Zhu Nao

At the same time, on the Xuzhou military training ground, Ma Shu is urgently training the new army.

After he promulgated the compulsory conscription order, he quickly recruited a lot of people from Huainan, which expanded the size of the army, enough for him to deploy defenses in Xuzhou.However, although there are more people, there are also more troubles.

Right now, the recruits are practicing changing formations.The orderlies kept beating the drums, and the soldiers ran on the school grounds according to orders.But the crowd is sparse, and there are always people who can't keep up with the team or make wrong instructions.Such a formation is full of loopholes. Once on the battlefield, it will not be long before the enemy will tear it to pieces.

"Stop! Stop!" Ma Shu couldn't bear to watch, and ordered with a dark face.

The messenger immediately stopped beating the drums, and the soldiers on the school grounds looked at each other in a daze. They didn't know what to do next.

"Return!" Ma Shu said, "Start again!"

Helpless, under the command and reprimand of the officers, the soldiers reluctantly returned to their original positions and started training again.

After practicing like this several times, not only did the performance of the soldiers not satisfy Ma Shu, but his face became more and more ugly.I don't know if it's because the recruits' physical energy is exhausted or their patience is lost, but they haven't made any progress at all, and even become more sloppy every time!

"Come again!"

"Come again! Come again!"

"Go on! If it's still like this, no one should go back to rest today!" Ma Shu ordered over and over again.

Even the guards beside him couldn't stand it any longer, and whispered: "General, let them rest for a while. After all, they are all guards. If they continue to practice like this, they will be exhausted."

Ma Shu gritted his teeth.

He also knew that maybe his requirements were higher.But now they don't have time to take their time, the enemy army is confronting them at Tongshan, and they may launch a full-scale attack on them at any time!If he doesn't quickly train the recruits to become famous and fail to defend Xuzhou, all his previous efforts will be in vain!

Moreover, the reason why he was unwilling to drill the recruits over and over again was not only because of his own eagerness, but also because he could see that these newly recruited soldiers did not try their best at all.

——Most of these recruits were recruited by force, and they were not willing to be soldiers at all, let alone go to the battlefield, so they could always hide or push or push for training.Under such a negative situation, how can you practice well?

This situation made him extremely dissatisfied, and he had to give these recruits some color to let them understand that orders and prohibitions must be enforced in the army, and there is no room for negotiation!

Finally, after repeated training over and over again, most of the recruits could no longer run, they were panting and exhausted.

One after another, people fell to the ground exhausted, with a "plop", and another fell to the ground suddenly, falling into a coma.

The crowd started to uproar!

"General Jianwu, I really can't practice anymore!" The officer in charge of the drill was anxious.The uproar of the soldiers became louder and louder, and they were afraid that if they were forced any further, they would rebel—if they still had the strength to rebel.

Ma Shu looked at the crowd coldly for a while, and finally let go: "Let them go back and rest."

Everyone on the field breathed a sigh of relief, and the officers began to organize the recruits to return to the camp, and sent the fainted soldiers to be treated.

Seeing the crowd slowly evacuate, Ma Shu turned his head and told the soldiers: "Go and inform the quartermaster to kill a few more livestock at night to reward the recruits. In addition, the training will be suspended tomorrow, and the recruits will gather in the school field at Maoshi. I have something to say to them." explain."

Ma Shu rule still has a set of means.He knew that blindly being strict would not work, and that a stick would be rewarded with a date.Therefore, after recruiting recruits, he was very willing to spend money on food expenses, and he must ensure that the recruits can eat enough or even eat well every day.Otherwise, these soldiers would sneak away soon.

As for what he wants to say to the recruits, it is still the set of rhetoric of "moving with emotion and understanding with reason". He wants to convince the recruits that the Shu army will soon come to occupy their land and rob them of their property, wives and daughters , Only in this way can the Jiangnan people who are indifferent to the world be willing to take up arms for him.

The soldiers hurried to deliver the order.

……

Half an hour later, Ma Shu was resting in the camp when someone came in and announced, "General, Wu Chian is outside to see you."

Ma Shu was slightly taken aback.Wu Qian is the chief military officer in the army, responsible for the management of food, weapons and property in the army.He hurriedly said, "Let him in."

Soon, Wu Qian hurried in.

When Ma Shu saw Wu Qian's expression, he guessed why he came, and his expression sank immediately.He asked: "Why, there is not enough food and grass?"

Wu Chiu nodded and said bitterly: "General Jianwu, there are more than a thousand people in the army, and the daily consumption of food and grass has greatly increased. If the quota set by the general is still followed, I am afraid it will only last for more than half a month."

Ma Shu frowned and said, "Didn't I send someone to raise food and grass two days ago? Why didn't I raise it?"

Wu Qiandao: "The general doesn't know, the Huainan mansion is really out of money, and several local wealthy households have escaped. There are also two families who sent people to Beijing to make contacts, and Beijing sent a letter. They said it was to keep us from being disturbed, so we didn't dare to ask them for food again..."

