"I never thought that Sima Guowei and Bai Qi would be trapped in Wancheng......"

At the Qin army garrison in the area of Lixian, General Qin Xiang Shou looked at the city in the distance and said with emotion.

At this time, beside him, a general said with an anxious expression: "General Xiang, the national captain and Bai Shuai are in danger, and you urgently need to lead the army to reinforce ......"

At this point, he stopped talking.

This general is none other than Zhong Xu, a subordinate general under Bai Qi.

It turned out that a few days ago, Zhong Xu was ordered by Sima Cuo and Bai Qi to lead thousands of Qin soldiers to quietly go out of Wancheng at night and go to Wuguan to carry grain, but he didn't expect to meet Xiang Shou leading reinforcements to come, and the ecstatic Zhong Xu chose to stay in Xiang Shou's army and serve as a guide for the latter.

Unexpectedly, after Xiang Shou led tens of thousands of troops down the Danshui River and arrived in the area of Lixian, he neither attacked Lixian, which was occupied by the Han army again, nor continued to march east towards Wancheng to rescue Sima Cuo and Bai Qi from danger, which made Zhongxu anxious.

So Zhong Xu immediately begged Xiang Shou and begged Xiang Shou to send troops to Wancheng.

Unexpectedly, Xiang Shou refused this matter, and when Zhong Xu asked the reason in shock, Xiang Shou explained helplessly: "Two days ago, I received a letter sent by the Marquis, ordering me not to fight with the Wei and Han armies for the time being, and to wait for Xianyang's order. ”

Hearing what he meant, he led the reinforcements to Lixian, just to deter the Wei and Han armies, so that the Wei and Han armies did not dare to continue to besiege Wancheng without any worries.

This made Zhong Xu very puzzled, and begged Xiang Shou several times to send troops, but Xiang Shou refused again and again, saying that Xianyang would not allow him to take the initiative to provoke the Wei and Han armies.

What is the reason for this, Zhong Xu didn't understand, and Xiang Shou didn't explain it to Zhong Xu.

I have to say that Xiang Shoujun's abnormality also caused the puzzle of the violent kite, and the violent kite at this time also received the news that Qin would go out of the military pass to the Shou soldiers, and the army was currently stationed in the area of Lixian.

But the strange thing is that Xiang Shou did not send troops to attack Lixian, but stationed troops in Lixian, could it be that there is some trick in this?

Thinking of this, the violent kite immediately went straight to Zhai Zhang's camp and personally discussed countermeasures with Zhai Zhang.

At this time, Zhai Zhang had also received news from the Fangcheng cavalry led by Meng Hu and Hua Hu, and learned that the Qin general Xiang Shou led the army to help, and wondered why this Qin army stopped.

That night, Meng Zhong, Storm Kite, and Zhai Zhang met in the latter's camp to discuss the next battle.

It must be mentioned here that Bai Qi's "stop-loss" tactics did have a great impact on the Wei army, don't look at the current Wei and Han armies are indeed besieging Sima Cuo's army in Wancheng, but as the main force of the Wei army, the morale of the army is not optimistic.

The reason for this is nothing more than that the casualties of the Wei army are too heavy, compared to the Fangcheng army, which is the main force of the Wei army, has directly lost nearly one-third, and it was okay when it was in Yangguan a while ago, after all, at that time, the Fangcheng army abandoned distracting thoughts in order to defend their homeland, and now the Qin army has shown obvious defeat, and the soldiers of the Fangcheng army do not want to fight.

It's no wonder, after all, most of the soldiers of the Fangcheng army are Chu people from northern Hanbei, and they insist on fighting against the Qin army, mainly to defend Yeyi and protect their relatives.

As for the army under Zhai Zhang, it was not the elite of Wei, but the county army drawn from all over Wei, in terms of morale and combat effectiveness, it was even worse than the Fangcheng army, which was also the reason why Meng Zhong, Zhai Zhang and others were ready to trap Sima Cuo and Bai Qi by besieging the city - if the Wei army still maintained the fighting spirit when they were in Yangguan, Wancheng might have been broken by them.

When discussing countermeasures, Meng Zhong sorted out his thoughts and said to Zhai Zhang and Storm Kite: "Although Xiang Shou led the army to help, it was not enough to shake our advantage, since he wanted to save Sima Cuo and Bai Qi, then he might as well set up an ambush halfway, let's defeat Xiang Shou first!" ”

He offered a plan to besiege the city to send reinforcements, and Zhai Zhang and Storm Kite both nodded their heads again and again.

