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

Chapter 30 Who is the One to Discuss World Affairs (Part )
Liu Huai hadn't expected this man to follow his train of thought. He glanced at him with a hint of surprise, then nodded. "Wanyan Liang failed because the Jurchens were originally hunter-gatherers, not farmers. Once they were given land, they would sublet and sell it for money. Once they ran out of money, they would start to cause chaos. As a result, not only did the once peaceful people of the Central Plains begin to rebel, but even the Jurchens themselves began to revolt."

The middle-aged scholar's face flushed red as he hammered his palm. "It's all right, it's all right. This is why Wanyan Liang killed his loyal ministers and, despite the public outcry, broke the agreement and marched south. This is it!"

Liu Huai nodded, turned to Shi Qilang and said, "Do you understand this?"

"I understand some of it, but I still don't understand some of it." Shi Qilang answered honestly.

"It's just one sentence." As a professional keyboard warrior and a time traveler familiar with history, Liu Huai made his judgment: "Wanyan Liang wants to conquer the Song Dynasty in the south to seize wealth and land to settle the Jurchen people. He wants to gain prestige and carry out thorough reforms through the conquest of the Song Dynasty. He wants to quell the chaos in the country through the conquest of the Song Dynasty. No matter what, Wanyan Liang must mobilize the entire country's strength to march south, otherwise, the Jin Dynasty will fall into internal chaos!"

"This means that the Jin bandits' rear is empty and they won't put all their efforts into dealing with us. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." Liu Huai leaned forward slightly and extended a finger. "This may also be the only chance in the next hundred years."

He looked at the middle-aged scholar: "An opportunity to recover lost territory and wash away the shame of Jingkang."

The middle-aged scholar's eyes immediately turned red.

Liu Huai patted Han Er's shoulder again: "A chance for the family to live in peace and security without being oppressed by officials and villains."

Han Er stared at the bonfire in front of him without saying a word.

Then, Liu Huai pointed at himself and then at Shi Qilang: "A chance to vent the frustration in my heart and become famous!"

Shi Qilang still had no expression on his face, but his slightly trembling hands showed that he was not at peace inside.

The middle-aged scholar was filled with emotion, but when he thought of the Jin army coming out in full force, he still had a question in mind: "Can the Song Dynasty survive this battle?"

He had never heard anyone analyze the general trend of the world so clearly and unconsciously, and the middle-aged scholar had come to regard the strategic vision of the young man in front of him as rare in his life.

Liu Huai shook his head and said, "Mr. Lu, matters like this will ultimately be determined on the battlefield. Do you think you'll believe me if I say the Song Dynasty will definitely win or lose? If we truly want to be loyal to the Song Dynasty, we must make as much trouble as possible in Shandong. If all of Shandong and Hebei are completely recovered, I don't believe Wanyan Liang can win on the front lines!"

"That's right, that's how it should be!" The middle-aged scholar nodded heavily.

Before Liu Huai could say anything more, a horse galloped into the camp and came to the campfire. The rider shouted, "Liu Dalang, General Wei and General Zhang are looking for you."

Liu Huai bowed and said he had received the order. He brought his younger brother and sister to lead the war horses, took two steps forward, and looked down at the military camp.

More than five hundred soldiers were still looking up at him.

"Eat well! Sleep well! Let's go home with dignity!"

After Liu Huai finished speaking, he rode away.

"Here!"

The voices of the hundreds of soldiers responding were not uniform, but very loud, which scared Shi Qilang.

"Seventh Brother...what should we do?"

The close villager sitting next to Shi Qilang pulled Shi Qilang's clothes and asked in a low voice.

"what do you think?"

"I think what Liu Dalang... no... Liu Taiwei said has some truth to it." The villager nodded honestly and replied, "It's just that I'm afraid of being deceived by clever people, so I don't know whether it's true or not... Seventh Brother, we only trust you. Whatever you say, we'll do it."

