After resting for two hours, Ma Sui led the remaining seven thousand troops to continue to move forward, his speed slowed down slightly, to buy time for Cao Shi, Ma Sui soon got the news of the scout, the cavalry behind was still about 10,000 people, they did not divide their troops to pursue Cao Shi, which made Ma Sui's heart let go of a little, and another worry came to his heart, the other party must have deployed scouts, it is impossible not to find that he has divided his troops, but the other party has not moved, have they made other arrangements?

In the midst of this kind of gains and losses, Ma Sui's army gradually approached the place where he had crossed the river before.

It was less than ten miles away from the Xiangjiang River, but Cao Shi did not send someone to report the situation of the pontoon bridge to him, which made Ma Sui deeply uneasy, he once again ordered the army to rest in place, and sent scouts to inquire about Cao Shi's news, but before the scouts set off, Cao Shi came in person.

"Tell me, how's it going?" Ma Sui asked anxiously.

Cao Shi swallowed and said: "I said that the old general must not be excited. ”

Ma Sui sighed, "As long as you are safe, I will rest assured, as for the rest, I have prepared for the worst in my heart." ”

Cao Shi shook his head and said: "There is no pontoon bridge anymore, there are all warships on the river, there are thousands of them, there are the original Liu Pi's sailors, and it is possible that they came from Runzhou, and the river has been blocked." ”

Ma Sui was stunned for a long time, and then sighed and said, "Sure enough, as I expected, Guo Song will not give me any chance." ”

"Old General, let's go south! There should be a chance to cross the river in Xiangtan and Hengyang, especially in Hengyang, if we cross Hengshan, the cavalry will not be able to follow us, the river is narrow, and most of our brothers can even swim across the river! ”

"That's the only way, I hope Guo Song didn't send an army to intercept us in front."

Ma Sui ordered the army to go south again, and Cao Shi's army also joined the main force, but Ma Sui soon discovered the abnormality of Cao Shi's army, originally he brought 3,000 soldiers, why were there only more than 1,000 people left?

He immediately called Cao Shi and asked, "What's wrong?" Have you been ambushed by enemy forces? How come there are more than half fewer soldiers? ”

Cao Shi smiled bitterly, "I don't dare to hide it from the old general, we didn't encounter an ambush, but the people's hearts were scattered, nearly half of the soldiers fled, and many soldiers directly swam into the water and surrendered to the opposing ships." ”

"Why?" Ma Sui was shocked, how could his soldiers be so unbearable?

"We rushed to the river, found that the pontoon bridge was gone, so he led the soldiers to cut down trees, make rafts, and prepare to build the simplest pontoon bridge, but unexpectedly several big boats came on the river, and the boats were full of brothers' parents, wives and children, crying and shouting on the boat, and they were in chaos on the spot, and countless soldiers jumped into the river and swam over, and the lowly duty could not stop it, and at night, some of them escaped, and the lowly duty tried their best to persuade them, so that the last more than 1,000 people were stabilized."

Ma Sui nodded, "It's not strange, go to the army to fight, attack the heart, if the soldiers want to leave, don't stop them, let them go." ”

"Ignorance, understood!"

The army continued to move south, there were still thirty miles from the Lianshui in the south, the time had reached the evening, when the army passed through a gentle hill, the soldiers could clearly see the situation on the Xiangjiang River, only to see the warships all over the river, the momentum was magnificent, so that all the soldiers were stunned, they then understood, why can't they cross the Xiangjiang River? It turned out that the Jin army had blocked the river, and many soldiers couldn't help but cry bitterly when they looked at their distant hometowns.

Ma Sui saw that the soldiers were out of control, so he had to order to rest on the spot and set off again at dawn tomorrow.

That night, the wind was very strong on the hill, the coolness brought from the river covered the entire hill, the morale of the army was extremely low, deserters began to appear, Ma Sui suffered from the cold, coughed non-stop, every cough pulled the pain of the heart, Ma Sui tossed and turned until midnight, how could not sleep, he simply got up and inspected the situation of the soldiers.

Although the soldiers were extremely tired after a day of marching, they all slept restlessly, and could hardly hear the sound of snoring, and many soldiers kept turning over, Ma Sui sighed secretly in his heart, and the soldiers couldn't sleep!

He came to a large rock and faintly heard someone talking, one of the voices was the deputy general Cao Shi, who seemed to mention himself.

Ma Sui waved his hand to the soldiers behind him, telling them not to come up, and he hid behind the boulder to listen.

"General Cao, this matter cannot be concealed from the old general, the old general must be let know the truth, who is responsible for today's situation?"

Ma Sui was stunned, 'What truth?' But..... This voice, Ma Sui suddenly heard it, it was Wang Yaowei, who had joined the army, didn't he stay in Changsha? How did it end up here?