But what made Meng Zhong, Zhai Zhang, and Storm Kite feel quite strange was that in the next few days, Qin General Xiang Shou did not send a large army to aid Wancheng, but only sent soldiers to infiltrate the defense line jointly built by Storm Kite and Zhai Zhang, and tried to let these soldiers carry food to Wancheng.

I have to say that this made Meng Zhong, Zhai Zhang, and Storm Kite very puzzled.

After all, in their opinion, secretly transporting grain in this way is just a drop in the bucket, and it is not enough to rescue Sima Cuo and Bai Qi, but for some reason, Xiang Shou would rather use this way to help Sima Cuo survive, rather than lead a large army to a decisive battle with the Wei and Han coalition forces.

Could it be that there is some kind of trick in it?

Meng Zhong thought about it, so he asked Meng Hu and Hua Hu to lead the cavalry to Lixian to see if they could trap Xiang Shou's army, but the strange thing was that Xiang Shou couldn't avoid the battle - not to mention that his army couldn't avoid the battle, even the patrol soldiers he sent could avoid it when they saw the Wei and Han armies.

I have to say that this situation is really a bit weird.

On the seventh day of the fourth month, when Meng Zhong, Zhai Zhang, and Storm Kite were all confused by Xiang Shoujun's actions, Hua Hu, who was wandering in the wilderness, led his cavalry to capture a team of Qin soldiers.

At that time, Hua Hu didn't care, and without saying a word, he ordered his cavalry to prepare to completely annihilate this Qin army, after all, since he witnessed the brutal killing of the Qin people in Yuncheng, even a few years old, he had no tolerance for the soldiers of the Qin army.

But today was a little special, because after those Qin soldiers saw the Fangcheng cavalry put on an attacking posture, they immediately raised their hands and shouted: "We are messengers, and we have been ordered to deliver the letter." ”

I don't know if it was for the sake of insurance, this group of Qin soldiers repeatedly repeated the meaning in the not very standard Central Plains lingua franca, for fear that this group of extremely aggressive cavalry would attack.

"The Courier?" Hua Hu frowned, immediately waved his hand and ordered to stop the attack, and then summoned the Qin pawn who was in the lead to the front and asked carefully.

The Qin pawn didn't dare to hide it, and said respectfully: "I am ordered to send this letter to the great Sima Zhai Zhang of your country." ”

Looking at the bamboo book presented by the other party's hands, Hua Hu hesitated, although he was also curious about the content of the letter, but he did not dare to open Zhai Zhang's letter privately.

After pondering for a while, Hua Hu personally escorted this group of Qin soldiers to Zhai Zhang's camp.

About two hours later, Hua Hu came to Zhai Zhang's camp and asked to see the latter.

At this time, Zhai Zhang was reading books in the barracks, and overheard a report from a soldier: "Great Sima, Sima Huahu of the Fangcheng Army asks to see you." ”

"Huh?"

Zhai Zhang was stunned, and immediately ordered someone to invite Huahu in.

After a while, Hua Hu came to Zhai Zhang's tent and saluted with his fists: "Da Sima." ”

At this time, Zhai Zhang put down the book in his hand and asked with a smile, "What's the matter?" ”

His tone was very flat, but he was also close, just like when the elders spoke to the juniors, which showed that Zhai Zhang was indeed very optimistic about Meng Zhong and Meng Hu and Hua Hu, a group of brave and skilled young people.

After listening to Zhai Zhang's words, as soon as Hua Hu said what had happened, he saw Zhai Zhang frown slightly, and asked in surprise: "Letter to the old man?" Where is that man? ”

"It's right outside the house."

"Call him in."

With Zhai Zhang's permission, the Qin pawn who delivered the letter came to the tent and respectfully handed the letter to Zhai Zhang's guards.

During this period, Hua Hu stood aside and watched, and did not retreat, Zhai Zhang glanced at him and didn't say anything.

I saw that under Hua Hu's gaze, Zhai Zhang spread out the bamboo book, glanced at it twice, and then the expression on his face suddenly became solemn.

Seeing this, Hua Hu asked tentatively: "Da Sima, I don't know what is written in the letter?" ”

Zhai Zhang, who has lived for most of his life, how could he not guess Hua Hu's thoughts?

He snorted lightly and scolded with a laugh: "Young man, do you still suspect that the old man has fornicated with the Qin State? ”

As he spoke, he handed the letter in his hand to Hua Hu, and said in a deep voice: "You take this letter back to the camp immediately, hand it over to Meng Zhong, and tell him to come to the old man's camp immediately after reading this letter." ”

“…… Here. ”

Hua Hu took the letter and immediately turned to leave.

