Zang Di rebelled in the Yan State, the biggest problem is mainly the problem of troops and manpower, limited by the times, although the Yan State controls half of Hebei, the Liaoxi Corridor and basically controls the Liaodong Peninsula, but these places are sparsely populated in the late Qin and early Han dynasties, the money and grain are thin, Liaodong, Liaoxi, Yuyang and Shanggu four counties are only one county each, except for the army that must stay in the place, full of calculations, Yan State is great and can piece together 50,000 troops for fighting, and the power of the world controlled by the Han Dynasty.

It's okay for Zang Di, because he chose to surrender obediently before the Han army put his hand into Yandi, and he never gave the Han court any excuse to meddle in the internal affairs of Yan State, and the small court of Yan State has a strong control over the local area, so when the victory or defeat has not yet been decided on the Dongyuan battlefield, Yan State has already completed the follow-up recruitment work, and urgently assembled 30,000 troops in Jicheng, the capital of Yan, which can be regarded as a shot in the arm for Zang Di and Yan Guo's civil and military forces, who are actually uneasy in their hearts.

During this period, Zang Quan's front-line report was also sent back to Jicheng, and learned that the Han army had preemptively recruited troops in Jingcheng, and the main force of the Zhao army was dispatched far earlier than he imagined, Zang Di immediately understood that the situation was not good, and quickly made a decision, determined to personally lead the 25,000 rear army to the south to help Zang Quan deal with the main force of the Zhao army, and also to seize the important land of Jingcheng, leaving only 5,000 troops to guard Jicheng, and his crown prince Zang Yan temporarily sat in the national capital. As for the important town of Fuyang, which was already threatened by the Han army of Daijun, he could no longer draw troops to reinforce Zang Di, so he simply gritted his teeth and ignored it, and ordered the defenders of Fuyang to defend the city to buy time for themselves.

After making up his mind, it was just the next day, Zang Di hurriedly led Zhai Xu, Li Scoop and other generals to lead the army south, galloped straight to the main battlefield of Dongyuan, and just set off to order the army to take the speed of a rapid march to the south, Zhai Xu, who was old in the battlefield, was quite worried when he saw it, and hurriedly said to Zang Di: "King, we have too many recruits, and we have no time to train and familiarize, if we keep taking the speed of a rapid march south, I am afraid that the soldiers will be very serious if they fall behind and be separated." ”

Unlike Zang Quan, Zang Di can still listen to persuasion, and after thinking about it, he also retracted the speed of the rapid march, and ordered the army to go south at a speed of fifty miles a day, and then Zang Di also comforted himself and said: "It should be like this, there are many elites under the command of Quan'er, even if the troops are at a disadvantage, there must be no problem in holding the camp, and the widow is not in such a hurry." ”

It was also a coincidence that after crossing the Fanyang Iron Mine that had given Zang Di high hopes, that night, Zang Di had a good dream in the camp tent again, dreaming that before he arrived in Dongyuan, the front army led by Zang Quan had successfully defeated the main force of the Zhao army that hastily went north, and then the front army and rear team of the Yan army joined forces and quickly took the crucial Dongyuan City and Jingcheng City, the dream was still very clear, even if he woke up, he didn't forget the slightest detail, so when he continued to set off the next day, Zang Di was of course smiling, I don't think that's a good sign.

Even Li Xuan and Zhai Xu, who accompanied the expedition, saw the signs, and when they asked Zang Di why he was smiling so happily, Zang Di did not hide it, and directly told them about the good dream he had, but Zhai Xuan and Li Xuan were also very impressed when they heard it, and they both said: "King, this is a good sign, which means that our southward battle will definitely go very smoothly this time." ”

"The eldest prince will definitely be able to do the same." Li Scoop also said: "The ability of the thief army of the Zhao State has been seen on the battlefield of Qidi, and it is far worse than the iron cavalry of our Yan Kingdom, Xia said that the horseman is a rabble assembled in a hurry this time, and when he encounters the iron cavalry of our Yan Kingdom, he will definitely not be an opponent." The last general dared to bet on his head that without the arrival of our reinforcements, the eldest prince would be able to directly defeat the Zhao State thief army! ”

"Report ——!"

