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On July 16, the fourth day after Tengxian was captured by the Qi army, the Qi general Tian Jing led 40,000 Qi troops to the area of Qiyang, and camped about 15 miles in the northern suburbs of Qiyang City.

In the case of only fifteen miles apart, the movements of more than 40,000 people naturally can't be hidden from Qiyang City, after all, during these days, Meng Zhong will ask Meng Hu to take a team of soldiers to walk around the city from time to time to see the movements of Qi generals Tian Touch and Tian Da.

Unexpectedly, although Tian Touch and Tian Da did not move for the time being, it seemed that they had temporarily given up their plan to recover Tancheng, but they waited for Tian Jing's large Qi army.

After Meng Hu immediately told the news to the crown prince Dai Wu and Meng Zhong, Meng Zhong frowned deeply.

He asked Meng Hu, "Where did this Qi army come from?" Who is the commander of the army? ”

Meng Hu shook his head and said, "I don't know yet, but when I look at the flag, it seems to be written with the words "Zuo Sima Tian" and "Yingqiu Shoutian...... It is not clear which surname Tian is. ”

From the side, the crown prince Dai Wu interjected: "It is Tian Zhang's deputy general Tian Jing, I saw his banner when I was in Xue Yi. ”

As he spoke, he and Meng Zhong glanced at each other, and their faces showed a little sadness.

Think about it, as far as they knew before, Tian Jing was sent by Tian Zhang to attack Teng County with 80,000 Qi troops, and now, Tian Jing suddenly led half of the soldiers to reinforce the area of Qianyang, does this mean that Teng County has been lost?

"Looking at this posture, the Qi army is afraid that it is preparing to attack the Yang, do you want to recruit Uncle Ying back from the jujube forest?" Prince Dai Wu thought for a while and asked.

Meng Zhong pondered for a moment, shook his head and said: "There were originally 10,000 soldiers in the city, plus the 8,000 soldiers of each family of the patriarch of Xiao Ji, the combat strength reached 18,000 people, even if the Qi army surrounded the Yang on all sides and launched a fierce attack, it is not a problem for us to wait for a month, and there is no need for Dai (Yingzhi) Army Sima to return to help for the time being, not to mention, the lonely city is even more uncomfortable, rather than let Dai Sima return to help the Yang, and finally be forced to retreat into the city because of the Qi army's pressure, it is better to leave him outside, and it can be embarrassed to have a front and back attack...... However, when Tian Jing led the army to arrive in Qianyang, it was still necessary to send someone to inform Dai Sima as soon as possible, so that Dai Sima could be more vigilant. ”

"Hmm!"

The crown prince Dai Wu nodded, and immediately ordered the henchmen behind him to send someone to the jujube forest to convey the news to Dai Yingzhi.

And Meng Zhong, on the other hand, took Meng Hu and rode out of Qiyang City in a chariot to the garrison of Tian Jingqi's army, wanting to see the scale of the Qi army with his own eyes and guess the other party's next intentions.

After Meng Zhong, Meng Hu and the others sneaked to the garrison of Tian Jingqi's army, they stood on the chariot and looked at the Qi army in the distance.

At this time, it can be vaguely seen that those Qi soldiers are resisting the logs back to the camp from a distance, and there are signs of construction from a distance.

It's no wonder, after all, in order to ensure the vision of Qiangyang City, and at the same time make it difficult for the Qi army on the opposite side to cut down trees nearby, since Tian Zhang led the army to Dushan, Meng Zhong sent soldiers to burn all the woods around Qiangyang City, except for the area of Ridge Mountain and Longshan, the reason is very simple, because there is Qi General Tian Touch guarding in that direction, Meng Zhong does not want to fight with the Qi army in the field.

After all, some time ago, the Song army was defeated in successive battles, which caused the soldiers to be discouraged and almost unmorale, how could Meng Zhong dare to pull such a group of demoralized soldiers to fight with the Qi army with high morale?

It may be that after peeping for a long time, the Qi army on the opposite side discovered the traces of Meng Zhong, Meng Hu and others, and immediately sent a team of soldiers to expel them, so Meng Zhong retreated very well - anyway, at this distance, everything that can be snooped on has already been spied on, unless he and Meng Hu have the same excellent force as Lian Po, Niu Qian, and Teng Hu, otherwise, he does not dare to get too close to the enemy's garrison, lest he encounter accidents.

When he returned to Qiyang City, the crown prince Dai Wu was standing with Xiao Jian on the north gate of Qiyang City, and after seeing Meng Zhong return, he shouted a few words in the city and signaled Meng Zhong to climb the city tower.

