Heading south from the Qing River, Lord Zhao's party came to a land called "鄃 (shū, 夏津)".

It may be that he was idle on the way, or it may be to divert the sore spot caused by the arrow wound on his back, so Master Zhao told Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others about the history of the land.

鄃, the capital of the ancient Yu Bo Kingdom of the Zhou Dynasty, the monarch was a count, called Yu Bo, this small country was originally located elsewhere, and later moved north here, where the state was re-established and a city called "鄃" was built.

In the second half of the Jin and Chu hegemony, the Jin Pinggong of the Jin State and the Qi Jinggong of the Qi State met in the land of Yandi, which was known as the "Jin Qi Alliance" in history.

Jin Pinggong is a monarch with mixed reputation, in the years when he ruled the Jin State, the Jin State continued to dominate the Central Plains for a hundred years, and in the early and middle years of the reign of Jin Pinggong, he also defeated the Qi State and the Chu State successively, making the Jin State dominate the Central Plains.

Perhaps because of the loss of the relationship between his opponents, Jin Pinggong gradually ceased to be diligent in state affairs in the second half of his reign, and built a large number of buildings in the country, resulting in the domestic power being controlled by the "Six Secretaries of the Jin State", which led to the follow-up "Six Secretaries of Internal Fighting" and "Three Divisions".

In the early days of Qi Jinggong's reign, Qi Jinggong was controlled by the secretary of power, and with the help of Yan Zi (Yan Ying) and other virtuous ministers, Qi Jinggong regained royal power and gradually led Qi to catch up with the two great powers of Jin and Chu.

The Jin Qi Alliance, that is, occurred at the critical moment when the Jin State was about to decline and the Qi State was about to rise, when the Jin State saw that Qi Jinggong had regained the royal power, and did not want the latter to intervene in the war between the Jin and Chu countries, so it formed an alliance with the Qi State; At that time, the Duke of Qi Jing had just regained royal power, and the throne was not yet secure, so he readily agreed to an alliance with the Jin state.

According to Zhao's father, the Jin-Qi alliance was a major event that happened in the Central Plains countries at that time, which attracted the attention of the whole world.

However, in less than two hundred years, the Central Plains has undergone tremendous changes, first of all, the former overlord Jin State, which was divided by Wei, Han, and Zhao, and the former Jiang surnamed Qi State was also replaced by the Tian Qi State, and even the Chu State, which was once strong enough to compete with the Jin State, also rapidly declined in less than two hundred years.

In this way, it is also strange that Master Zhao sighed with emotion when he mentioned this history.

"What about Yu Boguo? Could it be that it was destroyed by the Jin State or the Qi State? Meng Zhong asked curiously, because the land he called Zhen was quite desolate.

Master Zhao laughed dryly twice when he heard this: "Hmm...... It was attacked and killed by my Zhao State. ”

According to Zhao's father, in the early days after the three families were divided, Zhao, Wei, and Han were still harmonious internally, so the three kingdoms were all committed to external expansion, and Yu Boguo was destroyed by Zhao during this period.

It was after Zhao destroyed Yu Boguo that Zhao's territory further bordered Qi, and then the grievances between Zhao and Qi began.

During the conversation, Zhao's father and his party arrived in Juxian County.

Although it is said to be Juan County, in the eyes of Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others, it is just a desolate and dilapidated abandoned city, but according to the little fires from the direction of Ju County, it can be seen that there are still people living in the ruins of this ancient city, so Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others decided to exchange some food with each other.

Considering that there were still Niu Qian's pursuers behind them, in fact, Meng Zhong and the others did not dare to stay in Juxian for a long time, but the problem was that they did not carry any cooking utensils with them, even if they exchanged rice and grain from the people of Juxian County, there was no way to cook it, so they decided to stay outside Juxian for a while.

After the discussion, Meng Sui, Xiang Yi and others took more than a dozen Xinwei soldiers on war horses to go to Juan County together.

Vaguely, Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others vaguely saw that a lot of torches suddenly appeared on the side of the county, and even some frightened shouts, fortunately, these abnormal noises quickly quieted down, otherwise, Meng Zhong and Pang Xuan would probably be worried that there were cavalry under Niu Jian in ambush in that area.

Fortunately, it was just a false alarm, and the movement in Juxian County quickly calmed down, and immediately, Meng Sui rode back to surrender to Lord Zhao's father.

As Meng Zhong and Pang Xuan guessed, the civilians on the other side of the county were initially alarmed by the sound of horses' hooves of Meng Sui, Xiang Yi and others, and mistakenly thought that they were robbers, or soldiers pretending to be robbers came to loot.

