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

Chapter 75: A common man makes irresponsible remarks about the affairs of the past (Part )
Dong Cheng seemed to think Li Xiu's words were a bit harsh, and he quickly said, "The Song Dynasty still has heroes. This time, Chuzhou's Lan Zhizhou and Xu Tongpan both strongly support our expedition."

Li Xiu suddenly turned around and said, "President Xu, is that the corrupt official called Xu Zongyan? Last year, after I followed Brother Zhang (Zhang Wang) and Brother Xu (Xu Yuan) in the rebellion in Donghai, I was sent to Chuzhou to seek help. Do you know what that corrupt official said?"

"He said: 'The starving people of the East China Sea, burdened by the harsh harassment and taxation, have gathered on the islands, united in a common cause, risking their lives to survive. Initially, we are powerless to stop them. The Jin lords are in the dark, ignorant of the situation, and have not yet heard of it. If they knew, a small army would arrive and immediately put them down. Even if they succeed, they will surely spread across Shandong from Yi and Mi, and if they fail, they will sail to the sea. They are truly not a threat to us. Now we are sending more soldiers and recruiting defectors, which will only cause border conflicts."

"He said we were desperate to survive, which is true. He said we would be wiped out once the Jin army arrived, which is also true. But why is he afraid that we will become a threat to the Song Dynasty? Why is he afraid that accepting us will provoke border conflicts? Why does this Xu Tongpan regard us as enemies?"

Dong Cheng said nothing.

Lu You's face became even paler.

Li Xiu seemed upset, but he continued, "When Kaishan Zhao rebelled, the Song court ignored us. When Donghai rebelled, the Song court still ignored us. Even now, Master Geng Jing is rebelling in Jinan Prefecture and Tai'an, and the Song court still ignores us. Commander Wei, even if you take over all of Haizhou, the Song State will not pay any attention to you. If we want to fight our way out, we can only rely on ourselves. Don't expect him to do anything."

When Lu You heard this, he was suddenly shocked. He seemed to have witnessed with his own eyes the process of the Song Dynasty losing the hearts of the Han people in the north bit by bit.

This process may lead to devastating consequences in the next few decades.

In fact, Liu Dalang, who was well versed in history, also woke up instantly and thought that a hundred years later, Zhang Rou and others, as representatives of the Han people in the north, became the main force of the Yuan Dynasty, and turned their swords against the Southern Song Dynasty, ending the Han dynasty for the foreign race.

There are complex historical reasons for this, but isn't the main reason that the despicable Song Dynasty rulers repeatedly let down the Han people in the north, eventually leaving them in despair?

However, Liu Huai still had to preside over the meeting and could not care less about the course of history. He could only step out with his sword and ask Li Xiu, "Li Sanlang, are you going to do this or not?"

Li Xiu immediately shut up, clenched his right fist and raised it suddenly.

As soon as he expressed his opinion, Zhang Xiaoyi, who had been eager to try, also raised his hand.

Dong Cheng lowered his head and thought for a moment, then raised his hand as well. He said to Wei Sheng apologetically, "This isn't just my opinion, it's also what the brothers below think. Boss Wei, we can't expect everyone to be a saint. A saint without desires or ambitions can't fight a war."

Seeing that the oldest brothers began to support Liu Huai's statement, Wei Sheng showed no expression, but just nodded slowly.

Zhang Qing and Zhang Baiyu exchanged glances upon seeing this, agreeing that Liu Huai was ultimately acting for the good of their adopted father. As external generals, there was no need to argue over such matters, so they raised their right hands.

Afterwards, Shi Qilang, Li Huoer, Yu Yuan, Wei Jiao, Wei Chang, Bian Shining and others also raised their hands in turn to express their opinions. Some of them wanted to make achievements, or wanted to follow Wei Sheng to go further, or simply did not take the laws of the Song Dynasty seriously. In any case, in the end, only Li Gongzuo and Luo Guzi were left with their hands hanging and no words.

