In addition to provoking Xiang Kang's royal conquest, he also recruited Xia Shuo, Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong three hungry wolves at the first time, Xia Shuo, who was eager to consolidate Zhao Xiang's position, Tao Xi, who was already famous for his love of grabbing credit when he was under Zheng Bu, and Gongsun Tong, who was also not a good thing, all held back their strength to squeeze the greatest credit from the relatively weak Yan army in terms of comprehensive strength.

By the way, there is also the old man Yan Shao of the Young Marshal Army of Hengshan County is not a good bird, after Hengshan County turned the corner, he successfully guarded the Dongyuan, Yan Shao was supposed to sit in the rear to protect the grain road and supply grain and grass, but Yan Shao found all the excuses to push these envoys to the county and the county imperial history, insisting on leading four thousand county soldiers to participate in the Northern Expedition, what the idea is known to the earth, not Xiang Kang's lineage Xia said that the name is Yan Shao's boss, but he never dared to offend Yan Shao, the old lackey of Xiang Kang, who had joined the young marshal army when he was in Yu County, had to let him share the credit.

Under the open and secret struggle of each ghost, the three-way Han army of course marched fast, just finished cleaning the Dongyuan battlefield, and even before the Zhao State responsible for supplying grain and grass finished the transfer of materials, Tao Xi had already used the excuse to pursue, the first to lead the army to the north, Xia said not to be outdone, hurriedly arranged the task of grain and grass transportation, and immediately took the army under his command to rush north, killing Jicheng at the fastest speed, Gongsun Tong did the same, hurriedly arranged the defense of Fuyang, leaving two thousand troops to guard Fuyang responsible for supplying grain and grass, Then he immediately led the army south, and relied on the advantage of distance to be the first to come, and the first to lead the army to the city of Jicheng.

Then after arriving in Jicheng, Gongsun Tongcai was extremely dumbfounded to find that the Yan army had all been stationed in Jicheng City, and did not give himself any chance to fight in the field, but fortunately, Gongsun Tong was not helpless about this, and immediately ordered his soldiers to cut wood, collect stone bullets, and make every effort to build a counterweight trebuchet.

As a result, at this time, there was indeed a voice of disunity within the Han army - someone said to Gongsun Tongjin: "General, trebuchets have extremely high requirements for wood, we might as well hurry up and cut down all the suitable trees around us that can build trebuchets to our camp to hoard, and then when General Tao and Xia Xiangguo's army arrive, they don't have suitable wood to build trebuchets and discuss how to attack the city, wouldn't we be able to speak much louder?" ”

Gongsun Tong laughed, first patted his subordinates who had bad ideas for him, and then said: "That's it, give priority to cutting down trees, send more people, and cut all the suitable wood nearby for me, and don't leave a single one to Tao Xi and Xia Shuo." ”

When Tao Xi led 32,000 Taiyuan Han troops to Jicheng City, the suitable wood around Jicheng City also fell into the clutches of Gongsun Tong, but Tao Xi, who had just arrived, did not know about it, and ran to Gongsun Tong's camp with a smile to discuss a gentleman's agreement, agreeing that whose army would first plant the flag on the head of Jicheng City next, who would be the main force of the siege, and the loser would be responsible for playing auxiliary.

Then, after Xia Shuo also rushed to Jicheng with nearly 40,000 troops, Tao Xi found out that Gongsun Tong had done evil, and hurriedly pulled Xia Shuo, who was still in camp, to see Gongsun Tong, and forced Gongsun Tong to give him some suitable wood.

Fortunately, Xia Shuo's ability to fight is average, but his political and personnel acumen is quite outstanding, and he stood up as a peacemaker in time, and urged both sides to make concessions, Gongsun Tong did not want to completely turn his face with Tao Xi, and in the end he could only promise to give Xia Shuo and Tao Xi fifteen suitable timbers for each army, so that they could build trebuchets to participate in the war, which barely quelled the dispute.

