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Pang Tong nodded happily and said, "Okay, that's great. ~ This matter is fully entrusted to Brother Zichu. Remember not to act hasty or expose your whereabouts. Otherwise, if there is a slight mistake or a scout in Xiliang, everything we have done before will be wasted and our situation is worrying." In fact, he wanted to say "the big thing is over", but he was worried that Liu Ba was under too much pressure, and being cautious would easily make mistakes. Therefore, he used more subtle words while giving solemn instructions.

Liu Ba is not a mediocre person. He knows that the mission and responsibilities he shoulders are heavy and he cannot be careless at all, so he emphasizes the key point: "I am determined to live up to the military advisor's heavy trust, please rest assured!"

Pang Tong smiled and nodded, then changed his eyes and fell on Wei Yan, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin. Then he looked at Xu Shu and said with a laugh: "Brother Yuanzhi will get up tonight. From now on, he will be sleeping at night and sleeping in the wind and in the open. It is very hard work. I am here to thank my brother for his hard work."

Xu Shu shook his head gently when he heard this, and said with a smile: "Why do you have to eat your king's fortune and be loyal to the king? You should do your best to fulfill your mission and do not worry about the scholars. When the foolish brother returns, you and I must drink happily. Hahaha!"

Pang Tong nodded deeply: "In this way, I will wait for my brother's good news here. When my brother returns successfully, I will hold a big banquet to reward all the soldiers, and submit to Your Majesty to ask for merit for my brother."

Xu Shu smiled and said, "How dare you express your merits in your duties? What's more, if you want to accomplish something, you still need the chief of writing. The three generals Youping and Duke Yi of Duke Yi were very helpful. Xu's scholars made suggestions, but they were willing to fight on the battlefield but not enough!"

After hearing Xu Shu's words, everyone in the tent laughed loudly, and Pang Tong couldn't help but point his hand at him. He smiled and said, "Brother Yuanzhi's words are really too humble. It should be noted that being too humble means being deceived. It is quite suspicious of deliberately showing off. Not long ago, the strong general of Xiliang, Tie Che, killed four generals of our vanguard army with his own strength, but was penetrated by Brother Yuanzhi's heart with his arrow, and then he was killed by Liu Pan, Wenpin and other four generals.

On the other hand, no one in the army knew that you were both civil and military. When you entered, you were planning and then charged. Besides, others didn’t know the details of Brother Yuanzhi, but you couldn’t hide it from me. Two years ago, you were riding a sword and wandering in various states in the Central Plains. You were famous wanderers on the Green Forest Road in Jingzhou. Your martial arts are as high as first-class generals. It is precisely because I know that Brother Yuanzhi is both civil and military that I chose you as the chief general and lead a single army to detour north."

Speaking of this, Pang Tong paused, and did not continue to speak. Instead, he said earnestly: "This trip is extremely dangerous. He is really alone. He is in deep territory. The entire journey is full of city passes under the jurisdiction of the Western Jin Dynasty, and he does not receive any support or assistance. It is difficult to move forward and be frightened every step. Therefore, the elder brother must be more careful. If the matter is not done, he should withdraw his troops and return immediately. Don't act irresistible and take risks alone."

The smile on Xu Shu's face quickly faded away. His expression seemed particularly solemn. Obviously, he was pretending to be relaxed just now. In fact, he knew very well that his trip was very dangerous, and if there was a slight mistake, he would be wiped out and lose his life. But he didn't want Pang Tong to worry about him, and it would not affect the emotions and fighting spirit of Wei Yan and the other two, so he always greeted others with a smile, completely looking like he didn't care.

Now, since Pang Tong has already identified the danger of this operation, Xu Shu no longer needs to disguise and whispered in a solemn expression: "As Shi Yuan said, the road to the north is very difficult. First of all, the whereabouts cannot be exposed, and secondly, the Xiliang army cannot be fought before completing the task; the last point is also the most difficult point, which means that you must fight all the way back on the way back. Only by fighting a bloody road can you return to the camp safely."

Pang Tong continued with a deep sense of the same feeling: "It is indeed true. It is not easy to go north alone, but it is becoming more and more difficult to return to the camp safely. Since the Northern Expedition, we have clearly seen that the Xiliang Army has been fighting for many years, fighting tenaciously and bravely, and its combat effectiveness is far above our Jingzhou Army.

Within just ten days, our army opened up the situation by raiding the city, and then continued to attack the city continuously. So far, our army has lost more than 60,000 troops, but the Xiliang army has only more than 30,000 casualties. In such an unexpected attack, our army's casualties are still twice as high as the Xiliang army. If it is a head-on battle, the casualties are almost unimaginable. It is not difficult to foresee that Brother Yuan Zhi led his army north this time. Even if he completed the mission, he would encounter the encirclement and blockade of the Xiliang army on the way back. The degree of danger can be imagined."

While speaking, Pang Tong paused and sighed softly: "Tonight, the army retreated to avoid the scouts and spies of the Xiliang Army. Brother Yuan Zhi led his army to move forward at the same time with the army, left the army halfway and headed north. This is the only thing Pang can do, and in addition, he really can't help Brother Yuan Zhi at all. To be fair, if our army had not urgently needed this batch of war horses and cavalry equipment, I would definitely not let Brother Yuan Zhi and generals such as Wen Chang go deep into the army alone and take risks alone!"

