As the commander of the army, it is sad to command the troops into a battle that is sure to be lost.

Before going out of the city for a decisive battle, Xu Shisong had to make some preparations for his future affairs in advance.

For example, he sent his wife, Princess Renfu and one of their children, to their father in the north, and wrote a letter to Emperor Longdao and Wenzhong, asking them to abandon Lin'an as soon as possible and move the capital south.

Xu Shisong didn't even have much confidence in how long he could contain the southward march of the Chinese army, but he didn't want his loyal monarch to fall into the hands of the northern army, so he had to flee quickly - maybe if he fled, what would happen to the situation, and let Da Zhou survive for a few more decades?

That at least proves that your persistence still makes some sense, right?

No matter what the Emperor of Longdao and the Great Zhou Dynasty thought of this letter of persuasion to move the capital, Xu Shisong didn't care, when he led his troops out of the city on July 15, the First Army of the Chinese Army was only half a day's journey from Jinling.

Xu Shisong could see the scouts of the Northern Army on horseback moving nearby in the camp, and he had nothing to do - because the cavalry under his command could not drive the other party out at all, and the local residents who were supposed to provide some intelligence support for the Zhou army did not have any thoughts towards the Great Zhou court.

Almost everyone hoped that the Northern Army would eliminate the Great Zhou as soon as possible, so that the war could end and live a peaceful and peaceful life.

Perhaps the only exception is the clan that is closely tied to the Great Zhou court.

A few days before the decisive battle, just after Xu Shisong sent the letter to move the capital, Emperor Longdao sent a supervisor to Xu Shisong - a prince of the clan, King Wu, and the younger brother of Emperor Longdao.

King Wu was undoubtedly a loyal vassal of the Great Zhou (not necessarily loyal to the emperor), but the clan king had no military experience, and he failed to bring the supplies, salaries, and reinforcements that Xu Shisong had hoped for, but only a commendation order from the Longdao Emperor to the front-line soldiers, saying that as long as the Chinese army was defeated, everyone on the front line would be promoted by three ranks.

However, after King Wu read out this emperor's pardon in front of the whole army, a low-ranking officer of the new army couldn't help but ask loudly on the spot: Even Marshal Xu Shisong was looked down upon by the civilian officials, and he couldn't allocate some grain and grass, so what was the use of these "thieves with the army" being promoted to the third level? It's better to give more bounty and wine and meat!

King Wu's face suddenly turned cold, he came this time, but he didn't bring the reward money and the wine and meat of the army!

The soldiers were making loud noises, some shouted that they had not seen meat for a long time, some people clamored that there was not even enough food now, and some soldiers of the forbidden army even demanded "money", and they would not meet the enemy without a reward!

King Wu's face became worse and worse, and Xu Shisong had to order his guards to suppress the commotion.

Xu Shuai's face, the soldiers still gave it, but although no one continued to shout, the soldiers' morale also fell to the bottom of no return.

Moreover, Xu Shisong relied on his personal prestige to suppress the soldiers, but he was unable to appease the angry prince.

In front of the soldiers of the whole army, King Wu scolded Xu Shisong on the spot:

"Look at the good soldiers you bring!"

"They can't be blamed for that!" Xu Shisong couldn't help but retort: "Our army has been out of food for two days!" There are mountains of grain and grass in Jinling City, but we are not allowed to take them! Is it too much for the soldiers to reward them? ”

"Can't you hold on to this difficulty?" King Wu's anger was overflowing: "Won't you eat meat without food? ”

As soon as these words came out, Xu Shisong didn't even have the mood to refute.

"Get those soldiers out of the way!" King Wu was still yelling: "Put them to death, to set an example!" ”

"Please go to the camp and rest." Xu Shisong turned his head to his guards and said, "Disarm the king's men." ”

Xu Shisong's personal guards immediately surrounded him, and King Wu shouted in horror: "Xu Shisong! What are you doing!? I'll let you catch those rebels! Did you hear that? Not the one who caught me! ”

King Wu brought five hundred soldiers with the imperial dragon bone Duozi Zhi and the imperial dragon bow and arrow straight, but these emperor's direct personal guards have not been on the battlefield for hundreds of years, and they have long become the units of the Great Zhou Dynasty high-level to install their own children as officials, and they are well-equipped, but the actual combat effectiveness is not at all.

When these soldiers in bright armor saw Xu Shisong's guards surrounding them, they consciously threw away their weapons, without the slightest intention of resisting.

"Collect their armor, their blades, and their horses." Xu Shisong ignored King Wu's shouting, and continued to order: "Tell them that when the war starts on our side, they will quickly take the king and flee south, maybe it's still too late." ”

"Xu Shisong! You martial artist dare to disobey the clan! Are you going to resist rebellion!? ”

King Wu's shouts grew farther and farther away, and finally he couldn't hear them.

"I am the privy envoy of the Great Zhou." Xu Shisong muttered in a voice that only he could hear: "Why do you still treat me as an ordinary martial artist?" ”

Tens of thousands of soldiers of the Zhou Army in the Jinling camp watched this farce silently and were speechless for a long time.

After a long time, an officer suddenly walked up to Xu Shisong and said bluntly: "Marshal, you can take us to join the Northern Army!" The soldiers of the Northern Army are valued, and Da Zhou doesn't treat our martial artists as people at all! ”

"Then we'll be rebellious." Xu Shisong replied.

"We don't care!"

What a merciless response.

"If you really don't care, surrender yourself." Xu Shisong said tiredly: "I don't surrender." ”

"We are not surrendering, we are taking refuge!"

As a result, on the same day, the Zhou army left the camp and surrendered to the Chinese army, which was advancing towards this place.

At this time, Xu Shiyang was in the headquarters of the First Army Corps, and after learning the news that the Zhou army had begun to surrender on a large scale, he ordered not to launch an attack on Xu Shisong for the time being, leaving more time for the soldiers of the Zhou army to decide to stay.

Xu Shiyang also wrote an open letter to Xu Shisong.

In the letter, Xu Shiyang asked Xu Shisong to lay down his arms as soon as possible and end this war between brothers.

At the same time, Xu Shiyang assured all the Zhou soldiers that the Chinese army would not criticize them harshly, and that they were free to choose to join the Chinese army, or lay down their arms and go home.

To this end, Xu Shiyang ordered the march to be halted for three days and waited for the response of the Zhou army.

Xu Shisong's personal answer came quickly, and the answer was very simple, only one line:

Xu Shisong does not fall.

But most of his soldiers fell.

By 19 July, when the Chinese army was preparing to attack, Xu Shisong's Jinling camp was basically empty.

Even the new army with the forbidden army, a total of 130,000 troops, by the morning of this day, Xu Shisong ordered the young master soldiers of the dragon bone Duozi Zhi and the dragon bow and arrow straight to quickly flee with King Wu, and there were less than 1,000 wounded people with limited mobility and cooks who felt that they would not die of hunger at any time, as well as a thousand personal guards who were loyal to Xu Shisong.

These people are equivalent to Xu Shisong's family members and personal soldiers, and they are probably the only troops who are willing to die with Xu Shisong.