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

Chapter 36: Don't Give Up on Your Achievements

July 18, the 31st year of Shaoxing.

The Northern Expedition officially began.

It will be recorded in later historical books that on this day a dragon soared into the sky, a white tiger galloped in the fields, wheat grew double ears, sweet springs emerged from the ground, cranes flew in the sky, and a divine tortoise came out carrying a map.

The soldiers of the Northern Expedition were united as one, and each one of them was as powerful as a dragon. The hundreds of thousands of troops of the Jin Dynasty were like chickens and dogs in front of them.

However, real history is not like this. Just as there will not be a time-limited option popping up when there is a major turning point in life, there will be no majestic and exciting background music when the wheel of history rolls forward.

It was just an ordinary sunny day.

But in the next few decades, even hundreds of years, or even a thousand years, countless people will talk about this story with great relish.

Countless men of letters and scholars wrote novels and poems for this day.

Countless historians have been looking through notes, tombstones, official history books, private letters and other historical materials, trying to piece together this day.

The history of China in the classical era was also divided into two parts on this day.

Before this day, there was twenty years of peace since the Shaoxing Peace Agreement, thirty years of humiliation since the Jingkang Incident, and two hundred and fifty-three years of great division since the fall of the Tang Dynasty.

After this day, there will be wars and battles, heroes competing to die, and ambitions that are as great as the sacrifices, daring to change the sun and the moon into a new sky.

It's a brand new era.

But in Liu Huai's opinion, this day was indeed just an ordinary sunny day.

The only scene worth remembering is that when the sun was rising on this day, Wei Sheng stood on the top of the city wall, turned around and said to Liu Huai in the golden sunlight.

"Let's go and bring peace to the world!"

Other than that, it's just boring bickering.

After a series of internal discussions and adjustments, the Northern Expedition Army finally reached a consensus.

The Northern Expedition Army was divided into two parts: land and sea.

The entire army, plus Li Gongzuo's troops, were assigned to the Loyal and Righteous Army. This included 1,200 combat troops and 800 auxiliary troops, commanded by Wei Sheng. Liu Huai, Dong Cheng, Zhang Xiaoyi, and Zhang Qing were assigned as commanders. Li Gongzuo remained an outsider, leading his own 200 armored soldiers and two chariots and boats under the temporary command of Zhang Rong.

The navy totaled 1,200 men, assigned to the Dongping Army. Among them were 18 1,000-ton steamships and 40 dinghies, commanded by Zhang Rongren. Xiao En, Hu Yanchuo, and Li Jun were assigned as commanders, and each ship owner was appointed a full-time general.

Zhang Rong gave away all his land and property, and Wei Sheng emptied the Lianshui treasury. Together they had an army of 3,200 people and vowed to march north.

Liu Huai led 120 elite cavalrymen, separated from the main group by half a day's distance, and went ahead to explore the way.

At the same time, in Qushan County, the capital of Haizhou...which is commonly known as Haizhou City, Gao Wenfu, the governor of Haizhou of the Jin Dynasty, looked coldly at the person kneeling in front of him, and asked after a long time.

"Say your name again?"

"My name is Shi Qilang..." The tall Shandong man huddled together on the ground. Upon hearing this, he raised his head and answered flatteringly with his one eye glaring.

Gao Wenfu frowned in disgust, then stood up shakily while holding onto his big belly.

He was born into the Gao family of Bohai. Although the Bohai Gao family had produced great poets like Gao Shi in the Tang Dynasty, by the Song Dynasty, the Bohai Gao family was basically a basket case. All those with the surname Gao living in that area could claim to be the direct descendants of the Bohai Gao. Only he knew whether Gao Wenfu was a noble family or not.

But this did not prevent Gao Wenfu from becoming a Mouke under the command of Databuye, the Wanhu of the Bohai tribe, when he was young, and made great military achievements in the destruction of Liao and Song. Later, he even got in touch with Gao Jingshan and recognized him as his own family.

It was precisely because of this qualification that he was able to remain standing amid the frequent political turmoil in the Jin Dynasty.

