On August 12, the day after Zhao General Lian Po attacked Hu Qian and Peng Zhen at night, he sent 500 soldiers into Jize to look for traces of Zhao Wanghe.

As for how Lian Po knew that Zhao Wanghe was in the territory of Jize, this matter is actually very easy to guess, I believe that as long as he saw that Hu Qian and Peng Qian's two generals were stationed on the west side of Jize, and sent troops to search in Jize many times, Lian Po would certainly be able to guess one or two - not to mention that he also confirmed this from the captured Daijun sergeant.

In the afternoon of the same day, the soldiers sent by Lian Po to the territory of Jize met the soldiers led by Li Ji.

Li Ji was overjoyed and hurriedly went to see Lian Po.

Li Ji is the sister-in-law of Fengyang Jun Li Dui, and Lian Po is the Sima under Li Dui, of course he knows Li Ji, the eldest son, and Li Ji naturally also recognizes Lian Po.

It may be the rest of his life after the catastrophe, when Li Ji saw Lian Po, he was very excited to hold the latter's hands, and said gratefully: "Lian Sima, you are a true warrior with both courage and benevolence, if Li Ji has offended anything in the past, I hope Sima will forgive me." ”

Seeing Li Ji lowering his posture like this, Lian Po was slightly uncomfortable.

Lian Po is a person in Jinyang County, born in the surname Lian, one of the branches of the surname Ying, his ancestors lived in Jinyang very early, can be said to be the most native of Zhao, the history of his family, I am afraid can be traced back to the period when the Zhao family was forced to Jinyang County before and after the three families were divided into Jin - simply put, it is to follow Zhao Xiangzi to protect the Zhao family, which is equivalent to the degree of the founding fathers.

Later, Zhao moved the capital to Handan, but the Lian family still lives in Jinyang County, belonging to the local famous family, and also belongs to a member of the "old aristocratic faction".

However, although Lian Po is brave, he is a bit of his own way in the world, and getting along with others depends entirely on whether it is pleasing to the eye, otherwise, no matter how noble your status is, Lian Po will not put you in his eyes - in short, he is also a more difficult character to get along with.

Because of his personality, although Lian Po is also from a famous family, he has few good friends under the command of Fengyangjun Li Dui, and even, sometimes Li Dui, Li Ji and his son also feel that this Lian Po is very annoying.

For example, last night's night attack on Hu Qian and Peng Qian, according to Li Ji's later knowledge, Lian Po only arrived one step ahead of the vanguard army, and Fengyangjun Li Dui did not grant him the order to immediately start a war with Gongzi Zhang's generals, but yesterday, after his scouts found out the information that Hu Qian and Peng Qian's garrisons were here, he resolutely ordered a night attack regardless of his subordinates' long journey, without thinking about what to do if the night attack failed.

As the main general, if there is such a general under his hand who is good at making claims, I believe it will also feel quite a headache.

However, at this moment, Li Ji was not half disgusted with Lian Po, but he was glad that Lian Po was decisive.

Especially when he learned about Lian Po's record of killing Hu Qian and seriously injuring Peng Zhen last night, he was secretly glad in his heart, glad that he had not eliminated this disobedient thorn in the army and let him go back to Jinyang.

After some heartfelt gratitude, Li Ji calmed down a little and asked Lian Po: "Lian Sima, how many soldiers do you have?" I wonder when my father and An Pingjun's army will arrive in this area? I wonder how many troops they have gathered to help? ”

Lian Po quietly withdrew his hand from Li Ji's hand, and even wiped it behind his waist with some discomfort.

Don't look at Li Ji as Li Dui's son-in-law, and Lian Po is a general under Li Dui, but Lian Po and Li Dui and Li Ji, the father and son, don't have much friendship.

