Chapter Fifteen: An Unexpected Encounter with Yu Yunwen

  To the east of Zhuxian Town, on the official road, a large team of cavalrymen wearing black helmets and black armor were galloping rapidly. Their equipment was all identical, with shiny lances in hand, longbows and quivers on their backs. From the neat sound of horseshoes and the calm appearance of the knights, an experienced scout could tell at a glance that this was a well-trained elite cavalry team.

  Yue Yun rode on horseback, shaking the reins and galloping forward. On either side of him were two young generals, Guan Ling and Niu Tong.

  He couldn't help but sigh in his heart: I really didn't expect that the cavalry in Song Jun's army would be so few, with a total of 8,000 people in Beiwei Army, there were only 3,000 cavalrymen, not even half, and according to Yue Lei, the proportion of cavalry in Beiwei Army was already the highest among the Yue family armies, let alone the victorious and powerful armies like Sheng Jie, Ta Bai, Xuan Feng and other troops.

  So the cavalry in Yue's army were treated as treasures and were not easily mobilized. If it weren't for the fact that Chu State was one of the farthest places to borrow grain, and they had to rush to make time, perhaps Yue Fei wouldn't have agreed to bring all the cavalry on the road.

  Yue Yun seems to understand why the Song army in the past would often collapse as soon as they clashed with the Jin army in the wilderness.

  Most of the Jin army were cavalry, while the Song army was basically infantry. In a field battle, cavalry fighting against infantry would generally be invincible. Not to mention the impact and reaction force of the cavalry when the two armies suddenly encountered each other, even in a straightforward frontal confrontation, the cavalry could always rely on their speed to launch an attack from the side or rear of the infantry, making it impossible for them to defend both front and back.

  Even if the infantry commander is well-versed in military tactics and the infantrymen are brave and skilled in battle, occupying an advantageous position, the cavalry can retreat immediately when they see that things are not going well. The infantry cannot catch up even if they want to pursue, and if the infantry loses, it will basically be a situation where the entire army is defeated. Two legs can't outrun four legs! Therefore, in battles between the Song and Jin armies, they were always on the defensive, which has a lot to do with the lack of cavalry.

  "Alas, unless firearms are used, it's hard to defeat cavalry with infantry!" Yue Yun couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

  After galloping on the road for three days, Yue Yun only felt that his buttocks were aching from bouncing on the horseback, and he was also a little hungry in his stomach.

  "Guangling, at our army's speed, how long will it take to reach Chuzhou?" Yue Yun asked on horseback.

  "Great Master, Chuzhou is over a thousand miles away from Zhuxian Town. Originally, walking would take at least half a month or more, but we are all cavalry, so I estimate it will only take six days to arrive. Now that we have been traveling day and night, we have already covered more than half the distance!" Guan Ling said with a slight frown.

  "Oh, at this rate, we'll be able to cover about 200 miles in one day." Yue Yun calculated the marching speed of the cavalry.

  "Yes, now we have left Zhuxian Town for more than 600 miles. It should be near Suzhou. I remember that there is a village ahead of us, about ten miles away, called Wangjiacun. Let's take a rest there!" Guan Ling said.

  "Let's go! It's almost noon anyway, let's take a break there and have lunch before continuing on the road!" Yue Yun ordered.

  This Wangjia Village is a very dilapidated small village, most of the houses in the village were damaged in the war, and there are ruins everywhere, with only about twenty or so houses that are still relatively intact.

  The soldiers walked into the village, and the villagers who were originally on the road were all frightened and hid in their own homes. A few seven or eight-year-old children didn't know what was happening and continued to play where they were.

  Yue Yun dismounted his horse at this moment, put on a kind smile, and was about to greet them when several old women wearing cotton clothes suddenly rushed out, pulling their children into their homes like they were avoiding the plague, then "bang" - the big door closed.

  He couldn't help but be shocked. The Yue Family Army was well-supported by the civilians in Zhuxian Town, so how did it become like this here?

  Niu Tong couldn't help but curse loudly: "Can't you see clearly? We are the Yue Family Army! Not the Jin soldiers! What are you hiding for? Come out, all of you!"

