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

Chapter 20: The Storm Rises from the Dark (Part )
"You're crazy!" Gao Yuanqing immediately shook his head. "Our army is now scattered, and we've only managed to capture a little over 500 men. The main army suffered several casualties after last night's chaos, leaving us with only around 270 men. How can you capture Chuzhou with such a small force? Even if the Song army is foolish, they can hold their ground and not come out. How can we capture the city with less than a thousand men?"

"If we can't take it, then destroy it!" Wang Xian stood up and looked around with disdain. "The Jin and Song dynasties are about to go to war, and you all know this. But what you don't know is that the Imperial Censor Tu Shan Zhen has been reinstated as the Left Military Inspector. He will lead three thousand troops along the Yellow River, and Chuzhou will be the first battle site for crossing the Huai River!"
Lianshui and Chuzhou City are strategically located. If we can break through this area, there will be no more key to Huaidong except Baoying, and both Huaibei and Huaibei will be in the hands of the Jin Dynasty! Is this a great achievement? Is it worth a life?!

Gao Yuanqing saw that the two Puliyans beside him were somewhat tempted, so he could only continue to pour cold water on them: "The troops are too few, less than 300 people..."

"Then what do you think we should do? Should we surrender to the Song Dynasty?" Wang Xian immediately became furious. "Let's not talk about our family in Daming Prefecture. Let me ask you one thing. If you want to surrender to the Song Dynasty, don't you think about Zhang Meng'an's former cousin Zhang Jue?!"

Gao Yuanqing immediately lost his voice.

Zhang Jue lived more than 30 years ago. He was originally the deputy envoy of Liao Xingjun Jiedushi of the Liao Dynasty. When the Liao Dynasty was destroyed, he first surrendered to the Jin Dynasty, and was then lured to surrender by the Northern Song Dynasty.

The Jin Dynasty was furious and defeated Zhang Jue's troops, and threatened the Northern Song Dynasty. In panic, the Song Dynasty actually executed Zhang Jue and apologized to the Jin Dynasty.

Under the magical operation of the Northern Song Dynasty's emperor and ministers, the heroes of Youyan almost immediately turned against the Northern Song Dynasty. Guo Yaoshi, who was also a surrendered general, even directly questioned Wang Anzhong, who killed Zhang Jue: Today the Jin people wanted Zhang Jue's head, and you gave it to them. What if they come to ask for my head tomorrow?

In the subsequent Jingkang Incident, the heroes of Youyan betrayed the Song Dynasty and joined the Jin army to serve as pawns.

Even after so many years, Zhang Yu still felt resentful. He complained to his subordinates more than once that if Zhang Jue had not rebelled against the Jin Dynasty, he should have been considered a founding hero.

Now, as a marching Meng'an, he can't even get the hereditary title of Mouke, and has to be banished to Lianshui City, a place where neither his grandmother nor his uncle loves him, to live out his life.

Zhang Jue is committing a sin!
With such an example in mind, even if Wang Xian was truly heartless and didn't care about his family, he wouldn't dare to surrender to the Song Dynasty!
Gao Yuanqing thought about it for a long time, his expression changing from gloomy to bright, but finally he slammed his palm and said: "Old Wang, then do as you say, do it!"

Then he turned to the two Puliyans and said, "Zhang Meng'an and Pushan Saba are both dead. The four of us have the final say here. What do you two think? Wait for death or give it a try?!"

"Damn it, it's death!"

"Fight!"

Wang Xian took two deep breaths. "Actually, this is obvious. On one side is the military law, and on the other is Song Gou. They're definitely going to pick on the weaker one!"

After a pause, Wang Xian paced for a long time, holding his sword. "Old Gao, the three of you must stabilize the army's morale and reorganize the military. As for the ferry, fodder, and men... I'll go find County Lord Li first, and then he'll go and ask the wealthy families in the city for them."

"Oh, and we need rewards," Gao Yuanqing added. "The army doesn't have much money, so we have to take it from the treasury. If the treasury isn't enough, we can ask the wealthy families in the city to donate. Old Wang, why don't you make the matter more serious? If they don't give, don't blame us for looting!"

