Xia Mao'er, the commander of the battalion, asked loudly, "Who are you serving for!" ”

"Die for General Zhao!" Thousands of people shouted together, straight into the sky.

Zhao Xingde's face changed suddenly, he looked at the soldiers who were looking at him with reverence, strode up to the battalion commander Xia Mao'er, signaled to him to excuse him, and then faced the army. Countless eyes fell on Zhao Xingde.

Zhao Xingde's eyes were a little complicated and a little moved, he slowly looked at those simple, excited, and loyal faces, and whispered in his heart: "Thank you." He raised his head and asked in a loud voice, "Whose food do you eat?" Chen Dong's face changed slightly, and a different color flashed in his eyes.

The soldiers were extremely excited, and said loudly: "Eat the grain of Zhao's family!" ”

"The bread of the people whom you eat!" Zhao Xingde said loudly, "It's the grain that the people paid to the court!" ”

The troops looked at each other, and some of them had puzzled faces, but under the strict military orders, they couldn't help but not talk to each other. Chen Dong's frowning brows relaxed slightly. Zhao Xingde's face sank like water, slowly looked at the array that was still silent, nodded, and said in a deep voice: "Among you, there are people who farm, people who work, people who study, and people who do business. However, now, every grain we eat, every strand of cloth we wear, and every penny we receive are all people's fat and people's ointment. It's the people of the southeast who give us food! The people of the southeast are frugal and hungry, why are they willing to support us? Because we can expel the northern captives and protect the territory and the people! I, Zhao Xingde, like you, are fighting for the people of this side! ”

Although many people didn't understand what he said, they faintly felt that this general was a little different from the Confucian generals mentioned in the usual romances, and at this time, they heard Zhao Xingde ask: "What are the people?" ”

More than 1,000 soldiers stood quietly, listening to Zhao Xingde's words, most people couldn't think of what the "people" that were usually mentioned in words were what they were? Chen Dong's face also showed a look of thought, Zhao Xingde paused slightly, and continued: "The people are you, me, your parents, wives and children, and your relatives, we Baoyi Army fight for the people, in the final analysis, we are fighting for ourselves!" Did you know? ”

When the army heard this, whether they knew it or not, they all replied in a loud voice: "I know! In fact, some people muttered in their hearts, "General Zhao is a big official, how can he be regarded as a common man?" Some people only understand "fighting for themselves", and their hearts are a little hot. Only a few people really understood what Zhao Xingde meant. Xia Mao'er also saluted Chen Cheng, who was beside Zhao Xingde, and he didn't feel that there was anything wrong with Lu Mingyu's number. When he fell into the grass, he ate the food of Lu Dang's family, and worked hard for Lu Da's family. Now that he has followed General Zhao with Lu Da, he naturally eats General Zhao's food and serves Zhao Xingde.

At this time, Chen Dong nodded slightly. He didn't say anything more, but at the invitation of Zhao Xingde, he encouraged the army to serve the country. On the way back to the Prime Minister's Mansion, the carriage swayed, Chen Dong sat in the car with his eyes slightly closed, and muttered: "The armies don't know the righteousness, they only know the generals but don't know the imperial court. Fortunately, Yuan Zhi is dedicated to the country, which is really rare, if it is a general next to him, I am afraid that he will desperately oppose it, right? ”

Back in the Prime Minister's Mansion, Chen Dong received a report from the Zhenguo Army, the progress of the Eastern Expedition was very smooth, the Zhenguo Army had been stationed in Shuzhou, the terrain here is dangerous, the river is narrow, and then go down, through the quarry rock, you can go straight down to Jiangning. Therefore, the main force of the Zhenguo Army temporarily stationed troops in Shuzhou, and while choosing the risk to build a barracks, it divided its troops to consolidate the occupied cities in Huaixi, and ordered the local prefectures and counties to send military rations to the Zhenguo Army.

"Although Yue Fei is a little rebellious, he is good at fighting." Chen Dong secretly praised. Before he could arrange the transportation of grain, he received an urgent military report, but this one was still sent back from Shuzhou, Chen Dong opened it, but his face changed slightly. Yue Fei had to shrink the subordinates scattered in the state and county, gather heavy troops to retreat to Shuzhou, this place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, although desperately blocked the road of the Liao army to the west, but the military food is about to run out, please Ezhou to quickly escort a batch of grain and grass to the front of the Shuzhou army.

"Hurry up, General Zhao." General Chen Dong closed the report and immediately commanded.

Not long after, Zhao Xingde came to the Prime Minister's Mansion, and Chen Dong handed him a report with a stern face: "Shuzhou controls Peng Li, and Jinling is the barrier of the east and west roads in the south of the Yangtze River. Zhao Xingde nodded slightly, took the military newspaper and read it, when he saw that the Zhenguo army wanted to hold Shuzhou, he asked the Prime Minister's Mansion to arrange for the Baoyi Army to escort the military rations, and support Shuzhou with the Baoyi Army's soldiers and horses, and when he listened to Yue Fei's military orders, his brows couldn't help frowning.

