On the same day, Fengyang Jun Li Dui summoned his subordinates Zhao Xi and Lian Po to the front and told them the news that the Qin army was pressing on Handan.

Immediately, he asked the two of them: "My son Li Ji's army was defeated in Zhangshui, and now the Qin general Bai Qi led the army to close to Handan, the situation is precarious, I want to withdraw my troops to help, and I am afraid that the Qin and Wei coalition forces will take the opportunity to pursue and intercept our army halfway, so what can I do?" ”

Hearing this, Lian Po immediately clenched his fists and said: "Fengyang Jun can lead the army to withdraw first, stay in Xiaduan, and try to drag the Qin-Wei coalition army as much as possible......"

On the side, Zhao Xi shook his head and interrupted Lian Po's words: "Lian Sima, the Wei army has cavalry, and it is easy to intercept our army, even if you are left behind, I am afraid it will be useless...... What's more, Lian Sima Jianchuang has not yet recovered. ”

Lian Po glanced at his chest when he heard this, and argued strongly: "It's just a skin injury......

However, his words were interrupted by Zhao Xi again, only to see Zhao Xi turn his head to look at Fengyangjun Li Dui, and said: "Fengyangjun, for the sake of today's plan, I think that I can only negotiate peace with the Qin and Wei coalition forces." ”

"Peace talks?"

"That's right! On the condition that our army return Taoyi, the exchange for the Qin-Wei coalition army did not take the opportunity to pursue when our army withdrew. ”

"Hmm......"

Fengyangjun Li Dui paced in the room with his hands behind his back, thinking carefully about Zhao Xi's suggestion.

In this regard, Lian Po was puzzled and asked: "It seems that Zhao Sima suggested this, will the Qin and Wei coalition really agree?" ”

Hearing this, Zhao Xi smiled slightly, seemingly speaking to Lian Po, but in fact he was explaining to Li Dui: "I said a few days ago that I saw the kid Le Jin in the Qin-Wei coalition army, Le Jin is Meng Zhong's sibling brother, since this person is in the Wei army, Meng Zhong must also be there, which explains why the Qin-Wei coalition army has besieged Taoyi since then and did not attack, perhaps because Meng Zhong does not want to recover a ruined Taoyi, so he does not want to force our ...... too much."

“……”

Fengyangjun Li Dui nodded thoughtfully.

He was also quite puzzled at first about the recent Qin-Wei coalition army's siege of Taoyi without attacking, until today he received news from Zhao State, and learned that there was currently a general named Bai Qi leading another Qin-Wei coalition army to attack his Zhao State, Li Dui suddenly realized: The reason why the Qin-Wei coalition army here besieged Taoyi but did not attack it was when they took the initiative to withdraw their troops to aid Zhao.

Thinking carefully from this point, Zhao Xi's speculation is indeed very reasonable, that is, the Qin-Wei coalition army does not want to recover a ruined Taoyi.

It's just that Taoyi is the city of the Song Kingdom, what does it have to do with Qin and Wei? Why did the Qin and Wei coalition forces here have to worry about whether a Song city was destroyed?

Maybe the answer lies in that Meng Zhong, after all, Meng Zhong is a Song person, so he naturally doesn't want the city of his homeland to be destroyed by the army of another country.

Thinking of this, Li Dui asked Zhao Xidao: "You mean I probably understand, it's just that Meng Zhong has the ability to influence Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo?" …… That Meng Zhong now has such a weight in the Wei State? ”

Zhao Xi explained: "I don't know what Meng Zhong's status in Wei is now, but I don't know what his sibling brother Le Jin is in charge of an army of more than 10,000 people alone, and there is some speculation about this...... Besides, now that it's all about trying, what's the point? ”

"Hmm......"

Li Dui nodded thoughtfully.

As Zhao Xi said, since even Meng Zhong's brother and sister Lejin have been honored as a military Sima in the Wei State, and Meng Zhong's status in the Wei State is obviously above this, since there is nothing to be done at the moment, it is indeed better to try to negotiate peace with the Qin and Wei coalition forces, hoping that Meng Zhong can indeed influence Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo.

