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

Chapter 982 Each with their own agenda and ulterior motives (Part 2)

"Report! The troops from Suqian have fled at the mere sight of us! General! We have achieved our first major victory in this battle!"

"it is good!"

Shao Hongyuan clapped his hands and laughed, "My army is truly invincible wherever it goes! Grand Commandant Li, do you have anything else to say?!"

Li Xianzong was too lazy to bother with this guy.

But Shao Hongyuan persisted: "Grand Commandant Li, you always say that Flying Tiger's troops are elite and powerful, but now they have collapsed before the battle even started. Do you think they have an ambush ahead?"

The last sentence clearly had a somewhat mocking tone.

Li Xianzong finally lost his patience. He first waved for the two men's personal guards to move away, and then sneered at Shao Hongyuan, saying, "I actually know that Prime Minister Yu has long been infiltrating and winning over the northern lands. Some people have been exposed by the Embroidered Uniform Guards, while others have remained hidden."

I don't know exactly who it is, nor should I know, but it seems that Zhang Anguo or Shan Ding is one of them.

"Hmph, these are all key pieces. Minister Yu said they would be used only in crucial moments, and is this truly a crucial moment? And their only purpose is to withdraw troops at the last minute to boost our morale?"

Shao Hongyuan smiled and said, "Grand Commandant Li is indeed clever. Why don't you guess why one of those two would choose to defect to the Song Dynasty?!"

Li Xianzong, however, was somewhat indignant: "Guess, guess, guess! This is a matter of national importance, and you want me to guess here! What's there to guess about the thoughts of just one person?!"

Shao Hongyuan was surprised that Li Xianzong was so disrespectful, and his expression changed.

Li Xianzong, however, did not stop and continued, "You might as well let me guess what you're going to do next!"

Shao Hongyuan felt his face flush slightly: "Then tell me."

Li Xianzong sneered a few times: "Divide your forces to surround Suqian and Xiapi, while the main army continues its march along the Yellow River, heading straight for Pengcheng. Is that right?"

Shao Hongyuan remained silent.

Seeing that he had guessed correctly, Li Xianzong felt even more grief and indignation: "You scoundrel... what do you take your men for? Have you ever thought that if the Lianghuai army is completely defeated, there will be no proper troops north of the Yangtze River? When Flying Tigers drink from the Yangtze River, what will you use to stop them?"

Even a high-ranking Grand Commandant like Shao Hongyuan couldn't save face after being reprimanded to his face by Li Xianzong: "Enough! Grand Commandant Li, what do you know? Do you think those spies only support the Song Dynasty on the battlefield? Let me tell you the truth, I have already ascertained the true situation of Xuzhou!"

"Xin Qiji only has a few hundred cavalry in Xuzhou, and the rest of the militia and garrison troops number only three or four thousand. As long as we can cross Pizhou quickly and surround Xin Qiji in Pengcheng, Shandong will immediately fall into chaos!"
Our army has explosives, manpower, and the ability to build siege equipment. How can we not break through Pengcheng within a month?! When Flying Tiger's Henan Grand Commander is besieged and killed, I'll see what troops in Shandong will dare to defy the Song Dynasty!

Li Xianzong stared intently at Shao Hongyuan and said, word by word, "You are gambling with the fate of the Song Dynasty!"

This time it was Shao Hongyuan's turn to show his anger: "That's right! I'm going to gamble my life and future, the lives of these soldiers, the survival of the Huai River region, and the fate of the Song Dynasty!"
If the gamble pays off, the Song Dynasty can take control of Shandong, reclaim half of Henan, seize cannon and gunpowder workshops, and capture the families of Flying Tiger's troops. The Song Dynasty will then naturally have a third of the Mandate of Heaven.

And if you lose the bet, it just means you'll die two years earlier! Fei Hu Zi has already said that the Song Dynasty isn't legitimate; do you really think he won't invade the south?!
What are you going to do now?! Aren't you afraid to gamble?!

Shao Hongyuan's words were reasonable and well-founded, and he even had the upper hand in terms of momentum over Li Xianzong. However, Li Xianzong knew in his heart that no matter how open and honest Shao Hongyuan spoke, he would still be the first to flee when the time came.

Shao Hongyuan has done this kind of shady thing at least three times already!
After Shao Hongyuan finished speaking, he panted heavily and took out a roll of bright yellow silk from the saddlebag beside the saddle: "But it doesn't matter. I have an imperial edict here and bear the heavy responsibility of the commander-in-chief. Li Xianzong, will you obey my military orders or not?!"

Li Xianzong glanced at the imperial edict before sneering, "What difference does it make whether I listen or not?"

Shao Hongyuan put the imperial edict back into the saddlebag and said solemnly, "If you obey orders, you should do your best for the army. If you do not obey orders, I will naturally be unable to deal with Grand Commandant Li. I ask Grand Commandant Li to take sick leave and return to the capital to Lin'an to recuperate."

Li Xianzong gripped the hilt of his sword, gazing at the winter river in the cold wind. After a long while, he let out a long, roaring sigh and spurred his horse northward.

The Song army marched along the Yellow River in a grand procession. After leaving 5,000 soldiers and 3,000 laborers to besiege Suqian, the army continued without stopping, bypassing the city.

During this period, Shao Hongyuan and Li Xianzong reached a consensus for the first time and jointly issued two military orders.

One of them was that after capturing Suqian, the entire city's wealth and women were given to the army to use.

Secondly, anyone who dares to approach within three miles of Wei Sheng's tomb will be killed without mercy!

After dispatching trusted generals to serve as military judges to maintain order, the army continued its march northwest.

