In view of the difficulty of capturing Taoyi and the joy of capturing Taoyi, Li Dui, the Fengyang Jun of Zhao, led the Qi-Zhao coalition army to repel the Song team and occupy Taoyi, so he rewarded the three armies and feasted the generals of the Qi and Zhao armies.

This time, Fengyang Jun Li Dui led the army to attack the Song State, bringing a total of 100,000 Zhao troops, and there were four generals under his account, namely Zhao Xi, Dong Shu, Xu Jun, and Lian Po.

The state of Qi sent 50,000 troops, led by Tian Che and Gao Zheng, so the total strength of the Qi and Zhao coalition forces was about 150,000.

After the completion of rewarding the Qi and Zhao coalition forces in Taoyi, Fengyang Jun Li Dui continued to attack the Song State under the urging of the Qi generals Tian Che and Gao Zheng.

Speaking of which, Meng Hu guessed that it was really right, before being ordered by Song Wang Yan to garrison in Taoyi to resist the Qi and Zhao coalition forces, it was really the Song army's army Sima Jingyi, this old man led 20,000 or 30,000 troops in Jishui to resist the Qi and Zhao coalition forces for more than a month, but in the end it was inevitable that Zhao Xi and Lian Po would break through Jishui, considering the disparity in strength between the enemy and us, Jing Hui had to retreat, retreat to Cao County in the south, and wait for the reinforcements of the allies.

On the side of Fengyang Jun Li Dui, he discussed the next countermeasures with the generals of the Qi and Zhao armies.

It's not to discuss how to attack Cao County, after all, Cao County is not as good as Taoyi, it has no danger to defend, as long as he besieges the city with 150,000 Qi and Zhao coalition troops, it is only a matter of time before the city is broken.

What Li Dui really worried about was Wei's attitude.

Wei was an ally of the Song State, and it coveted the rich Taoyi of the Song State, how could it tolerate the Zhao State occupying the Taoyi?

Speaking of which, since the succession of Zhao's father, the form of Zhao and Wei has gradually changed.

Prior to this, Wei was a thin camel bigger than a horse, even if Zhao's national strength was thriving during the period of Zhao Suhou, but it was still a little inferior to Wei, plus the two countries of Qi and Wei had concluded an alliance under the facilitation of Hui Shi, so in general, it was still difficult for Zhao to replace Wei as the head of the Three Jins.

It was not until after Zhao's father succeeded to the throne that he made great efforts to govern the country and fought hard, and the strength of Zhao State rose rapidly, and it had faintly surpassed Wei State.

But in general, the strength of Wei and Zhao is now roughly equal, and the biggest advantage of Zhao is that the alliance of Qi and Zhao is stronger than that of Qi and Wei, and it is no wonder that who let Wei make Xue Gongtianwen, who has an enmity with the fields of King Qi, become the minister of state, and concluded an alliance with the Song State that Qi is planning to annex, it is not an exaggeration to say that the alliance between Qi and Wei can be said to have long existed in name only.

Will Wei send troops to rescue Song?

Fengyangjun Li Dui thinks it will!

Even though he Zhao sent Li Ji and Han Xu to lead 50,000 troops to Zhongmu to threaten the Hebei Zhucheng of Wei, Li Dui still believed that Wei would send reinforcements to prevent him from attacking Song with the combined forces of Qi and Zhao.

The reason is very simple, once the Qi State annexed the Song State, the territory of the Qi State will border the Wei State in a large area, and the Qi and Zhao countries can form a more ferocious flanking attack on the Wei State, as long as the Wei King is not stupid, then he will never allow the Qi State to annex the Song State.

