Masses West (Part 2)

"This is an insult to civilization! An insult to civilization!" Wei Qi cried out in his heart as a group of soldiers, covered in blood and reeking of foul stench, roughly draped him in infantry armor.

However, he dared not say it directly, fearing that if he complained again, this rough man surnamed Cao would give up on putting armor on him and take him directly to the front line.

On such a battlefield, what's the difference between going into battle without armor and actively courting death?
However, after donning the heavy armor weighing dozens of kilograms, Wei Qi felt completely suffocated, which gave him a sense of security but also made him feel like he couldn't breathe.

"Alright! Let's set off immediately!" After sizing up Wei Qi, Cao Dache shouted to someone behind him, "Bring a white horse! The angel's warhorse is tired!"

As he spoke, Cao Dache draped a red cloak over Wei Qi's shoulders.

"General...General does not ride a white horse!"

Wei Qi quickly refused; he didn't want to become the most conspicuous target on the front lines.

But as I said before, his word doesn't count.

Several Flying Tiger Army cavalrymen worked together to lift him onto a horse, and then Cao Dache immediately took the reins and galloped away with him.

Wei Qi felt as if his armor was turning into ice crystals in the cold wind, and all the heat in his body was being drawn away by the armor. He had no choice but to wrap the bright red cloak around his body.

Cao Dache laughed heartily: "I just said that angels are hypocritical. How about it, isn't this cloak nice!"

Wei Qi lay prone on his horse, gripping his staff tightly in his hand, unable to utter a word for a moment.

Fortunately, the central army was not too far from the front lines, and the group quickly arrived at the front's banner with the character "Lu" on horseback.

"Lord Lu!" Wei Qi dismounted, staggered a couple of steps, then leaned on his staff, about to utter some righteous and stern nonsense.

Lu You raised an index finger to block Wei Qi's path, then pointed ahead: "Don't speak, let's take a look at the battle ahead."

Wei Qi looked ahead involuntarily, and then froze completely.

Even though I have imagined the battlefield countless times through military and historical books, I still feel exhilarated and overwhelmed when I actually see soldiers shedding their blood and lives on the battlefield.

"This……"

"I told you, don't speak."

Under the intense gaze of the surrounding armored soldiers, Wei Qi immediately shut his mouth.

The terrain of this battlefield is somewhat like a funnel, and the Jin army's attack route narrows as it widens. Therefore, even though Wu Ting's force only numbered five thousand, they were able to rotate effectively and fought for nearly a day without getting tired.

This army was reorganized based on the previous Sichuan army, and its members were all carefully selected. Although they all had a blood feud with the Jin state, they still had some old scores to settle.

Wu Ting originally thought that he would not have a chance to take revenge for at least five or six years, but who would have thought that Lu You would lead them back to fight back after only one year.

Enemies meeting are bound to be furious. If Lu You hadn't come to the front and set up a flag behind Wu Ting, he might have already switched to an offensive formation and directly engaged the Jin army in a counterattack.

The Song army still deployed its most proficient formation, the stacked formation. Although this did not conform to the military philosophy that Lu You had learned from Liu Huai, the essence of military strategy lies in the mind. There are no useless formations, only useless generals. In the narrow terrain of Fufengkou, which is sandwiched between the Wei River and the Qinling Mountains and is full of hills, the stacked formation, which can make full use of the advantages of the Shenbi crossbow, is naturally the best choice.

However, the downside that followed was that the Song army still hadn't gotten rid of the general problem of not daring to engage in melee combat. Once the heavily armored long-axe soldiers in front were breached, it was easy to cause a chain reaction of retreat.

That depends on the commander's ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

At the same time, the field hospitals newly established by Lu You played a significant role.

The field hospital was set up at the very back of the front lines, in an area surrounded by wagons, where wounded soldiers would be carried to receive initial treatment.

Of course, in the era of cold weapons, it was common for soldiers to remain on the front lines even with minor injuries, and wounded soldiers who entered field hospitals could not immediately return to the battlefield. However, this undoubtedly gave the soldiers great comfort, which was equivalent to telling them that they would never abandon a wounded soldier. Therefore, the Song army fought with a somewhat fearless attitude.

