Xin Er asked, "Why?" ”

Tang Ai replied: "Two reasons. ”

Xin Er let out an "oh" and said, "What are the two reasons?" ”

Tang Ai shook the feather fan and said: "Ming Gong led his troops out of Guyin, and so far, he first crossed Minshan Mountain and rescued Yinping; Then the north attacked Longxi, successively fought in Xiangwu, Shouyang two cities, only a finger, this month, almost non-stop, and is a thousand miles of battle, the soldiers have been tired, continue to rest, this is a reason. ”

"What about the other one?"

Tang Ai replied: "The three counties of Qinzhou have been recovered by our army, and when this military information reaches the ears of Pu Mao and Meng Lang, it must have caused their shock, if our army attacks Nan'an, Tianshui and other counties again, then although Qin is at war with Wei and Yuwei, Ai Pu Mao and Meng Lang will definitely not sit idly by and watch Nan'an be surrounded and ignore it, on the contrary, they will definitely immediately mobilize the remaining troops in Xianyang and other places to rush to help, our army is not very many, and after a long battle, it is very difficult to win, and if you are not careful, there will be a danger of defeat." This is the second reason. ”

The first reason is just that, and the second reason has caused Xin Er to think deeply.

Tang Ai saw that Xin Er fell into thought, and then said: "Ming Gong, now that Qinzhou is recovered, the strategic goal set by our army before leaving Guyin has been achieved, the southeast border of my Dingxi has been worry-free, and Hanzhong is no longer isolated,——. ”

"There are two benefits too?"

"Exactly."

"Which two?"

"One is that when two tigers fight, one will be injured, and when Qin and Wei are captured, or when they are both defeated, our army will wait for work, and it will not be too late to plan to serve as a soldier; The other is that the Ming Dynasty did not intend to reform politics and change the current Wangfu, Taiweifu, Mu, Governor's Mansion and other prefectures to jointly govern, in order to collect all the power in the three provinces and six ministries that will be set up, so as to streamline? We can also take advantage of this opportunity to start and complete this political reform first. Ming Gong's reform idea, is actually a first-class good governance, and when the reform is completed, it can be expected that the decree of our dynasty will be issued from now on, and there will be no hindrance, and the efficiency of the officials will be greatly improved, and the national strength of my Dingxi will be thriving day by day. ”

After thinking for a long time, he said in a deep voice: "But I have already told the soldiers, after recovering Shouyang, I will send troops to Nan'an to avenge Mingzong." Whether it is governing the army or governing the government, the first word is 'faith', thousands of miles, if I say it, I can't help but do it! ”

Tang Ai was confident and said with a smile: "Ming Gong, what's so difficult about this? ”

Xin Er said: "What, do you have a solution?" ”

Tang Ai shook the feather fan twice, and said with a smile: "The solution is also simple, just let Guo Sima and the king be evildoers." ”

"Let Guo Sima and the king be evildoers?"

Tang Ai told Xin Er what he thought of and said, "Ming Gong can gather all the generals tomorrow to discuss the attack on Nan'an County." When the time comes, Guo Sima will resolutely dissuade Ming Gong on the pretext that 'the strategy set by our army before leaving Guyin has been achieved, and it is not appropriate to start another war, so as not to waste all the previous achievements', and asked the king to make a decision. …… Ming Gong, of course, the king's will will not agree to Ming Gong's attack on Nan'an County, with the king's decree coming, the generals and soldiers have nothing to say. ”

Because of Tang Ai's scheme, Xin Er thought of a story he had read in a book in his previous life.

But it was that Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang against Wuzhang Yuan, Sima Yi did not want to fight, but because Zhuge Liang gave him a woman's dress, causing the generals in his camp to be angry, in order to calm the anger of the generals, he pretended to ask for war, on the table Cao Rong, Cao Rong did not allow, and sent the old minister Xin Bi to his camp, whenever he pretended to be a soldier, Xin Bi was in the gate to block, he was using this as an excuse, but to shrink.

Xin Er said in his heart: "When I read this story back then, I was quite disgusted with Sima Yi's cleverness, but today I also want to learn from him?" Then he said, "That's it." ”

Tang Ai's dissuasion is very reasonable, and "you can't raise troops out of anger", this is also the teaching of the art of war, so Xin Er followed the good and immediately corrected his previous wrong decision.

