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

Chapter 81: The guests and attendants are all Han officials

Liu Huai's words startled Wang Shilong for a moment, but he immediately bowed and said, "Commander-in-Chief, I'm not worried about the farmers. I'm also a fool who doesn't know the limits. It's a simple truth. If they don't serve as auxiliary troops in the rear, they will most likely be driven out to the front and become dead soldiers. Commander-in-Chief, I am only grateful for this arrangement."

Liu Huai nodded, but he was a little curious: "Then what were you looking at just now?"

"Look at that big flag." Wang Shilong pointed back.

"The Flying Tiger flag?" Liu Huai also looked back. "I once joked with my father that if I could establish an army on my own, I would come up with my own bugle call for the Flying Tigers. My little sister heard it and embroidered this Flying Tiger flag overnight. What do you think? My little sister's craftsmanship is pretty good."

This Flying Tiger Army has nothing to do with the Flying Tigers. It was simply because Liu Huai was deeply impressed by the Flying Tiger Army organized by Xin Qiji when he carefully studied "The Chronicle of Jiaxuan", so he had a narrow-minded attitude.

Anyway, we are all fighting against the Jin in Shandong now. As long as we don't die, we will meet Xin Qiji sooner or later. Then we can ask him, "How does my Flying Tiger compare to yours?" Wouldn't that make a deep impression on him?
It would be even better if Xin Qiji could write a poem about this.

Liu Huai couldn't help but show off, but Wang Shilong immediately shook his head: "No, I see the other side."

Following Wang Shilong's gaze, there was a large flag with black characters on a red background in the middle of the team. There were no decorative patterns on it, only one character.

"Han"

In fact, not only did Wang Wulang look back frequently, but even people as lively as Zhang Baiyu, as steady as Lu You, as sinister as Shi Qilang, and as smart as Luo Shenyan, when they were not giving orders, all looked up silently and looked at the flag.

"What? Is there something wrong with this flag?"

"No..." Wang Shilong wiped his forehead and smeared the powder mixed with sweat and dust into a ball. By the way, he took off the silk flower on his ear that was already dirty and pinned it on the horse's mane.

"There's nothing wrong with it... It's just that this Han flag hasn't appeared in Shandong for over thirty years. I... I've never seen the majesty of the Han Dynasty since I was born. Seeing it now, it feels like... like..."

Wang Wulang was a man of introverted talent. After a moment's reflection, he suddenly said, "Have you, Commander-in-Chief, read the 'Preface to the Lanting Poems'? Those who come after me look at the present as we look at the past. I feel something is different, but I don't know what. It's just an ordinary march, yet I feel so excited. I suppose only when future generations, centuries or millennia from now, look back through history books and realize, 'Oh, so Wang Wulang was accomplishing something great back then.'"

Wang Shilong's words were incoherent, but Liu Huai understood them clearly. He waved his whip and pointed at the Shu River beside him: "Being in the tide of history is like this mighty river flowing, and we are just a wave among the waves. Although we know that the Shu River will eventually flow into the sea, we don't know how far this wave will push the river, or even whether it will break at the next bend. Is that right or not?"

Wang Shilong thought Liu Dalang was a real talent and spoke so sweetly: "That's exactly it."

Liu Huai nodded, but didn't know what to say for a moment.

Simply because Wang Wulang is a standard, genuine, and authentic landlord and tyrant.

He is different from Zhang Xiaoyi, who was obsessed with revenge after his entire family was killed, different from Zhang Rong, who was obsessed with fame and career, and different from Wei Sheng, who was determined to serve his country at the cost of his life.

Wang Wulang's purpose of joining the Northern Expedition Army - at least at this stage - was just for land and manors, in other words, just for his own interests.

In fact, there is nothing to blame. After all, there are very few people in the world who rebel to save the people from dire straits, and most of them rebel to save themselves from dire straits.

But in this case, Liu Huai was not in a position to tell Wang Wulang some of his empty promises.

Does it mean that because of the sacrifices we make, we have great ambitions and dare to change the sun and the moon to create a new world?

What you said to Li Xiu and Li Sanlang about sacrificing yourself for the benefit of the whole village should be more reasonable.

But for Wang Shilong, sacrificing the victory won by their Wang family was meaningless.

This is a typical bad habit of the landlord class.

However, these manor owners who can train their farmers into semi-military organizations on a daily basis are the most common landlords in the two routes of Shandong, and are also one of the main sources of future military forces for the Loyal Army.