Cao Shi sighed and said: "I know that I shouldn't hide the old general, but he has a bad heart, I'm afraid he won't be able to bear it, so don't tell him!" ”

Ma Sui couldn't hold back any longer, coughed heavily, walked out, and asked dissatisfiedly, "What are you hiding from me?" ”

A group of generals stood up in fright and lowered their heads one after another.

Ma Sui glared at them fiercely, and then turned to Wang Yaowei, who joined the army, "Wang joined the army, why are you here?" ”

"Humble... Humble ....." Wang Yaowei opened his mouth, not knowing how to explain?

Cao Shi sighed and said: "Don't blame him, the old general, it means humiliation, and it is the responsibility of humiliation to hide him." ”

"Humph! Do you hide everything from me, and still treat me as a manager? Ma Sui glared at him.

"But..... The heart of the old general......"

Before he finished speaking, Ma Sui replied with a word, "There is no problem with my heart, not so delicate!" ”

He looked at Wang Yaowei and said, "You say, what is hiding from me?" ”

Wang Yaowei whispered for a while: "Changsha has been lost!" ”

"I've thought of this, but what else?"

Wang Yaowei glanced at Cao Shi, and Cao Shi saw that the old general was not angry and his ability to bear it was okay, so he nodded, "The old general will know sooner or later, so let's say it!" ”

Wang Yaowei said hesitantly: "It was He Quan who deceived the gate of Changsha City, and the loss of Baling County was also because of his rebellion, he had already surrendered to Guo Song,"

Ma Sui has never dared to think about He Quan, he didn't dare to face the fact that He Quan betrayed him, he kept hinting to himself that He Quan's defense was unfavorable and was succeeded by the Jin army's sneak attack on Baling.

The things he had been afraid to face were finally revealed by Wang Yaowei, Ma Sui thought of his trust in He Quan, and entrusted the soldiers to him, but he betrayed himself.

This fact finally made him unbearable, he coughed violently, coughing so hard that he could not breathe, his heart began to tear his lungs in pain, he grabbed his chest violently, opened his mouth wide, and suddenly his eyes went black, and he fell on his back.

"Old General! Old general! ”

Everyone panicked, surrounded Ma Sui and shouted, "Call the military doctor!" Military! ”

This time, Ma Sui never woke up again, and at the fourth watch, Ma Sui's heart stopped beating.

There was a cry on the hill, and the whole army mourned.

But the army on the mountain did not know that nearly 40,000 cavalry of the Jin army had surrounded this hill.

.........

Guo Song was also at the bottom of the mountain at this time, and they all sensed that there was something abnormal on the mountain, but they didn't know what was going on?

As soon as dawn, Pei Xin rode over and said, "Your Highness, we just caught a few deserters, and they said that Ma Sui had an old illness last night and had passed away. ”

Guo Song was stunned, how could this be? Ma Sui actually died of illness at this critical moment.

Sima Lu Zhan, who was marching next to him, said with a smile: "Your Highness, since Ma Sui died of illness and the dragons on the mountain have no leader, the military spirit should have no fighting spirit, and the humble position is willing to go up the mountain to persuade them to go down the mountain and surrender in the name of memorial." ”

Guo Song groaned for a while, then took out his gold medal and handed it to him, "You take my gold medal and go up the mountain, as long as their requirements are reasonable, you can decide at your own discretion." ”

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your trust!"

Lu Zhan took the gold medal and went up the mountain with two of his men.......

At this time, the generals on the mountain already knew that they were surrounded by the Jin army, and everyone was sad and nervous, and the generals gathered together to discuss the breakthrough countermeasures.

said that it was a breakthrough, but everyone knew that even if they succeeded in breaking through, they would have nowhere to go, not to mention that tens of thousands of troops were surrounded, it would be difficult for them to break through, but if they surrendered to the Jin army, they felt sorry for the old general, and everyone was silent.

At this time, a soldier came to report: "General Cao, a scribe came down the mountain, saying that he was a subordinate of the King of Jin, and he came to pay tribute to the old general for the King of Jin!" ”

As soon as the soldier's voice fell, two generals jumped up, and one of the generals said angrily: "The fake filial piety has insulted the old general!" ”

Another general shouted: "Dig out his heart and pay tribute to the old general!" ”

"You two shut up!" Cao Shi shouted angrily.

The two generals didn't dare to say anything, Cao Shi knew that the so-called memorial was just an excuse, and he was actually here to negotiate.

"Bring him here!"

After a while, the soldiers brought Lu Zhan up, and Cao Shi said coldly: "Who are you?" ”

"Under the surname Lu, it is the Sima of the Jin Dynasty, the King of Jin heard that General Ma died of illness last night, and he was very sorry, and he specially ordered me to come to pay tribute to the old general!"

