Chapter 3: The People's Petition

  Only at the gate of the Yuejiajun's camp, a large number of people stood in black, wearing rough cloth clothes and ancient costumes. There were more than 3,000 to 4,000 people, including old men, women, and children, but relatively few young adults. Among them, there were dozens of people wearing green shirts and brocade robes, who seemed to be scholars and merchants. Most of the people present were poorly dressed, with yellow faces and thin flesh, their eyes revealing a sense of disappointment and numbness.

  They then saw a large group of soldiers coming out of the camp, all making a loud noise and shouting in unison: "We want to see General Yue!"

  Yu Lei ordered the soldiers to move them more than 20 zhang away from the camp fence, so as not to block the entrance of the large camp. The civilians suddenly burst into a chorus of wails and cries.

  An old man with white hair, wearing a tattered hemp robe, pulled an old woman beside him and kowtowed at the gate of the camp, wailing: "Heroes of the Yue Family Army, my two sons were killed by the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty, and my daughter was also ravaged to death by them. Only my wife and I are left in our family. We only hope that before we die, we can spend a few peaceful days in the south!"

  Another woman in white mourning clothes, with disheveled hair, knelt down and wept uncontrollably, saying: "My husband was taken away by the Jin people to repair the city wall. As a result, he was slow to move stones and was stabbed to death by the Jin soldiers. In the end, they even asked me for two taels of silver as funeral expenses, saying it was for the labor cost of burying him! I couldn't afford it, so they took away our family's only cow that could be used for farming! General Yue, you must do justice for us common people!"

  A middle-aged man who looked like a merchant also spoke to the soldiers of the Yue family army with a sad and indignant face: "The tax officials of the Jin people are simply a group of bandits! I was transporting goods worth five guan to sell, but they demanded ten guan in taxes. I argued for a few sentences, and they directly confiscated all my goods and accused me of secretly communicating with the Song army. They put me in jail, and it wasn't until fellow merchants saw that things were not going well and repeatedly pleaded and spoke on my behalf, and also gave twenty taels of silver to their superior officer, that I was released. We really can't bear to stay under the rule of the Jin people anymore!"

  “……”

  Thousands of people's pleas and narrations, the momentum is also very grand, and the common people all say that they are pitiful to the extreme, with tears in their eyes. Even the soldiers guarding the gate of the camp couldn't help but be moved by it. Several soldiers even couldn't help but shed tears, these civilians should have been the objects of their protection. They also pinned all their hopes on the generals and soldiers of the Yue Family Army. But now the generals and soldiers of the Yue Family Army had to leave them behind. All this was bestowed upon them by the Song Dynasty government that everyone had placed their hopes in.

  Yue Lei's eyes also reddened slightly, and he said in a low voice to Yue Yun: "It seems that these civilians have come again to ask Father not to withdraw the troops. Since the news of our Yue family army returning to the court was announced more than ten days ago, there have been people coming to our camp to plead with Father not to withdraw the troops. However, it's the first time we've seen such a large-scale crowd coming to plead like today. I reckon these civilians must have known about yesterday's imperial edict."

  Yue Yun looked at these villagers who were supporting the elderly and carrying their young, and his heart was not feeling well either. He knew that these villagers had placed all their hopes for survival on Yue Fei's shoulders, but they didn't know that Yue Fei's life would only last a little over a year. The Iron-blooded Yue Family Army, which was called "easy to shake a mountain, hard to shake the Yue Family Army" by the Jin army, ultimately ended with its main generals being exiled or sentenced to prison, and the entire army being disbanded and falling into the hands of a court that only dared to flatter the Jin people. And Yue Fei himself died a miserable death in Fengbo Pavilion.

