Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 1429
When Ma Qiu regained his sanity again, he was already on the way to escape from Xiangguo to Xindu. He only felt a splitting headache, and the thoughts in his mind were just fragments of fragmented pictures that were not smooth.Only through the narration of the accompanying soldiers did he know the subsequent development of the situation.

After he fainted out of breath, his army was also cut off at the waist, part of which was forcibly blocked from the formation, and the part that fell into the formation was naturally slaughtered by the Jin army frantically, and was defeated.

According to the development of this situation, Ma Qiu and his troops should be absolutely unavoidable, but at the critical moment, some variables still occurred, that is, some defenders in the north of the city suddenly appeared on the flanks of the battlefield, which restrained some Jin troops. Only with the strength of the troops intercepting the army did the Cavalry cavalry outside the formation break through the obstruction and send some reinforcements into the formation.

At this time, there was already a scuffle in the formation, taking advantage of this change on the battlefield, the soldiers around Ma Qiu supported him and rushed out of the formation.

However, Ma Qiu's little luck was a great misfortune for the Xiangguo Jie army as a whole. The Jie soldiers who suddenly appeared were not reinforcements joining the battle, but were preparing to surrender to the Jin army.

After confirming that this force was not a threat, the Jin army once again launched a fierce outflanking and siege, which made Ma Qiu's soldiers' plan to defend the general and return to the city to reorganize the army frustrated, and had to flee the battlefield and start fleeing.Probably the Jin army could not determine the exact location of Ma Qiu. Although the scope of pursuit and suppression was expanded later, they still let Ma Qiu's troops escape.

Ma Qiu listened silently, and after a long time, she gradually began to accept that the battle in Xiangguo had ended in defeat and loss.Right now, he still doesn't know the exact situation of Zhang Hedu in the north of the city and Wang Shikun of Wu'an, but since the army from the north of the city appeared on the battlefield in the south of the city and surrendered to the Jin army, it is conceivable how bad the situation has become.

Because the escape was too hasty, there are only a few hundred soldiers still standing by Ma Qiu's side, and everyone's condition is not good.The general woke up, and these soldiers finally had a backbone. Seeing that Ma Qiu's condition was still not very good, and there was no trace of the Jin army chasing troops behind, they conveniently chose a remote forest to take a rest.

When they left the battlefield, they had just rushed out of the Jin army's large formation, so they had no supplies left, so they could only slaughter the two wounded horses, and because they were worried that their whereabouts would be exposed by lighting a fire in the wild, they could only eat the flesh and blood of the horses, talking about it. Feed.

At this moment, Ma Qiu still looked dazed, and refused to eat the horse blood and meat offered by the soldiers, but just stared at the remote countryside in a daze.

Only two days later, there were tens of thousands of soldiers in Xiangguo, and they were defeated so terribly. If it was not a fluke, he and the hundreds of soldiers around him would all be wiped out!
This defeat not only broke up all the ambitions of Ma Qiu as a key general of the Jie Kingdom, but even his courage to survive as a person became extremely weak.

The special heavy cavalry rushed close to Xie Ai's place, and seeing the scene of the men and horses falling down and being slaughtered when the victory was imminent, made Ma Qiu's bone marrow feel chills.

"Xie Ai is really a peerless talent. It's ridiculous that Ma Qiu is so stupid that he doesn't know it. He has the idea of ​​fighting for victory, harms others and himself, and exhausts the army. Such stupid people are already the laughing stock of the world. What kind of face do they have to live in the world? !"

Sitting for a long time, Ma Qiu suddenly stood up and looked towards the direction of Xiangguo. There was an extremely strong decayed atmosphere all over his body. After sighing a few times, he suddenly drew out the saber at his waist and wiped it straight to his throat.

"No general!"

Some soldiers had noticed that Ma Qiu was in a bad state, and they couldn't take their eyes off for a moment. Seeing that he had the will to die and drew his sword to kill himself, they jumped up and rushed forward to grab the sword from Ma Qiu's hand.

Ma Qiu was thrown to the ground, still with a dull and lifeless expression, he sighed astringently: "Why bother? One defeat after another, a serious crime is beyond reason. You are all human beings. It is rare for you to be heroic, unfortunately, you follow me, a shameful and shameless person, I can't repay you with honor and wealth, only this life is bestowed on you, you carry my body back to Jin, and it is not difficult to survive..."

"General..."

