The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 396 Li Heng's Northern Expedition
Chen Gui: "I'm not going!"

The woman said, "Look at your current status. If you don't go to the Northern Song Dynasty, you can only go to Lin'an. Once you get to Lin'an, you'll be bullied by treacherous officials and persecuted by a foolish emperor. The firearms you invented will not only fail to kill enemies on the battlefield, but will also become a breakthrough point for treacherous officials to attack you..."

Chen Gui: "!!!"

The woman said, "The Northern Song Dynasty is different. I guarantee that Mr. Chen will be treated well after arriving in the Northern Song. We have already prepared a position for you as the Vice Minister of Works. You will become a high-ranking official as soon as you arrive in the Northern Song, and in a few years you might even become the Minister of Works. The gunpowder in our Northern Song is very different from that in the Southern Song. Mr. Chen might be able to come up with some new tricks with the gunpowder in the Northern Song. By the way, don't worry about your family in the Southern Song. We will pretend that you were killed by two constables."

Chen Gui considered it seriously for 32 seconds, then sighed deeply: "Fine! Go then."

Woman: "The old gentleman is truly sensible."

She returned to the pile of rocks and led out two horses: "Old sir, you are not young anymore, can you still ride a horse?"

Chen Gui: "Whom are you underestimating?"

"Alright! Let's go."

The two mounted their horses, the woman leading the way, Chen Gui following behind, heading towards the Northern Song Dynasty...
-
December, 1132 AD!
The passes in Qingyang Town have all been completed.

Fu Songqing stood in front of the gray-white fortress and walls, poking the hard concrete wall with his finger, his face full of astonishment: "I saw it with my own eyes. It was originally just a pile of sand and lime. After mixing it with water, it was still a pile of soft, mushy mud. How did it become so hard after a few days?"

Zhang Wei chuckled: "Don't ask me, I wouldn't know anyway."

Fu Songqing had no choice but to turn to ask Sha Gen.

But at this time, Sha Gen wasn't possessed by Yue Wenxuan; he was just a plastic man. Fu Songqing's questions had to be within the knowledge range of a migrant worker for him to answer, so Sha Gen just smiled foolishly and said, "This thing is called chemistry. I don't understand chemistry either; only people who have been to school understand it."

Fu Songqing was completely bewildered: This guy is weird! The last time I saw him, he was quite clever and could even reason with Wang Lun. Why does he look so stupid now?
He could only be more patient: "I've been to school, but I still don't understand."

Shagen: "You have to go to junior high school. Junior high school teaches chemistry. But I don't know if junior high school chemistry teaches cement."

Fu Songqing: "Junior high school chemistry? What the heck?"

Shagen: "I don't know what that is either."

The two stared at each other, and then Zhang Wei spoke up: "I know about junior high school."

Fu Songqing turned around with great joy.

Zhang Wei said, "Junior high school is a better school than primary school. There are three junior high schools in our Northern Song territory now: one in Jiaoshui County, one in Yizhou, and one in Chuzhou."

Fu Songqing: "Huh? There's one in Chuzhou? This place isn't far from Chuzhou... I..."

As the two were talking, a rider on horseback suddenly came galloping from the southeast: "Report! Li Heng, the garrison commander of Xiangyang in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Zhai Cong, the garrison commander of Henan Prefecture, Mengzhou, Ruzhou, and Tangzhou, have both launched a northern expedition, claiming they will retake Kaifeng." Fu Songqing was greatly alarmed: "A northern expedition? To retake Kaifeng?"

Upon hearing this news, Zhang Wei found it amusing: "Hmm? I think I heard the name Li Heng a few days ago. Ah! Right, he's the one who fought among his own people. He was clearly the garrison commander of Xiangyang in the Southern Song Dynasty, but he went to attack the prefecture of De'an in the Southern Song Dynasty, and was stopped by Chen Gui, the prefect of De'an..."

Fu Songqing felt ashamed when he heard this. The Northern Song Dynasty was in harmony, but the Southern Song Dynasty was fighting among its own people. It was truly shameful.

Zhang Wei said, "Li Heng's northern expedition might be an opportunity worth taking advantage of."

He had just finished speaking when he saw a rider galloping from the southwest. The rider shouted, "General Ma Sheng is leading two thousand soldiers and is heading this way. He sent me to inform them first, so as not to cause unnecessary tension among the soldiers at the pass."

Zhang Wei was overjoyed: "General Ma is here? And he brought two thousand men with him? Haha!"

Fu Songqing knew Ma Sheng. He was from a prominent local family on the Jiaodong Peninsula and a loyal subject of the Northern Song Dynasty. He held a high position and had long followed Yue Wenxuan and Gong Erniangzi in their campaigns. The fact that he had suddenly arrived with two thousand soldiers meant that something important must have happened.

Soon, Ma Sheng led his troops over. Zhang Wei saw from afar that there was a cricket general in black armor at the front of Ma Sheng's troops. It was none other than Lü Bu, Lü Fengxian, whom the True Lord had summoned from all over the world to help. He was shocked and thought to himself: The True Lord has even summoned Lü Bu. There must be a big battle to be fought.

Ma Sheng dismounted before Zhang Wei and Fu Songqing, but Lü Bu did not. Instead, he spurred Red Hare and rode through the pass, heading directly towards Suzhou, which was controlled by the puppet state of Qi…

The veterans all understood, and no one bothered with him.

Fu Songqing and the new recruits watched Lü Bu walk away with curiosity. Fu Songqing couldn't help but ask, "What's that actor dressed as Lü Bu doing running off to Suzhou all by himself? Isn't anyone going to do anything about it? Hey, General Zhang Wei! Aren't you going to stop him? What's the difference between him going there and going to his death?"

Zhang Wei shrugged and said, "Lord Fu, you don't need to worry about him. He's one of our elite scouts, sent to Suzhou for reconnaissance."

Fu Songqing: "???"

Zhang Wei turned to Ma Sheng: "General Ma, something big has happened?"

Ma Sheng nodded and said solemnly, "General Zhang! I have come here to meet you on the orders of Lady Gong Er. Your thousand men will immediately join my troops. We will march together towards Suzhou. Our goal is to kill Kong Yanzhou and then advance towards Kaifeng."

Zhang Wei bowed without hesitation: "Received!"

Fu Songqing was taken aback: "Take Suzhou and then march on Kaifeng? You...you...you are preparing for a northern expedition to retake Kaifeng? This...this...is this going to be a full-scale decisive battle with the puppet Qi state? Why? Why launch this suddenly at this time? Is there some reason behind it? In my opinion, this is not an ideal opportunity."

Ma Sheng grinned, revealing a strange smile: "Hehehe! Now is the perfect opportunity. Li Heng of the Southern Song Dynasty has launched a northern expedition! Both the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties are Song. Since the generals of the Southern Song Dynasty are so responsible, we in the Northern Song Dynasty certainly cannot lag behind and must send troops to cooperate."

Fu Songqing's heart pounded with excitement, but he was calmer than when he was in the Southern Song Dynasty. He said in a deep voice, "Li Heng and Zhai Cong are nominally officials of the Southern Song Dynasty, but in reality they are no different from bandits. Their northern expedition is a pretense; their real purpose is to plunder. They may be defeated by the pseudo-Qi state in the blink of an eye. If we blindly send troops to cooperate, it may not be effective."

Ma Sheng laughed: "Who is Young Master Yue? He has already considered what you are thinking about. So his order is that we fight towards Kaifeng, as far as we can. As for Kaifeng, we will take it back if we can, and if we can't, so be it. There's no rush."

(End of this chapter)