In late February of the seventh year of the reign of King Wei of Wei, the Battle of the West River broke out between the three kingdoms of Qin, Wei and Han, and in just half a month, the scale of the battle between the Qin army and the Wei and Han coalition forces quickly expanded from a small-scale engagement of several hundred people to a fierce battle of about 10,000 people, and even in Linjin and Zheng County, a battle of crossing the river broke out with a scale of more than 10,000 people, and the Qin army tried to break through from Linjin into Hedong County of Wei and forced the Wei army to submit; The Wei army tried to break through into Xihe County from Zheng County and Yin Jin, on the one hand, threatening Xianyang, and on the other hand, cutting off the return route of the Qin army from the Linjin Dynasty.

At almost every moment, there was a battle between the Qin army and the Wei and Han coalition forces in this land, and they won and lost each other.

At this time, there were about 60,000 Wei troops on this battlefield, including about 30,000 troops led by Sun Zhi, the former defender of Hedong, and more than 30,000 troops under the command of Storm Kite, totaling about 100,000.

However, this force did not have an advantage at all in the face of the Qin army.

Just like what the Marquis Wei Ran said a while ago when he was 'intimidating' Meng Zhong and others, in the face of the national disaster, the Qin State did break out a terrible conscription speed, from last winter to the beginning of spring this year, the Qin State successively recruited troops reached 50,000 people, of course, most of them are Qin civilians, slaves, and alien soldiers like the Yiqu people, in general, the combat effectiveness is uneven, and sometimes in the face of the Wei and Han coalition forces can also play a combat effectiveness that shocks the enemy, but more than half of the time it is inevitable to be defeated by the Wei and Han coalition forces.

This is also something that cannot be helped, after all, the training of this batch of Qin recruits is too hasty, and they are simply sent to the battlefield immediately after being taught how to use weapons.

As the so-called knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent and not being defeated in a hundred battles, commanding such an army of good and bad, Qin generals such as Sima Cuo, Bai Qi, Xiang Shou, and Huayang Jun Qirong all felt very troubled, because they could not accurately estimate the exact combat effectiveness of the army under their command, so it was difficult to formulate matching tactics.

But even so, the Qin army, which has more than 150,000 people, will not be underestimated.

What's more, the 150,000-strong Qin army was not the bottom line of the Qin state, and the Qin state was still mobilizing troops and recruiting new soldiers from all over the country under its rule.

After all, the Wei-Han coalition army under the overall command of Meng Zhong at this moment, that is, the Hedong Army, the Han Army, and the Fangcheng Army are almost all elite with rich combat experience, and the problem is that the ants bite the elephant to death, and the Qin State recruited a huge number of recruits to fight against the Wei-Han coalition army, which caused the Wei-Han coalition army to fall into a bitter battle every time because of the disparity in strength between the two sides, and even suffered more casualties than expected.

In this case, Meng Zhong could only take a defensive position for the time being, waiting for reinforcements from Wei and Han.

In mid-March, at the recommendation of the Minister of State Gong Zhongmin, Han Wangji once again worshipped his younger brother Gong Zhongxuan as a general, and sent the latter to lead troops to reinforce Yin Jin.

In this matter, Gong Zhongxuan was originally reluctant to accept it, because he had sworn not to be used by King Han for the rest of his life, but his brother Gong Zhongmin said: "Yun Chengjun is your friend, don't you want to help him?" What's more, now is the time for me to employ people in South Korea, if you can help the king regardless of your previous suspicions, then if you have any requirements in the future, the king may also look at your merits and open the net. …… Think about the lice boy, and then think about the young boy, do you want to watch the old lord not be able to return to his homeland for the rest of his life? ”

The little boy in his mouth, that is, the son of the lice son, Han Fei.

