Chapter 124: Worry

Just after the Mid-Autumn Festival on the fifteenth of the eighth month, Yue Fei was ordered to set out on campaign. No sooner had he entered the territory of Dongping Prefecture to the north than he ran headlong into countless routed troops from Zhang Rong's force, naturally shocking and confusing him. Yet shock and confusion aside, Yue Pengju still commanded with calm authority. He immediately gave orders for his troops to seize Pingyin City on the south bank of the Ji River beside them, while also dispatching units to gather the defeated soldiers and scout out the military situation.

Of course, since they had fought together before and were standard neighbors, the relationship between the two sides was still fairly good. So without Yue Fei needing to make any special effort to gather them, the routed soldiers of Zhang Rong's force automatically converged on Pingyin City, where the banner bearing the character "Yue" was hung.

And among them, naturally, there were not a few high-ranking generals from Zhang Rong's force who had had dealings with him in the past—or rather, leaders of Mount Shuipo Liang.

"Zhenfushi!"

In a moment, Zhang Xian, the deputy commander of the central army who had gone northeast to gather the routed troops, led a man before Yue Fei, who was standing outside the city gate. "Vice Prefect Li Kui has arrived..."

Yue Fei, who had been squinting toward the main road to the north, perked up at the words.

You see, Yue Fei governed his army with extreme strictness. After becoming Zhenfushi and gaining a foothold with one prefecture and one army, his forces had rapidly expanded to fourteen or fifteen thousand men. In someone else's hands, there would already be over a dozen Vice Prefect commanders under him, but under Yue Fei, aside from himself, there were still only two Vice Prefect officers... one was Wang Gui, who usually guarded Jizhou City, and the other was Fu Xuan, who normally garrisoned Dingtao City in Guangji Army... both were formally appointed by the court.

Below that, everyone stopped at the rank of Commander, and even that appointment was extremely strict. Even trusted men like Tang Huai and Zhang Xian could not become a full Commander.

Relatively speaking, "others"—that is, Zhang Rong's group at Mount Shuipo Liang—still followed the ways of the martial world, inevitably lavishing rewards and titles. Many leaders, even those in charge of boats or raising pigs, held the rank of Vice Prefect... If Zhang Suo hadn't sent someone specially to warn him, he might have created a full hundred and eight Vice Prefect commanders.

And Yue Fei's slight perk-up at this moment was not for any other reason, but because this Li Kui, Vice Prefect Li, who hailed from Yizhou, had first become a bandit leader in the chaos and followed others to occupy Mizhou, was then defeated by Li Cheng—the man he had crossed blades with in court that day—and finally wandered and surrendered to Zhang Rong, happened to be one of the rare steady and meticulous men under Zhang Rong's command. He was also a proper military commander, and with his words, one could learn some of the details.

"Zhenfushi Yue!" This meticulous general named Li Kui, covered in dust and dirt, came before Yue Fei and bowed in disarray. Before Yue Fei could dismount, he reported the two most urgent pieces of military intelligence. "The Jin have come, and that scoundrel Kong Yanzhou turned traitor on the battlefield..."

Even though Yue Fei had already guessed as much, hearing these two sentences still made his expression change slightly for a moment. Then he reined in his horse and asked, "Are you sure it's the Jin? Why was there no movement at all before?"

"It must be the Jin." Li Kui straightened up, his fair face covered with blood scratches and dust from the rubbing, but he quickly recounted what he had seen and heard. "Although they were disguised as troops from Jinan Prefecture, their horsemanship and arrows couldn't be faked... Yesterday afternoon, Liu Yu's eldest son, Liu Lin, personally covered for them in front of the battle line. Behind him, four or five thousand troops suddenly mounted their horses and raised the banner of that Wanhu Ali who came to Jingdong last year. As soon as they charged, we knew they were Jurchens! That hateful thief Kong Yanzhou must have gotten word from Liu Yu beforehand. He deliberately fell to the rear first, and when he saw our main formation collapse, he immediately turned his coat and joined them in attacking us from both sides... As for how they got here, it's still unclear, but it's nine chances out of ten that they disguised themselves as refugees from Hebei and came over."

"They must have disguised themselves as refugees from Hebei and come over." Someone among the generals behind immediately expressed agreement.

"Right, didn't we say at the beginning of the month that the Jin couldn't cross the river in time, so they supported Liu Yu and his son with four or five thousand warhorses? Zhang Xianggong (Zhang Suo) more or less made up his mind to attack Jinan because of this. And now that the Jin have disguised themselves, it's clear that men and horses crossed separately—the horses came first, then the soldiers disguised themselves as refugees and arrived here..." Another person recalled the earlier military intelligence.