In addition, Meng Sui also conveyed their requests or requests to Lord Zhao's father on behalf of the people of Juxian County.

After all, they heard that there were nearly 200 soldiers in Zhao's father's party, and 200 soldiers who had experienced a hundred battles were enough to slaughter all the people in this county and township.

In this regard, Master Zhao naturally has no opinions.

While waiting for the people of Juan County to cook rice, Ju Xin, Zhao Hao, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu and others rode horses to watch the wind in the vicinity, vigilant against the pursuers under Niu Qian's command.

The sky was pitiful, until the people of Juxian County sent the cooked rice outside the county to let Lord Zhao's father share it with his heart, and the cavalry under Niu Jian did not appear.

In order to save time, Meng Zhong ordered the soldiers to grab a few handfuls of rice and knead them into rice balls, which were convenient for eating during the march, and they soon left Juxian.

What they didn't know was that only half an hour after they left Juxian County, Zhang Ji, the lineman under Niu Jian's command, led a thousand cavalry to the area of Juxian County.

"Report! According to the people of the county, a group of soldiers had indeed passed through the area a few moments earlier, exchanging cloth coins for some food. ”

When the cavalry under his command reported this information to Zhang Ji, Zhang Ji frowned and did not speak.

On the side, some of his subordinates said in surprise: "Sima, presumably that is the remnants of the rebel army led by Pang Xuan, Meng Zhong and others." ”

"Rebel remnants ......"

Zhang Ji let out a long breath, and a few traces of complexity flashed in his eyes.

According to Niu Qian's explanation to the cavalry under his command, after the defeat of the traitor Gongzi Zhang, Pang Xuan and Meng Zhong, the two rebel generals under the command of Gongzi Zhang, were unwilling to be defeated, and hijacked Zhao's father and escaped from the Dune Palace, and what Niu Jian had to do was to kill Pang Xuan, Meng Zhong and other rebels, and rescue Zhao's father back to the Dune Palace.

Most of the cavalry under Niu Qian's command were convinced of such an explanation, but Zhang Ji knew that this was not true.

You must know that Zhang Ji was sent by Niu Jian to Meng Zhong to assist Meng Zhong's army in besieging Handan, during that period, Zhang Ji was treated favorably by Meng Zhong, and the two got along quite well, and also learned a lot of things from Meng Zhong's mouth.

For example, Meng Zhong's identity, he is not a general under Gongzi Zhang at all, but like Pang Xuan, he is the most trusted guard Sima of Zhao's father, in other words, there is no such thing as "Pang Xuan and Meng Zhong hijacked Zhao's father and fled", on the contrary, Pang Xuan and Meng Zhong protected Zhao's father from escaping from the Dune Palace in order to avoid Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui, Niu Jian and others.

In other words, it was their boss Niu Jian who really made a "rebellious" move, not Pang Xuan, Meng Zhong and others.

Considering that Niu Qian's order to him was to kill Pang Xuan, Meng Zhong and others, leaving none of them - not even Master Zhao's father, Zhang Ji didn't want to bump into Meng Zhong and his party in his heart.

Because of this, he tied all the 1,000 cavalry under his command to his side, and did not allow them to pursue each other, otherwise, if he divided the cavalry under his command into ten hundred-man teams and pursued Zhao's father and his party non-stop, I am afraid that Zhao's father and his party would have been caught up by him as soon as they arrived in Juxian County.

For example, at this moment, even though he knew that Master Zhao, Pang Xuan, Meng Zhong and others were in front, Zhang Ji deliberately ordered his cavalry to stay in Juan County, the purpose was naturally to allow Master Zhao's party to take the opportunity to escape further.

But the problem is that the sky is about to brighten, and once it is dawn, Zhang Ji will have no reason to deliberately delay, so he can only honestly lead his troops to catch up, and once he catches up with Master Zhao's party......

Shaking his head, Zhang Ji put the cranky thoughts in his heart behind.

So far, he can only pray that Lord Zhao, Meng Zhong and others will escape from this place quickly.

After a while, the sky gradually brightened, and Zhang Ji, who had no reason to deliberately delay, had no choice but to order the cavalry under his command to continue to chase forward.

At the same time, Master Zhao's father and his party were still on their way to flee south.

At this time, the sequelae of their escape by jumping into the river finally broke out gradually, so that many Xinwei soldiers developed fever, nausea, general weakness and other symptoms.