After hearing this, Gong Zhong asked his brother suspiciously: "Yun Chengjun is my fellow friend and dear friend, and since he needs help, I am naturally willing to help him...... Brother, can you really convince King Han to welcome back the father and son of the lice? ”

Gong Zhongmin thought for a while and said, "You can try it for your brother." ”

Hearing this, Gong Zhong pondered for a moment and finally accepted the condition.

A few days later, Gong Zhongxuan led 20,000 Han troops straight to Yin Jin.

Mo felt that South Korea was stingy, and only sent a mere 20,000 people to reinforce Yin Jin, which was also a helpless thing, after all, at the beginning of the Battle of Yiyang more than 20 years ago, South Korea was defeated in the war to resist the invasion of Qin, and lost many troops every year.

Of course, this refers to the South Korean army in Henan, and in Hebei, that is, in South Korea's Shangdang County, South Korea has several armies of quite objective numbers, totaling about 30,000 or 40,000 people.

In accordance with the order of Han Wangjiao, this Shangdang Han army of about 30,000 or 40,000 people left 5,000 troops to garrison the Changzicheng to guard against Zhao, and the rest of the troops were transferred to Wusui and Linfen, and then entered Hedong County of Wei in the southwest direction to help Hedong County defend the front line against the invasion of the Qin army.

At the same time, the Wei army in Hanoi under the command of Sima Zhai Zhang of Wei also quickly moved westward, except for the Wei general Tang Zhi who continued to guard Yecheng to prevent Zhao from taking advantage of the situation, the rest of the military horses of the local garrisons such as Jiaoge led their troops to reinforce Hedong County.

It is no exaggeration to say that not only was the Qin state gradually waging a war of alluring the country, but Wei and Han were also trying their best to mobilize all the armies at their disposal and gather these armies in Hedong County.

It is worth mentioning that during this period, the envoys of Wei and Han also sent envoys to the Western Zhou State and the Eastern Zhou State, hoping that the two Zhou States would send troops to assist - it does not matter how many troops they sent, the key is the name.

To tell the truth, in fact, if there was no coercion from Qin and Korea, in fact, these two Zhou states would not want to participate in the war between the vassal states, after all, these two countries are fighting each other internally because of the 'orthodoxy' issue, how can they have spare time to take care of the affairs of the princes? - The point is that I can't manage it.

However, due to the compulsion of the envoys of Wei and Han, the two Zhou states of Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou did not dare to disobey, and reluctantly sent an army of about 3,000 people. In late March, Erzhou's army, together with the 20,000 Han troops led by Gong Zhongxuan, arrived in Yin Jin.

Meng Zhong was very happy that Gong Zhong Hao led the army to help, not to mention his friendship with Gong Zhong Hao for the time being, you must know that Gong Zhong Lu himself is a genius who can lead the army on the outside and govern the country with worship on the inside, and even his brother, that is, Gong Zhong Min, the Minister of South Korea, has repeatedly admitted that his talent is not as good as his younger brother.

"How could Sir come with Erzhou's army?"

After the greetings, Meng Zhong asked in surprise.

Gong Zhong smiled extravagantly and said, "I happened to meet on the way, so I came to help." You'd better not expect them to help you, though......"

Meng Zhong nodded.

Of course, he understood that the army in the past two weeks was mainly to play a justifiable crusade against the Qin State.

Aside from the role of the name, the thousands of troops sent in the second week alone really couldn't really help in this big war, to be honest.

After thinking about it, Meng Zhong asked Gong Zhong extravagantly: "Erzhou, have you ever written any text condemning the Qin State?" ”

"I knew you would ask." Gong Zhong smiled extravagantly, took out a copy of the document from his bosom and handed it to Meng Zhong.

Meng Zhong spread it out and looked at it carefully, but he was not very satisfied.

How to say it, it may be that they didn't want to offend the Qin State too much for two weeks, so that the essay they wrote against Qin looked soft and had no momentum at all.