"Send the order to Wu Ting. I know he wants to crush the Jin army in one fell swoop, but I won't allow it." Lu You watched the Song and Jin armies clash, remained silent for a long time, and then said, "His mission today is to inflict as many casualties as possible on the Jin army. The Jin army has many cavalry. If we defeat them, how will our army pursue them? Make him realize the importance of this!"

The military envoy immediately agreed, then raised the yellow flag and went to issue the order.

At this moment, Lu You seemed to only then remember that Wei Qi was still by his side, and turned around to say coldly, "Prefect Wei, weren't you building palaces in Jiankang? Why have you come to Guanzhong now?"

Wei Qi raised the staff in his hand and said solemnly, "I have come here to proclaim the Emperor's decree."

Lu You first glanced at the staff in Wei Qi's hand, then said to Cao Dache, "This fellow is still not behaving himself. Take off his cloak and take him to the front lines for a stroll!"

With a wicked grin, Cao Dache ripped off Wei Qi's shawl, then tucked it under his arm and weaved back and forth through the gaps on the flanks of the battle.

“Mr. Lu, this fellow is still shouting and yelling and isn’t behaving himself. Should we strip him of his skirt and walk him around again?”

"Wait! Slow down! Slow down..." Wei Qi hurriedly begged for mercy.

Lu You, however, continued to observe the battle: "That depends on how he responds next. Wei Qi, you haven't answered my question yet."

Wei Qi swallowed hard, and after a moment he said somewhat awkwardly, "His Majesty is seriously ill, and the Retired Emperor is acting as regent, so there is naturally no question of moving the capital."

"I...I had to consider my future, so I accepted the task of delivering the imperial decree."

Lu You nodded to Cao Dache: "This fellow is still not behaving himself. Let's strip him of his skirt and armor, trousers and all." Wei Qi was horrified: "Lord Lu! Lord Lu! I'm telling the truth! What else do you want me to say?"

Lu You stopped Cao Dache's actions, turned his head and looked at Wei Qi with a cold smile: "Naturally, I want you to remove all those embellishments and concealments, and to rip out your heart for me to see. I ask you, why did you come to Guanzhong!"

Wei Qi finally adopted a somewhat reckless attitude: "Naturally, it's because I'm afraid! Afraid of dying! Afraid of having no future! Lord Lu, you naturally don't know how terrifying it was in Lin'an City back then, since you're in Guanzhong!"

The Emperor was deposed by the Retired Emperor, and Minister Yu was beaten to death in front of all the court officials. Liu Gong of Shandong was also declared a traitor! The snow fell a foot that day! In all my years serving as an official in Jiangnan, I have never seen such heavy snow!

"That wasn't the end of it. The next day, Liu Gong's men in Lin'an wrote a proclamation and sent it around everywhere. His spies even used gunpowder to blow up the Deshou Palace and the gates of the imperial city! Long Dayuan and his men also gathered troops and attacked the imperial city. After their defeat, they were all killed!"
When I scrambled back to Lin'an, the bloodstains in the palace hadn't even been cleaned yet! In that situation, what could I do? What could I possibly do?!

As if to vent the fear that had accumulated over the past few days, Wei Qi even roared loudly at the end.

Lu You was not moved by Wei Qi's so-called predicament. He simply pointed to the front line where fierce fighting was still taking place and said, "You think the atmosphere in Lin'an is more frightening than here? Cao Dalang, let him go and experience the power of battle again!"

Cao Dache immediately picked up Wei Qi again and took him for a spin around the front of the battle line.

Although they didn't manage to pull down Wei Qi's pants this time, they were too close to the enemy lines and were shot by several arrows from the Jin army's light cavalry. One of the arrows hit Wei Qi squarely in the waist. Even though the armor blocked it and it didn't penetrate his flesh, it still brought a sharp pain.

After being tormented again, Wei Qi was completely discouraged: "Lord Lu, please ask whatever you want. I will answer to the best of my knowledge."

After staring at Wei Qi for a moment, Lu You asked, "Is the Emperor still alive?"

"He is alive, of course, but he is insane and can no longer perform his duties. Otherwise, the restoration of the retired emperor would not have been so easy."

"So the decree in your hand belongs to the Emperor Emeritus? What does he want me to do?"