After pondering for a while, Lian replied flatly: "How many soldiers An Pingjun and Fengyangjun have gathered, Lian doesn't know, and I don't know when they will be able to lead the army to arrive. As for Lian's command, Lian's command originally had about 5,000, but there were about 4,500 soldiers left behind on the way, and there were still about 45,600 or so......"

Hearing this, Li Ji also had a rough idea in his heart, and hurriedly said to Lian Po: "Now the king is in the territory of Jize......

Lian Poxin said Of course I know this, otherwise I will send soldiers to the territory of Jize to look for something?

However, Li Ji understood what he meant, he nodded and said: "In the next can allocate another 500 soldiers to Gongzi, and Gongzi will go back to Jize to meet the king, and as for below, he will order people to deploy defenses in this area to prevent Gongzizhang's rebels from attacking." ”

"That's great!" Li Ji nodded happily.

In fact, at this time, Li Ji was also hungry and tired, and he couldn't wait to take a good nap after eating and drinking enough in Lian Po's army, but considering that Zhao Wanghe was still in Jize, even if he was tired and sleepy, he could only grit his teeth and insist.

It's better to say how much loyalty he has to Zhao Wanghe, he is just to invite credit - the credit is in front of him, if he stupidly lets it go, then he is not worthy of being Li Dui's son-in-law.

So after the two sides agreed, Li Ji ate some dry food in Lian Po's army, drank a few sips of water, and returned to Jize with five hundred soldiers again, and took Zhao Wanghe, Xin Qi, Yang Wenjun, Zhao Bao, and Zhao Ping out to join Lian Po.

I once remembered that when Xin Period and Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao protected Zhao Wanghe and fled into Jize, there were still more than 2,000 soldiers around him, but it was only six or seven days, and when Zhao Wanghe and others walked out of Jize again this time, there were only three or four hundred soldiers left around them, and these soldiers were all yellow-skinned and weak.

The rest of the soldiers, except for being swallowed up by the swamp in the territory of Jize, did not see their bodies, or died because of poisoning by eating poisonous wild animals and drinking water, they were forced to surrender to Gongzizhang's side.

Compared with the tragic experience of these soldiers, the torture experienced by Zhao Wanghe is the lightest among these people, after all, the loyal letter period will naturally not be short of Zhao Wanghe's food and drinking water, and most of the game caught by luck in the swamp area was left to Zhao Wanghe after the soldiers tested the poison, and Zhao Wanghe's drinking water, the letter period also specially instructed hundreds of soldiers to collect dew.

Compared with starvation, Zhao Wanghe was more affected by the heavy blow in his heart.

For example, the matter of Feiyi, such as the matter of Meng Zhong, and then such as Lord Zhao's father and Gongzi Zhang, etc.

Because of these blows, although Zhao Wanghe has not been short of food and drinking water these days, he still looks sluggish at first glance.

"The minister is under the command of Fengyang Jun, Sima Lianpo, and I will meet you."

Around the evening of the same day, after Zhao Wanghe and others fled from Jize and joined Lian Po, Lian Po personally came to meet Zhao Wanghe.

"Thanks to Qing this time...... Zhao Wanghe nodded and looked at Lian Po with grateful eyes.

may be to express his gratitude, or it may be to win over Lian Po, Li Ji mentioned Lian Po's great exploits last night: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid you don't know, yesterday Lian Sima attacked the camp of Hu Qian and Peng Qian's two rebel generals, and killed Hu Qian with his own hands, and seriously injured Peng Qian's ......"

Hearing this, Zhao Wanghe was very surprised in his heart, and said in surprise: "Under the command of Fengyang Jun, there are such young warriors. ”

With that, he looked Lian Po up and down.

To tell the truth, Lian Po is twenty-nine years old this year, although he is at the peak of his life, and he can be regarded as a young and strong general, but this has to be compared with whom.

If compared with Yang Wenjun and Zhao Bao, Lian Po is naturally young, but if he is compared with the other - compared with Meng Zhong who Zhao Wanghe thinks of because of the word "young", Lian Po is not young.