Although speaking of which, now he has to borrow Sima Yi's old example to be a deceitful and pretentious villain, because of his previous wrong decision, he does not regret what he said to the soldiers before, "Attack Nan'an and Tianshui again, and avenge Long Xiang" and so on, this is because in the environment and background at that time, in order to inspire and boost morale, as the main general, he must express something, in other words, "attack Nan'an and Tianshui again" Yunyun must be said.

But he said, since Tang Ai came up with this strategy, why didn't he dissuade Xin Er, but he launched Guo Daoqing to dissuade him? This is because Tang Ai is Xin Er's confidant, which is well known, and if he comes forward to oppose Xin Er, it will inevitably make people feel strange and strange. Yes, he pushed Guo Daoqing out.

Xin Er had a slight doubt about this and asked, "Qianli, your strategy is good, but Zishan, will he be willing to be this wicked person?" ”

Tang Ai was very sure and said: "Although Guo Sima has not been in the governor's mansion for a long time, I have daily contact with him and already know him very well. Guo Sima is a person, it seems that everything is 'reasonable', as if he has no opinions, but in fact he understands the overall situation and has responsibility, I will go to him tonight and entrust this matter to him. ”

According to Tang Ai's strategy, the next day, Xin Er summoned Cao Fei, Zhang Shao and other generals to pretend to discuss attacking Nan'an.

Guo Daoqing really came forward, changed his normalcy, and no longer said "reasonable", but vigorously opposed it.

Xin Er did not have a dispute with him and came to a result, Guo Daoqing proposed that it was better to write to the court, and please Ling Hule and Zuo to decide.

Xin Er reluctantly agreed.

A few days later, the royal decree of Ling Hule was sent, and the decree was clearly written, not allowing Xin Er to attack Nan'an, and ordering him to lead his troops to return to the capital on the same day.

When the news came out, the officers and men in the army all believed it, and no one blamed Xin Er for not doing what he said.

However, there are many people, such as the former generals and descendants of Koji Qiu, such as Bing Bo, Qu Nanhu, Qu Nan Jianri, etc., seeing that they are temporarily unable to capture Lu Ming and Yao Tao, and they have avenged Kojiqiu.

Zhang Shaobu was left to garrison Longxi, and Xin Er promised him that after returning to the dynasty, he would be the Taishou of Longxi; At the same time, Tang Ai also stayed in Longxi temporarily, and as the right chief of the governor's office, he was responsible for arranging the re-stationing of the three troops and horses of Longxi Zhang Shao, Yinping Beigong Yue, and Wudu Zhang Daochong, as well as cleaning the battlefield and conducting some final battles, and then, Xin Er led the troops north and returned to Guyin.

……

Xin Er returned to Guyin, and did not mention it first.

From Longxi County to the east, along Weishui, all the way to the east, go 800 miles, to Xianyang, the capital of Puqin, and then go east, more than 400 miles, is the border county of Hedong County, the east of Puqin; Then from Hedong County to the east, after crossing the border of Puqin, into the territory of Murong Wei, up and down 200 miles, that is, Luoyang, the southwest town of Wei.

Luoyang belongs to the Luozhou of Wei, adjacent to the Yellow River in the north, Luoshui in the west, between these two big rivers, and there are several other smaller rivers around the suburbs, the river network is dense, the surrounding mountains are undulating, the plains are fertile in the inside, there are mountains and rivers outside, the fields are rich in the inside, and it is a place of beauty. From the perspective of terrain, Luoyang is easy to defend and difficult to attack; Geographically, Luoyang borders Puqin in the west, passes through Jingzhou (Nanyang and other places) of Wei to the south, and travels more than 400 miles in total. Because of this, since the founding of the Wei State, it has always stationed heavy troops here.

After the death of Murong Wei, the incumbent lord of Wei, in the face of a complex and dangerous situation in the country, in order to prevent Qin and Tang from taking the opportunity to attack, the new lord Murong Yan obeyed Murong Wei's last order and sent his most warlike and brave brother Murong Wutai here.

About half a month ago, after Meng Lang and Pu Mao met in Hedong County, there were more than 50,000 soldiers, including more than 30,000 foot soldiers and more than 10,000 cavalry.

At about the same moment when Xin Er crossed the Minshan Mountain and attacked Pu Badger Sun, Tonghuliang and Zhao Xingbu, Pu Mao and Meng Lang began the siege of Luoyang.

