Chapter 21: Reversal of the Tide

In the afternoon of the same day, the Chu army set off from the village, marched in the direction of Fangcheng, and marched for five miles...... It is only a distance from Fangcheng, a scene of ten miles. Visit 78下载 TXT .// Under the reflection of the setting sun, standing at the gate can see the banner hanging high on the tower of Jianfang City, which is vaguely a "Han" character. It seems that Guo Wei's army has arrived, and Gao Xingzhou is estimated to have surrendered to Liu Zhiyuan as usual.

In the depths of twilight, Ma Yun, accompanied by Li Xiang and others, went down to the barracks and talked with the soldiers to understand their thoughts. By the bonfire, Ma Yun and a group of soldiers sat on the ground, eating the coarse grain in the army, drinking spicy liquor, chatting and farting with them without any, and bursts of hearty laughter came from time to time.

At this time, Liu Yantao hurriedly walked over, as a veteran in the army, he did not have too much objection to the leader chatting with ordinary soldiers so disregarding his identity. Maybe it's because the founder of the Chu State, Ma Yun's grandfather, Wumu Wang Ma Yin, was born as a carpenter and a poor child, and the generals he brought out have not yet developed the prejudice of status and identity.

Ma Yun saw Liu Yantao from a distance, seeing that he looked in a hurry, he inevitably beat the drum secretly in his heart, and stood up involuntarily, Liu Yantao walked over, and whispered beside him and reported: "Wang, you were not there just now, the secret agent sent a military report, Huyang - Huyang is lost." ”

Ma Yun couldn't help but let out an "ah", and the look of shock was exposed.

Li Xiang on the side hurriedly said: "Hehe, congratulations to the king, congratulations to the king, the Xiangzhou regimental training envoy Chen Zhi defeated the Tangzhou Thorn Shi Ma Quanjie in Huyang, and our army has no worries." ”

Liu Yantao was stunned for a moment, looked at Li Xiang angrily, and said secretly in his heart: You are crazy, and you have no ears.

The sergeants next to the bonfire, their hearts were full of joy, and they knelt down happily and said, "Great King Shengming, Great Chu will win." ”

Ma Yun suddenly understood what Li Xiang meant, and he reluctantly smiled: "It's really a good thing, pass the order, and reward Chen Xu." Well, Li Sima, come back to the big tent with me, let's discuss and discuss, how to teach the Han army in Fangcheng a lesson. So saying, he turned and walked towards the big tent. Li Xiang glanced at Ma Yun, although his expression was quite normal, but when he walked, his legs trembled slightly. Huyang Lost...... Definitely bad news.

"Mr. Li, what should I do now?" Ma Yun sat on the handsome chair and asked distractedly.

Li Xiang carefully looked at the information sent by the spies, and said with relief: "Dashuai, Chen Yu has always been meticulous, Huyang is very important, it is impossible for him not to know. We reminded him beforehand that he shouldn't have been so careless in the first place. ”

"Li Sima, this is a military report sent by a spy from Dengzhou, is it possible that there is still a fake? King, we can't stay in Fangcheng, if we don't leave, we will be surrounded by groups. Liu Yantao said urgently.

Tongbai Mountain is separated from Henan and Hubei, and now Tangzhou is in the hands of the Han army, Huyang is lost again, and if you want to retreat, you can only take a detour to Junzhou......

"King, the situation on the battlefield is unpredictable, just a spy, what you know may not be accurate, let's wait for Chen Xu's military report. Chen Zhi was picked up by the king, and he must know a lot about being a king. Such a careless thing, the minister can't believe it. Li Xiang said.

"Jianzhou Chen, I am willing to try the arrow." Ma Yun couldn't help but think of when he first arrived in Yuezhou, in a military competition, Chen Yu stood out, and since then the reuse of Ma Yun has been deep, and he has been in a high position at the age of 20, and he is a famous rising star in the Chu army, one of the three young men in the Chu army, and his reputation is only slightly weaker than Ma Guangmeng, Ding Sijin, Cao Yun, Zhu Yuan, and stronger than the tiger generals Zhang Wenbiao, Shentu Congjian, Qian Qing, Shi Da, and Liao Renyong. Could it be that he is just a horseman?

"And, even if this is true, Huyang has already been lost. But we can't back down either. Li Xiang said: "King, the terrain of Huyang is steep, Ma Quanjie wants to break through Huyang, at least 1000000 soldiers and horses, he Tangzhou has a total of only 10,000 people, and the minister thinks that Ma Quanjie must be all he can and desperately attack Huyang." The minister asked the king to immediately give an order to let the cavalry regiment train Cao Bin, immediately lead the army south, attack Shangma, Miyang, Tanghe and other counties, mobilize Ma Quanjie, and then send people to quickly and immediately go south, mobilize Zhu Yuan's troops to go north to capture Huyang. The minister thought that Ma Quanjie's attack on Huyang was nothing more than an attempt to create a situation of encircling our army, and then forcing our army back, on the other hand, they did this, which just showed their hearts - they couldn't afford to delay, and they didn't want to fight a decisive battle with our army. We don't have much grain and grass in Chu State, and we can only support it for 2 months, but this group of Khitans has done a good thing for us, they have looted the grain and grass finances of the Weisheng Jiedu Prefectures, these things. That's enough for us to last for half a year. Can their Han army spend half a year with us? In half a year, can't we conquer Huyang? Li Xiang continued to analyze.

