Today's Yedi has already lived up to the prosperity and scenery of the old years as the heart of the country and even the southern capital.

In the past few years, the Jin army and the Jin army of Fangtou have launched a protracted confrontation, and the two sides have fought countless battles in this land, and it can be said that every inch of land is soaked in the blood thrown by the soldiers on both sides.

In this high-intensity battle, any stronghold with a slight strategic value will become the target of constant contention between the two sides, and in the end, no one can succeed, or even if they succeed, it will be difficult to possess it for a long time, and it can only be destroyed in the flames of war.

Therefore, at present, there is no powerful fortress in Yedi that can be praised, and even the original Yecheng has long been a wasteland. Even the three stations, which were built in the Cao Wei period, have been irreparably hit and destroyed.

From this point of view, the confrontation between the two sides seems to be stalemate, but in fact, it is still the head of the king who has the upper hand. At least Wang Shi still has such a stronghold as Fangtou, of course, this is also because Xie Ai of Fangtou is an all-rounder, with superb strategic talent and good management ability.

In addition, Wang Shi has an absolute advantage in waterways, and can continue to give support through the Yellow River.

As for Ma Qiu of the Qiang Kingdom, it cannot be said that he is incompetent, as the business strategy of the Lord Shi Hu is biased towards the northern Heshuo, Ma Qiu is rarely able to get large-scale assistance from the country, and many times he has to fall into the embarrassment of fighting alone.

But even so, his people can still operate a relatively stable defense line in Yedi, so that the Fangtou Wang Shi can gallop unscrupulously in Hebei, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a pillar stone in the south of the country. Of course, this is also because in the past few years, Wang Shi's main force operated the western front, and the attack strategy in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River has basically fallen into a state of semi-stagnation.

The south lance and the north shield, this is the praise of Shi Liu to Xie Ai and Ma Qiu, the important generals in the respective camps of the north and the south. Although this kind of metaphor is not very well received, especially in the eyes of Henan people, Ma Qiu is just a strong domestic slave of Shi Hu, the lord of the Qiang, and he is not worthy of being compared with Xie Ai, a talented scholar like Yunwen and Yunwu.

On the Hebei side, there are also many people who think that Ma Qiu has been in charge of the heavy army alone over the years, and it can be said that in addition to the main Shi Hu, the general who commanded the most conventional combat troops in the entire Hebei, but in the past few years, not only could not uproot the stronghold of the Jin army, but even Yedi was overstretched, and it was definitely suspected of raising the enemy's self-respect.

There are many sarcasm discussions, and Ma Qiu has also heard of them, although he can't say words like you do what you do, but he also has a lot of resentment in his heart. Xie Ai, only when he really confronts him, will he deeply realize what a difficult opponent he is, he is stable and extremely scheming, and he may be able to ensure that there is no big mistake, but once he is negligent, he will definitely seize the opportunity to bite him.

The rest of the people in the country may only see Ma Qiu's power, which can be said to be the scenery of the border town in the country second only to the main Shi Hu, but Ma Qiu himself knows that since he guarded Yedi, he has been able to sleep peacefully until dawn, and in the past few years, it has not even been more than ten fingers!

You must know that Ma Qiu in the early years was also a fierce general under the command of the lord Shi Hu, and he often boasted of being a minister of the tiger and wolf, such as Zhang Jackal and others, who were also known for their martial arts, and they were not taken into account, and felt that the other party was just the only one to boast of.

However, after guarding Yedi, Ma Qiu's sharpness was quickly exhausted, so that before he was over forty years old, his beard and hair were already gray, and he already had a strong twilight and old age, which shows that the past few years have not been easy.

The cavalry troops sent by Ma Qiu to Yebei to intercept and test the Jin army from the south naturally returned to the base camp of Yedi to report the news after being defeated and fled by the brave soldiers who were not afraid of death.

"Although the enemy is a strong force in the south, since it has already traveled far and is tired, why are the casualties still so heavy?"

Although Ma Qiu was a defeated general, his eyes glanced suspiciously at the envoy of Xiangguo, who was also sitting in the tent, suspecting that the other party still had details that had not yet been stated.

Shi Mubei, the envoy of Xiangguo, was the son of Shi Shigui, the prince of Xiangcheng, and in addition to being ordered to urgently tell Ma Qiu to intercept the Jin army, he also organized his troops to carry out several attacks along the way.

He didn't notice Ma Qiu's dissatisfaction and suspicion, but was a little dissatisfied, and frowned: "In addition to reporting the news, our department also had a few snipers along the way, although they won and lost each other, but they also killed a lot of enemy soldiers. Especially the back road trip, the enemy is already tired of fighting, and the army can't track and peep and can't chase away, why can't the battle be better when it comes to Yecheng, where the army is heavily hoarded? ”

Hearing that Shi Mu was still questioning the combat effectiveness of the Yedi army, Ma Qiu was even more unhappy in his heart, and snorted coldly: "The march is against each other, virtual and real, if the enemy can be broken ordinarily, it will not break through Xiangguo directly, and return with full glory." ”

Shi Mubei couldn't help but pause when he heard this, and was just about to open his mouth to speak, but he noticed that there was a lot of solemnity in the atmosphere in the tent, not only Ma Qiu's face was gloomy, but the eyes of the other generals looked at him with a lot of unkindness.

In this way, he realized that this was not within his family, and others had to endure and indulge him, and he was barely a clan relative of the Qianguo Kingdom, but in the eyes of the generals of Yedi, he was probably just a family dog of an old and decrepit minister, so he naturally would not treat him very deferentially.