Murong Wutai is fierce and daring to fight, and his soldiers are the elite of the Wei State, mainly composed of Murong Xianbei's headquarters, working together to resist the enemy, and relying on Luoyang, a strong city, but even under the personal command of Pu Mao and Meng Lang, it is said that Luoyang City has been broken, and until now, even Murong Wutai's suburban camp in the north of the city has not been laid. The two armies have been facing each other for more than 10 days.

On this day, Qinzhou gained and lost, and the military report captured by Xin Er was expedited and sent to Pumao's army.

Pu Mao was in front of the camp with Meng Lang, observing the city defense situation in Luoyang.

After receiving the military report, Pu Mao looked at it at a glance, raised his head, and said to Meng Lang: "Xin is a little cunning, and he actually crossed Minshan Mountain to rescue Yinping. Longxi County was not long after Meng Shike's recovery, and it was captured by Xin Youzhu again! ”

Meng Lang took the military newspaper from Pu Mao's hand, read it carefully, and said: "The minister thought that he had paid enough attention to this Xin You's book, but he still underestimated him, and he took the opportunity to steal it and retake Longxi. However, it doesn't matter, just wait for our king's division to capture Luoyang, then capture Luozhou and Yuzhou of Wei, and the king will be at his fingertips; Then send a partial division, take this victory, and then go to beat Longxi back! ”

A few words of understatement, revealing full domineering.

Fifty percent of this domineering spirit is true, and fifty percent of it is made for those generals around Pu Mao to see.

Thinking that the Qin army was attacking Luoyang with all its might, at this time, it was reported that Longxi had fallen, Pu Badger Sun, Tonghuliang, Lu Ming, Yao Tao, Qiu Tai, Ran Seng Nu and other Qin generals were defeated, and the stone head was even killed, and Zhao Xing rebelled to Dingxi's military report, without thinking, you can also know that this will definitely cause a relative blow to the morale of the Qin army, then, at this time, Pu Mao and Meng Lang need to be calm more and more.

The two monarchs and ministers have a very tacit understanding in this regard.

Pu Mao looked like he didn't take the military report seriously, and said with a smile: "This time, Xin Youzhu won by luck and failed to capture it, it's a pity, the mansion I prepared for him in Xianyang City seems to have to be vacant for a while!" ”

Meng Lang said with a smile: "The minister has long wanted to tell the king that the mansion that the king prepared for Xin You in Xianyang City, the minister has seen it with his own eyes, it is really magnificent, and it is a piece of the king's benevolence to him, but because it is too luxurious, he may not like it." ”

"Why?"

Meng Lang said matter-of-factly: "Although Xin Youzhu is not from the Han clan, his family is also a small gateway to the west, and this person has never seen much of the world. The minister heard that he once went to Cao Fei's house for a banquet, and when he went to the toilet, he actually served several dried dates in Cao's toilet to stuff his nose and block the smell, and he made a big joke, and was ridiculed by many people in Dingxi. This field slave is also not on the stage, so the minister said that he may not be able to live comfortably in the mansion prepared for him by the king. ”

"When I went to the toilet, I ate several dried dates with a blocked nose" Yunyun, this is not something Xin Er did.

There are other people who did this.

But how could the generals of the Qin State beside Pu Mao know the truth? They all knew that Meng Lang had a group of people under him, who specialized in collecting all kinds of information from Wei, Tang, Dingxi and other countries, including Tuoba, He Hun and Rouran, so they all believed Meng Lang's words.

Hearing Meng Lang's words, all the generals laughed.

Pu Mao and Meng Lang sang and harmonized, and unknowingly, they expelled the impact of the fall of Longxi on the generals.

Just when everyone was laughing and talking and ridiculing Xin'er, a general led several people from the direction of the camp and asked to see Pu Mao.

Pu Mao Zhao approached, and saw that the few people who were brought behind him were all Tang people, most of them were ragged, but they were all exposed, especially one of them, strong and burly, and his spirit was not bad.

Pu Mao couldn't help but look at him a few more times, then retracted his gaze, asked the general, and said, "What do you want to see?" ”

The general made a military salute, signaled the Tang people to bow down, and replied to Pu Mao respectfully, saying: "Heavenly King, these people are the leaders of the beggar army in the mountains near Luoyang. ”