Seeing that Liu Jing did not press him any more, Ma Yue was temporarily relieved and immediately retreated, then hurriedly returned to the stern ship to discuss countermeasures with the generals.
In the dark and cramped cabin, the air was hot and stuffy. More than ten people, including Ma Yue, sat in a huddle without saying a word, looking very worried.
Ma Yue glanced at the generals one by one, and when no one spoke, he took the lead and asked: "What do you think about Liu Jun's intention to merge?"
It should be said that among all the people, he is the one who least wants the fleet to merge with Liu Jing.
As the temporary commander of the fleet who was elected by everyone, he does not have much power in his hands, but as long as he leads the fleet back to his hometown of Lingling, he will surely be able to become the true commander of the fleet.
And if the fleet merges with Liu Jing, or is merged, he will most likely be knocked back to his original shape, which he absolutely cannot accept.
The generals couldn't help but look at each other. They had personally experienced how powerful the Jingzhou navy was more than once, and now they no longer had the slightest intention of confrontation. As for what Liu Jing said before, the merger of the two sides would be enough to fight against the Jingzhou navy.
, they didn’t believe it at all.
The question is, do they have the ability to refuse? This move will definitely anger Liu Jing and Liu Zong, which will lead to death for themselves and others.
Someone raised everyone's concerns, which attracted a burst of agreement from everyone around.
Mayuo silently watched the generals talking to each other, and the debate was very heated, but almost no one wanted to stay in Lingxian.
When the room became quiet again, Ma Zhou said calmly: "Although we are not as strong as Liu Zhongda and Liu Bosi's navy, we are not completely powerless to resist.
When we first arrived at Ling County, the river was not strictly guarded, and we had the opportunity to break through the blockade. However, we were intimidated by Liu Bosi's reputation, and after a little hesitation, we were surrounded from all sides and lost the chance to leave."
When the generals heard this, they nodded repeatedly, with regrets and regrets in their hearts. If they had been more decisive at that time, how could they have ended up in such a situation?
Mayo once again asked the generals about their intentions, and after receiving a positive answer, he finally revealed his inner plan: "We can pretend to surrender, and then take advantage of their relaxation to sail away. It will definitely be difficult for the other party to intercept them in a hurry."
The generals looked at me and I looked at you, and they all felt that this method was feasible, and a consensus was quickly reached. Ma Yue led the generals to swear a blood oath, agreeing never to break it, and then went to see Liu Zong and frankly stated that they were willing to lead the warships to return.
.
Liu Zong laughed loudly and said: "With the help of all the gentlemen, I will have another chance of winning when facing the Jingzhou navy in the future."
Ma Yue and others all laughed and said, "We are willing to be the vanguard for Liu Sima."
Liu Zong nodded with satisfaction and said: "You have been through many battles in recent times, so you must be very hardworking. Today I will hold a banquet to comfort the soldiers."
Ma Yue carefully observed Liu Zong's expression and felt a little relieved when he saw that there was nothing strange about him.
At dusk, Liu Zong comforted the returning soldiers with wine and food in the camp.
The soldiers were all outside, while Ma Yue and more than ten people were able to enter the tent to have a banquet with Liu Zong. They were sitting on the right side, while Chen Jin, Huang Wu and other close associates were sitting on the left side. The two sides were clearly separated.
The banquet lasted for more than an hour. Liu Zong was always good at drinking. At this time, his cheeks were rosy and his eyes were very clear. It was already dark outside, but the lights in the tent were brightly lit. Everyone was changing glasses, chatting and laughing happily.
Liu Zong stood up and left his seat, pulled out the sword from his waist, and started dancing in the tent. The people in the tent who were laughing and drinking gradually became quiet and watched Liu Zong's sword dance with great interest.
Liu Zongnai is the leading hero in Changsha. Although he is not famous for his martial arts, he is definitely an ordinary person. There are only a few people in the army who can match him.
Liu Zong was dancing and he actually came to Ma Yue's dining table and invited him: "Ma Sima can be voted the leader by all the generals. He must have extraordinary martial arts. I wonder if we can dance together?"
Ma Yue couldn't help but shuddered, and hurriedly waved his hands and said: "I don't dare. My martial arts skills are shallow, how can I be qualified to dance with Liu Sima."
After hearing this, Liu Zong's face immediately darkened and he asked, "Ma Sima is so evasive, does he look down on me?"
As soon as Liu Zong finished speaking, Chen Jin, Huang Wu and other cronies stood up and glared at Ma Yue.
Ma Yue secretly complained in his heart and said: "I must be trying to shirk it..." At this point, Ma Yue was shocked to see a white light flashing across his eyes, so fast that he didn't even have time to dodge.
Mayo's head separated from his body in an instant and fell to the table. He still had a look of horror on his face until he died.
