On the fifth day of August, the day after the "Dune Incident", the weather was clear and white clouds floated in the sky.

Early in the morning, around midnight, Meng Zhong, Le Yi, Meng Hu and others stood on the periphery of "Ji Ze", spying on the situation of the swamp in front of them.

Jize is not a continuous swamp, its topography is quite complicated, there are not only low hills in the territory, but also dense forests, the total area or a radius of ten miles, but no matter the hills, the woods, are located on a lot of "shallow water beaches", some are only a few zhang square, some are dozens of zhang square or even larger, it seems that those "water beaches" seem to be very clear, as if they are like ordinary lakes, but in fact, there are many "water beaches", are bottomless swamp pools, And the deeper you go, the denser the swamp pool becomes.

According to the local Zhao people, people or livestock who have no knowledge of this area often strayed into it, and they did not see people alive or dead, and they were all swallowed up by those large and small swamps.

"Zhao Wang He and his party have fled into this Jize, in case they are also trapped in the swamp like those lost people, how are we going to find them?"

After looking at it for a while, Meng Hu scratched his hair and asked.

I have to say that this is indeed a problem, after all, Zhao Wanghe has a special identity, and he must see people in life and corpses in death, so as to avoid all worries, and now Zhao Wanghe and his others have fled to the territory of Jize, life and death are unknown, and it is difficult to completely rest assured that Gongzizhang wants to come.

But this is a problem that Gongzizhang needs to consider, at least Le Yi thinks so.

He turned his head to look into the distance, and saw that in that direction, tens of thousands of Zhao soldiers were building simple camps and cooking fires—those soldiers were the Daijun Army under Gongzi Zhang.

"That's what Gongzi Zhang has to consider."

Le Yi said indifferently: "The army under his command has arrived here, and the rest is nothing to do with us......

Meng Hu nodded, and then said with a strange expression: "It's okay, anyway, I don't want to go over there." ”

He was referring to the depths of Chizawa.

Because a moment later, a soldier of the Daijun Army tried to enter the swamp in the distance, but before he could go a few dozen feet deeper, one of the soldiers slipped and fell into a beach that looked like shallow water.

Unexpectedly, that beach was just a precipitated quagmire. The armorer could not step on the solid ground at all, and cried out for help in a panic, even pulling two friends who tried to rescue him into the quagmire.

In the end, hundreds of Daijun soldiers were busy for a while, and only then did they pull the three soldiers who had fallen into their noses out of the quagmire.

Although there were no dead people, this scene made Meng Hu, who was watching from the sidelines, have a shadow, and he said that he was unwilling to step into the territory of Jize.

Of course, whether Meng Hu is willing or not, in fact, it doesn't make much difference, because Gongzizhang didn't ask the Xinwei army to take the risk to go deep into Jize, after all, Gongzizhang also felt that it would be a pity if an elite like Xinweijun died in this swamp in vain.

Therefore, the person who is responsible for going deep into Jize to check is only the general of the Daijun Army.

The three of them were chatting, and several soldiers hurriedly came in the distance, and after coming to Meng Zhong and the others, the soldier at the head clasped his fists and said, "You are Meng Zhong and Meng Sima of the Xinwei Army, right?" ”

"I am." Meng Zhong bowed slightly.

"That's right, An Yangjun presided over the meeting in the tent and ordered me to invite Meng Sima and Le Zuo Sima to go to the meeting together." The soldier said respectfully.

"I know, I'm tired."

Meng Zhong nodded, and after saying a few words to Meng Hu, he and Le Yi followed the soldiers to the camp commander's tent.

When Meng Zhong and Le Yi came to the tent, in addition to Gongzizhang, there were about seven or eight people sitting in the tent, among which six men were about thirty years old, wearing armor, and seemed to be quite brave.

These people are the generals under Gongzi Zhang, Wei Yuan, Han Gu, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan, Hu Qian, and Peng Qian.

Meng Zhong is no stranger to these generals under Gongzi Zhang, and remembers that when he attacked Zhongshan in Zhao State, Meng Zhong had a face-to-face relationship with these generals, after all, they were "their own people" from each other.

According to Meng Zhong's knowledge, Wei Yuan is a patriot, Han Gu is a Korean, Tian Huang is a native of Qi, Zhai Dan is a native of Wei, and Hu Qian and Peng Qian, the former is from Rong Di, and the latter is a native of Zhao, although it is a little ugly, but they are all people who are unwilling in their own country, and after coming to Zhao, they are not valued by Zhao Wanghe, Anyangjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui and others, so they were recruited by Tian Buyu to Gongzi Zhang.