  The cow moos loudly, and only then do a few brave villagers open the door, stick their heads out, and look around for half a day. Then they exclaim in surprise: "It really is the Yue Family Army! It's not the Jin army, nor is it Zhang Jiao's troops! Everyone can come out now!"

  At this time, the villagers finally opened the door and came out with trepidation. However, all of these villagers were quite old, and at a glance, the youngest was at least fifty years old.

  "Niu Tong shouted in a loud voice: 'We're in a hurry to rush on the road, do you have any cool water? Get some for us to quench our thirst. We've brought our own dry rations, so we won't trouble the villagers for food!'"

  The villagers cooperated after hearing this and immediately someone went to the village well to fetch several buckets of water for Yue Yun and his party to drink.

  At this time, an old man wearing a blue-patched robe hastily bowed to Niu Tong and apologized: "Please forgive the heroes of the Yue Family Army! I am the village chief of this village. Seeing that you are all cavalry, I thought you were the Golden Army, so I had the villagers hide. For the delay, please excuse me!"

  Niu Tong said with a big smile: "Old man, don't worry! But you're being too cautious! The Jin soldiers have long since hidden far away, with our Yue family army here, they wouldn't dare to come back to this area!"

  The village head sighed and said, "You haven't withdrawn yet, which is good. Once you withdraw, we common people will suffer again. Last year, when the two countries negotiated a peace treaty, our place returned to the Song Dynasty, and everyone was rejoicing, thinking that they could return to the Song Dynasty and live in peace from then on. But before half a year had passed, the Jin army came back, demanding that we pay the taxes from before. Those who didn't pay were immediately punished by being made into official slaves and sent to the Liaodong area... Alas, when will these chaotic days of war come to an end?"

  The village head's words made Yue Yun and others also feel deeply moved. When two countries are at war, the people who suffer the most are the civilians, especially those in the Central Plains and Jianghuai areas, who are caught in the middle of the tug-of-war between Song and Jin. Not only do they live in fear for their lives every day, but because they are stuck in the middle, neither side's officials care about them, and life is unbearably bitter.

  Guan Ling couldn't help but ask: "Old man, I see that many civilians have been crossing the Huai River to return to the Great Song Dynasty recently. Why are you still staying here?"

  The village elder sighed, "Alas, sir, look at us old folks still living in this village. Who among us isn't either old or young? How can we withstand the long journey? Those who could leave have already run away. I'm 73 years old this year and have decided to rest my bones here, no longer leaving my hometown! Anyway, I don't have many more years left to live!"

  Yue Yun and others were speechless after hearing this. As soldiers of the Great Song, they couldn't protect the people of the Great Song well, but instead let them flee and become homeless, which was really shameful.

  Just as they were full and ready to set off, a hoarse voice with a Sichuan accent suddenly came: "Excuse me, gentlemen soldiers, are you the heroes of the Yue Family Army?"

  After hearing this, Yue Yun turned his head to take a look and saw a man in his thirties with a pale complexion walking from the east of the village. He was wearing a cotton-padded jacket covered in stains, a white square scarf on his head, and a pair of tattered grass shoes on his feet. What caught people's attention most was that he was pushing a two-wheeled flatbed cart, on which lay an old man who was clearly seriously ill, with a pale face and occasionally groaning.

  "Hmm! We are the heroes of the Yue Family Army!" Niu Tong's face was full of pride, he loved being called a hero. "What's so important that you're looking for us? We're in a hurry to get to Chu State right now! If it's not an urgent matter, don't bother us!"

  That scholar, upon hearing that Niu Tong and the others were also going to Chu Prefecture, immediately showed joy on his face, and hastily said: "This... is a private urgent matter... I am from Renshou, Sichuan, and I too am heading to Chu Prefecture to find Master Hua's divine doctor to treat my father's illness!"

  "Xu Shen Yi?"

  Niu Tong really couldn't recall anyone with that number coming. On the other hand, Guan Ling asked thoughtfully from the side: "The Xu Shen Yi you mentioned is the Xu Shu Wei scholar who is good at treating typhoid fever?"