"Meng Zhong ......"

As soon as he thought of Meng Zhong, Zhao Wanghe's heart couldn't help but sink, and even felt a little faint pain.

Meng Zhong was the same age as him, and the two chatted quite speculatively, coupled with Zhao Xiang Feiyi's previous recommendation, which made Zhao Wang He once regard Meng Zhong as his future humerus proximate - in Feiyi's words, after he died of old age, Meng Zhong would replace him to resist the pressure from the old aristocratic faction such as Zhao Cheng of Anping Jun and Li Dui of Fengyang Jun.

However, on the day of the Dune Incident, in the middle of the night that day, Meng Zhong's indifferent words and attitude when he replied to the letter made Zhao Wanghe feel deeply disappointed, and even faintly felt betrayed.

Thinking of this, Zhao Wanghe couldn't help but lighten his joy at escaping.

In the end, Zhao Wanghe barely squeezed out a smile and said to Lian Po: "Lian Qing, the widow will remember your credit." ”

"Your Excellency is serious." Lian Po said humbly with his fists clenched, feeling a little strange about this in his heart.

Obviously, Zhao Wanghe was still very happy a moment ago, as if he wanted to ask in detail about his night attack on the rebels last night, but for some reason, Zhao Wanghe suddenly lost interest.

Although Zhao Wanghe's interest suddenly decreased greatly, Lian Po didn't want to ask much, so he asked Zhao Wanghe: "Your Excellency, what are your plans next?" ”

Hearing this, Zhao Wanghe turned his head to look at Xinqi and Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao - in addition to Feiyi, Xinqi and Zhao Bao, who have been desperately protecting him so far, have been completely trusted by Zhao Wanghe.

Seeing this, the letter immediately said: "Your Majesty, Hu Qian and Peng Zhen were attacked by Lian Sima, and the soldiers were defeated and retreated, and they were bound to defect to Gongzi Zhang, after Gongzi Zhang learned of this, I believe that he will immediately lead the army to attack, and the minister thinks that the king should return to Handan immediately......"

"No, the letter period, the widow wants to stay here and wait for reinforcements from Anpingjun and Fengyangjun!"

Zhao Wanghe suddenly shook his head and interrupted the letter's words.

"Your Majesty?" The letter was full of consternation.

I saw Zhao Wang He take a long breath, and said with a straight face: "The fat minister has assisted the widow for many years, and he is loyal to the widow, and this time he fell into the ...... fell into the hands of Gongzi Zhang, life and death are unknown, how can the widow abandon him? What's more, the master father is still in the hands of Gongzi Zhang. ”

"This ......"

Xin Qi shook his head, frowned, and said, "This is too dangerous......"

At this moment, Yang Wenjun and Zhao Bao interrupted the letter period's words.

I saw Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao take a deep look at Zhao Wanghe, and immediately said to the letter period: "Letter period, as long as Zhao Cheng and Li Dui lead the reinforcements to arrive, it doesn't matter if you don't return to Handan or not." …… In fact, the old man is inclined to stay with you and me, in case Gongzizhang sends an army to attack Handan, who can guarantee that there is no Gongzizhang in Handan City? ”

Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at Zhao Wanghe again, and persuaded: "But the old man thinks that you still have to go back to Handan first, issue an edict, and announce the matter of Gongzi Zhang's rebellion, after all, Gongzi Zhang originally had 30,000 or 40,000 generations of county troops under his command, and this time he held the master father hostage, and he may not rebel in the name of the master father. ”

"Yang Wenjun is reasonable." Everyone on the side nodded yes.

Zhao Wanghe thought about it carefully, and finally agreed to Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao's suggestion.

Seeing this, Zhao Bao said to everyone again: "After Gongzi Zhang learned of the defeat of Hu Qian and Peng Qian, I believe that he will immediately lead a large army to pursue, this place should not stay for a long time, and it is necessary to evacuate as soon as possible." ”

So, Lian Po ordered his soldiers to burn down the camp he occupied last night, and protected the king of Zhao, He Xu, to evacuate in the direction of Handan.

