"Teacher, did that kid go back to Song?"

Looking at Mencius, Tian Zhang, who actually had a number in his heart, chuckled and said tentatively.

Hearing this, Mencius's two gray eyebrows trembled slightly, and then he stroked his beard and looked at Tian Zhang, and his wrinkled old face showed an expression of "The old man doesn't know what you're talking about".

Seeing this, Tian Zhang smiled dumbly, and said again: "Teacher, the disciple is referring to that kid Meng Zhong. ”

"Oh, you said Meng Zhong......"

Seeing that the topic couldn't be avoided, Mencius smashed his mouth, originally wanted to shirk ignorance, but considering that Meng Zhong had come to visit him before returning to the Song Kingdom, it was not good to deliberately deceive Tian Zhang's disciple, so he was a little dilemma.

Seeing the teacher's expression, Tian Zhang's heart was already clear: "Teacher, that kid won't come to visit you, right?" ”

Seeing that he couldn't get around, Mencius had to admit: "Meng Zhong's child, he did come to visit the old man some time ago......"

"Teacher, you're a little biased."

Hearing this, Tian Zhang looked at Mencius with a pretended complaint and said, "If you let your senior brother inform your disciple of this matter early, how could your disciple be frustrated in the forced sun?" ”

Although it was a joke with Mencius, this does not mean that what Tian Zhang said is unreasonable: if he learned in advance that the Song State had returned to the Song State, he would definitely take precautions against Meng Zhong, after all, he was a "little junior brother", that was a general who once attacked tens of thousands of Qi troops at night with 500 soldiers, and let Tian Touch's tens of thousands of troops be defeated overnight.

It is no exaggeration to say that if he had known in advance that the main general of the Song army in Qiangyang City, "Ying Ji", was his righteous brother Meng Zhong, Tian Zhang would definitely have asked Xue Yi and Tancheng to take precautions to prevent Meng Zhong from sending troops to attack, because he knew that Meng Zhong seemed to be peaceful and restrained, but in terms of using troops, this righteous brother was extremely aggressive, and when he realized that he could not frustrate him Tian Zhang from the front, he would inevitably target the weak and critical place, that is, Tancheng.

All in all, at least knowing in advance that the main general of the Song army on the opposite side was Meng Zhong, Tian Zhang would at least fifty percent guess his intention to sneak attack Tancheng, not as before, mistakenly thinking that the opposite side was just the kind of goods of the crown prince Dai Wu, Dai Busheng, and Dai Yingzhi, so that he didn't expect that the Song army would have the courage to sneak attack Tancheng more than two hundred miles away, so that he didn't learn the news until nearly ten days passed after Tancheng was breached.

"Eccentric?"

Mencius's eyes widened, and he said with an incredulous expression: "The old man has not done anything. ”

"That's why I said that the teacher was biased."

Tian Zhang pretended to complain and said: "The art of war, knowing oneself and knowing that the other is invincible, and in this battle, that kid knows that the Qi army is commanded by his disciples, and with his understanding of his disciples, he targets his disciples everywhere; But the disciple didn't know that the Song army was actually commanded by that kid, and that was why he was frustrated in the Yang Dynasty, and the soldiers were defeated......"

"Hahaha." Mencius stroked his beard and chuckled: "The dignified Kuang Zhang suffered a defeat in the Song Kingdom, is it even to blame the old man, an old man in the mountains and fields who is over seventy years old?" ”

Of course, he could see that Tian Zhang was just joking, after all, his disciple was fifty-seven years old this year, not only a famous general of the Qi State who was famous all over the world, but also a person who was about to enter the earth in the twilight, where could he still be as competitive as he was decades ago?

Not to mention that Meng Zhong, who frustrated him, was not an outsider, at least half a Confucian disciple, since they were brothers in the same sect, how could they resent each other because of this?