"I just don't know why Kong Yanzhou had to ruin the reputation of us men from Xiangzhou. When I saw him rise up before, I thought that bastard had changed his ways! But looking at it today, he's still the same rogue he was back in our hometown of Xiangzhou!" Zhang Xian, always quick to speak, burst into loud curses.

Yue Fei narrowed his eyes slightly, appearing lost in thought, but said nothing more.

Now, although Kong Yanzhou was a local soldier from Jingdong, like Li Cheng—who had once crossed blades with Yue Fei—he was from Hebei. He had broken the law and drifted south to join the army. And, as Zhang Xian's indignant words revealed, Kong Yanzhou's hometown was none other than Xiangzhou. So there were many in Yue Fei's army who knew him. Moreover, because his garrison in Yanzhou was somewhat to the north, many refugees from Xiangzhou had also gone to him.

What's more, because of this fellow-townsman connection, combined with Yue Fei's great reputation and early rise, and Kong Yanzhou's some skill in governing his army, and the proximity of their jurisdictions, the latter had once been called "Little Yue Fei"... It was said that Zhang Suo's decision to employ him heavily was also somewhat related to this.

"Zhenfushi Yue, what do we do now?" Seeing that Yue Fei wasn't speaking, even the meticulous Li Kui couldn't help but grow anxious.

"First, temporarily station in Pingyin." Yue Fei, coming back to his senses, finally spoke. "Do our best to gather the troops, concentrate our forces, and be on strict guard to prevent the Jin from taking advantage of their victory to attack. The key is to quickly find Zhenfushi Zhang (Zhang Rong)..."

Once Yue Fei spoke, the people around him breathed a sigh of relief, as if they had found their backbone, and then each went about their tasks.

In the following day, everything went smoothly. Not only did the routed soldiers gather one after another, but the enemy did not pursue them. Not only that, by evening, there was even definite news of Zhang Rong. He had been shot in the thigh by a Jin arrow and dared not easily take the small paths, so he could only have people push him along the hidden ditches beside the Ji River, stopping and starting.

Yue Fei dared not be negligent. He had Tang Huai guard the city while he personally led Zhang Xian and Li Kui with the Reconnaissance Army to go and meet him that very night. But when they saw Zhang Rong, he was unwilling to enter the city.

"Fighting such a disgraceful battle, what face do I have to go to Pingyin City and take charge?" Zhang Rong sat on a plank cart, pillowed on a pile of dry hay, one leg bound to a wooden board, and a white sweat cloth wrapped around his forehead. He no longer had his former proud bearing, and when he saw Yue Fei and Li Kui, he even turned his head away.

"It's just a temporary victory or defeat. Besides, it was a Jin sneak attack, and Kong Yanzhou turned his coat on the battlefield. Brother Zhang, don't take it so hard." Yue Fei had no choice but to step forward and grasp the other's arm to console him. "And now, with the situation unclear, I suspect the Jin won't just come from Jinan. The main army along the river could arrive at any moment. When that happens, the overall situation will still need you to handle it. And now that Kong Yanzhou has rebelled, Jinan Prefecture and Yanzhou are connected. Dongping Prefecture bears the brunt of it. If you don't go and take charge now, Brother Zhang, how will the situation here be managed?"

Zhang Rong shook his head repeatedly: "You speak more and more elegantly... Actually, Pengju, you don't need to worry about Dongping Prefecture. I was born on Mount Shuipo Liang and grew up there. Whether it's the Jin or scoundrels like Liu Yu and Kong Yanzhou, I'll fight to the death to keep them from ravaging the area. But as for the overall situation, I'm powerless today..."

Yue Fei was about to urge him again.

"Brother Pengju, don't say anymore." Zhang Rong spoke before the other could. "You're a man with ambition and ability. That's why you're learning to write lyrics and read books in Jizhou. I know all that. But when it comes down to it, I'm just a water bandit. I can't compare to you. It's a pity that day I got lucky and won a battle, and then received an appointment from the Zhao court. My head got swollen, and I actually started thinking of myself as some famous general resisting the Jin... This battle has finally shown me my true ability. So many brothers looked to my banner and came to join me, and in one day, countless died! How can I have the face to go and take charge?"

Yue Fei understood the other's meaning in his heart, but it was hard for him to speak. Li Kui, being a meticulous man, stepped forward at the right moment and cupped his hands in a gesture.