  He was suddenly filled with a surge of emotion, and immediately walked to the entrance of the camp, imitating the mannerisms of ancient people. He bowed his hands together in respect towards the crowd of commoners, then loudly declared: "Ladies and gentlemen... Ah! I made a mistake, it's you esteemed elders and fellow villagers. I am Yue Yun, the eldest son of General Yue. I know that all of you have come to see my father, hoping to persuade him not to withdraw our troops... In fact, we also don't want to retreat, and would love to recover our lost lands and protect our fellow countrymen from being bullied by the Jin bandits... Unfortunately, the imperial court has repeatedly ordered us to withdraw, and yesterday they even sent twelve golden plaques and an imperial edict to my father... So, the matter of withdrawing troops is already settled! Even if you find my father, he will be unable to disobey the imperial court's orders. In my humble opinion, it would be best for everyone to disperse now! Each of you should return home, and those who want to withdraw together should quickly pack up and bid farewell!"

  Yue Lei stood beside him, listening with wide eyes and a stunned expression. His elder brother's words clearly revealed his extreme dissatisfaction with the imperial court, and he was able to deliver such a long and eloquent speech to persuade the people. This was vastly different from his previous introverted personality, who only knew how to silently carry out their father's orders. It seemed that after losing his memory, his elder brother's temperament had changed quite a bit.

  The crowd of people heard Yue Yun's words, but they were extremely distressed to know that their hopes had been shattered. They couldn't help but make a loud noise again, and the front of the Yue Family Army's camp was suddenly filled with cries, the scene was mournful beyond measure.

  Yue Yun also felt that his previous words were a bit too much. Now this matter is extremely thorny, these civilians can't be beaten, can't be driven away, and can't be scolded. It's very difficult to persuade them to leave. After all, the withdrawal of troops is a matter of life and death for them, it's not something that can be resolved by saying a few good words, intimidating them with official power, or scaring them off.

  Yue Yun was considering whether to let Yue Lei inform Yue Fei, letting this cheap old man solve the matter himself. At that moment, a young scholar who looked like a leader among the common people squeezed his way to the front of the crowd, bowed to Yue Yun and said: "Young Master Yue, I am Zhu Xianzhen's private school's top student. Today, seeing Young Master Yue's demeanor is truly admirable. I also know that yesterday, the imperial court sent an envoy to announce the edict to General Yue, ordering him to withdraw his troops and return to the capital. But may I ask if Young Master Yue can report this to General Yue and delay for a few days before withdrawing, so that we common people nearby can gather our family's valuables and follow the army back south?"

  Yue Yun carefully sized up the young scholar, seeing that he was about 24 or 25 years old, wearing a scholar's headscarf, dressed in a long blue robe made of cotton cloth, with pale skin and clear eyebrows.

  He also felt that this person's demeanor was elegant and his speech was refined, seemingly quite learned.

  As for the request to delay the withdrawal of the great army, Yue Yun thought about it and recalled that there was a record in the "Song Shi" that when Yue Fei withdrew from Zhu Xian Town, the people heard the news and blocked his horse, crying and saying they were worried about the Jin army counterattacking: "We welcomed the official army with fragrance and grain, but the Jin people knew all about it. If you leave, we will be finished." Yue Fei was helpless, took out the imperial edict and showed it to the crowd, saying: "I am not allowed to stay." The crying shook the fields. Yue Fei decided to leave the army for five days, so that the local people could migrate south, "and those who followed him were like a market, and he quickly petitioned to settle them in the six idle counties of Han Shang."

  However, with his own crossing, history seems to have undergone a slight change. Now these people directly came to the gate of the big camp to cry and complain, rather than blocking Yue Fei's horse.

  Just as Yue Yun was thinking, the crowd of people behind the scholar all knelt down on the ground together, shouting: "Young Master Yue, please ask the Yue family army to escort us to withdraw together! We don't want to be bullied by the Jin thieves anymore!"

  "Yes! We can't live like this anymore! The bandits can kill us whenever they want, beat us whenever they want, rob us of anything valuable, and...and...take advantage of our beautiful daughters. We can't take it anymore!"