In fact, this kind of person abounds under Gongzi Zhang, but these six people are the most outstanding, so they were promoted to generals by Gongzi Zhang.

When Meng Zhong and Le Yi saluted these generals with their fists, these people also returned the salute with their fists, and their attitudes were quite kind.

It's no wonder, after all, Meng Zhong's identity, mentorship, and connections are all here, with the prestige of Zhuangzi, Mencius, Hui An, Tian Zhang and others behind Meng Zhong, Meng Zhong will be treated favorably no matter which country he goes to, Wei Yuan, Han Gu, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan, Hu Qian, and Peng Zhen will certainly not despise him because of the other party's age.

Speaking of which, I remember that at the first Handan Palace Banquet, that is, when Zhao Guo celebrated the "destruction of Zhongshan" for Zhao's master's father, Meng Zhong once sat in the banquet of Wei Yuan, Han Gu, and Tian Huang, and was therefore regarded as Gongzi Zhang's party by Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui and others.

In addition to the generals under the command of these six princes, Pang Xuan and his Zuo Sima Juxin were also sitting in the tent, and the two of them also nodded towards Meng Zhong, as a greeting.

"Ah Zhong, here? Get seated. ”

Gongzi Zhang greeted with a smile, and immediately, he pointed to Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Pang Xuan, and introduced Tan Wei and Xinwei's achievements last night to Wei Yuan, Han Gu, Tian Huang and other generals.

The contribution of the Tan Wei army last night, that is, the defeat of the three generals of Xin Qi, Zhao Wen, and Zhao Ji, a total of 5,000 enemy troops were defeated, and as many as 2,000 enemy soldiers were captured afterwards, but the loss of the Tan Wei army was only more than 1,000.

And the Xinwei army was not inferior, first successfully intercepted the guards who escorted Zhao Wanghe to Yang Wenjun's military camp during the letter period, and then dragged the three thousand soldiers led by Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao himself, during which Le Yi also took the opportunity to destroy Yang Wenjun's military camp, forcing Xin Period, Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao and others to only protect Zhao Wanghe and escape into Jize.

It is precisely for this reason that Gongzi Zhang forgot the unhappiness he had with Meng Zhong in the side hall before, and behaved quite closely.

"Pang Xuan and Meng Zhong, thanks to the help of the two of you last night, I, Zhao Zhang, will definitely not treat you two badly."

I have to say that Gongzizhang is really in a good mood at this time.

"Anyang Jun is serious."

Pang Xuan and Meng Zhong replied in unison.

The reactions of both of them were very calm, but in comparison, maybe Pang Xuan's reaction was calm, and he didn't take Gongzizhang's promise to heart, while Meng Zhongma was slightly cold.

The reason is very simple, because Meng Zhong did not support Gongzizhang to use this means to regain power, and even the matter of Gongzizhang and Tian Buyu trapping Feiyi is still lingering to this day.

He is sitting in Gongzizhang's tent at the moment, just to "take care of the overall situation", and does not represent the true will of his heart.

Of course, Gongzizhang could see that Meng Zhong still had a little bit of a problem with him, but he didn't care, after all, Meng Zhong was really on his side last night - if it weren't for Meng Zhong intercepting Xin Ji and King Zhao last night, the army of the Xinjun faction would be able to defend Yang Wenjun's military camp now, although it can't be said that it will definitely be able to defend it, but at least there is more room for choice.

Unlike now, Zhao Wanghe, Xin Qi, Yang Wenjun, Zhao Bao and others can only flee to Jize, and survive under the dual threat of swamps and other places.

In short, since Meng Zhong is still on his Gongzi Zhang's side, Gongzi Zhang naturally doesn't care about Meng Zhong's little emotions sometimes.

After praising Pang Xuan, Meng Zhong, Le Yi and others for their achievements last night to Wei Yuan, Han Gu, Tian Huang and other generals, Gongzizhang began to discuss countermeasures with everyone in view of the next situation.