Therefore, when the Qi generals Tian Che and Gao Zheng repeatedly urged Li Dui to lead the army to continue to attack the Song State, Li Dui blocked the mouths of the two with such words: "For the time being, it is not clear the intention of the Wei State, if our army rashly penetrates into the hinterland of the Song State, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not be intercepted by the Wei army, once the back road is intercepted, the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

For this reason, Fengyangjun Li Dui divided the Qi and Zhao coalition forces under his command into two teams, and Zhao Xi led Lian Po, Tian Che, Gao Zheng and other generals to lead the army to attack Cao County, while he and Dong Shu and Xu Jun were stationed in Taoyi, lest the Wei team copy his back road.

On this day, just as Fengyang Jun Li Dui was playing chess with Uncle Dong in the governance of Taoyi, while waiting for the good news that Zhao Xi, Lian Po and others had captured Cao County, suddenly a soldier entered the inner report and reported: "Qi Li Xiang, a scout has found traces of the Wei army outside Taoyi City. ”

"What should come or what must be ......"

Fengyang Jun Li Dui nodded, and he didn't feel any surprise, only to see him pick up a chess piece from the chess bowl and ask casually: "It must be the army sent by the Wei State to support the Song State...... Have you ever sent someone to find out the truth of the Wei army? ”

"This ......" The soldier who came to report hesitated, bowed his head and said: "The vanguard of the Wei army is a cavalry that does not know the specific number, and the cavalry of our army does not dare to act rashly......

“……”

Li Dui, who was twisting the chess piece, was stunned when he heard this, and turned his head in surprise: "Cavalry? ”

At this time, Uncle Dong, a doctor of Zhao Guoshi who was sitting with him, also asked in surprise: "Li Xiang, there are cavalry in Wei?" I thought that only I, the Zhao State, had cavalry. ”

Li Dui shook his head inexplicably, frowned and asked the soldier, "That cavalry ...... Under what banner? ”

"Fang Cheng!" The soldier replied: "Except for the Wei banner, that cavalry is playing the banner of 'Fangcheng'. ”

"Fangcheng ......"

Li Dui put the chess pieces in his hand back into the chess bowl, stroked his beard thoughtfully, and at this moment his mind couldn't help but flash the face of a young man, the face of an extremely young guard Sima who once stood beside Lord Zhao with a sword.

"It's him!" Li Dui's face showed a little solemnity.

In this regard, Uncle Dong was very puzzled and asked, "Who is it?" ”

"Meng Zhong!" Li Dui said in a deep voice: "He is now in the Wei State, and the year before last, he was named the Fang Cheng Commander by the King of Wei because he defeated the Qin general Bai Qi in the Battle of Yique, and it is not surprising that cavalry appeared under his command......

"Meng Zhong?" Uncle Dong thought about it, frowned and said, "This name...... Could it be the guard Sima of the previous king, and Meng Zhong of the Xinwei army? ”

"Hmm." Li Dui nodded, and said in a deep voice: "Back then, Meng Zhong and his group came to my Zhao Kingdom with Li Shi, the envoy of the Song Kingdom, and were favored by the first king, promoted to the guard, and personally taught them all riding skills...... After Meng Zhong later defected to the Wei State, the cavalry of the Zhao State also formed a cavalry ......"

Speaking of this, he immediately ordered the soldier: "Send an order to Zhang Ji, tell Zhang Ji to immediately send cavalry to investigate the reality of the Wei army and see how many troops the Wei army has." ”

"Whoa!" The soldier clenched his fists and left.

Looking at the solemn look on Li Dui's face, Uncle Dong asked puzzledly: "Looking at Li Xiang's complexion, it seems that Li is a little jealous of that Meng Zhong?" ”

“……”

Li Dui glanced at Uncle Dong and didn't say a word.

What can he say?

Do you think that back then, together with Anpingjun Zhao Cheng and Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao, he led Wang Shi to fight against the rebel Gongzi Zhang, but he was beaten by Pang Xuan, Meng Zhong and others? If it weren't for the fact that he rebelled against Niu Jian at a critical time, wouldn't it be possible that Gongzi Zhang would have already broken through Handan and become the monarch of his Zhao State?