Thinking of this, Li Dui immediately sent people to the Wei army camp outside Taoyi City to ask to see Sima Zhai Zhang, the great of Wei.

About an hour and a half later, the envoy sent by Li Dui came to the Wei army camp on the southwest side of Taoyi.

To be precise, at this time, it was not only the Qin-Wei coalition army that surrounded Taoyi, but also the army of Sima Jingyu of the Song Army, the armies of Qin, Wei and Song were stationed on the west, southwest and southeast sides of Taoyi, and the north side seemed to be defenseless, but in fact, there were Menghu and Huahu leading 4,000 cavalry to wander in this area, it can be said that the army of Qin, Wei and Song has firmly surrounded the Qi-Zhao coalition army in Taoyi.

Even if Zhao did not send a letter asking for help, the alliance forces of the Qin, Wei and Song dynasties could also cause the Qi-Zhao alliance to collapse by cutting off the grain routes of the Qi-Zhao coalition army.

When Li Dui's envoy came to the camp of the Wei army, the commander of the Wei army and the great Sima Zhai Zhang of the Wei State was eating wine with Sima Jingyi, the military commander of the Song State, in the tent.

Jing Yu is a person, he doesn't have much ability to fight to tell the truth, but he does have a level of getting along with people, even if Zhai Zhang knows that the other party is deliberately coming to make friends with him, he is also very happy by Jing Hui's flattering and flattering words, so that the two soon became drinking friends.

It's no wonder, after all, during this period of time, he lost all the affairs of the generals to Meng Zhong, and the Qin and Wei coalition forces besieged Taoyi but did not attack, except for the occasional clash of cavalry recently, the rest of the troops have not been exchanged, so that this big Sima has been really idle in recent days, except for chatting with Jing Yu, who deliberately came to make friends, eating and drinking, he really can't find anything to do to play time.

No, Zhai Zhang and Jing Wei were drinking wine today, when they heard a general in the army come to report that the Zhao army, which occupied Taoyi, had sent several envoys.

When he heard this, Zhai Zhang's face showed a little sinister smile.

He had a hunch that this was probably the envoy sent by Fengyang Jun Li Dui to negotiate peace with his Qin and Wei coalition forces.

Even, it is very likely that Li Dui has learned that Handan is being attacked by Qin General Baiqi, otherwise how could Li Dui take the initiative to send someone to contact him? He didn't have anything to talk about with Li Dui.

It's no wonder, after all, Zhai Zhang used to be stationed in Yecheng all the year round, and Li Dui was stationed in Zhongmu before the Dune Palace Change, and his army was stationed in Zhongmu, so there was naturally friction between them, so that although the two knew each other, they had no friendship.

Thinking of this, Zhai Zhang immediately sent someone to summon Meng Zhong.

A moment later, a soldier of the Wei army led the envoy sent by Li Dui to the tent, but Zhai Zhang didn't wait for the other party to speak, but said first: "Wait and talk." ”

The messenger was puzzled, but he did not dare to disobey.

After another moment, Meng Zhong came to Zhai Zhang's tent with confusion, and was even more surprised to see two guys dressed like Zhao pawns standing in the tent.

At this time, I saw Zhai Zhang explain with a smile: "These two people are envoys sent by Fengyang Jun. So saying, he said to the two messengers, "All right, now you two can speak." ”

The two envoys looked at each other, and then said cautiously: "Zhai Da Sima, this time the two of us came to your camp on the order of Yang Jun, and Feng Yang Jun hopes to meet with Zhai Da Sima in the next few days. ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong frowned slightly, thinking about the reason why Li Dui took the initiative to send an envoy today, but Zhai Zhang said happily: "Okay, the two of you go back and tell Fengyang Jun that tomorrow, Zhai will be waiting in the western suburbs of Taoyi." ”

The two envoys nodded, clenched their fists and retreated, leading Wei to the camp gate.

