After the defeat of the Forbidden Army in the valley, Song Mojie sent an order to summon all the soldiers of the Zhennan Army in the camp, plus the hundreds of surviving horsemen in the valley. After excluding the navy soldiers who formed a single battalion, there were still some soldiers under his command. No less than 80,000 to 90,000 people.
Looking at the huge crowd gathered in the camp, Song Mojie felt temporarily reassured, but at the same time he secretly scolded his bad luck. If it weren't for the fact that he only brought Qianqi with him to support Jiang Kai, how could he have been killed by Li Yuan otherwise? The killing was so miserable, and even his most trusted generals and advisors were killed in vain. This kind of costly and tragic defeat was simply a great shame.
Whether it was paranoia or the fact, from the faces of his generals and soldiers, Song Mojie felt that they were all ridiculing him, but they just didn't say it out loud. This made Song Mojie feel angry but unable to vent it.
The scouts sent to the entrance of the valley came back to report that the Forbidden Army soldiers and horses had disappeared, and the battlefield was not even cleaned. There seemed to be no sign of continuing the attack, and they should have withdrawn to the east to camp. Now that he had completely broken up with the Forbidden Army, Song Mojie immediately decided to fight to the death. In addition to surviving the desperate situation, he also wanted to regain his face. Otherwise, even if he died, he would die in an extremely useless way and leave posterity a laughing stock.
It should be noted that his uncle Song Qiqiu gave him so much trust and appointed him to command the Zhennan Army, which the Song family relied on. If he didn't fight hard, how could he live up to his trust? He also knew that with Song Qiqiu's Temper, today's recklessness, even if I can go back by chance, I will probably not gain his trust. The so-called broken pot is nothing more than this.
As soon as night fell, Song Mojie issued a command, and the entire army moved eastward to seize the key road in the valley, waiting for a decisive battle with the imperial army at dawn. As soon as he finished speaking, his generals were naturally stunned, and then a general jumped out to sing the opposite, That was the veteran Ma Wenmiao who always liked to gesticulate and quibble with Song Mojie.
"Young Marshal, it is a good idea to seize the key road in the valley, but our army is weak, so we should hold on to the favorable terrain and look for opportunities. Wouldn't taking the initiative to attack be asking for death? And look at the appearance of the brothers, morale is low after today's disastrous defeat. , everyone’s heart has not yet calmed down, and there will be another battle tomorrow, so isn’t it bad luck if morale is low?”
"Ma Wenmiao, you dare to say such words to destroy the morale of our army and increase the prestige of others. You are a bastard." Song Mojie shouted angrily.
"Young Marshal, what the general said is true. If we are going to fight a big battle, we should at least make the soldiers well prepared. How can we be in such a hurry? Besides, the general will not destroy the morale of our army. He will destroy the morale of our army." It must be you. Not only were the Jiang brothers killed, but Tian Changshi was also killed in the valley. The brothers are all panic-stricken! In this situation, the young commander is blaming someone else. It is really a joke. "
Ma Wenmiao didn't care about this, he frowned and fought back.
The scars in Song Mojie's heart were torn apart mercilessly by Ma Wenmiao. He seemed to be able to hear the low laughter of his subordinates and soldiers around him. This mocking laughter was like thorns piercing his heart, making him feel painful. And feel ashamed.
"Ma Wenmiao, how dare you talk to me like this?" Song Mojie said coldly through gritted teeth.
Ma Wenmiao brushed his long beard and sneered: "What the general said is true. The rule in our Zhennan Army is that defeat is due to the general's incompetence. Is the general wrong? Not only is the general here, even in Hongzhou Mansion, The last general said the same thing in front of Duke Wei."
"Are you...looking for...death...?" Song Mojie's eyes have become sharp. If his eyes could burst into flames, they would be like two fireballs spitting fire at this moment.