  “……”

  Yue Yun was not a historian in his past life, he had only read some historical books, and naturally did not know the details of Yue Fei's withdrawal after receiving the twelve golden plaques. However, there was one thing he was clear about, that was yesterday Cao Gonggong who came to announce the imperial edict required Yue Fei to withdraw immediately, not five days later. If Yue Fei wanted to delay his withdrawal, he had to get Cao Gonggong's agreement as the supervisor of the army and report it to the court on his behalf, otherwise Yue Fei shouldn't have dared to disobey the twelve golden plaques and the imperial edict. From yesterday's situation, it seemed that Cao Gonggong did not agree with delaying the withdrawal.

  Yue Yun's face was deep in thought, and the scholar became somewhat anxious. He bowed again to Yue Yun and said: "I don't know if Master Yue can report to General Yue?"

  Yue Yun raised his head and glanced at the thousands of civilians kneeling outside the camp, only to see that a small portion of them were wearing brocade clothes. Judging from their attire, demeanor, and speech, they appeared to be merchants, and their expressions were the most anxious.

  Yue Yun speculated that they still had fields and houses locally, and if they were to withdraw, they would have to sell their property. Therefore, they were extremely eager for the Yue family army to stay in this place all the time, protecting them from being bullied by the Jin people.

  He saw the expressions of the businessmen, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he already had a plan in mind. Of course, this plan is something that any modern person would basically know how to do, but it's likely that someone like Yue Fei, who was so upright and honest, probably never even thought about doing such a thing.

  Yue Yun then bowed to the scholar and said, "I am a rough and unpolished military man. Just now I heard you pleading for the people's lives, and I couldn't help but admire you greatly. As a result, I was slightly rude earlier. Would you be willing to come to my tent for a chat?"

  That scholar was taken aback, he saw that Yue Yun's attitude was so polite and could say such elegant words, which was far beyond his expectations. He had high hopes for the Yue Family Army and was also very familiar with their situation.

  In his view, Yue Yun, although he was the eldest son of Yue Fei and held the position of commander of the most elite Baowei Army in the Yue Family Army, did not have much real power. It is said that in the imperial court, his formal appointment was only a small official who "writes and drafts documents".

  Moreover, although he held the most elite troops, he had no power to lead the army independently, far less powerful than Zhang Xian, the second-in-command of the Yue family army. Even if Yue Fei did not show up, the one who came out to negotiate on behalf of Yue Fei should have been a general with real power like Zhang Xian or Wang Gui, or an advisor like Li Ruoxu. How could this young and inexperienced Yue Yun take over?

  However, the scholar saw that Yue Yun had a sincere appearance and his eyes showed a sincere expectation, which moved him somewhat. Moreover, Yue Yun was after all the eldest son of Yue Fei, so it's possible that Yue Fei intended to cultivate this eldest son properly, hence giving him considerable power.

  Having thought of this, he had already made up his mind. He stepped forward, bowed and thanked him, saying: "Sir Yue has given an order, how dare I not obey?"

  He said, then turned his head to the people behind him and said: "Young Master Yue has summoned me to discuss something, everyone please rest here for a moment, let's wait until I've talked with Young Master Yue before making any plans!"

  This scholar seemed to have considerable prestige among these common people. After he spoke, although they still looked sorrowful and many were still crying, they no longer wailed as loudly as before.

  Yue Yun said to Yue Lei, "Second brother, I'll go and discuss this matter with the gentleman now. You help me keep an eye on things here, just maintain order and don't let the civilians rush into the camp."

  Yue Lei listened and felt a bit puzzled, thinking to himself that his brother had nothing good to discuss with this sour scholar. Although the common people's feelings were indeed pitiful, whether or not to postpone the withdrawal of troops was not something that he and his brother could decide on their own, and they should naturally report back to their father.

  He was used to listening to Yue Yun's orders in the army, and it was not against military rules for Yue Yun to ask this scholar to enter the account to discuss things.

  Yue Lei could only nod his head in agreement, holding a long spear and ordering the soldiers to guard the entrance of the camp carefully, doing their duty, and letting Yue Yun lead the scholar into the big camp.