After leaving Zhai Zhang's camp, Hua Hu first looked at the content of the letter - the letter to Zhai Zhang, he didn't dare to open it privately, but the letter to Meng Zhong, he didn't have this concern.

What does a few of them have to do with Meng Zhong, they are brothers and sisters who have played since childhood.

However, after taking a closer look at the letter, Hua Hu didn't think that there was anything on the letter worthy of Zhai Zhang's solemn look.

After all, the content of the letter was nothing more than that the Qin side was preparing to send someone to negotiate with his Wei army, probably preparing for a truce.

It was the signing of the letter that made Hua Hu look at it twice.

Marquis Wei Ran!

After another two hours, Hua Hu personally delivered the letter to Meng Zhong's hands.

When Meng Zhong read the letter, he felt a little strange.

Of course, Marquis Wei Ran knew that the younger brother of Empress Dowager Xuan, the uncle of King Yingji of Qin, the minister of Qin and the most powerful man in Qin at present, was also Bai Qi's backer.

Meng Zhong only found it strange, because in his opinion, the Qin state should not have reached the point where it had to have to make a truce with him, Wei and Han.

It is undeniable that the army under Bai Qi's command has indeed been destroyed, but the powerful Qin State will be forced to negotiate peace with Wei and Han because of the fall of tens of thousands of troops?

"Could it be that the retreat of the Chu army made the Qin State realize that the Chu State was unreliable, so it did not plan to continue this war?"

Meng Zhong secretly guessed.

But thinking about it carefully, Meng Zhong always felt that something was wrong.

In his opinion, the Qin State should not have made peace with him and Wei and Han at this time, and it stands to reason that they should not send reinforcements to continue this war?

"It seems that something has happened to the Qin State."

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong handed over the affairs in the military camp to Meng Sui, and took Hua Hu to ride a horse to Zhai Zhang's military camp.

That night, Meng Zhong communicated with Zhai Zhang.

I have to say that Zhai Zhang can't figure out what the hell Qin is doing, but since Qin Guo took the initiative to contact them, he thinks it might as well look at Qin Guo's intentions first, anyway, Sima Cuo and Bai Qi of Wancheng are still surrounded by them, and when the two sides negotiate, this is a very good bargaining chip.

Meng Zhong nodded.

In this way, two days later, the Fangcheng cavalry under the command of Hua Hu came to report that they had seen a team of more than a dozen carriages and more than 100 followers in the wilderness, which was the team of Wei Ran, the minister of Qin.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong immediately sent someone to send an order to Hua Hu, ordering the latter to guide this team to Zhai Zhang's military camp and protect this team along the way.

Considering Wei Ran's identity, there must be someone outside the camp to greet him, but if Zhai Zhang, who is the commander of the Wei army, personally greets him, it will inevitably be a little cheap, so Meng Zhong and Zhai Zhang summed it up, and Meng Zhong took Tang Zhi and others out of the camp to greet him, after all, Meng Zhong is also a disguised county guard, and it is not a disrespect for Wei to lead people to greet the prime minister of Qin.

About two hours later, Marquis Wei Ran's team came to the outside of Zhai Zhang's military camp.

At this time, I saw a middle-aged man in a gorgeous costume walking down from the most luxurious carriage in the team.

This person is about forty years old, wearing a deep suit, wearing a jade crown, although his hair is still black but his temples are slightly gray, and he seems to be walking like a dragon and a tiger when he walks, which is quite powerful.

With just two glances, Meng Zhong felt that this person's momentum was still above Tian Wen.

"This person should be Marquis Wei Ran."

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong immediately took Tang Zhi and the rest of Zhai Zhang's generals and stepped forward to greet the middle-aged man: "The foot is a marquis, and the big Sima ordered us to wait here to greet him." ”

Seeing this, there was an entourage behind the middle-aged man in Chinese clothes who made a dissatisfied voice: "This Zhai Zhang is such a big shelf, the Marquis of Sui came to visit in person, but he held his own identity, so it was rude." ”

However, the middle-aged man didn't care, nodded with a smile, and said to Meng Zhong: "It's Wei Ran down here, and there is little brother Lao who took me into the camp to meet Zhai Da Sima." …… By the way, what do you call the little brother? ”

"In the Lower Mong." Meng Zhong said with his fists clenched.

