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

Chapter 88: Difficulty in Dealing with Captives

When Wei Sheng led the central army to Wangjiazhuang, Lu You was sweating profusely as he directed the auxiliary soldiers and civilians to set up the camp.

Unlike the military life that Lu You imagined and read about in books, after a war breaks out, the army spends 99% of its time marching, and most of the remaining time setting up camp.

The actual fighting is only a small part of the entire war, which is short and intense, while the vast majority of the war is dull and boring.

The situation imagined in history books of setting out in the morning, fighting at noon, and returning home for reunion in the afternoon is simply impossible.

This is exactly what the saying "A general dies in a hundred battles, a warrior returns after ten" means.

"Marshal." Seeing Wei Sheng approaching, Lu You hurriedly bowed and saluted: "The camp has been set up. Marshal, please enter."

"Mr. Lu, you have worked hard." Wei Sheng grabbed Lu You's arm, walked with him, and entered the camp together.

"This camp is well-located, close to a water source. But the woods to the west are too dangerous. If the enemy attacks the camp at night, they can use this woods as a barrier and quickly approach. Next time we build a camp, we'll either move away from the woods or clear them out."

"The latrines aren't dug deep enough, and they're too close to the water source. Tomorrow morning, the water you drink will reek of feces and urine. War horses shouldn't be kept together with cattle. War horses are part of the sentry force and are more useful than dogs."

"Using oxcarts to pull the finished panels is a good idea, but sometimes the wooden fences can't be transported in time, so the hemp ropes must be recycled. You know, as long as there are trees, they can be cut down to make wooden fences, but the hemp ropes to tie the fences are often in short supply."

Wei Sheng took Lu You's arm and inspected the camp, pointing out its shortcomings.

Lu You's forehead, which had been wiped dry, began to sweat again.

There is no way, there is really no way. Even if Lu You has read a few military books, how could a military strategist talk about details like "hemp rope is very important"?
That is "The Art of War", not "The Military Manual of the Song Dynasty".

Some things, if you don’t know, you just don’t know.

"Mr. Lu, I'm not blaming you when I say this." Seeing Lu You just nodded silently, Wei Sheng said sincerely, "For a newcomer to the army, this is already an excellent performance. I believe Mr. Lu has experience in governing the people."

"That's right. Lu has been a local parent in the prefecture and county."

Wei Sheng nodded and smiled, "As the saying goes, governing an army is like governing a people; the two actually have something in common. The literati are all incredibly intelligent individuals; those who can govern a people can naturally govern an army as well. However, very few are willing to personally join the ranks. Mr. Lu, since he's willing to come, an old revolutionary like me can only be infinitely grateful. I wish I could teach him everything I know, hoping that one day Mr. Lu could lead an army on his own."

Lu You couldn't help but realize that Wei Sheng was making a political promise. His heart pounded. It took him a long time to calm down. He took Wei Sheng's arm with his backhand, ignoring the sun-scorched armguard, and said sincerely, "Marshal, I'm not particularly clever, but I have a simple and honest spirit that you can use."

This is not because Lu You was so obsessed with power that he even had ambitions that he shouldn't have, but as a member of the Northern Expedition Army, since he had already embarked on the path of restoring the Central Plains by force, how could he not want to truly control some of the power?

Having been a proponent of war for so many years, how could Lu You not want to actually command thousands of troops and fight against the Jin bandits?

Wei Sheng laughed heartily, but then sighed deeply, "If all the smart people in the world didn't become noble scholars and officials, but instead had the honest and straightforward spirit of Mr. Lu, then the Central Plains and Yanyun could be recovered, and even the idea of attacking Huanglong wouldn't be empty talk."

"Let's not talk about this anymore." After sighing, Wei Sheng quickly got down to business: "Where's Dalang?"

"In the village." Lu You couldn't help but look a little strange. "Interrogating prisoners."

Wei Sheng frowned: "What kind of public trial is this?" He didn't think that holding a public trial was a waste of time. On the contrary, Wei Sheng even thought that it was a rare serious matter worth promoting. After all, there were too few ways to quickly make the people of a county or a place win their hearts.