For example, Qin Feiren, the ancestor of Qin, was just a groom who raised horses for the king of Zhou, and was fortunate to be canonized as a vassal state because he was rewarded by the king of Zhou, but after the Zhou royal family was weak and the Qin state rose up, the Qin state not only did not help the Zhou royal family Kuang Fu Sheji, but even tried in vain to claim the emperor and want to replace the Zhou royal family, which is actually a thief who is evil all over the world.

This is the general meaning, but it is also mixed with many modal words and accusations and humiliations against the Qin state.

At that time, when Meng Zhong was writing, Gong Zhong Xuan stood by and watched, looking at it, cold sweat oozed from Gong Zhongxuan's forehead.

In general, this article is gorgeous and high-sounding, but if you take a closer look, in fact, the whole article is insulting to the Qin State, and the words are so sharp that Gong Zhongxuan can't help but secretly worry about the Qin people - the monarchs and ministers of the Qin State are afraid that they will die of anger on the spot when they see this article?

After smacking his lips and thinking for a long time, Gong Zhong praised vaguely: "It's well written...... Well, it's very sharp, as if it is a sharp blade that can kill people together, and it is worthy of being a disciple taught by a saint......"

Hearing this, Meng Zhong himself read the entire text he had written, and immediately said: "Please don't spread the word to Brother Gongzhong, I don't want my teacher's reputation to be damaged......

Seeing that Meng Zhong was a little worried, Gong Zhong laughed extravagantly, grabbed the article and pondered it carefully.

That night, Meng Zhong invited two generals of the Zhou State to a banquet, one he did not recognize, and the other he recognized, it was the Eastern Zhou State Grand Sima and Zhou Zu who fought against the Qin army with his Wei and Han coalition forces during the Battle of Yique that year.

may be because of the relationship that once fought side by side, Zhou Zu behaved quite familiarly in front of Meng Zhong, as if he had a friendship with Meng Zhong for several years.

But in fact, Meng Zhong had seen him, but Zhou Zu had never even seen Meng Zhong - because in the early days of the Battle of Yique, Meng Zhong was only a division commander under Gongsun Xi, how could he have a chance to meet Zhou Zu? Later, after Bai Qi broke through the Wei and Han armies, the army of the Eastern Zhou State was also defeated on the whole line because of the impact, and the Zhou Dynasty fled back to the Eastern Zhou State because the general trend had gone.

Interestingly, it was that everyone in the Eastern Zhou State was in danger, and Han Zu fled back to China to discuss with the monarch and ministers how to win the forgiveness of the Qin State, but they did not expect that they had not yet discussed a specific solution, but Meng Zhong turned the tide in Yique and prevented the rout of the Wei and Han coalition forces.

The Eastern Zhou Kingdom, therefore, escaped a catastrophe and was never settled by the Qin State after the autumn.

Of course, although he has never met Meng Zhong in person, Zhou Zu is no stranger to Meng Zhong's reputation, and Zhou Zu also knows that Meng Zhong will definitely be Zhai Zhang's successor in the future, with superior ability and transcendent status, just like Pang Juan during the reign of King Wei Hui.

And in the face of Zhou Zu's efforts to win over and show goodwill, Meng Zhong did not refuse, after all, the Eastern Zhou State could not pose any threat to Wei and Han in the first place, and secondly, this world, nominally after all, is still the world of the Zhou State, and it will definitely not be wrong to have a good relationship with the Eastern Zhou State.

After getting close to Zhou Zu politely, Meng Zhong took out the essay he had written to discuss Qin, and said to Zhou Zu with a smile: "If Da Sima can announce the world in the name of Zhou Guo, it will be a great help." ”

Zhou Zu curiously took the text and looked at it twice, even though he was gasped by the gorgeous rhetoric and sharp insults in the text, he asked Meng Zhong in surprise: "I don't know which gentleman's handwriting is this text?" ”

Hearing this, Gong Zhong, who was also at the banquet, snorted and laughed, ready to see how Meng Zhong answered.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong did not hesitate to 'betray' Gong Zhong's extravagance: "It was written by Mr. Gong Zhong. ”

Hearing this, Zhou Zu immediately respected Gong Zhong's extravagance: "It turned out to be Mr. Gong Zhong......"

