The next day, Zhai Zhang, who was nearly seventy years old, took the royal order of Wei Wangjun and prepared to embark on a journey to Yin Jin in a carriage.

Considering that Yin Jin is far away from Daliang, and it is the cold winter of December, Zhai Zhang's relatives and friends persuaded him after learning about it, hoping that Zhai Zhang would wait until the New Year before setting off, and even Wei Wangyun actually meant this.

He said to Zhai Zhang in private: "Da Sima can send his henchmen to Yin Jin with the widow's royal order first, and inform Gongsun Junshou and Yuncheng Jun of this in advance, as for Da Sima, it will be too late to set off in the first month of the year." ”

Thinking about it, Zhai Zhang, a veteran of the Wei State, has been dying for the birth of the Wei State all his life, don't die on the battlefield in the end, but freeze to death on the way to Yin Jin, it is really unbearable to be reasonable.

However, Zhai Zhang was very stubborn, and he said to Wei Wangyun: "I served as the head of the Wei State, and I was originally in charge of the army to fight against the enemies of my Wei State, and now I have a junior to fight against Qiang Qin on the front line for me, although he deserves to be rewarded, but how can I postpone such an important appointment because of ice and snow?" Please rest assured, this old bone can serve the king and the Wei State for another ten years! ”

Seeing that Zhai Zhang insisted on going, Wei Wangyun had no choice but to send a team of 100 palace guards to protect Zhai Zhang along the way.

These guards guarding the palace are still very trusting, after all, these people are all one of the few military pawns in Wei State.

From Daliang to Yin and Jin is no more than two roads, one of which is the 'Henan Road', that is, across Korea, and then through the land of Hangu Pass and Huakuo, and finally arrived at Yin and Jin, Zhai Zhang personally pays more attention to this road, because through this road, he can see with his own eyes the Five Nations Alliance - especially the road he walked by the soldiers of the Wei State, Hangu Pass, Taolin, Baigu, etc., etc., in the long years of Wei's fight against Qin, his Wei army has never counterattacked Qin so deeply.

This is also the reason why he took advantage of the disguised threat of the Qin State this time to rush to 'straighten' Meng Zhong: on the one hand, although Meng Zhong had enough ability to take his place, on the other hand, he hoped that Meng Zhong would feel the 'weight' of his Wei State, and hoped to tie that outstanding young man to the chariot of Wei through kindness.

As he said to his family: "As long as that Meng Zhong boy is willing to stay in Wei for the rest of his life and serve Wei State, if he can live for another fifty years, then my Wei State will not have to fear any country in these fifty years." ”

His expectations for Meng Zhong are like Pang Juan during the reign of King Hui of Wei, or even Wu Qi during the reign of Marquis Wen of Wei...... Well, although the fate of these two is not very good, it cannot be denied that these two famous generals in the history of Wei State represent the scenery of Wei State for a period of time.

But unfortunately, some sections of the 'Henan Road' are narrow and rugged, and it is December, and the ice and snow have already blocked it, so Zhai Zhang can only give up.

In the end, he could only choose the 'Hebei Road', which was much flatter, that is, he first crossed the river to the west to Hedong County, and then crossed the river to Yin and Jin, which is also the current road for the Wei State to transport grain and grass to the east of the river and to the front.

As for the offensive route of the Five Nations Alliance, Zhai Zhang could only wait until the return trip to see it, such as the river beach where he was very concerned about the 'Meng Zhong's fraudulent attack on Menshui', and the Menshui military camp that Meng Zhong launched a night attack dozens of miles away and took in one fell swoop, these Zhai Zhang plans to take a look at them on the return trip.

It's no wonder, after all, Meng Zhong wrote too simply in the original battle reports, although Zhai Zhang can understand that Meng Zhong doesn't care about his own merits, but the problem is that he writes so casually, the country can't understand how he won the Qin army.

What is the meaning of 'night raid'? You can simply omit these four words.

And when Zhai Zhang was rushing to the direction of Yin and Jin with the royal order of King Wei, at this time in Yin and Jin, nearly ten "peace talks" had been held, but they were still in a stalemate stage.

Some people may find it strange that Wei Ran has formulated the strategy of 'splitting the coalition forces and isolating Wei and Han', planning to send away the armies of Zhao, Qi, and Yan first, and then solve the problem with the Wei and Han armies by force, but why do they still pretend to hold any peace talks?

The same is true of the Wei and Han armies, why do Meng Zhong and Gongsun Zhu, Storm Kite and others still take the trouble to rub their tongues with Wei Ran, and the two sides break up, just waiting for the battle between the two armies to end after the beginning of spring next year?