A moment later, Zhang Ji received Li Dui's order.

He immediately gathered a thousand cavalry, led his army out of Taoyi, and went straight to the place where Zhao Cai had spoken before.

Does Wei have cavalry?

Zhang Ji was also quite surprised by this.

However, after a while, when he saw with his own eyes the Fangcheng cavalry led by Meng Hu and Hua Hu under the banner of Wei, he believed this fact.

At this time, Meng Hu and Hua Hu also noticed the 1,000 Zhao cavalry led by Zhang Ji in the distance.

Of course, what they are most concerned about is the harness of the cavalry of the Zhao State, or more directly, the stirrup of the cavalry of the Zhao State.

As in the memories of Meng Hu and Hua Hu, the cavalry of the Zhao State is still using unilateral stirrups, which means that this group of Zhao cavalry will definitely not be the opponent of the cavalry of other Fangcheng in a head-to-head confrontation, and the Fangcheng cavalry has been confirmed from the cavalry of the Qin State.

It's just that the cavalry of the Zhao State is much more exquisite than the cavalry of the Qin State, and it may not be able to make up for the gap caused by some bilateral stirrups.

Licking his lips, Meng Hu smiled, and then lowered his voice and said to Hua Hu: "Do you want to play tricks with these Zhao cavalry?" ”

Hua Hu said lightly: "Ah Zhong just asked the two of me to check the current situation of Taoyi, and now is not the time to fight with the cavalry of Zhao State......

"Hey, it's just a joke." Meng Hu shrugged his shoulders and said, "Don't you want to know, whether the cavalry of the Zhao State is powerful, or the cavalry of our city is powerful?" ”

Hearing this, Hua Hu was a little shaken, after all, the way they trained cavalry was to learn from Zhao Guo, and now that he met the teacher, of course he also wanted to verify it, to see how many cavalry in Fangcheng had learned from Zhao Guo, or whether they had the strength to defeat the old teacher.

Seeing that Hua Hu was silent, Meng Hu immediately understood, and after a smile, he shouted into the distance: "Hey, the cavalry general of Zhao State on the opposite side, he doesn't advance, he doesn't retreat, but why?" If you have the guts, you will fight with our knights......"

Hearing Menghu's provocation from afar, Zhang Ji on Zhao Qi's side was slightly stunned.

"This voice...... It's kind of familiar.'

After thinking about it, he shouted tentatively: "General Wei on the other side, but Menghu? ”

"Huh?"

Meng Hu was stunned when he heard this, and then laughed and said to Hua Hu: "See, our brave name has already spread to Zhao State!" ”

"Isn't it?"

Hua Hu couldn't accept it, and was about to speak, but saw that among the thousands of Zhao cavalry on the opposite side, a general slowly rode out, clasped his fists at them from a distance and shouted: "I am Zhang Ji, Brother Menghu is fine." ”

"Zhang Ji?"

Meng Hu and Hua Hu glanced at each other, and immediately dismissed the plan to give this Zhao cavalry a dismount.

The reason is very simple, because when Meng Zhong and the others were in Zhao State, they had a brief cooperation with Zhang Ji and had a good relationship with each other, and later when they protected Zhao's father and tried to escape from Zhao State, Zhang Ji, who was ordered by Niu Jian to lead the cavalry to chase them, had deliberately let them go in private.

This great favor, Meng Zhong and others have not repaid it yet.

At this time, Cai Cheng smiled beside him: "Is it the old acquaintance of the two Simas?" ”

Hua Hu didn't deny it, nodded and said: "When I was in Zhao State, I once owed this person a great favor. After that, he said to Menghu: "Let's go, go and say hello." ”

So, Meng Hu and Hua Hu asked the cavalry under their command to stand by, and the two of them rode forward.

Seeing this, Zhang Ji also stepped forward alone, and the two sides stopped a few feet away.

