Two days later, the Qi generals Tian Touch and Tian Da, who were defeated in Tancheng, led the army to withdraw to Juxian.

At this point, this expedition against the Song State had been a complete failure, and Tian Touch was ready to write a war report, send someone to Linzi, and then wait for the fate of the King of Qi's field to him.

However, just as the messenger to Linzi had just set off, when Tian Touch was drinking with Le Yi and Tian Da due to panic, they learned that Linzi had sent a messenger.

King Qi Tiandi issued an order to the two.

It turned out that in this letter, King Tian Tian ordered him to immediately stop the offensive against the Song State and withdraw his troops to Juxian County for defense.

What is the reason for this?

Tian Touch was very surprised by this, and discussed this matter with Le Yi and Tian Da.

In this regard, Le Yi said: "Maybe it's because the king of Qi learned that Zhao's army has been defeated......"

"Zhao State Army?"

Tian Touch and Tian Da were stunned, and then they remembered that the army of the Song State was not the only one who fought against the Song State, but also the Qi and Zhao coalition forces led by Zhao Guo and Qi generals Gao Zheng, Tian Che and others.

Looking at this situation, it is very likely that the Qi and Zhao coalition forces have been defeated, and the defeat is worse than theirs, so that the Qi King Tiandi had to send someone to inform them and order them to stop the attack on the Song State.

After realizing this, Tian Touch and Tian Da were surprised and delighted, on the one hand, they hurriedly sent someone to recover Tian Touch's battle report, and on the other hand, they discussed with Le Yi.

What to discuss?

Of course, it's about how to cover up this defeat.

Obviously, there was still enough strength to resist the Qin, Wei and Song coalition forces at that time, but because Tian Touch and Tian Da suspected that Le Yi was collaborating with the enemy, they left the Yan army and fled alone, resulting in heavy casualties...... The truth of such a defeat, even if Jing Tian touched it slightly, was still enough to make King Qi Tian furious.

And once the Qi King Field gets angry......

Let's put it this way, now there is no one in the Qi Kingdom who is not afraid of the monarch of the Qi King Tiandi, after all, this monarch is too strict compared to the monarchs of the previous two generations of Qi State, so strict that the children of the public family like Tian Jia also want to plot rebellion.

But if you want to hide the reason for this defeat, Le Yi's attitude is crucial.

If it were in the past, Tian Touch would definitely not be able to pull his face down and beg Le Yi for help, but now, in view of Le Yi's grace to rescue the two of them, and Le Yi more or less showed favor to them, this made Tian Touch already regard Le Yi as his own person - asking for help from his own people, of course, it would not be impossible to pull his face.

As for Tian Yi's plea, Le Yi naturally would not categorically refuse.

He spent a lot of money to gain Tian Touch's trust, how could he sit back and watch Tian Touch lose the trust of King Qi's field? Otherwise, wouldn't he be a bamboo basket for water?

So he did not hesitate to agree to Tian Touch's plea, which made the latter quite grateful.

Then the three of them summed it up, attributing the reason for the defeat to the strength of the alliance army of the three kingdoms of Qin, Wei and Song, like what Wei has cavalry similar to the cavalry of Zhao, the commander of the Qin army will be the famous general of Qin State, Sima Cuo, anyway, he exaggerated and boasted about the strength of the enemy army, so that although he could not get the guilt of the king of Qi's field, at least he could reduce some punishment.

Especially in the case of the fiasco of the Qi-Zhao coalition army, the Qi Wang Tiandi should not be overly offended by them.

Subsequently, Tian Touch sent the revised battle report to Linzi, and in addition to strengthening the vigilance in Juxian every day, he also had a drink with Le Yi, Tian Da and other generals, and waited for Linzi's reply with a little apprehension.

About ten days later, the alliance forces of Qin, Wei and Song did not attack his Qi country, but they waited for the letter sent by Linzi.

King Qi Tian ordered Tian Touch and Le Yi to return to Linzi immediately and overlay their lives in person.

I have to say that although King Qi Tiandi's attitude in the letter was not polite, this was not the worst outcome, at least in Tian Touch's opinion, this time King Qi Tiandi did not send other generals to receive it on his behalf and Tian Da, which means that the harsh monarch has roughly forgiven their defeat - of course, a scolding is inevitable, who let Tian Touch and Le Yi be the commanders of the two armies of Qi and Yan?

After receiving the letter from the king of Qi, Tian Touch temporarily handed over the army to Tian Da and immediately returned to Linzi with Le Yi.

After about five or six days of travel, Tian Touch and Le Yi returned to Linzi.

