Food is very heavy. Considering that there are 40,000 people in Shen Yi City, the most basic consumption is 40,000 kilograms of food every day, which is about 2,670 shi.
In other words, even if Shen Yi's cavalry came back with only one day's rations, they would still need to get about 40,000 kilograms of grain. It would take a lot of effort to transport this grain back to Xuzhou.
Therefore, Tu Yuan was certain that the Huai'an army would not be able to return in a short time.
But not long after he finished speaking, he saw the sky in the northwest turning vaguely orange in the distance.
Tu Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and his eyelids couldn't help but jump.
He took a deep breath, and before he could speak, he saw a messenger running all the way over. He knelt down in front of him with a plop, lowered his head and said in a trembling voice: "General, Zhangzhuang has been lost! The southerners set fire to Zhangzhuang. , Zhangzhuang has 40,000 shi to store grain..."
"Everyone was burned!"
"Burning food..."
General Tu sat on his horse and was silent for a while, then looked up at Xuzhou City.
At this time, he was still some distance away from Xuzhou City, and he couldn't see clearly who or what was on the tower of Xuzhou City.
But he didn't know if it was an illusion, but he vaguely seemed to see a young man looking at him from the tower.
And he, the commander-in-chief of the Great Qi Border Army, could no longer understand the young man very well.
"Shen Qi...isn't there a shortage of food?"
After having such a question in his mind, Tu Yuan glanced around, and then said in a deep voice: "Send an order from my general to have all the battalions move faster, and seal the retreat route of the Southerners as soon as possible, so that their cavalry cannot Return to Xuzhou!"
It has to be said that Tu Yuan's judgment on the battlefield is still very accurate. So far, almost all the choices he has made are accurate.
It's a pity that everything is a step too late.
Because before his general order was passed down, Ling Su led five thousand cavalry to a place more than ten miles outside Xuzhou City, and was running towards Xuzhou City at high speed.
At this time, General Ling's whole body was full of "fireworks", but he was carrying a bag on his back. In the bag were arrows. At a glance, there were probably hundreds of them.
The cavalry behind him had their quivers filled. In addition to the quivers, some of them had arrows in their arms or pinned to their waists. Almost everyone had hundreds of arrows. Arrow comes back.
At this time, a large number of Qi troops had already arrived at Ximen, and there was an increasing trend. They were surrounded by Qi troops on their only way back to Xuzhou.
Fortunately, these Qi troops only numbered about a thousand people, not too many.
Ling Su ran at the front. After taking a look at the battlefield, he looked back at the soldiers behind him. He was heartbroken and shouted: "Send my order to the general, abandon the chariot and mount the horse! Abandon the chariot and mount the horse!"
"Crush through the defensive line in front!"
At this time, they were carrying about a dozen carts behind them, all pulled by pack horses.
In another ten miles or so, these vehicles loaded with supplies will be able to enter Xuzhou City.
But unfortunately, the situation no longer allows it.
These big cars have become a drag.
Following Ling Su's order, everyone got on their horses and followed behind him. Some of the Huai'an Army cavalry who were walking at the front took off strips of cloth from their waists and tied them to the eyes of the horses to prevent them from returning fire when encountering torches. Frightened after being exposed to knives and guns.
After everyone was ready, Ling Su gave an order, and five thousand cavalry rushed towards Xuzhou City!
The momentum is huge!
There were over a hundred people, which was already overwhelming, not to mention thousands of cavalry. The Qi people's current encirclement circle was not thick enough. The defense line of more than a thousand people was rushed by thousands of cavalry and immediately collapsed. Ling Su and others People rushed in.
At this moment, there were still some infantry outside Xuzhou City, fighting with the Qi people to buy time for the cavalry to enter the city.
Ling Su was riding on a big horse, holding a long knife, and bent down to kill a Qi man. At the same time, he turned sideways to avoid the oncoming arrows!
However, the arrow came too fast, and he still did not completely avoid it. The arrow hit his shoulder, and it was inserted into the gap of the shoulder armor, and the arrow penetrated his flesh.
Feeling the pain, Ling Su groaned and patted the horse's butt.
At this moment, he was only about ten feet away from the city gate. He entered Xuzhou City with a few ups and downs under the galloping hooves of his horse.
After Ling Su entered the city, he turned around and issued his general order: "Everyone, start retreating into the city!"
The Huai'an army outside the city led the cavalry into the city, followed closely by the infantry. They fought and retreated back to Xuzhou City.
Ling Su, on the other hand, put all the arrows carried on the horse into a cloth bag. He climbed up to the west gate tower and saw a familiar figure watching the battle on the tower. Ling Su ran over and half-knelt down. On the ground, he lowered his head and said: "Mr. Shen, this general is greedy for merit. Please punish Mr. Shen!"