At the same time, Peng Zhen, the general under Gongzi Zhang, had been wounded and fled back to the main camp on the northeast side of Ji Ze, and reported his defeat to Gongzi Zhang.

I have to say that Peng Zhen was lucky to escape in the hands of Lian Po last night, but he was seriously injured, and he was tied with a cloth to bandage the wound all over his body, which looked quite miserable, but Gongzizhang did not understand Peng Zhen at all, and scolded angrily.

"What? What did you say? You and Hu Qian, with more than 10,000 troops, lost their camp in a night attack, and even Hu Qian died at the hands of enemy generals? Wonderful! It's wonderful! …… Peng Qian, how do you think I should praise it?! Yes? Idiot! Two incompetent fools, bad me! ”

After saying that, Gongzi Zhang angrily pulled out the saber at his waist, as if he wanted to kill Peng Zhen with a sword.

Fortunately, at this time, Wei Yuan and Tian Buyu were also in the tent, seeing this situation, Wei Yuan hurriedly dissuaded Gongzi Zhang, and pleaded on his behalf: "Gongzi is angry, Gongzi is angry." Killing Peng Zhen at this time will not help, but will shake the morale of the army, it is better to let him atone for his sins......"

During this period, Tian Buyu also persuaded on the side: "Childe, the matter has come to this, even if you kill Peng Zhen, you can't return, let's think about how to remedy it." That army must have been the army sent by Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others to rescue Zhao He, and the top priority was to repel that army and continue to besiege Zhao He in the territory of Jize. ”

Hearing this, Gongzi Zhang barely suppressed the anger in his heart, and ordered angrily: "Wei Yuan, you immediately lead the army to the west side of Jize Ze, if the army that attacked Hu Qian and Peng Zhen is still there, you will annihilate it immediately, and you must not let Zhao He escape from Jize Ze!" …… I will send someone to order Tian Huang and Zhai Dan to lead the army to support you. ”

"Whoa!" Wei Yuan clenched his fists and took his life.

At this time, Gongzizhang turned his head to look at Peng Zhen again, and scolded angrily: "As for you...... Get out of here, if Zhao He escapes from Jize because of the two of you, see how I ...... in the future."

"Childe is angry, Childe is angry."

Wei Yuan persuaded Gongzizhang again and again, and at the same time gave Peng Zhen a few looks, so that Peng Zhen could finally leave the tent alive.

On 13 August, the three generals Wei Yuan, Tian Huang, and Zhai Dan led their respective armies to the west side of Jize one after another.

And Gongzizhang immediately sent people into the territory of Jize to search for the traces of Zhao Wang and others.

When they got there, they found that there was only a burned down camp nearby, and there were no soldiers in sight.

"It can't be that you've already escaped from Jizawa, right?"

At that time, Tian Huang frowned and said to Zhai Dan.

Zhai Dan let out a long breath when he heard this, and shook his head silently, indicating that he couldn't tell.

They knew very well that if Zhao Wanghe really escaped from Ji Ze, it would be very bad.

On the same day, Gongzizhang sent troops on the northeast side of Jize, while Wei Yuan, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan and others were stationed on the northwest side of Jize, and both sides sent soldiers into Jize to search for Zhao Wanghe's whereabouts.

But unfortunately, on the hill where Zhao Wanghe was hiding before, only the corpses of the soldiers in one place remained, but there was no Zhao Wanghe, Xinqi, Zhao Bao and others.

After learning of this, Gongzi Zhang was furious.

How could he not know that Zhao Wanghe, Xin Qi, Zhao Bao and others had already fled from Jize?

