Wang Xin pursed his lips, he felt that Ye Shouxiong looked down on Qi Zhen too much. Suddenly, he thought of a question and hurriedly said, "The artillery wasn't captured by them, was it?" ”

"No, I heard that General Qi personally escorted the artillery to break through." The scout replied.

"He's not stupid yet." Wang Xin snorted, he saw Ye Shouxiong's brows furrowed, and asked, "General Ye, what's wrong?" ”

Ye Shouxiong said in a deep voice: "General Qi has lost all the way, Feng Zhixiao is likely to reinforce Song Xuan or Sha Zhen, and the next battle may not be easy to fight." ”

Wang Xin disagreed: "General Ye, you underestimate Marshal Meng too much, with him, we will definitely win." ”

Ye Shouxiong did not answer, among the generals of Wu State, he only served Qin Quan, Yu Xun and Shi Chongxin, the first two defeated him, and the record was brilliant, and the last person also showed strong ability to defeat the Japanese navy.

As for Meng Xiao, although Ye Shouxiong heard many people admire him, after all, he had never seen him show his ability, and it was also Qin Quan's credit when he attacked Yuezhou, so he was not so confident in him.

The next day, the latest news from the scouts deepened Ye Shouxiong's concerns.

The Mengxiao Department was besieged by Song Xuan in Pingshan, west of Linping County.

"General, we must go over to rescue the marshal!" When Wang Xin learned the news, he began to become very irritable.

"Nope."

"Why?" Wang Xin's eyes were red.

"We haven't heard from Marshal Meng before, it's probably because he was besieged in Pingshan, and now there is news all of a sudden, don't you think it's strange?"

A short-bearded general exclaimed: "You mean that the news was deliberately released by the enemy to lure us to the rescue?" ”

Wang Xin said sharply: "So what, if Marshal Meng is defeated, we will all be finished!" ”

"Calm me down!" Ye Shouxiong roared angrily: "Didn't you always believe in Marshal Meng so much before? Since this is the case, you should believe in the end, maybe there is any way for him to reverse the situation, our task is to defeat Haining, as long as our battle is fought, it will be the greatest help to him! ”

Wang Xin stared at Ye Shouxiong, the two looked at each other like this, and after a long time, Wang Xin withdrew his gaze and looked at the ground.

In the next day, Ye Shouxiong stayed in the tent and waited for news, and the siege equipment would be delivered in two more days, but if Mengxiao's troops were defeated by the enemy, he would choose to give up the siege and lead the army to retreat.

It is taboo for a soldier to go deep alone.

In the early morning of the next day, Ye Shouxiong was looking at the map with his hands behind his back, and he was looking at Pingshan.

The more he observed, the more strange he felt, Pingshan was remote, and he really didn't know under what circumstances Meng Xiao would be forced into this place.

In the afternoon, Ye Shouxiong went to inspect the barracks and found that the morale of the army was getting lower and lower, and the generals were also sad, which deepened his worry.

Back at the camp, he began to make a plan for the withdrawal of troops in advance, and at this moment, the tent was lifted, and Wang Xin rushed in with a happy face, with a scout in his hand.

"General Ye, the marshal has won!"

"You mean Marshal Meng defeated Song Xuan?" Ye Shouxiong was surprised and delighted.

Wang Xin grinned: "You are still right, the news that Meng Shuai was trapped in Pingshan is actually fake, it is a fake news deliberately spread by Feng Zhixiao, he wants to lure us to the rescue and ambush our army." ”

Ye Shouxiong frowned, and the more he listened, the more confused he became: "How do you know this?" ”

"It was the scout sent by Meng Shuai who told me." Wang Xin said proudly: "The marshal defeated Song Xuan in Linping County, and later learned about Feng Zhixiao's plan to ambush us from the mouth of the enemy general. He immediately led his troops to raid Feng Zhixiao's troops in Changxian, and now Song Xuan and Feng Zhixiao have both returned to Suzhou. ”

Ye Shouxiong was a little stunned by the news, and spoke after a long time: "You mean they retreated to Suzhou?" Why didn't they retreat to Jiaxing? ”

Wang Xin laughed: "Deputy Marshal Shi Chongxin led the navy, defeated the town navy three days ago, landed in Pinghu County, laid down Pinghu in half a day, captured Jiaxing in one day, captured Cai Xing alive, the town navy is finished, Xiuzhou is already ours!" ”

Ye Shouxiong was stunned in place, silently digesting the news.

After a long time, he took a deep breath and said loudly: "Pass the order, the whole army is ready to attack the city, and as soon as the equipment arrives tomorrow, the city will be attacked immediately!" ”

Next.

In front of the handsome tent, Ye Shouxiong looked at the four-wheeled catapult in front of him, he was a little surprised, he had seen a lot of catapults, it was the first time he had seen such a well-made catapult, and it was also the first time he had heard that Wu had this kind of catapult.

Asked Wang Xin, Wang Xin laughed and said, "General Ye, you should have seen the cloud crossbow, right?" ”

Ye Shouxiong nodded.