Sure enough, seeing Li Kui step forward, Zhang Rong took the opportunity to voice his own thoughts: "Brother Li Kui, if you still consider me a leader, then listen to my order and go with Zhenfushi Yue to Pingyin to take charge... Tell the brothers that after the men from Mount Shuipo Liang and Dongping proper are organized, escort the people north of Dongping Prefecture to me at Mount Shuipo Liang to gather. Relying on Mount Shuipo Liang, no matter how hard it gets, I can protect them. As for the other heroes who have come to join us these days, you keep them for now. After you've gathered them, don't come looking for me. Just follow Zhenfushi Yue's arrangements."

Li Kui had come precisely for these two sentences, so he simply cupped his hands and agreed.

Seeing the other's attitude, Zhang Rong knew that he had indeed lost the hearts of these outsiders, and he felt even more dejected... Only Yue Fei—he was forcing him to cover the rear and clean up his mess. This great leader of Mount Shuipo Liang truly felt sorry and wanted to lean on the cart and pull the other's hand to say a few heartfelt words.

But thinking it over, first, he really didn't have much learning in his belly; second, he was truly ashamed; and third, no matter how he thought about it, he always felt that the other was better than him in every way. Even reading and writing lyrics, even the business income in Jizhou was better than in Dongping. So in the end, he had nothing to say.

Finally, so as not to waste the other's time, this Great Leader Zhang simply imitated the most popular gesture in the martial world—grasping the other's hands and saying, "Take care!"

The two parted ways. Setting aside Zhang Rong's martial world ways—rising with one battle and falling with one battle—after receiving Zhang Rong's words and having the authority to act, Yue Fei, Zhang Xian, and Li Kui led the Reconnaissance Army back in haste. Yue Fei kept a stern face and said nothing the whole way, which made his followers somewhat uneasy.

When they entered Pingyin City, the others went to rest. Zhang Xian, seizing an opportunity while tying up his horse in the stable behind the government office, couldn't help but ask when they were alone: "Brother, you've been in a bad mood all day since hearing the military intelligence. Is it because you're angry at that scoundrel Kong Yanzhou for disgracing us men from Xiangzhou? Or do you think Zhang Rong's defeat was too heavy and the situation in Dongping will be hard to handle?"

"Kong Yanzhou naturally deserves to be cut into ten thousand pieces." In private with his own brother, Yue Fei naturally had nothing to hide. "But after Zhang Bangchang, Fan Qiong, and Liu Yu, there will never be a shortage of such men. I can't say I'm angry about it. The situation in Dongping is naturally worrying, but since the Jin have come south, I'm afraid the entire Central Plains will be in great trouble. The life-or-death situation of the nation is right there. How can I fuss over just Dongping?"

"Then are you still thinking about sister-in-law's matter?" Zhang Xian asked cautiously.

Yue Fei was momentarily stunned and didn't react at first.

Seeing this, Zhang Xian wished he could slap himself twice... You see, after becoming Zhenfushi, Yue Fei finally had enough manpower. Plus, the situation in Hebei had deteriorated badly. He had sent people one after another to search for his own and his brothers' families. After eighteen attempts, he finally retrieved his family from Xiangzhou in Hebei last month. But he discovered that his wife had abandoned his old mother and their children a year ago and crossed the river south alone with her own family.

In other words, Yue Pengju had been dumped, and over a year ago at that. She had probably already cuckolded him long ago... For another man, such a thing would be held as a grudge for life. Even in a novel, it would be a clear case of "giving away the woman," worthy of being hung up and criticized.

However, upon hearing this, Yue Fei actually smiled, a rare occurrence: "I naturally hate her heartlessness. But in that situation, everyone was trying to survive. I abandoned her first in that kind of hellhole. How can I blame her? But she was, after all, my lawfully wedded wife. If she wanted to flee, fine, but she shouldn't have abandoned my mother and our two children... That is what truly lost her virtue. And now that my mother is settled in Jizhou, there's no need to dwell on this matter. If I get news of her later, I'll see how she's doing and send her some money."

"What you say is right, big brother." Zhang Xian quickly glossed over it.

"But today, I do have one worry I can't resolve and one anger I can't calm." After saying those idle words, Yue Fei saw that his brother didn't believe him, but he didn't explain. He just stopped in the stable, stroked the head of the warhorse in front of him, sighed slightly, and revealed the reason for his bad mood all day. "What worries me is that once the Jin invade south, it will surely be a full-scale assault of two hundred thousand troops, with at least one main column heading for Nanyang. And today, one route sneaking across at Jinan is not the scary part. What's scary is that there might be others at other places, and then the entire front line collapses together, making the overall situation difficult. When that happens, our Jizhou, with just over ten thousand men, stuck at the front, having to both defend cities and fight, will probably be hard-pressed to cover everything... In the past, I always felt I had too few troops and not enough strength. I thought that if I could manage a military prefecture and lead ten thousand men, it would be fine. And now His Majesty has truly broken the rules to let me, a mere twenty-five-year-old, serve as Zhenfushi, leading one prefecture and one army with over ten thousand troops, and I can make my own decisions on most matters. Yet I still can't hold up the sky alone. I might not even be able to protect the territory. It's hard not to feel gloomy."

