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

Chapter 79: Letting My People Lure the Bandits

"At this point, what other options are there?"

After Gao Anren said this, the people around him fell silent.

Of course, one of the reasons was that they had been running around for a whole day and night, but no one could answer what Gao Erlang asked.

Going to seek refuge with Bohai leader Gao Jingshan is naturally one way, but this way can only guarantee survival, but not the future.

Do you still expect Gao Jingshan, a big shot who was a commander of ten thousand troops during the Jing Kang era, to treat a son of the same clan as his trusted nephew?
There are so many people who want to be his son or nephew, who do you think you are, Gao Anren?

But if I don’t go to find Gao Jingshan, I can only go back to my hometown in Bohai.

Instead of ending up like that, I might as well have fought the Song army yesterday!
At this time, there were eight people beside Gao Anren, all of whom were family soldiers. Their armor was still in good condition, but they were all covered in dust and looked depressed.

They were in a courtyard, with mud walls half a man's height to the east and west, and two adobe houses to the north and south. The south-facing house had more even windows and a roof, and was where people lived. The south-facing house had a roof but no walls, and was a shed for large livestock.

This is a typical northern farmyard.

Everyone sat around a campfire, on which was an iron pot, in which were cooked the large livestock raised by the original owner of the yard.

There were still some human bloodstains and body parts under their feet, but the corpses were piled in the corner and would no longer affect their appetite.

However, the two disheveled women sobbing quietly in the corner of the yard made the already depressing atmosphere even more depressing.

A Jurchen woman with braided hair picked up a large ladle and stirred the pot. "My dear, why don't we go to Bianjing? I heard that His Majesty is recruiting brave men from all over the country to form a central army. Many brave men have already signed up. We are not short of courage and strength. My dear, you are capable of being a captain. After you have performed meritorious deeds in front of His Majesty during the expedition against the Song Dynasty, we can then deal with the loyal and righteous army in Haizhou. Wouldn't it be easy to capture them?"

"Basu, what year is this news from?" A neatly-haired soldier, clearly from the Han army, immediately retorted, "We started recruiting soldiers last year, and the autumn harvest is almost here. Where are the remaining positions waiting for us to fill?"

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"If you ask me," Han'er Jiashi's voice became louder. "If you ask me, we should at least go find Dalang first and tell him the news of the prefect's death. Then we can't talk about anything else. As the eldest son, Dalang can't not even know whether his own father is dead or alive."

"Da Lang is a civil servant..."

"So what if I'm a civil servant? Serving as an official in the Jin Dynasty, does that mean I don't need a family general?"

"What I'm saying is that the civil servants have few ways to make money, how can they support a bunch of us big-bellied men? And what's the future of following the civil servants? It's better to follow the path of General Gao and join the army as a soldier."

"You want to be a soldier, but I don't want to be one."

"I think you're just scared of being killed by Song Gou, so you just want to live a peaceful life!"

"Stop, you dirty bastard, don't think that..."

As the two quarreled, the atmosphere finally became a little heated.

Gao Anren seemed to have lost his soul. He didn't get angry, nor did he say anything to dissuade them. He just stared blankly at the broth bubbling in the pot.

"Okay... stop arguing..." Wu Ye, the former leader of Gao Wenfu's personal guards, held his arm and whispered to dissuade him. Although his injured arm had received proper treatment, the battle was so urgent that he could not rest for the injury. As a result, every time he spoke, he felt a sharp pain in the broken bone.

"We only have these few people left. Do we still need to draw our swords and engage in a fight?" After scolding his subordinates, Wu Ye's face was gloomy. He turned to look at Gao Anren and said, "Erlang, what are you thinking?"

"Sixth Uncle, do you think my father's head is hanging on the top of Qushan City now?"

As soon as these words came out, there was an instant silence around.

After Gao Anren finished speaking, he seemed to be stunned as if he couldn't believe what he had just said.

Wu Ye thought Gao Anren was about to burst into tears again and was about to offer words of comfort, but Gao Erlang gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, and his red eyes widened, threatening to pop out of their sockets. "I won't accept this! I won't accept this!" Gao Anren roared to the sky, his voice shaking the entire area. Even the woman crying in the corner of the courtyard was so frightened that she dared not speak anymore, only sobbing softly.

Wu Ye's eyes also turned red: "Erlang, let's sneak back and quietly retrieve the old prefect's head. I don't believe that Song Gou can defend Qushan City like an iron barrel right after he arrives."

Gao Anren shook his head, looking around at the eight people around him, and quickly calmed down. The series of failures had made this once arrogant Jin general extremely calm and composed. "At this point, only the eight of you are still with me. It's not reasonable for me to let you die so easily. Since God has allowed us to survive, we must keep our lives alive for the greater good!"