In an instant, the entourage behind Wei Ran, the Marquis, immediately became quiet, and they all looked at Meng Zhong with surprised and incredible eyes, and Wei Ran's face also showed a look of surprise, and after carefully looking Meng Zhong up and down for a few moments, he nodded and said, "I see, it turns out that the little brother is Meng Zhong......"

After that, he stroked his beard and turned to the entourage behind him and smiled: "Who said that Zhai Zhang was rude?" ”

His entourage was silent, just staring at Meng Zhong with strange eyes, making Meng Zhong feel unwell.

At this time, Wei Ran explained to Meng Zhong with a smile: "Please don't care, the entourage below is just curious, curious about what kind of person Meng Zhong is who defeated Bai Qi twice......

"......" Look at Wei Ran, and then look at the entourage or disciples behind Wei Ran who are still staring at him with strange looks, Meng Zhong didn't know what to say, got out of the way, raised his hand and said, "Da Sima is waiting for the big driver in the camp, please." ”

"Please."

A moment later, Meng Zhong took Wei Ran to Zhai Zhang's handsome office.

At this time, outside the Shuai Office, Zhai Zhang's guards had already understood the situation, and there was no need to report it, and when they saw Meng Zhong leading Wei Ran slowly coming, they immediately opened the door of the thatched hut that served as the Shuai Office.

I saw that in the house, Zhai Zhang was waiting for Wei Ran's arrival with both hands behind his back.

"Houhou."

"Zhai Da Sima."

After the two sides met, Zhai Zhang invited Marquis Wei Ran to sit down, and then the two chatted.

To put it bluntly, the two complimented each other, Zhai Zhang praised Wei Ran's power and status in the Qin State, and Wei Ran started from Zhai Zhang's ancestor Zhai Huang, saying that the Zhai family has been loyal and good generals of the Wei State for generations.

At that time, Meng Zhong was also sitting under Zhai Zhang's hand, listening as an escort, he didn't know what to interject, so he simply kept silent and listened to the two complimenting each other.

Although in his opinion, this kind of hypocritical politeness has no meaning, but it is undeniable that it is these hypocritical social words that make the atmosphere in the room very good.

Subsequently, Zhai Zhang's guards sent wine and food.

When his guards divided the wine, Zhai Zhang said to Wei Ran with a smile: "The army is not as good as other places, the wine and food are shoddy, and please don't be surprised." ”

Of course, Wei Ran didn't care, and drank a bowl of wine with Zhai Zhang and Meng Zhong.

At this time, Zhai Zhang asked about the intention: "Marquis Gui is the minister of Qin, and now he does not hesitate to risk his daughter and come to Zhai's army in person, is there any major reason?" ”

Marquis Wei Ran smiled slightly, and said calmly: "I came here to stop this war." ”

"Huh?" Zhai Zhang chuckled and made a strange sound, but did not speak.

Seeing this, Wei Ran straightened his face and said: "Da Sima, I think that the current situation is very urgent, and you and I should no longer pass the buck to each other and delay the fighter...... I think Da Sima should understand why he came here. ”

Hearing this, Zhai Zhang also put away the playful look on his face and was silent.

Seeing this, Wei Ran Zhengse said, "Hasn't Da Sima received the news yet?" After the beginning of spring this year, the Zhao State had already led an army of 60,000 by Fengyang Jun Li Dui, and allied with the Qi army in Dong'e, preparing to attack the Taoyi of the Song State......"

Meng Zhong was stunned when he heard this, his face showed a little stunned, and he frowned and asked, "Marquis, is this matter serious?" ”

The surprise on his face, Wei Ran could see it clearly, and when he heard the words, he nodded and said, "This is exactly what Wei Mou meant this time." …… Our Great Qin has always been friendly with the Song State, and now the Qi and Zhao countries conspired to attack the Song State, and our king was greatly annoyed when he learned about it, so he ordered Zai to come as an envoy to try to stop the current war between Qin and Wei...... Wei is an ally of the Song State, and our Great Qin is also an ally of the Song State, although there may be friction between the two countries, but I think that at present, our Qin and Wei should join forces to prevent Qi and Zhao from carving up the Song State. Otherwise, when our Qin and Wei countries were fighting each other, Qi and Zhao took the opportunity to annex the Song State, which would not be a good thing for me Great Qin or for your country. ”

“……”

Because of his identity as a Wei general, Meng Zhong stopped talking and turned his head to look at Zhai Zhang.

