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

Chapter 974 The Unyielding Morale of the Army (Part 2)
The saying goes, "Major issues are discussed in small meetings, while minor issues are discussed in large meetings."

Such a momentous event, which determines the future and destiny of many people, and involves so many people with conflicting interests, is destined to be impossible to discuss clearly in just a few words.

Lu You naturally understood this principle, so after announcing the news, he simply kept drinking his tea.

After nearly an hour of debate, the generals finally reached a conclusion.

The withdrawal of troops was imperative; the news could no longer be concealed, and morale was bound to waver.

Moreover, with the court shifting towards appeasement, victory on the battlefield would no longer be considered a merit, but rather a crime.

They fought a desperate battle and recovered a large amount of lost territory, but instead of achieving anything, they were actually punished. This is probably the magical politics of the Song Dynasty.

Unless Lu You immediately declares himself king, all his efforts will be in vain.

As for whether Lu You could establish himself independently, to put it bluntly, if he really had that ambition, not only would he not have needed to leave Hebei back then, but if he were to ride alone to Youyan now, he could probably get a position as a founding prime minister.

The Song generals naturally had to abide by the rules of the Song state. Even the most vocal Wu Ting and others only urged Lu You not to return to the court, but to stay in northern Sichuan under the pretext of unrest on the border, or at least in Chengdu, and absolutely not to go to Lin'an.

Most of the generals were at a loss and panicked, saying all sorts of things.

"Alright, everyone go back and think about it." When everyone was parched, Lu You finally spoke while drinking tea: "Don't disturb the morale of the army. Fufeng is not close to Dasanguan."

The group understood and got up to leave.

Only Zhang Zhongyan remained seated, and slowly said to Lu You, "Lord Lu, must I really make a trip to Lin'an?"

Lu You said calmly, "That's natural."

Zhang Zhongyan remained undeterred: "I still have some connections in Guanzhong, enough to stabilize the borders for the Song Dynasty."

Lu You looked up at the other person and said with a half-smile, "It is precisely because Zhang Jiedu is so prestigious that we dare not let you stay in Guanzhong."

The Jurchen invasion of Guanzhong could still be considered foreign rule, but if Zhang Jiedu (Zhang the General) were to establish a firm foothold there, the Song Dynasty might truly never be able to recover.

Zhang Zhongyan remained silent for a moment before sighing, "Would my nephew be suitable?"

"It's always a last resort. If the situation allows, I won't let any foreign general have a foothold in Guanzhong." Lu You said after drinking another cup of tea, "Even so, if Zhang Congjin can't get back Tudan Hexi's head this time, I will risk Guanzhong being thrown into chaos to kill him."

Zhang Zhongyan's expression changed, but he immediately became dejected.

Being held captive and deprived of freedom, without even a means to send messages, all he could do was pray in his heart that his nephew would live up to his potential.

After Lu You finished making his harsh remarks in a calm tone, someone finally called out names outside the tent.

Unsurprisingly, the first person to secretly seek out Lu You was the veteran general Li Shiyan.

"Prime Minister Lu...Prime Minister Lu, such a major event has occurred in the court...this..."

Li Shiyan was somewhat incoherent, his white beard trembling, and for a moment he couldn't say anything.

Lu You, however, understood the implied meaning from the sound of the stringed instrument and immediately said, "The situation in Guanzhong still depends on the old general to maintain it. I will leave some Guanzhong troops for the old general to use, in order to counterbalance Zhang Congjin."

Li Shiyan immediately stamped his foot: "That's not what I wanted to talk about! The key is that the court clearly doesn't want Guanzhong anymore. Even if we can hold on, wouldn't that be considered disobeying the imperial decree?"

Lu You: "Then General Li, what do you intend to do?"

"Lord Lu must give me an explanation, and it must come from the court, before I can do my job with peace of mind. Otherwise... otherwise wouldn't I be considered a traitor? I have fought for the country for many years, and I absolutely cannot accept this label."

Lu You couldn't help but chuckle.

Seeing this, Li Shiyan was quite annoyed.

"Lord Lu, I know that you won this battle by defying the imperial decree, so you can look down on me, a coward. But are scholar-officials and bandits the same thing? The saying goes, 'Punishment does not apply to scholar-officials, and etiquette does not apply to commoners.' If an old revolutionary like me were to truly defy the imperial decree, my entire family would be wiped out."

“There’s no such thing as a scholar-official being exempt from punishment anymore. Even Prime Minister Yu has been beaten to death.” Lu You waved his hand, interrupting Li Shiyan’s statement: “I was just laughing. You all didn’t realize how dangerous the situation is now. You only thought that the chaos in the court would affect your own economy and career, but you didn’t think that the Song Dynasty is also in danger of collapse.”

Li Shiyan was dumbfounded, speechless for a moment, wanting to ask but not knowing where to begin.

Seeing this, Lu You changed the subject: "General, if you continue to hold out in Guanzhong, the court will naturally give some explanation in five months at the latest."

"Can you make a guarantee, Lord Lu?"

"General Li has the right to decide. If there is another imperial decree, he can simply lead his troops back. Why would he need any guarantees?"

After much deliberation, Li Shiyan finally nodded through gritted teeth: "Since you have an explanation, that's good. You've fought all the tough battles, so what's the big deal about me holding out in Guanzhong for several months? In fact, I've come out on top." After Li Shiyan left, Wu Ting, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed into the tent.