But as the commander of the front army, isn't it a bit too much for Liu Huai to give up all military affairs to do this?

Lu You's expression remained strange: "It's not a public trial. The Marshal will know for himself once he sees it."

Wei Sheng came to Wangjiazhuang out of curiosity, but saw Liu Huai sitting on the edge of the parade ground with a sword in his hand. In front of a group of prisoners, he pointed at the low-ranking officers in front of him and cursed angrily.

"I asked you to brainstorm, and you came to two conclusions: either kill them all, or let them all go?! Tell me, what are your thoughts, Shi Qilang, starting with you."

Shi Qilang remained undeterred. "Why can't we just kill them all? Isn't that what the Jin thieves did to us? Not to mention the distant ones, even in nearby Dayi Town, if it weren't for Lord Luo's decisive action, do you think the Jin thieves wouldn't have slaughtered every last one of the people there? Why should we spare some and forgive others when it's our turn to exact revenge? What kind of logic is this?"

Without waiting for Liu Huai to speak, Zhang Baiyu, who was listening quietly with his bow in his arms, pointed directly at a woman holding a swaddled baby and said coldly, "Shi Laoqi, that one-year-old boy is also a Jurchen. Since you want to wipe out the entire family, just take the swaddle and drop the baby to death. If you can do it, I won't say a word from now on."

The Jurchens came out of the Baishan and Heishui Mountains, but they still retained the primitive tribal tradition of the unity of soldiers and civilians. Therefore, this garrison of Meng'an included not only young and strong men, but also a large number of old, young, women and children.

At this time, the women and children and the young and strong had been separated and surrounded by the Song army soldiers at both ends of the parade ground, waiting for the judgment of the victor.

At this time, the woman was not far away from Liu Huai and others, and Zhang Baiyu did not deliberately lower his voice. The woman was frightened when she heard this and reflexively wanted to hide backwards, but no one made way for her. After staggering two steps, the woman fell to the ground holding the swaddling clothes, crying bitterly and kowtowed to Shi Qilang repeatedly.

In less than a moment, blood began to seep from her forehead.

Liu Huai and the other generals looked at the woman for a moment, then turned their gaze to Shi Qilang.

Shi Qilang's face twitched a few times, his hand clenched the knife handle, then loosened it. Finally, he sighed dejectedly: "Zhang Silang, you are right. I can't do it... but my fellow villagers, my... I can't swallow this!"

Liu Huai also sighed: "The Jin thieves are beasts, but Qilang, you are not. Even the heroes of our Northern Expedition are not beasts, and I will not allow you to become beasts!"

Zhang Baiyu expressed his thoughts at the right time: "Then let them all go. Since we are doing this, let's do it thoroughly and let the Jin thieves know the benevolence of our Loyal Army."

This is also a statement.

Zhang Baiyu had previously stated that killing prisoners was unlucky and it was not some ghost or god-given belief. Rather, doing so would only give the enemy one result: surrender would mean death, while fighting to the end would provide a chance of survival, which was equivalent to helping the Jin thieves unite against the enemy.

Liu Huai still shook his head: "That makes sense, but it's a bit too lenient. It's like telling the Jin thieves that after fighting the Northern Expedition Army, as long as they lay down their weapons, they can avoid being punished and continue to live in peace. How can that be possible?"

Hearing this, all the generals knew that Liu Huai had an idea in mind, and they were all speechless.

As the second-in-command of the Loyal Army, if you have an idea, just do it! Do you think your subordinates will oppose you because of these barbarians?
We still have to think and discuss things together. Aren't we just bored?
Luo Shenyan simply said, "General, you decide what to do, and we'll follow your lead."

Liu Huai said with some dismay, "You have to understand why you do these things. When you encounter similar situations, you have to know how to do them. Don't just do what I tell you to do."

After a tongue-twister-like remark, Liu Huai shouted an order: "Achang, are there any Han people among the surrounded golden dogs? Pick out the Han people and distinguish them from the Hu people!"

(End of this chapter)