As if to let General Li Lao, who had been desperately flattering and flattering in front of Uncle Zhou, fulfill his promise, at this time, a scout horse suddenly galloped back from the front, rushed directly to Zang Di's dismount and saluted, and reported loudly: "King Qiqi, we have met the team of the eldest prince, and the eldest prince wants to see you immediately." ”

"So fast? Have you already met Quan'er's army? Zang Di was first happy, and then slammed it, and hurriedly yelled: "How is it possible? Isn't Quan'er's army in Dongyuan? How come we just passed Fan Yang, and before we even left the border, we met his army? ”

"The King forgives sins." The scout cautiously replied, "The eldest prince has fled back, and all the infantry has been lost, leaving only a few thousand cavalry to escape." ”

With a soft snap, the horsewhip in Zang Di's hand fell to the ground, and his face suddenly turned dead gray, and Zhai Xuan next to him whispered to Li Scoop and asked, "General Li, what did you just say to bet?" ”

After quickly ordering the army to stop advancing, after a while, in the sound of horses' hooves, the defeated soldiers of the Yan army who lost their armor also appeared in front of Zang Di and others, and then immediately after, Zang Quan, who didn't even know where to go for the helmet, also rushed back to Zang Di, and as soon as they met, they bowed to Zang Tu on the ground, lying in front of Zang Di and crying, Zang Di looked at his baby son, and then looked at the embarrassed Yan army defeated crowd, and then roared and said: "What happened? How could you lose so badly? How many of the 20,000 troops handed over to you are left? How many people are left? ”

"The sons are incompetent, the sons are incompetent." Zang Quan kowtowed and cried, howling: "Erchen and Xia said that the Piff would fight in the southern suburbs of Dongyuan, and Xia said that the Piff relied on his strength to be more than twice that of the Pishin, and personally led the army to charge the battle, and tore a gap from the position of the Chinese army of the Erchen, and defeated the flag formation of the Erchen, causing our army to lose its command and defeat itself. ...... our army was defeated, and the cavalry that fled back was about 5,000 ...... or more than 5,000 people. ”

After probably saying the defeat, Zang Quan pleaded guilty again and again, crawling in front of Zang Di and crying like he was dead and alive, but Zang Di, who was so small and thin, was so angry that he whipped and roared wildly, "Then what are you coming back for?" So what are you coming back for? Do? Why not die on the battlefield? Why not die on the battlefield? ”

Or the Yan army next to him Wenwu slammed up and pulled Zang Di, Zang Quan escaped the doom of being sucked alive by Zang Di, among which Zhao Zhao, who also escaped back, dropped his tail and said to Zang Di: "The king, your subordinates can testify that the eldest prince has tried his best, not that he has no command, but that the Zhao thief army is attacking too fiercely, even Xia said that the puppet man personally went into battle to kill and stimulate morale, and the strength advantage of the Zhao thief army is too great, and the eldest prince really can't resist it, so it caused the current situation." ”

"The king is angry." Li Scoop also persuaded: "The thief army of Zhao is famous for being good at infantry and cavalry, and the infantry battle formation will not fall behind even if it encounters the Hun iron cavalry, and it has the advantage of troops, so it is normal for our cavalry to not be able to defeat them." "- By the way, this is the truth, in the era when there were no stirrups and Takahashi saddles, even the Zhao army, which was mounted and shot by Hufu, was still based on infantry as the main force of combat.

After all, it was his own son, and after listening to everyone's persuasion, Zang Di still threw the horsewhip on the ground angrily, and then yelled at Zang Quan: "On the battlefield of Dongyuan, how many tyrant troops are there now?" ”

"Back to my father, I don't know how much." Zang Quanzhan replied tremblingly: "Erchen only knows that the army of the tyrants brought by the thief general Tao Xi must be more than 30,000, and the thief army of Zhao led by Xia Shuo has 35,000 or 6,000, and in the hands of Yan Shao, there are about six or seven thousand troops. ”

"So much?" Zang Di's face turned even paler, and he muttered: "So, the front team of the tyrant army alone has reached more than 80,000 troops, more than double our total strength?" ”

"King, the strength of the thief army is far more than we expected, and Dongyuan must not go again." Zhai Xuan hurriedly said: "What is the next step, please ask the king to make an idea as soon as possible." ”

After thinking about it for a long time with a black face, Zang Di roared angrily, "Order the whole army to withdraw to Jicheng immediately, and make every effort to strengthen the city defense with deep ditches and high fortifications, and prepare to fight to the death with the thug thief army in Jicheng." ”

"Wang, what about Zhuo County and Yi County?" Zhai Xuan hurriedly asked again: "There is also Fan Yang behind us, there are two small cities, the old and the new, both of which can be garrisoned, do you want to leave the army to garrison, how much time will you buy us a little time?" ”

