Zhu Nao

At the same time, two miles away.

"Report—General Jianwu!" A spy rushed forward and reported to Ma Shu, "Our army has broken through the enemy's third battalion in the southeast, and has not yet been resisted!"

The corner of Ma Shu's mouth curled into a smile.Things developed as he expected. He led a surprise attack at night and caught the Xuzhou army by surprise.The Xuzhou army scattered and fled in chaos, and did not carry out an effective counterattack at all.

"Continue to attack!" Ma Shu ordered, "Attack into their main camp in one go. It's best to capture their generals alive! Don't give them a chance to fight back!"

"Yes!" The orderly got off his horse and left to deliver orders to the army.

The firelight illuminated the horse's face and reflected the excitement in his eyes.He is going to advance like this, and no one can stop his footsteps!

It's a pity that the good time is always short, and the ideal will not be realized too smoothly.

Not long after, he saw a large area of ​​fire in the barracks lit up, the shouts of killing became louder and louder, and the speed of the army's advance slowed down significantly—the Xuzhou army reacted and began to resist!

Sure enough, soon one after another spies came to report the military situation: "General Jianwu, the enemy counterattacked in the east!"

"General Jianwu, there is an enemy army going around to the north to attack our flank!"

"General Jianwu..."

Listening to the continuous recent military situation, the smile on Ma Shu's face gradually disappeared, and his brows became more and more wrinkled.

The Xuzhou Army's reaction was faster than he imagined, and the counterattack was stronger than he thought.He originally thought that when the Xuzhou army received the news of Liang Guo's subjugation, it should be at a time when the six gods are in turmoil.Unexpectedly, the officers of the Xuzhou Army agreed with him, thinking that now is a good opportunity to make meritorious service, which is related to the future of the rest of his life.Therefore, instead of admitting defeat, the Xuzhou army started a fierce counterattack!

Ma Shu gritted his teeth and said: "Fight to the end, no one is allowed to retreat! We must take Xuzhou!!"

The orders were conveyed layer by layer, and the officers and soldiers under him bit the bullet and gritted their teeth to fight to the death!

The battle intensified, and a sudden nighttime sneak attack turned into a full-scale fight between the two armies in a blink of an eye...

……

An hour later, in the Xuzhou barracks, Xiao Jia paced back and forth anxiously.

A spy rushed back from the front line, Xiao Jia quickly stepped forward, grabbed the man and asked eagerly, "How is the situation?"

The spy shook his head again and again: "General, the Eastern Route Army is about to fail!"

Xiao Jia choked for breath, gritted his teeth and said, "What do you mean you can't hold it? If you can't hold it, you have to hold it!"

The faces of everyone standing beside him were extremely ugly.

Although they had already organized a counterattack, the enemy army had the upper hand after all and killed them completely from the very beginning.They counterattacked hastily and failed to reverse the situation.Moreover, although the officers were determined to make contributions and impress the Emperor of Shu, the soldiers were at a loss because their homeland was destroyed, and they could not agree with the officers.So after a fierce battle, it was the Xuzhou army that lost.

Xiao Jia gave the order, but the messenger hesitated and didn't send the order immediately.

The people around him persuaded: "General, we can't fight anymore, let's withdraw! Today's situation is too bad, and the soldiers are almost unable to hold on. Even if they hold on, it will only increase more sacrifices. It's better Let's retreat a few miles first, and after regrouping our troops, we will find a way to regain our position!"

"That's right, General, if the fight continues, the army will probably collapse! The top priority right now is to reduce casualties, and we can come back at any time in the future!"

Under everyone's persuasion, Xiao Jia gradually calmed down.Indeed, he only knew that the army from Huainan was attacking them now, but when did Huainan have an extra army?He didn't even know the origin and size of the enemy army. If he persisted, even if he finally defended his position, the casualties would be immeasurable.The only way to make plans is to withdraw first.

Xiao Jia braced his forehead, gritted his teeth and said, "Withdraw... let's withdraw!"

The messengers immediately rushed out to ring the golden order.

Xiao Jia warned: "Today's matter, we must suppress the news. After we regain the position and wipe out the enemy army, we will report to Mr. Xu!" He dared not let Tian Chou and Zhu Nao know about such a shameful thing.The only thing to do is to find a way to recover the loss as soon as possible.

After giving these instructions, he mounted his horse and led the crowd to the northwest...

=====

By dawn, the battle was completely over.

Ma Shu walked in the Xuzhou barracks they had just captured, but his face was not good after he won the victory.

There was a strong bloody smell everywhere, making people feel nauseous.There were corpses strewn all over the ground, and under the corpses were crushed military flags, some from the Xuzhou Army and some from them.

The tired soldiers did not rest and were cleaning the battlefield.They found their companions from the corpses all over the ground, dragged the corpses back, and prepared to bury them.

Ma Shu looked at the corpses being dragged out one after another, and felt a throbbing pain in his heart.He was really distressed, but what he distressed was not the lost lives, but everything in this army was built by him with hard work.Any loss of strength would take him a long time to regain.He didn't expect that in this first battle, more than one-tenth of his soldiers and horses were defeated before barely winning the miserable victory!