Seeing their husband cheer up, the others were also excited.

"I don't want to look for General Gao, nor do I want to look for my elder brother. I want to deal with the Song dogs in Shandong. If I can't stay in Haizhou, I will go to Yizhou, Yidu Prefecture, and Dongping Prefecture. I don't believe that there are not a few loyal and righteous people in such a vast area of Shandong." Gao Anren said calmly and firmly: "Sooner or later, I will return to Qushan City with dignity to bury my father!"

Among the eight people around, some were excited, some were stunned, some were silent, and some were afraid.

"Sixth Uncle, your injuries definitely prevent you from traveling any further." Gao Anren said to Wu Ye sincerely, then turned to the Han'er soldier: "Xiao Hu, what you just said makes some sense. Our father's death for the country is such a big event that we can't hide it from our eldest brother. Find two more people to escort Sixth Uncle to find our eldest brother."

When these words were spoken, apart from the soldier named Xiao Hu who breathed a sigh of relief, only one person was somewhat moved.

"It's just you two." Gao Anren made the decision immediately.

The man felt ashamed and somewhat relieved, and quickly bowed and said yes.

Wu Ye was about to speak, but Gao Anren stopped him: "Sixth Uncle, you can't ride a horse or hold a gun now. If you have any ideas, you must recover from your injuries first. If I'm still alive by then, come find me."

Wu Ye held his arm, his heart filled with mixed emotions, but he spoke earnestly, "My dear, you want to stay in the Shandong and Shandong armies, but have you thought about it carefully? The Shandong and Shandong armies have already withdrawn their troops to prepare for the southern expedition, leaving them extremely empty. How can they afford to fight the Song dogs?"

Gao Anren nodded. "I've been wondering all day and night why the Song dogs came to Haizhou instead of attacking Suzhou, Pizhou, and Xuzhou on the Huai River? Apart from anything else, as long as Xuzhou is captured, the Jin Dynasty's southern expedition will be abandoned."

"Because Song Gou has few soldiers." Wu Ye blurted out.

"Indeed, Song has few soldiers." Gao Anren continued to nod and replied, "I've thought about it carefully. If we want to achieve the greatest results with such a small number of troops, we can only attack Yizhou and cut off the Yishui River. This will block the transportation of supplies and troops to Mizhou, Dengzhou, Ninghaizhou and other prefectures in the eastern Shandong route."

"If the Song army wants to cut off the Yishui River, they must capture the provincial capital, Linyi. The fastest route to Linyi is to attack upstream along the Shuhe River. Remember, the shortest distance between the Shuhe River and the Yishui River is around Linyi City, a mere thirty miles!"

Gao Anren took a deep breath as he spoke. "Beside the Shu River, there are either Meng'an Mouke households or local tyrants who have surrendered to my father. They were all stained with blood during the land acquisition, and the locals who have surrendered to the Song dogs will definitely not tolerate them. I'm going to Linyi to find Pushan Zhizhou, gather all these people together, and crush them before the Song dogs become too powerful!"

Hearing that Gao Anren had a complete and feasible plan, the other eight people became even more motivated.

At this time, the meat in the pot was almost cooked. Gao Anren picked up the ladle and said, "If you want to leave today, I won't keep you. But as long as you work with me to accomplish great things, from now on, if I have a bite to eat, you will have a bite too. You are my brothers, Gao Anren."

As he spoke, Gao Anren picked up the porcelain bowl, filled it with meat, first held it with both hands and handed it to Wu Ye, then handed it to the other guards one by one, calling them brothers.

The others hurriedly took the food and hurriedly declined, not daring to be called brother.

The soldier named Basu took two sips of the broth, then immediately looked up at the two women in the corner of the courtyard: "They heard what the young master just said about the military situation."

Gao Anren viciously bit into the meat, as if he was biting the flesh of an enemy. After swallowing it whole, he also looked back and said lightly, "Kill him."

Basu wiped his mouth, drew a melon hammer from his waist, and walked over.

Just as a brief plea for mercy was heard, two sounds like watermelons breaking were heard. After two short screams, the smell of blood wafted over, and the two women who had just been humiliated were silent.

He quickly wiped the melon hammer with the hem of the woman's skirt, then suddenly realized that the two bodies were upwind and would disrupt everyone's mood for dinner. He couldn't help but cry out inwardly, bent down, grabbed the two women's arms, and dragged them to the other corner of the yard.

"Go away!"

Basu threw the two bodies onto the small pile of the rest of the family's bodies. He felt that the family of fifteen was now complete and nodded. He felt that he had done another good deed and that his merits were complete.

(End of this chapter)