"No, it's not me, I don't have ......"

Gong Zhong's eyes widened, and he was so angry at Meng Zhong's shameless behavior that he was speechless.

Of course, this was just a mutual tease between friends, and in the end, Meng Zhong and Gong Zhong Xuan still insisted that it was written by a certain 'anonymous person'.

In fact, who wrote this article, Zhou Zu didn't care at all, what he cared about, the words of this article against Qin were too sharp, if he announced it on behalf of the Eastern Zhou State, it was very likely to be targeted by the Qin State, but after thinking about it, Zhou Zu was not good at directly rejecting Meng Zhong, after all, the current momentum of the Wei and Han coalition forces was actually not inferior to the Qin State.

After thinking about it, Zhou Zu said to Meng Zhong in private: "If your country is willing to recognize my Gongcheng as the orthodoxy of the Zhou State, support the (Eastern) Zhou Duke to welcome back the king from Luoyang (Western Zhou State), and help my Zhou State attack the pseudo-Zhou, my Zhou State is willing to publish this document to the world on behalf of your country." ”

As soon as Meng Zhong was about to speak, he noticed that Gong Zhong Hao shook his head slightly at him, and said to Zhou Zu: "Let me think about it." ”

Afterwards, Meng Zhong and Gong Zhong discussed it extravagantly.

After all, the two Zhou states think that they are orthodox and compete with each other for the king of Zhou, so naturally they have no leisure to interfere in the affairs of the vassal states of the Central Plains.

Meng Zhong suddenly realized, and immediately asked Gong Zhong extravagantly: "Then what about this article?" ”

"It's easy." Gong Zhong extravagantly advised: "I will go to see the Zhou Cheng of the Western Zhou Kingdom, and tell him the original words of Zhou Zu, if the Western Zhou Kingdom does not want me to help the Eastern Zhou State, then help me wait for this article to be published." …… I'll take care of that. ”

Meng Zhong nodded: "Then please sir." ”

The next afternoon, Zhou Zu of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and Zhou Cheng of the Western Zhou Dynasty each promised to help Meng Zhong publish this article, as for the condition, that is, the two Zhou states did not want Wei and Han to interfere in their internal affairs in the future.

Of course, there is no problem with this, Meng Zhong should take a bite.

I have to say that under the impetus of the two Zhou Kingdoms, this article quickly spread throughout the Yin and Jin regions, and during this period, it also reached the ears of Wei Ran, the Marquis of Yin and Jin, who remained in the Yin and Jin Dynasty at this time.

Wei Ran managed to get a complete article, and after taking a closer look, his scalp was tingling in shock.

Because in this inscription, both Zhou states recognized that the actions of the Five Nations Alliance and the Wei and Han armies in crusading against the Qin State were righteous acts, and his Qin State's resistance and resistance instead became the 'stubborn resistance' of the emperor, putting aside some of the humiliating words in it, Wei Ran was keenly aware that this inscription would seriously affect the determination and will of his Qin people to defend the country.

"This Meng Zhong ......"

Wei Ran immediately sent someone to send the inscription in his hand to Liyang, and asked Bai Qi to send someone to transfer it to Xianyang, and asked Xianyang to find a way to write a manuscript condemning Wei and Han in turn.

In fact, Wei Ran originally planned to write it himself, and he was ready to target the key figure of the Wei and Han coalition forces from the beginning, Yuncheng Jun Meng Zhong, but after thinking about Meng Zhong's mentorship carefully, Wei Ran was immediately confused.

The disciples of Taoism, Ming, and Confucianism are under the tutelage of Zhuang Zhou, Hui Shi, and Meng Ke......