At this time, I saw Zhang Ji looking at Menghu and Huahu, nodded and said with a smile: "Menghu and Huahu, they are really two brothers...... Are Monsima and the other brothers here? ”

The Meng Sima in his mouth refers to Meng Zhong.

Hearing this, Hua Hu shook his head and said, "Ah Zhong is not here, he is behind......

As he spoke, he pouted at Zhang Ji and asked, "Zhang Ji, how come you are in Li Dui's army?" ”

Zhang Ji shook his head with a wry smile, glanced back at the cavalry under his command, and immediately lowered his voice and said to Meng Hu, Hua Hu and others: "After the death of the general, our cavalry was absorbed by An Pingjun, and later An Pingjun died, and Fengyang Jun took charge of Zhao State...... I'm not under him, where else can I be? After a pause, he said with a smile: "Don't talk about this, the two brothers are now also in the hands of the military, I look at the cavalry under the two brothers, sitting tall and stable, I know that these cavalry are superb in horsemanship......

"Hey, hey." Meng Hu laughed twice and said, "Even if you Zhang Ji, the secret can't be revealed to you, unless you defect to us...... How about it, Zhang Ji, what if you don't stay happy under Li Dui's hands and defect to us? ”

He and Hua Hu both knew very well that in terms of horsemanship, the cavalry of Fangcheng would never be the opponent of the cavalry of Zhao State, but who let them have the artifact of bilateral stirrups?

Hearing Meng Hu's words, Zhang Ji couldn't cry or laugh.

Of course, he knew that Menghu and Huahu had hatred for Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui and others because of the death of Zhao's father, but personally, he was actually quite good under Fengyangjun Li Dui.

So he politely refused: "If you are cornered in the future, I will go to you again, and when the time comes, please don't turn me away." ”

Meng Hu and Hua Hu glanced at each other, and they no longer insisted on it.

At this time, Zhang Ji vaguely probed: "Today, the two brothers led the cavalry here, what is the important matter?" ”

Hearing this, Meng Hu smiled strangely: "You guy, you are turning a corner and trying to spy on our military intelligence...... Well, it doesn't hurt to tell you, this time Li Dui united Qi to attack Song, which made Qin and Wei very unhappy, so Qin and Wei sent an alliance to crusade against you......"

"Hu!" Hua Hu frowned and glanced at Meng Hu.

"It's fine." Meng Hu waved his hand, and immediately said to Zhang Ji Zhengse: "For the sake of your great favor to us that day, brother, let me tell you the truth, this war Li Dui will definitely lose, you had better think of a way out first......

Zhang Ji frowned, but looking at Meng Hu's sincere expression, he also understood that this was probably not Meng Hu's intimidation.

Nodding, he asked again, "How many troops do you have?" ”

Meng Hu is not stupid, and said with a smile when he heard this: "Hehe, this can't be revealed, otherwise Ah Zhong will definitely scold me...... Hmm, I originally wanted to try the strength of the cavalry of the Zhao State today, but since it is the cavalry under your command, then forget it today. …… It's not too early, and I'm going to go back later. ”

As he spoke, he turned his horse's head.

At this time, he seemed to think of something, turned his head and said to Zhang Ji: "Zhang Ji, on the battlefield, the sword has no eyes, although I have the heart to repay your kindness that day, but if you accidentally die in the hands of our soldiers, you don't have to be resentful." …… In short, once the two armies clash, I will not show mercy. ”

Zhang Ji scolded with a smile when he heard this: "The little cub's wings are stiff, how dare he talk to Lao Tzu like this......"

After laughing and scolding each other, Meng Hu and Hua Hu returned to the army, and then slowly left with the cavalry under their command.

Looking at the back of the two of them leaving, the smile on Zhang Ji's face slowly retracted, and then sighed melancholy.

He got along very well with Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, Hua Hu and others at the beginning, but he never thought that he would meet on the battlefield today.

With a long sigh again, Zhang Ji immediately returned to the camp to report to Fengyangjun Li Dui, and told the latter the news revealed by Meng Hu.