Zhang Xian nodded repeatedly... In the overall situation, one tree cannot make a forest. They had experienced this truth too many times before. Their elder brother had been promoted at a dreamlike speed over the past year, only to end up like this. Naturally, his mood was unsettled.

"And there's one thing that makes me angry. They all say the Jin in Jinan Prefecture disguised themselves as Hebei refugees and sneaked south. I think so too..." Yue Fei continued with a sigh. "But setting aside other places, just these four or five thousand Jin in Jinan—where did they get their clothes when they disguised themselves as refugees? They couldn't have bought them, could they?"

Zhang Xian was momentarily stunned. Yue Fei took the opportunity to turn aside, added some night feed for the warhorse himself, and then went to rest. The city of Pingyin settled into a rare calm.

The night passed without incident. But as midnight came, the people in the city were startled awake by the hoofbeats of scout horses. It was reported that far to the north of Pingyin City, flickering torchlight had been observed, apparently indicating a large force marching through the night. It was unknown if the enemy was preparing to attack under cover of darkness... With the enemy nearby, Yue Fei naturally had contingency plans for this. He immediately got up, ordered the entire army to prepare for battle, ready to sally forth at any moment, while also ordering the city walls not to light torches without authorization, to feign unpreparedness.

However, scout riders came one after another, and soon brought detailed military intelligence that made Yue Fei's expression change completely—it was indeed a large force of cavalry marching south through the night, almost certainly the Jin army led by Wanhu Ali. But the Jin cavalry was on the opposite bank of the Ji River, racing south along the river, with no intention of attacking Pingyin.

This should have been good news, but the assembled generals all grew tense. Because the enemy was very likely heading for Guangji Army and Jizhou behind Mount Shuipo Liang, intending to use their cavalry advantage to outflank the Yue Family Army's rear.

But this possibility alone was still not enough to make Yue Fei, sitting fully armed in the hall, change his expression. What truly worried Yue Fei was that, based on his understanding of Jin combat style, there was a greater possibility for their southward advance this time... that Wanhu Ali, as the vanguard of the stealth crossing, bore a larger strategic mission!

So the enemy simply didn't take Yue Fei's ten thousand men seriously. Their purpose this time was to hurry and rendezvous with other Jin forces, or even to join other stealth-crossing troops and directly attack Zhang Suo in Nanjing or Zong Ze in Dongjing, for all anyone knew.

Thinking of this, Yue Pengju dared not be negligent. Early the next morning, he immediately mobilized the entire army. On one hand, he sent Zhang Xian as the vanguard to lead the Reconnaissance Army south at top speed to scout the situation and relay messages. On the other hand, he sent his own main force in separate groups to the surrounding villages and stockades, ordering them to escort the people of Pingyin and the wounded officers and soldiers of Dongping Prefecture south to assemble on the north bank of Mount Shuipo Liang. Finally, he himself led Tang Huai and Li Kui with fewer than two thousand central troops to continue gathering the defeated soldiers in Pingyin while also serving as the rearguard.

At this point, all they could do was hope that Liu Lin and Kong Yanzhou would be slow to arrive.

However, in the morning, just as the various units had dispersed to the surrounding areas to gather and escort the people, military intelligence arrived, reporting that Xu Qing, a general under Kong Yanzhou, had already led three thousand troops to a spot twenty li north of the city.

"Xu Qing came fast!" Even the usually taciturn Tang Huai grew anxious. "He must have taken advantage of last night's scout horses being drawn away by the main Jin force, and quietly marched through the night with his banners furled..."

"Zhenfushi Yue, the defeated troops are unfit for battle. Should we recall some of the units that just dispersed?" Li Kui was also somewhat flustered. "You must know, Xu Qing doesn't even need to defeat us. As long as he pins us down until Kong Yanzhou and Liu Lin arrive from the rear, we won't be able to get away."

"If that's the case, why did he march quietly through the night with his banners furled?" On the city wall, Yue Fei narrowed his eyes slightly, the whites showing, as if he completely looked down on Xu Qing. "Regardless, this man is an old acquaintance of mine from Xiangzhou. Why don't the two of you come with me out of the city to the north and take the initiative to meet this man?"

Tang Huai naturally had nothing to say.

Li Kui had no choice but to steel himself and accept.

PS: Thanks to the 56th cutie, Wo De Guai Guai... Guai Guai, what a great name!