Shen Yi looked back at him, stretched out his hand to help him up, and said with a smile, "What do you mean by General Ling's words?"
Ling Su stood up, lowered his head slightly, gritted his teeth and said: "If you only bring arrows, each of the brothers will take some, and they will be back half an hour ago. The general saw that Zhangzhuang had a lot of luggage, so he greedily let some go. People transported more than a dozen carts, which delayed the return trip..."
"Almost surrounded by Qi people!"
"If I follow the hour and a half you said, Mr. Shen, there will be no problem."
Shen Yi glanced at the Huai'an army that was still retreating below the city, shook his head, and said, "I took a look and found that there were almost a hundred cavalry left behind. It's still acceptable. General Ling doesn't have to blame himself."
As he said that, he looked at the arrow stuck in Ling Su's shoulder, frowned and said, "General Ling is injured, why don't you go and treat him?"
Ling Su took off the cloth bag on his back from behind. There was a quiver and dozens of scattered arrows in the bag. He squatted on the ground and counted them, and then whispered: "Mr. Shen, the last general will bring Ninety-two arrows came back.”
Having said this, he held the arrow on his left shoulder with his right hand. After gritting his teeth, he pulled out the arrow with a strong force and threw it on the cloth bag in front of him.
Because of the pain, he took several breaths to recover, and his forehead was already covered with sweat.
"Ninety-three."
Ling Su lowered his head and said: "Brothers, some bring more, some bring less, but they should all be about the same as the last general."
If each of the five thousand cavalrymen came back with ninety arrows, that would be hundreds of thousands of arrows.
This number of arrows is actually not very conspicuous in a war involving hundreds of thousands of arrows between the two countries, and it is not very useful.
After all, there are so many arrows in Zhangzhuang.
Zhangzhuang is just one of the many supply camps of the Qi people, and it is not a very large one.
It can be seen that this number is actually not too much.
But for the current Xuzhou City, it is obviously enough.
At the very least, Xuzhou City can be allowed to persist for a long time.
Shen Yi looked at Ling Su, whose shoulder was bleeding profusely. After frowning, he looked around and said, "Come here, help General Ling go down and bandage the wound."
The soldiers on the left and right immediately stepped forward to support Ling Su.
Ling Su's face was pale, but he still looked up at Shen Yi and gritted his teeth and said: "Mr. Shen, I just want to do more for the Huai'an army like General Xue..."
Hearing this, Shen Yi frowned subconsciously.
He shook his head and said: "Xue Wei did not do more than General Ling. On the contrary, he did not do as much as General Ling."
"General Ling, don't think too much, go down and recuperate."
Ling Su lowered his head and went down to bandage the wound.
After he left, Shen Yi silently turned back and glanced at the city.
The Huai'an army under the city is still retreating one after another, but they are basically near the city gate. It is a foregone conclusion that they will retreat safely.
While Shen Yi was watching the battlefield, on the other side of the battlefield, General Tu was also watching the battlefield.
He rode to the place where Ling Su and others had discarded supplies, and took a look at the contents of the dozen or so carts.
Most of them were arrows, but a few carts were equipped with armor, and two carts were filled with cured bacon.
Dudu has no food.
The further away the picture is, the uglier the face becomes.
The Huai'an army wanted to bring these things into the city, which meant that the Huai'an army in the city was short of arrows, meat, and even armor, but it was not short of food!
In other words, his judgment on the battlefield was wrong from the beginning.
"It's been months!"
"Shen Qi!"
General Tu clenched his fists fiercely and gritted his teeth: "Where did you get so much food?"
When General Tu was angry, General Zhou Shizhong also arrived here on horseback. After roughly understanding the situation on the battlefield, he silently dismounted and walked behind Tu Yuan. He lowered his head slightly and said, "General, Zhang Zhuang is under attack." They were burned, and a large amount of supplies were robbed. When news of this reaches the court, you and I are both guilty."
Tu Yuan turned around, looked at Zhou Shizhong, and said in a low voice: "At this time, where can the emperor pay attention to the Huaihe River?"
Zhou Shizhong said in a low voice: "At this time, the emperor naturally does not pay attention, but after the new master ascends the throne in the future, he may not care about the affairs of the Huaihe River. At that time, for the majesty of the new dynasty, both of you and I will inevitably gain something." crime."
Tu Yuan took a deep breath, looked back at Zhou Shizhong, and said in a low voice: "Brother Zhou, I know what you are thinking."
"But this kind of thing can easily harm the Yi tribe."
"I need to think about it carefully..."
Zhou Shizhong said expressionlessly: "When the Eight Great Families followed the royal family to invade the country, it was also an act of rebellion. They also wanted to kill the Yi tribe."
General Tu clenched his fists.
"I will give Brother Zhou a reply in three days."
(End of chapter)