Annoyed, he asked Ji Tian Buyu: "No, I'm afraid that Zhao He has probably escaped from Ji Ze and joined forces with Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others, how should this be good?" ”

Tian Buyu stroked his mustache and thought for a moment, then frowned and said: "Childe, don't worry, Zhao He and the others fled from Ji Ze, which is a pity, but the matter has not yet reached the point of no return...... It is estimated that the most on the opposite side is the strength of the three armies of Zhao Cheng, Li Dui, and Zhao Bao, and the strength of the army under Zhao Bao, of which 7,000 people have been defeated on the day of the incident, at best, there are only four or five thousand people left by Zuo Sima Zhao Ben to guard Handan, and there are no more than 30,000 people in the full battle, oh, by the way, there are more than 10,000 troops under Zhao Xi, but Zhao Xi is still blocked by Han Gu in Zhangshui for the time being, so there is no need to worry too much. …… And under the command of Gongzi, there are still nearly 30,000 soldiers in the Daijun army alone, and this is not counting the army loyal to Lord Zhao's father......"

"Master?" Gongzizhang asked in surprise, "You mean Tan Wei and Xin Wei?" ”

"Of course not."

Tian Buyu shook his head and said with a smile: "Although Tan Wei and Xin Wei cannot be underestimated, they are not enough to decide the victory or defeat of this civil war. At the bottom is the cavalry under Niu Qian's command. …… Among the four people, Zhao Yuan, Zhao Xi, Xu Jun, and Niu Qian, only Niu Jian won the trust of Master Zhao the most, and it was only because of this that Master Zhao would hand over the cavalry to Niu Jian in charge. ”

"Niu Jian ......"

Gongzizhang nodded slightly.

Since the implementation of the "Hufu cavalry and archery" reform in Zhao State, the chariot has been gradually eliminated, and these saved war horses, Zhao Master Father spent a lot of energy to form a cavalry, the number of which is about 20,000 people, which is the only cavalry in Zhao and even the entire Central Plains.

With this cavalry, Zhao defeated strong enemies such as Lin Hu, Xiongnu, and Lou Fu, and maintained the stability of Zhao's northern border.

And such a cutting-edge army will naturally make many people in the country blush, whether it is Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui, or Gongzizhang, however, Zhao's father handed over this cavalry to Niu Jian - if it weren't for his great trust in Niu Qian, how could Zhao's father hand over this cavalry to Niu Qian?

Thinking of this, Gongzi Zhanghu asked suspiciously: "You mean, the master father may ask Niu Jian to help me?" ”

Hearing this, Tian Buyu said with a smile: "Now that the matter is over, is the prince still suspicious of Master Zhao's acquiescence to your regaining the throne?" …… Don't forget, if there was no acquiescence from Master Zhao's father at that time, how could Pang Xuan lead Tan Wei to help you? Childe, Master Zhao really wants to help you regain the throne......"

"For your sake and for himself."

Tian Buyu added in his heart.

Gongzizhang nodded when he heard this, and immediately asked Tian Buyu: "Then according to your plan, what should I do now?" ”

Tian Buyu stroked his beard and thought for a while and said, "In any case, first report the failure of the siege of Zhao He and others to Lord Zhao, so that he can also be prepared." ”

"Hmm!"

In the evening of the same day, Gongzizhang and Tian Buyu took a team of guards and rode back to the Dune Palace.

Because Jize is in the southwest of the Dune Palace, when Gongzi Zhang and Tian Buyu return to the palace, they naturally have to pass through the southern suburbs where the Xinwei army is stationed, which makes it difficult to avoid their whereabouts being discovered by the Xinwei soldiers, and the Xinwei soldiers reported the matter to Meng Zhong.

"Sima, Fang Cai Gongzi Zhang, Tian Buyu and others rode back to the palace with a team of guards, and they seemed to be in a hurry."

"Huh?"

After hearing the soldier's report, Meng Zhong frowned.

