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

Chapter 998 The Veteran Generals Sigh in Vain

The north wind was biting.

On the city wall of Xingyang, Pu Sanzhongyi gazed silently at the Suoshui River before him.

Compared to a few years ago, Pusan ​​Zhongyi has aged rapidly. Not only has his hair turned completely white, but the wrinkles on his face are also crisscrossed as if carved by a knife and axe.

Logically speaking, Pusan ​​Zhongyi was in the prime of his life as a general, and his body had not suffered any serious injuries, so he should not have aged so quickly.

As the Grand Marshal of the Jin Dynasty, the fate of the nation naturally became his own.

The Eastern Jin Dynasty has already fallen, so how long can the Western Jin Dynasty remain peaceful? Under the immense military pressure from the Han Dynasty, even if Pu Sanzhongyi had a good understanding of health preservation, he could not escape the five signs of decay.

Pucha Shijie quickly climbed to the top of the city wall, and then stood side by side with his friend and superior, but they were looking north.

The river was frozen over, and no shimmering waves could be seen; only a white gleam reflected from the ice.

“If you want to send troops, you should take advantage of the frozen river to seize Hanoi and then advance on Shangdang.”

Attacking into the Central Plains would be suicidal. Even if Bianliang were destroyed, so what? Liu Bei's traitorous regime has now become a vast empire; would he still care about the gain or loss of a single city or territory?

Pu Sanzhongyi nodded slowly: "I know."

Pucha Shijie turned around, stared intently at Pusan ​​Zhongyi, and said, word by word, "Wu Zhe, your military strategy is a hundred times better than mine, but I still have to advise you, these soldiers are the last blood and bones of my Great Jin, and we must not squander them lightly."

Pu Sanzhongyi nodded again: "I know too."

Pucha Shijie breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, but was also somewhat helpless: "Since you already knew, why did you still lead 20,000 troops to Xingyang? Didn't you consider that this might provoke a response from the Han army? Or even lead to another major battle?"

Pu Sanzhongyi was equally helpless: "I know all of this. What exactly are you trying to say? Do you want me to explain why we sent a large army to Xingyang even after clearing out the entire treasury?"

Pucha Shijie didn't say much, he just stared at Pusan ​​Zhongyi.

After a brief standoff, Pu Sanzhongyi sighed and waved his hand to send his guards away.

"Alright, now I can tell you clearly. But you must not spread this outside, lest it shake the morale of the army."

Pu Sanzhongyi leaned against the parapet, his words becoming increasingly difficult: "Wulu died in Yanjing, and His Majesty suffered a great defeat in Guanzhong. In truth, by this point, I had no other choice, and the Great Jin had lost all initiative to advance."

"If it weren't for the internal strife within the Song Dynasty, do you believe that the Jin Dynasty would be forced to defend Chang'an and Luoyang by now?"

Pucha Shijie also seemed rather relieved: "This turmoil in the Song Dynasty came at a good time. It not only relieved the Jin Dynasty's urgent crisis, but also declared Liu the traitor, making the two sides irreconcilable enemies."

At this point, Pucha Shijie widened his eyes slightly: "Wu Zhe, did you come here to make an issue for the Song Kingdom so that they could make progress in Henan?"

Pu Sanzhongyi was somewhat amused and exasperated, and spread his hands in response: "Isn't it ridiculous that the only way for the Great Jin to survive is in the Song Dynasty? To be frank, if someone had dared to say this a few years ago, I would have thought that guy was delirious."

Pucha Shijie also felt it was somewhat absurd. After a long while, he finally sorted out his thoughts and couldn't help but smile bitterly: "There's nothing we can do about it. If you ask me, His Majesty should send someone to form an alliance with the Song Kingdom, even if it's just a relationship like that of uncle and nephew."

Then, while Liu Bei's main force is in Youyan, we can launch a pincer attack on Henan from the south and north; we can't afford to achieve nothing.

“Difficult, difficult, difficult.” Pu Sanzhongyi shook his head repeatedly: “After all, it was His Majesty who conquered the Song Dynasty and forced Zhao Gou to abdicate. Even if that old eunuch had a bit of courage or backbone, he wouldn’t… um?”

These days, Pu Sanzhongyi is so worried about the turmoil in the world that he can't eat or sleep. Now that he thinks about it carefully, can he really treat Zhao Gou as a normal person?
Pucha Shijie immediately understood and said, "I will immediately send a military envoy to report to His Majesty!"

Pu Sanzhongyi waved his hand and said, "Never mind, His Majesty is wise. What we can think of, he can also think of."

Pucha Shijie thought about it and realized that it made sense, so he stopped.

After the two stood silently on the city wall for a while, feeling the cold wind, Pucha Shijie finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Wu Zhe, what should we do now?"

Pu Sanzhongyi's voice was as firm as iron: "Wait!"

"wait?"

"Exactly. No matter how useless the Song Dynasty is, it is still a great nation with thousands of miles of territory. It still has many elite soldiers and brave generals in the Huai River region. Otherwise, how could it have defeated the southern expeditionary army that day?"
Now that Henan and Shandong are so vulnerable, I've personally come to Xingyang to draw the Han army's attention. If the Song state still can't do something, then it's time for the Song state to perish.

After speaking with confidence, Pu Sanzhongyi looked eastward, his gaze passing over the rows of wooden fences, moats, and earthen ramparts, and over the Suo River that stretched across Xingyang City, finally settling on several knights who were stationed in front of the Han army's defensive fortifications.

Li Xianzong seemed to sense something and looked up at the city wall of Xingyang in the distance, but because it was too far away, with many figures and banners waving on the city wall, and because he was looking up from below, he couldn't see clearly at first.

