The next day, Shouyang City.
Xie Shi, the commander-in-chief of the expedition, climbed up the southern city wall of Shouyang, leaned on the female wall and looked at the former Qin army camp in the distance.
After a night of cold wind blowing, the fire that soared into the sky last night has long been extinguished. Only a few flags abandoned by the retreating Qin army are still burning. The black smoke is still clearly visible and the burning smell is still clearly audible. The elite cavalry and boat divisions of the Jin army that attacked the camp had already merged, leaving behind a scorched earth and corpses of men and horses all over the ground to the Qin army that fled in a hurry.
"The Grand Governor has ordered us to continue marching and open the Shouyang arsenal. Everyone will be repairing armor, replenishing ordnance, burying pots and cooking rice. At noon, the whole army will gather and set off!" Xie Xuan, the forward commander, looked at the messy camp in the distance and clenched his fists. He said coldly.
"Nuo, Commander," Xizhonglang General Huan Yi called hurriedly: "The messenger..."
"Yuandu, go and clean up the seized grain, grass, horses and other items, record everything in a book, and then report it to me."
Xie Yan, the general of the auxiliary country on the side, lowered his eyes and cupped his hands towards Xie Shi: "No, uncle." Then he immediately retreated from the city wall.
"Urgent report, urgent report!"
"Da da da -" Suddenly a horse came galloping from the southeast. There was a postman with a secret letter tied to his chest armor. The postman galloped his horse and whipped his whip, and the passersby scattered away when they saw this.
"This is the battle report from the front." The attendant quickly stepped forward and carefully unzipped the secret letter sealed in a wooden box from the knight's left side and handed it to Xie Shi.
"Instruct all troops and horses to advance quickly without hesitation! The army will drive directly to Xiangcheng. The two armies will attack Chen County from east to west. The ten counties of Yuzhou may be defeated in one battle!" Xie Shi's eyes flashed and he said loudly: "Stay here Those who are seriously injured will stay in Shouyang, and the Chinese army will move out immediately!"
"Promise!" The generals under his command came out after receiving the order.
At nine o'clock, the dim light of dawn slowly lifted off the veil of night, revealing half a red sun in the eastern sky, and there was a smoke of gunpowder under the fish-belly white sky.
Northeast of the Qin camp, the Qin army's main camp was carrying heavy supplies. Xu Zongwen followed Zhu Xu and found the Guiyi Marquis Zhang Tianxi, the captured Shouyang guard general Xu Yuanxi, and the Anfeng prefect Wang Xian. Xu Zongwen knew this The identity of the Marquis of Guiyi is not simple. He was originally the emperor of Zhang's Liang Kingdom (former Liang). Fu Jian destroyed Liang and captured him, so he was granted the title of Marquis of Guiyi.
In the military tent, some people were familiar to Xu Zongwen, and some were people he had never met before. The two familiar people were his hometown friends, and they all followed him to the Qin camp after the Battle of Luojian. .
"Brother!"
"Zheng Lue, and Shen Yu?" Xu Zongwen searched for information about these two people from his memory. Their familiar and unfamiliar faces gradually became clear, until they merged perfectly with the living people standing in front of him!
On the side, Zhu Xu also met Zhang Tianxi, an old comrade he met in Chang'an.
"Envoy." Wang Xian, the prefect of Anfeng, and Xu Yuanxi, the general of Pinglu, saluted Zhu Xu. Zhu Xu responded with clasped fists as a greeting.
Officials at the provincial level can be called envoys, and prefects and county magistrates can be called prefects.
"Master Hou, I finally found you!"
"The general also made it easy for me to find him. During the day, the two armies faced each other. I thought that we would never see each other again after the battle. Unexpectedly, God's will caused the Qin army to collapse like an anthill in one battle. The king's army won a great victory. We are so lucky!"
Zhang Tianxi speaks and behaves very appropriately. He is worthy of being a royal. Even a military uniform cannot hide his elegance, let alone a long beard. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is a handsome man. He is nearly forty years old, and his movements are impeccable. Everywhere exudes the charm of an adult male.
