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

Chapter 566: The Left Prime Minister Seizes Power

Hesheli Liangbi's move was quite similar to Su Qin's attitude of wearing the seals of the six countries and joining forces to attack Qin.

But since the Spring and Autumn Period, similar things have disappeared.

Now Hesheli Liangbi is repeating history again. It seems outrageous at first glance, but it is even more outrageous when you think about it carefully.

Given Hesheli Liangbi's status, it was naturally impossible for him to be indecisive and deceive both sides.

There are many high-ranking officials of the Jin Dynasty in this general's tent alone, and there are many ways of communicating with Liaodong and Bianliang both openly and privately. If you want to lie about such things, you will be easily exposed.

This means that it was the common will of Wanyan Liang and Wanyan Yong to let Hesheli Liangbi command the 30,000 elite troops in Xuzhou, and no one would be allowed to resist!
But the key question is, who was Wanyan Liang and Wanyan Yong's biggest enemy? Was it the Song Dynasty or Shandong?

Of course each other!
To put it bluntly, even if these two people were captured alive by Han heroes, if they were more flexible, they could display their ethnic minority talents in singing and dancing at court parties, and maybe they could become wealthy men like Marquis Hun De and Duke An Le.

But if they fall into each other's hands, they will be cut into pieces and the hatred in their hearts will be hard to get rid of.

Isn’t Wanyan Liang worried that Hesheli Liangbi will lead these 30,000 elite troops to attack Bianliang directly?

Isn’t Wanyan Yong worried that Hesheli Liangbi will lead these 30,000 elite troops to attack Hebei?

However, when these marching Wanhu and marching Meng'an looked at each other, they suddenly realized that they really didn't seem to be afraid.

These 30,000 elite soldiers came from various backgrounds and had opposing political tendencies. If Hesheli Liangbi showed any biased behavior, the 30,000 troops would have to fight among themselves.

Guo Anguo and Pucha Shijie ignored all this and walked straight to the imperial edict written by Wanyan Liang. They took it respectfully and read it carefully.

Gao Jingshan and Tushan Zhen respectfully accepted Wanyan Yong's imperial edict.

This is a complete statement of political stance.

As for the rest of the people, even many of them including Tudan Yongnian and Xiao Qi were at a loss as to what to do. They just looked around aimlessly, trying to find some support.

"The minister obeys the order!"

Guo Anguo and Pucha Shijie read the imperial edict first, rolled it up, and placed it on the table in front of Hesheli Liangbi. They bowed respectfully and said, "Greetings to the Left Prime Minister!"

Tu Shanzhen and Gao Jingshan also exchanged a glance, placed the imperial edict on the table, and stood up to salute respectfully: "Your Highness obeys your command. I pay my respects to the Left Prime Minister and will do my bidding!"

Hesheli Liangbi nodded with satisfaction and glanced at the others.

"What else do you want to say?"

What else can be said?
At this time, it was a family empire, and as long as one was loyal to the Jin Dynasty, one would inevitably be loyal to the Wanyan clan.

Although there are two emperors in the Wanyan family now and the winner has not yet been decided, both emperors have ordered them to obey Hesheli Liangbi. What can they do?
Tushan Yongnian took the lead in paying respects.

Afterwards, Xiao Qi and all the marching soldiers crossed their hands and bowed, saying that they were willing to follow the orders of the Left Prime Minister.

Hesheli Liangbi put away his warm smile and said with a straight face, "Very good. You are all loyal ministers of the Great Jin. This is very good."

"I know you have mixed feelings. Some of you want to achieve great things, some want to be loyal to your former master, and some want to return home."

"I don't care who you are loyal to, nor do I care what you are thinking, but all of this exists on the foundation of the Great Jin Kingdom."

"If the Great Jin is gone, the Emperor you are loyal to, the tribe you cherish, and the family you rely on will all be left without support!"

"We have taken over half of the Song Kingdom. Countless Han Chinese have been killed and wounded over the past few decades. Your fathers, brothers, relatives, and you all have blood on your hands. If the Han Chinese gain the upper hand, you will all be dead without a burial place!"

After these words were spoken, all the generals in the tent were horrified.

Only Wen Dunqizi, who had just received the news from home, felt a little strange.

In Shandong, there seems to be some differences from what Hesheli Liangbi said.

However, it was naturally impossible for him to jump out and argue with the left prime minister in such an occasion, so he just followed the crowd and agreed loudly.

After everyone had expressed their opinions, Tushan Zhen was the first to ask, "Where does the Left Prime Minister want us to attack? How will we restore the morale of the army? Are we going to continue across the Huai River to attack Song?"

Everyone changed color.

Hesheli Liangbi simply glanced at him without responding, instead moving on to something else: "Food and rewards will arrive soon. I've gathered some from the surrounding areas over the past few days, enough for 30,000 troops to go out and fight." "Silver money will also be sent from Liaodong and Bianliang, and when the time comes, I'll make up for the food and wages for the past few months."

All the generals had no reaction.