"Our troops are already insufficient, don't stay for the thieves to break down." Zang Di sighed and said the truth, and said: "Give up the two small cities in Fanyang, and the defenders of Zhuo County and Yi County, if they can be transferred back, all of them will be transferred back, and we will only defend one city in Jicheng next." ”

Even more blow to Zang Tu is still behind, dejected led the army back to Jicheng in a hurry, before Zang Tu entered the city, there was an urgent report from Fuyang, saying that after the Han army general Gongsun Tong led 20,000 troops to the city of Fuyang, there was a sudden rebellion in the defenders of Fuyang, and the inside and outside should join the Han army to take Fuyang, Zang Tu heard the report and complained even more, so he could only quickly order the army to hurry up and set up camp, and at the same time rush back to the city, and convene civil and military cronies to discuss countermeasures.

This is also the most frustrating and dreary court meeting of Yan Guokai since Zang Di proclaimed himself king, in the face of Zang Di's roaring roar, Yan Guo's civil and military forces were all silent, and they didn't even dare to take a breath of air, and no one stood up to offer advice to help Zang Di resolve the crisis in front of him - this is also something that can't be helped, the disparity in strength is too huge, even if Han Xin really arrives in Yan Kingdom, he is basically destined to have nothing to do, let alone others, of course.

In the end, he was still forced by Zang Tu to be anxious, and Zang Di's think tank Zhang Shengcai said stubbornly: "King, since things have come to this point, we have no choice but to defend Jicheng while asking the Huns for help, and only if the Huns send an army to save us, we can hope to get through this difficulty." ”

"Is it so easy to ask the Huns for help?" Zang Di's voice was bitter, and he said: "Let's not mention that the border tribes between us and the Xiongnu suddenly turned their faces, even if the Xiongnu didn't care about this matter, I'm afraid he might not be able to send us reinforcements." Spring has come, according to the living habits of the Xiongnu, now is the time for them to migrate north to breed cattle and sheep, the Xiongnu Shan Yu will sacrifice their Xiongnu livelihood in the coming year for us? ”

"Don't worry, the king, we don't need to ask the Huns to come out to save us." Zhang Sheng hurriedly said: "We only need to beg the Xiongnu to send 100,000 troops to rescue us, and we will have hope of blocking the attack of the tyrant army." If the king does not give up, his subordinates are willing to go to the grassland in person to ask the Xiongnu for help on behalf of the king. ”

"Father, let's let my sons go." Zang Yan, who surrendered to the Xiongnu in history, hurriedly stood up to grab this messenger, and asked Zang Tu for help: "The son is the prince of Yanguo, and you go to ask the Xiongnu for help on behalf of your father, which can not only prove the sincerity of our ministers, but also make a decision for my father and agree to other additional conditions proposed by the Xiongnu." ”

"That's it." Zang Di sighed helplessly, nodded and said: "Then the prince goes, as long as the Huns are willing to send troops, no matter what the conditions, you can agree for me." Zhang Sheng stayed behind and continued to help the widow with advice and deal with the tyrant army. ”

Zhang Sheng had no choice but to hurriedly give up his hand and sing the promise, then quietly glared at Zang Yan, and said in his heart: "Prince, you slipped fast enough." ”

Coincidentally, Zhang Sheng's resentful gaze happened to be seen by Zang Yan, and Zang Yan also understood Zhang Sheng's thoughts, and said in his heart: "Don't think that this prince doesn't know that you want to slip, this prince must slip, my prince is personally sealed by the emperor, and my father rebelled and rebelled, if I don't hurry up and sneak to a safer grassland, when Jicheng is broken, this prince will definitely die without a place to be buried." ”

Zang Di should indeed leave Zhang Sheng behind, and then, when Zang Di asked everyone how to defend the capital, everyone still kept silent, only Zhang Sheng, who had no way out, opened his mouth and presented Zang Di with two quite reliable strategies, one is to let all the troops enter the city to be stationed to ensure that there are enough troops available when defending the city; The second is to organize other people in the city to assist in the battle, help the Yan army defend the city, and at the same time spread rumors, that is, after the Han army breaks the city, it will massacre the city, forcing the people in the city to defend the city with all their might.