Therefore, these people cannot be abandoned or left alone. They can only be absorbed into the Northern Expedition Army and then slowly guided. Thinking of this, Liu Huai changed the subject: "Our Northern Expedition Army crossed the Shu River from the lower reaches, which is full of mudflats, while the upper reaches do seem to be more regular."

Wang Shilong bowed to Luo Shenyan beside him and said, "The upper reaches of the Shu River were built by Mr. Luo and more than 20 of us farmers. Commander, look at this dam and this water diversion ditch. We built them with great sweat and tears."

Liu Huai turned his head and asked, "Those farmers?"

"It was those farmers, the farmers of our Wangjiazhuang." Wang Shilong's tone became more intense. "We had just finished repairing the canal when the Jurchens arrived, claiming that Wangjiazhuang belonged to them by order of the Emperor. They drove us all out, seized our finances and land, and refused to even harvest the crops. Commander-in-Chief, how can such a thing be justified?"

"Didn't you fight the gold thieves?"

"Fight? How?" Wang Shilong laughed bitterly. "First, several other villages upstream surrendered to the Jin people. Then the Jin cavalry arrived, with a force of 5,000 armored cavalrymen. They surrounded Wangjiazhuang tightly. Even though the village had fences and antlers to protect against thieves and wild animals, how could it withstand such a large army?"

"Five thousand cavalry?" Liu Huai's expression brightened. "Who leads the army? Where do they come from?"

Wang Shilong was stunned for a moment, but immediately replied, "There should be young and strong men from the Jurchen nation among them, but the main force is from Dongping Prefecture, and the commander is called Hesheli Zhining."

"Hesheli Zhining..." Liu Huai muttered the name, recalling his deeds in history, and couldn't help frowning.

If this guy were still in Dongping Prefecture, he would soon face the Northern Expedition Army, which would be a tough nut to crack.

Wang Shilong continued, "I heard a few days ago that this fellow was recalled to the court. It seems that the Khitans in the former Jin territory have started a rebellion, and he is going to quell it."

Liu Huai nodded and motioned Wang Wulang to continue.

"At that time, that fellow Hesheli Zhining gave us one day. Everything they couldn't take would belong to them, and those who couldn't escape would become their tenants." Wang Shilong raised his hand and pointed forward. "My father divided us into two groups. My two brothers stayed behind and became tenants with the farmers who couldn't leave their homeland. I followed my father and some farmers to Qushan City to make a living."

"Can you support so many farmers?"

"After all, we still have some wealth." Wang Shilong said sincerely, "These material possessions are not important. Talent is the most important. So even if my mother and sister sell their jewelry, we still have to support the farmers. With them, our Wang family has hope of rising again."

Liu Huai nodded in satisfaction. "To accomplish great things, one must always put people first. Since Wang Wulang has this awareness, I will dare to discuss great things with you in the future."

event? What's the big deal?
Wang Wulang's mind raced, and before he could ask in a roundabout way, he saw a rider galloping along the ridge of the field. After seeing the flag of the central army, he hesitated for a moment, but was obviously reluctant to trample on the crops that were about to mature, so he drove along a narrower ridge and onto the official road.

Wang Shilong had sharp eyes and saw from a distance that the armor and robes of the people coming were relatively neat, and it was obvious that they were from the Loyal Army. Then he immediately felt something indescribable strange in his heart.

As the scouts gradually approached, Wang Shilong inadvertently looked back at his farmhand and immediately understood where the strange feeling came from.

Most of the farmhands in Wangjiazhuang were temporarily auxiliary troops. They drove ox carts, donkey carts, and mule carts, which were loaded with baggage, fences, deer horns, and armor of the regular army.

In addition to the driver who whipped the cart, there was also a person walking in front of each cart to lead the animals, for fear that they would turn around and eat the crops.

It can be said that cherishing food is ingrained in the bones of these half-soldiers and half-farmers.

But why could Liu Dalang's subordinates...or the core subordinates of Wei Dutong of the Loyal Army, actually act like this?
Before he could think, the scout had already approached. He reined in his horse and bowed from his horse: "Commander, there are still farmers in the fields of Wangjiazhuang ahead, and they have no defenses."

Even though he had already known about the situation of Wangjiazhuang from Wang Shilong, Liu Huai was still in high spirits: "Wang Wulang, that was your former home. You lead the way."

Wang Shilong was immediately excited.

Liu Huai continued to give orders: "Zhang Baiyu, the infantry will be with you. Put on your armor after one mile. Mr. Lu, when the infantry put on their armor, have the auxiliary troops set up camp. Shi Qilang, Wei Chang, Luo Shenyan, all the cavalry, follow me!"

(End of this chapter)