There are three official roads from Hangzhou to Xiuzhou, one of which must pass through Haining County. The Wu army led by Ye Shouxiong received an order to march to Xiuzhou from this way.

As the first battle after returning to Wu, Ye Shouxiong marched very cautiously, and whenever he came to a dangerous place, he would stop and investigate, and only pass after confirming that there was no danger.

This also led to his slowest speed among the four armies attacking Xiuzhou, which made his generals very dissatisfied and felt that he had missed the credit in vain.

This time, the army was sent out by Meng Xiao as the marshal, Shi Chongxin as the deputy marshal, and the three roads attacked from the land and all the way from the sea.

Among the three branches of people on the land route, one route was personally led by Meng Xiao and went to Haiyan County; One route is led by Ye Shouxiong, and Haining County is gone; There is also a route led by Qi Zhen, the right commander of the forbidden army, and goes to Deqing County.

There are more than 10,000 people in each of the three armies, plus more than 10,000 sailors in Shi Chongxin, who took the waterway, and about 50,000 troops are pressing on Xiuzhou.

Ye Shouxiong led the troops, slowly moving forward on the official road, and suddenly, a scout galloped over, and reported: "General, General Qi has defeated Deqing and is heading towards Wudun County." ”

"Got it." Ye Shouxiong waved his hand and led the army to move forward.

After a while, another scout came to report, Meng Xiao beat Haiyan, Ye Shouxiong didn't pay much attention to it, and continued to march at the original speed.

Soon, a valley appeared in front of him, Ye Shouxiong waved his hand to signal the army to stop, and said to the herald beside him: "Send someone to the valley to investigate." ”

"General Ye, with your marching speed, when will you be able to defeat Haining, you are burying the merits of the brothers!" Wang Xin finally couldn't help but speak.

He was sent by Meng Xiao to serve as Ye Shouxiong's deputy general, which can be regarded as an insurance measure, after all, Ye Shouxiong is a general, and Meng Xiao will be responsible if something happens.

"That's right, General Ye, the credit is almost robbed by the other two route armies." There are generals who echo it.

Ye Shouxiong looked around and saw that most of the generals were looking at him with suspicious eyes, and his eyes sank: "That's okay, General Wang, I will hand over the command to you, and you will lead the army, how about it?" ”

Wang Xin snorted coldly: "What do you mean by this, I don't mean to ask for military power." ”

"Well, since you don't want military power, then the main general is still me, you must listen to me, if you don't listen to the order again, Ye will give up military power and return to Hangzhou."

"What are you doing back to Hangzhou?" Wang Xin asked urgently.

"Of course, I will tell His Royal Highness King Wu the truth about the situation."

Wang Xin was secretly angry, Wu State's military law was strict, if he really fell into a charge of not obeying orders, it would be difficult for him to protect him even if he was filial piety.

"General Ye misunderstood, you are the chief general, I am the deputy general, of course I listen to you." Wang Xin whispered softly.

"What about you?" Ye Shouxiong glared at the other generals.

When these generals saw that Wang Xin had relented, how could they dare to make a mistake, and they all surrendered their hands to express their obedience.

Ye Shouxiong nodded, waved his hand, and said, "Herald, do you still need me to say the order just now a second time?" ”

The herald didn't dare to say anything, so he hurried away.

Not long after, a scout rushed to the scene and shouted, "General, there are people and horses in ambush on both sides of the valley. ”

"You're not mistaken, are you?" Wang Xin was taken aback.

The scout hurriedly said, "It can't be wrong. ”

"Did they find you?" Ye Shouxiong asked.

"Nope."

Ye Shouxiong nodded and thought silently.

When the other generals heard that there was really an ambush ahead, they were also a little convinced, and looked at him silently, waiting for his decision.

"Herald." Ye Shouxiong said loudly:

"General Ben personally led two thousand infantry into the valley ahead and lured the enemy into ambush; General Wang led 5,000 cavalry to wait at the entrance, and when all the enemy troops rushed down the valley, he launched an attack on the enemy army; General Lin led the remaining infantry to go around to both sides of the valley and block the exit of the valley as soon as possible. ”

Wang Xin was taken aback: "General, how can you act as a bait, it is better for the last general to lead the infantry as a bait, and you will lead the cavalry to cover the kill." ”

Ye Shouxiong's face, which had been stiff, softened a little: "Thank you General Wang for your kindness, but the enemy commander must have known that I am the commander of this army, they all know me, and they will not be fooled without me as a bait." ”

Wang Xin was silent for a long time, and said solemnly: "General, please be careful." ”

Ye Shouxiong smiled: "Execute the military order." ”

Soon, Ye Shouxiong led an infantry to the valley, and on the slopes on both sides of the valley, a black-faced general said to the man in military uniform in front of him: "General Sha, look, Ye Shouxiong is here." ”

Sha Zhen nodded and did not speak.

The enemy troops below did not walk long before they suddenly stopped, and the front and rear teams exchanged and hurried back to the entrance.

"General, they found out." The black-faced general hurriedly said.