Seeing the two of them walk out of the tent, the smile on Zhai Zhang's face slowly retracted, only to see him snort coldly, turn his head to Meng Zhong and say, "Meng Zhong, what do you think about this?" ”

Of course, Meng Zhong knew that Zhai Zhang had the intention of testing himself, and after hearing this, he thought for a moment, and then said with a straight face: "According to the next guess, Li Dui has learned about the current situation of Zhao State, and learned that the local area is being attacked by Bai Qi, so he is anxious to negotiate peace with our army and return to the aid of Zhao State......"

Speaking of this, he paused slightly, and when he saw Zhai Zhang looking at him smiling and not saying a word, he continued: "The reason why Li Dui took the initiative to meet Da Sima is probably also because he hopes to negotiate peace with our side and prevent our Qin-Wei coalition army from taking the opportunity to pursue when he withdraws, as for the conditions...... Most of the time it was returned to Taoyi. ”

"Hmm."

Zhai Zhang nodded approvingly.

Although he did mean to test Meng Zhong, he did not think that Meng Zhong would not be able to see the current situation.

What does Li Dui have to talk about with him?

Making an appointment with him was nothing more than exchanging an intact pottery in exchange for the Qin-Wei coalition army not taking the opportunity to chase and kill when it withdrew its troops, something like this obvious was already in Zhai Zhang's mind when he learned that Li Dui had sent an envoy.

To be honest, Zhai Zhang doesn't care much about Taoyi, after all, he is a Wei person, and Taoyi is the city of the Song State, even if Taoyi is destroyed by the Qi and Zhao coalition forces, he Wei State will not have any loss, at most he regrets that the once rich Taoyi fell to such a fate.

Compared with Taoyi, what he cares about is Meng Zhong's attitude, after all, as Zhao Xi thinks, Meng Zhong is a Song person, and naturally he doesn't want the city of his homeland to be destroyed, and his comrades are slaughtered by other countries' troops, which is also one of the reasons why Zhai Zhang acquiesced to Meng Zhong's siege of Taoyi but did not attack - as for another reason, it is nothing more than that the Zhao army is destined to give up Taoyi to return to Zhao State, and Zhai Zhang does not want his Wei army to make senseless sacrifices in order to attack Taoyi, after all, this city will eventually fall into the hands of his Qin-Wei coalition army.

So he said to Meng Zhong: "Since you also know Li Dui's intentions, then leave this matter to you." …… The old man didn't want to see that Li Dui, maybe something would happen because of the old man's temper. ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong hurriedly lowered his head, lest the big Sima in front of him see the smile on his face.

It seems that this great Sima also knows that he himself has a bad temper.

Thinking about it, Zhai Zhang, who had a big fight with his country's famous general Gongsun Xi, really didn't have much better temper.

"That's right."

As if thinking of something, Zhai Zhang did not forget to tell Meng Zhongdao: "Report it to Sima Wrong, lest those Qin people have any ideas." ”

"Whoa!"

Meng Zhong clenched his fists and retreated.

From the side, Jing Yu witnessed Zhai Zhang's attitude towards Meng Zhong and his trust in the latter, and was greatly surprised.

He never imagined that once upon a time, a soldier under his command had grown to such a point, and even Sima Zhai Zhang, the great of the Wei State, trusted him, and looking at this situation, it seemed that he was ready to vigorously cultivate this son.

On the same day, Meng Zhong personally came to the camp of the Qin army and told the commander of the Qin army, Sima Cuo, about the incident.

Listening to Meng Zhong's words, Sima Cuo nodded and said: "Similar to this situation, it seems that Bai Zuo has made good progress in Zhao State, so much so that Fengyang Jun Li Dui is in a hurry to lead the army back to help......"

Meng Zhong said casually: "As far as I know, the current generals of the Zhao State are indeed difficult to stop Bai Qi......"

Sima Cuo was stunned when he heard this, and then said with a smile: "However, Fang Chengling defeated Bai Zuo Geng twice ......"

"It was just a fluke."

Meng Zhong said sincerely: "In the battle of Yique, Bai Qi was attacked by the subordinates; The battle of Wanfang was also because Wancheng was attacked by Zaixia...... As for the actual engagement, Bai Qi has never shown weakness to others, including below. ”

“……”

Although when Meng Zhong was attacked in advance, Sima Cuo's face was inevitably a little embarrassed, after all, as Meng Zhong said vaguely, Bai Qi was basically affected by him in that battle, but when Meng Zhong praised Bai Qi, he still had an inexplicable sense of déjà vu - I remember that when Bai Qi was with him, he praised Meng Zhong in front of him.