"Now, Zhao He and Xinqi, Zhao Bao, Zhao Ping, Li Ji and others fled into Jize, trying to use the terrain around Jize to resist our army, I calculated, if after the incident last night, Xinqi, Zhao Bao and others sent a messenger to Handan for help, then this messenger may have another day before he can arrive in Handan and report our affairs to Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others. …… When the time comes, Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others will send troops to come to the rescue, and I am afraid that it will take at least three days, in other words, I will have four to five days to arrest Zhao He. ”

Speaking of this, Gongzizhang turned his head to look at Wei Yuan and asked, "Wei Yuan, this morning I ordered you to organize a few teams of elites to go to Jize to investigate deeply, what do you gain?" ”

Wei Yuan shook his head and replied: "Hui Gongzi, I have sent ten teams of 100 people to Jize to investigate deeply, but you know, the Jize area is full of bottomless swamps, even if Zhao He's soldiers unfortunately fall into the mud swamp when they pass by, it is still dead and no corpse, the soldiers can't judge the whereabouts of Zhao He and the others, so they can only conduct a careful search...... Speaking of this, he paused, and after glancing at Gongzizhang's face, he said cautiously: "It will take a little time. ”

It may be that Gongzizhang is in a good mood at the moment, or it may be that he also knows the complex terrain in the Jize area, so after listening to Wei Yuan's words, he nodded slightly and said: "I will give you two days at most, you must find Zhao He's whereabouts!" ”

"Whoa!"

Wei Yuan responded with a fist.

Seeing this, Gongzizhang instructed the rest of the people: "As for the rest, rest the army in the next few days and prepare for battle." …… If my guess is right, Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui, those old guys, will definitely not obediently obey this son, they will inevitably try to resist, but as long as they defeat them, Zhao Guo will fall into the hands of my Zhao Zhang, when the time comes, everyone here, I Zhao Zhang will never be bad! ”

Hearing Zhao Zhang's promise, the six generals of Wei Yuan, Han Gu, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan, Hu Qian, and Peng Zhen all showed joy on their faces.

Before the disbandment, Gongzizhang also assigned tasks to the generals, of course, he was only targeting Wei Yuan, Han Gu, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan, Hu Qian, Peng Zhen six people, such as ordering them to rest the army, build a camp as soon as possible, etc., as for Pang Xuan, Meng Zhong and others, Gongzi Zhang did not have any requirements, but just ordered the two to let the soldiers under his command recuperate, maintain sufficient physical fitness, and wait for him to fight with Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others.

After completing the instructions, Gongzizhang looked around at everyone and asked, "Do you have any other suggestions to make?" ”

Everyone shook their heads, but Meng Zhong was a little hesitant.

After hesitating for a moment, he said in a deep voice, "An Yangjun, I suggest that you beware of Zhao Xi's army. ”

"Anyang-kun?"

"Zhao Xi?"

Everyone present looked at Meng Zhong with strange eyes.

Wei Yuan, Han Gu, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan, Hu Qian, and Peng Zhen were mostly puzzled by Meng Zhong's call for Gongzi Zhang as "Anyang Jun", rather than the previous "Gongzi", while Pang Xuan and Ju Xin were surprised by Zhao Xi mentioned by Meng Zhong.

"Zhao Xi?" Gongzi Zhang was stunned, and asked suspiciously, "Is it Zhao Xi who is currently stationed in Pingyuanyi?" ”

"Exactly."

Meng Zhong nodded and said: "Zhao Xi, when I came to the sand dunes a few days ago to meet Master Zhao and King Zhao, I had some contact with Zaixia, and I had a faint feeling that Zhao Xi seemed to have guessed what would happen to the sand dunes this time......

What happened?

undoubtedly refers to the fact that Gongzi Zhang raised troops to rebel.

I have to say that Gongzi Zhang's rebellion is actually something that many people know about, such as Feiyi, Zhao Cheng, Li Dui, and Zhao Bao, in fact, they are very clear, but they have no way, or they don't want to "strike first" to be the "wicked person", so they can only deal with this matter passively - that is, when Gongzi Zhang really rebelled, they sent troops to encircle and suppress it.

After all, Gongzi Zhang is one of the biggest contributors to the fall of Zhongshan State in Zhao, and in the case that he did not rebel, whether it is Feiyi or Zhao Cheng or Li Dui, there is no way to deal with Gongzi Zhang, otherwise, he will fall behind the handle and the truth, but give Gongzi Zhang the opportunity to justify the "Qingjun side".

It is precisely for this reason that even if Fei Yi, Zhao Cheng, Li Dui, and Zhao Bao more or less guessed Gongzizhang's intentions, they guessed that Gongzizhang was likely to take advantage of the opportunity of Zhao's father's survey of the site of the mausoleum to raise troops to rebel, and they did not dare to take the lead in taking action.

It is precisely because of this that Zhao Wang He and others were passive in the matter of Gongzizhang's rebellion, so that they are now forced to flee to Jize.