After entering the city, Le Yi separated from Tian Touch, preparing to go to the post house to bathe and change clothes, in fact, at this time, Tian Touch wanted to invite Le Yi to his mansion to live, but Le Yi politely excused himself: "The King of Qi may still be suspicious of the defeat of you and me, and want to ask the two of us to make it clear, and the Tentacle and Zai should not be too close, lest the King of Qi suspect that the two of us are secretly communicating in order to escape responsibility." ”

Tian Touch was shocked when he heard this, and said yes again and again, and then said goodbye to Tian Touch.

In the final analysis, Le Yi just didn't want to accept Tian Touch's invitation, not because he had any opinion of Tian Touch, but because he came to Linzi this time, and he had to try to get in touch with Su Qin.

All in all, the two of them either went to the post house in the city, or went back to their own mansion, bathed and changed clothes, and then met in front of the palace gate to meet the fields of King Qi together.

It is worth mentioning that during the period of returning to his mansion, Tian Touch also sent someone to inquire about the news of the Qi and Zhao coalition forces.

Sure enough, as Le Yi guessed, the Qi and Zhao coalition forces were defeated, and the defeat was even worse than that of his Qi and Yan coalition forces.

Tian Touch, who was overjoyed in his heart, then met Le Yi again in front of the palace gate, and immediately informed Le Yi of the good news.

“…… Regarding the Qi-Zhao coalition army, I asked the servants of the palace after returning to the palace, and I learned that not all the armies of Qin and Wei had reinforced the Song state, and there was also a Fengyang Jun Li Dui, who was attacking the Zhao state, forcing the Zhao state to withdraw his troops from Taoyi. …… As soon as Li Dui withdrew, Tian Che and Gao Zheng were killed, and the 50,000 troops were killed by Sima Cuo's army, leaving no armor, and fled back to Linzi in a hurry, and the king was angry and deprived the two of them of their fiefdoms, tsk......

In the end, Tian Touch faintly felt a kind of pity like a rabbit and a dead fox, after all, if it weren't for the fiasco of the Qi and Zhao coalition forces this time, maybe it would be his turn to suffer the fate of Tian Che and Gao Zheng, and be deprived of everything by the monarch in anger.

And in this regard, Le Yi was not very surprised, after all, on the night he made an appointment with Meng Zhong, he had already learned the fact of the fiasco of the Qi and Zhao coalition forces from Meng Zhong, but he could not reveal the source of the news, so he did not mention Tian Touch and Tian Da so far.

A moment later, Tian Touch and Le Yi met with King Qi.

Sure enough, after seeing Tian Touch and Le Yi, King Qi Tian Di asked the reason for this defeat.

Tian Touch had already discussed with Le Yi, and did not mention the real reason for the defeat, attributing everything to the strength of the enemy army: "...... At that time, the Qin-Wei coalition army arrived in Tancheng and joined forces with the Song army, and asked people to spread rumors to our army, saying that the Qi-Zhao coalition army led by Fengyang Jun Li Dui had been defeated by them in Taoyi, which caused the sergeants to be fluctuating and almost no fighting spirit. …… Seeing that there were thousands of cavalry similar to the cavalry of Zhao in the Wei army, the minister was afraid that the back road would be cut off by this Wei army, so he discussed withdrawing his troops with Le Yi Sima. I never thought that our army retreated at night, so that the armies of the three kingdoms of Qin, Wei and Song were killed together, and our army could not resist, and it was desperate to break through......"

It is worth mentioning that perhaps in order to repay the peach, Tian Touch did not mention anything about the passive slackness of the Yan army when they attacked Tancheng before, but said that he Qi and Yan armies fought hard to attack Tancheng, in short, the reason for the defeat was all attributed to the reinforcements of Qin and Wei.

After listening to Tian Yi's story, Qi Wang Tiandi turned his head and asked Le Yi: "Le Yi, is that the case?" ”

Of course, Le Yi would not betray Tian Touch at this time, and nodded yes.

After getting Le Yi's affirmation, King Qi was silent.

I have to say that this time, instead of capturing Tancheng, Tian Touch lost more than 50,000 troops.

But this time, considering the rout of the Qi and Zhao coalition forces first, King Qi Tiandi also tolerated the defeat of Tian Touch and Le Yi.

After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that after the defeat of Fengyang Jun Li Dui, who commanded the Qi-Zhao coalition army, this time the crusade of the three kingdoms of Qi, Zhao and Yan against the Song State has basically failed, even if Tian Touch defeats Tancheng, it will not help.

It was with this in mind that the always strict Qi Wang Tiandi only reprimanded Tian Touch and Le Yi, but did not deal with the two severely.

By the way, considering that the alliance forces of Qin, Wei and Song were very likely to take advantage of the victory to pursue and counterattack his Qi state, the king of Qi Tiandi asked the Yan army under Le Yi to temporarily station in Ju County and wait until it was confirmed that the crisis was resolved before returning to Yan State.

Of course, Le Yi will not refuse.

Half an hour later, the two left the palace without any danger.