"These two ...... It's kind of interesting.'"

Holding back an inexplicable smile, Sima Cuo nodded and said: "Okay, I know about this matter, tomorrow I will go with Fang Cheng Ling to see that Li Dui, if Li Du really asks us not to pursue when he withdraws his troops on the condition of returning an intact pottery, Fang Cheng Ling can also agree." ”

"Huh?"

Meng Zhong was a little surprised by Sima Cuo's attitude, especially Sima Cuo's attitude towards Zhao Jun.

After all, it stands to reason that the Qin State should not take the opportunity to weaken the Zhao State, right?

He couldn't help but say tentatively: "Captain, don't you want to restore the old Qin-Zhao Alliance?" ”

Sima has lived most of his life, how can he be easily tricked by Meng Zhong?

I saw him smile and said without changing his face: "It depends on what Xianyang means." …… The order that the old man received was only to force Li Dui to lead the army back to China, and if Li Dui took the initiative to withdraw his troops, the old man would naturally not do anything superfluous. ”

When Sima Cuo said this, he didn't know that at this time, Bai Qi was attacking Handan of Zhao State together with the Wei general Tang Zhi.

Looking at the other party's smiling face, Meng Zhong nodded, no longer expecting anything to come out of the other party's mouth.

I have to say that the elders like Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo, maybe because of their age, their reactions are far less swift than those of young people like Meng Zhong and Bai Qi, but in terms of experience and the city, Meng Zhong wants to extract some information about the Qin State from the other party's mouth, and I am afraid it will be difficult to reach the sky.

Around the next day, Sima Cuo and Meng Zhong came to the western suburbs of Taoyi with a number of guards, under the protection of about 200 cavalry cavalry of Menghu, Huahu and others.

Thanks to the fact that neither the Qi-Zhao and Qin-Wei armies stormed the city, but from a distance, this fiefdom did not change much from the past.

"Is that Tao Yi?"

Looking at the city in the distance from afar, Sima Cuo praised: "It is worthy of being a big city that can be compared with Handan and Linzi, and it is not much inferior to Xianyang of my Great Qin." …… By the way, has Fang Chengling been to Xianyang? ”

"No, I didn't."

Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "The only place in your country that I have ever set foot in is Hangu Pass. But he was blocked by the lieutenant and came back......"

"Oh, what Fang Chengling said was that ......" Sima Cuo nodded, even if he guessed that Meng Zhong was referring to the time when the Qin-Wei coalition army counterattacked to Hangu Pass in his Qin State after the Battle of Yique.

To put it simply, it was the time when the Qin and Wei coalition forces ran to Hangu Pass to brush up on a wave of presence.

The two were chatting without saying a word, when they saw a team of chariots coming from the direction of Taoyi, about seven or eight times, followed by hundreds of Zhao soldiers and more than two hundred Zhao cavalry.

"Here we are."

reminded him, Sima made a mistake and treated him politely.

After a while, Zhao Jun's convoy stopped at a distance of more than 20 zhang, and immediately, Fengyang Jun Li Dui took Uncle Dong and Lian Po, and under the protection of several guards, slowly walked towards this side.

Seeing this, Sima Cuo and Meng Zhong also walked towards each other with only a few guards.

I have to say that seeing Meng Zhong again, Fengyangjun Li Dui also felt inexplicable emotion in his heart.

In all fairness, he did not have a bad feeling towards Meng Zhong, and even at the beginning, he admired Meng Zhong's talents, but unfortunately they had different positions, he represented the interests of the old aristocratic forces of Zhao, and Meng Zhong at that time, he was oscillating between Zhao Wang He and Zhao Master's father, and finally fell to Zhao's master's father, who was kind to him, so that he and Meng Zhong became enemies.