Hearing what Ma Qiu said, the surrounding soldiers also had tears in their eyes, many of them choked up and shed tears, some even stepped forward to help Ma Qiu up on their knees, and roared: "The defeat of Xiangguo is not the general's fault! The general didn't want to take the risk, but was persecuted by the dog thief Zhang Hedu... The Jin army was assisted by gods and ghosts, and it was not for ordinary people to win..."

"Gods and ghosts help... Hey, who is the fate, it has always been decided by swords..."

Ma Qiu's hands were firmly held down by the supporting soldiers nearby, and after a little struggle, he vented his strength. When he heard the sobbing of the soldiers, he was even more sad, crying loudly: "Tens of thousands of soldiers, tens of thousands of lives!" , how can I, I..."

"General, please take good care of this body. We, the foolish and loyal soldiers, have to rely on the general to survive! The defeat of Xiangguo is too deep. If the Jin army continues to act like this, the country will have no defenses, let alone an incompetent army... "

A group of people were weeping or lamenting. The defeat in this battle was so unexpected that they didn't say anything else. Even if they were still going to be defeated in the end, there were still tens of thousands of Xiangguo defenders. Zhang Hedu's troops should not have been defeated so defenselessly based on the strength of the more than [-] cavalry under Ma Qiu's command alone.

But in any case, if you lose, you lose, even if you worry about it, regret it, or something else, it won't help.Although Ma Qiu couldn't accept this result at first and had a desire to die, after some venting, his emotions gradually calmed down. Since he was lucky enough to survive, he still wanted to go.

They stayed in the wild for one night, and Ma Qiu gradually had his own mind. It was freezing under his eyes, and even if he was not chased and overtaken by the Jin army in the countryside, the severe cold weather alone was enough to kill people.

It’s just that it’s inappropriate to go to Xindu like this. Although they were indeed defeated by an unknowable profound force in the Jin army’s formation, this piece of information is not enough to be a reason for exoneration.So after resting for a while, Ma Qiu sent more than a dozen people to inquire about the way of travel, hoping to attract some fugitives from Xiangguo and get more accurate information.

But they lingered around for two days, but they gained almost nothing. The only thing that was certain was that the Jin army had indeed successfully entered Xiangguo. As for Shi Kun and Zhang Hedu's situation, it was not clear.As for the recruited routs, there are very few, even exiles in the countryside are rare.

Seeing that it would be more dangerous to stay here any longer, and even simply killing horses to satisfy their hunger would not be enough to sustain them to go to Xindu, so Ma Qiu could only lead these hundreds of soldiers to Xindu in a hurry.

Even though he knew that even if he returned to Xindu, the Lord would definitely not let him off lightly, but now he has no other place to go, at least return to Xindu first, and transfer the guilt of defeat to Zhang Hedu.In fact, it was indeed true that if Zhang Hedu hadn't clamored to force Ma Qiu to fight, even if the situation in Xiangguo was still difficult, it wouldn't have been so ruined!

It seems that the heavens think that Ma Qiu and others should not be able to survive. The heavy snow on the way and the non-stop day and night made the journey even harder.

Ma Qiu and his party were not in good condition, and they had nothing to carry with them. People kept dying on the road in the wind and snow. Fortunately, halfway through the journey, they met the envoys of Xindu who were rushing all the way to Xiangguo. There were less than a hundred soldiers alive around Qiu.

Xindu's envoys went to Xiangguo to convey the latest order of Jiezhu Shihu. In order to stabilize the situation in the country and popularize people's hearts, Jiezhu Shihu planned to hold a grand celebration in Xindu, a new capital, on the occasion of the New Year, and wantonly distributed To reward the generals, Ma Qiu, as the general of Xiangguo, is also Shihu's confidant, so he is naturally included in this list. Shihu intends to make him a county magistrate, and this group of people carries the relevant edicts and orders.

In addition, Shi Hu also strictly ordered Ma Qiu to stabilize the situation in Xiangguo, not to seek meritorious service, but to seek no faults, at least to defend the city of Xiangguo, and stop the Jin Army's Northern Expedition Central Route Army near Xiangguo .

Because after a year of operation and sorting out, the situation in Xindu has initially stabilized. Shihu plans to take advantage of the boosted morale after the New Year celebration to personally lead the army of Xindu to attack and station in the east of Qinghe County. The army of Jin Guodong Road in Wucheng.

This counterattack can be regarded as a long-term preparation, and Shihu regards it as a key battle to restore the country's destiny. He has high hopes for this, and naturally there is no room for loss, especially not to allow other northern expedition troops of the Jin army to participate in this battle. .