"Zhao Xi ......" stroked the short beard on his chin, Gongzizhang frowned and said, "If you don't mention it, I really didn't think of it." …… This Zhao Xi is the nephew of Zhao Cheng of Anping Jun, he may have received some instructions from Zhao Cheng, it is indeed possible to ......" Speaking of this, he turned his head to Han Gu and said: "Han Gu, you lead 5,000 soldiers to deploy defenses in the Zhangshui area and camp in the camp, if Zhao Xi really dares to make any changes, you know how to deal with it." ”

"Whoa!" Han Gu responded with a fist.

After instructing Han Gu, Gongzizhang nodded towards Meng Zhong, probably wanting to approve Meng Zhong's reminder.

Meng Zhong did not respond.

After the meeting broke up, Pang Xuan called out to Meng Zhong, who was about to leave, outside the tent, and said to the latter: "I am going to return to the palace and report to Lord Zhao, what are your plans?" ”

Meng Zhong shook his head slightly, and said with a slight sigh, "I don't know. …… I don't even know what I'm doing. ”

Pang Xuan heard the bit of complaint in Meng Zhong's words, and persuaded: "Since this is the case, it is better for you and me to go back to the palace first, and surrender to Lord Zhao first." …… Anyway, Gongzizhang is here, I don't need you and me for the time being, and besides, I'm also a little worried about Master Zhao's father. ”

"I'm worried that Gongzizhang really did a fake show and really kidnapped Master Zhao's father?" Meng Zhong laughed, but finally nodded, and said with a little melancholy: "Okay, let's go back to the palace first." ”

After the two discussed, they said goodbye to each other.

Returning to the location where the Xinwei army was stationed, Meng Zhong ordered Le Yi to assemble the Xinwei army, and immediately led the Xinwei army back to the Dune Palace, preparing to still be stationed in the southern suburbs of the Dune Palace.

On the way back to the Dune Palace, Meng Zhong saw the corpses of many Zhao soldiers along the way.

He looked around, only to realize that this area was the place where he led the Xinwei army to ambush Zhao Wanghe's army last night, and then fought with the army led by Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao.

According to Le Yi's statistics afterwards, in last night's battle, the Xinwei army sacrificed sixty-four people and more than 300 people were wounded, in Meng Zhong's opinion, the losses were not heavy, but in comparison, the losses of the army on the side of Xinji, Yang Wenjun and Zhao Bao were heavier, and the casualties of the soldiers before and after were at least more than 1,000.

However, last night's night was dark, and the situation was dangerous, Meng Zhong didn't have the heart to think so much, until today, passing by last night's battlefield, his mood became very heavy.

The soldiers under his command are the soldiers of the Zhao State, and the soldiers under the command of Xin Qi and Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao are also the soldiers of the Zhao State, and they are both the soldiers of the Zhao State, and they should work together to resist the threat from other countries, but because of the internal strife of the Zhao royal family, these soldiers killed each other.

Every time he thought of this, Meng Zhong couldn't help but feel sorry in his heart.

And the sacrifice of the more than 60 soldiers under his command made him feel extremely sad.

"Bury the corpses of these soldiers."

Meng Zhong discussed with Le Yi.

Le Yi didn't object, didn't say anything, just nodded and ordered Meng Zhong's order.

When the soldiers of the Xinwei soldiers buried the bodies of those Zhao soldiers on the spot, Le Yi came to Meng Zhong's side and said in a low voice: "The soldiers are a little confused, they are beginning to wonder what they are fighting for......

Meng Zhong snorted lightly and sighed slightly: "Don't say they can't figure it out, in fact, I can't figure it out either." ”

Hearing this, Le Yi frowned and said: "Ah Zhong, you are the Sima of my Xinwei Army, others can shake it, but you can't shake it!" ”

"What about you?" Meng Zhong asked Le Yi, "Do you know what you're fighting for?" ”

"Me?" Le Yi smiled slightly, and said: "For you, for Ah Hu, for Ah Sui, for Wu Ying, Xiang Yu, I, I always fight for us and others." …… In addition, whether it is Lord Zhao's father or Gongzi Zhang, it is not my reason to be a soldier of Zhao State. ”

Meng Zhong was stunned, and then gently patted Le Yi's arm.

It took two or three hours for the soldiers of Zhongxinwei to bury all the corpses of Zhao pawns in the vicinity, and immediately, Meng Zhong led his subordinates to set off again and returned to the Dune Palace.

By the time he returned to the Dune Palace, Pang Xuan had already led the Tan Guards back to the palace and re-taken over the defense of the Dune Palace from Gongzizhang's guards - I think as Meng Zhong said, Pang Xuan also had the least vigilance against Gongzizhang.