As soon as these words were spoken, the dozen or so people sitting around the campfire nodded in agreement. Shi Qilang pondered for a moment, holding his bowl of porridge, and nodded vigorously: "Liu Taiwei is not lying to us, because he also wants to go north. If he really goes there without returning, wouldn't he be seeking his own death? So I still believe him."

Shi Qilang looked around at the villagers with his one eye: "I originally wanted to take you with me to live, whether it was to return to the Jin bandits or become bandits, it would be fine. Now that we can change our way of life, let's not be slaves, nor be thieves!"

"We must live as human beings with dignity and return home with dignity. Not only do we have to live as human beings, but we must also let the people of our hometown live as human beings!"

Shi Qilang did not lower his voice when he spoke, so not only his fellow villagers, but also the people around him could hear it clearly.

The sound of sloppy responses and exchanges rang out noisily, then dissipated in the night wind.

The middle-aged scholar simply wrote furiously on the paper by the light of the fire.

After a long time, he finished writing the letter. After waiting for the ink to dry, he bit his finger and pressed his fingerprint at the end of the letter.

Then the middle-aged scholar put the letter into an envelope, sealed it with wax, and walked out of the military camp leisurely with two trusted followers.

As soon as he stepped onto the main street, the middle-aged scholar saw Xu Zongyan who was receiving the Lianshui County register.

The Chuzhou Tongpan was so busy that he was dizzy. He turned around suddenly and saw the middle-aged scholar looking at him with a smile in the firelight. He couldn't help rubbing his eyes.

After Xu Tongpan was sure he had seen it correctly, he couldn't help but scream out in a voice like a scream: "Lu Sizhi, why are you here?!"

Xu Tongpan knew that the middle-aged scholar before him was the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, who had come to Chuzhou to inspect prison cases. But hadn't he left the day before? Why was he in Lianshui City again?
The middle-aged scholar smiled and said, "The day before yesterday, I heard the boatman at the dock say something big was going to happen, so I waited for two days. Today at noon, I sneaked into the fleet and arrived in Lianshui. Fortunately, I came, otherwise how would I know about the great thing you did?"

"Lu Sizhi is joking." Xu Tongpan's forehead was covered with cold sweat.

Throughout the Song Dynasty, the control over the army was extremely crazy. Although it was no longer the situation during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song when one had to report even the mobilization of a hundred people, sending a large army across the Yellow River to attack the Jin county without reporting to the Privy Council was an act of seeking death no matter how one looked at it.

You can of course argue that it was Wei Sheng who went north on his own initiative, but don't treat the officials in the court as fools. This kind of thing cannot be concealed if it is investigated.

In fact, if Lan Shiji and Xu Zongyan had not known the importance of the Lianshui Chuzhou defense line, they would not even dare to play the edge ball.

Of course, as long as we keep it secret for a few months and wait for the Jin army to march south, this matter will no longer be a big deal.

But who knew that Si Zhi from the Central Dali Temple was actually here?

The middle-aged scholar seemed to know what Judge Xu was thinking. "No kidding! I only know that the Han people in the Jin Dynasty could not bear the oppression. Wei Sheng and Liu Huai raised an army to resist the Jin, seized Lianshui County, and fled to the Song Dynasty. The reasons are all in this letter. I'll have to ask Judge Xu to pass it on to the higher authorities and then present it to the emperor."

Xu Tongpan took the letter and was stunned for a moment: "Then where are you going, Lu Sizhi?"

The middle-aged scholar smiled and twirled his beard, then calmly replied, "Of course, I'm going to the Northern Expedition."

Xu Tongpan was horrified, his hand clutching the letter trembling slightly: "Lu... Lu Sizhi, you are a noble in the court... why... why..."

"I am thirty-seven years old this year, halfway to the ground. I have wasted half my life, and today is the perfect opportunity. If I do not move forward with a righteous heart, I will regret it for the rest of my life."

The middle-aged scholar interrupted Xu Tongpan's questioning and said, "If you meet the elders in my hometown, tell them that if the north is not stable, I, Lu You, will not return."

(End of this chapter)