Seeing Liu Huai's gaze, Li Gongzuo folded his arms and said, "I am an official military officer of the imperial court. Not expressing my opinion on such an occasion is the limit of what I can do. Just pretend I was never here."

Luo Guzi, who looked like an old farmer, tightened his clothes and squinted his eyes and said, "There are some things that I haven't seen clearly yet. Wait a minute, wait a little longer."

Liu Huai nodded, raised his right hand as well, and turned to look at Wei Sheng: "Father, it is difficult to go against the will of the people."

Wei Sheng finally spoke, his voice a little hoarse, but still powerful: "Yes, it is difficult to go against the will of the people."

His hair was gray, and his face still showed fatigue from days of marching and fighting. The wrinkles on his forehead had deepened a little. However, at this moment, his body, which was surging with infinite power, seemed to stand up straighter again. The aura unique to the top military commanders of this era made everyone present shudder.

Seeing everyone's serious expressions, Wei Sheng smiled instead: "What I want to say is that it is very difficult to unify public opinion, because the differences between people are as great as heaven and earth.

It's hard for Mr. Lu, a man of long standing, officials, and aristocracy, to understand Li Sanlang's thoughts. Similarly, it's hard for someone like Li Sanlang, a man of the underworld, to align with Mr. Lu. "If you talk to Mr. Lu about high office and generous salaries, he'll definitely scoff."

"But if you talk about national justice to Li Sanlang, I'm sure he will treat it as bullshit."

As he spoke, Wei Sheng glanced around and said, "Da Lang wants to achieve great things, Ah Cheng wants to be promoted, Li Sanlang wants to defend his hometown, Mr. Lu wants to protect his family and country, and some people want land, wealth, or even to leave their names in history."

"Not to mention that among us there are warriors, scholars, bandits, tyrants, military officers, and civil servants. These people are so different, just like the clouds in the sky and the mud in the water. Yet we are all mixed together. Do you know why?"

Wei Sheng didn't ask; he immediately announced the answer. His voice rose, resonating like a bell: "It's simply that everyone is determined to resist the Jin."

"And at today's military meeting, everyone agreed that I should be the commander-in-chief of the Loyal Army and the governor of Haizhou. This can only be because this matter is beneficial to the fight against the Jin."

Wei Sheng paused and continued, "Everyone has selfish desires. You have them, and I have them too. No one is a saint, and it's extremely difficult to be selfless and put the public interest above personal gain. But I hope you can integrate your selfish desires into your public interest and live up to the aspirations you came here for."

"As ordered!"

Liu Huai was the first to bow and at the same time he breathed a sigh of relief.

He was always afraid that Wei Sheng would get stuck in a dead end and insist on waiting for some imperial decree or official letter from the emperor, wasting a lot of time.

Since Wei Sheng had made up his mind, he no longer hesitated and directly called in the craftsmen in the army to cast seals and appointed generals.

The Loyal and Righteous Army was upgraded to the Loyal and Righteous Army, and Wei Sheng appointed himself as the commander-in-chief of the Loyal and Righteous Army and acting governor of Haizhou.

Lu You was appointed as the magistrate of Haizhou.

The entire army is divided into five armies: front, back, left, right and center.

Liu Huai was appointed as the former military commander.

Dong Cheng was appointed commander of the left army.

Zhang Xiaoyi was appointed commander of the Right Army.

As an external general, Zhang Qing temporarily served as the commander of the rear army.

Each army is composed of 3,000 combat soldiers. Including the central army led by Wei Sheng, the total number of loyal and righteous army will be expanded to 15,000.

The battalion commanders and generals were also promoted, and some positions of deputy commander and commander were still vacant, but these would be resolved in the subsequent military expansion.

At this time, Zhang Baiyu and Zhang Silang finally got rid of the embarrassing identity of team leader and became a commander.

However, while feeling happy, Zhang Baiyu suddenly remembered that the Loyalty Army had already held a military meeting and decided on such an important matter, while most of the generals of the Dongping Army were still in bed and had not even gotten out of bed. He could not help but feel a little annoyed.

(End of this chapter)