Ma Shu pulls out an army by himself, of course it needs a lot of money and food.The way he obtains money and food is to directly ask for it from the government, and the other is to collect it from wealthy households in Huainan.At first, because of Han Rushan's order, everything went smoothly.But later he asked for more and more, and it has changed from expropriation to Ming grab.Almost all the taxes collected by Huainan Mansion were taken away by him, and the wealthy households were also disturbed.Those who lost their families, those who fled, and those who had connections, hurried to Beijing to ask for a life-saving talisman.

If there is no shortage of money in hand, Ma Shu will sell face to the dignitaries in Beijing.But now that the situation is pressing, he certainly doesn't care about it.

Ma Shu said: "It doesn't matter who wrote the letter in Beijing, I will let you recruit, and you should boldly recruit! No matter what you do, you must first ensure that the army can fill your stomach! I will stand up for anything!"

Wu Qian hurriedly said: "Yes, yes..."

But even if all the wealthy households in Huainan were emptied out, this army of several thousand people would not be able to provide for them for long.Wu Qian cautiously said: "General, how about reducing the daily quota too. Letting the soldiers eat until their bellies are round every day is really exhausting..."

"No!" Ma Shu immediately vetoed, "They must be fed, and must not be reduced. Even if it is necessary to reduce it, it cannot be now!"

Now, firstly, the battle situation is tense, and secondly, there are many more recruits. If people can't fill their stomachs, the number of deserters every day will be unimaginable.So no matter how difficult it is, he has to bite the bullet and solve it.

After all, he still misjudged the situation.Originally, he thought that the Xuzhou army would be at a loss when the Liang and Shu regimes changed, and they would be defeated on the battlefield.But the defeat of the Xuzhou army was a defeat, but it did not lose its backbone.

The most troublesome thing is that the Xuzhou army was in a stalemate with him on the sidelines, neither retreating nor advancing.If he retreats, he will be much more relaxed; if he advances, everyone will decide the outcome earlier, which will save him from worrying.But the current situation made him dare not let go of his breath, so he could only desperately increase troops to train.

Having come this far, he can no longer go back...

Ma Shu took a deep breath and said, "Just follow my orders, don't worry about the rest, I will find a way!"

Wu Qian had no choice but to say "yes" and go out to distribute today's food to the army.

After Wu led away, Ma Shu fell back on the back of the chair, rubbed the center of his brows, and said in a deep voice, "Go and find Liu Xin for me!"

Liu Xin was an official in the army who was in charge of liaising with Beijing. Ma Shu's personal soldiers took him to the army tent soon after taking orders.

Ma Shu suddenly stood up from his chair, walked quickly to Liu Xin, and asked, "Is there any news from Beijing? I asked you to send an urgent envoy to urge you. Did you urge me?"

Liu Xin was forced by his momentum.He couldn't help but shivered, and said with a mournful face: "General Jianwu, my subordinate has sent three urgent envoys to urge him, but there has been no response from Beijing, and there is nothing I can do about it!"

Ma Shu clenched his fists and couldn't help cursing: "Those damn bastards!"

He sent people to Beijing, of course to demand food and pay.Since the establishment of the Huainan Army, the imperial court has only allocated a small amount of money at the beginning, and everything after that has been raised by himself.He thought that when he built an army and captured Xuzhou, the group of aristocratic families would both fear him and rely on him.After all, he can defend against the Shu army when he advances, and attack Jiangnan when he retreats. Those aristocratic families will definitely lower their noble heads to coax him.But he misjudged both the Xuzhou army and the powerful officials of the Chen country, and they all dared to ignore him when they had reached this point! ! !

Just as he was burning with anger, Liu Xin stammered: "The general didn't call me, and I was about to report to the general. Just this morning, I received a letter from your brother..."

Ma Shu was startled: "Letter from home? Bring it to me."

Liu Xin hurriedly took out an unopened letter from his bosom, and respectfully put it on the bundle with both hands.

Ma Shu quickly took it, opened the envelope and read it.

After reading two lines, his expression suddenly changed. After reading it quickly, he said in surprise: "My father is seriously ill, and he will die soon?!"

Liu Xin and the recruits in the tent were shocked when they heard this, and they didn't even dare to breathe.

However, Ma Shu read the letter back and forth several times, and then walked back and forth in the tent a few times, with an increasingly suspicious look on his face.

The letter said that his father had been seriously ill recently, and the doctor said that he might not have many days left, and asked him to go back as soon as possible to see him one last time.He checked the handwriting carefully, and it was indeed from his brother, but no matter how he thought about it, he felt something was wrong.

He is a very careful person, otherwise he would not be able to climb to his current position on his own.He himself is deep in the city and has a heavy heart, so he will not completely trust others, even his biological brother.At this juncture, not to mention his father's serious illness, even if the Heavenly King Laozi is seriously ill, it is impossible for him to leave the front line and his own army.His elder brother should know what he is like, how could he ask him to go back...

Thinking that the imperial court had always turned a blind eye to his request for food and salary, he had a guess in his mind.

He turned around and recruited two soldiers, and said solemnly: "You two go back to Jiangning immediately, pretend to be ordinary people, enter the city quietly, and go to my house to see how my father and brother are doing. Remember to hurry, go quickly Come back, don't be discovered by those from the Xie family and the Liu family."

The two soldiers hurriedly said, "Yes, General!"