This is also a helpless thing, after all, in order to escape, they once jumped into the icy river, and then in order to escape the pursuers, they ran in the cold wind in wet clothes and armor for a while, even if the soldiers did not notice the abnormality at that time, but it was inevitable that there was still a cold air forced into the human body.

"Poof."

During the march, several of the Shin Guard soldiers fell to the snow without warning.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong hurriedly stepped forward to check the physical condition of the Xinwei soldiers, as he guessed, this was a symptom of contracting wind and cold.

In all fairness, the symptoms of contracting the wind and cold are not serious, as long as you find a safe place to rest for a few days, with the physique of these Xinwei soldiers, they can basically be cured.

But the question is, how can they have time to find a safe place for these soldiers to recuperate?

"Sima, if it's not in the way, we can still hold on."

Under Meng Zhong's concerned gaze, the Xinwei soldiers struggled to their feet and continued to hurry.

Watching them staggering and continuing to hurry, Meng Zhong felt quite uncomfortable in his heart.

Because he knew very well that they could not delay for the sake of individual soldiers, but if they forcibly asked these soldiers who were infected with the wind and cold to continue to travel with the army, it would undoubtedly force them to their death.

He found Pang Xuan and discussed countermeasures with the latter.

"It's not a way to go on like this, and many soldiers are infected with wind and cold......"

"I know what you're trying to say, but how can I slow down my trip now?"

“…… At least, at least entrust these soldiers to the nearby towns......" Meng Zhong made his request.

It's not that Pang Xuan is ruthless, after all, the most important thing at the moment is to protect Master Zhao's father from Zhao State, not to mention that some Xinwei soldiers are infected with wind cold, even if Meng Zhong is infected with wind cold, if necessary, Pang Xuan will also give up Meng Zhong and choose Master Zhao's father - this point, Meng Zhong is also clear.

However, Meng Zhong couldn't abandon the Xinwei soldiers who had followed him all the way here, and he couldn't bear to watch them drag their sick bodies and continue to hurry, until they finally became ill and died on the way.

"We have to figure out where to settle these soldiers......

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong summoned Hua Hu and Mu Wu and ordered them to ride their horses and take a step forward to see if there were any suitable places nearby, such as mountain villages, townships, or something.

Luck was not bad, and after walking about ten miles further, Hua Hu and Mu Wu found a small mountain village in that area, and there were only about ten households in the whole village.

Meng Zhong personally explained to the old man of the village: "We are the guards of Lord Zhao's father, who fled here to escape the persecution of the rebels, and unfortunately some soldiers contracted the wind and cold on the way, so I implore Guizhuang to take care of these soldiers on my behalf. ”

Probably because Meng Zhong had nearly two hundred Xinwei soldiers around him, although the old people in the village were reluctant, they did not dare to refuse.

However, after Meng Zhong and the others pooled the money and handed over two sharp swords as payment, the village finally agreed to take care of the dozen or so Xinwei soldiers who were infected with the wind and cold.

In order to ensure the safety of the dozen or so Xinwei soldiers who were infected with wind and cold, Meng Zhong left three additional asymptomatic soldiers to prevent the people in that village from repeating.

Subsequently, after instructing those soldiers to recuperate one by one, Meng Zhong took Master Zhao and others back on the road.

However, in just half a day, more than 20 soldiers developed fever, vomiting, dizziness and other symptoms, and unfortunately, there was no populated village nearby.

In desperation, Meng Zhong could only settle these two dozen soldiers in the nearby mountains and forests, and sent three additional healthy soldiers to take care of them.

After a few similar things happened, there were only a few or so Xinwei soldiers left around Master Zhao's father.

What's worse is that on the night of the same day, Le Xu, Xiang Yu, and the rest of the dozen or so Xinwei soldiers also had similar symptoms.

In desperation, Meng Zhong had no choice but to summon his uncle Meng Hu, hoping that Meng Hu would take Le Xu, Xiang Yi and a dozen other Xinwei soldiers to find a place to recuperate in the vicinity first, and then find a way to escape back to the Song Kingdom after the condition of Le Xu, Xiang Yi and others stabilized.

In order to ensure the safety of Meng Hu, Le Xu, Xiang Yi and the remaining dozen or so Xinwei soldiers, Meng Zhong left them five healthy Xinwei soldiers, which made it possible for Master Zhao to set off again that night, and there were only about 20 people left around him.

Because of these things, Pang Xuan was a little dissatisfied with Meng Zhong, because in Pang Xuan's opinion, the top priority at present was to ensure the safety of Master Zhao's father, but unfortunately, even though he was dissatisfied with the departure of those healthy Xinwei soldiers, none of the Xinwei soldiers obeyed his orders.