The reason is simple, because this matter is not so simple.

Let's talk about the Wei and Han armies first.

In fact, from the standpoint of Meng Zhong, Gongsun Zhu, and Storm Kite, they actually don't want to continue to crusade against the Qin State, after all, at the moment, they have not only hit the door of the house, but even the front yard has been occupied, just waiting to rush to the main house of the house to catch the master and beat him violently, how can the Qin State retreat?

Once Wei and Han insist on continuing to crusade against Qin, then it will definitely be a situation of endless death, just like the battle between Qin, Chu, Danshui and Lantian back then, and the warring sides will definitely have to fall down.

Based on this, Meng Zhong actually didn't want to take any risks, after all, Wei didn't have the ability to annex Qin in one go, so why take a great risk to start a war with Qin?

He is more inclined to eat slowly than to be adventurous.

But the problem is that the Qin State is a little sensitive about the issue of Xihe County, how could they not know the purpose of Meng Zhong's desire for Xihe County?

And from the perspective of Qin Guo and Wei Ran, his biggest headache is that Meng Zhong, Gongsun Zhu, and Storm Kite took over Yin Jin from Li Dui, why is Yin Jin key? Because it was a key city connecting the south of the river and the north of the river in this area of the Great River, the Wei and Han armies controlled the Yin and Jin dynasties, and they had the ability to continuously transport the troops and strategic material resources from the east of the river to the south of the Great River, whether it was used to capture the land west of the river next, or to directly break through Lishan and threaten Xianyang.

To put it simply, Yin Jin fell into the hands of Meng Zhong and others, and the Wei and Han armies could slowly jam the throat of the Qin State, although it would not be fatal in a short period of time, but the trouble of getting stuck in the throat could not be said to be easy to deal with, right?

In addition, Meng Zhong, Gongsun Zhu, and Storm Kite and others have clearly expressed their attitude of continuing to suppress the Qin State in recent meetings.

To put it bluntly, as long as Qin refused to meet the demands of either Wei and Han, Wei and Han would continue to crusade against Qin, and devote all their strength to crusade against Qin, even if the three armies of Zhao, Qi, and Yan all retreated one after another.

I have to say that this kind of strong style also made Wei Ran a little muttering.

After all, Qin's current situation is too bad, and it is about to be beaten to the national capital, if Qin finally chooses to continue the war with Wei and Han, then it must consider the issue of moving the capital - a capital without walls, how can this resist the Wei and Han armies?

No, when Wei Ran continued to negotiate with Gongsun Zhu, Meng Zhong, Storm Kite and others in Yin and Jin, on the Xianyang side, Qin Wangji, out of consideration for the worst, was also discussing with his ministers the issue of moving the capital, preparing to move the capital to the old capital - Qidi.

Qidi, or Qishan, was the starting point for the rise of the Zhou State to seize the world, and later the Zhou State gave this land to the ancestors of the Qin people.

If Xianyang is destined to be unkept, Qin Wangji decided to move the capital to Qidi, if they can't even keep Qidi, then they can only return to the place where they started the Qin people - Tianshui (county).

In the past, Qin ancestor Qin Feizi was named a vassal state by Zhou Tianzi because of his meritorious horse breeding, and ruled the capital of Qinyi (Qingshui), and then Qin Zhuang Gong crusaded against Xirong with merit, and the Zhou royal family gave Tianshui again, that land is the birthplace of Qin, and when the Qin people stepped out of that land, they never thought that they would be forced to flee back to their ancestral land one day.

But even so, the Qin monarchs and ministers were still unwilling to accept the harsh conditions put forward by the Wei and Han armies.

At the moment of the national crisis, Qin Wangji issued an order in the name of the monarch, ordering the conscription of young and strong into the army, when they learned that the country was facing the invasion of the armies of various countries, the Qin people braved the wind and snow to gather in Xianyang, wanting to go to the national disaster with the country and the king.

If someone came to the military camp outside Xianyang City at this moment, they would surely be able to see that sturdy Qin man practicing with high morale in the wind and snow, and from time to time, singing "No Clothes" in unison.

"Do you say you have no clothes? with the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my spear. Enmity with the Son! ”

"Do you say you have no clothes? With the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my spear halberd. Work with the son! ”

"Do you say you have no clothes? with the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my armor soldiers. Walk with the son! ”

Some people say that "Qin Feng No Clothes" was written by an anonymous person of the Qin State, and some people say that this is a gift made by Qin Aigong when he sent troops to help the Chu State repel the invasion of the Wu army, but in any case, "No Clothes" is a well-deserved war song of the Qin State.