"The Qin army is in a messy structure, with disunity among the Di people, Xianbei people and people. If they win, they can still last for a while. But if they lose and their morale is unstable, they will suffer disaster!"
Zhu Xu and Zhang Tianxi gradually began to chat, and Xu Zongwen took the opportunity to look at the people around him. These soldiers guarding him were all black-haired and yellow-skinned. They were not barbarians. They were all full of energy and were not affected by the defeat at all. They were obviously Following Zhu Xu and Zhang Tianxi, who were lurking in the Jin camp in the Qin camp, Xu Zongwen had to admire how brave Zhu Xu and the others were. If the Qin army found out that this was a false surrender, even if they had wings, they would not be able to fly out of these hundreds of thousands of troops. !
It was really a blessing from God. Now it was too late for the Qin army to escape, so who would pay attention to this remote corner?
"Oh! I forgot to introduce you. This is Xu Xiao, Xu Zongwen, the champion general and forward commander of the army. It is Xu Sima who personally killed the Qin army's general Zhengxi General and Yangping Gong Fu Rong tonight with his own hands. His head is here!" Zhu Xu took out the bundle of human heads, untied it and showed it to everyone.
"It's really Fu Rong, the old thief!"
Zhang Tianxi recognized it at a glance and couldn't help but curse.
Since the fall of the Liang Kingdom, he has been placed in Chang'an, where he has been targeted by the Fu clan of the Di tribe. The Guiyi Marquis Mansion has also been visited many times by the Qin generals, just like entering and leaving his own home, not to mention gold, silver, wealth, and silk. His former concubines were also abused...
As Zhu Xu explained, everyone's eyes focused on Xu Zongwen. The blood splattered on Xu Zongwen's neck when Zhu Xu chopped off Fu Rong's head had already dried more than half, but after Xu Zongwen wiped it with his sleeve, it looked very messy. At the same time, it was easy for people to mistakenly think that he had killed many Qin people. Bingcai broke through from the Chinese army camp to the supply camp, creating the illusion that he was a fierce general.
Xu Yuanxi thought to himself: This man has a fair face and a thin body. At first glance, he is a son of a noble family. Unexpectedly, under the skin of this fair-faced scholar, there is still a murderous and decisive heart hidden under the skin of a tiger and wolf!
Mr. Wang: People cannot be judged by their appearance, and sea water cannot be measured! Being able to easily obtain the head of the enemy's commander among thousands of troops, it seems that Xu Zongwen is quite brave and his strength should not be underestimated!
"Xu Xiao went down to the East China Sea and met the Marquis, General Xu and Prince Wangfu." Xu Zongwen bowed his head and gave a hasty salute.
Zhang Tianxi is a prince after all. The Kingdom of Liang is dead, so it is inappropriate to call him King of Liang. Seeing that he still hates the dead Fu Rong, Fu Jian will definitely not be able to use the title of Marquis of Guiyi given to him. Think about it. When you go to Xu Zongwen, you can only call him Marquis.
In fact, the Donghai Xu family is just a second-class noble family, not much better than the poor family. If top families like the Wang Xie Gao family are unattainable giants, then the Donghai Xu family is just a short man with a height of less than six feet. Three inches of Ding Gu tree bark.
The most famous of the Xu family in Donghai is Xu Zongwen's grandfather, Xu Ning. Xu Ning once served as a high-ranking official such as Shangshu Libu Lang, Zuo General, and Jiangzhou Governor.
At that time, Xu Ning was recommended by Tingwei Huanyi, the father of the great Sima Huanwen, so the Longkang Huan family was the head of the Xu family.
However, in the eyes of others, the Xu family of Donghai is a vassal of the Longkang Huan family. In fact, even Xu Zongwen's late father, Xu Zuozhi, was just a magistrate of Shangyu County before his death. How can the Xu family reach the top of the Huan family?
"This time Zong Wen has made great achievements and his future is limitless!" Zhang Tianxi added that although Xu Zong Wen was just a military commander, once Fu Rong's head was sent to Jiankang, he would be promoted to at least three levels and become a captain. If you have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds, it’s not a bad idea to be a general with a mixed title!