"Do you King Jin have this heart?" Several generals sneered on the side.

Lu Zhan said loudly: "In order to unify the world, the King of Jin fought against the Quartet, and led the army to attack General Ma, this is a public matter, but he respects General Ma's character, he heard that the old general died of illness, and he was very sorry in his heart, this is a private matter, and there is a clear distinction between public and private, why not?" ”

Wang Yaowei couldn't help but sneer: "When Sima Lu said this, I'm afraid he couldn't say it sincerely!" ”

Lu Zhan sneered, "Who is His Royal Highness King Jin?" He is the regent of the prison country, the real lord of the world, recovering the Western Regions, threatening the desert north, and being admired by the people of the world, will he be a dead enemy general? Li Junwu is dead, Tian Xu is dead, Liu Shining is dead, Liu Pi is dead, and the eunuchs are even more collectively beheaded, he is ruthless and ruthless, and he kills the enemy ruthlessly, do you think he will please General Ma? ”

Everyone was speechless for a moment, and Cao Shi waved his hand, "Lu Sima, please!" ”

The generals set up a marching tent as a temporary mourning shed, and Lu Zhan put on three pillars of incense in front of the spiritual seat, kneeling on the ground and bowing three times.

He got up and said to Cao Shi again: "What is next, is General Cao willing to talk about it again?" ”

Cao Shi sighed and nodded, "Let's sit down and talk!" ”

The two sat down on a big stone, and Lu Zhan took out the gold medal to show Cao Shi, "This is the gold medal given to me by His Royal Highness the King of Jin, and I can represent him with full authority." ”

Cao Shi nodded silently, and then asked, "What does King Jin mean?" ”

"The army of King Jin has completely annihilated the heirs of Meng Ji, capturing more than 9,000 enemies, and General Meng has also been captured. Does General Cao know? ”

Cao Shi's body trembled slightly, he didn't expect King Jin to be so cruel.

"I've heard a little bit about it."

"But fighting in the Central Plains, His Royal Highness the King of Jin has mercy on the people of the world, if he can not kill, he will not kill, try to reduce the casualties on both sides, he does not want Jiangshan Sheji to be destroyed by the war, and the same is true for Liu Pi's army, only the head of the evil will be punished, the soldiers will be pardoned, there should be more than 7,000 people under the general, if His Royal Highness the King of Jin wants to annihilate you, he will directly set fire to the mountain last night, but he still maintains the greatest patience and goodwill, hoping that the soldiers can return home and save the western part of the Yangtze River from the destruction of war, this is his benevolence, His Royal Highness the King of Jin hopes that you will not gamble with the lives of your soldiers. ”

Cao Shi pondered: "Let's discuss! ”

"Okay, I'll wait here."

Cao Shi got up and gathered all the generals and said to them: "If we break through, not only will we be wiped out, but the body of the old general will not be saved, so I consider surrendering to the king of Jin on the condition of burying the old general, and at the same time ask to keep the old general's family, and then I have decided to accept the repatriation with the soldiers and return to my hometown to farm, you can decide your own future and fate." ”

Everyone was silent for a long time, and one of the generals said: "I agree to surrender on the condition of burying the old general!" ”

"I agree!"

"I'm for it too!"

Everyone expressed their stance one after another, and they all unanimously agreed with Cao Shi's suggestion.

Cao Shi came back and said to Lu Zhan: "We can surrender, but there are only two conditions. ”

Lu Zhan smiled slightly: "General Cao, please say, as long as the conditions are reasonable, I can agree on behalf of King Jin." ”

"One condition is to bury the old general Ma, who was named the king of Beiping by the first emperor, and hopes to be buried with the gift of the king of the county."

Lu Zhan groaned and said, "His Royal Highness the King of Jin has always opposed thick burials. ”

"I'm not talking about how much money is buried with him, but his cemetery, coffin, burial chamber, etc., to meet the standards of the county king, at most to accompany his beloved armor, weapons and other things."

Lu Zhan nodded, "This condition is not excessive, I can agree on behalf of His Royal Highness the King of Jin to allow him to return to his hometown for burial." ”

"The second condition is not to hurt the old general's family."

"No, General Ma's two sons and wives and concubines are all in Baling, they are well protected, they can help the spirit to return to their hometown, and the local government will bury it with the gift of the county king."

Cao Shi bowed deeply and said, "Please Mr. Lu go back and convey our gratitude, we thank His Royal Highness King Jin for his magnanimity!" ”

.........

In late August of the first year of Yuanhe, Ma Sui died of illness, and his subordinates surrendered to the Jin army, so far, except for the five prefectures of Quanzhou, the rest of the feudal towns south of the Yangtze River have been pacified.