These Qin people, who surrendered to the army one after another in the face of national crisis, are the confidence of the Qin State to fight against the Wei and Han armies now.

can be confident and confident, when he thinks that the main general of the Wei army on the opposite side is Yuncheng Jun Mengzhong, the monarch and ministers of the Qin State will inevitably have some scruples.

After all, so far, no general of the Qin State has been able to defeat Meng Zhong on the battlefield, and throughout the entire Qin State, only Bai Qi can still fight against that Meng Zhong, but there are fewer victories and more defeats.

At this moment, the monarchs and ministers of the Qin State finally realized the helplessness of the Central Plains countries towards Zhang Yi back then - in the past, the Central Plains countries had a lot of 'hatred' for Zhang Yi, so today, the Qin State has a lot of 'hatred' for Meng Zhong.

After the turn of the year, that is, the seventh year of the reign of King Wei.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month, Wei Ran, the marquis, received a letter from Xianyang again.

In the letter, Qin Wangji mentioned the matter of preparing to move the capital to Qidi, and Wei Ran fell silent.

Seeing that the day of spring is approaching day by day, Xianyang has prepared for the worst......

Although Wei Ran also informed the country of his strategy of 'instructing Chu to put pressure on Wei and transfer Meng Zhong back to Fangcheng County', but whether this trick works or not actually depends on the attitude of Wei in China, if Wei does not cooperate, then there is no way, he Qin State can only move the capital at the cost of moving the capital after the spring next year, to meet the army of Meng Zhong, Gongsun Zhu, and Storm Kite, and start a war that no one on both sides knows how long it will last.

After thinking about it, Wei Ran went to Zhaoying again to ask Fengyangjun Li Dui, and implored Li Dui to come forward and invite Meng Zhong, Gongsun Zhu, and Storm Kite to discuss it together.

Two hours later, Wei Ran braved the wind and snow to come to Zhao Ying, saw Fengyang Jun Li Dui, and explained his intention.

I saw that Li Dui said helplessly after hearing this: "Marquis, you live in Yin Jin City, and Meng Zhong also lives in Yin Jin City, so you have to go out of the city to my military camp and drag the old man to see that Meng Zhong?" ”

Forget it once or twice, it's like this every time, is it really when he Li Dui is still a sturdy guy in his twenties?

Hearing Li Dui's complaint, Wei Ran said in a complicated tone: "It doesn't have to be like this, it's just that those Yuncheng Jun gave a reason when he refused the invitation for the first time, he said that he is from the Song Dynasty, and I, the Qin State, have been kind to the rescue of the Song State, and for the sake of the interests of the Wei State, he can't see me alone, lest I use my kindness to the Song State to force him to comply, and put him in a dilemma...... This reason is really irrefutable. ”

"Then you have to drag the old man?"

Li Dui glanced at Wei Ran and didn't speak.

I have to say that he, the commander of the coalition forces, is now getting more and more troublesome.

You said that the peace talks and disputes between the Qin State and the Five Nations Alliance Army will not leave only the Wei and Han armies? Then wouldn't it be over for you, Wei Ran, Meng Zhong, and Storm Kite, to negotiate by themselves?

But I didn't expect that Meng Zhong and Storm Kite here said no, saying that you Fengyangjun is the commander of the coalition forces and must be interviewed in front of you; Wei Ran over there also said no, without you Fengyangjun coming forward, then Meng Zhong refused to see me, and I couldn't solve the problem by going to see Gongsun Zhu and Storm Kite alone.

As a result, Li Dui was over sixty years old, and was dragged by Wei Ran to meet Meng Zhong and others repeatedly, but Li Dui couldn't refuse Wei Ran's request, after all, he was still counting on Wei Ran to help him get his second grandson Li Ke to Qin State to become an official.

There were a few times when Li Dui couldn't help but wonder if Meng Zhong was planning to 'borrow snow to kill people' and freeze him to death in this cold winter snow to repay the hatred of Lord Zhao's father back then.

In this way, after more than two hours, Li Dui trembled and took Wei Ran back to Yinjin City, and saw Meng Zhong and Gongsun Zhu - Storm Kite is currently stationed in Zheng County with Meng Zhong's brother Le Jin.

When they met Meng Zhong and Gongsun Jian, they were cooking wine in the house of the county government in the city.

It may have been here a few times, Li Dui didn't see it, stepped forward and scooped himself a bowl of wine, and immediately, he made a 'please' gesture to Wei Ran, Meng Zhong, and Gongsun Zhu, and then took the bowl of hot wine to the stove to roast - it was none of his business anyway.