You're ...... It's not easy to splash sewage.

In case the children of the three families of Taoism, Confucianism, and Confucianism stand up together to denounce him......

After thinking about it, Wei Ran finally decided to throw this problem to Xianyang and give Xianyang a headache, in contrast, he felt that it was better to step up negotiations with people from all sides: on the one hand, he persuaded Meng Zhong and other Wei and Han generals to compromise, and asked Meng Zhong to resign from the post of Hedong Shou, so that the three kingdoms of Qin, Wei and Han could return to the time when they could sit down and negotiate well; On the other hand, they stepped up their efforts to persuade Li Dui, Tian Touch, and Le Yi to drive a wedge between the three armies of Zhao, Qi, and Yan and the two armies of Wei and Han.

A few days later, this text was sent by Wei Ran's henchmen to Liyang and to Bai Qi.

After a cursory look, he sneered at the guard Sima Jin: "This article must have come from the handwriting of Meng Zhong's wife. …… How dare you use such cruel words to humiliate me Daqin in two weeks? ”

Sima Jin nodded, and then said angrily: "That Meng Zhong humiliated my Great Qin so much, the national lieutenant should fight back!" ”

Fight back?

Write an article of condemnation against Wei and South Korea and against Meng Zhong?

After pondering for a while, Bai Qi finally gave up, he wanted to write an essay to scold Meng Zhong, even if he was just scolding and playing with him, he was happy, the problem was that he was powerless - with Meng Zhong's passionate Zhu Wenming in front, how could he be embarrassed to expose his literary talent?

There's no way, it's true that Meng Zhong is better than him, and he can write anything at his fingertips - this is the only thing he admits is inferior to Meng Zhong.

A few days later, the article was sent to Xianyang.

Sure enough, the monarchs and ministers of the Qin State were furious and immediately wrote a-for-tat article.

Interestingly, the monarchs and ministers of the Qin State scolded Meng Zhong, who was not a bluffer, so they simply targeted Zhai Zhang, Gongsun Zhu, and Violent Kite, especially Zhai Zhang, who was angry and scolded Zhai Zhang after seeing the article, and was actually ready to kill Xianyang at the age of nearly seventy, which frightened Gongsun Zhu, Meng Zhong, Gongzhong Xuan and others to hurry up with good words to appease.

All in all, as of the first half of July, the Qin and Wei and Han armies condemned each other and used their own troops, and the casualties on both sides rose sharply over the course of several months, but in order to force the other side to submit, the Qin and Wei and Han coalition forces refused to show weakness and could only hold on.

On the fifth day of the seventh month, Meng Zhong decided to personally direct a long-distance attack to break the stalemate.

At that time, he consulted with Zhai Zhang, Gongsun Zhu, Gong Zhongxuan, and Storm Kite.

“…… In the past few months, the cavalry led by Hua Hu and others has destroyed a large number of farmland in Xihe County, but because Huayang Jun Qirong garrison is in the north of Weishui, our main force is still unable to attack Xihe, and cannot really pose a threat to Xianyang. On the Yin and Jin side, I am ready to unite with Hedong to launch a forced crossing of tens of thousands of people, Fei Hui crossed out of Fengling, Liang Xi's troops came out of Puban, and the Han army of Shangdang came from Fenyin, plus our army and Dou Xing's army, and at the same time launched an attack on the river that was more than 100 miles long, as long as one broke into the West River, it could break the ......"

As he was talking, suddenly Meng Zhong's guards hurriedly walked into the house, clasped their fists and said: "Yun Jun, Daliang has sent urgent news, Qi State sent 300,000 troops to attack Song State ......"

“……”

Meng Zhong's face was full of astonishment, and he still maintained the posture of pointing to the marching map in front of him.

On the side, Zhai Zhang, Gongsun Zhu, Gong Zhongxuan and others also looked at each other.