The army of the Northern Zhou Dynasty had already pressed up, and of course Xiao Maha and Chun Yuliang did not want to compete with the strength of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, so they accepted it when they saw it, and decisively retreated to the front line of Zhangshan County, and at the same time began to transfer troops to Suizhou and other cities on the north bank of the water, so as to prevent the enemy from taking this opportunity to take Suizhou and other places, so that Nanchen lost the bridgehead to attack Xiangfan.

In fact, the Wei Chi Hui Division, who was in a hurry to go south from Hanzhong, and the Northern Zhou reinforcements transferred from the north were also exhausted, and they were more of a bluff, so after Xiao Maha took the initiative to retreat, they did not immediately send troops to attack, and the two sides once again returned to the front before the Battle of Xiangfan, which was similar to the situation of Lianghuai.

Since then, Nan Chen's offensives in Lianghuai and Xiangyang have all ended in failure, and Bashu has naturally become the only result of this huge attack.

This made Xu Shanxin even more pressured, because he knew that Li Xinchen, who had a clear understanding of the current overall situation, might not be satisfied with the reward of the imperial court, and once again opened his mouth, but the holy decree in Xu Shanxin's hand was already the bottom line of the imperial court, Xu Shanxin knew that he had no room to retreat, and Chen Ji would not give him the possibility of continuing to make concessions.

Therefore, Xu Shanxin was more eager to know Xiao Maha's attitude, and when he learned that Xiao Maha had returned to Jiangling City, Xu Shanxin could be said to be overjoyed.

Now Xiao Maha seems to have become Xu Shanxin's last straw.

As for how much Xiao Maha can help himself, Xu Shanxin doesn't count it in his heart.

"Xu Jun!" A voice came, Xu Shanxin looked up, and immediately recognized that it was Zhou Qu, the assassin of Jingzhou, who came here, so he naturally didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly took two steps forward:

"Zhou Gong!"

Zhou Qu smiled and looked Xu Shanxin up and down, and then made a gesture of please: "What are you doing standing here, let's go, let's go in together, it just so happened that the old man came to the general's mansion to discuss the issue of the envoy with the general, and then he planned to look for you, but I didn't expect you to send it to the door by yourself!" ”

In fact, when they were in Jiankang Mansion, Zhou Qu and Xu Shanxin did not have any intersection, but now standing at the door of Xiao Maha's mansion, they have common problems and face common enemies, so they naturally have a feeling of sympathy.

Xiao Maha was standing in front of a huge map at this time, on which the comparison of the forces of Southern Chen and Northern Zhou and the arrangement of the army were marked, and the arrows and markings of various colors were densely packed. It's just that Xiao Maha's eyes didn't fall on Xiangyang, a prey that he had to give up in the end, after all, the terrain and terrain in Xiangyang and the deployment of the enemy's troops, it was not Xiao Maha who was talking big, he was really familiar with it, and he didn't need to look at the map at all.

Now Xiao Maha's eyes have been falling on Bashu and Hanzhong on the north side, for Li Xinchen's troop layout in Bashu, etc., Xiao Maha really doesn't know anything, the map only outlines the topography of Bashu, and Xiao Maha doesn't know how many defenders there are in which city, which city has even been abandoned.

Li Xinchen strictly controls the people who enter and leave Bashu, and many of them can't get out for a while, so naturally there is no way to send the news that Xiao Maha wants, and Xiao Maha no longer expects Li Xinchen to tell himself in detail about the deployment of Bashu's troops.

The letter representing the opinions of Fu Wei and Shen Jun and others has been rushed to Xiao Maha's hands for eight hundred miles, and the attitude of the East Palace is very clear, from now on, Li Xinchen is already the enemy of the East Palace, and even the priority is above Chen Shuling.

In addition, from Chen Shujian, who is a member of the royal family, to Xu Ling and Wu Mingche, among the ministers of the court, they all expressed their worries about the situation in Bashu in their letters to Xiao Maha, and what they mainly wanted to do was to remind Xiao Maha, who must stick to his position.

After all, no one wants to watch Li Xinchen easily sit big and break the existing fragile balance, and Xiao Maha is the first line of defense to block Li Xinchen from Bashu, once Xiao Maha loosens, then the entire Jingzhou is likely to fall into Li Xinchen's hands.

Once Jingzhou and Bashu are controlled by Li Xinchen, everyone knows what will happen next, and Zhuge Liang, who has been three hundred years ago, has given an accurate answer in Longzhong. It seems that Li Xinchen is in control of the remote areas, but as long as he is given enough time, he can manage these places into a foundation that can be attacked and retreated, and then even if Southern Chen and Northern Zhou do not take the initiative to provoke Li Xinchen, Li Xinchen will definitely expand externally.

Listening to the footsteps behind him, Xiao Maha sighed softly in his heart, he knew that Xu Shanxin had been waiting outside before, but he didn't think about how to face Xu Shanxin's problem, after all, Xiao Maha was really asked to go against Li Xinchen, Xiao Maha was reluctant.

After all, his son and his own son are all there, even if these children are not in a thousand ways, after all, it is the person Xiao Maha wants to protect rather than hurt, and Xiao Maha can't bear to do it to them.

But the world has changed, and some things are no longer under Xiao Maha's control. Xiao Maha knew very well that the only one who could stride in without reporting was Zhou Qu, the patriarch of the East Palace.

The old man usually looks amiable, but when he really encounters something, he has a violent temper.

"General!" Zhou Qu's voice suddenly sounded.

Xiao Maha hurriedly turned around and walked quickly to meet him: "Zhou Gong, why are you here?" ”

Zhou Qu originally wanted to question Xiao Maha why he was standing here looking at Yutu in a daze, but he didn't receive the envoy of the imperial court, but when he saw Xiao Maha's somewhat haggard face and barely squeezed out smile, he forcibly stopped his words.

Obviously, Xiao Maha experienced no less inner struggle than the rest of the East Palace.

"General, this is Xu Shanxin, the envoy of the imperial court, Xu Jun, the old man came to visit the general, and he happened to see Xu Jun, so he came in with Xu Jun, and he took the liberty of asking the general to forgive his sins." Zhou Qu's tone also softened a lot.

"The imperial court messenger Xu Shanxin saw the hussar general." Zhou can be polite to Xiao Maha, but Xu Shanxin doesn't dare.

Xiao Maha bowed slightly, and immediately looked at Xu Shanxin, I have to say that this young man standing here is quite magnanimous, Xu Ling and Pei Ji are not randomly selected: "Xu Jun has worked hard from afar, please sit down, come here, and show the two ministers tea!" ”

Xu Shanxin hurriedly arched his hand: "The younger generation obeys his fate." ”

And Xiao Maha said unhurriedly: "Xu Jun has come from afar to work hard, and take a breath,"

Xu Shanxin didn't dare to sit down, and bowed slightly: "General, the lower official will only stay in Jiangling for two days, and then he will go up the river to Shu County, so the time is urgent, so I took the liberty to come to visit, and I ask the general not to be surprised." ”