marquis of jingan

Chapter 997
Zhou Shizhong was naturally very angry.

For more than a month, he has not sent out his soldiers, and he has already endured a lot of pressure from the court.

Up to now, at least five censors from Yandu have visited him.

If it wasn't for the fact that His Majesty the Emperor hadn't made a statement because of his physical condition, and the others didn't have the power to change the general of the frontier army, he, the chief general of the Southern Conscript Army, would have been sent to the capital long ago.

Even now, he is under a lot of pressure. Xuzhou City has been unable to recover for a long time, and even there has been no progress. Now not only the censor is joining him, but the military department of Yandu has sent him several documents, admonishing him to lead the army Weak.

However, in order to preserve his strength and avoid further defeats, General Zhou forcibly withstood the pressure from all sides and did not take any further actions.

Recapture Xuzhou City because of insufficient troops.

For Zhou Shizhong, the best solution now is naturally to surround Xuzhou until the food and grass in Xuzhou city are exhausted, force Shen Yi out of Xuzhou city, and then lead the army to defeat the southern thieves and recover Xuzhou.

Although it would be embarrassing to face like that, but it is full of integrity, and the officials in the court will not be able to say anything about him.

But now, Shen Yi has gone too far and even opened the gate of Xuzhou!

Under such circumstances, if the southern army did not take action and the incident spread to the court of Yandu, even if His Majesty the Emperor still did not respond, those irritable masters Zhu Lizhen would also come to trouble him!

Seeing the gate of Xuzhou City opened wide, Ha Xin, the deputy general next to Zhou Shizhong, was furious, clasped his fists and said: "General Zhou, these southerners are too arrogant, the last general will lead the army to attack Xuzhou City, rush into the city, These southerners drove out of Xuzhou city!"

Zhou Shizhong looked back at him silently, and said expressionlessly: "We are [-] miles away from Xuzhou, and the city gate has been closed long ago."

Ha Xin gritted his teeth: "Then just watch them provoking like this?"

"Shen Qi did this to trick us into attacking Xuzhou."

Zhou Shizhong narrowed his eyes and said, "Maybe it's because they don't have enough food and grass to support them."

Zhou Shizhong didn't know how much food there was in Xuzhou City, or he was not sure, because Pan Mao, the former governor of Xuzhou, had died in the turmoil that night.

At the beginning, Pan Mao kept the amount of grain purchased strictly confidential for personal gain. Except for him, few people knew how much grain Lin Sheng bought into Xuzhou City.

Therefore, although there are many defenders who escaped in Xuzhou City, there are not many people who really know the food stored in the city.

"A small leak will sink a great ship."

Zhou Shizhong closed his eyes and tried to take a deep breath.

"Let him be rampant for a while longer."

Hearing his words, Hasin on the side didn't take it seriously, he cupped his fists and said, "General, please forgive me for speaking bluntly, you Han people are sometimes too cowardly, and you just say the word 'forbearance' when you encounter things. "

"If it weren't for this, we Zhu Li would not have been able to enter six or seventy years ago."

Zhou Shizhong glared at the lieutenant general who was born in Zhu Lizhen, and shouted: "Are you going to disobey the superior!"

Ha Xin snorted, and said: "If the general feels that way, the last general can't do anything about it. The general can just write a letter to the court, and participate in the final general!"

After saying this, Hasin snorted, turned and left.

Zhou Shizhong stared fixedly at Ha Xin's retreating back, already furious in his heart.

But there was no way, he could only watch Hasin leave, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Because the other party is real Zhu Li.

More importantly, Hasin's attitude towards the Xuzhou City incident is probably the same as Zhu Li's attitude towards this incident.

And as the deputy general of the Southern Conscript Army, Ha Xin chose to turn against his old boss at this time, which might mean cutting off Zhou Shizhong.

Because he saw that, facing the current situation in Xuzhou City, no matter whether Zhou Shizhong fought or not, he would suffer a big loss in this matter and stumble.

Even under the wrath of the court, they will be sent to the capital.

At this time, Ha Xin naturally stood on the side of the majority of real people Zhu Li without hesitation, and chose to cut off with Zhou Shizhong quickly.

"Insanity!"

Zhou Shizhong clenched his fists and cursed again: "Stupid!"

After cursing a few words, he turned his head and glanced at Xuzhou City, which had already opened all four doors. The anger in his heart welled up involuntarily, and his mouth naturally became unclean.

After scolding Shen Qi, General Zhou walked away, returned to his camp, and began to write letters to the court.

