After Zhu Xu's troops rested outside Shouyang City for a night, they set out for Xiashi. Half of Longxiang General Hu Bin's navy entered Feishui River via Yingshui River and arrived at the Shouyang battlefield to join the main force of the Jin army. The remaining ships He stayed in Xia Shi, which was very close to Xia Cai. It was only a hundred miles away from Shouyang. Even if Zhu Xu's more than 10,000 people could only go there on foot, it would only take half a day if they marched quickly.
Zhu Xu was in a hurry to march. Early in the morning, he asked his military commander Sima Zhou Zun to pass orders everywhere and urge all the ministries to pack their bags and head north. When all the troops were almost ready, Xu Zongwen was the only one missing. Zhu Xu quickly sent his lieutenants to look for him.
Outside Xu Zongwen's military tent, the captain and his men barged in very rudely. As soon as they entered the military tent, several people quickly covered their mouths and noses. After a closer look, Xu Zongwen was holding the quilt alone and was covered by Shen Yu and Zheng Lue. Wandering back and forth, letting the two of them scream.
"Brother, wake up quickly, brother?"
Zheng Lue held Xu Zongwen in his arms. Xu Zongwen slumped limply in Zheng Lue's arms. It took a long time to slowly open his eyes, and then quickly closed them.
Xu Zongwen was also dizzy and couldn't even open his eyes. There were more than a dozen large and small wine jars from unknown sources scattered around the bed, and the smell of alcohol was everywhere!
"Xu Xiao, do you think the military camp is a wine shop? The military orders are as high as the mountain, how dare you violate the prohibitions?" The captain's tone was cold and he shouted sternly.
"How could Captain Zhu be convicted of Captain Xu indiscriminately before he knew the details?" Shen Yu heard the sound and stood up to retort.
"Captain Xu was invited to the city for a banquet by Xu Pinglu and Governor Wang last night. He drank a lot. The guards in Shouyang City sent Captain Xu to the kitchen without knowing the barracks. It happened that the kitchen kept five jars of fine Sangluo wine. "After Captain Xu got drunk, he drank three glasses of wine, and that's how he turned out today. It's not Captain Xu's fault at all." Zheng Lue explained at the side.
The Captain Zhu in Shen Yu's mouth was the Captain who had always been with Zhu Xu. He was none other than Zhu Xu's son Zhu Chen. Because Zhu Xu admired Xu Zongwen, he had long been jealous and envious. Find an excuse to clean up Xu Zongwen and vent his anger. How could you let go of an opportunity like today so easily?
Zhu Chen sneered and said: "No matter what the reason is, in short, it is a violation of the alcohol prohibition, and this person hasn't even woken up yet! What are you trying to cover up for him?"
"Pull me out." Zhu Chen winked at the two soldiers behind him, and the two men stepped forward to lift the drunk Xu Zongwen and prepare to go out.
"Wait a minute!" Seeing two soldiers carrying Xu Zongwen out of the military tent, the tall and muscular Zheng Lue jumped up and rushed out, blocking the barracks door with his bulk. He stopped with a thick brow. Said: "Whoever dares to take away my captain, I will fight with him!"
Two years ago, when Xie Xuan recruited Beifu soldiers in Jingkou for the second time, it was Xu Zongwen who dragged Zheng Lue and Shen Yu to join the army. Later, Xu Zongwen was appointed as Army Sima and went directly to Xie Xuan's account. Zheng Lue and Shen and Yu also followed Xu Zongwen. The three of them have been close since childhood, just like brothers. Now they all regard Xu Zongwen as their leader, so naturally their brothers will not suffer!
Zhu Chen's expression changed and he asked in a cold voice: "You, a little soldier, dare to stop this captain from enforcing military law?"
"Captain Zhu, I wonder if you can report this to the envoy?" Shen Yu followed and asked, "If you didn't inform the envoy and you, the captain, handled it without authorization, firstly, Captain Xu is still unconscious. Is it not a violation of military law?" Two reasons, the second is that the power of military law has always been vested in the military commander Sima, and my subordinates are afraid that you, Commander, will deal with it so rashly that you will be accused of lynching."