After all, in this world, the same relationship like Pang Juan and Sun Bin is a minority after all, and more of them are like Su Qin and Zhang Yi - even if Zhang Yi served as the prime minister of Qin and cracked his senior brother Su Qin's strategy of "joining forces to resist Qin" with the strategy of "connecting with Qin", the two are still brothers who are close to each other. [PS: It is said that Pang Juan, Sun Bin, Su Qin, and Zhang Yi are all disciples of Guiguzi. 】

"The disciple doesn't dare, the disciple wants to blame, naturally blame that kid......"

Speaking of this, Tian Zhang couldn't help but smile a little on his deliberately straight face, shook his head and said: "I was sorry for him repeatedly when I was in Zhao State, and I told him, but I didn't expect that kid to take revenge, deliberately hide his whereabouts and return to Song State, and secretly became Sima ......, the commander of Song State" Speaking of this, he suddenly asked curiously: "Teacher, is that kid serious this time?" I'm talking about Shi Song Kingdom? ”

"Not necessarily."

Mencius stroked his beard and shook his head and said: "Actually, the old man is not sure that the opponent you met in Qiyang is this son, the old man just thinks that this son is quite enthusiastic about the Song State, if he learns that the Qi State has invaded the Song State, there is a chance that he will help the Song army, as for the outstanding, unless you get that stubborn old thing...... cough, the old man is saying that Zhuang Zhou, unless he gets the permission of his teacher, otherwise, with Meng Zhong as his teacher's respect, he will definitely not disobey his teacher's orders......"

Speaking of this, Mencius seemed to think of something, as if he hated something, and hummed and grinded his teeth.

"Stubborn old thing?"

Tian Zhang clearly heard Mencius call Zhuang Zhou a "stubborn old man", and his expression was a little strange: "The teacher refers to Master Zhuang? ”

Seeing that he had missed his mouth, Mencius coughed and abruptly diverted the topic: "In short, that Meng Zhong will definitely not come out of the Song Kingdom, at least not for now." …… What does this do, you ask? ”

Tian Zhang, who was also over half a hundred years old, saw Mencius abruptly divert the topic, and realized that this teacher did not want to explain the complicated relationship between him and Zhuangzi, so he obediently did not ask in detail, and explained with a smile following Mencius's words: "The disciple once thought of taking Meng Zhong to the state of Qi so that he could take over the disciple's position in the future. ”

"Oh......"

Mencius nodded abruptly, and immediately, a somewhat contemplative look appeared on his face.

In all fairness, Meng Zhong is a disciple of Zhuang Zhou, and Zhuang Zhou's stubborn old guy still refuses to divide this excellent disciple in half, but considering that Meng Zhong agrees with and respects his Meng Ke's "benevolent government" ideology, so in Mencius's heart, he has long regarded this junior as his own disciple, so when Tian Zhang mentioned this matter, he also thought about it seriously.

Normally, Tian Zhang's proposal is quite good, after all, Tian Zhang is in Qi State, Tian Zhang will naturally take care of Meng Zhong, maybe not long after, Meng Zhong can really take over Tian Zhang's position and status in Qi State, which is a very beneficial thing for Meng Zhong, or for Taoism and Confucianism.

But as soon as he thought of the current monarch's land in the Qi Kingdom, Mencius couldn't help but frown his eyebrows and shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "Although the Qi Kingdom is good, it is a pity that the King of Qi is far from the Ming Monarch...... You are an old minister who assisted the two generations of monarchs of King Qi Wei and King Xuan of Qi, and you defeated the generals of Qiang Qin, so the king of Qi has a lot of trust in you, but not necessarily to Meng Zhong. Even if you can bring Meng Zhong to the Qi Kingdom, if the King of Qi refuses to trust this son, this son will not stay in the Qi Kingdom for long. ”

As he spoke, he told Tian Zhang some of the things that Meng Zhong had experienced in the Zhao Kingdom, all of which Meng Zhong had told the elder when he visited Mencius a while ago.

