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

Chapter 15: Several Generations of Clear Streams Submit to Turbid Currents (Part )
Wei Sheng looked at the clerk in silence, then turned back to look at his adopted son: "Put away the knife. This is the capital of the Song Dynasty. Don't let others think that we are bad guys..."

Before he could finish his words, a tall scholar in azure clothes walked out of the door in a rage: "Wei Yanwei! Who are you going to kill?!"

Liu Huai knew he was mistaken, but seeing someone condescendingly scolding him, he couldn't help but retort, "Of course we have to kill the Jin thieves!"

The scholar in blue choked when he heard this. After seeing who the blood-stained and dusty person was, he couldn't help but get furious again: "Look at your Dalang. He's copied your dirty fighting style. He's not even half decent!"

"The blood on his body is the blood of the Jin thieves, how can it be vile?" Wei Sheng said without losing face: "If you say that Huai'er is vile, then you scholars and officials who have guarded the Huai River and Huai River regions as the border of our country are respectable?"

This sore spot was hit so hard that the scholar in blue frowned and walked away in anger.

After all, not everyone has the nerve of Mr. Qin.

Wei Sheng didn't care at all. After greeting Liu Huai, he strode into the government office with a long sword on his back.

The yamen runners and clerks around seemed to be accustomed to this kind of scene, and no one tried to stop them, allowing the father and son to go straight to the back house of the government office.

In the middle of the lobby, a thin official in a crimson official uniform was slowly drinking tea, his official hat with long wings placed aside, his sparse gray hair pinned on top of his head with a wooden hairpin, the wrinkles on his face were sparse but deep, giving people a sense of majesty without anger.

Liu Huai knew in his heart that this person was Lan Shiji, the prefect of Chuzhou.

There was a person sitting on each side of the hall. On the left was the scholar in blue, and on the right was a young military commander with a body as strong as a bear.

The man was about twenty years old, with a dark complexion, as if he had been exposed to the sun for many years. His beard was like thorns, stretching from his chin to his temples. He was just like the fierce Zhang Fei.

Liu Huai had just looked at him twice when his eyes like copper bells swept over.

It can be seen that the young general was also very interested in this man who was covered in blood and looked like he had just experienced a great battle.

Wei Sheng stood in the middle of the hall and saluted with his arms crossed: "Lord Lan."

Lan Shiji put down the teacup and sighed, "Old Wei, what are you doing? Are you trying to persuade me with military force?"

Wei Sheng slowly shook his head, pulled out the long sword from behind him, and held it up with both hands.

"This long sword was given to me by Prince Han (Han Shizhong). Lord Lan, do you accept it or not?"

Hearing this, even though the atmosphere in the hall was tense, Liu Huai couldn't help but look the long sword up and down.

If this sword appeared in future games, it would be a holy relic that could summon heroic spirits.

Lan Shiji was stunned for a moment when he saw Wei Sheng holding out the long sword. Finally, he said, "Cheng Min and Jie Yuan both recognized it, and even that fellow Wang Sheng recognized it. How could I dare not recognize it?"

Wei Sheng nodded and handed the long sword to Liu Huai. "I, Wei Sheng, was once the personal guard of the Prince of Han, and you, Lan Shiji, were once a member of the Shenwu Left Army."

As he spoke, Wei Sheng looked at the scholar in blue clothes and said, "That was Xu Zongyan, the judge of Xu Tong, who also served as a military advisor to the Shenwu Left Army."

Xu Zongyan sneered and said nothing, but Lan Shiji interrupted and said, "To put it bluntly, Prince Han has been fighting in the two routes of Huainan for nearly ten years, and he has countless students and former officials. Who among the officials and generals in Huaidong today has no connection with Prince Han?"

As he spoke, Lan Shiji pointed to the young general beside him and said, "Even this new commander has some connection with Prince Han."

The young general stood up and saluted: "General Li Gongzuo, I pay my respects to Master Wei."