In the final analysis, it was because the soldiers in his hands were all recruits, but the Xuzhou army was a well-trained veteran brought out by Tian Chou. There is actually a big gap between the combat effectiveness of the two sides.He was able to win only because he seized the opportunity...

At this time, Ma Shu suddenly heard bursts of crying.He looked back following the crying, and saw a young soldier crying while hugging a corpse on the ground.

These soldiers are all from Huainan, and they are from the same hometown. In addition, they have been training together for the past few months, and they already have a deep friendship with each other.The cry of the young soldier made the atmosphere more sad, and more and more people began to wipe away their tears.

"General Jianwu..." Several people stepped forward and surrounded Ma Shu, "Do we really have to do this to protect our folks?"

Ma Shu was startled.The Jiangnan people are gentle by nature, and he didn't expect that a tragic victory would shake his own military morale.If you let this emotion ferment, everything will be over!

He took a few deep breaths, and said with deep pain: "Yes. If we don't want those tigers and wolves to eat our flesh and drink our blood, we must not back down! Only by keeping the long-term stability of the Chen Dynasty, can your wives and children live in peace. day."

The soldiers bowed their heads in silence.Ma Shu did a good job of comforting and encouraging, and finally coaxed everyone to stop being so frustrated.He ordered the soldiers to clean up the place as soon as possible, and then turned and left the battlefield.

After staying away from the crowd, Ma Shu's expression quickly became indifferent, and he ordered in a low voice: "After cleaning the battlefield, let the soldiers build the defense line immediately. Those Xuzhou soldiers may make a comeback in a short time." This battle made him He found that the Xuzhou Army—at least the officers of the Xuzhou Army were not as dazed and discouraged as he had imagined, and they were also very tenacious.This means that the defeat this time will not crush those Xuzhou troops, and it is not so easy for him to gain a foothold in Xuzhou.

His personal soldiers hesitated and said: "But general, the battle has just been fought, why don't you let everyone take a breather?"

"Don't rest!" Ma Shu said coldly, "The defense line must be repaired as soon as possible, otherwise if the Xuzhou soldiers come back again, today's battle will be in vain!"

The soldiers could only say: "Yes, General..."

Ma Shu said again: "Also, I will post conscription orders in every village and county today, I need to replenish soldiers and horses immediately!" He didn't have much time, and he had to expand his power as soon as possible to achieve his goal.

The soldiers who got his order hurried away.

=====

Xiao Jia and other officers of the Xuzhou Army still wanted to hide the news of the Xuzhou Battle, but it's a pity that such a big thing happened, how could they hide it if they wanted to?It didn't take long for the whole story of the war to reach the ears of Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji who had retreated to Henan.

When the news came, Zhu Nao was reviewing and accumulating a lot of official documents in the palace, so Xie Wuji was the first to hear about the battle situation in Xuzhou, which surprised him a bit.

"Ma Shu?" Xie Wuji repeated the name, thoughtfully, "Is that Liu Shiqi's husband-in-law, General Jianwu?"

Ma Shu, Xie Wuji, has naturally heard of it.Although they had never fought against the Chen Kingdom, Zhu Nao had already set up many eyes and ears all over the world by means of business and other means. From local officials and local dignitaries, to officials of all sizes from the courts of various countries, they all had rosters.

They had also heard about Ma Shu being sent to Huainan half a year ago, but they were too busy fighting with Liang Guo at that time to pay attention to Huainan.But I didn't expect that Ma Shu would pull out an army unknowingly in just half a year, and let Xuzhou's army suffer such a big loss!

Xie Wuji squinted his eyes, and commented lightly: "This person has some abilities, but unfortunately he is too powerful and has a wrong mind."

Wu Cong on the side nodded in agreement.

Ma Shu could use rhetoric to incite his soldiers, but what he was thinking couldn't be hidden from Xie Wuji.Moreover, both Xie Wuji and Wu Cong came from Jiangnan. Although they had never served Chen Guo, they knew those Jiangnan dignitaries very well.

Even those in power in the Chen country may not be very loyal to the Chen country, what they want is nothing but profit and power.The so-called upper beam is not straight and the lower beam is crooked. How could the horse beam that was excluded by them be a loyal minister and a good general?Moreover, Zhu Nao has a reputation for benevolence and never exploits or oppresses the people.Therefore, if it wasn't for the enemy's malicious exaggeration and incitement, the common people would often not dislike the arrival of the Shu army. After all, for the common people, it was just a change of emperor, and their lives might still be good.

Under such circumstances, Ma Shu is picking up trouble in Xuzhou, and it is clear who he is fighting for.

Although Xie Wuji could see that he was talented, he didn't like him.A few years earlier, when the world was in chaos, he would have wanted to subdue such a talent for their use.But now that the world is basically at peace, if such people make trouble again, it will do no good except to cause trouble for Zhu Nao.

Xie Wuji got up and said: "Let's go, let's see His Majesty!"