Sha Zhen snorted coldly and said loudly: "Attack!" ”

A rain of arrows shot downward, and at the same time, several generals led some of the soldiers to charge downward, and Sha Zhen led the other part to stay on the hillside.

Looking at the situation below, Sha Zhen's brows gradually furrowed, and the enemy infantry did not panic after encountering the attack, forming a formation to defend.

At this moment, a detachment of cavalry rushed out from the entrance to the valley!

"I've been tricked." Sha Zhen stood up suddenly.

A scout came in a hurry and shouted, "General, there are enemy troops coming around the back of the valley and heading towards the hillside. ”

Sha Zhen stared closely at the battle situation below, and the battle below was already in a fight, his own and the enemy's army formed a situation of encircling each other, his own soldiers surrounded the enemy's infantry, and at the same time, half of his own soldiers were also surrounded by the enemy's infantry and cavalry.

The problem is that the enemy is prepared, the infantry holding huge shields and cowering in formation to defend, while the cavalry on the other side is killing their own soldiers at a terrifying pace.

Lost, Sha Zhen quickly made a judgment and passed down the order, so that the road that was not encircled quickly retreated, and he led the troops on the hillside to evacuate in an orderly manner.

As for the team that was trapped, it was no longer in Sha Zhen's consideration.

The battle ended after an hour, and Ye Shouxiong quietly listened to his generals report the results of the battle.

In this battle, about 2,000 enemy troops were annihilated, but the main force of the enemy successfully retreated and did not suffer a fatal blow.

Ye Shouxiong looked at a sand flag on the ground and said, "Our opponent this time is the Zhongwu Army, and their combat power is far above the Zhen Navy. ”

Wang Xin's face was a little solemn: "Their lord is so ruthless that he actually gave up this besieged army. ”

"The enemy's main general is called Sha Zhen, he is a general under Song Xuan, this person is not only ruthless, but also very decisive, it is not so easy for a strong man to break his wrist, everyone must not be careless in the battle in the future." Ye Shouxiong said in a deep voice.

All the generals led in unison, for them, the men on the battlefield, war was the best way for them to understand each other, and through this battle, they were already convinced of Ye Shouxiong.

In the ensuing march, no one questioned Ye Shouxiong's decision. Qi Zhen's military horses frequently came with good news, but Mengxiao suddenly broke the news, which made Ye Shouxiong a little worried.

Two days later, Ye Shouxiong's army finally appeared outside Haining City, looking at the tall and thick city wall in front of him, Ye Shouxiong sighed.

It is impossible to take down this kind of city quickly, so you can only wait for the siege equipment to arrive.

He set up camp not far outside the city, sending people to inquire about the nearby terrain with the locals, while waiting for the siege equipment to arrive.

On this day, Ye Shouxiong stood under a tree, drinking water while looking at the city in the distance. A footstep sounded next to him, and when he turned his head, he saw that it was Wang Xin.

He also held a water bag in his hand, took a sip, and complained: "Meng Shuai is really right, it's just a matter of assigning one artillery to the forbidden army, and the other is also assigned to the forbidden army, it's too unfair." ”

It was only a few days before he began to consider the problem from the perspective of Deputy General Ye Shouxiong.

On this expedition, Lu Yuan allocated all the three columns of artillery that had just been rushed to the army.

Among the three artillery pieces, one was placed on the flagship ship of the Forbidden Army's Naval Division, one was kept by Meng Xiao, and one was transferred to Qi Zhen, only Ye Shouxiong's department was not assigned.

"I'm a general, after all." Ye Shouxiong smiled bitterly.

"But you can lead troops more than most generals!" Wang Xin said loudly.

"That's not necessarily, I think that General Qi Zhen is very powerful, and I have rarely heard anyone mention him before."

Wang Xin touched his chin: "This thing is also strange, Qi Zhen's guy is Ma Kongming's person, it stands to reason that there should be no ......"

He stopped in the middle of speaking, only to see a scout in the distance hurrying towards him.

The scout's face was a little ugly, and he arched his hand and said: "General, I just got the news that the forbidden army led by General Qi was ambushed by the enemy, and was surrounded by the enemy on Huqiu Mountain, suffered heavy losses, and was fleeing in the direction of Deqing. ”

Wang Xin was furious: "That waste, I knew he had a problem, the king just favored Qi Zhen and Ma Kongming too much, and always let guys like them who can't fight lead the troops." ”

Ye Shouxiong was much calmer, he looked at the scout, and said calmly: "Is the general who defeated General Qi called Feng Zhixiao?" ”

"Yes." The scout nodded hurriedly.

"General Ye, how do you know it's Feng Zhixiao?" Wang Xin wondered.

"The forbidden army led by General Qi is not weak, and it must be the Zhongwu army that can defeat them."

That's not necessarily, although the forbidden army is strong, but the commander is too weak, it is possible to lose to anyone, Wang Xinxin thought.

Ye Shouxiong continued: "The Zhongwu Army has made Song Xuan have two tiger generals under him, one of them is Sha Zhen who has fought with us, Song Xuan himself should be able to deal with Marshal Meng's way, then only Feng Zhixiao has this ability." ”