"This thing is called a cloud car, and like the cloud crossbow, it was made by the envoy of the Xiaolu Academy of Engineers, but the cloud car is used less."

Ye Shouxiong looked at the city and said in a deep voice: "Then let's try its power today." ”

However, when his army was ready to attack the city, the city gate suddenly opened, and a group of cavalry went out of the city gate, Sha Zhen was at the forefront, and behind him, a bannerman held a white banner in his hand.

"General, they surrendered." Wang Xin was surprised.

Ye Shouxiong's heart sank, if the other party surrendered to himself when Jiaxing was not defeated, then the credit would naturally be on his head.

But now that Jiaxing has been defeated by Shi Chongxin, all the enemy troops who surrendered will be counted in Shi Chongxin's merits.

He let out a long sigh, based on his previous experience in leading troops, he only looked at the results. In the future record of Wu's attack on Xiuzhou, his evaluation along the way is likely to be that not a single city has been laid, and no work has been made.

King Wu's impression of him is likely to be only two words left - mediocrity, and thinking of this, he is a little depressed.

After receiving and surrendering the Shazhen Department, Ye Shouxiong received an order to take his men and horses to Jiaxing to join the Mengxiao Department.

……

Hangzhou, Imperial Palace.

The news of Wu's capture of Xiuzhou soon spread throughout Hangzhou, which made the people of Hangzhou feel more about the sense of belonging to the imperial court, while the court officials were worried and worried.

The military attachés were very happy, while the civilian officials had their own thoughts, and many of them began to advocate surrender.

From the monarch's point of view, Lu Yuan suddenly discovered one thing. When he used to learn about history, he found that the military generals fought the main battle, and the civilian officials dominated the peace, and he always thought that it was the reason for the weakness of the civilian officials.

Now, it seems, this is not entirely the case.

The reason why the generals fight is because the generals can only gain credit in the war, and the civilian officials will naturally be dissatisfied when they see the official positions of the military attaches rising like rockets.

They advocate that peace talks can not only reduce the chances of military generals making meritorious contributions, but also give credit to the success of peace talks, and they are naturally enthusiastic about this.

In the eyes of outsiders, the greatest credit for this war victory is Shi Chongxin, and Qi Zhen is the only defeated general.

However, when Lu Yuan finished reading the two Tang newspapers in his hand, he found that the real situation of the war was not as it seemed.

The two Tang newspapers were sent by Meng Xiao and Shi Chongxin.

In Meng Xiao's Tang newspaper, it was about the operational information of the land face team, which wrote that in this operation, their opponent was the Zhongwu army.

In the Tang newspaper, Meng Xiao emphasized the merits of Ye Shouxiong and Qi Zhen, and originally planned to defeat Ye Shouxiong's road first, and then encircle Meng Xiao's way.

As for Qi Zhen's way, they didn't pay attention to it at all.

The enemy's plan was as follows: the Sha Zhen Department and Feng Zhixiao Department of the Central Wu Army each led 10,000 horses to ambush Ye Shouxiong.

After defeating Ye Shouxiong, he besieged Meng Xiao on three fronts, and finally cleaned up Qi Zhen.

However, their plan did not go well, Ye Shouxiong marched very cautiously and slowly, dragging the elites of the two Central Wu armies along the way to Haining.

Another change was Qi Zhen, and the Zhongwu army sent to deal with Qi Zhen was defeated by Qi Zhen one after another.

Qi Zhen's troops marched at a rapid pace and soon approached Jiaxing, and the Zhongwu army had to adjust its strategy and let Feng Zhixiao lead his men and horses to stop him.

Feng Zhizhi used the strategy of arrogance to lure Qi Zhen to take the bait, set up an ambush on all sides of Huqiu Mountain, and successfully defeated Qi Zhen along the way.

However, because of Feng Zhixiao's departure, Sha Zhen's strength along the way has been greatly reduced.

The ambush was spotted by Ye Shouxiong, and in the field battle, Ye Shouxiong defeated Sha Zhen and besieged Haining City.

During the siege, Feng Zhixiao released the false news that Meng Xiao was trapped, trying to lure and ambush Ye Shouxiong's troops, but Ye Shouxiong once again saw through it.

At this time, Meng Xiao defeated Song Xuan after a hard battle, learned of the plan of the Zhongwu army from the mouth of the general, and led the troops to raid Feng Zhixiao, and the Zhongwu army withdrew from Xiuzhou.

After reading this report, Lu Yuan was quite emotional in his heart.

Meng Xiao brushed aside his victory, emphasizing the merits of his subordinates, and had the style of a general.

Ye Shouxiong saw through the enemy's strategy twice, and he was calm and calm in battle, which was of great use.

As for Qi Zhen, if he hadn't disrupted the deployment of the enemy's army, maybe the battle would not have gone so smoothly, but the forbidden army under his command suffered heavy losses, and in general, they had all their merits and demerits, and they still needed to be honed.