"Naturally, we should withdraw our troops and then try to negotiate peace with the Jin Kingdom. As for Prime Minister Lu, the position of Prime Minister of the Western Palace is now vacant, and the Emperor Emeritus has invited Prime Minister Lu to return to Lin'an."

"Hmph... If I return to Lin'an, I'll probably end up like Yue Pengju."

Wei Qi remained silent, which was an admission of agreement.

Lu You shook his head upon seeing this: "Your Majesty has been firmly seated on the throne for many years, how could you be so easily subdued by the retired emperor? Surely Long Dayuan is not the only loyal minister of Your Majesty?"

Wei Qi shook his head: "Of course not, Zhang Shuo and Tao Zhu were among those who died that day..."

In my humble opinion, the reason why the Emperor Emeritus was able to succeed was twofold: firstly, he dispatched his capable advisors to other posts for both the relocation of the capital and the Northern Expedition. For example, if any one of the Grand Commandants, such as Cheng Min, Wu Gong, or Li Xianzong, had been stationed in Lin'an, Yang Yizhong would have been unable to mobilize troops.

Secondly, the powerful clans of Jiangnan could not profit from the Northern Expedition and were already tired of spending money and sending troops.

This isn't just me making things up. Within days, the Emperor Emeritus stabilized the situation in Jiangnan; that would have been impossible without the intervention of those powerful clans.

Lu You nodded slightly.

Wei Qi's words were similar to his judgment, but this was also the outcome that Lu You was most worried about.

The Song Dynasty is about to begin another period of suffocating complacency.

But the key issue is that the Song state is now facing not the Jurchen barbarians, but Liu Huai, a newly emerging Han Chinese military and political group. Can it continue to remain in a corner of the country?

"Does the Emperor Emeritus have any further orders?"

"Yes, since Liu Gong has been declared a traitor and he has issued a proclamation in Lin'an, we have no choice but to immediately send troops to punish the rebel."

"Someone has already gone to Huaibei to deliver the imperial edict, appointing Jin Shao Hongyuan as Junior Guardian, Military Governor of Ningyuan Army, and Commander-in-Chief of Huaibei, Nanjing, Jingdong, and Hebei, and Li Xianzong as Grand Master of the Three Offices and Deputy Commander-in-Chief, to attack Henan and Shandong."

"Before I entered Sichuan, I also went to Nanyang to deliver an imperial edict ordering Cheng Min and Wu Gong to attack Xuzhou and Bianliang."

Lu You swayed on his horse, looking at Wei Qi in disbelief: "Has the Emperor Emeritus gone mad? Have those generals gone mad too?"

Wei Qi automatically ignored Lu You's evaluation of Zhao Gou: "There are also some opinions in the court that at this time, Liu Gong is leading the main force of the army to fight against the Jin Kingdom in Hebei. Shandong and Henan are currently undefended and are also the old territories of our Great Song. As long as our army attacks, the local Han people will naturally welcome the royal army with food and drink."

"Bullshit!" An unnatural flush appeared on Lu You's face: "Did those Grand Commandants say the same thing?"

"Grand Commandant Shao and Grand Commandant Li were unaware of this, but Grand Commandant Wu said it was a chaotic order and that he would petition the court to rescind it. After receiving the decree, Grand Commandant Cheng..." Wei Qi's face turned slightly sour: "He fainted immediately. Although he regained consciousness after the physician administered acupuncture, he had lost sensation in the right half of his body and had difficulty speaking."

Lu You was taken aback again. Just as he was about to say something, a Flying Tiger Armored Warrior came to Lu You's side with a package in his arms, beaming with joy.

Lu You opened the wooden box, took out a letter, glanced at it, and then sighed deeply.

Wei Qi craned his neck to try and read the contents of the letter, but then heard a burst of loud cheers erupt from the front: "The Jin invaders have retreated!"

"The Jurchen invaders have retreated! A great victory!"

Wei Qi quickly turned his head to look, only to see that the Jin army had indeed abandoned the attack, gathered their troops, and retreated.

The Song soldiers cheered and shouted.

Amidst this joyous atmosphere, Lu You's voice was as cold as ice: "The opportunity that all the officials in the court saw is gone."

(End of this chapter)