Xia said that he was indeed quite brainy in politics and personnel, and seeing that Tao Xi was still angry, he was obviously still very dissatisfied, so he smiled and said to Gongsun Tong: "General Gongsun, since the last time we were separated in Pengcheng, this is the first time that the three of us have reunited, this is your place, why, you don't plan to invite us to drink a little wine?" By the way, let's discuss how we should fight next. ”

In terms of wine and food, Gongsun Tong was not stingy, and immediately let people get good wine and rotten meat to entertain Xia Shuo and Tao Xi, Xia Shuo also took the opportunity to reconcile the contradictions between Gongsun Tong and Tao Xi during the banquet, and urged them to focus on the overall situation and join forces to attack Jicheng as soon as possible. However, Tao Xi was well aware of the importance of the counterweight trebuchet in the siege battle, and in order to prevent Gongsun Tong from stealing the credit, he deliberately refused Gongsun Tong's decision to launch a siege within ten days under the pretext that the enemy situation was not clear enough, and insisted on preparing for more time, and then launched the siege after finding out the general situation of the defenders of Jicheng through scouts.

Tao Xi's purpose of deliberately delaying time is also very simple, that is, he wants to send people to a distant place to transport suitable wood to build more trebuchets, and then he can be sure to compete with Gongsun Tong, Gongsun Tong also saw Tao Xi's flowery intestines at a glance, and immediately insisted on the siege plan that was beneficial to him as soon as possible on the grounds that he could not prepare for the Yan army for too long and the difficulty of transporting grain and grass, and once again competed with Tao Xi.

In this way, Xia Shuo, who is not qualified, has of course become a rat in the bellows, and whoever he helps will offend the other party, but just when Xia Shuo felt anxious, Xia Shuo's personal soldiers suddenly came in outside the tent, and whispered in Xia Shuo's ear, Xia Shuo frowned at first, and then suddenly had an idea, and hurriedly said to Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong, who had already fought for a red face and thick neck: "Two generals, don't quarrel, the person who wants us to quarrel more is here." ”

"Someone who wants us to make a bigger noise?" Tao Xi and Gongsun were the same as Gongsun, and hurriedly asked, "What do you mean?" Who? ”

"Two generals, do you still remember the Li scoop who once replaced Zang Yan's rebel thieves on the Qichu battlefield and temporarily commanded the troops?" Xia said a rhetorical question, and after seeing Gongsun Tong and Tao Xi nodding together, Xia said that he said: "He is here, brought many gifts, and is currently waiting to see me in my camp." ”

"Is there such a thing? What does he want to do? Tao Xi asked hurriedly.

"I don't know, I must not be holding any good water." Xia said very calmly: "You two arrived before me, if the Yan Thief has anything to negotiate with us, he should contact you first, but now the Yan Thief ignores you, and waits for me to come before contacting me, there must be some tricks in it." ”

"Xia Xiang, can you let us go with you to meet him?" Gongsun Tong asked in a deep voice.

"Gua Tian Lixia, if you don't say that, the two generals, I will also invite you to meet him together." Xia said with a smile, and said: "Two generals, if you want, let's go, let's go to see him together, anyway, Li Scoop and you also know each other." ”

The matter is related to the secret contact between the Zhao army and the Yan army, Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong of course will not refuse, and hurriedly came to the Zhao army camp with Xia Shuo, and went to the camp tent of the Chinese army that Xia said to see sure enough, the Yan general Li Lao, who had met them a few times, was indeed sitting in the tent and was meeting and talking with a Xia Shuo general they had not seen. As a result, seeing Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong arriving together, Li Lao was also taken aback, and hurriedly got up and left the table to salute Xia Shuo and the others.

