At night, in the large camp of the slave army located in the upper reaches of the whirlpool and near the city, there are many soldiers standing in armor, and there is also no shortage of rangers entering and leaving, cruising inside and outside. The bleak moonlight swayed down, reflecting a vigilant and slaughtering camp defense picture.

Suddenly, a violent roar came from a tent in the center of the camp: "Who is the horse in the night?" ”

After hearing this, the soldiers gathered outside the camp tent were busy watching left and right, and then they divided two people and hurriedly entered the tent, bowed down and said respectfully: "King, there are no idlers near the left to sprinkle water and wash horses. ”

At this time, Shi Hu was sitting on the bamboo couch with a violent face, his hair was messy, and his wide eyes were flashing with a scorching and fierce light against the background of the campfire. Because of the scorching heat of midsummer, he didn't have an inch on his body, and the black hair on his chest was soaked with sweat, soft and soft on his chest, and the chest and abdomen were layered and squeezed because of the accumulation of fat in this year's pampering.

Hearing the report of the soldiers, his eyes flickered even more, his eyes looked directly at the soldiers kneeling in front of the couch, and asked gloomily: "Didn't you hear the sound of water?" ”

"No, no...... Humble and then lead people out of the camp to inspect ......"

"Out of the camp to take a closer look? If you don't find out clearly, you dare to say that no one is approaching? ”

When Shi Hu heard this, he was already furious, his fat body jumped up from the couch, and suddenly rushed forward in front of the soldier, grabbed the person's forehead with one hand, and reached out with the other hand to snatch his saber, swinging the knife and slashing horizontally, and immediately cut off the head under the neck.

When the soldiers outside the tent heard the breath, when more than a dozen people poured in, as soon as they entered, they saw Shi Hu standing naked with a knife, holding the head of the soldier in his hand, and his eyes were shocked and not closed. And between Shi Hu's chest and abdomen, his legs were dripping with blood, and he looked extremely hideous.

The soldiers were all frightened by the fierce light on the face of the King of Zhongshan, and they abandoned their weapons and knelt on the ground, not daring to look up.

After a while, Zhang Jackal rushed into the tent in full armor, and when he saw this scene, he waved his hand and said to those soldiers: "All retreat!" No summons, no entry into the tent to disturb the king's sleep! ”

When the soldiers heard this, they all bowed their heads and withdrew. Then Zhang Jackal summoned his own soldiers and said in a low voice: "The people who rushed in with weapons and disturbed the king's rest before, all pulled out the heads of the owls to show the public!" ”

At this time, Shi Hu had already thrown away the head that had just been cut off, and the blood-stained war knife was also thrown to the ground, and when he heard Zhang Jackal's secret order, he didn't react in particular, turned around and pulled the single clothes and draped them on his body, and sat back in the tent, then he looked at Zhang Jackal and asked, "Is there any message on the Yingshang?" ”

"Not ...... yet"

Zhang Jackal knew that the king had been irritable and moody recently, and even if he was a confidant, it was difficult to guess his intentions, so whenever he had a face-to-face meeting, he would be in a spirit of twelve points and dare not slack off.

When Shi Hu heard this, when he snorted coldly, his face already showed a deep disdain: "Barbarian raccoon dogs, after all, they are bold, if they don't have the power of heaven and earth to help, they won't dare to fight." According to Shouyingkou, he was still able to prosper the water and cause harm, but because of cowardice, he sat back and watched the fighter plane pass......"

"There are many thieves in Nanxiang, but the fish and shrimp in the water are just a little aware of the water and its own existence, and the king is in the Central Plains, and the wind and dust do not hide the glory of the sun and the moon. Previously, they were able to temporarily save their lives due to the geographical advantage, and those southern thieves were already lucky, so how could they dare to take the initiative again. ”

After Zhang Jackal heard this, he also followed Shi Hu's words and said.