Shen Yu's words were as plain as water, but every word was precise and well-founded. They were like a stone thrown into Zhu Chen's restless heart.
Zhu Chen remained calm on the surface, but in fact, he had been persuaded by Shen Yu. If there was anyone he feared the most in this military camp, that person was neither Xu Zongwen nor Shen Yu, nor the military commander Sima Zhou Zun, but his father. , Zhu Xu, the governor of Liangzhou.
But Zhu Chen really couldn't swallow this breath. He grabbed the whip from the military judge's hand and whipped Xu Zongwen three times on the back. He finally woke up the sleeping Xu Zongwen!
"I, Cao, what's going on?" Xu Zongwen felt the pain on his back and opened his eyes distractedly. He saw a group of people surrounding him, and he was a little confused?
Shen Yu knelt down and inspected Xu Zongwen's injuries. Zheng Lue raised his eyes and glared at Zhu Chen, clenching his fists.
"What happened?" After hearing the news, the military commander Sima Zhou Zun came, striding like a meteor, behind him was the burly and muscular commander Zhu Xu in military uniform.
Under Zhu Xu's favor, Xu Zongwen was dragged to drink a bowl of hot porridge before he woke up. It turned out that he drank so much wine last night just to try to return to his own world. In fact, he drank more than He was so drunk that he even rolled around in the snow, but the result was unexpected!
Xu Zongwen was just infected with the cold and failed to leave. After a lot of effort, he finally came up with nothing!
On horseback, Xu Zongwen and Zhu Xu were talking side by side.
"Zong Wen, those whips didn't hurt any vital parts, did they? This kid Chen'er is neither light nor serious, so don't take it to heart!"
"What did the envoy say? I broke the military law first, and Zhu Langjun punished me rightly." Just now Zhu Xu spoke clearly and admitted the fact that Zhu Chen was his son. Only then did Xu Zongwen understand that his feelings were We have a very good relationship with me, but my son holds a grudge against me. Who can I tell this grievance to?
Along the way, the two began to chat about the war.
"If we want to follow the Huaihe River into Sishui and go north, we can only rely on Hu Bin's navy. Otherwise, even if we are not landlubbers, we will not be able to suddenly grow wings and fly to Xiapi City."
"Don't worry, I have conveyed the military order from the Grand Governor, and Hu Bin will definitely cooperate with us."
Xu Zongwen didn't know yet that Hu Bin's navy warship was stationed at Xiashi.
"I heard that Xie Guanjun also proposed to the Governor that Liu Laozhi should join the army and lead the troops from the Beifu to go north to Huaisi to capture Xuzhou. Fortunately, your boy had the foresight to seize the task in front of the Governor!"
"Your Majesty, although our army is large in number, we cannot occupy the entire Xuzhou. If we have to leave troops to garrison a city, I'm afraid there won't be many troops left in Pengcheng!" Xu Zongwen expressed his worries without any scruples.
"What do you think it should be?"
I don't know since when, Zhu Xu began to ask Xu Zongwen's opinion first on all military matters, big and small. Even the captain on the left of Zhu Xu felt surprised when he heard this and couldn't help but look sideways.
"Your Majesty, please look behind you."
The forward troops stopped and everyone turned around and was confused. Xu Zongwen shouted: "Take them all out!"
Shen Yu and Zheng Lue led a group of people who took down a bunch of flags from the carriage. When they unfolded them in the wind, everyone suddenly realized that those flags were none other than the military flags of the Beifu soldiers.
Zhu Xu narrowed his eyes slightly and said slowly: "Do you want to use the name of Beifu soldiers? Pull the tiger's skin and pull the banner to recruit the counties of Xuzhou to surrender?"
The troops assigned to Zhu Xu by Xie Shi were originally a mixture of Beifu soldiers and Taiwanese troops. The Taiwanese army was the army stationed in Jiankang Taicheng, which was equivalent to the Royal Forest Army, and its combat power was naturally not weak.