Especially thinking that he would have to rely on the other party on this trip, Shi Mubei suppressed the unhappiness and shame in his heart, and said: "General Ma has always been in the south of Xiongzhen, and he is naturally proficient and thorough in the military of the enemy country, and it is not for a person like me who is in an idle country to question it. The enemy army along this road is indeed fierce and abnormal, and there are many rebellious and chaotic people to follow, and it is not easy to defeat. But if they fail to stop them in their way, and let them return to the south safely, the Lord will be wrathed and held accountable, and all the ways involved in their journey will be spared......

What is the severity of this, Ma Qiu naturally does not need to be reminded by Shi Mubei. Although he has not followed the Lord for a long time, he is definitely the choice of his confidant, and his authority is even more important than that of Gongshi Xuan in the plains of southern Hebei downstream. He simply stopped talking to them, and turned to look at the ministry to continue to ask for details.

Shi Mubei was not embarrassed by the snub, and persuaded Ma Qiu to continue to increase his troops, thousands of people can't be thousands, thousands of people can't win, then tens of thousands, Yedi soldiers and civilians are tens of thousands, no matter what, they won't be helpless with this Jin army. Only by annihilating the Jin army as soon as possible, will they, the people of Xiangguo, have a matter of concern, even if the lord is responsible, there is an excuse.

"Military affairs are being discussed, and the idle people will retreat for the time being."

Ma Qiu was also annoyed by this Shi Mubei's gossip, especially after seeing that the other party had no valuable information to provide, he simply waved his hand and asked people to lead it out, and then discussed with the generals what to do.

There are tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Yedi, which seems to be a very large number, but more than half of them are hard-working cantonment households that are difficult to fight, providing various assistance for the army.

If compared with the prosperity of Yedi in the early years, it is simply a judgment of cloud and mud, in the old years, Yedi as one of the richest areas in Hebei, gathering more than one million people, you must know that the Jin State alone in the Central Plains, after defeating the Wei King Shikan, then plundered tens of thousands of people to cross the Yellow River in the south, and also became the cornerstone of the future rise. And most of these people are from Yedi.

Now in Yedi, the manpower alone has shrunk more than ten times, and the pressure of the soldiers is extremely great, and there is a Jin people's sentinel fort dozens of miles south of the big camp in Maqiu. Therefore, it seems that there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, but in fact, there are not many who can really dispatch freely, once too many are mobilized and there are loopholes in the defense line, Xie Ai will naturally not miss it if he grasps the timing exquisitely.

Of course, if you really want to talk about it, if Ma Qiu really wants to snipe this Jin army, there are still many ways. But the premise is, is there any need for him to wipe his ass for those people in Xiangguo at any cost?

If it's just a casual solution without any expense, then there's nothing to say, although the lord has not stayed in the capital for a long time, but Xiangguo is also the rear base of Yedi, and it is still necessary to maintain a harmonious relationship with those powerful elders in Xiangguo.

What's more, Shi Mubei also said that the enemy army broke through the defense of Jiande Palace along the way, plundered a lot of wealth in the palace, and many clan relatives and nobles were captured.

But after this tentative battle, Ma Qiu lost hundreds of elite horsemen first, which made him hesitate. In particular, the Jin army is said to have been stationed in place, and it is obvious that they want to fight to the death, rather than abandon those who follow and flee, which makes Ma Qiu have to think about how to obtain more benefits at the lowest cost.

With trade-offs and trade-offs, there are trade-offs. In the final analysis, Ma Qiu is only the guard of the southern gate of the country, and now the enemy is climbing over the back wall and entering a disaster, even if Ma Qiu ignores it, it is inevitable that the lord will scold him afterwards, but he will never lose his authority because of this. After all, Ma Qiu is still responsible, otherwise the dangerous situation faced by the country will be even worse.

"Yebei Wuwu organizes troops, and it is necessary to kill the soldiers of the southerners on this road, but there is no need to rush to fight, as long as the other party does not escape."

After a little groaning, Ma Qiu made a decision. He is not one of the nobles and elders in the country who are afraid of being held accountable, so there is no need to pursue speed.

Even if he kills and annihilates the enemy on this road now, even if his own casualties are allowed, but the matter will stop there, even if he can accept all the gains of the enemy army on this road, but those goods taken from the palace confinement, he can intercept all the goods?

Moreover, if he really forced the enemy to jump over the wall in a hurry and kill all the captured princes and relatives, even if he had meritorious deeds, it would be difficult for him to put an end to his personal grievances. It was not worth it to bear such a hidden dispute in order to clean up the mess for those nobles in the country.

Another point is that the Jin army has won so much along the way, and the commander of the army is still the younger brother of General Shen of the Southern Kingdom, if Xie Ai of Fangtou can't make a proper response, it will definitely be a crime. Therefore, there is no doubt that the head of the fang will come to the rescue.

In previous years, Ma Qiu, in the process of Xie Ai's confrontation, has been passive both strategically and tactically, and it has been very hard to be suppressed. He had always dreamed that he would have a chance to gain the upper hand, and now he only needed to trap the Jin army in the realm along the way, which was equivalent to creating a target for the enemy army at Fangtou.

As long as the enemy's purpose becomes confirmed, his demeanor will be traceable, and Ma Qiu will naturally not miss this opportunity to poke the enemy's life.

He wanted to see what other means Xie Ai had to deal with and rescue this batch of robes, once he seized the opportunity to fight a beautiful counterattack, what he would gain was far better than just solving the Jin army along the way.