At this time, he had to write a small essay confession to the court.

Because if he doesn't write.

Others will write small essays to attack him first, and if they are put in prison, it will be too late to write again.

………………

Three days later, the secret memorial about the situation in Xuzhou, as well as Zhou Shizhong's own memorial, were rushed to the desk of Emperor Yongping in Yandu.

At this time, Emperor Yongping's face was already very pale.

Not only does he cough frequently, but he also seldom eats. He feels like vomiting after two mouthfuls of food, so he can only drink a little porridge and a little liquid food to get by.

There were four documents in total before him.

One is from Zhou Shizhong, the other is from Ha Xin, the deputy general of Zhengnan Army, the other is from the Ministry of War, and the last one...

Naturally, it belongs to the Department of Purity.

Emperor Yongping took a sip of gruel, silently opened the last document of the Purification Department, read it once, then opened the other ones one by one, read them all silently, and closed his eyes.

"Liu Yi, tell Ma Cheng to enter the palace."

Eunuch Liu bowed his head respectfully, and went to the meeting hall to pass on Prime Minister Ma Cheng himself.

Half an hour later, Ma Cheng entered the side hall respectfully, knelt down on the ground with a plop, touched his head to the ground, and said in an extremely devout voice, "Mr. Ma Cheng, long live my emperor..."

The emperor beckoned feebly, and then gave Liu Yi a wink. Eunuch Liu quickly moved a small pier and placed it behind Ma Cheng.

"Sit down and talk."

After Emperor Yongping finished speaking, he seemed a little tired. He reached out and rubbed his temples, and said in a weak tone, "Let's take a look at the documents in front of you."

Ma Cheng bowed his head respectfully. After he glanced at the covers of several documents, he first opened Ha Xin's document and read it, and then read all the other documents.

After reading it, the Prime Minister of the Northern Qi Dynasty lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, for a long time, the Southern Army has been far superior to the Southern Army. Not to mention Huaihe, Xuzhou City was actually occupied by them!"

"Zhou Shizhong is an unforgivable sin."

The emperor was expressionless, and said: "I am asking you how to solve this matter, not how to deal with it. If Zhou Shizhong is dealt with, the matter in the south will be solved easily, and I will kill him immediately."

Ma Cheng lowered his head and thought for a while, then replied: "Your Majesty, Zhou Shizhong, although he has no great ability, but some of his ideas are not problematic. He said in the memorial that the city wall of Xuzhou is tall and there are many defenders. The gain outweighs the loss, it is better to besiege the city, after the food and grass in the city are exhausted, the southerners will naturally have to leave the city, and then they will be able to catch them all."

Emperor Yongping looked at Ma Cheng quietly, and asked: "Ma Quite really thinks, then... the Huai'an army in Xuzhou City is a lone army?"

The meaning of Emperor Yongping is very clear.

If the Huai'an army ran out of food and grass, Nan Chen would naturally send troops to Xuzhou to meet him.

At that time, Da Qi's face will be completely swept away.

Ma Cheng lowered his head and said, "The emperor's holy judgment..."

The emperor closed his eyes and said, "Didn't Tatar Khan agree to make a kiss?"

"Let Tu Yuan of the frontier army go south to take over Zhou Shizhong's position as the commander of the southern army."

Having said that, Emperor Yongping narrowed his eyes.

"Zhou Shizhong cherishes his feathers, and he is not willing to let his subordinates attack the city. I have no choice but to find an outsider to lead the southern army."

Emperor Yongping took a breath and continued,

"From the three major battalions of the Forbidden Army, select 10 people to give to Tu Yuan, let him lead the troops to the south, and completely solve the Xuzhou matter."

The emperor reclined on the couch.

"Those southerners, if you don't beat them, you won't learn a lesson. Only when I hurt them this time can I feel at ease."

Ma Cheng got up, knelt on the ground again, kowtowed to the emperor, and said in a respectful tone, "Your Majesty is wise, this old minister is going to arrange some matters..."

The emperor was already lying down now, he closed his eyes, and said slowly: "I've been getting more and more tired lately, so I don't want to send the affairs of the court to me in the future."

"I will issue an edict."

"Let the third son of the emperor, Zhao Li, supervise the country, and temporarily enter the meeting hall...to watch the government, and the ministers..."

The emperor's voice faded away.

"Take him more often."

Hearing this, Ma Cheng felt a little sad in his heart, knelt on the ground, kowtowed with buttocks pouted.

"Old minister... according to the will..."

(End of this chapter)