Xiao Ji is the county Sima of "Xiao County" in the west of Pengcheng, the suzerain of the Xiao clan in Xiao County, and the title of the middle doctor.

A few days ago, after Xiao Jing and Dai Jing first arrived in Qiyang, Meng Zhong dealt with the two, but the result was that the young Dai Jing was too proud, so that when Meng Zhong wanted Le Yi to help him, Dai Jing's reaction was just "Since it is the prince's will, the minister will do it", which is obviously a distrust of Meng Zhong and Le Yi.

On the contrary, Xiao Ji, who was the same age as Meng Qi, the suzerain of his Meng clan, was always polite, although he called Meng Zhong a junior, but he did not mean to rely on the old and sell the old at all, so as not to make people disgusted.

It is worth mentioning that the Xiao family is a hereditary middle doctor family, while the Meng family is only a family of lower doctors, which shows that the strength of the Xiao family in Xiao County is still quite strong.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Sima Xiao."

After going up the city wall, Meng Zhong hugged his fists towards Dai Wu and Xiao Ji.

Prince Dai Wu nodded, and at the same time, Xiao Jian stroked his beard and asked Meng Zhongdao with a smile: "Meng Sima, is there anything wrong with the situation on the Qi army's side?" ”

Because Meng Zhong's position was canonized by Song Wang Yan himself, Xiao Jian called Meng Zhong with this serious military position, which was completely different from Dai Busheng and Dai Ying, who were directly called "Little Brother Meng".

Of course, Dai Busheng and Dai Yingzhi, as the only few military commanders in the Song Kingdom, do have this qualification.

Taking a sip of water from a guard behind Prince Dai Wu, Meng Zhong wiped the water stains from the corner of his mouth, and then said: "As far as I can see, the Qi army is building a camp fifteen miles away from the northern suburbs, and it seems that it is also building siege equipment, I think in three days at most, this Qi army will launch an offensive against me." ”

Hearing this, the crown prince Dai Wu sighed faintly, while Xiao Jian was silent for a while while holding his beard, and then suddenly asked, "In other words, Teng County has fallen?" ”

"Nine times out of ten." Meng Zhong nodded.

Shaking his head slightly, Xiao Jian turned to the crown prince Dai Wu and said, "Prince, since there are all kinds of signs that the Qi army is preparing to attack the Yang, then we must also prepare as soon as possible." ”

Prince Dai Wu nodded, and then glanced at Meng Zhong quietly.

Because as far as he knew, Meng Zhong and Le Yi, who had now left Qiyang, had already completed the preparations for defending the city, for example, they had prepared a large amount of wood in the city early, which could be used as firewood and as a smash wood for the besieging Qi army.

In addition, Meng Zhong also sent soldiers to collect a lot of oil in the city of Qiyang.

All in all, these meticulous preparations have already been completed by Meng Zhong and Le Yi, which is also the reason why Prince Dai Wu trusts Meng Zhong more and more: he is meticulous and very meticulous.

Seeing that the crown prince Dai Wu didn't seem to understand what he meant, Xiao Jian simply singled out and said: "Prince, the old minister refers to the matter of reorganizing the soldiers, you see the soldiers in the city, there are nearly 6,000 soldiers led by you, and there are 3,000 soldiers left behind by Dai Ying's army, plus the 8,000 children of various families headed by my Xiao family, the order is chaotic and difficult to unify the scheduling, it is better to rectify it first, which is conducive to defending the city." After a pause, he continued: "Then, select one more person as the main general, and the rest as the lower generals, so that it can be uniformly dispatched." ”

“……”

Hearing this, the crown prince Dai Wu took a deep look at Xiao Ji.

I have to say that this prince has been taught by Hui Ang since he was a teenager, and then when he was a little older, Hui Ang recommended Xue Juzhou to teach him, because he was taught by Hui Ang and Xue Juzhou for more than ten or twenty years, so that he is now over thirty years old, and even his son is eleven or twelve years old, but he still seems quite straightforward, to put it mildly, that is, no matter what he does, he is serious and follows the rules, as if he looks silly and stupid.

However, this does not mean that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is really stupid, after all, he is the prince who was taught by Hui Ang and Xue Juzhou, and he thinks that he is the "most perfect" prince - although in Meng Zhong's opinion, this Royal Highness the Crown Prince is too conformist to have any authority.

"Recommend one person to ...... as the main general"

Muttering a sentence, Prince Dai Wu suddenly smiled and asked Xiao Ji, "Then I don't know who Doctor Xiao wants?" ”

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has misunderstood."