At this time, Meng Zhong had not yet learned that Lian Po had attacked Hu Qian and Peng Zhen at night, and rescued Zhao Wanghe, but he learned that Tian Huang, Zhai Dan and other generals led the army to leave the original station, which made him feel more or less that something was wrong - if there was no change, Tian Huang and Zhai Dan, who were originally responsible for besieging Ji Ze, what reason did they have to lead the army to leave from the original station?

Thinking of this, he explained a few words to Le Yi, and rode back to the palace to see what happened.

When Meng Zhong arrived at the east hall of the palace, Gongzi Zhang had already reported the matter of Zhao Wang's escape to Zhao's father, which made Zhao's father very unhappy.

"You have 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers, and you have more than 2,000 soldiers besieging them, and you even told them to escape?" When Meng Zhong stepped into the east hall, he happened to hear Master Zhao say this with a displeased expression.

"Who escaped?" Could it be Zhao Wang He and his party?"

Slightly startled in his heart, Meng Zhong stepped into the hall and stood aside and listened.

Seeing someone walking into the hall, at this time, Master Zhao's father, Gongzi Zhang, Que Guanzi, Tian Buyu, and Pang Xuan, who were sitting in the hall, all turned their heads to take a look, and saw that the person who came was Meng Zhong, and no one said anything.

"It was my negligence."

Gongzizhang bowed his head and said: "Actually, Erchen has already taken precautions, so he asked Hu Qian and Peng Zhen to lead 10,000 soldiers to the west side ......of Chicken Jersey, but I didn't expect that a Sima named Lian Po under Li Dui attacked the camp of Hu Qian and Peng Zhen at night, and killed Hu Qian and seriously injured Peng Qian."

"Lian Po?"

Meng Zhong secretly kept this name in his heart, after all, Hu Qian's force, he probably still understood, at least he and his friends were not Hu Qian's opponents.

And the Zhao general, who is called Lian Po, was able to kill Hu Qian in a short period of time, I have to say that this force is really quite terrifying.

"Enough, I don't want to hear that!"

Master Zhao interrupted Gongzi Zhang unhappily, only to see him look at the latter with angry eyes, and then snorted coldly: "As long as you capture Zhao He, you can sit in the position of King Zhao, even if Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others lead troops to resist, they have no name and righteousness, they can't pose a threat to you at all, but such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you actually watched it slip away." …… Now it's okay, Zhao He fled to Zhao Cheng and Li Dui's army, so that Zhao Cheng and Li Dui got the righteousness of crusading against you, I'll see what you do! ”

“……”

Gongzi Zhang lowered his head and was speechless.

Although there are many factors in this, such as the complex terrain around Jize and the difficulty of defending and attacking, in the final analysis, it is indeed he who missed this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

At this time, Master Zhao's father let out a long breath and said seemingly calmly: "By now, it is destined to be impossible to avoid confrontation with Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others, so you can go back and gather the army......

Hearing this, Gongzi Zhang lowered his head and pleaded: "Master, the strength under the command of the sons is not much different from Zhao Cheng and the others, I beg the lord, you can help the sons...... and daughters" Licking his lips, he added: "If there is Niu Qian's cavalry to help, the sons will definitely be able to defeat Zhao Cheng and the others." ”

“……”

Master Zhao took a deep look at Gongzi Zhang, and then glanced at Tian Buyu quietly, and then said slowly: "I know, when the time is right, I will ask Niu Jian to help you break the army of Zhao Cheng and Li Dui......"

Speaking of this, he frowned and thought for a moment, and then said: "Most of the generals under your command are brave and unscrupulous, so they were attacked by that Lianpo, an unknown person...... Pang Xuan and Meng Zhong, you are familiar with the art of war, are well versed in the use of soldiers, and go to help him. ”

"Whoa!"

Pang Xuan clenched his fists and took his life.

Immediately, he felt that something was wrong, and turned his head to look at Meng Zhong, only to find that Meng Zhong had no response.

Seeing this, everyone in the hall turned their heads to look at Meng Zhong.