However, after rushing in, Wu Ting, just like Li Shiyan before him, was speechless, seemingly trying to express something, but his thoughts were not very coherent.

Lu You waited quietly for a while before slowly saying under Zhang Zhongyan's strange gaze, "Wu Wulang, since you have nothing to say, then I will ask."

Wu Ting seemed relieved: "Please ask, Lord Lu."

Do you resent the Song Dynasty?

The first sentence left Wu Ting speechless once again. After a moment, he murmured, "Lord Lu, how could I resent the court and Lord Yu? And my father, uncle, and elder brother, weren't they all military governors of the Song Dynasty? How could I resent them?"

Seeing this, Lu You smiled and shook his head: "It seems I didn't explain myself clearly. Let me ask you, if the retired emperor were to become emperor again, and the appeasement faction were in power in the court, would you resent the court?"

Wu Ting remained silent.

Silence is also a form of attitude, and Lu You immediately understood: "If one day the Song Dynasty is about to perish, would you still be willing to fight on the battlefield?"

Wu Ting responded quickly this time: "The Emperor Emeritus is the Emperor Emeritus, and the Song Dynasty is the Song Dynasty. My Wu family has been blessed by the country for generations. If the Song Dynasty is in danger, I will sacrifice myself to protect the country."

Lu You nodded again: "Then are you willing to obey my military orders?"

Wu Ting maintained his cupped-hands posture, still speaking crisply and decisively: "Lord Lu saved Shu from peril and thwarted the Jin invaders' sharp edge. He is a renowned general of the world, and I will follow his lead."

Lu You nodded with a smile, but then sighed, "If everyone in the world had a pure heart like Wu Wulang, then worldly affairs could be handled properly."

"Wu Wulang, since you trust me, just follow my orders. There's no need for further discussion," Lu You said solemnly to Wu Ting. "I'll handle everything."

Upon hearing this, Wu Ting seemed to put his mind at ease, loudly agreed, and then turned and left.

After Wu Ting left, the other generals also entered one after another. Some were panicked, some sought promises, and some tried to get information indirectly.

Lu You responded to each move with a variety of tactics, managing to appease all the Song generals.

Zhang Zhongyan, who was sitting to the side, went from being curious and hesitant at first to showing admiration later.

Two hours later, as darkness fell, Lu You had met with everyone, and Zhang Zhongyan finally said sincerely, "Lord Lu is truly a genius of the world."

Lu You didn't know where these words came from, but he neither refuted them nor responded; he simply raised his cup and drank his tea.

Zhang Zhongyan smiled wryly and continued, "I suppose so. I'm getting old and senile. Leaving aside the fact that Duke Wei and Liu Dalang are renowned generals, simply recapturing Dasanguan with a small force is a remarkable feat. As for this battle..."

Zhang Zhongyan sighed repeatedly, "Prime Minister Lu must have already known the news from the court, yet he still overcame countless difficulties to first defeat the Jin army before calmly making arrangements. This kind of composure alone makes him an excellent choice... truly... truly..."

In the end, Zhang Zhongyan was somewhat dejected: "If it had been you, Lord Lu, who commanded the battle of Fuping that day, instead of that scoundrel Zhang Jun, how wonderful that would have been."

Lu You's cheek twitched a few times, inexplicably annoyed: "Commander Zhang, do you think I don't want to crush the situation with overwhelming force? Do you think I want to take every risky step? It's all because... sigh..."

Lu You quickly lost the desire to speak, and could only hold his teacup and sigh repeatedly.

The next day, around noon, when Zhang Congjin brought nearly a thousand heads, including those of Tu Danhexi, to Fufengkou, he was surprised to find that only Li Shiyan and a little over a thousand Guanzhong soldiers who had recently joined his ranks were there.

Where is Lord Lu?

Li Shiyan carefully examined Tudan Hexi's head before he was relieved: "There is an imperial decree ordering Prime Minister Lu to lead a large army back to Shu."

Zhang Congjin almost jumped up: "We've already won a great victory, and Guanzhong is within our grasp. At this point, is the Song Dynasty really going to withdraw its troops?"

Li Shiyan rolled her eyes: "Xiao Zhang, that's not a fair thing to say. I'm right here in front of you!"

Zhang Congjin was taken aback upon hearing this, then looked at the two thousand elite Guanzhong soldiers arrayed beside Li Shiyan and immediately felt a sense of confusion.

"Old Li, you absolutely have to tell me, has something gone wrong in the Song Dynasty court?"

Li Shiyan said slowly, "Xiao Zhang, you are a smart man. I know I can't hide it from you, and you can find out. But Master Lu instructed me to tell you the whole story three days later. Xiao Zhang, please don't make things difficult for me."

Zhang Congjin immediately became somewhat agitated.

But Li Shiyan lowered his voice and said, "Now that the main force of the Jin bandits has suffered heavy losses, and Prime Minister Lu has to temporarily return to Shu, isn't this exactly what you wanted? Why ask so many questions?"

Zhang Congjin never expected that Li Shiyan, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, would say such things. After thoroughly examining the man, he was immediately captivated.

He couldn't help but turn back to look at the Guanzhong Plain, where he saw blue sky and white land, truly a wonderful place with a vast sky and sea!
(End of this chapter)