He arched his hand towards Meng Zhong and greeted, "Long time no see, Meng Sima." ”

This Meng Sima made Meng Zhong couldn't help but be in a trance, and even recalled his experience when he was in Zhao State, only to see him look at Li Dui with a complicated expression, and after half a sound, he also hugged his fists: "Fengyang Jun." ”

For Fengyang Jun Li Dui, Meng Zhong has both resentment and gratitude.

The resentment is, of course, because Li Dui and Zhao Cheng were the main murderers who forced Zhao's father to death, and as for gratitude, it is because after the change in the Dune Palace, Li Dui did not kill all of their Tan Guards and Xinwei Army, nor did he use the rebellious name of "Gongzi Zhao Zhangyu's Party" to want them as Meng Zhong thought at the time, which is also the reason why Xiang Yu, Le Xu and others unfortunately contracted illness on the way to escape and stayed in Zhao for a few months, but in the end they were able to return to Song unharmed.

It can be said that whether Li Dui was looking at the face of Zhao Wanghe or the face of the Song State at that time, he was indeed merciful at that time, and let go of Meng Zhong and other "rebel generals" who assisted the rebellion of his son Zhao Zhang.

Of course, it is precisely because of this that when Meng Zhong saw Li Dui today, he would call Fengyangjun with some respect, instead of calling him by his name.

After staring at Li Dui for a moment, Meng Zhong introduced Sima Cuo beside him: "This is Sima Guowei of the Qin State." …… Guowei, this is Fengyangjun of Zhao State. ”

Hearing Meng Zhong's introduction, Sima Cuo and Li Dui greeted each other, and at this time, Li Dui looked around and asked, "Why don't you see Zhai Da Sima?" ”

Meng Zhong thought for a moment and said, "Da Sima...... Well, I was a little unwell, so I ordered the national captain to come forward with Zai Xia and meet with Fengyangjun. ”

Hearing this, Li Dui's expression suddenly became strange.

After all, according to the envoy he went to Wei Ying yesterday, Zhai Zhang's health was very good, and he was drinking and having fun in the tent with another person at that time, but you told me that Zhai Zhang was unwell today?

However, Li Dui can guess that Zhai Zhang most likely doesn't want to see him, after all, as the garrison generals of Wei and Zhao, the two of them naturally had friction in the past, so Li Dui can talk and laugh with the enemy, but Zhai Zhang's temper, it is rumored that he and the former Hedong Shougong Sun Xi have contradictions, and they don't get along with each other, so how can they look at the enemy generals of other countries?

Thinking that if Zhai Zhang came, he might be sneering at himself, Li Dui didn't mind Zhai Zhang's breach of appointment at all.

I saw that after pondering for a moment, Li Dui took the lead and said: "This time, Qin and Wei jointly sent troops to reinforce the Song State, or with such a big battle, it is really beyond our expectations......"

I have to say that he still can't imagine that Qin and Wei will actually unite, obviously the two countries have been fighting each other in recent years.

Hearing Li Dui's words, Sima Cuo smiled and said: "My Great Qin has always valued love and righteousness, and the Song State is my Great Qin's ally, so my Great Qin will naturally not sit idly by and watch the Song State be annexed by the Qi State...... It is rumored that the sovereign land of the current Qi State is cruel and unkind, causing the subjects to be resentful, and it is unwise for your country to be close to the Qi State and alienate our Great Qin. ”

Fengyangjun Li Dui smiled reluctantly, and did not answer Sima Cuo's words, but changed the topic and said: "I received news from China yesterday, saying that your country's military general Bai Qi besieged Handan and asked my Zhao State to withdraw from this war...... Today, I am willing to return Taoyi and return to Zhao, but your army is watching from the side......" Speaking of this, he glanced at Meng Zhong and said: "If your army can retreat fifty miles, I should immediately lead the army to withdraw from Taoyi, go straight back to China, and no longer assist the Qi State in crusading against the Song State ......"

Meng Zhong had already received the tacit approval of Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo, and naturally he could be the master, after listening to Li Dui's words, he clenched his fists and said: "The national captain and the subordinates have their own king's orders, and the king ordered us to reinforce the Song State and fight against your army, and we dare not disobey." However, if Fengyangjun really returns an intact Taoyi, our Qin-Wei coalition army can retreat fifty miles......"