At this time, Tian touched a cold sweat, but he was very happy in his heart, and warmly invited Le Yi to his house for a drink.

Le Yi did not refuse, accepted Tian Touch's invitation, and the two drank until midnight, and then Le Yi took the guards back to the post house in the city to rest.

The next day, Le Yi got up early, wrote a letter and sent it to Ju County, and handed it to Rong Yi, which was to the effect that Rong Yi would help Tian Da guard Ju County, and avoid any friction with the Qi army.

Subsequently, Le Yi sent someone to contact Su Qin.

I have to say that Le Yi's status in the Qi State is actually not high, don't look at him as the great Sima of the Yan State, but the Qi King Tiandi still calls him around, which is no different from the generals of the Qi State, which is probably because the Qi Wang Tiandi itself looks down on the Yan State.

But Su Qin is different, Su Qin as a former courtier of Yan from Yan to Qi, the king of Qi is quite polite to him, not only worship Su Qin as a guest, but also often call Su Qin to enjoy the music played alone with him, his generous treatment of Su Qin, so that many Qi courtiers are envious, so that this jealousy and resentment are transferred to Su Qin.

This is also the reason why Su Qin's popularity in Qi is not good.

As for why Su Qin was able to get the weight of King Qi's field, the reason was nothing more than that Su Qin was famous, and besides, this old man could speak, knew how to observe words and feelings, and coaxed King Qi's field quite happily.

It didn't take long for Le Yi's guards to bring back the good news that Su Qin had invited him to his mansion.

After getting the news, Le Yi went straight to Su Qin's mansion.

Of course, Su Qin knew Le Yi's identity, and when he learned that Le Yi had come to pay a visit, he asked the servants in the house to invite Le Yi to the study, and then ordered the servants not to approach if they had nothing to do.

Just like accepting other guests, Su Qin exchanged a few words with Le Yi, and then led Le Yi to the secret room in the mansion to talk, preventing the partition wall from having ears.

After arriving at the secret room, Su Qin smiled and said to Le Yi: "Da Sima is visiting, the old man can't welcome him from afar for some reason, and I hope you will forgive me." ”

Speaking of which, in the matter of overthrowing the Qi State, Su Qin, who was the response of the Yan Kingdom, was actually Le Yi's helper, but Le Yi did not dare to regard Su Qin as his deputy, because he knew that the Yan Kingdom actually had nothing to restrain Su Qin, and the reason why Su Qin helped the Yan Kingdom was just to repay King Yan Yi for his tolerance back then.

King Yan Yi, that is, the father of King Yan Xu, the grandfather of the monarch of Yan Kingdom today, according to legend, when Su Qin was in Yan Kingdom, he had an affair with King Yan Yi's mother, and his deeds were revealed.

Since then, Su Qin has also felt the tolerance of King Yan Yi, and most of the children of his family are in Yan Kingdom, so he has been active as an internal member of Yan Kingdom, and it has been more than thirty years in a blink of an eye.

I have to say, in fact, in Le Yi's opinion, this Su Qin is not a good thing, relying on a pair of sharp teeth to make friends with the princes, defecting to Yan State to hook up with the monarch's mother, and now eating inside and outside in Qi State, but it is undeniable that Su Qin is indeed a little loyal to Yan State.

Having said that, Su Qin is not putting on a show, but in the Qi country, there are too many Qi people who are jealous of him, so when Su Qin makes an appointment with Le Yi, he naturally has to keep a few eyes, so as not to doubt the relationship between them.

A moment later, after the two of them sat opposite each other in the secret room, Su Qin said with a smile: "Yesterday, you and Tian Touch visited King Qi together?" ”

Le Yi nodded and asked casually, "You got it?" ”

"Hmm." Su Qin stroked his beard and said with a smile: "After the two of you left, the King of Qi summoned me to discuss the follow-up ......"

"Follow-up?" Le Yi was stunned, and then chuckled: "Do you mean how to end it?" ”

"yes." Su Qin stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The three kingdoms of Qi, Zhao and Yan attacked the Song Dynasty, and the momentum was immense, but now the Qi and Zhao coalition forces were defeated in Taoyi, and the Qi and Yan coalition forces were defeated in Tancheng......

"Hmph." Le Yi snorted lightly: "The field is cruel and unkind, and the country is doomed to ruin in the future!" ”

Hearing this, Su Qin glanced at Le Yi with some surprise, and immediately asked, "How is the loss of the Yan army this time?" ”

Su Qin did not hide it, and told the truth, including the real reason for the heavy losses of the Qi army this time, and Tian Touch's actions to shield his Yan army, all of which were told to Su Qin one by one, and only heard Su Qin's surprise.