Xu Zongwen himself understood that he should not even think about generals unless he could capture a city, but now he was only a ninth-grade military commander, and he only had Shen Yu and Zheng Lue, a dozen of them, who had experienced Luo Jian together. A pawn in the battle.
After a few people exchanged greetings, Zhu Xu began to gather his troops and issue a military order: "Everyone abandon their helmets and tie red scarves on them. This is the secret signal between us and the Beifu soldiers. If you don't tie them tightly and your family members behead you, you can only blame yourself when you get down there." Your hands and feet are clumsy and you can’t blame others!”
Only then did Xu Zongwen see clearly that there were really many Jin army undercover agents gathered around with their heads wrapped in red scarves! It seems that the Qin army did not lose unjustly. It was suffering from internal and external troubles. If they were not defeated, even God would not agree to it.
Listening to Zhu Xu's discussion with everyone, the Qin army deliberately placed them in the rear supply camp in order to guard against the surrendering Jin army. This was indeed a stupid move of the Qin army.
The baggage camp is indeed inconspicuous and far away from the front line, but the ordnance and food supplies in the baggage camp are piled up in mountains for the surrendered Jin army to look after. No wonder the Qin army will be defeated. Details determine everything!
"Everyone controls the fire around the transport camp, and the scouts will report the news of the Qin army in time." Zhu Xu walked to the table in the tent and ordered: "Bring the map and let us discuss the withdrawal route."
Orders were issued one after another, and Xu Yuanxi went to clean up the fire. Wang Xian led the scouts to investigate in person. After a while, only Xu Zongwen, Zhu Xu and Zhang Tianxi were left in the tent. Xu Zongwen wanted to go out to help, but Zhu Xu stopped him: "Zongwen, Do you want to make another contribution?"
Xu Zongwen was stunned. It seemed that this was the first time that Zhu Xu called his cousin, which was really rare!
"Do you know the reason why our Jin Dynasty's Northern Expeditions ended in failure?"
"Since ancient times, there have been boats in the south and horses in the north. The water network in the south has been crisscrossed. The southerners have relied on the convenience of boats and boats for transportation. The roads in the north, especially the Central Plains, are flat and a horse can level the river. Therefore, the northerners rely on the swiftness of horses."
"There are no horses in the south of the Yangtze River, but the naval force is strong. Hexi, the Central Plains, and the north of Saibei are rich in fine horses, so there are many fine cavalry. Our king's army went northward. The boat army traveled north from the Yangtze River, Danshui, Mianshui, to Huaisi and Luo , Wei, there is no obstruction to the passage, but once we land and fight, we will use our shortcomings to attack the enemy's strengths. We have made the same mistake as Huan Da Sima before. Is this what the general said?"
During his last Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, Great Sima Huanwen encountered the armored cavalry led by Murong Chui of the Yan State at Fangtou, which severely damaged his vitality. In addition, the Jin army's food routes were cut off at that time, so Huan Wen could only lead the defeated army to retreat to Jingzhou along the waterway. , the Jin army was defeated in the Battle of Fangtou, and the Northern Expedition failed!
Xu Zongwen used his spare time to understand the important reason why the Han government in the south could not successfully complete the unification through the Northern Expedition. Apart from the unfavorable terrain, it was horses. Then he summarized the explanation, which was empty talk and was just superficial.
"That makes sense, so if we take advantage of the chaos tonight to bring back the horses from Qin's camp, how big a contribution do you think this would have?"
"Hiss—" At this moment, even Zhang Tianxi took a breath.
Xu Zongwen smiled and said nothing. Horses are something that no one can buy with money these days, especially good horses. The Qin State is a Di ethnic group, and it also perished and surrendered to Xianbei, Xiongnu, Qiang, Qiangqu and other ethnic minorities. These ethnic groups are all The cattle and horses are the basis of survival, and they live in pursuit of water and grass. This shows the quality of Qinying's horses!