Li Dui nodded slightly, after all, he didn't expect the Qin and Wei coalition forces to completely give up chasing them.

Or to put it simply, he didn't believe at all that the Qin-Wei coalition would give up pursuing them.

"Good! When will your army retreat to fifty miles away, and return to Taoyi in the next time, and immediately lead the army back to China. ”

"Intact pottery." Meng Zhong emphasized the words intact, frowned and said: "When the time comes, I hope that Zhao will loot in the city before withdrawing the army......

Of course, Li Dui understood Meng Zhong's concerns, and when he heard this, he said, "Meng Sima can rest assured. This time, I helped the Qi State to crusade against the Song State, just because the King of Song was tyrannical and brutalized innocent people, just like the reincarnation of the Emperor, how could he take the opportunity to loot? Do you see that after the Qi and Zhao coalition forces captured Taoyi, did they kill and loot in Taoyi at will? ”

“……”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong seemed to be smiling.

Li Dui's words also deceived people who didn't know, and those who really knew Song Wangyan knew that although this monarch was ruthless, he was far from being a tyrannical monarch like Xia Wei and Shang, and even in the final analysis, Song Wangyan took the initiative to attack Qi, Chu, and Wei, purely to warn these countries that had coveted him for a long time, so that these countries realized that although he was weak, Song State also had the strength to break the net.

No, since the wars launched by Song Wangyan, the three kingdoms of Qi, Wei, and Chu really did not dare to find the Song State to fight the autumn wind every year, otherwise, his Song State would have long been reduced to the former Zheng State, and no matter who could come and step on it.

As for why Li Dui, the king of Fengyang, restrained the Qi and Zhao coalition forces under his command so that they did not wantonly kill and loot in Taoyi, although Meng Zhong did not know the specifics, he could guess a little: it must have been Li Dui's coveting the wealth of Taoyi and trying to take it for himself as his own fiefdom.

But guessing and guessing, since the goal has been achieved, Meng Zhong will naturally not debunk Li Dui - it is not beneficial and offends Li Dui because of this, there is no need.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong followed Li Dui's words and praised a few words.

Under the circumstance that Sima Cuo and Meng Zhong deliberately pretended to be stupid and did not debunk Li Dui, the results of this meeting were quickly reached.

According to the agreement between the two parties, the Qin-Wei coalition army retreated fifty miles, while Li Dui immediately led the Zhao army to withdraw from Taoyi and return to Zhao.

As for the 50,000 Qi troops led by Qi generals Gao Zheng and Tian Che, neither Sima Cuo nor Li Dui mentioned it - also, Li Dui couldn't even keep himself, how could he have the heart to take care of the 50,000 Qi army? It can only be left to fend for itself.

Two days later, when Fengyang Jun Li Dui took the initiative to withdraw his troops, the Qin-Wei coalition army successfully recovered Taoyi.

During this period, Sima Cuo led his Qin army to pursue Gao Zheng and Tian Che, two generals who tried to retreat, and defeated them at Heze northeast of Taoyi.

Subsequently, Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo discussed the matter of dividing troops to defeat Zhao.

Don't look at the fact that they all deliberately let go of the tens of thousands of Zhao troops, but that just didn't want to arouse the hatred of the Zhao people, it doesn't mean that Qin and Wei acquiesced to Fengyangjun Li Dui to continue to control the government of Zhao, after all, if Li Dui, who is friendly to Qi, continues to control the government of Zhao, this is not a good thing for either Qin or Wei.

Therefore, for Qin and Wei, without killing too many Zhao people, it is most beneficial for the two countries to find a way to make Li Dui lose power in Zhao and make Zhao change his position and be friendly to Qin or Wei.

And after this discussion, a choice was placed in front of Meng Zhong.

Should he follow Zhai Zhang to crusade against Zhao, or should he follow Sima Coo across the Song State and go to Tancheng to repel the Qiyan coalition army?

Go to Zhao Kingdom?

Or go to Tancheng?

With just a blink of mind, Meng Zhong made a choice.