As for what he said, it was undoubtedly the resentment and regret in Meng Zhong's heart: complaining that Master Zhao's father refused to follow his advice, and regretting that Master Zhao's father and son Zhao Gongzi Zhang's father and son both died in the end.

I have to say that Tian Zhang was secretly frightened when he heard these secrets.

"It turns out that Meng Zhong once suggested that Lord Zhao's father come forward on his own? That's a ......."

It's no wonder he was so frightened, after all, if Master Zhao was willing to follow Meng Zhong's advice, the losers of the Dune Palace would definitely not be Master Zhao and Zhao Gongzi Zhang in the end - if Gongzi Zhao Zhang replaced Zhao He and became the monarch of Zhao State, and Master Zhao regained his power because of this, how could Qi State have any chance to come out?

Abolish the agreement that was once subservient to the Zhao state? Send troops to attack Yan and Song to take revenge for the previous joint attack of Zhao, Yan and Song?

How could he, Qi Guo, have that guts!

At this moment, Tian Zhang was secretly glad that Master Zhao had not listened to Meng Zhong's advice, otherwise, the pattern of the entire Central Plains would definitely not be what it is now.

Thinking about it like this, Tian Zhang's heart "wants to bring Meng Zhong to the Qi Kingdom" is also stronger.

After all, he is fifty-seven years old, and he is deeply favored by the kings and ministers of Qi Xuan, and he is eager to find a commander who can replace him in Qi to carry the foreign war of Qi in his lifetime, although Tian Touch and Tian Da, who he is now cultivating and teaching, are indeed very good, and they are the leaders of the Tian clan of Qi State, but compared to his righteous brother Meng Zhong, Tian Touch and Tian Da are still a lot inferior - among them, Tian Touch, this is still the defeat of Meng Zhong's subordinates, although Tian Touch was also caused by negligence at that time.

But after thinking about the land of King Qi, Tian Zhang also felt that the words of his teacher Mencius were not wrong: this monarch of Qi was indeed not a Ming monarch, and he was mean and unkind, and some of the things that this monarch did made even him Tian Zhang uncomfortable to watch.

For example, trying to recover the fiefdoms of the domestic aristocracy, and even cutting military spending and reducing the money and salary of soldiers, as for the reason, it is nothing more than that the king of Qi wants to build a palace for his father King Qi Xuan, so he has won the reputation of "filial piety" - and this suggestion was made by the damned Su Qin.

Thinking of this, Tian Zhang Zhengse said to Mencius: "Teacher, the disciple thinks that the King of Qi is only instigated by Su Qin, as long as he tries to expel Su Qin, the King of Qi will definitely change. ”

"Su Qin, ah......"

Hearing this, Mencius stroked his beard and pondered for a moment, frowned and said: "If the sages of the world vote for the monarch, they all advise the monarch to be diligent in government affairs, give preferential treatment to his subjects, rejuvenate state affairs, and rest and play...... The old man sees that this person has ill intentions and unclear intentions, so you should pay more attention. ”

"The teacher sees it."

Tian Zhang nodded, and said with a serious face: "Although I don't know the specific reason, the disciple always suspects that Su Qin's defection to my Great Qi is definitely not a sincere defection, but has other intentions...... However, I have already asked "Tian Ju (Chen Ju)" and a group of courtiers to stare at Su Qin, if he really has any evil intentions, the disciples will never be merciful. ”

When he said the end, a few traces of murder appeared in Tian Zhang's eyes.

Thinking about it, he was deeply favored by King Qi Xuan, so that even if he knew that King Qi's land was not virtuous, he could only endure the dissatisfaction in his heart to assist the latter, how could he condone someone with ill intentions to try to harm his Qi country?

It's just that he can't catch Su Qin's handle at present, so it's not good to attack this famous man who once wore the seal of the Six Kingdoms.

Seeing the murderous intent in Tian Zhang's eyes, Mencius said lightly: "This is a place for disciples to teach, and it is not appropriate to have murderous intentions. ”

Tian Zhang came to his senses and hurriedly informed the teacher.