  "Exactly!" The scholar was overjoyed to see that someone knew this divine doctor, and he hastily begged: "My father has indeed contracted typhoid fever and has been bedridden for a long time. I have searched all over Sichuan for famous doctors, but none of them could cure my father's illness. Later, a certain official in Chongqing told me that the best doctor in the world at treating typhoid fever is Dr. Xu, and he informed me that Dr. Xu was serving as a Hanlin scholar in Huizhou. So, I set out with my father by boat to go to Huizhou. However, when we passed through Yidu, I happened to meet an old classmate who was the deputy commander of the militia in Huizhou and was returning to Sichuan on official business. He told me that Dr. Xu had resigned from his position in Huizhou and gone to serve under General Han Yuan in Chuzhou to treat illnesses among the soldiers of the vanguard...

  Niu Tong asked somewhat impatiently: "You bookworm have been talking for half a day, are you asking us to take you to Chu Zhou?"

  The scholar smiled bitterly and said: "Everyone is busy with official duties, how dare a humble commoner like me delay you? It's just that Dr. Xu doesn't know me, and he's in General Han's mansion, so it's hard to get an audience easily. I deeply understand the heroic spirit of the Yue family army, who are eager to help others, and since General Yue and General Han have a good relationship, I was thinking of asking the heroes of the Yue family army to do me a favor and arrange for me to meet Dr. Xu!"

  What the scholar said was also true, in this era, a general like Han Shizhong who held heavy troops was equivalent to a modern military commander, and was also the governor of the province, with high power and prestige. For an ordinary scholar from outside the province to go to his mansion to find someone, nine out of ten would not even be allowed to enter the door, and might even be beaten with a board and chased away.

  However, Yue Yun was secretly shocked when he heard his words. He felt that this scholar was not simple at all. He actually knew that Yue Fei and Han Shizhong had a very good relationship. This is not something that ordinary scholars can know? Although this matter is not a big secret among the ministers and generals in the court, it is unusual for a scholar who has no official position to know about it.

  Yue Yun's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and he asked in a deep voice: "May I ask, sir, what is your surname and given name? How do you know that General Yue and General Han have a very good relationship? This seems to be something that ordinary people would not know!"

  This young man saw Yue Yunfa ask questions, and looked around at the soldiers' eyes, all of which had a hint of fear and reverence, obviously the leader of this group of Yue's soldiers.

  Yu Yunwen hastily stepped forward and saluted, saying: "I am Yu Yunwen, only a fallen scholar from Sichuan Renshou. My father was a jinshi in the Zhenghe period and served as the judge of Tongchuan Prefecture. Therefore, I also care about the government's affairs and military situation at the front line. The two marshals Yue and Han are friends, and it is also occasional to hear what friends in the court say."

  "Oh, I see!" Yue Yun's expression visibly relaxed, and she couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Yu, since you care so much about the politics of the imperial court, it's clear that you have ambitions for a career in officialdom. Moreover, your respected father was once an official in Sichuan, surely you must have some connections in the official circles there. Why don't you take office?"

  "Alas! I also wish to devote my life's learning to the imperial court. Unfortunately, after my mother passed away, my father became disheartened and resigned from his official position due to old age and illness, causing our family's fortunes to decline. I had vowed to take care of my father in his old age before my mother passed away, so I didn't participate in the imperial examinations again. What other path is there for me to become an official?" Yu Yunwen couldn't help but sigh.

  Yue Yun saw that he had met such a big filial son, and he couldn't help but cry and laugh. He thought to himself: Doesn't Yu Yunwen know that after becoming an official, it's easy to hire some servants to take care of his father? It's much better than pushing his elderly father around in a cart to seek medical treatment everywhere. If he really became a high-ranking official, wouldn't those "famous doctors" come to his door to treat his father?

  Yu Yunwen, what a weirdo... Wait a minute, the name Yu Yunwen seems familiar. Yue Yun suddenly felt a flash of inspiration in her mind and finally remembered who this person was.