"It's my opinion. As expected, no strategy can escape the general's eyes. He is indeed a veteran of hundreds of battlefields. I admire him!"
Xu Zongwen's flattering words come right out of his mouth, and he has no choice but to take them for granted.
Xu Zongwen continued to elaborate: "My subordinates led more than a thousand men from Xiashi directly to attack Xiapi, then went east to conquer the East China Sea, and finally joined forces with the envoy at Pengcheng. Once Pengcheng was captured by our army, half of the seven counties in Xuzhou would be destroyed. If it falls into my hands, the remaining half will definitely surrender! After Xuzhou is recovered, Qingzhou, Yanzhou and even Jizhou, I, the Jin Dynasty, will not have no chance to seize them!"
"You have thought carefully. I just want to go north along Huaisi and capture Linhuai and Xiapi. Then besiege Pengcheng. It would be best if we can recover the entire Xuzhou. But you are thinking that after recovering Xuzhou, you have to go through Lueqing, Yan, and Ji Sanzhou, this is really something I dare not even think about. There are some advantages to a calf being born not afraid of tigers!"
"Your Majesty, in fact, no matter how many states and counties we recover, they are not as important as one place."
"Are you talking about the old capital Luoyang?"
"Let you see thousands of miles brightly."
Zhu Xu couldn't believe that this young boy in front of him actually had such courage. Even if Sima Huan was still alive, he could only do this, right?
Zhu Xu began to re-examine Xu Zongwen. In his heart, this young man had a lot of potential. He was really curious about what his future growth would be like!
When the huge figure of Bagong Mountain gradually faded away and finally disappeared from sight, and the Jin army also arrived behind Xiashi, Xu Zongwen couldn't bear it and got off his horse early. His inner thigh had been rubbed and bleeding, although he could also Horseback riding, but after a day of riding, it was also bumpy for a day, which was really uncomfortable!
After rubbing his legs, he went straight to the Huaihe River. He stood on the bank of the Huaihe River and looked up at the stone wall.
In front of you, you can see the vast hills on both sides of the gorge pass, surrounded by the Huai River. The surging Huai River flows eastward, and when it encounters the obstruction of Bagong Mountain, it turns back and flows backwards, splitting the Xia Shi into two halves and rushing down to form the first gorge of the Huai River - Xia Shikou. It is said that it was a gorge dug by Dayu when he was controlling the floods. .
This is the Huaishangjin strategic point where troops are stationed in a dangerous position. Hu Bin originally wanted to go upstream here to support Shouyang. Unfortunately, Xu Yuanxi and Wang Xian were short of manpower, and the Qin army attacked too fiercely. Shouyang was captured by Fu Rong. Hu Bin could only stop here in the end, and it was considered one of the Feishui battlefields.
The Huai River flows along the southwest foot of Bagong Mountain and flows toward the northeast. The blue waves of the Huai River are like a fairyland. The withered willow branches on both sides of the river are gently brushing, and it feels quite lonely.
Xia Shikou is divided into East Xia Shi and Xixia Shi. Dongxia Shi is close to Sanfeng Mountain and stands erect.
Hu Bin's remaining naval warships stayed on the north bank. The Beifu soldiers went up and took out the military order seals to hand over, and Zhu Xu's large groups began to board the ships one after another.
"Your Majesty, please say goodbye. I'll see you in Pengcheng."
"Wait a minute," Zhu Xu pointed behind Xu Zongwen. After a burst of turbulent hoofbeats, a large number of cavalry suddenly appeared in front of Xu Zongwen. Zhu Xu told the whole story: "Zongwen, these are the elite cavalry under Xie Fuguo. , a full five hundred, I’ll leave it to you.”
"I'll choke you!" Xu Zongwen was so happy that the cavalry was a good thing! With this thing, siege cities and territories will have an extra chance of winning!
"Thank you so much, envoy! The general's kindness to me, Xu Xiao, today, Xu Xiao will not forget in the future!"
