Even at night, the world was already shrouded in darkness. Fancheng had fallen asleep at this time, but the Hou Mansion was still brightly lit, and Zhang Shun had not yet fallen asleep.

He couldn't sleep at all, his mind was full of wars ahead. The war far away in Changsha affected all his thoughts. But at this time, he could not get any news and could only wait patiently. At this time, Zhang Shun really hated the backward communication methods of this era. It would be great if there was a radio station. At least he could convey the news from both sides immediately, and he could also command the battle ahead immediately, but the problem was that he had nothing, so he could only wait.

His main force was 70,000 in the south, including about 15,000 naval troops and about 20,000 cavalrymen. In addition, the army he transferred around in a mess, only about 20,000 were left in Niu Fu's hands. This is the best thing. Even if he lost all these people, he could bear it, but can he really bear it? The answer is naturally no.

Even though Zhang Shun had reached this position, even though he had participated in countless wars, he still could not see the problem like the ancients. He could not accept it if he succeeded in thousands of bones. Over the years, he had been conveying his attitude of minimizing casualties to every general, but he was unwilling to see them fight with their lives. But now he knew that there were still people who were still habitually continuing to use such tactics, which was also a tragedy that had to be admitted.

"Master, are you worried about the life and death of the tens of thousands of soldiers in front of you?" Suddenly, a very inappropriate voice came over. Zhang Shun was stunned and raised his head. Then he realized that there was an extra person in the room. He was shocked at first, but immediately recognized that it was his chief clerk Ma Xiao, and then he felt relieved.

Ma Xiao also came from the Imperial Academy, but this is an alien. Due to his poor family, he was not in dealing with many other students in the Imperial Academy. Especially Li Fan, Han Siping and others were simply rivals, so he was very excluded. Later, when the Imperial Academy students were launched in large numbers, he was appointed as a small official like the priest, which was naturally due to the work of these people.

Ma Xiao, who was originally full of ambition, naturally felt very hit. After all, his knowledge was not an unknown person in the Imperial Academy. Seeing that his classmates had already made great achievements at this time, but he was thrown into such an inconspicuous corner, this sense of frustration made him go crazy.

He had almost no thoughts, so he resigned from the position and turned to Zhang Shun's Marquis' Mansion to find a small chief clerk. This made many students regard him as a traitor, so they stopped interacting with him, but Ma Xiao didn't care at all.

When he first entered the Marquis of Wuyong, he did not rush to express his thoughts. He was a smart person. He knew what kind of subordinate Zhang Shun wanted, so he could not be rushed, otherwise the matter would become very unpleasant and his future would be messy. So he was waiting for an opportunity in the place. He had to know what Zhang Shun wanted to speak.

However, after entering Zhang Shun's work, he also discovered a big problem with Zhang Shun, that is, his distrust of literati. I don't know why. Zhang Shun actually looked down on literati from the bottom of his heart, which also led to many literati who admired Zhang Shun's ability to write poetry and essays, but because of this lukewarm attitude, he eventually went to vote for others.

This also made Zhang Shun's army, who had lacked a civil servant system, even had no civil servants. Some literati who were originally very devoted to cooperating with Zhang Shun, had embarked on a different path with him at a certain time. Among them were people like the third son of the Jiang family, so he did not dare to act rashly, and could only wait for the most suitable opportunity patiently. He really wanted to know what Zhang Shun wanted.

However, as the matter progressed, Ma Xiao had already smelled a different smell. The court suddenly promoted Zhang Shun's title and ordered Zhang Shun to go to Xiangyang to defend, but Zhang Shun was still holding his troops and didn't even have a reason. This was very abnormal. This made Ma Xiao think that the time he had been waiting for should have come, so he spoke at this time today.

Zhang Shun naturally knew the secretary around him. Although he was from the Imperial Academy, according to Mengdu, this person was very inconsistent with Han Siping, and he could even be described as an enemy. Both sides were tense and incompatible. He used to fight against each other in the Imperial Academy, so Zhang Shun kept this person by his side.

At that time, he never thought about when he would be entrusted with important responsibilities in the future. After all, Zhang Shun was still a little resistant to the literati of this era. People like Wen Tianxiang and Lu Xiufu were indeed not behind others in the face of national justice, but they could not do anything in terms of ability. They all thought that they had the ability to change the world, which made Zhang Shun very scratched his head.

He was unwilling to eliminate these people by himself. They could only die at the hands of the Tartars. Only in this way can their personal charm be demonstrated. If they die at their own hands, then who will he become in the future? Zhang Shun never thought about leaving a name in history, but he would never want to be infamous for thousands of years. In the end, if someone puts his bronze statue somewhere and kneels down, it would be embarrassing and conspicuous.

So he could only stay away from these literati and not contact them without contact. He believed that as long as they kept a certain distance, they could do whatever they made, they could avoid unnecessary trouble. But it was obvious that some people had gone too far recently. They actually started to contact the Tartars and wanted to use the hands of those people to remove themselves, which was something Zhang Shun could not bear.

Of course, he knew what Xiangyang was doing, and he knew that as long as he stepped in, it would cause a bloody storm, but this was not what he wanted. He had never thought of breaking up with these people. He still hoped that everything would have room for maneuver, but he didn't know what the other party was thinking.

Of course, Zhang Shun is not afraid of anything now. When he had nothing in his hands, he dared to take people to attack the main force of the Yuan army. Now he already has muskets and tiger squat cannons. He no longer knows who else can stop his rise in this world, but the court has become a hot potato again, which makes Zhang Shun really a headache.
Chapter completed!