In the following days, Tian Zhang lived in Mencius's residence, and discussed with Mencius about the current trend every day, or discussed Confucian scholarship with his teachers and brothers.

In this way, he lived until the second day of the eighth month, Tian Zhang counted the days, and felt that after returning to Qiyang on his behalf, Tian Jing, Tian Touch, Tian Da and others, who were reorganizing the army, should be almost busy, so he said goodbye to his teacher Mencius and the rest of the brothers, and left Zou in a chariot.

On the way back to the area of Qianyang, Tian Zhang was also thinking about how to "teach" his righteous brother Meng Zhong, after all, this kid is really not like words, deliberately covering up his existence to plot against his brother - is there such a younger brother?

It's so breathable!

It's so hateful!

Every time he thought of this, Tian Zhang thought about how to use this information to "plot" against Meng Zhong in turn, and it was best to take the opportunity to take down Qiyang.

Yes, although the chief general of the Song army who guards the Yang is his brother-in-law Meng Zhong nine times out of ten, this does not mean that he Tian Zhang will show mercy to his subordinates, after all, this is a war, not a child's play, even if they are close brothers, in the case of each master, there should not be the slightest mercy.

At least he Tianzhang won't!

He would tell his trusted generals to keep an eye on Meng Zhong and try his best to save the latter's life, lest the latter die in this war, but he would never give up attacking Qiyang because of this.

And Meng Zhong on the other side, from the fact that he deliberately concealed his identity and unceremoniously sent Dai Busheng to attack Tancheng, it seems that he also knows the truth of "selflessness on the battlefield".

But then again, what do you do with this message?

『…… Why don't I send a strange army to fight Shangqiu? Forcing Meng Zhong's kid to go back to Mengyi?'

Tian Zhang thought to himself.

But then he shook his head, because it was too vile and too obvious.

You must know that Shangqiu, the old capital of the Song Kingdom, is located in the west of the Song Kingdom, and it is two days away from this city to the north to reach Mengzhong's hometown Mengyi.

If Tian Zhang forced Meng Zhong to return to his hometown under the pretense of sneaking up on Shangqiu, even a fool could see that he was deliberately supporting Meng Zhong - he was dignified and dignified, how could he use this kind of indiscriminate trick?

But then again, if you don't support Meng Zhong, Tian Zhang really doesn't have any confidence that he will be able to win the Yang Dynasty.

After all, he is already old, his thinking ability and reaction speed are far inferior to when he was young, and his brother-in-law Meng Zhong is only seventeen years old, and his ideas are in the stage of imagination, plus Meng Zhong himself is familiar with the art of war and knows the essence of using soldiers, so that Tian Zhang is really a little bit out of the way with this kid.

Of course, in fact, Meng Zhong was not the most critical problem that Tian Zhang encountered in this crusade against the Song State.

The real and most critical problem was that Tian Zhang suddenly realized that he Qi underestimated the Song State - a mere 150,000 Qi army, at best, he could only defeat the Song State, force the Song State to sue for peace and cede the city, but it was not enough to annex the Song State on this basis.

Therefore, he was also considering whether to write a letter and send someone to Linzi to inform King Qi of the situation.

If the King of Qi allowed the Song State to sue for peace at the cost of ceding land, it would be simple, and he Tian Zhang would only need to continue to persecute the Song State and force the Song State to submit.

But if the king of Qi insists on annexing the Song State, then the 150,000 Qi army - to be exact, the remaining 100,000 Qi troops - this amount of troops is far from enough, at least a 100,000 to 200,000 army must be sent, so that there is a chance to annex the Song State in one go.

"Let's explore the tone of the Song Kingdom first, and meet that kid by the way."

The corners of his mouth showed a slight smile, and Tian Zhang secretly made a decision in his heart.

Because he did not stop in Tengxian and Xueyi on the way, Tian Zhang only spent three days returning to the area of Qiyang from Zou.