In contrast, Master Zhao's attitude is very optimistic, in Master Zhao's opinion, if they are destined to be found by the cavalry under Niu Jian this time, there are more than forty Xin Guards by their side, or only two dozen Xin Wei soldiers by their side, is there any difference between this?

On the contrary, after the number of people decreased, the rest of the people all had war horses, which only increased the speed.

Seeing that Master Zhao's father said so, Pang Xuan naturally didn't want to say anything.

On the ninth day of the first month of November, the third day after successfully escaping from the Dune Palace, Master Zhao took Meng Zhong, Le Yi, Meng Sui, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu, Pang Xuan, Ji Xin, Zhao Hao and the rest of the two dozen Xinwei soldiers and soldiers to flee quickly in the direction of Gaotangyi on horseback.

Unfortunately, in the afternoon, they were overtaken by a thousand cavalry led by Zhang Ji.

I have to say that Zhang Ji was also very surprised at that time, because he had deliberately slowed down the march of the cavalry under his command in the past two days, and deliberately took them around in a place where it was impossible to hide people, but even so, they still caught up with Master Zhao, Meng Zhong and his party - he didn't know that in order to settle those soldiers who were infected with wind and cold, Meng Zhong and others also wasted a lot of time.

Now that he saw it, Zhang Ji naturally couldn't deliberately delay any longer, so he could only order the pursuit.

And Master Zhao, Meng Zhong and others, of course, would not be captured, so one side fled, the other side chased, and two groups of men and horses fled and pursued on this flat snowy land.

It's a pity that there are only thirty people, naturally can't outrun a thousand cavalry, and after chasing for nearly half a day, the cavalry under Zhang Ji's command bit Zhao's father and his party.

What's even worse is that the war horse on the way to Lord Zhao's father died of exhaustion on the way.

When he was helpless, Meng Zhong protected Master Zhao and hid in a forest not far away.

Soon, the cavalry under Zhang Ji surrounded the forest, and Zhang Ji personally led about 300 soldiers into the forest to search for the traces of Zhao's father and others.

In order to deceive the pursuers, Meng Zhong and the others gave up their war horses and let the two dozen war horses gallop towards the east.

But unfortunately, although this move deceived many cavalry under Zhang Ji's command, it didn't seem to have been able to fool Zhang Ji himself, only to see him turn over and dismount, carefully check the footprints on the snow, and then, his eyes looked at the location where Master Zhao and others were hiding.

What's worse is that because he has been starving for the past two days, there was a gurgling sound in Menghu's stomach, which immediately attracted Zhang Ji's attention.

"Wait here."

After instructing the guards around him to stand by, Zhang Ji walked in the direction where the voice came from, and saw Master Zhao, Meng Zhong, and Pang Xuan hiding behind the tree at a glance.

At that time, Pang Xuan had already pulled out half of the saber on his waist, trying to hold Zhang Ji hostage and take the opportunity to help Master Zhao escape, but Meng Zhong held the sword in his hand, because Meng Zhong knew that Zhang Ji's own martial arts were not weak, even if it was Pang Xuan, it would be difficult to control Zhang Ji with one move at this time, but it would cause the ideas of those nearby cavalry.

Shaking his head at Pang Xuan, Meng Zhong turned his head to look at Zhang Ji and exchanged eyes with Zhang Ji.

Glancing at Meng Zhong, and then at Master Zhao, who was protected by Meng Zhong and Pang Xuan, Zhang Ji hesitated, lowered his voice and said, "General Niu has set up a heavy defense in the area of Gaotangyi. ”

After that, he turned around and left under the shocked gaze of Master Zhao and Pang Xuan, and shouted: "The remnants of the rebel army seem to have fled to the east, hurry up and pursue!" ”

Under Zhang Ji's order, more than 100 cavalrymen who were still searching in this area immediately heard the news and chased after them to the east.

After waiting for Zhang Ji and the others to leave, Master Zhao and his party walked out of the hiding place, and at this time, Pang Xuan asked Meng Zhongdao in surprise: "Do you have an old relationship with that horseman?" ”

"Let's just sort of be a little bit of a friendship." Meng Zhong nodded, and immediately explained to Master Zhao: "When Niu Jian helped Anyang Jun attack Handan, Anyang Jun asked Niu Jian to divide his troops to help me and Brother Pang Xuan, at that time, Niu Jian sent two Sima to assist me, and the cavalry general was Zhang Ji, who was sent by Niu Jian to help me, this person was after Dr. Jin released Zhang, he was bold and affectionate, and he got along with me quite well at that time......