"It's not needless to depreciate too much, this time the army suffered a small setback, and there was indeed a mistake in negligence, which gave Shen Weizhou, the southern raccoon dog, a chance to commit rape. I've been a champion for many years, and it's not like I've never tasted defeat, and that's nothing. ”

"The great king's prestige is great, how can it be accumulated in a battle! What about Liu Yongming in his early years? It is also a heroic lord who galloped through Guanlong, and he was fierce for a while, and now not only does his position not exist, but his children are all playthings! The raccoon dog slave survived for a while, and it was difficult to be rampant for a long time, and in the coming day, the river will be broken and Wu will be destroyed, and the wife and daughter of the thief will be sacrificed to the king! ”

Hearing Zhang Jackal say this, Shi Hu's slightly sleepy eyes became bright again. Liu Yongming is Liu Yao, the lord of Han Zhao, in the early years of the decisive battle between the two Zhaos, Shi Hu overseer and Liu Yao fought in Wenxi, the result was a big defeat, and a large number of soldiers and civilians under his command were tens of thousands of elite soldiers and coerced, almost all of them were wiped out, and Shi Hu also fled in a hurry. Liu Yao pursued and irrigated Luoyang.

This was the worst defeat he had ever suffered since he took charge of the army, and he almost lost his life. But then the domestic troops came to help, or Shi Hu personally led the army to attack Guanzhong, almost wiped out the Liu clan, and finally destroyed the Han and Zhao countries!

And Zhang Jackal was also appreciated by Shi Hu in this battle, and grabbed Liu Yao's youngest daughter to offer Shi Hu, and since then he has been introduced by Shi Hu as a confidant and has followed him to this day.

"The raccoon dog slave child may have one or two talents to rely on, but if it is compared to Liu Yongming, it is just a fine dust. In this battle, the thieves frustrated the army, not only did they not dare to chase from afar, but they shrank and self-consolidated. ”

Speaking of Shen Zhezi, Shi Hu's mood was also very complicated, but Zhang Jackal mentioned this old incident, which made his irritable mood settle down a little, and when he looked at Zhang Jackal, he also had some warmth: "Recently, I have been running around the camp to maintain the hearts and minds of the people, and it is also hard for you." Since the southern thieves did not dare to sneak attack, all the ambushed soldiers were withdrawn, and when they returned to the division, the thieves between Chen and Liang were pulled out by the way, and all the people and goods were replenished for the army. As for those township scholars, they were also cleared and left behind. ”

Zhang Jackal hurriedly received the order, hurriedly went out to explain, and then hurriedly returned to the front of the table to standby, completely pretending to be a herald soldier, without the majesty of a general. The reason why there is such an attitude is not entirely for the sake of flattery to invite favor, after all, although flattery can be lucky, whether it can gain a firm foothold depends on how many troops are in hand.

However, Zhang Jackal now has no soldiers to manage. Originally, the elite of his unit was responsible for the initial attack on Yingkou, although it was withdrawn to rest after one day of fierce fighting, it was also close to the battlefield and did not return to the camp, and joined the attack again on the second day. As a result, the flood swept in, and he bore the brunt of it. And he was close to the king of Zhongshan at that time, and it was important to protect the king's retreat, and it was too late to restrain the rout.

finally escorted the king of Zhongshan to escape from the front, but the king did not plan to return to the Chinese army camp, but only ordered the cronies and generals who were still in the camp, and then led him to attack the county, captured Guo Ao's men and horses and expelled him.

As a result, it is good now, the king has the tens of thousands of horses of the Eastern Route Army plus more than 10,000 people in the county to supplement, but he has no time to reorganize the army because he follows the king, thousands of soldiers are not said in Yingkou, and the remaining soldiers who are still in the camp are also because there is no commander to restrain them, and they are all overwhelmed by the chaotic army, and then they are scattered into various departments. After staying here for more than ten days, only a few hundred people were able to return smoothly. As for the rest, don't think about it, they must have been detained by other generals for their own use.

Nowadays, although a large army is gathered here, it can be said that the morale is low and the people's hearts are weak. In such an environment, Zhang Jackal no longer dared to rely on the trust of the King of Zhongshan to ask for his own subordinates, if it provoked internal fighting and military chaos, not to mention that he had no power to protect himself at the moment, even the King of Zhongshan might not be able to protect him at this moment.

The two of their masters and servants sang and harmonized, tried their best to belittle the Huainan army, and also set up an ambush on top of Yingshui, looking like they were holding a pearl of wisdom, but in fact, the current situation of the middle army was already precarious!