But halfway through the journey, the envoy met Ma Qiu who had escaped from Xiangguo, so naturally he had no reason to go to Xiangguo again.In particular, the fall of Xiangguo and the almost complete annihilation of the defending army is a variable that goes against Shi Hu's plan. Naturally, the envoys did not dare to neglect, and sent troops back to the country to report urgently, while Ma Qiu was escorted slowly on the back road.

In this way, it took another seven or eight days, with intermittent wind and snow on the way, but as it got closer and closer to Xindu, there were also fortresses set up by Jie Kingdom along the way, so there was no need to worry about supplies.

On this day, everyone arrived at a camp not far from Xindu, shook off the snow on their bodies, and went to the camp to rest.

Ma Qiu and his troops were arranged in a separate camp. Originally, according to his status, he could get more preferential treatment, but after learning of the Lord's plan from the messenger, Ma Qiu also knew that he had committed a serious crime. It is hard to redeem, even if the Lord has not announced the punishment for him, but he no longer dares to think optimistically. He only hopes that after returning to the country, he can report the details of Xiangguo's battle in front of the Lord, and beg the Lord to see For the sake of his years of loyal service and unrepentant death, he can leave a trace of blood for his family.

In the middle of the night, a series of slight abnormal noises suddenly sounded in the wind and snow outside the camp. Although the noises were not too loud, Ma Qiu, as a veteran general who had experienced many battles, quickly sensed something was wrong. camp.

This camp was not big at all, with four to five hundred soldiers stationed there. There were still sporadic snowflakes dancing in the sky, and the cold wind was still unabated. Even some patrol soldiers pushed into the camp early and snuggled up next to the firepit to keep warm.Ma Qiu yelled many times in a row before someone poked his head out and hurried forward to obey orders.

Ma Qiu was about to order the battalion to send scouts to patrol the surrounding area, but the commotion in the wind and snow became louder and louder, and at the same time many soldiers poured out of the white night against the background of the snow.

Although the camp was approached quietly, the guards in the camp were not in a panic. After all, it was only a few miles away from Xindu, and the only troops who could appear here were soldiers from Xindu.Because the camp owner didn't give an order to be on alert, he just hurriedly ordered the soldiers to leave the camp quickly and prepare to light a fire for warmth.

Seeing the camp owner's reaction like this, Ma Qiu also felt that he was too sensitive and was about to turn back to the camp, but after he glanced at the rapidly approaching army, the vigilance in his heart became more and more intense. So far, why haven't the pawns been notified yet?

The soldiers outside the camp were getting closer and closer to the camp, and the camp owner had already led a dozen soldiers eagerly to greet him, preparing to open the gate of the camp to greet the dignitary from the capital.Ma Qiu stood in the camp, and when he saw that the soldiers outside the camp had pulled out their weapons from their winter clothes, he glared suddenly and shouted: "Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

Suddenly, the sound of killing was loud, and the soldiers outside the camp directly pushed to the loose fence around the camp to be on guard, swung their knives and guns, and slashed at the guards in the camp!

The camp was already loose and small, and the guards were not considered to be a strong group, including Ma Qiu's nearly one hundred songs, which had been running for a long time and lost their strength. Naturally, they couldn't resist the attack of these tigers and wolves. The battle ended after half an hour, and the soldiers who rushed into the camp began to search and inspect the camp, and when they encountered survivors who were still alive, they stabbed them, and at the same time carefully identified the appearance of the dead.

It wasn't until a corpse lying in the ditch in the camp surrounded by many human corpses was turned over, and the snow stained on its face was swept away, that the soldier waved his sword in surprise and said loudly: "Ma Qiu is here!" , Ma Qiu is here!"

Several soldiers hurried over and made some identification around Ma Qiu's body, and then confirmed the identity of the other party. One of them bent down to cut off Ma Qiu's head, but saw that the other party's eyes were still wide open until he died, and he was dead. Ferocious and terrifying, he felt somewhat dissatisfied in his heart, raised his hand and smashed Ma Qiu's staring eyes with the handle of the knife, and scolded with a smile: "The dog thief army defeated and humiliated the country, what lingering hatred is there?"

"Move faster, there are still a few camps to patrol on the road ahead. Before the trip, the Lord has made strict instructions that the ceremony must not be allowed to spread to the country to delay the ceremony. If something goes wrong, be careful of your own lives!"

A general stepped forward to scold him, took Ma Qiu's head and couldn't help cursing: "The dog thief is really disgusting. Since it has been defeated, it must either fight to the death in Xiangguo, or directly vote for Jin, why bother to return to the country to take To die, and even to die weary for his winter austerity!"

(End of this chapter)