Ma Wenmiao, who is over fifty years old, has been immersed in the pleasure of educating the younger generation. This is a rule set by Song Qiqiu's father Song Cheng when he was the deputy envoy of the Zhennan Army. When the main general is defeated, the deputy general and the partial general can speak freely to criticize the failure. However, strictly speaking, although Ma Wenmiao's words contained personal emotions, they were not inappropriate. This was indeed the voice of many Zhennan Army soldiers. They were already in a desperate situation, and today's defeat made everyone even more miserable. The heart is pushed into the abyss.
It's a pity that Ma Wenmiao didn't consider Song Mojie's mental state at the moment. Song Mojie is now a powder keg. Anyone who messes with him will explode. Now is an emergency, and as the commander-in-chief, Song Mojie is no longer in Hongzhou. He is the junior in the government who can scold him at will.
"Haha, has the young marshal deprived the general of the right to speak? The general has been with Duke Wei for more than twenty years. Although he is a deputy general, he still has the power to lead the army. After all, these soldiers and horses belong to Duke Wei. Soldiers and horses, young marshal, don’t forget that you haven’t inherited an heir yet. Why threaten me here, the general?”
"Yes, so what?!" Song Mojie finally broke out.
With a loud shout, the long sword Canglang was unsheathed, drawing a shining arc and slashing towards Ma Wenmiao. Ma Wenmiao did not expect that Song Mojie would actually take action. A general of his level and seniority, even if he committed a crime Capital crimes generally require the approval of Duke Wei before they can be executed. Song Mojie could detain and tie him, but had no right to execute himself. But Song Mojie had obviously forgotten these rules.
The long knife passed by, and Ma Wenmiao hurriedly turned sideways, but he could not escape the sword. With a "puff" sound, the long sword struck Ma Wenmiao's arm, and one of his arms was completely removed from the shoulder socket, and fell to the ground with a clatter.
Ma Wenmiao screamed, clutching his bleeding arm and staggering, shouting loudly: "Song Mojie, you arrogant bastard, how dare you seriously kill someone!"
Song Mojie said nothing, and swung his sword again. There was a scraping sound, and Ma Wenmiao's head flew into the air. A cloud of blood sprayed into the air and turned into a mist. It landed on the grassy slope and rolled a few times. Facing the night sky, his hands Eyes wide open.
The soldiers were all in an uproar, and there was a violent commotion among the crowd. Song Mojie raised his sword high and shouted: "Ma Wenmiao retreated before the battle and disobeyed military orders, and he has been punished. From now on, anyone who dares to disobey my commander's orders will be killed without mercy!"
Everyone was silent, no one dared to say anything, and the original sarcastic smile turned into a look of horror.
"Generals, listen to the order and march tomorrow! Fight to the death with the Forbidden Army!" Song Mojie ordered in a deep voice. The soldiers gathered into teams and immediately returned to the camp in an orderly manner under the leadership of their respective generals to reorganize.
Just when Song Mojie turned around and returned to the camp, a general hurried over and said in a low voice that the entire naval camp suddenly withdrew to the west, and the orderly troops did not return to the camp. It seemed that something serious had happened.
Song Mojie was naturally angry in his heart, but he had already prepared in his heart. In the face of this crisis, the Zhu family and his son were really unreliable. He still remembered that Tian Wenfeng had told him before that the Zhu family's father and son were always in the heart of Song Mojie. In the imperial court, it was necessary to eradicate the trouble before it started, but unfortunately, the uncle did not listen to the advice and insisted on winning over this famous navy general.
But even if the incident happened suddenly, Song Mojie was not worried about losing traces of the navy at all. When he heard that the other party was withdrawing all the way to the west, Song Mojie was not worried about not finding them at all, because the Zhennan Army camp had long been visited by scouts. It was clear that the route of march and retreat was very clear. Song Mojie was very familiar with the terrain in this area. He knew that the frozen river to the west would be an insurmountable natural danger and it would be impossible for the opponent to escape.
】
Therefore, Song Mojie did not order to gather troops and horses to pursue immediately. Instead, he summoned 10,000 elite soldiers and waited patiently for them all to eat, drink water and rest for a while, around the time of the first watch of the day. Then he ordered to set off quietly, groping forward in the dark night. In the darkness, Song Mojie saw the red light on the river bank in the distance that reflected half of the sky.