Xiao Jian lived for such an age, how could he not know that the prince Dai Wu was a little unhappy, and immediately said: "Before the old minister led the army to reinforce the city, it was Meng Sima who assisted the prince to defend the sun, and the contribution was indispensable, of course the old minister recommended Meng Sima as the main general, how dare he have other thoughts?" It's just that the old minister is worried that Meng Sima is weak in manpower, so he wants to recommend a few young children from various families as Meng Sima's subordinates to jointly assist His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in guarding the sun. ”

"It turned out that I wanted to pave the way for the younger generations of the clan."

The crown prince Dai Wu suddenly realized, and the smile on his face suddenly became sincere.

Anyway, in his opinion, the master of the Yang must belong to Meng Zhong, after all, after this period of getting along, he can be said to have more and more admiration for Meng Zhong.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the past few days, the crown prince Dai Wu has learned a lot of knowledge about leading troops to fight from Meng Zhong, if it were not for Meng Zhong's age and his ability to convince the public for the time being, he would have the heart to worship Meng Zhong as a teacher and learn the art of war from the latter.

After all, there is the example of his father Song Wangyan in the past, and the crown prince Dai Wu believes that he, as the future monarch of the Song State, must know how to lead troops to fight - if he becomes a monarch in the future, he will not dare to face the army of the Qi State, how can he ask others to fight hard?

At this point, Dai Wu admired his father Song Wangyan very much, after all, Song Wangyan was like King Zhao Wuling of Zhao State, he was a monarch who would resolutely lead his army to fight whenever the country fell into war, very courageous, and those monarchs who would only hide in the palace and order the front-line soldiers to fight to the death.

"I see, Dr. Xiao can do this by himself, and indeed I am in urgent need of young talents."

"Thank you, Your Highness the Prince."

After some words, the crown prince Dai Wu and Xiao Jian were very satisfied.

As for Meng Zhong, he was also very happy in his heart.

It's not because he got the position of the main general, after all, as a Taoist disciple, he doesn't care much about fame and fortune, but the problem is that only by getting the position of the main general can he command and dispatch the soldiers in the city, so as not to repeat the tragedy of his own defeat caused by people's slight words in the Zhao State, and even the father of Zhao died in civil strife.

"Military Sima Mengzhong, please do your best to assist Dai Wu in guarding the sun."

After Xiao Jian left satisfied, the crown prince Dai Wu said to Meng Zhong half-jokingly.

As the crown prince of the Song State and the commander-in-chief of the front-line battlefield, the crown prince Dai Wu still has the right to promote Meng Zhong to the military commander. [Note: Jun Sima, that is, the general who commands at least one army (12,500 people), can also be called a military general.] 】

Meng Zhong smiled, and then said sincerely: "The prince's good intentions, I understand it in Xia, but I am unknown in the Song nationality, if I serve as a military commander in Xia, it will not inspire the soldiers in the city, and besides, I don't want my brother-in-law Tian Zhang to know that it is my ...... for the time being."

"I see what you mean."

The crown prince Dai Wu raised his hand to interrupt Meng Zhong's words, and Zhengse said: "I know what you said, I will come forward to motivate the soldiers in the city according to your wishes, but in Dai Wu's heart, the military Sima who forces the sun, only you Meng Zhong!" …… In this way, I will take over your military merits for the time being, and after this battle is over, I will personally show you merit in front of my father. ”

Meng Zhong was stunned, and then realized that the crown prince Dai Wu was preparing to promote himself.

He smiled and said: "The military Sima who has not yet been weakly crowned, won't it arouse the suspicion of others? ”

The crown prince Dai Wu said with a smile: "My father has always done his own thing, and as his son, I am also such a person." ”

After saying that, he patted Meng Zhong on the shoulder to show his closeness, and then said solemnly: "Dai Wu doesn't know the art of war, but he also knows that forcing the sun cannot be lost, otherwise the Qi army can drive straight into Pengcheng...... It's all up to you! ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong seemed to suddenly feel a thousand catties of heavy burden on his shoulders.

He nodded solemnly, clenched his fists and said, "Please rest assured, prince!" ”

Immediately, the crown prince Dai Wu left, leaving only Meng Zhong and Meng Hu standing at the head of the city.

Some time ago, he didn't have time to think about it, and it wasn't until today, when Prince Dai Wu mentioned it, that he thought of the key point of Forcing Yang City, and as the main general of Forcing Yang City, he would naturally inevitably be under pressure.