Of course, Li Dui knew that Zhang Ji was familiar with Meng Zhong and Meng Hu, and compared with Zhang Ji's conversation with Meng Hu and Hua Hu before the battle, he was more concerned about the news that Zhang Ji had reported.

I have to say that the army that came to the rescue of the Song State was not only the Wei State, but also the Qin State, which was really a very important news, even if it was Fengyang Jun Li Dui, it was inevitable that he would be a little shocked in his heart.

"Qin and Wei actually joined forces? How so? ”

He was in disbelief.

Also, after all, according to the news sent by the Xizuo lurking in the Wei State, last year the Qin State sent Sima Cuo and Bai Qi to attack the land of Wanfang, and the Qin and Wei countries were fighting fiercely, which is also the reason why the Qi and Zhao countries mobilized their troops to attack the Song State this year, and they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Wei State being contained by the Qin State to carve up the rich Song State as soon as possible.

But who would have thought that in the case of his Qi and Zhao attacking the Song State, Qin and Wei would actually shake hands and make peace, and organize an army to join forces to stop it.

After thinking about it, he eagerly asked Zhang Jidao: "How many troops does the Qin-Wei coalition army have?" When will I arrive in Taoyi? ”

Zhang Ji shook his head: "Regarding this matter, Menghu and Huahu did not disclose it, but judging from Menghu's tone, the Qin-Wei coalition army has arrived in Taoyi, I am afraid that it will be in the next few days......"

Hearing this, Fengyang Jun Li Dui pondered for a moment and ordered: "Zhang Ji, immediately send someone to Cao County, and order Zhao Xi, Lian Po, Tian Che, and Gao Zheng to lead the army back to Taoyi, compared to Jing Wei in Cao County, the Qin and Wei coalition forces are our strongest enemy, and only by defeating this army first can our army continue to plot against the Song State!" ”

"Whoa!" Zhang Ji clenched his fists and retreated.

That night, the cavalry sent by Zhang Ji arrived in Cao County, and explained the situation to Zhao Xi, Lian Po, Tian Che, and Gao Zheng, several generals of Qi and Zhao, and these generals immediately led their troops to retreat.

The next day, around the evening of May 23, the four generals Zhao Xi, Lian Po, Tian Che, and Gao Zheng each led their troops back to Taoyi, still stationed in the original camp outside Taoyi.

That night, Fengyang Jun Li Dui summoned the generals and talked in detail about the two armies of Qin and Wei organizing a coalition to come to attack them.

When he mentioned that there was Meng Zhong in this coalition army, Zhao Xi, Lian Po, and Xu Jun all showed complicated expressions.

With a long sigh, Li Dui said in a deep voice: "Meng Zhong, this person, worthy of being favored by the first king, in the first year of defecting to Wei, he defeated the Qin general Bai Qi in the Battle of Yique, this person's ability to lead troops to fight, I think there is no need to go into details, everyone here has dealt with this person to a greater or lesser extent......"

Before the words fell, he saw Lian Po say in a deep voice: "Li Xiang, rest assured, this time Lian will definitely defeat Meng Zhong and wash away the shame of being defeated by him that day!" ”

"Good!"

Fengyangjun Li Dui was very satisfied with Lian Po's ambition, and immediately turned his head to look at Zhao Xi and Xu Jun.

These two people are old acquaintances of Meng Zhong.

Especially Zhao Xi, he looked down on Meng Zhong from the beginning, always aimed at Meng Zhong, and then was later explained by Meng Zhong, and was moved by it, so that in the end he called Meng Zhong and others brothers, in Zhao Xi's own words, if Meng Zhong's closest friend in Zhao is Feiyi's son Fei You, followed by Zhao Ben, then the third will definitely be him.

However, the world makes people, as the nephew of Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, before and after the Dune Palace Change, he stood on the position of Meng Zhong and others against each other, and now he is.