The tent suddenly fell into a dead silence. The generals looked horrified, but they did not dare to make a sound for fear of being harmed by the fish pond.
Liu Zong wiped Ma Yue's body with a knife, wiped off the blood on the knife, glanced at the generals in the tent, and said calmly: "Since you have surrendered to me, what I said is an order, Ma Sima Yi
And you have resisted my orders again and again, so you know that you are not sincerely loyal in your heart. I will kill him with my own hands today to purge my troops. Can you accept it?"
"Submit." All the generals left the table and bowed down, sweating profusely and feeling uneasy.
Liu Zong returned the sword to its sheath and said calmly: "I received a report that Ma Sima's surrender was just a delaying tactic, but in fact he still wanted to escape."
"What happened was leaked? Who betrayed us?" The generals were so frightened that they almost fainted, their foreheads touching the ground, and their whole bodies trembling.
Liu Zong signaled the soldiers outside the tent to carry Ma Yue's body out, and continued: "Whether this matter is true or false, once Ma Sima dies, it will be over."
The generals were already in despair, but they didn't expect that Liu Zong had no intention of pursuing the case. The generals couldn't help but feel that they would have to live for the rest of their lives.
Liu Zong encouraged them to wait and let them leave.
Huang Wu, who was short, thick-waisted and had an impatient temper, asked: "Sima, they have all sworn a blood oath, why should we let them go?"
They knew that Mayo and others secretly swore a blood oath, so naturally someone among them leaked the information to them.
Liu Zong shook his head and said: "The meaning of "Spring and Autumn" is: 'The merit lies with the marshal, and the crime is punished.' This matter was led by Ma Yue alone. Once Ma Yue, the guide, died, they could no longer go to Lingling. There was no need to deal with it.
They killed them all."
Huang Wu curled his lips and said: "If you ask me, it's better to kill them all to avoid future troubles forever."
Liu Zong ignored Huang Wu and hurried to see Liu Jing. Liu Jing was not too surprised that he killed Ma Yue during the banquet. Killing is always the fastest way to solve the problem.
Liu Jing also agreed with Liu Zong's decision to "kill only the chief culprit and not ask about the coercion", but he believed that it was difficult for those people to remain on the original ship to completely reassure people, and they must be transferred.
After some discussion, the two simply took this opportunity to completely merge the three fleets currently under their command into a whole. Liu Zong was naturally the best choice to coach this fleet, with Liu Zhu and Wang Qiang as his deputy.
Mayor's murder did not cause much trouble. In the final analysis, he was only the fleet commander in name and did not have much prestige at all.
Just as the fleet was being integrated, Liu Zhu and Wang Qiang finally rushed back, followed by thousands of shipwrights.
Liu Jing was overjoyed. Compared with Linxiang, the shipbuilding industry in Lingxian lags far behind and it is difficult to build large ships. He has complained about this many times. Now he finally no longer has to worry about this.
Liu Jing considered that Lingxian County would inevitably become the main battlefield in the future, and there was no reason to build the shipyard here, so he decided to move the shipwrights to Zhongshui Township in the rear area, which was hundreds of miles away from Lingxian County and had enough ships. buffer.
…………
Outside Linxiang City, after the Jingzhou Army completed the construction of sieges, trenches, and ladders, they began to force civilians to carry earth balls on their backs to fill the moat.
Since Linxiang's moat was drawn from the Liushui River, the Jingzhou Army also had to build a fence at the Liushui River in the north to cut off the water source. A two-pronged approach could completely fill up the Linxiang moat.
The moat is the first line of defense in Linxiang City. Naturally, the defenders cannot sit idly by. Even though the civilians are unarmed and most of them are locals from Changsha, this is a life-and-death battlefield. They cannot tolerate mercy. They raise their bows and crossbows, raining down on the moat. The other side.
Kuai Yue was wearing armor and sitting in the car, looking at the civilians who fell to the ground like wheat in front of the moat, his face was terrifyingly calm.
If he wanted to avoid a large number of casualties, he could choose to act in the early morning or evening when the vision was dim. However, he chose to take action during the day when the vision was clear. The reason was very simple. He wanted to consume the arrows of the Linxiang defenders as much as possible. There were many civilians. Taking one arrow will save the soldier from taking one. Although this decision is very cold-blooded, it is the best choice.
The civilians had never experienced a cruel war and had no armor. They were suddenly attacked by a hail of arrows and immediately collapsed and fled back. Unfortunately, they were soon forced back by soldiers holding weapons from behind. If they refused to obey orders, If you do anything, you will be attacked by soldiers, and you have to bite the bullet and continue to carry earth pellets to fill the trench.
For several days, even though the Linxiang defenders tried their best to stop it, the moat was quickly filled in at a speed visible to the naked eye.