Not to mention, seeing Li Dui, an old man over sixty years old, sitting tremblingly by the fire with a bowl of wine, Meng Zhong also felt a little unhappy in his heart.

But there is no way, he must pull Li Dui in everything, after all, he can't let Zhao Guo stay out of the matter, 'forced' Wei Ran must ask Li Dui to come forward, this is only by the way, after the spring of the next year, if Li Dui is ready to stay out of the way and withdraw to Zhao State with the Zhao army, Meng Zhong will also use a similar method to keep Li Dui.

It's not that he wants to use Li Dui or the power of Zhao to force Qin, but he just doesn't want Zhao to interfere.

The Qi and Yan armies will do the same at that time.

"Yun Chengjun?"

"Huh?"

Hearing Wei Ran's call, Meng Zhong took his eyes off Li Dui, and then looked squarely at Wei Ran, the minister of Qin.

I saw Li Dui ask Meng Zhongdao: "When the Qi State invaded the Song State in the past, did the Song people also unite as one and join forces to fight against the Qi State's army?" ”

Meng Zhong was stunned for a moment, and before he could answer, he saw Wei Ran take care of himself and said, "Right now, I'm Daqin!" …… I just received the news from Xianyang, and learned that Xianyang has recruited nearly 100,000 new soldiers, and these old Qin people who are loyal to the country and the king are practicing outside Xianyang City without fear of the cold, singing "No Clothes" in their mouths...... Can Yun Chengjun know "No Clothes"? ”

Meng Zhong smiled and nodded, just wanted to say that I had read the "Book of Songs" and knew "No Clothes", but I saw Wei Ran drink the hot wine in the bowl and sang heroically: "How can it be said that there are no clothes? with the Son. Wang Yuxingshi, repair my spear. Enmity with the Son......"

"......" Meng Zhong glanced at Gongsun Zhu helplessly.

Gongsun Zhu shook his head slightly, drinking by himself, and didn't bother to pay attention to Wei Ran's "threat".

His cousin Gongsun Zhu died at the hands of Bai Qi, and Bai Qi was the general of the Qin State promoted by Wei Ran, which doomed Gongsun Zhu to have no good face for Wei Ran.

This made a moment later, after Wei Ran finished singing "No Clothes" with emotion, only Meng Zhong clapped his hands lightly out of courtesy, and Gongsun Zhu simply didn't even look at it.

As for Li Dui, the old man was still shaking over there.

"Is this a threat?"

While clapping softly, Meng Zhong asked calmly.

"Definitely." Wei Ran shook his head, and said with a straight face: "I just want Yun Chengjun to understand the determination of my Qin people to defend the country!" ”

Meng Zhong glanced at Wei Ran, picked up the wine spoon in the wine jug and scooped a bowl of wine for Wei Ran, and said calmly: "I saw such a determination when I was fourteen years old. …… At that time, I was just a pawn of the Song State, and I was conscripted into the army to attack the Teng State, and at that time, I saw with my own eyes the monarch and subjects of the Teng State fighting to the death, but ...... Those who are willing to sacrifice for the country are heroes worthy of the respect of our generation. The Song state has the justice of the Song state, the Teng state has the justice of the Teng state, the Wei state has the justice of the Wei state, the Qin state has the justice of the Qin state, I am sorry, for the justice of the Wei state, I can only be the enemy of the justice of your country. ”

Wei Ran opened his mouth, and immediately sighed: "You are worthy of being a disciple of a saint." ”

Meng Zhong smiled faintly, and then said with a straight face: "What Fang Cai said is what Meng Zhong from the Song State said, and what I want to say right now is out of the duty of a Wei general...... Marquis, I do not doubt your country's determination to resolutely resist, but I also ask your country not to underestimate the determination of Wei and Han to get rid of the threat of Qin, I, Wei and Han, have been attacked by your country for many years, it is time to get rid of the shadow of your country, if you are unwilling to cede the West River, then, please ......"

He wanted to say, 'My Wei State also has a ballad comparable to "No Clothes", and you can sing it to the Marquis', but after thinking about it carefully, he really didn't have a ...... in Wei

So he immediately changed his words and said: "Not only your country is ready, but my Wei country is also ready. ”

"Wei is ready to follow in the footsteps of Chu back then?"

"It is not yet known who will kill the deer!"

“……”

“……”

At this time, Li Dui, who was roasting the fire, turned his head and glanced at Wei Ran and Meng Zhong, and shook his head slightly.