It wasn't until December 4th, after the Song army easily crossed the Yi River and established a siege camp around Xiapi, that accurate information finally reached Xin Qiji.

"Oh? They're coming for me?!"

Xin Qiji listened to the military envoy's report and kept sneering.

Chen Wenben frowned and said, "Something's not right. One of Zhang Anguo and Shan Ding is not right."

Xin Qiji looked at Chen Wenben with a half-smile: "Who do you think is a bit off?"

Chen Wenben thought for a moment before slowly saying, "If the Song army were to besiege Xiapi with a large force, there would be a 20% chance of something going wrong. But if the Song army were to bypass Xiapi and head straight for Pengcheng, then Zhang Anguo would be 80% at risk."

"To be frank, given the terrain of Xiapi, if Zhang Anguo truly wanted to defend it, the Song army wouldn't even be able to cross the Yi River without a combined land and water force of 100,000 regular troops!"

Xin Qiji smiled and nodded slightly, but that didn't stop him from crushing the brush handle in his hand to pieces.

Just as Chen Wenben said, Xiapi is surrounded by water on all sides, and both the Yi River and the Yellow River are considered to be wide.

The passage of a great river always brings the convenience of water transport, which in turn leads to a dense network of waterways and crisscrossing waterways.

Even though it is winter now and the river is not as flowing as it is in summer, it is not an easy place to cross.

Without Zhang Anguo's cooperation, the Song army would have been able to bypass Xiapi so quickly, as if they had grown wings.

How could this not shock and anger Xin Qiji?
But why?!

Is it still unclear who is stronger and who is weaker?

The Song state was being suppressed by the Jin state, and the Han army was suppressing the Jin army. Now, even the emperor has lost his head.

Those people in the Song state have lost their minds. You, Zhang Anguo, were among the first to rise up in Shandong. Can't you tell the difference between following the right path and rebelling against it?

But these are all minor details.

Whether it was Zhang Anguo or Shan Ding who was inappropriate, it meant that Xin Qiji was about to face a difficult situation. Xuzhou and Pengcheng, which were originally in the rear, had suddenly become the front line.

The essence of Pengcheng is not in the city itself. The surrounding ironworks, foundries, gunpowder factories, inland river shipyards, and textile factories were all standard government-run factories. If you include the privately-run workshops and the markets that formed along with them, it can be considered a standard feudal-era handicraft city.

The kind that shows signs of early capitalism.

Forget about capturing or besieging such a city; just the mere prospect of enemy troops approaching and harassing it would be an unbearable loss.

After a long silence, Xin Qiji got up and went to the map. Looking at the Han-Song border roughly divided by the Huai River, he frowned and said, "A few days ago, Minister Li wrote to me saying that Zhang Shu led the remaining Chenzhou army south to the Chenzhou area to guard against the Song army launching an attack from Xia Cai."

But now it seems the main force of the Song army actually marched out of Chuzhou and attacked Xuzhou along the Yellow River… Ha, this is definitely not Zhao Gou's incompetent plan; it's very likely that it was Yu Xianggong's initial contingency plan… Zhang Qi, ha, how come my Tianping Army is full of such trash!”

In the end, even with Chen Wenben still by his side, Xin Qiji couldn't help but fly into a rage.

Chen Wen listened quietly, unsure how to offer comfort, so he changed the subject to military matters: "Should we send Zhang Shu with his troops to provide reinforcements immediately?"

Xin Qiji pointed to Fangcheng Xiadao, which connects Nanyang with the Central Plains: "No, now the Chenzhou army is divided into two. One half follows Dalang on the northern expedition, and the other half is led by Zhang Shu to guard Henan. This is also the only organized regular army in Henan."

The reason for choosing to observe from Chenzhou is that it allows them to keep an eye on the north, south, east, and west, and to provide support to all sides at any time.

The movements of the Song army in Xiangfan are currently unclear. If they do indeed attempt to seize Bianliang, then they will need Zhang Shu's support. Although Han Wenguang is a fierce general, he lacks elite troops and is unlikely to be a match for the large Song army.

"Should we summon all the garrison troops and agricultural settlers? Should we gather all able-bodied men to defend the city?"

Xin Qiji shook his head directly: "No, it's too late. At the speed of the Song army, they will be at the city gates in three days at the latest. If I don't defend Pengcheng, the city's mind will definitely be in turmoil; but if I stay in Pengcheng, the whole of Shandong and Henan will definitely be leaderless."

Even with Prime Minister Li Tong stationed in Bianliang, he would be too far away to effectively manage everything and would be unable to attend to all aspects of the situation.

Chen Wenben finally showed signs of impatience, shaking his head and sighing, "This won't work, that won't work, Fifth Brother, you have to give me an explanation. Are you suggesting we abandon the city and flee?"

Xin Qiji, however, responded calmly: "Chen Liulang, the situation is critical, but we cannot panic. We must clearly understand the situation from all sides, and we must also figure out the priorities. Isn't that right?"

Chen Wenben nodded.

Xin Qiji maintained his composed expression, but his eyebrows twitched slightly: "The primary task now is to prevent the Song army from approaching Pengcheng, isn't that right?"

Chen Wenben became somewhat agitated again, but he still restrained himself and nodded emphatically.

"Whether it's reinforcements or mobilizing the militia, it's too late, isn't it?"

Chen Wenben finally spoke up helplessly: "Fifth Brother, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"I want to say..." Xin Qiji picked up his heavy sword, drew it halfway, and looked at the blade as he slowly said, "Do those Flying Tiger soldiers you brought dare to fight?"

Chen Wenben was slightly taken aback, then let out a sinister laugh.

(End of this chapter)