After saying that, his eyes fell on Wei Yan, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin. Wei Yan said without caring: "Military advisors don't worry. As military generals, it is natural for the last generals to charge into battle. Even if it is a dragon pool and a tiger's den, what are we afraid of?" Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin changed their expressions when they heard the sound, with a look of embarrassment on their faces, and their eyes drifted. They wanted to speak several times, but they were inconvenient to speak out because of the identity of the guest army.

Who is Pang Tong and Xu Shu? How could they not see Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin and they were worried about it. They wanted to quit several times, but they were difficult to speak out? However, they pretended not to see it, ignored it, and waited for Zhou. Jiang and Jiang spoke by themselves, and then they counterattacked the moves. Anyway, the Jiangdong generals would not be out of the matter.

At this point, the Jingzhou army had already reached an agreement. From Liu Biao to the small army leader, everyone knew that the Jiangdong army should be firmly tied to the Jingzhou army's chariots. Both sides would prosper and lose both. They would definitely not allow the Jiangdong army to stay out of the matter and preserve their strength.

It is precisely for this purpose that the commander of the Northern Expedition Army was Huang Zu, but he deliberately gave up the positions of two deputy commanders to leave them to the Jiangdong general. At the same time, the Jiangdong general was arranged as deputy generals in the vanguard front and rear army, and took care of them in the arrangement of camps and food supplies. They have never been sent to attack the city since the war started.

Even so, the Jiangdong Army and the Jingzhou Army were still not the same as each other. They always regarded themselves as the guest army. They did not say a word in the matter and never volunteered in the arrangement of actions. If people who were unaware of the inside story saw this, they would definitely think that the Jiangdong soldiers were bystanders, or battlefield observation groups, and the relationship with the Jingzhou Army was at best a friendly or allied army. It was impossible to think that the Jiangdong Army had long been under Liu Biao's command, and was a member of the Jingzhou Army and was affiliated with the Jingzhou Army.

As expected, seeing that Pang Tong and Xu Shu did not take Wei Yan's words at all, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin looked at each other and reached a consensus with each other. Then Zhou Tai tried his best to suppress his emotions, bowed and said in a calm tone: "Military advisor Rong Ren, the military advisor and Gong Yi have not received the military order from the young master. Therefore, we cannot follow the army north, so it is really difficult for us to obey our orders. Please forgive us and don't make things difficult for the military advisor."

Pang Tong was not surprised at all after hearing this, and smiled calmly and said, "General Youping does not need to be polite. You and I are ministers in the same palace. We are both ministers of Your Majesty. Don't be polite in the future. Pang's military affairs have been busy these days and has neglected the two generals. I hope you will understand the rudeness of the two. Is it not necessary to leave a major event behind when I was busy!" As he spoke, Pang Tong stood up and bowed, and apologized to Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin.

Seeing this, Zhou Tai quickly reached out to help him, and then avoided Pang Tong. At this moment, he and Jiang Qin looked a little flustered and felt uneasy. After all, Pang Tong was a military advisor and was in charge of the entire army. How could he apologize to both of them for no reason? Even if he really did something sorry for them, he didn't need to apologize. At most, he would be told afterwards that he would be the most righteous. But now it is really the sun that has come out from the west, which is a strange thing!

"Military advisors must not do this. How dare the generals and the last generals be treated as the military advisor? I wonder if the major matters mentioned by the military advisors are related to me?" Zhou Tai asked with a nervous and respectful voice.

Pang Tong nodded with a smile and said, "General Youping is so good, he can hit it with just one guess. I guess the two generals don't know yet. Half a month ago, Your Majesty sent an envoy to Jiangdong to propose marriage. He married the King of Wu's aunt Sun Ren (Sun Shangxiang) a year later. On the day of the wedding, Your Majesty will add the eldest son to the Prince of Jiangxia, and then Sun will be the princess."

"Ah!" Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were shocked after hearing this. They looked at each other and said in a distorted voice: "How is this possible for Miss Liu Qi to marry the eldest son of Liu Qi?" The reason why they were so surprised was that they had seen Liu Qi with their own eyes not long ago. The young man in his twenties had deep eyes, with two dark circles, thin and light walking. He could tell at a glance that he was a drunkard and a man with a premature death. How could such a despicable person be worthy of Miss Sun Ren who is as good as a man?

After being interrupted by Zhou and Jiang for no reason, Pang Tong was not angry and still smiled: "According to the news sent back by the whistle cavalry, Wu Guotai (Sun Jian's wife, Sun Shao's grandmother) had agreed to this marriage and was willing to marry His Majesty to form a family relationship. At this point, Jiangdong and Jingzhou really became a family. Because of this, the King of Wu sent another 50,000 troops across the river and handed over to Pang for full command until the victory of the Northern Expedition.

Therefore, the King of Wu has granted Pang full authority to command the army. From then on, the two generals of Gong Yi and even all the Jiangdong soldiers who participated in the war will be dispatched by us. The King of Wu will not interfere in any military dispatch. At least the King of Wu will not interfere in military affairs before the end of this Northern Expedition."

Speaking of this, Pang Tong's smile became brighter and he looked at Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin with a smile, and asked with a laugh: "Do you have any questions? What do you want to say but it's okay. Pang must answer all questions and never let the two generals down." After hearing this, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin looked depressed and nodded slightly to accept the order. He immediately stood up and left the generals dejectedly. After they left, the affairs of the generals were over. The soldiers of the central army had already set off and retreated to Xipingao to set up camp.

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Chapter completed!