He must praise Le Yi's wit and cunning, when attacking Tancheng, he deliberately asked the Yan army to be passive and sluggish, reduce the hostility of the Song army to the Yan army, so that the Yan army could avoid excessive casualties, and at the most critical time, he rescued the Qi army regardless of previous suspicions, and won the trust of Tian Touch and Tian Da at the smallest cost.

Suddenly, Su Qin seemed to think of something, and said to Le Yi: "Da Sima, two days before you and Tian Touch arrived in Linzi, a group of Qin people came to Linzi under the banner of envoys, and the first person was Wei Ran, the minister of Qin......

Hearing this, Le Yi couldn't help but be stunned.

Because on the night of his appointment with Meng Zhong, he had heard Meng Zhong casually mention that Wei Ran, the prime minister of Qin, was in the Song State at that time, but now, this Wei Ran ran to the Qi State?

"What is the purpose of this person's coming to Qi Kingdom?" Le Yi frowned and asked.

I saw Su Qin stroked his beard and said with a smile: "As far as the old man knows, this Wei Ran sent an envoy to the Qi State on behalf of the Qin State to make friends with the Qi State. By the way, he also made a suggestion to the king of Qi to make the two countries of Qin and Qi ...... each other."

"Mutual Emperor?" Le Yi was a little puzzled.

Seeing this, Su Qin explained with a smile: "In the eyes of the old man, it is nothing more than copying the set of Wei Xianghuishi back then...... King Xuzhou, does Da Sima know about this? ”

Le Yi nodded slightly: "That is, Wei Qi and Wei Qi recognize each other's thrones, so as to reach a consensus and form an alliance...... Right? ”

"Exactly." Su Qin nodded, and then said with a smile: "This time Wei Ran's proposal is the same, even if Qin and Qi recognize each other as emperors, one is called the Eastern Emperor and the other is called the Western Emperor...... Hehehe, hey, the dignified Zhou royal family, disgraced. ”

Le Yi ignored Su Qin's ridicule of the Zhou royal family, and frowned when he heard this, and said, "The Qin State hopes to use this to form an alliance with the Qi State? Why? Shouldn't the Qi State be the fierce rival of the Qin State? ”

Su Qin smiled and said: "Regarding leading troops to fight, the old man doesn't dare to say that he can give any advice to the big Sima, but in terms of deceit between countries, the old man still has some experience." …… The Qin State took the initiative to show goodwill to the Qi State and wanted to secretly form an alliance with the Qi State, in the eyes of the old man, it was most likely that the Qin State was hindered when attacking Wei and Han, and did not want the Qi State to send people to interfere again, and even the Qin State wanted to use the strength of the Qi State to ......"

Speaking of this, he glanced at Le Yi and pointed out: "You and Tian Touch met King Qi yesterday, and King Qi did not punish the two of you severely, including Wei Ran's many credits. ”

Le Yi frowned when he heard this, and asked, "Listening to what Mr. means, did King Qi accept Wei Ran's suggestion?" ”

"Why oppose it?" Su Qin chuckled and said, "That's the dignity of the emperor, the dignity is still above the Zhou royal family...... Hehehe. ”

Hearing this, Le Yi glanced at Su Qin in surprise and said tentatively: "And sir, but you don't mean to interfere?" ”

Of course, Su Qin could guess Le Yi's thoughts, waved his hand and said with a smile: "Great Sima doesn't need to worry, as far as the current situation is concerned, even if Qin and Qi secretly conclude an alliance, how much can it change the general trend of the world?" Tian Di this old man understands that he is narrow-minded and self-serving, if he goes to stop it at this time, he will definitely be disgusted, it is better to wait until half a year, so that he himself realizes that it is just a false name, and this false name has a bad impact on the Qi country, and it is not too late to persuade the old man to persuade him......" Speaking of this, he stroked his beard and chuckled: "Maybe, by the way, it can also destroy the relationship between Qin and Qi and destroy Wei Ran's strategy." ”

Looking at Su Qin's confident appearance, Le Yi nodded and didn't say anything more.

After all, he knew that in terms of tricks, he was far inferior to the lobbyist in front of him who had said that the Central Plains countries would join forces to resist the Qin State.

Then chatted with Su Qin for a while, and Le Yi said goodbye and returned to the post house.

After returning to the post house, he thought about it and finally decided to write a letter to inform Meng Zhong of the purpose of Wei Ran's visit.

Although it was inconvenient to disclose the matter of "Qi State's repeated crusades against Song State because of Su Qin's instigation behind it", so as not to make Meng Zhong hostile, Le Yi thought it was necessary to remind Meng Zhong and tell the latter to be more vigilant.

It seemed that the purpose of writing the letter was to remind Meng Zhong, but in fact it was the other way around—it was because of this reason that he felt that he could finally write a letter to Meng Zhong.

In fact, he had wanted to write for a long time, but he didn't know how to write.

And the purpose of Marquis Wei Ran's envoy to Qi is undoubtedly a good reason.