……

"Let go of the gun...what are you talking about?"

County Magistrate Li was woken up just after he went to bed. All his frustrations and complaints were instantly forgotten after hearing Wang Xian's threat.

"The Song dogs attacked our main camp, killing and wounding many. If we don't retaliate, how can we lead our troops in the future?!" Wang Xianyi said sternly, "If the county lord won't give me wealth and weapons, then I can only plunder the wealthy to enrich myself, then cross the river and fight the Song dogs to the death."

County Magistrate Li glanced at Wang Xian, who was standing in the middle of the county hall with a sword in his hand, and sneered without saying a word.

After the peace agreement in the tenth year of Shaoxing, relations between the Song and Jin dynasties had eased relatively, and there had been no fighting for over a decade. However, since the closure of the trading markets on both sides two years ago... in the twenty-ninth year of Shaoxing, any savvy person would have thought that war between the Song and Jin dynasties was almost inevitable.

Under such circumstances, except for some idiots who couldn't tell the difference between the important and the unimportant, all the officials who dared to come to the front line of the Song-Jin confrontation were men of honor.

County Magistrate Li Ya belongs to the latter.

He came to Lianshui County last spring to serve as the county magistrate, with the intention of making great achievements.

For such people, it would be a joke if they were scared by the words "let's rob".

"General Wang, you just arrived, so there are some things I'm not clear about."

County Magistrate Li yawned and sat down at the main seat in the county hall. He took a sip of the scalding tea, spat out the tea stem with a "Puh" sound, and continued without even raising his eyelids, "Lianshui County does have a treasury, and more than one. It contains food, fodder, treasures, and military equipment. However, this was prepared for the army's southern expedition, and it wasn't accumulated by the manpower and material resources of our county alone. Every detail is accounted for. Now you ask me for the treasury, and I won't say anything else, I just want to ask..."

Magistrate Li raised his eyes and asked word by word, "If I open the treasury today and let you take what you want, what will happen if Your Majesty goes hungry tomorrow? How many heads do we have left to chop off?"

Wang Xian was breathing heavily in the hall, and his big hands were gripping the knife handle so tightly that it made a squeaking sound.

Seeing this, the captain who was standing solemnly beside County Magistrate Li also held the iron ruler at his waist and stepped forward to face Wang Xian.

However, as he moved, the two personal soldiers following behind Wang Xian also stepped forward and half-drew their swords from their sheaths with a loud noise.

Several county soldiers guarding the county government office gate immediately became nervous.

Magistrate Li placed his tea bowl on the table and slammed it down. "A general from the Great Jin Dynasty actually drew his sword against a magistrate from the Great Jin Dynasty right here in the county government office? General Wang, you're a formidable warrior on the battlefield. Killing me would be easy. But let me ask you again, do you really want to rebel?!"

Wang Xian muttered a few words to his personal guards, then, with a sullen look on his face, he said, "Lord Li, I didn't do this on purpose, but because of the overwhelming public outcry, I had no choice. If you don't allow it, please dispatch your troops to exterminate us all."

County Magistrate Li was slightly stunned and did not understand why Wang Xian behaved so violently.

Lianshui County has hundreds of county soldiers, but their daily job is to maintain order in the ports and trading markets. They are not much better than the conscripted soldiers. If a war breaks out, these county soldiers can only guard the city walls at most.

It's nonsense to drag these hundreds of county soldiers out for a field battle. Fifty cavalrymen of the regular army can kill them all.

Thinking of this, County Magistrate Li couldn't help but feel a little regretful. He shouldn't have ignored the advice and let these exhausted soldiers into the city.

Originally, I thought that the Jin army would enforce strict military discipline as a war was about to break out. But now it seems that precisely because a war is about to break out, these warriors will become unscrupulous.

But when County Magistrate Li looked up at Wang Xian's red eyes, he immediately understood.

(End of this chapter)