As the so-called bystander Qing, as an outsider, in fact, Li Dui sees it very clearly, don't look at Wei Ran and Meng Zhong are both tough, but in fact, these two are very empty, like the folk proverb: Ma Ran is afraid of beating a wolf.

Qin was worried that once the war started, it would not be able to stop Wei and Han, while Wei was worried that when he fought a fierce war with Qin, other countries would take the opportunity to rise and even take advantage of the fire to rob Wei - do you really think that he Li Dui can't see the root cause of Meng Zhong, Gongsun Zhu and others 'kidnapping' the coalition army?

"Let them go, it's none of my business anyway."

Li Dui thought secretly.

At this time, the dialogue between Wei Ran and Meng Zhong continued.

I saw Wei Ran say to Meng Zhong meaninglessly: "Just now Yuncheng Jun said that your country is ready?" but they did not believe. …… As far as you know, there is a country in the south of your country that is stationing heavy troops on the border...... Isn't Yun Chengjun worried? ”

"Southside? Chu State?'

Meng Zhong frowned slightly, after all, he hadn't received any news so far.

Turning his head to look at Gongsun Zhu, Gongsun Zhu also shook his head as a hint, indicating that he was not aware of this matter.

Taking a deep look at Wei Ran, Meng Zhong muttered in his heart, Wei Ran deliberately mentioned the Chu State at this time, this is definitely not without reason.

"Isn't it ......"

After thinking about it, Meng Zhong faintly guessed something, and asked Wei Ran with a chuckle: "Why is the Marquis so clear about the affairs of the Chu State?" Could it be that this matter has something to do with the marquis? ”

"Yun Chengjun, this is wronged."

Wei Ran shook his head, but the gentle smile on his face as usual made Meng Zhong more and more sure.

Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "The Marquis thinks that such an off-the-board move can redeem your country's defeat?" ”

"Off-the-shelf?" Wei Ran muttered a few words, as if pondering the meaning of the word, and then he said with a smile: "Yun Chengjun misunderstood, this is just a kind reminder." Wei and Han, even if they were tied together, were only five or five against my Great Qin, but the appearance of Yunchengjun boosted the momentum of Wei and Han, but if Chu intervened...... Isn't Yun Chengjun worried? Chu also wants to recapture Wancheng and Fangcheng to wash away the shame of the defeat of the sand back then. I advise Yuncheng Jun not to be aggressive, my Great Qin is only a temporary defeat, far from a war can be determined, if your country in order to suppress my Great Qin, resulting in the emptiness of domestic defenses, and finally being taken advantage of by the Chu people, this is not to take care of one or the other? …… Remember, Yunchengjun's fiefdom is in the south of Wei, right? Isn't Yuncheng Jun worried that the Chu army will take advantage of the situation and attack Fangcheng County? ”

Meng Zhong replied lightly: "Fangcheng, with my brother Meng Sui in charge, even if the Chu State is instigated by something, it may not be able to threaten our city and county. I advise the Marquis to save these extraneous moves, and think about the proposal below, my Wei State only needs the Xihe ......"

Regarding Meng Zhong's so-called promise of "my Wei country only needs the West River", Wei Ran scoffed.

Perhaps Wei is really only thinking about taking back Xihe at the moment, but that is only because Wei is currently unable to annex his Qin state.

As for the future, who knows!

Seeing that spring was about to begin, but the Meng Zhong in front of him was not in the oil and salt, Wei Ran also felt quite a headache.

Right now, Wei Ran can only hope that King Wei will not be so stubborn......

And at this moment, I suddenly heard the sound of stepping on snow, and with it, there was a voice that Meng Zhong was very familiar with.

"Meng boy, why don't you come to greet the old man? The king worships you as the east guard of the river, haha...... Hey? Isn't this a marquis? Are you there too? ”

“……”

Wei Ran, Meng Zhong, and Gongsun Zhu all subconsciously turned their heads to look, and even saw Zhai Zhang standing outside the door in the snow, with a wicked smile on his face.

"Zhai Zhang?"

"Da Sima?"

『…… What did he just say?'

"Kawato Mamoru ?"

There was a moment of dead silence in the room, and in an instant, unlike Gongsun Zhu, who was first surprised and then revealed a wish-like message, Wei Ran and Meng Zhong invariably changed their color slightly.

『…… Now, this battle is really unavoidable......

Quite tacitly, Wei Ran and Meng Zhong glanced at each other, and they didn't know what to say about it.

Zhai Zhang's appearance disrupted their respective steps.