"Shuzhou is not close to Ezhou, if the Baoyi army comes east to aid Shuzhou, in case the Xiangyang army comes south to seize Ezhou, this fundamental place will be dangerous." General Zhao Xingde reported it back to Chen Dong and discussed, "The Liao army has been entrenched in Jiangning for a long time, so it is better to let the Zhenguo army retreat to the west a little." Nankang is in the north of Pengli, and the lake is vast, which is conducive to the action of the sailor. I can lead the Baoyi army eastward and join the Zhenguo army at Nankang. The location of Nankang happens to be in the middle of Chizhou and Ezhou, and it has always been a place where soldiers must fight, and they can be attacked and retreated. In case there is a police in Ezhou, the army can immediately return to help. At this time, the enemy is strong and we are weak, the Liao army is arrogant, if our army shows a little weakness, the Liao army will inevitably chase after us. At that time, the grain route of the Liao army became twice that of the Chizhou battle, and after a long march it had become the end of a strong crossbow, and our army was assembled in Nankang, and we could wait for work at ease, and maybe we could win a big victory. ”

Chen Dong originally hoped that the Zhenguo army could hold Shuzhou, and it was best to repel the Liao army, and shield and connect the east and west roads in the south of the Yangtze River and the Jinghu South Road, Fujian Road, and the east and west roads in Guangnan. If Zhao Xingde retreats to Nankang, it will be difficult to preserve Jiangnan East Road and Fujian Road.

"What if the Liao army did not chase after the Zhenguo army, but after occupying Shuzhou and Chizhou, they ran it and swept the Jiangnan East Road? Even Fujian Road is not immune. Seeing that Zhao Xingde seemed to have the intention of shirking, Chen Dong's eyes were a little complicated.

"This," Zhao Xingde said, "it depends on the methods of the Zhenguo Army to lure the enemy." He hesitated for a moment, and then added, "Brother Tiemu's troops have won consecutive battles in Jianghuai, and they are an arrogant army, if General Yue can make his small snacks lose in Shuzhou and retreat westward to Nankang, the Liao army will be annoyed and angry nine times out of ten, and chase after them all the way." If they don't chase them, our army can use Nankang as a base, and the sailors will constantly harass them, provoking the Liao people to attack Nankang. ”

"However, in this way, the war has been prolonged and the people have suffered." Chen Dong sighed, "If you can resist the enemy in Chizhou, you can save the people of both roads." He looked at Zhao Xingde and said, "Yuan Zhi, I know that General Yue's dispatch of the Baoyi Army is a bit unruly, but this is a time when the country is in danger, so let's work together and defeat the Liao army first." ”

Zhao Xingde's face changed, but finally asked: "How to solve the defense of Ezhou?" ”

"I won't bother with this," Chen Dong said with a smile, "Xiangyang is still under the threat of the Liao army, it is difficult to attack Ezhou with all its might, besides, the Baoyi Army and the Zhenguo Army are still left, plus the state and county regimental training, it is enough to resist for a while." He looked at Zhao Xingde and said: "General Yue, as a privy envoy, is in charge of military affairs, so I will entrust Yuan Zhi to protect the affairs of Shuzhou." ”

Seeing that Yue Chen and the others were determined to protect Shuzhou, and this matter could not be delayed, if they continued to argue and hesitate, it would be the biggest mistake. Zhao Xingde has no excuse and can only accept it. He sighed slightly, and couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic for the Protectorate Mansion, and felt that it seemed easier to persuade a group of people than to persuade one person.

What Zhao Xingde said to the troops in the morning reached the ears of Ma Yuan and other Taixue officers in the Baoyi Army in the afternoon. Liu Wengu sighed: "If the military generals next to him have such prestige in the army, I am afraid it will be too late to be complacent, but General Zhao is walking on thin ice, and he is afraid that the army will ignore the righteousness for this, and he is really benevolent." Ma Yuan frowned and said, "What's going on with the land command?" Do you want to roast General Zhao on the stove? was also heard by Chen Xiang. ”

Xu Guodong held his blade and said with some disapproval: "Hasn't General Zhao already distinguished it face to face?" ”

Ma Yuan said: "In the troubled times, the armies have no owner, and they like to support the general the most. Although General Zhao has no intention, it is difficult to guarantee that the generals do not have this intention. He looked up and looked outside, this camp was specially for officers, Ma Yuan and the others were not of high rank, and there were no personal soldiers outside. Seeing that there were no idlers around him, Ma Yuan lowered his voice and said, "The prince who is a prince is a thief." If in the future, if someone really wants to do what Chen Qiao did, how should we deal with ourselves? ”

The light in the tent was a little dim, and for a while, everyone fell silent, and after a long time, Jia Yuanzhen laughed dryly: "This is an unbounded speculation, why worry about it?" Ma Yuan was about to say a few jokes to divert the matter, Xu Guodong suddenly said with a vigilant face: "What happened, in the evening, actually beat the drum and gather the generals?" With his reminder, everyone heard a thunderous voice from the Chinese army. The Chinese army will gather officers above the battalion command, and there is no need for a few people in this camp tent. It's just that I just said about Chen Qiao, and everyone couldn't help but be a little nervous.

After a while, Ma Yuancai said: "Could it be that Liaokou is attacking, and General Zhao is going to send troops to fight again?" Someone breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone stood up and got out of the tent, only to see many soldiers looking around, the Baoyi army was not as disciplined as the Zhenguo army, and some soldiers were still whispering what was going on.