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

Chapter 57: I am too old to be devoted

Luo Guzi is already numb.

It's not that he didn't know that the Jin army had been defeated at the front line - in fact, Gao Anren's cavalry group passed by him and fled to the north in a panic - he just never expected that General Gao Anren, who looked so majestic this morning, would be defeated and fled in less than two hours after fighting.

This is too damn fast.

I thought Gao Anren was going to be very cruel, but I didn't expect it to be so big.

If you don't have the ability, just rely on Dayi Mountain to defend. Going out to fight will not only cause casualties, but also harm the people of Dayi Town.

The most important thing is that Gao Anren escaped, and the three hundred local soldiers he left behind also became chaotic.

Luo Guzi is just a teacher now. He has no personal soldiers and no prestige in the army, so he cannot suppress the rebellion at all.

Most of the three hundred local soldiers fled immediately.

However, Luo Guzi still has prestige among the people, especially in the chaos last night, when many gentry and wealthy families, and even some officials, were forced to join the army.

With the assistance of these people, the two thousand signed troops finally turned around successfully and marched back along the official road in a disorderly manner.

Luo Guzi was holding a broadsword and was guarding the rear of the team with his son Luo Shenyan.

"Father." Luo Shenyan wiped the sweat from his forehead: "What should we do?"

Luo Guzi's hair was already a little disheveled, with gray hair sticking out from his torn straw hat. Hearing this, he smiled bitterly: "Even my father doesn't know."

Luo Shenyan whispered, "The Song army is so capable, can't we just surrender? What loyalty do we have to the Jin?"

Luo Guzi glanced at his eldest son and said, "The Jin Kingdom is certainly not worth dying for, but is the Song Kingdom any good?"

As he spoke, he sighed and gazed into the distance. "I've heard that Marshal Big Eyes's military discipline was decent, but I've never witnessed it myself. However, decades ago, when Song General Zhang Jun attacked Bozhou, I was nearby. When Zhang Jun arrived at the city, Bozhou, persuaded by the outstanding wine supervisor, simply opened the city walls and surrendered. When the elders came to comfort the troops, carrying pots and bottles of wine, do you know what happened?"

Without waiting for Luo Shenyan's reply, Luo Guzi continued, "That bastard Zhang Jun just rushed into the city and started burning, killing, and looting! They kidnapped wives and concubines, seized their property, and killed countless people. Their cruelty was no different from that of the Jin thieves."

"Later, when the Jin people came again, the people of Bozhou simply kidnapped Fang Renjie and abandoned the Song Dynasty to join the Jin!"

As he spoke, Luo Guzi sighed heavily, and the wrinkles on his face deepened a little. "It's easy for me to surrender to the Song people today, but if I end up like Fang Renjie tomorrow, wouldn't it be a huge joke?"

Luo Shenyan also sighed.

The picturesque country was actually divided into two shitty regimes, Song and Jin. These people who claimed to be heroes did not want to be loyal to the alien race, but were desperate about the Zhao Song regime, so they could only go with the flow and live in a daze.

Luo Guzi pressed Luo Shenyan's shoulder and said, "Dalang, you are a good boy, but if things don't go well, don't worry about me. Go find your brother, raise him, and live a good life. Do you understand?"

Luo Shenyan felt as if the big hand on his shoulder weighed a thousand pounds. He wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in his throat and he couldn't utter them.

Just then, a horse came galloping from a distance.

Dozens of young and strong men behind the long column immediately became nervous, holding the spears and shields thrown away by the militiamen when they fled, and looked at the incoming riders vigilantly.

Luo Shenyan didn't bother to say anything else at this time. He gently pushed Luo Guzi and asked him to hide in the back first.

Luo Shenyan, with his head held high and his chest puffed out, came up to the young man with his broadsword slung over his shoulder, and shouted, "If thieves come, we must beat them! If thieves come, we must beat them!"

Dozens of young and strong men also shouted at the same time: "The enemy must be beaten when he comes!" At first, the shouts were uneven, but after a few shouts, they gradually became unified. These young and strong men also broke free from their fear and became a little braver.

"When thieves come, they must be beaten" wasn't just a slogan; it was a legal requirement for villagers to help each other. If a thief appeared in the village, anyone who didn't dare to fight him when the village head called for him would definitely be punished!
Therefore, when Luo Shenyan used the slogan "When the enemy comes, we must fight them" he was able to make these young men who had never been to the battlefield habitually muster up the courage.

It would be foolish to use this kind of trick to fight against the regular army, but it is definitely enough to deal with stragglers, especially those Jin cavalry who want to rob the people of Dayi Town after their defeat.

After all, for these cavalrymen, they had escaped from the battlefield of the Song-Jin conflict, and it was too frustrating to be killed by a group of peasants with spears just for grabbing some rice and money.

Not to mention that there is a group of Song soldiers chasing after him. Escaping is the most important thing, so how can he waste time?
Therefore, most of the defeated Jin soldiers accepted it and went around through the ridges of the fields on the west side.

But this time it was not like that.

He reined in his horse and stopped a hundred steps away. While blowing the whistle, he tied the large flag with the word "Song" on it to the spear shaft and waved it vigorously.

Luo Guzi and his son watched this scene in silence.

However, what the two men did not expect was that after seeing the big flag with the word "Song" on it, the army troop winding along the official road did not cry out in fear, but slowly stopped and looked back.

Most of the signed troops were ordinary people not long ago and did not know what it meant to obey orders and prohibitions, so they did not stop at the same time. Instead, they moved forward like falling dominoes and turned back like wheat waves blown by the wind.

The long queue became agitated.

Luo Guzi looked around nervously and quickly asked people to maintain order.

If chaos breaks out at this time, not only will they lose the last bargaining chip in the confrontation with the Song army, but even trampling on each other will cause huge casualties.

But what he didn't expect was that deafening cheers followed.

Amid the cheers, many of the soldiers simply sat down on the ground and burst into tears.

If there were not some officials maintaining order, many people would have rushed back to greet them.

Luo Guzi smiled bitterly in his heart, thinking that he was too arrogant.

Even though there were thousands of reasons and tens of thousands of fears, most of these soldiers were ordinary civilians before yesterday. After experiencing a massacre, they were conscripted into the army and were in extreme panic.

You must know that the bodies of many of these signed soldiers' family members are still in Dayi Town and have not even been buried.

They need a sense of security too much.

The order of the signed army was previously maintained by military law, but now it is maintained by Luo Guzi's prestige and the signed army's desire to return home.

But Luo Guzi was unable to provide the sense of security that Qian Jun needed most.

Therefore, when the Song army appeared as saviors, they immediately found support. How could the Qian army not be grateful?
After figuring this out, Luo Guzi watched in almost silence as the Song cavalry arrived in groups of three or two, and watched many officials walk out of the army ranks and greet the large flag with the word "Song" on it.

Even someone as experienced as Luo Guzi didn't know what would happen next.

The saying "I am the fish on the chopping board" is exactly at this moment.

(End of this chapter)