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

Chapter 43: A Group of Thieves Follows the Tiger and the Wolf (Part )
"We've investigated clearly. The fire started in Dayi Town." Nearly half an hour later, Zhang Xiaoyi finally crawled out of the reed marsh in a panic. Without even cleaning the mud off his feet, he hurried to Liu Huai and bowed to him.

Zhang Baiyu quickly asked, "Dayi Town, the small town at the foot of Dayi Mountain? Didn't you say it was deserted?"

Zhang Xiaoyi replied sternly, "It's deserted compared to the Song Dynasty. On normal days, there are still 200 households."

Zhang Baiyu was slightly startled, as if about to complain again, but then he immediately realized that this matter had indeed been mentioned during the military meeting. However, since it was his first time in the army, he had no idea what to remember, so he just casually heard the news and forgot about it. He couldn't blame others.

Then another question came to his mind: "How did the fire start?"

Zhang Xiaoyi spread his hands, meaning, how would I know? It's already good enough to be able to tell the direction and place from a distance in the dark.

"Why didn't Dayi Town catch fire earlier or later? Why did it have to catch fire now?" Zhang Baiyu muttered to himself, and then asked, "Could it be that the fire started on Dayi Mountain?"

Zhang Xiaoyi was completely helpless and could only reluctantly respond, "That's possible, Commander Liu, do you need me to take a few more people to investigate?"

Liu Huai, who had already put on his iron crotch jacket, nodded slowly. Looking at the twenty or so young men in front of him wolfing down their rations, he shook his head and said, "No need. I roughly know what happened."

"How to say?"

Zhang Xiaoyi and Zhang Baiyu were cheered up and asked at the same time.

"There's no pay for signing up for the military." Liu Huai sighed and said something seemingly unrelated before turning to the boy who had stolen the bean cakes: "What's your name? How old are you? Why are you here?"

Although this young man was the oldest, he looked only about thirteen or fourteen years old. He had been a little timid among the warriors, but when he heard Liu Huai's question, he shuddered and quickly stuffed the dry food into his arms. He bowed and said, "General, my name is Luo Huaiyan, I am fourteen years old this year. I fled here with these fellow apprentices to escape the war. Thank you for taking me in."

As he spoke, Luo Huaiyan patted the dry food in his arms again: "...I also thank the general for the food."

Liu Huai smiled, leaning on his long sword and asked, "War disaster? We are soldiers too, why aren't you afraid?"

Luo Huaiyan said, "I was afraid at first, but I'm not afraid anymore after the general distributed some proper rations to us. If they wanted to harm us, there would be no need to waste this good food."

"You're very smart. Go on. Why are you hiding from war?"

Luo Huaiyan was silent for a moment: "About the day before yesterday, I heard that the villages and towns around Qushan County started collecting signatures. At first, although people here were also panicked, no one knew what was going on, and it was not easy to abandon the crops and flee.

But this afternoon when the sun was at its highest, the villagers who were traveling for business suddenly came back and said that a large army was heading towards Dayi Town.

My father was a teacher in the village and had a good reputation. When he heard the news, he acted decisively and asked the villagers to take refuge in Dayi Mountain. However, he did not expect that the prefect would send out cavalry and capture everyone on the way.

My father, accompanied by over twenty students from other villages, was walking slowly. When he saw the cavalry approaching, he asked me to hide among the reeds with my fellow apprentices while he stopped the cavalry and went to see the general... er... the Jin general.

Liu Huai looked up at the bright moon, then lowered his head and smiled, "Have you guessed who we are?" Luo Huaiyan swallowed and said, "General... General should be the King's Army of the Great Song Dynasty."

"Really smart." Liu Huai continued to nod, pointing to the fire in the northwest sky and asked, "Do you know what's happening over there?"

Luo Huaiyan raised his face, which was covered in black mud, and looked towards the northwest sky. He then quickly lowered his head and said in a low voice after a moment's silence, "It's the Jin army... The Jin thieves are looting the area around Dayi Town..."

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaoyi suddenly realized something and immediately tightened his grip on the knife handle, gnashing his teeth. Zhang Baiyu, however, was visibly confused: "This is Jin territory, and they're so brazenly looting our own villages and towns?"

"Because the Jin bandits' soldiers were recruited temporarily, they are totally useless. But if we let them plunder and massacre once, and see blood, their courage will naturally rise. By the way, we can also solve the problem of military pay and civilian labor." Liu Huai waved his hand, signaling Zhang Baiyu to stop talking nonsense.

Zhang Baiyu understood instantly, but he was filled with anger and horror, and was speechless for a while.

Then, Liu Huaiyou said sincerely to the fourteen-year-old boy in front of him, "Luo family boy, you are so smart at your age, which is rare in my life. So, as a wise man, can you give me some advice? The people of Dayi Town are in dire straits now. Should I send troops immediately?"

Luo Huaiyan could not help but be stunned: "Kid...Kid is only fourteen years old this year, how can he handle such a big thing? General, why don't you ask for advice from your subordinates?"

Liu Huai pointed at the two generals on his left and right and said, "The one on the left is called Zhang Xiaoyi. He is a survivor of the Donghai uprising last year. Now that he heard that his fellow villagers were slaughtered, he must be eager to fight immediately, even if it means death.

The man on the right is called Zhang Baiyu. He was born in Chuzhou, Song Dynasty. He is a reserved person. Most importantly, he cannot empathize with the people of Shandong who were slaughtered. In addition, it is late at night and the terrain is unfamiliar, so he will definitely not agree to send troops and waste their lives in vain.

Luo Huaiyan was silent for a moment, then asked, "What do you think, General?"

Liu Huai answered frankly: "It's both. On the one hand, our army sent troops to the north to save the people from their misery. If we sit back and watch the people being slaughtered and looted, how can we claim to be the most righteous army in the world in the future?
But it is true that it is dark and we are not familiar with the terrain. If we send out troops now, the entire army may be lost before we even reach the edge of Dayi Town. As the commander of an army, I should be responsible for these hundred cavalrymen and cannot let them die in vain.

Since you are a local, yet you have been sheltered by our army, and you are exceptionally intelligent, I would like to hear your thoughts, but you are welcome to speak your mind."

Luo Huaiyan took a deep breath, touched his head, thought for a moment, and finally said slowly: "General, it is not appropriate to send troops at this time. First of all, Dayi Town is more than ten miles away from here. Even if the general sends troops immediately, it will be too late. Those who should die have died, and the living have been captured and enslaved. There will be no more deaths. If the general leads the army into a chaotic battle, the most casualties will be these living people.

Secondly, the general led only a hundred cavalrymen. I ventured to speculate that they were the vanguard of the Northern Expedition. And since the general had crossed the river without much baggage, it must be because the main army was behind him. If these hundred or so armored cavalrymen were deployed in a large formation, they could only be used to break it up. However, if they were used as a surprise attack, they might be able to turn the tide of battle.

Come three..."

At this point, Luo Huaiyan raised his head, his dark little face full of pride: "No matter who the Jin bandit general is, since my father has already joined the Jin bandit army, he will naturally persuade him to stop killing people."

Liu Huai knew that the father who could raise such an outstanding child must be no ordinary man. He immediately stuck the machete into the ground and said solemnly, "May I ask your father's name?"

(End of this chapter)