Knowing that there was an emergency military situation, Peng Shigao, Shentu Congjian and others rushed to the Shuai tent one after another. These people all had a little panic on their faces, and they all looked at Ma Yun expectantly, waiting for him to make a final decision. Li Xiang was even more earnest, hoping that Ma Yun would listen to him.

Ma Yun slowly stood up, at this time, he had no choice, he pulled out his sword with his backhand, like the ancients, cut down the corner of the table with a sword, and said: "If the Han army fights, the widow will fight to the death with its Dengzhou." The will of the widow has been decided, but he who retreats in vain, and those who flee from the battle, should be the same as this table. ”

Liu Yantao and the others glanced at each other, knowing that Ma Yun had no intention of retreating, so they turned around and bowed down and said: "The last general will respect the king's order." Decisive battle with the Han army! ”

In this case, Ma Yun was still able to support him, which not only moved Li Xiang a little, but his eyes couldn't help but be a little moist. I don't know that the reason why Ma Yun supported Li Xiang at this time was really helpless. If Liu Yantao, Peng Shigao and others had not repeatedly persuaded each other, Ma Yun would have ordered to return to the army long ago. But when they persuaded him like this, Ma Yun felt a little uncomfortable, and felt that these veterans in the army were putting pressure on themselves. Their foundation is in the Jingnan Army, in Li Xiang, Ma Guangmeng, Ding Sijin, Zhu Yuan, Zhao Pu, without their support, their throne is absolutely unstable, if they retreat to Nanyang, and the Han army continues to pursue, the Chu army can only push again and again, and all the achievements of the Northern Expedition to the present may be ruined. If the Northern Expedition fails, someone must come out as a scapegoat - Li Xiang. This not only dealt a blow to his position in the Chu army, but also Liu Yantao and Peng Shigao, veterans of the army, even if they did not dare to take the opportunity to make trouble, their prestige in the Chu army would rise. Military power must be controlled in his own hands, and in just that moment, Ma Yun has already considered the overall situation from the perspective of the campaign.

In terms of talents, Fan Zhen and Zhao Pu are civil affairs talents, and handling government affairs is naturally smooth, Ding Sijin, Zhu Yuan and others can be marshals, Zhang Wenbiao, Shentu Congjian and others can be generals, and they still lack a staff officer, but a person who helps them see the overall situation. And Li Xiang's consistent performance shows that he is enough to take on this important task, even if he can't afford it, at the moment, he can no longer find such a person who knows the roots, is loyal, and talented. Protecting Li Xiang is not only because he is a talent, but more importantly, he has to show others, and he will be reused if others know what kind of person he is.

Since thinking that the Han army would not go south, after making this wrong judgment, the Chu army has been passive step by step, and now all it can do is to gamble, bet that the Han army will not dare to really fight with themselves, and bet that the Han army will not be able to drag itself. If you win the bet, everything will be safe and sound, and if you lose the bet, the ending will be similar to the current retreat, and the 100,000 Han army will definitely not have the strength to completely swallow itself. In that case, it's better to take a gamble. It's just that this bet is quite big, so Ma Yun still has a little worry in his heart. After all, the Chu army in Dengzhou is the elite that he has worked hard to train, in case the damage is too great, can he not be heartbroken?

It's late at night...... The generals had already returned, either keeping vigil or resting in order. Ma Yun sat alone on the handsome chair, looking at the flickering candles......

I don't know how long it has passed, he suddenly has an inexplicable feeling, as if he has been annotated, he raised his eyes and looked out of the tent, a black shadow, fleeting. Ma Yun blinked, the door was empty, not far away Li Ergou with a team of guards, facing outward, standing with his back inward. Ma Yun shook his head, could it be an illusion? When he stood up, he felt that his younger brother under his crotch seemed to have some faint pain, indescribable discomfort, he couldn't help but laugh dumbly, since the Northern Expedition came, it has been nearly a month since he was close to women, could it be ......

"King, have you rested?" A familiar voice outside the tent suddenly sounded.

Ma Yun was stunned for a moment, and then said with great joy: "Brother Zhao, why are you here, hurry in, the widow hasn't rested yet." Saying that, he walked a few steps, and when he stepped out of the tent, he saw that Zhao Pu was walking towards the big tent on the side of the path on the left.

Ma Yun stepped forward, pulled Zhao Pu and said, "Brother Zhao, aren't you in Xiangzhou?" How did you get here? ”

"The king, the ministers are here to relieve the king's doubts." Zhao Pu said with a smile while giving a salute.

"Oh, Brother Zhao just came, he may not know. The widow will not retreat. What doubts are there about it? Could it be Brother Zhao, is there any good way to retreat from the enemy? Jack Ma asked.

"King, when it comes to marching and fighting, Li Sima is a master in the line, how can the minister easily intervene and mess up the morale of the army? Do you want to explain your doubts? The minister brought two good news to the king, one is General Zhu Yuan, with the cooperation of General Lin Renzhao, Lianke Suizhou, Anzhou, Fuzhou, and the south of Tongbai Mountain have all my great Chu, and the other is that General Chen Chen laid a trap in Huyang, and a fire burned Ma Quanjie to the annihilation of the whole army, and Ma Quanjie has been killed in battle! ”

"What? This...... It's true. Ma Yun asked in disbelief. It's so exciting to have a lot of ups and downs in life.