In Yingkou's battle, the deepest injury was undoubtedly Zhang Jackal. Originally, he was also the commander of more than 10,000 soldiers, thousands of elites did not say anything, and the rest were divided by the chaotic army, only a few hundred remained, which can be described as the worst casualties.

In addition to him, the other righteous subordinate generals of the King of Zhongshan were also somewhat damaged, and Zhang Mi, who had just emerged among the generals and was eager to compete for performance, was also directly swept away by the flood because he rushed to the front, and there was no news so far, and he thought he was dead. The total number of people who have been injured and separated from the various departments has exceeded 10,000 people, which can be described as a broken nerve.

As for Ma Qiu, Zhang Xiong and other generals, they had previously led the rangers to the south and wreaked havoc on the place, but they were reprimanded by the southern thieves for killing good and risky deeds, so they were mostly disgusted by the king of Zhongshan recently. And then clean up the situation and deter the various departments, and these people can be reused.

For example, Ma Qiu personally led 5,000 light cavalry to sit in Wanqiu, responsible for defending the Chen County grain camp. Shi Min, Li Su and others each led their troops to defend the key points, on the one hand, they collected the rout, and on the other hand, they were also preparing to ambush the Huainan Jin army that might go north to sneak attack. It is conceivable that after this period of time, these generals will definitely seize the opportunity to greatly expand their troops.

The troops of the Central Route Army went south, and then deployed the rear roads along the way, especially the boats and ships and the food protection army that lagged behind because of the impassable waterway, all of which were saved from the great rout at Yingkou and could still maintain their military strength. Those who were really hit by the Yingkou flood added up to a total of 150,000 horses. Directly destroyed, plus the rout and lost, there were more than 70,000 people, in other words, the army that went to Huaishang lost nearly half of its strength after this battle!

As for the people who retreated and are still stationed outside the city according to military orders, there are only more than 60,000 people, and most of them are miscellaneous and righteous followers. The rest either wandered directly into the wilderness, ignoring the convening orders of the King of Zhongshan, or gathered the crowd and raised themselves, wandering outside the army.

Among the scattered soldiers, the main ones were from Luoyang to southern Henan, and the tens of thousands of soldiers from the county and the Jin Dynasty were scattered along the way. The military discipline of these Jin people was originally the most corrupt, and they had no will to fight, and they were completely in the army. As a result, Yingkou Huaishui burst the embankment, and they were the first to flee, and these Jin people crossed the camp and scattered, causing more impact on the army than the flood. And once these people escape, it is also the most difficult to recruit them back, either fleeing in the mountains and rivers, or simply fleeing north and returning to the homeland.

As for the miscellaneous followers, although most of them have fled, there are always groups of tribal castes, so they have not yet completely collapsed. In addition, leaving the hometown and leaving the well, there is no external supplement, and the water and land are blocked and it is difficult to retreat north, and it is gradually concentrated here.

The fact that these people do not flee does not mean that they are credible, but it is possible that they are staying here and preparing to wait and see the situation to pounce and bite them. Fortunately, the King of Zhongshan had deliberately consumed their lives before, and several of the powerful tribes were sent to besiege Yingkou, so they suffered greatly. The rest of them also took advantage of the turmoil to be detained in the Chinese military camp by the king of Zhongshan, and their Qu Shuai patriarch and the others were still safe for the time being.

With the addition of nearly 70,000 people from the Eastern Route Army and the defenders of Qiaocheng, there are still nearly 200,000 troops in southern Henan. It seems that there is no major loss in strength, but compared to before, it is no longer the same, all departments have a wait-and-see heart, and those who really obey the dispatch of the King of Zhongshan are only less than 30,000 righteous servants and more than 20,000 boats and ships stationed in Chen County, and even how much fighting spirit these horses have left is doubtful.

Before they could completely grasp the hearts of the various troops, these people and horses were simply chaotic people who had barely gathered together, and they could not even be called armies, and the army still did not dare to make any more big moves.

If you want to strengthen your control over all walks of life, you will of course need to send your henchmen. Therefore, Zhang Jackal did not dare to have the slightest complaint against the King of Zhongshan recently, and frequently used it as a slave in front of the King of Zhongshan, hoping that the King of Zhongshan could sympathize with his loyalty and replenish the soldiers he had lost.