Of course, Zang Di did not hesitate to adopt these two strategies, and after a little calculation, Zang Di also made his own assertion: "Also, if all the troops enter the city and station, a large number of houses in the city will definitely be requisitioned, and your family members will definitely be affected." In this case, you go back and prepare quickly, and before sunset tomorrow, let your parents and wives all live in the palace city, and be protected by the widow's guards, so that you can defend the city and fight in peace of mind. ”

knew that Zang Di wanted to take hostages, but none of the hundred officials of Yan Guo dared to break it, so he could only honestly give up his hand and sing his promise, and accept Zang Di's arrangement with patience. Then it was at this time that the thinker Zhang Shengcai suddenly remembered a major event, and hurriedly said: "King, Your Majesty suddenly remembered a major event, the tyrant army marched into Jicheng in three ways, why until now, we still don't know who the commander of the tyrannical Qin army is?" ”

I still have to be reminded by Zhang Sheng, and Zang Di also found out that the situation is really wrong - Xia Shuo, Tao Xi and Gongsun marched to Yandi at the same time with the three soldiers and horses, why is none of them the main generals? He immediately said: "Yes, how can this widow be negligent?" The strength of the three-way tyrant army is not very different, and they are not subordinate to each other, why haven't I heard of which of them is the commander until now? ”

"King, there should be two possibilities." Wei Man, the general of the Yan army, opened his mouth and said: "First, the imperial court did not appoint the front-line commander of the tyrant army at all, but just let Xia Shuo and Gongsun fight separately with these horsemen. Second, the chief general appointed by the Tyrant Han court may still be on the way, and it will take some time to reach the land of Yan. ”

Zang Di nodded slowly, and said thoughtfully: "This is an opportunity, you can think of a way for the widows, and see if you can take advantage of the opportunity that the thug thief army is currently not subordinate to each other and fighting separately, and do something about it." ”

The hundred officials of the Yan State finally came to a little spirit, and during the discussion and discussion, there were also people who offered advice and suggestions, suggesting that Zang Di make a decisive attack and break the three Han armies, but before such a suggestion was finished, it had already been vetoed by Zang Tu roaring, "Break each? It's easy to say, we only have more than 30,000 troops in total, and we have to leave an army to guard the capital, and we don't have the upper hand in front of the tyrant army all the way, so how can we break the Han thieves? ”

"King, as far as our current situation is concerned, the possibility of defeating each of the tyrant armies is indeed very small." Zhang Sheng spoke again and said, "However, Your Majesty thinks that using this point to make some delaying tactics may be able to buy us a certain amount of time." ”

"How to delay the army?" Zang Di hurriedly asked.

"Your Majesty thinks that you should say something to Zhao Thief Xia." Zhang Sheng pondered and said: "Xia said that Pifu is not the emperor's descendant, and his position is unstable, so he must be extremely eager to take this opportunity to establish great achievements and consolidate his position as Zhao Xiang." In this case, why don't we send a secret envoy, pretend to negotiate with him to surrender, and pretend that we can lay down our arms and surrender to the Zhao army, Xia said that seeing that Jicheng can be won without a fight, we will definitely not rush to launch an attack on the city, so that we can reduce a lot of pressure, which is conducive to our long-term defense of Jicheng. ”

"Then when it comes to a certain time, we can also deliberately spread the news to Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong, the two puppets, to know that as long as the two of them are suspicious of Xia Shuo, they are no longer so united, and they are not subordinate to each other, and the pressure we face on the battlefield will definitely be even less."

Zang Di nodded slowly, and after thinking about it for a long time, Zang Di said: "You can give it a try, so let's send someone to negotiate with Xia Shuo secretly, that is, as long as he can come forward to ask the court for a pardon edict on our behalf, we will immediately lay down our arms and surrender to the Zhao army under his command." ”

"The king's clever plan, Xia said that as long as the puppet is greedy and motivated, he will definitely bargain with us, and it is even possible that he will go to the court of the tyrannical Han Dynasty and pray for forgiveness for us, as long as he does this, we can buy time." Zhang Sheng hurriedly complimented, and then asked, "King, who will you send to secretly contact Xia Shuo Pifu?" It's not that his subordinates are greedy for life and afraid of death, but that his subordinates have never had contact with Xia Shuo's husband, and even if they send an envoy to the enemy camp, it is difficult to convince Xia Shuo to be tempted. ”

Zang Di was silent, just watched the Yan officials present looking for suitable candidates, and then soon, a general of Yan who had fought side by side with Xia Shuo was also quickly targeted by Zang Di......