"General Li, it's been a long time." Tao Xipi didn't smile and said, "Say, what do you want to do when you came to see Xia Xiangguo behind our back?" ”

Li Luo didn't dare to speak, and the general Xia Shuo, who Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong didn't know next to him, took the initiative to speak, and said: "The two generals, Xia Xiangguo, the last general said for General Li, he came to deceive and delay the army, and wanted to take advantage of the fact that our three armies were not subordinate to each other and secretly wanted to compete for merit, temporarily stabilize our Zhao army, reduce the pressure on them on the battlefield, and buy time for them to wait for the Xiongnu reinforcements." In addition, if our Zhao Jun is tricked, they will definitely make a discord in the next step. ”

"You're ......!" Li Luo glared at the general of Naxia Shuo angrily, and said angrily: "You spew blood!" ”

"Okay, General Li, your carving insect tricks can be hidden from others, but not from me." Na Xia said that the general sneered and said: "Your tricks are just leftovers of Tian Dan playing in Jimo, my eldest father suffered such a big loss in the hands of Tian Dan back then, how could I repeat my eldest father's mistakes?" ”

"Who is your father?" Li asked in surprise.

"Changguo Jun Leyi."

Uncle Le replied very simply, and a sentence made Li Scoop into a deflated ball, and then immediately after, Uncle Le told Xia Shuo, Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong about Li Scoop's intention, and clearly pointed out that Zang Di deliberately begged to surrender to Zhao Jun to harbor evil intentions, in a vain attempt to make Zhao Jun greedy and unwilling to work hard to attack the city, and then designed a cooperative relationship between the three Han armies, Xia Shuo and Gongsun Tong nodded when they heard it, and thought it was true, but Tao Xi, who had a more anxious temper, shouted and pulled out the sword on his waist on the spot.

Of course, Xia Shuo and Gongsun Tong hurriedly grabbed Tao Xi, who wanted to kill Li Scoop on the spot, and then Xia Shuo said to Li Scoop again: "General Li, we don't let General Tao kill you, the reason is that in addition to the fact that you are a messenger and can't start, there is also an important reason that we can't give up this heart, and we always remember that you once fought side by side with us on the Qichu battlefield, so you go, we won't embarrass you." ”

"Thank you Sangkook."

Li Scoop arched his hand with shame on his face, and turned around to say goodbye, but Xia Shuo stopped him again, and said: "General Li, there is another thing, I really don't understand, why do you want to work so hard for Zang Tu's rebel thief?" What is the situation in Yan Kingdom, others don't know, you, the general of Yan Kingdom, are still not clear, even our three-way soldiers and horses can't fight together, how can you stop our endless follow-up army? ”

"Don't count on the Huns, you can't count on them." Xia said again: "It's already spring, and the Huns have to go to the depths of the grassland to breed cattle and sheep in this season. Also, no matter how strong the city of Jicheng is, it can be as strong as Puyang, Handan and Julu, which are the world's famous cities, what is the power of our trebuchets in siege warfare, have you not seen it with your own eyes when you were in Licheng? You ask yourself, when we have dozens or hundreds of trebuchets throwing stones at Jicheng at the same time, how long can Jicheng be able to block it? ”

Li Scoop's expression hesitated, hanging his head and refusing to speak, Xia Shuo saw that he had wavered, so he hurriedly said: "That's it, General Li, give us the internal response, help us take Jicheng as soon as possible, as long as you do this, the three of us can guarantee that you can live, and you can also ensure that after you meet His Majesty the Emperor, you will continue to enjoy the glory and wealth you deserve, what do you think?" ”

Li Scoop's expression was obviously more hesitant, and the grandson next to him saw that there was an opportunity, and hurriedly said: "Come here, immediately use the reputation of me, Xia Xiangguo, and General Tao to write a letter of commitment to General Li Scoop, guaranteeing for us that as long as General Li accepts us to take Jicheng, we will guarantee that his entire family's life will not be violated, and all the family property will be preserved, and we will also promise to ask General Li Scoop for credit in front of His Majesty." ”