"I see." Master Zhao nodded suddenly, and praised Zhengse: "He is indeed a righteous man!" ”

After walking out of the woods along the way, Meng Hu suddenly saw that something seemed to have fallen on the snow, and when he stepped forward to take a look, he found that it was a few bags of dry food, and he said happily: "Haha, this cavalry walked in a hurry, and even the dry food was accidentally dropped." ”

"Did you really fall by accident?"

Meng Zhong, who smiled slightly, turned his head to look in the direction where Zhang Ji and the others left, and secretly sighed in his heart.

He knew that he owed Zhang Ji a great favor today.

Although the war horse was lost because of Zhang Ji's pursuit, but fortunately, there was a false alarm, and a lot of dry food for Zhang Ji's cavalry "accidentally fell", Zhao's father and his party simply ate in this wood, and then continued to flee south.

In fact, they were not far from Gaotangyi at the moment, but considering that Zhang Ji had warned them that the area around Gaotangyi had been heavily defended by Niu Qian, Master Zhao, Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others decided to bypass Gaotang to the west and go straight to the river.

However, at dawn the next day, just as Lord Zhao and his party were trying to bypass Gao Tangyi, endless cavalry appeared in front of them.

Seeing this, Pang Xuan scolded angrily: "Damn! That Zhang Ji deceived me and waited! ”

"No!" Master Zhao shook his head and said, "That Zhang Ji is indeed a righteous man, if he wants to catch me and others, he can do it last night." And these cavalry must be the cavalry under Niu Qian's command, I think it was someone under Zhang Ji who reported our whereabouts last night to Niu Qian, so that Niu Jian led the army to surround here. …… This is something that Zhang Ji can't stop. ”

"So what now?" Pang Xuan asked in a low voice.

"Now?" Master Zhao snorted lightly and said in a deep voice: "If you don't want to be captured, then you can only break through desperately......"

With that, he drew the sword at his waist and walked slowly towards the oncoming cavalry.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others also drew their swords one after another and followed closely behind Master Zhao's father.

At this time, the hundreds of oncoming cavalry had been divided into two groups, one left and one right, and surrounded Zhao Zhufu and his party, led by two cavalry generals who slowly moved forward, one of whom did not seem to be from the Central Plains.

"Hu Qi?"

Lord Zhao's eyes lit up when he saw this, and he shouted in Hu language: "I am the king of Zhao State, Zhao Yong!" Do you want to be my enemy?! ”

Immediately, the cavalry general who didn't look like a person from the Central Plains was stunned when he heard this, stepped forward, and asked Master Zhao in Hu with a look of surprise: "You are the king of the south?" ”

Immediately, after being confirmed by Master Zhao's father, he shouted loudly in Hu language.

In an instant, the nearby Hu cavalry also shouted in unison.

"What are they shouting?" Meng Zhong asked Lord Zhao curiously.

I saw Master Zhao smiling arrogantly and explained: "Most of the Hu people don't know about the Central Plains, and mistakenly think that my Zhao Kingdom is the only country in their south, so they call me the 'God King of the South'. At the end, he couldn't help but laugh himself.

Meng Zhong was quite surprised, turned his head to look at the Hu cavalry general, but saw that the Zhao general beside him had said something to him with an excited expression, but as a result, he was severely slapped in the face by the Hu cavalry with a horsewhip.

Ignoring the Zhao horseman who scolded angrily and rushed away, during which he shouted loudly to gather the cavalry under his command, the Hu man rode his horse to Zhao's father, turned over and dismounted, stroked his chest with his right hand, lowered his head, and said in a deep voice in a slightly stiff Zhao Chinese dialect: "The god king of the south, who is greater than the king of Linhu, Anouf is willing to lead the warriors to fight for you!" ”

"Good!"

Master Zhao turned over and stepped onto Anufu's mount, and shouted loudly in Hu language: "Niu Jian has betrayed my trust, he is no longer a warrior of my Zhao country, but a shameful traitor, the warriors of Lin Hu, help me kill all those who betrayed me!" ”

"Oh-"

Hundreds of nearby Linhu cavalry brandished their swords and shouted loudly.

Seeing this scene, Meng Zhong and Pang Xuan looked at each other.

Although they had long known that Master Zhao had immeasurable prestige in the hearts of alien races such as Lin Hu, Lou Fu, and the Xiongnu, they never thought that with the name "Zhao Yong" alone, Master Zhao could rebel against these Hu cavalry under Niu Qian's command.

At this time, Niu Qian, the general of Zhao State, was leading a large group of cavalry to gallop here......