It was the seventh day of the eighth month, and after returning to the twenty-mile camp where Tian Jing was stationed, Tian Zhang personally wrote a letter and sent someone to send it to Qiyang City.

Around noon, two messengers sent by Tian Zhang arrived at the north wall of Qiyang City, and after inquiry, the northern city wall guard Bian Kou sent Xiang Kai to personally bring these two Qi soldiers to meet the crown prince Dai Wu.

At that time, the crown prince Dai Wu was helping in the camp where the wounded soldiers were recuperating in the city, such as helping the wounded soldiers to change the herbs for the wounds, pouring sewage or something, although the surrounding soldiers and civilians tried their best to persuade him, but the prince still insisted on doing so, which made his reputation in the eyes of the soldiers and civilians of the city skyrocket.

"The messenger sent by Tian Zhang?"

After learning about the situation from Xiang Kai's hands, the crown prince Dai Wu was also a little stunned, and he couldn't guess what the purpose of Tian Zhang sending a messenger to come at this time was.

But he still took the bamboo slip written by Tian Zhang, but when he spread out the bamboo slip and glanced at it twice, the expression on his face became strange.

After thinking for a moment, the crown prince Dai Wu asked the guard behind him, "Where is Zuo Sima now?" ”

The guard immediately replied, "Should you be inspecting Dai Jun Sima to train those civilians, do you need me to ask Zuo Sima to come?" ”

Prince Dai Wu shook his head and said, "No, I'll go in person." ”

As the guard said, at this time, Meng Zhong was indeed inspecting Dai Yingzhi's training of those civilians in the city, and even gave Dai Yingzhi a lot of suggestions, but Dai Yingzhi frowned frequently when he heard these suggestions.

It's not that Meng Zhong's advice is bad, it's just that his requirements are too high: Dai Yingzhi just wants to train those civilians into qualified soldiers, at least know how to protect themselves on the battlefield and kill the enemy at the same time; Meng Zhong, on the other hand, hoped to train these civilians into Wei Wushu and Zhao Wushu, and use the quality of the soldiers to make up for the quantity.

Therefore, in response to this matter, Dai Yingzhi and Meng Zhong also had a disputed discussion.

Dai Yingzhi said that Meng Zhong's training requirements are too high, and basically seventy percent of the civilians who are forced to force the sun can't bear it, this is not training, it is purely torture.

Meng Zhong retorted that he had trained a group of Xinwei soldiers in Zhao State, each of whom could defeat ten with one.

Then Dai Yingzhi said again, this is just a small city of forced sun, and there are Qi troops outside the city, how can there be a chance for you to draw elites from other armies of the Song State to train a group of "Song warriors" alone?

In the end, Meng Zhong could only give up his claim, after all, he also understood that whether it was Wei Wushu or Zhao Wushu (Xinwei Army) he trained at the beginning, it was not just as simple as training soldiers with high intensity, but more importantly, it was necessary to use generous treatment to win the hearts of the army, and at present, this forced Yang City, which was surrounded and even isolated by the Qi army, did not have the conditions to train elites at all.

In addition to regrets, Meng Zhong also came here from time to time to observe Dai Yingzhi's training of civilians, after all, each general has his own unique training methods and focus.

For example, Dai Yingzhi, he focused on training the soldiers to strengthen their mastery of weapons, such as the basic action of "holding Changge and stabbing forward", what position is the most labor-saving to hold Changge flat on the body, and at the same time can he have the most power when stabbing out?

For example, what is the most lethal position of the "Hu (i.e., horizontal blade)" on Changge?

Another example, when being resisted by enemy soldiers, how to turn Changge and use "Hu" to disarm the weapon in the opponent's hand.

If Meng Zhong only used Changge as a spear, then Dai Yingzhi, a veteran of the Song Kingdom, can be said to be very proficient in the use of Changge - at this time, Meng Zhong realized that the most threatening thing about Changge was not its sword blade (aid), but the horizontal blade (Hu).