If they fail in Zhao, they can still return to Song, but if this battle is lost and the Song State falls, where should they go?

"Forcing the sun, there is no room for loss!"

After half a ring, Meng Zhong looked out of the city and whispered.

His voice was soft, but unequivocal.

Hearing this, Meng Hu, who was leaning against the edge of the city wall, tilted his head, and he, who had always been fearless, grinned and responded to Meng Zhong: "Yes! ”

In the afternoon of the same day, the crown prince Dai Wu summoned a number of generals in the army, as well as the patriarchs of Xiao Ji and other families, the family Sima, and the young children who were nominated for promotion.

After some foreshadowing, the crown prince Dai Wu officially handed over the Fu Jie handed over to him by Song Wangyan before, at least in this group of people, he "corrected his name" for Meng Zhong and appointed him as the chief general of the first army.

The generals under the original crown prince Dai Wu were not surprised by this, Xiao Jian and the patriarchs and family horses of individual families also learned some information to a greater or lesser extent, but the young children of each family who did not know about it felt quite incredible.

After all, these people have already passed the age of weak crowns, and Meng Zhong obviously looks younger than them, how can He De become the commander of the first army?

I have to say that this is also the reason why Meng Zhong previously resigned from the post of military commander, after all, he has no prestige in the Song Kingdom, if the crown prince Dai Wu is set aside, those Song soldiers may not necessarily obey his orders.

Subsequently, Meng Zhong came forward to officially announce several guards guarding the city gates on all sides.

The north gate of the city is guarded by Sima "Bian Kou" under the command of the crown prince Dai Wuyuan; The west gate is guarded by Sima "Moheng" under the command of Dai Ying; The south gate of the city is guarded by Sima "Cao Hui" of the Cao family; The east gate is guarded by the Xiang clan's Sima "Xiang Touch".

These four are all the best recommended by the crown prince Dai Wu and Xiao Ji.

In addition, the crown prince Dai Wu and Xiao Jian recommended more than a dozen young people in their twenties to their thirties, such as "Dang Yu", "Shetian", "Xiang Kai", "Huan Fang", and "Jiao Li", and Meng Zhong arranged positions for them one by one.

I have to say that most of them looked at Meng Zhong with strange expressions at that time, and they privately pondered the details of Meng Zhong, and they didn't know where Meng Zhong came from, and how he could be entrusted with a heavy task by the crown prince Dai Wu at such a young age.

No, Xiang Kai, the younger brother of Sima Xiang Touch of the Xiang clan, questioned Meng Zhong at that time: "This son is the same age as my nephew, and I have never heard of him, how can He De serve as a military commander?" ”

At that time, the crown prince Dai Wu only said one sentence: "Just because he can resist Kuang Zhang and not fall behind at all!" ”

Hearing this, most of the people present looked at Meng Zhong in surprise, and even Xiang Kai didn't dare to say anything more.

After all, Kuang Zhang's reputation is still very loud.

Afterwards, Meng Hu made fun of Meng Zhong in private and said: "At that time, the eyes of these people were staring out, but fortunately, the prince didn't say that you and Tian Zhang called each other brothers, otherwise these people don't know what their expressions are." ”

Meng Zhong smiled, and casually scared Meng Hu and said, "Okay, you don't have to talk about this everywhere, lest you still suspect me of collaborating with the enemy when you get it, and blame the trouble." …… After all, Brother Tian Zhangyi and I are currently our own masters, and there are some things that we still need to pay attention to. ”

"Hmm." Meng Hu nodded.

It cannot be denied that Meng Zhong guessed very accurately, and three days later, that is, on July 19, the Qi army really launched a siege of Qiyang City.

There were three Qi armies that participated in the siege of Yang City that day, namely Tian Jing, Tian Touch, and Tian Da, the armies led by the three Qi generals, according to the distribution location, Tian Jing should be the main attack on the north, while Tian Jing and Tian Da attacked the south and west respectively.

Looking at the number of troops under the command of the three, it is not difficult to guess that Tian Jingjun is the main attacker, while Tian Touch and Tian Da are responsible for containing the defenders in Qiangyang City.

At this time, the rectification of the city has basically been completed, although the strength and morale have not necessarily improved much, but at least it is easier to dispatch than before, so that there will be no chaos.

Around the time of Chen, after learning that the Qi army was coming, Meng Zhong and the crown prince Dai Wu, Xiao Ji and others climbed the northern city wall.

Here we have to mention the advantages of Forcing Yang City.

Some people may mistakenly think that the castles and castles, that is, the inner city and the outer city, should be distributed in the shape of "hui", but in fact they are not, and there are many cities in the shape of "囙", that is, there is actually only one wall on one side, not two.