Under the gaze of Meng Zhong and Wei Ran, Zhai Zhang let out a long breath, frowned and said, "Zhai...... I haven't received any news from the girder yet......"

"It won't be long before there is news." Wei Ran smiled and said: "When I came to this Wanfang land, my country also sent Qi Rong as an envoy to your country, hoping to resolve the war with your country, and join hands with each other to stop the attempts of Qi and Zhao." ”

Hearing the words "jointly stop the attempt of Qi and Zhao" from Wei Ran's mouth again, Meng Zhong's expression couldn't help but be a little strange, and he asked Wei Ran: "Marquis, your country is ready to send troops to aid the Song State?" ”

Of course, Wei Ran knew that Meng Zhong was from the Song Kingdom, and when he heard this, he swore and smiled: "That's natural, as far as I know, little brother, you are the righteous brother of Song Guohuixiang, don't you know that Qin and Song have always had diplomatic relations?" Now the Song State sent an envoy to ask for help from my Great Qin, and my Great Qin naturally wanted to send troops to help! ”

"That'...... What exactly will your country do? Meng Zhong asked again.

Hearing this, Marquis Wei Ran deliberately glanced at Zhai Zhang, and said with a smile: "That depends on Wei Guo's attitude." …… According to Wei's proposition, our Qin and Wei countries might as well organize a coalition army to attack Zhao first, first force Zhao to withdraw the army that attacked Song, and then attack Qi to force Qi to retreat. ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong's expression became more and more strange.

As the so-called world is unpredictable, the two countries of Qin and Wei, who were still fighting for life and death, actually want to unite at this moment to prevent Qi and Zhao from attacking the Song State?

Of course, although I feel a little awkward, I have to say that this is a good thing that he is very happy to see.

Only Zhai Zhang still had some concerns: "This matter ...... Zhai can't call the shots, and needs to wait for the order of the girder. ”

Wei Ran didn't care about this, and nodded when he heard the words and said: "It's okay, King Wei and Duke Xue are both people who understand the general situation and understand things, so they naturally understand what kind of impact it will have on your country once the Qi State annexes the Song State. But ......."

After a pause, he arched his hand and said: "I heard that your country's army has besieged our country's Sima Cuo and Bai Qi two generals in Wancheng for a long time, so that the two soldiers have been starved of food for a long time. ”

“……”

Zhai Zhang took a deep look at Wei Ran, who was smiling.

At other times, of course, he would not agree to such a ridiculous request, but in the given situation of "Qi and Zhao joining forces to attack the Song State", he would inevitably hesitate.

Although it sounds a little ridiculous at first glance, in the face of the threat of the Qi-Zhao coalition army, he Wei and Qin are really in the same camp.

After thinking about it, Zhai Zhang said in a deep voice: "You can only transport half a month's worth of grain and grass at a time......

Of course, Wei Ran understood Zhai Zhang's concerns, and said with a smile of relief when he heard this: "Zhai Da Sima can rest assured, what I Wei Ran said is true, before Qi and Zhao stop using troops against the Song State, the Qin State and the Wei State will not have any more troops!" ”

"I hope so......"

Subsequently, Zhai Zhang sent someone to invite the violent kite to the army and told the violent kite about the situation.

At this time, the Marquis Wei Ran was allowed by the Wei army to enter Wancheng smoothly.

I have to say that Wei Ran's arrival made Sima Cuo and Bai Qi stunned, and they couldn't figure out what the situation was.

Seeing this, Wei Ran told Sima Cuo and Bai Qi about the current situation today, and immediately said to the two: "In view of the fact that the joint attack of Qi and Zhao against Song is not in the interests of our Qin State, the king has decided to temporarily stop the war with Wei State, and then, as long as Wei State agrees, Qin and Wei will form an alliance army to jointly crusade against Zhao State......

"Join forces to crusade against Zhao State?"

Sima was dumbfounded.

It is true that even a person like him who has seen strong winds and waves can hardly accept what is happening at the moment: it is clear that the armies of Qin and Wei were still fighting fiercely before, and because of the fact that Qi and Zhao attacked the Song State, the two armies of Qin and Wei turned enemies into friends and will jointly crusade against Zhao as an ally?

The white sky on the side is full of surprises.

Shockingly, he never expected this battle to end in this way; Happily, if Qin and Wei joined forces to form a coalition army, wouldn't he and Meng Zhong really have a chance to join forces against the enemy army in the same camp?

He was the main general, and Meng Zhong served as his lieutenant......

Such a long-cherished wish has been fulfilled in this way?