According to Gongsun Tong's request, the Chinese official quickly wrote down a letter of commitment against Li Scoop, Gongsun Tong was the first to sign the letter of commitment with a seal, Xia said that after the same signature was sealed, he handed the letter of commitment to Tao Xi, and Tao Xi hesitated, and then wrote his name on the letter of commitment, stamped his personal seal, and then handed it to Li Scoop, and said: "General Li, this is what we sent you on the basis of previous friendships, you can decide for yourself." ”

After hesitating for a long time, Li Scoop solemnly accepted the joint commitment letter from Xia Shuo and others from Tao Xi's hand, and then said: "Xia Xiangguo, General Tao, General Gongsun, please give me a white silk, and I will give you a picture of Zang Tupifu's city defense deployment." ”

Xia Shuo and Gongsun Tong looked at each other and smiled, and then hurriedly asked people to bring silk pens, Li Scoop was unreserved, and quickly drew a sketch of Jicheng's city defense on white silk, marking the various locations and troops of the Jicheng defenders, the height and width of the city, as well as the granary arsenal and other key locations in the city, and finally repeatedly checked that it was correct, and then presented it to Xia Shuo and others, and said: "Three generals, move faster, Zang Di has sent Zang Yan to the grassland in person, and ask the Huns for help at any cost, no matter what conditions the Huns propose, Zang Yan will agree on behalf of Zang Di. Although you are not afraid, if the Hun army really comes, it will be very difficult to take Jicheng with the strength in your hands alone. ”

"General Li, you have made a wise choice." Xia Shuo patted Li Scoop's shoulder and smiled.

The matter was not over, after sending away Li Luo, who had been bribed and renegade, and carefully studied the Jicheng defense map he left behind, Xia Shuo and the others were also quickly pleasantly surprised to find that in fact, with the existing forces in the hands of the three of them, there was every hope of directly attacking Jicheng and suppressing the rebellion of Yan State. So Xia Shuo quickly said: "General Tao, why don't you listen to General Gongsun, hurry up and prepare, and launch an attack on Jicheng within ten days, the three of us join forces, work together, and share this great credit equally!" ”

"All in one effort?" Tao Xi's voice became a little yin and yang again, and said: "I am willing to work together, but some people deliberately rush to cut all the wood that can be used in order to grab merit, so that I can't build enough trebuchets, how can I work together?" ”

Xia Shuo turned his gaze to Gongsun Tong, and Gongsun Tong was also a little hesitant in his heart, but at this time, a guard rushed in from outside the tent, and presented a military intelligence report to Xia Shuo, and said: "Xiangguo, Qi Xiang Zhu Jishi just sent a fast horse to send it, he wants us to be cautious in entering the army, don't be greedy for merit, it is best to give priority to the grass and grain, ensure the military needs, and wait for his army to arrive, and then join forces to attack the main force of the Yan thief." ”

Before the guard's recital was finished, Xia Shuo had already laughed out loud, and smiled at Gongsun Tong: "General Gongsun, did you hear it, we want to make meritorious service?" Those who want to make meritorious contributions more than us are still behind, Zhu Xiangguo's words are almost equivalent to directly shouting to let Zang Di let him come, but with his official position, qualifications and prestige, when Zhu Xiangguo's army arrives, you say that we have not had a chance to make meritorious service yet? ”

Gongsun Tong blinked his mung bean eyes, and suddenly said in a deep voice: "One hundred and twenty-six suitable wood, our family has forty-two, and we will launch an attack within ten days, regardless of the main attack and feint, and the three soldiers and horses will attack at the same time!" We draw lots for the siege position, discuss and act in case of trouble, and obey the decision of more people with fewer people! ”

"One hundred and twenty-six pieces of suitable wood?" Tao Xi's nose was almost crooked, and he said, "General Gongsun, in your camp just now, didn't you insist that there were only more than fifty of them?" Why do you conjure up so much at once now? ”

Gongsun Tong smiled bitterly, and arched his hand to Tao Xi and said: "Brother Tao, if you break Jicheng, I invite you to a big banquet, don't you mind this kind of trivial matter, okay?" ”