The same is true of the former forced sun, there is only one city wall in its north, and there is no outer city, but why it has an advantage, that is because after the Duke of Jin Jing gave the forced sun to the Song State, the Song State in order to defend this city used to let the Thirteen Nations Alliance attack the Chu State, specially built a circle of city walls outside the city in the shape of the word "囙", that is, there is an inner city with the word "囙" in the outer wall of the word "mouth", except for the two city walls on the north side, the remaining three sides are three city walls.

This is also the reason why Tian Zhang has never wanted to attack Qianyang, after all, if he storms such a city, the Qi army will definitely suffer heavy losses, not to mention that there is still a "winning disease" hidden in this city.

But now the Qi army has no choice, Dai Busheng, Dai Jing and others of the Song State have already counterattacked into the territory of the Qi State, and the King of Qi Tiandi urgently asks Tian Zhang to defeat the Song State as soon as possible - even if he can't annex the Song State in one go, at least he has to make the Song State surrender and take the initiative to cut the land and beg for mercy.

Therefore, in order to defeat the Song State as soon as possible and force the Song State to submit, Tian Zhang had to step up his attack on Pengcheng, and if he wanted to attack Pengcheng without any worries and force the nail of Yang, he had to pull it out first.

About half an hour later, the Qi army in the north had already completed the formation in the northern suburbs of Qiyang.

It is roughly eight formations, three in the front and middle, and two in the back, each with about 5,000 people.

As the saying goes, there are more than 10,000 soldiers, and there is no boundary, which is a slight exaggeration, but it is undeniable that when the 40,000 Qi troops under Tian Jing were all deployed in the northern suburbs, Meng Zhong stood on the wall of Qiyang City and watched, as if there was a feeling that the Qi army was within his sight.

How many people are there in the city?

Even if the population of the city plus the 18,000 garrisons, the number is probably only slightly more than the Qi army outside the city.

This does not include the Qi army in the western suburbs and the southern suburbs.

"Knock knock, knock knock—"

Gradually, the Qi army in the distance beat the war drums, and the dull drum sound seemed to smash into the hearts of everyone in the city of Qianyang, making their nerves tremble.

"Beat the drums!"

Meng Zhong ordered expressionlessly.

Hearing this, the sound of war drums also sounded on the city of Qiyang.

And at this moment, a horn sounded behind the array of the Qi army.

"Woo-woo-woo-woo-"

After the three horns sounded, I saw three full formations in the front row of the Qi army, with about 15,000 soldiers, slowly coming towards the city wall.

Faintly, these soldiers were either pushing the cart or carrying the siege ladder, with solemn expressions.

"Crossbowmen in position!"

With a shout, the idle and others, including the foot soldiers, retreated, and the crossbowmen stood on the edge of the city wall.

Closer, closer!

When the fifteen thousand Qi troops were about to enter the land of the city wall, a strong shout suddenly erupted from the array of these Qi troops: "Kill——! ”

In an instant, 15,000 Qi troops rushed towards the city wall at a high speed, like a flood that had burst the embankment.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong immediately signaled to the crown prince Dai Wudao: "Prince! ”

The crown prince Dai Wu understood, in order to motivate the Song soldiers in the city, I saw him pull out the sword on his waist and point at the Qi army outside the city, and shouted loudly: "Gentlemen, behind the Yang body is Pengcheng, there is no room for loss!" If we are defeated, then thousands of compatriots will be reduced to the people of the country, in order to prevent our relatives and relatives from becoming prisoners of the Qi people, please be sure to fight to defend the city and repel the Qi army! …… When the Qi army is repulsed, everyone will be promoted to a knight and enjoy a hundred acres of land! ”

As the saying goes, there must be brave men under the heavy reward, and the prince Dai Wu's words of affection and temptation immediately boosted the morale of the Song army in the city.

At the same time, Meng Zhong also waved his hand and ordered: "Release the arrow!" ”

Under an order, arrows rained down on the north wall of Qiyang, and it was clearly seen that after the Qi army outside the city was baptized by the rain of arrows, many people fell to the ground one after another.

But unfortunately, there were still too few crossbowmen in Qiyang City, and the difference was huge compared to 15,000 Qi soldiers, so that although the Qi army immediately paid hundreds of casualties, it could not prevent the rest of the Qi soldiers from taking the opportunity to rush to the city wall and set up ladders under the city wall.

"White Blade!"

With Meng Zhong shouting, this siege battle officially began.