What's worse is that he hadn't confronted Meng Zhong head-on back then, but this time, I'm afraid he won't be able to escape.

After thinking about it, Zhao Xi said in a deep voice: "Meng Zhong is brave and strategic, and there are Menghu, Huahu and others around him as his minions, if you want to defeat him, we must be cautious." ”

Although what he said was correct, Fengyangjun Li Dui nodded thoughtfully.

Two days later, on May 25, Zhai Zhang, Sima Cuo, and Meng Zhong led the Qin-Wei coalition army down the Jishui River and arrived in the area of Taoyi, preparing to settle in about 20 miles west of Taoyi.

There is no need to ask, setting up camp twenty miles away from Taoyi must be the decision of Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo, after all, at their age, the first thing they seek to lead troops to fight is stability, which is what is said in the art of war, "first stand undefeated".

But Meng Zhong had a different opinion, and he said to Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo: "The strength of the Qin-Wei coalition is better than that of the Qi and Zhao coalition forces. The two old generals set up camp first, although this move is safe, but does it take 140,000 troops to set up camp? If he left 20,000 men to camp and lead the rest of the army to Taoyi to fight, if he dared to go out of the city to fight, he would take the opportunity to defeat him; If they can't hold out, then our army can retreat to this place......"

Probably because he was used to being confronted by Bai Qi, Sima misheard Meng Zhong's objections, and said to Zhai Zhang with a smile: "No wonder Bai Qi wants this Fang Cheng Ling to be his lieutenant general, in my opinion, the way the two of them fight is quite similar......"

Not to mention, Meng Zhong and Bai Qi's way of fighting is indeed very similar, most of the time it is a frontal rigidity, first crushing the momentum of the opposite side, allowing the opponent to passively fall into their own rhythm, and then pressing step by step, and finally defeating it in one fell swoop.

The only difference is that Bai Qi is more eager for quick success, and when there is no advantage in a head-on battle, he will use some unconventional means to achieve his goals, rather than patiently waiting for the opportunity, such as when he was in Fox City, he forced the Korean civilians in the city to attack the array of the South Korean army.

In contrast, Meng Zhong is more patient than Bai Qi, and when he has no advantage in a head-to-head battle, he will choose to temporarily avoid the edge, wait for the opportunity, and then look at the enemy's key flaws and crush them in one fell swoop.

This is also the reason why Bai Qi hopes that Meng Zhong will assist him: in Bai Qi's view, Meng Zhong's strength actually lies not in his strategy, but in his grasp of the battle situation, and his vision to wait for the opportunity to counter the Qin army, which can just make up for his weakness of Bai Qi's recklessness in fighting, so that he will not be caught by the enemy, and even be able to strike backward and defeat the enemy's surprise soldiers.

"Young people, it is inevitable to be vigorous, and they are naturally different from our ......"

Hearing Sima Cuo's words, Zhai Zhang said with a slight smile.

Just as Sima Cuo became more and more tolerant of Bai Qi, Zhai Zhang was also more and more tolerant of Meng Zhong, after all, he had gradually realized that the future of his Wei State might fall on the shoulders of Meng Zhong, a young man.

After thinking about it, he smiled and said to Sima Cuo: "Although the art of war teaches us to stand undefeated first and then defeat the enemy, but what this son said also has some truth, without Tian Zhang's Qi and Zhao coalition army, why do we need to wait so scruples?" It is better to follow what this son said, leave 20,000 men to set up a camp, and lead his people to Taoyi to fight, so that the soldiers of Qi and Zhao will know our determination to defeat them. ”

Sima thought about it for a while, and felt that Zhai Zhang's suggestion was also feasible, so he nodded and agreed to the matter.

As a result, the 130,000 Qin-Wei allied troops rested in place for half a day, and then Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo each left 10,000 troops to set up camps, and led the remaining 90,000 troops, as well as 20,000 troops under Meng Zhong, to kill Taoyi in a mighty manner.