If Li Xianzong knew what Pusan ​​Zhongyi was thinking at this moment, he would surely feel both amused and exasperated. From the perspective of the overall situation, Pusan ​​Zhongyi's thinking and actions were absolutely correct. He truly deserved to be called a famous general, having almost brought the military power under his command to its fullest potential.

However, all of this could not prevent the Song army from being swiftly defeated by Xin Qiji with fewer troops, making all of Pu Sanzhongyi's plans seem like a joke from God's perspective.

"Grand Commandant Li, have you seen enough?"

Gao Yu, the Jinyiwei captain escorting... or rather, protecting Li Xianzong northward, said somewhat impatiently, "If you've seen enough, how about we set off immediately? The Emperor is still in Yanjing."

Li Xianzong did not answer, but stared at the defensive positions stretching for dozens of miles in front of him. After a moment of distraction, he said, "The Jurchens' defenses are so strong; they must have put a lot of thought into it."

Gao Yu wanted to finish this mission quickly, so he spoke very frankly: "Of course. Although the Jin bandits are brutal, they are still smart. They have many elite soldiers and generals. They only took a few hits from our artillery and explosives and figured out how to defend themselves."

As he spoke, Gao Yu pointed to the systematic defensive measures that the Jin Kingdom had built around Xingyang City, including earthen ramparts and trenches: "Grand Commandant Li, don't think that this is a waste of manpower and resources by the Jin bandits. In fact, it is precisely this kind of clumsy method that is the most effective."

Li Xianzong shook his head repeatedly, but his thoughts were on the Huai River army.

They clearly knew that the Han army's firearms were powerful, and the Song state had also developed some explosives, so why didn't they use drills to find ways to counter them?

The elite formation of Li Ziyuan's troops was literally blown apart by the explosive charge.

If we had been prepared in advance, wouldn't there have been fewer casualties and a greater chance of winning?
"Does Grand Commandant Li have anything to say?" Gao Yu asked curiously, "Or is there something wrong with our army's defensive facilities?"

Li Xianzong didn't mention what he had just thought, but changed the subject: "Xingyang has become so badly damaged that, while it may not be considered impregnable, it is certainly extremely difficult to attack. I just don't know how Liu...King of Han...Emperor will be able to attack Luoyang from here?"

Upon hearing this, Gao Yu laughed and said, "Grand Commandant Li is mistaken. Even I, a mere captain, can understand that Hulao Pass is not easy to attack, let alone so many famous ministers and generals in the central government."
If you ask me, since it's difficult to fight from here, why not just not fight from here at all?

As Gao Yu spoke, his arm involuntarily pointed in all directions: "After taking control of the entire Jin territory, we will cross the Yellow River from Pinglu into Shanzhou and attack Luoyang."

“We will send troops from Hedong, cross the river at Puban, or even send troops from Xuzhou, pass through Nanyang, break through Wuguan, attack Guanzhong, take Chang'an, and then attack Luoyang along the Tongguan Road.”

"Or we could enter Yique Pass directly from Nanyang and attack Luoyang."

After Gao Yu finished speaking, he spread his hands: "There are too many methods, and they can be used together. Given the current situation of Xijin, how long can it hold out? Even if Pusan ​​Zhongyi is resourceful and brave, he still doesn't have the method of turning beans into soldiers. How can he conjure up troops to deal with the Han's siege from all sides?"

"However, these are all last resorts. I think that after the Jin bandits suffered a major defeat in Guanzhong, they will inevitably fall into internal strife sooner or later. Perhaps they will start to panic before our army even moves."

Li Xianzong nodded repeatedly halfway through the conversation, and finally turned to look at Gao Yu with a surprised expression: "How do you, a mere officer, know so much?"

Because information travels slowly in this era, knowledge and, most importantly, timely information are a privilege, let alone strategies that concern the entire world situation.

Gao Yu didn't hide anything, and took out a thick book from his saddlebag and handed it over: "Of course, it was by reading the official gazette, otherwise, how could it be just random guessing?"
"Grand Commandant Li, you must be careful. This is a book I pieced together from official gazettes; the order is all set. It absolutely mustn't be broken."

Li Xianzong took the book and opened it to the first page, which was a map of the current state of the world.
The second page recounts the entire process of the Battle of Huolu;
The third page discusses the legitimacy of the establishment of the Han Dynasty;
The fourth page contains several strange tales.

Page five contains several subtly risqué jokes...

There are countless variations.

On page ten, Li Xianzong also saw the strategy towards Xijin that Gao Yu had just mentioned.

On a simple small map, several large arrows surround Xijin, almost as if they are attacking from all sides.

Of course, Li Xianzong also understood that since the Han Dynasty had not even completely occupied the Jin territory, this strategic plan could only remain on paper. However, the significance behind these official reports alone was already extraordinary.

"Is everyone in the Han Dynasty literate now? Can everyone read the official gazette?"

“Of course not, but more and more people are becoming literate.” Gao Yu sighed. “Before, as long as you could read, you had all sorts of promising futures. Now you also have to be able to write articles. It’s getting more and more difficult.”

"As for the official gazette and the Gewu Gazette, they are very popular, and the reason is simple: they are cheap."

A single copper coin could buy two large sheets of paper covered in writing. Even illiterate farmers would be willing to buy one sheet, and by accumulating them, they could make a book, which at least helped them learn to read.

Furthermore, with the emperor sparing no expense in establishing schools in the garrison and communities, the more literate people there were, the more people would buy the official gazette.

Li Xianzong was stunned for a moment before he gripped the book tightly and sighed to the sky: "Today, I never expected to glimpse Liu Dalang's destiny on just a few sheets of paper."

Ignoring Li Xianzong's sighs, Gao Yu quickly snatched the scrapbook, carefully smoothing out the wrinkles, feeling extremely distressed.

(End of this chapter)