Therefore, to judge whether a soldier is good at using Changge, it is not to look at the time he stabs out, but to see the moment when he takes it back, that is, "hooks".

Meng Zhongjun secretly kept these experiences left over from years of actual combat, which was why he always ran to Dai Yingzhi's side during this time.

Don't look at Dai Yingzhi, Dai Busheng and others are far inferior to him in terms of strategy, but they are also veterans who have fought for decades, and the experience they have accumulated through actual combat is indeed worthy of Meng Zhong's reference and reference.

Today, just as Meng Zhong was watching Dai Yingzhi's training soldiers from afar, he saw the crown prince Dai Wu coming here with a few guards.

Noticing this, Meng Zhong immediately walked towards the crown prince Dai Wu, and Dai Yingzhi, who was training civilians in the distance, also temporarily asked the guards around him to replace the command, and he quickly walked towards the crown prince Dai Wu.

"Prince."

A moment later, Meng Zhong and Dai Ying both came to the crown prince Dai Wu and saluted with fists.

Immediately, Dai Yingzhi frowned slightly and asked, "Prince, could it be that there is any movement of the Qi army?" ”

"Not really." The crown prince Dai Wu shook his head and said with a strange expression: "It's just that Tian Zhang, the chief general of the Qi army, sent someone to send a letter to me, wanting to make an appointment with me to meet outside the city......"

"Huh?" Dai Yingzhi said suspiciously: "I'm afraid there is fraud in it." ”

"I don't think so." The crown prince Dai Wu shook his head mysteriously and rejected Dai Yingzhi's speculation, which made the latter feel very strange.

After all, how can His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in front of him determine whether Tian Zhang has a trick or not?

Probably guessing Dai Yingzhi's thoughts, the crown prince Dai Wu chuckled and said, "Uncle Yingzhi will understand after reading the letter of Tian Zhang. After that, he handed the bamboo slip in his hand to Dai Yingzhi, and at the same time deliberately reminded Meng Zhong: "Meng Qing also take a look, you are also mentioned in the letter." ”

"What?"

Meng Zhong was stunned when he heard this, and immediately turned his head to look at the bamboo slip in Dai Yingzhi's hand, but saw that there was only one sentence written on it, that is, about the prince Dai Wu and Meng Zhong to meet outside the city on a certain day.

Looking at the clear word "Meng Zhong" on the bamboo slips, Meng Zhong chuckled in his heart, and then a strange expression appeared on his face.

Although it is not clear how it was leaked, since Tian Zhang has clearly written his name, it means that the righteous brother has learned of his existence.

"What does Meng Qing think about this?" The crown prince Dai Wu looked at the expression on Meng Zhong's face with some amusement.

I saw Meng Zhong ponder for a moment, and Zhengse said: "Since my brother-in-law came forward in person, he won't play any tricks, let's go and see what his purpose is." ”

"Brother-in-law? Tian Zhang? ”

On the side, Dai Yingzhi looked at Meng Zhong in astonishment when he heard this, and then turned his head to look at the crown prince Dai Wu, and saw that the latter had no different color, so he couldn't help but point at Meng Zhong and ask the latter: "Tian Zhang?" His brother-in-law? ”

Seeing this, the crown prince Dai Wu said puzzledly: "Didn't I mention it, Tian Zhang is Meng Qing's brother-in-law?" ”

On the side, Meng Zhong was also a little puzzled: "I should have mentioned it too." ”

Glancing at the crown prince Dai Wu and then at Meng Zhong, Dai Yingzhi slowly shook his head: "No, no, I never mentioned it." ”

“……”

Hearing this, the crown prince Dai Wu and Meng Zhong glanced at each other, and then the former smacked his lips, lowered his head slightly and stretched out his hand to scratch the corners of his forehead, and the latter pursed his lips in the distance.

The atmosphere was awkward at one point.