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

Chapter 28 Who is the One to Discuss World Affairs (I)

"Where are you from?"

"I am... I am from Yanggu County, Dongping Prefecture..."

"Yanggu County is a great place. Is there a place called Jingyang Ridge in your area? Decades ago, there was a hero named Wu Song who killed a giant white-browed tiger with his bare hands. Is that true or not?"

"...We do have a hilltop called Jingyang Ridge where I live, but I've never heard of any stories of heroes slaying tigers."

"Oh, that might be a rumor... What does your family do for a living? How did you end up being drafted by the Jin thieves?"

"My family used to have eighty mu of land, and we were able to get by. A few years ago, the county magistrate checked the land and designated our family as a registered household. The tax was doubled, but we could still get by. But two years ago, the county magistrate said the Jurchens were moving south, so he confiscated all our land and distributed it to the Meng'an Mouke households."

"You just gave it to them willingly? You didn't resist?"

"The Jurchens are relatively easy to talk to. They don't know how to farm. After getting the land deeds, they rent it out for ten years or simply sell it. If the original owner has some property, they'll redeem it with money. I've been exploited several times and have no money left. I can only watch helplessly as they sell my land to wealthy families."

"What about the rest of the people whose land was confiscated? Did everyone have the money to redeem their land? Did no one resist?"

"Of course not, but what good would that do? The entire families of the ringleaders were skinned alive and hung at the county government gate. Those with fewer children all went to seek refuge with Uncle Geng Jing. I have a large family, so I didn't dare cause trouble, so I could only go to the county town to make a living... Sigh... Who would have thought that I'd be asked to sign when looking for work?"

"Do you want to go home?"

"How could I not miss you? My parents are still around, but they can't work anymore. My eldest brother passed away two years ago, and now that I'm gone, only my third brother is left to support the family. My wife has three children, and I don't know if she's remarried... That... Taiwei..."

"My surname is Liu, and my given name is Huai. You can just call me Liu Dalang."

"I dare not, I dare not...Liu Taiwei, you said you could let us go home, is that true?"

Liu Huai held the bowl of porridge and looked around at the soldiers sitting around the campfire. He smiled and nodded at their hopeful gazes, "Of course it's true."

By this time, it was already dark, and the local conscripted soldiers and civilians had been sent home. The remaining conscripted soldiers from other parts of Shandong were gathered in an open space within the city.

More than twenty bonfires were lit between the tents, and the soldiers gathered around the bonfires, eating stale wheat porridge in silence.

The tents and fences behind them were ready-made, and the supplies left by the Jin army were enough for the more than 500 signed troops.

Wei Sheng naturally would not withhold food from the soldiers. In fact, before, the soldiers could only eat vegetable porridge, but now they can eat wheat porridge and a large piece of pickles, which makes them very satisfied.

Liu Huai sat among the signing soldiers, also holding a bowl of wheat porridge, and chatted loudly with these Shandong men and explained the truth.

As a time traveler, it is nonsense to say that Liu Huai has any ability to command the army. But after all, he has read some high-end historical articles online and the history of the rise of the Iron Army in later generations. After careful reflection and summary, the most important thing is to treat everyone as a human being.

We must understand the desires of grassroots officers and soldiers, face their desires squarely, guide their desires, and ultimately realize their desires.

This is what Sun Tzu's Art of War says: Those who have the same desire will win.

Nationalism had not yet emerged in those days, and being a soldier and getting paid was the norm. Fighting on the battlefield was either to save one's life or to make money.

Liu Huai naturally did not have much wealth, nor could he let these soldiers massacre the city and loot for gold and silver, so he could only guide the soldiers' desires in the most essential direction.

For example, if the signed soldiers all want to go home, then Liu Huai will talk to them about how to go home and how to live after returning home.

The tall man who had been talking to Liu Huai looked up hopefully and said, "Captain Liu, are you saying you can just let us go?" Liu Huai was a little amused. He drank the oatmeal porridge in his bowl in one gulp, shook his head slowly, and said loudly, "Of course not. Dongping Prefecture is more than a hundred miles away. Do you know the way? Do you have any money? If we let you all scatter, you will either die along the way or gather together to become bandits. It would be a great achievement if only one out of ten of you could return home."

The tall man was speechless. He opened his mouth but had nothing to say. He could only lower his head and drink his porridge.

Liu Huai originally wanted everyone to hear him, so he spoke very loudly.

But someone immediately stood up to refute it.

"What if we can go back on our own?"

Next to a bonfire behind Liu Huai, a particularly tall Shandong man stood up and asked loudly.

Liu Huai looked at him in the light of the fire and saw that the man was about twenty years old, with an untidy beard and thick hair on his face, like a hairy man.

There was a scar on the left forehead of this person that went straight down to his chin. His left eye seemed to be blinded by the knife and was wrapped with a black cloth.

This man seemed to have some prestige among the soldiers. As soon as he stood up and spoke, several people stopped eating and looked up at the same time.

"Who is speaking?"

The one-eyed man bowed and said, "I am Shi Qilang of Jinan Prefecture. I am the seventh child in my family. General Liu can call me Qilang."

"Okay, Qilang, let me ask you one more question. You returned to your hometown safely, and then what?" Liu Huai also stood up and was a little shocked to find that Shi Qilang was half a head taller than him.

A height of nearly two meters is indeed very oppressive.

Shi Qilang sneered: "How difficult is this? Of course..."

Having said this, his face changed, he became speechless and could not continue.

Liu Huai interjected, "Of course, the Jin government will treat you as a deserter. Those who deserve it will be exiled, and those who deserve it will be killed. If that's the case, you might as well become bandits or flee south, so as not to bring trouble to your families."

There was an uproar among the signing army.

The Song army soldier on guard on the watchtower stuck his head out to take a look, then sat down again and continued to wipe the long sword in his hand.

When the surroundings quieted down again, the Shandong man beside Liu Huai hesitated and said, "General Liu...it was the Jin army that was defeated, and we had no other choice but to flee back. The county magistrate shouldn't blame us...Seventh Brother, don't you agree?"

Shi Qilang opened his right eye and remained silent.

The Shandong man panicked: "The government..."

Liu Huai patted his shoulder and shouted, "That's not the government, that's thieves! Think about who stole your dozens of acres of farmland. Why? Those who robbed you with a knife are thieves, but those who robbed you with the law are not thieves? Do you really expect a group of thieves to show you mercy?"

A few rhetorical questions made the Shandong man's face turn pale, but when he thought of the hard life he had lived in the past few years and his parents who were getting thinner and thinner, he couldn't help but squeeze the wooden bowl in his hand until it squeaked.

"Captain Liu, you're right... they're a bunch of thieves! These thieves!!!"

(End of this chapter)