Wei Sheng no longer held a military position and was the second son in the family, so being called "Second Master Wei" wasn't out of place. Wei Sheng nodded in return, but didn't ask about Li Gongzuo's connection with Han Shizhong. He simply looked at Lan Shiji and Xu Zongyan and said, "Since that's the case, we, standing beside Prince Han's sword, should refrain from hypocritical remarks and pretentiousness."

The voice was decisive.

As soon as these words were spoken, not only Lan Shiji, but even Xu Zongyan, the Chuzhou Tongpan who had been sneering and silent, sat down in awe.

Wei Sheng pulled out a letter and a bronze seal from his bosom and said, "My eldest son killed a Jin thief named Meng'an in Lianshui last night and seized some letters and military orders."

Lan Shiji took a few pieces of blood-stained letter paper, read them quickly, his face changed, and then he handed them to Xu Zongyan.

"According to the military order, the Jin army in Lianshui has only three Mouke and more than a thousand soldiers." Wei Sheng paced slowly in the hall. With every step, the armor leaves on his body would make a 'rustling' sound.

"Under normal circumstances, the over a thousand elite field troops of our Chuzhou would have been unable to capture Lianshui City. However, yesterday, my Dalang caused a scene in the Jin bandit camp, not only beheading the bandit leader but also causing the troops to flee. No matter how powerful the Jin bandits are or how many cavalry they have, they will not be able to completely defeat them in a few days."

"Everyone, the fighter plane has arrived!"

After hearing this, Li Gongzuo was obviously moved and straightened his body slightly.

Unlike Liu Huai, a novice who had just traveled through time, Li Gongzuo had been in the army since he was a child, so he naturally understood that taking Lianshui City was not a matter of gains and losses of a city or a place, but a question of whether the Chuzhou defense line was intact.

River defense in those days was a system. Simply put, two cities stood on either side of a river, with a navy patrolling the waterway. If the enemy attacked the city on the other side of the river, the navy could be used to transport supplies and manpower, turning the battle into a war of attrition. If the enemy ignored the city and forced a crossing of the river, the city defenders could join forces with the navy to attack from both sides.

There are many such city defense systems. Shanzhou and Anlu, which were defended by Li Yanxian during the Jing Kang period, are an example, and the most representative ones are Xiangyang and Fancheng.

The Xiangfan system established by Yue Fei was so strong that it took the Mongol cavalry that roamed across Europe and Asia more than ten years to take it down.

The Lianshui-Chuzhou defense system established by Han Shizhong would naturally not be too bad.

But how do you say something?

A country is not secure because of the dangers of mountains and rivers.

Without brave and fearless soldiers, even the most powerful defense system is no different from tofu dregs.

Is the Yellow River dangerous? During the Jingkang period, the Jin army beat drums on the other side of the river, and the Song army on this side was frightened and scattered like birds and beasts.

After the Shaoxing Peace Agreement, Yue Fei was killed, Han Shizhong gave up his military power, and Chuzhou was in turmoil after Qin Hui's intervention. Not only did it lose Lianshui on the other side of the river, but many of the surrounding castles were also abandoned.

Even though these civil and military officials on the front lines of the Song-Jin confrontation knew that once the war broke out, the first blow would fall on themselves, but due to the lax military preparations and the serious situation that was difficult to reverse, they could only watch Wanyan Liang in the north work hard to govern the country without being able to come up with any corresponding countermeasures.

The Song army stationed in Chuzhou had more than 15,000 troops on paper, but in reality there were less than 10,000. Among them, only more than 1,300 dared to fight in the field, which was the army previously led by Wei Sheng.

Among these more than 1,300 people, there are only 300 armored soldiers.

This number is too outrageous. You know, even though Han Shizhong had received a lot of empty salaries before, he still left 30,000 people in Chuzhou.

In other words, the Chuzhou defense line needs at least 30,000 people to protect it tightly. Now, it would be a blessing if these tens of thousands of Song troops can defend Chuzhou City and the military city on the other side of the canal tightly!

(End of this chapter)