Let Meng Sui continue to camp in the southern suburbs outside the palace with the Xinwei army, and Meng Zhong took Le Yi into the palace and gave orders to Lord Zhao's father in the main hall of the east hall.

When he saw Master Zhao's father, Master Zhao was playing chess with Que Guanzi in the palace, and when he saw Meng Zhong and Le Yi walking into the palace, he said with a smile: "When Pang Xuan came back, he said that you would also lead the army back to the palace, why did you delay for so long?" ”

Meng Zhong explained simply: "On the way, we encountered many corpses of soldiers who were in the field, and I buried them with the soldiers. ”

Hearing this, Crane Guanzi stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Xiaoyou is worthy of being a master disciple of Zhuangzi, and this benevolence is commendable. ”

Compared with the praise of the Crane Guanzi, Master Zhao didn't say anything, maybe he didn't care about this kind of thing at all.

Nodding slightly, Master Zhao instructed Meng Zhong, "Hasn't Zhao Zhang's army already arrived?" Then just leave it to them, you and Pang Xuan, just wait and see what happens for the time being. …… Okay, you two are tired from a long night's work, so let's go back and rest first. ”

Meng Zhong hugged his fists, but he didn't say goodbye and left, after looking at Lord Zhao for a long time, he suddenly said: "Master Zhao, yesterday's incident, at least four or five thousand soldiers of Zhao State have died, and I think that there will be more Zhao soldiers who will die because of this incident......

"......" Master Zhao's hand holding the chess paused slightly, glanced up at Meng Zhong, and asked lightly, "What do you want to say?" ”

Although the Crane Guanzi gestured to Meng Zhong with his eyes, Meng Zhong still spoke: "I think that the casualties of these soldiers could have been avoided......"

"How to avoid it?" Master Zhao dropped a son on the chessboard and said flatly: "Do you think Zhao He is willing to abdicate obediently, or do you think Zhao Zhang can give up?" What's more, don't you think it's too late to say this now? ”

"yes......"

Meng Zhong nodded wistfully.

"Anything else you'd like to say? If there is nothing else, go back and rest. Master Zhao said lightly.

Hearing this, Meng Zhong lowered his head and thought for a while, and then said with a straight face: "Master Zhao, so far, I simply won't mention some things, but there is one thing I still have to say......"

Master Zhao raised his head and glanced at Meng Zhong deeply, and then nodded slightly: "Say it." ”

To the surprise of Master Zhao's father, I saw Meng Zhong hugging his fists, and said with a straight face: "Since Master Zhao has decided to assist Gongzi Zhang to seize the throne, then I think this matter should be resolved quickly!" …… Now on the surface, it is Gongzi Zhang who has held you hostage, Lord Zhao's father, in other words, Gongzi Zhang has no justifiable 'righteousness', and it is difficult to convince the public. Don't look at Gongzizhang's current advantages, but the longer it is delayed, the more passive Gongzizhang will be in terms of reputation. I believe that after four or five days, Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui and others will definitely call on more troops to come together to crusade against Gongzizhang under the banner of 'punishing traitors'. But if Master Zhao can come forward in person, you can make Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others lose their appeal......"

"Let me come forward?"

Master Zhao frowned slightly, and asked, "Are you saying that I should come forward to recognize Gongzizhang's army and identify Zhao Cheng, Li Dui, Xin Qi, Zhao Bao and others as traitors?" …… Do you think that what Gongzizhang did yesterday, the Chinese people will believe my statement? ”

Shaking his head, Meng Zhong insisted: "Master Zhao, whether the people believe it or not, but the army of the Zhao State will remain neutral for the time being because of your prestige. In this way, An Pingjun, Fengyangjun and others could not gather enough troops to fight against Gongzizhang's army, and the scale of the civil war in Zhao State could be suppressed to a minimum, and this civil strife could be ended quickly. ”

Hearing this, Crane Guanzi's eyes lit up and he nodded imperceptibly.

In his opinion, Meng Zhong's point of view is undoubtedly correct and wise, but the question is, is Lord Zhao willing to listen to this advice?

You know, if Gongzi Zhang is affirmed at this time, isn't that equivalent to admitting that Master Zhao and Gongzi Zhang are in the same group? And let Lord Zhao's father admit it.

How could Master Zhao, who has always cherished his reputation, agree?

At least in the eyes of Que Guanzi, the probability of Lord Zhao's father agreeing to this matter is very low.