Chapter 474 Murder and heart-breaking
Ma Di's extremely arrogant attitude below the city made all the Soochow generals on the city wall furious. Most of the generals were eager to go to war immediately and tear Ma Di in half with their own hands.
Your most capable general at that time died in our hands, and the emperor also suffered a defeat in our hands. Why are you so awesome as a cavalry general?
Especially because apart from Zhuge Liang's Eastern Expedition, Soochow has not had a head-to-head confrontation with the Han army for several years. Moreover, during Zhuge Liang's last expedition to the east, he spent most of his time sitting quietly and waiting for opportunities. Soochow lacked understanding of the Han army's combat power.
Of course, Soochow once had a group of senior generals who knew the Han army's combat power very well. For example, Sun Huan, such as Zhu Ran, but this group of people now...
Due to a series of problems and the fact that Lu Xun had never won a battle in the past few years since the Battle of Shiting. After a series of defeats and widespread rumors, the young generals in Soochow seriously distrusted Lu Xun's abilities.
But they didn't trust him, but Lu Xun was still responsible after all. Even though he was angry at the bullfight, Lu Xun remained unmoved and emphatically ordered to kill anyone who fought.
Seeing that the generals of Soochow on the city wall were furious but showed no signs of fighting, Ma Di knew that Lu Xun could still hold his own. Judging from the current situation, if you want to win Jiangling, you probably shouldn't be in a hurry.
In this case, Ma Su did not waste any time with them. After publicly humiliating the Soochow prisoners, Ma Di ordered people to tattoo the faces of Xu Kai and others. Then he threw them a gift for Lu Xun and led them away.
From the beginning to the end, Lu Xun did nothing and watched the Han army dribble in and out of Nanjun. Until the end, Lu Xun watched the Han army leave the country.
Lu Xun breathed a sigh of relief when Xu Kai returned to Jiangling with Ma Su's gift with the words "Soochow Rat" tattooed on his face.
"Captain Lu, this is a gift from Ma Di. He praised you as a real rat from the Eastern Wu Dynasty!" Xu Kai showed contempt and dissatisfaction with Lu Xun and directly handed a wooden box to Lu Xun.
However, this action was like stepping on Lu Xun's tail, which frightened Lu Xun and took several steps back.
"Wait, you open it first and see what it is!" Lu Xun looked wary, as if this box contained a wild beast.
The gift box Ma Su gave him last time was still thin horse manure, fresh! At that time, Lu Xun couldn't handle it well, so he was determined not to fall for Ma Su's trick again.
Soon, Xu Xukai opened the box, which contained a... bellyband made of Sichuan brocade!
After seeing that it was not horse manure, Lu Xun breathed a sigh of relief subconsciously. But he suddenly woke up and turned around. As expected, he saw the eyes of the generals around him looking at him with deep disappointment.
Murder and heart-wrenching! Is all this part of Ma Su's plan?
Lu Xun almost fainted, but in the end he still forced himself to give the order. Let the generals report the results of the battle later, and force Jingnan to mobilize troops into Jiangling.
Since Ma Su can appear outside Jiangling City today, there is no guarantee when he will be able to come again. The Han River defense line could only be wary of the large Han army. If Ma Di was interspersed with small troops every day, Lu Xun would really have nothing to do.
"Ma Su, Ma Su! Why aren't you dead yet?!"
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While Lu Xun was scolding Ma Di, Ma Di, who was leading the Han army to retreat north, sneezed several times. This made Liu Xuan express her condolences with some worry, worrying whether her husband had caught a cold.
"It seems that this made Lu Xun very angry." Ma Su touched his nose, turned and looked in the direction of Jiangling City, and shook his head slightly.
"If Jiangling was still the same scale as before, there would be no need to go to such trouble and scheming."
"It's a pity Jiangling. The grain stored there is enough to make up for all the Han's current shortfall."
As a Jingzhou native, Ma Su also knew how fertile this enemy area was. Even though Jingbei was in ruins, the taxes and grain from Jingnan alone were enough to support the current deficit of the Han Dynasty.
It seems that we must find a way to regain Jingzhou this morning.
This is what Ma Su thought, but before that, Ma Su had to return to Nanyang County to continue implementing the escape method.
There are at least tens of thousands of refugees in Nanyang. The relocation of such a large population is not a small project. Not only did supplies need to be provided along the way, but troops were also needed to maintain law and order on the escape route.
Once there is a problem with public security, so many refugees may cause riots. At that time, the desperate refugees will turn into bandits or flee for robbery, which will have a huge impact on the already dilapidated Nanyang.
Therefore, Ma Su must personally supervise the delivery to prevent problems.
So after Ma Di returned to Yicheng with the Han army, he immediately led hundreds of soldiers to protect the prince, and went north non-stop to encourage the escape.
Facts have proved that Ma Su's concerns are not unreasonable. When the refugees marched near Wancheng, some people with evil intentions were already inciting the refugees to cause trouble.
Fortunately, Ma Di accompanied the Han cavalry throughout the whole journey. When he noticed that the refugees were rioting, he immediately suppressed it. At the same time, Wang Ping of Wancheng also sent two thousand infantry to support. Shocked by the power of the troops, the riot was quickly quelled.
When the fleeing army went north along Wuguan Road, Wu Ban, who was guarding Wuguan, also received the news early and came with his troops to respond. It wasn't until the fleeing army arrived at Wuguan and began to enter Guanzhong that Ma Di breathed a sigh of relief.
After passing Wuguan, it is the territory of Guanzhong. At this time, there were 20,000 troops stationed in Weinan alone, which was enough to stabilize the refugees, and Wancheng started to work on farmland relief work.
"Youchang, you are really going to make life easier for the Prime Minister." Wu Ban looked at such a large number of refugees and shook his head helplessly.
"As soon as Guanzhong was conquered, all the affairs became complicated and difficult to deal with. You have brought tens of thousands of refugees in at once... I am afraid that Guanzhong may not be able to support the move of the capital this year even if there is no food or fodder."
"There is nothing we can do about this. We are all subjects of the Han Dynasty. How can we just sit back and do nothing?" Ma Su spread his hands and replied helplessly but resolutely.
"The Later Han Dynasty perished because rotten trees were used as officials and corpses were left unused. I am a great Han Dynasty, but if we don't learn from history and don't practice benevolence and righteousness, I'm afraid..."
"Okay, don't talk to me about this. I'm a warrior and I can't understand it." Wu Ban rolled his eyes and interrupted Ma Di directly.
"It seems that the war in Nanyang is over? It's time to return to Chang'an with the army to rest for a while. We generals have been fighting for so many years, and it's time to rest for a few days. I'll treat you to a drink when we return to Chang'an..."
"I can't go back to Chang'an now. I still have a battle to fight." Ma Di shook his head and quickly rejected Wu Ban's invitation.
"I still have a battle to fight!"
"My dear father, there's still a war to fight? Take me with you!"