Tushan Zhen's troops did not retreat in a hurry, and there were no pursuers behind them, so they kept a large part of the food, gold, silver and women they looted in Lianghuai.

According to the rule that three-tenths of the looted things belong to oneself, three-tenths go to the legion, and three-tenths go to the national treasury, the general manager still has a large amount of supplies in his hands, enough to support for a while.

Moreover, when Wei Sheng led the Loyal Army to cut off the Jin army's retreat, he only captured Pizhou and emptied Pizhou's treasury. He did not have time to capture Xuzhou, so these 30,000 households would not be short of food and grass in the short term.

The army's defeat, the country's decline in war, and the frustration brought about by the uncertain future are the biggest problems facing this army.

They... at least everyone in this general's tent knew that the State of Song would definitely not let it go after suffering such a huge loss.

Now, there are only these 30,000 households left in the Jin field army facing the Song Dynasty in Huaidong. If the Jin Dynasty still wants the Central Plains, it will not let these 30,000 households retreat to Hebei in disgrace.

But they were put in such an awkward position by Shandong that even with elite troops at their disposal, they didn't know where to direct their efforts.

Now they really need someone who can take a bird's-eye view and command the overall situation to act as commander.

"As for the Left Inspector's suggestion of crossing the Huai River to attack Song, I believe it's sheer nonsense. Not to mention that Song has already deployed a large army in Huai River and Huai River, with elite soldiers and generals stationed there, making it impossible to capture them in a hurry, but the dense network of waterways in Huai River and Huai River alone... how many ships and civilians would be needed? There would definitely not be enough food and fodder by then."

Tu Shanzhen immediately became furious.

I just asked a rhetorical question to embarrass Hesheli Liangbi, but how come after the words came out of this guy's mouth, it became like I was ignorant of the overall situation and didn't know how to fight?
Hesheli Liangbi ignored Tushan Zhen and continued to explain his strategy: "The new emperor of the Southern Dynasty has just been established, and there are many things to deal with. It will take time to assign officials. This is our opportunity."

"Our army must first defeat those gangs of bandits in Shandong!"

This time, not only did everyone's expressions change, but the general's tent suddenly became noisy with a buzzing sound, as if a swarm of bees were flying together.

The Shandong rebels are tough guys.

Among the army that Liu Huai defeated in Chao County, there were three top-tier Meng'an troops. As the elite of each army, they knew very well how strong these three top-tier Meng'an troops were.

Moreover, Pucha Shijie, who commanded this army, was also recognized as a natural born general.

Even with such a configuration, after the entire army rushed into the Shura battlefield in Chao County, Pucha Shijie was the only one who escaped with his life. It was really shocking.

Even the low-level officers who were unaware of this had faced Zhang Rong's desperate attacks.

Thousands of Dongping troops almost broke through the Jin army camp. Although Zhang Rong was killed in the battle, they suffered heavy casualties.

Now that the Shandong rebels are being treated as a soft target, isn't the Left Prime Minister being too arrogant?
Ignoring the whispers that had already begun, Hesheli Liangbi continued, "I have carefully read the military reports from the Southern Expedition and discovered that before the Shandong rebel army marched south, the army was unstoppable in Lianghuai. Even though the Southern Dynasty had a famous general like Liu Qi, he could only temporarily avoid the attack and flee in panic.

However, after the Shandong rebels, especially the bandit Liu, joined the battle, the situation changed. Your Majesty's stubbornness and forced crossing of the river gave the bandit Liu an opportunity to exploit, leading to the disaster in Youchao County.

"And that Wei thief was even more arrogant, daring to lead his troops to attack Pizhou, cutting off the retreat of the troops that had entered Lianghuai, forcing them to withdraw."

After reviewing the Shandong rebel army's record, Hesheli Liangbi came to a conclusion: "If our army attacks Lianghuai, the Shandong rebels will certainly attack our rear. However, if our army attacks Shandong, the Song State may not send troops to rescue us.

As long as we can recapture the two routes in Shandong, this situation will collapse on its own."

Tu Shanzhen finally lost his patience and said, "I thought the Left Prime Minister had some profound ideas, but who would have thought it would be the same old clichés.

If our army wants to take action, it can only choose between Lianghuai and Shandong. Recovering Shandong has been suggested before. It does have many benefits, and the soldiers can even benefit themselves.

But how could the Shandong bandits be so easy to defeat? Not to mention the Liu and Wei bandits, didn't the lesser-known Geng bandit also capture a 10,000-household unit in Shizhanxie? Even if all 30,000 households of ours were to go out in full force, how could we easily recapture Shandong?

Hesheli Liangbi smiled and said, "This requires careful planning. As it happens, I do have some plans."

"You should all have understood the military order. Go back and encourage your men and make good preparations. I have already requested permission from His Majesty to no longer appoint temporary officials after the recovery of Shandong. Instead, reward the meritorious officials with Shandong's land and population!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the marching soldiers were all extremely excited.

The hereditary Meng'an Mouke, who combined military and administrative power, is finally returning to the stage of history.

By then everyone will be a local tyrant.

This is a good way to reverse history!
(End of this chapter)