But no matter how brave he was in his youth, that was forty years ago. Now Gao Wenfu was over sixty years old and had a big belly. Although his mind was still sharp, he was no longer able to fight in the battlefield.

The one who is now in charge of Gao Wenfu's own troops and the troops in the state is his son Gao Anren, who is standing beside him, staring with his eyes and holding a sword, looking like a furious King Kong.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from Changqing County, Jinan Prefecture. I was picked up by Zhou... and Zhou Tongpan collected signatures. I followed Zhang Meng'an south..."

Shi Qilang spilled the beans from a bamboo tube and told the whole story of his life.

"Jinan Prefecture... Jinan Prefecture is a great place. I used to work there." Gao Wenfu paced back and forth, then came to a side table. He picked up some preserved fruit from his plate and put it in his mouth. He mumbled, "I remember that fellow Wang Huaiyuan was the magistrate of Qingshui County. Didn't he join us on this expedition?"

Shi Qilang was stunned for a moment, then forced a smile and said, "County Magistrate Wang left office seven or eight years ago. When I left, County Magistrate Pei Man was in charge."

Gao Wenfu slapped his forehead and said, "I must have remembered it wrongly. Sigh... I'm getting old and my brain just isn't as sharp anymore."

After that, Gao Wenfu started to chatter about his stories when he was working in Jinan Prefecture as if it were his daily routine, and asked Shi Qilang for confirmation from time to time. After talking for half an hour, when Gao Anren showed impatience, Gao Wenfu finally sat back in his seat.

"This is my child Anren. Please repeat exactly what you said to me when he was not around."

"Yes!" Shi Qilang swallowed his saliva. "Seven days... no... eight days ago, on the night of the tenth day of the seventh month. I don't know the time, but I only know that the camp suddenly became chaotic, with fire, shouting, people crying, and horses neighing. The next day I found out it was the Song army... Song dogs attacking the camp..."

Gao Anren frowned and interrupted: "Song Gou attacked the camp? The Qian army camp was also in chaos, why didn't you run away?"

He knew too well how the soldiers were conscripted, and if he had the chance to escape, he would definitely run away.

Shi Qilang smiled awkwardly, nodding in agreement and not daring to say anything.

Gao Wenfu glanced at his son and said, "Alright, alright. It's not that he didn't want to run away, it's that he didn't. Zhang Yu's methods of commanding his troops are quite good. Um... Shi, what? Go on."

"Yes!" Shi Qilang continued, "Although the losses were not great, the superiors could not swallow this anger. They were going to take a boat back two days later. But while we were waiting for the boat at the dock, the Song dogs attacked us directly. We were caught off guard and our entire army was defeated. Lianshui City... Lianshui City was also occupied by the Song people."

"The entire army was defeated? Lianshui was also lost? What's the point of the Wuxing Army!" Gao Anren cursed. "Where are Zhang Yu and Li Ya? Are they still alive?"

"I really don't know what happened to Magistrate Li, but all the Mouke and Puliyan in the army were killed, and their heads were hung on the gate. I saw it with my own eyes."

Gao Wenfu thought for a moment and continued, "Do you know who Song Gou's commander is? How many soldiers does he have?"

"A commander named Wei, I don't know who he is, I only know that his banner is the Song Dynasty Loyal Army. The number of soldiers and horses is indeed about a thousand... Oh, by the way, I heard the Song dog guarding us say that he wanted to march north to Haizhou. I don't know the rest, that night, I took advantage of the chaos in Lianshui County, stole a horse and escaped back." Shi Qilang answered honestly.

"Loyal Army? Humph..."

Just as Gao Anren was about to open his mouth to mock him, Gao Wenfu said directly to Shi Qilang: "The military intelligence you brought is very useful, you deserve a reward!"

After saying that, the guard at the door strode over holding a wooden plate of golden beads.

Shi Qilang's face showed greed as expected. After kowtowing heavily, he lifted the brocade on the wooden tray and tightly wrapped the golden beads inside.

Gao Wenfu smiled and said, "You should go back to your hometown and live a good life. These riches are enough to support three generations."

(End of this chapter)