"I will go to Namengzhong only in my name."

In the end, Tian Tai made a decision to go to Meng Zhong in his own name and hide the truth that his father Tian Zhang was not in Qi Jun at the moment as much as possible.

But whether this move can deceive Meng Zhong, to be honest, Tian Tai and Tian Da are not sure, but it is undeniable that this is the best way at present.

After Tian Da said goodbye and left, Tian Tai lay alone on the straw couch in the tent, looking at the letter from Meng Zhong.

As Tian Zhang's second son, he is more than fifty years old in Chinese New Year's Eve, ten years older than Meng Zhong, but according to his generation, he has to call Meng Zhong an uncle, and whenever he thinks of this, Tian Tai is inevitably a little embarrassed, and some can't speak.

Fortunately, his 'little uncle' was also quite remarkable, at the age of fifteen he was valued by the Zhao master of Zhao, at the age of sixteen he repelled his father Tian Zhang in the Song State, and at the age of seventeen he went to Wei to turn the tide in the battle of Yique, helping Wei and Han to repel the invasion of Qin, and was worshiped by the King of Wei as the king of Yuncheng.

And last year, he helped Zhao State's Fengyang Jun Li Dui to break through the Qin Hangu Pass, and commanded the alliance forces of Wei, Han, Zhao, Qi, and Yan all the way to Xihe County of Qin State.

It's just that......

This little uncle didn't come at the right time.

Putting down the letter in his hand, Tian Tai's mind couldn't help but recall the reason why he pretended to be his father this time.

This time, Qi Wangtian ordered the third attack on the Song State, in fact, there were two reasons.

First, the negotiations between Wei and Han and Qin failed, and Wei and Han continued to crusade against Qin with all their national strength, which meant that Wei would not be able to support Song;

Second, because of the civil strife in the Song Kingdom, Song Wangyan and Song Prince Dai Wu's father and son fell out of harmony, and Song Wang Yan exiled Prince Dai Wu.

The exile of Dai Wu caused a strong pessimism among the Song State, especially the soldiers and civilians in the Tancheng area, and the dissatisfaction of the local soldiers and civilians with the Song Wangyan was increasing day by day.

Is the Song Kingdom weak?

Of course not!

Otherwise, how could the Song State repel the invasion of the Qi State twice?

Of course, these two defeats were also related to Qi State's own underestimation of the enemy, and this time, King Qi Tiandi no longer despised Song State and decided to do his best to occupy Song State.

Since he wants to exert his power, it is natural to ask Tian Zhang, a famous general of the Qi State who is recuperating in the feudal city, to support this campaign against the Song State.

As a result, the envoy of Linzi came to Kuangyi and asked Tian Zhang to be the commander of the crusade against the Song State with the order of the king of Qi.

But unfortunately, at this time, Tian Zhang's physical condition could no longer support him to take on this important task, and more importantly, Tian Zhang himself resolutely opposed the crusade against the Song State.

After learning of the decision of the King of Qi's field, Tian Tai remembered that his father wrote a letter to the King of Qi Tiandi with his sick body, in this letter, Tian Zhang pointed out sharply that it was a very stupid decision to send troops to attack the Song State at this time, because the Song State had Meng Zhong, don't look at Meng Zhong all the year round in the Wei State, but once the Qi State attacked the Song State, it would undoubtedly offend Meng Zhong, who is Meng Zhong? It was the future Great Sima of the Wei State, and offended such a person, and he thought that the Qi State would definitely not be at peace in the future, even if he Qi State successfully captured the Song State this time.

At this point, Tian Zhang emphasized Meng Zhong's ability to lead troops to fight, especially the Five Nations Alliance's breakthrough of Hangu Pass - although everyone in the world today knows that the commander of the coalition army is Li Dui, the Fengyang Jun of Zhao, but those who know the inside story know that the person who really broke through Hangu Pass was Meng Zhong, not Li Dui.

「…… If the king insists on going his own way, when Meng Zhong defeats the Qin army and returns triumphantly, it will be the day when our Qi country is facing annihilation."

Tian Tai saw his father write such a positive sentence in the letter.

In addition to emphasizing that it was not feasible to attack the Song Kingdom, Tian Tai remembered that his father had also reiterated a well-worn question in the letter, namely the truth that Su Qin had tried to instigate.

Tian Tai knew that his father Tian Zhang had never believed in Su Qin, and always thought that Su Qin was a spy sent by a certain country to harm his Qi country, but unfortunately, Qi Wang Tiandi did not believe Tian Zhang's judgment at all.

This time is the same, in the face of Tian Zhang's strong illness to write a letter to persuade him, Qi Wang Tiandi did not listen, but when he learned that Tian Zhang could no longer lead the army, he asked Tian Zhang in his reply to recommend a junior who could be competent in this matter.

It was this reply that angered Tian Zhang, who was sick in bed, Tian Tai clearly remembered that his father was so angry that he almost didn't catch his breath after seeing the reply, and then scolded 'faint king and misguided country', and scolded King Qi's field 'will eventually bury his ancestor Sheji', and then, his condition became worse.

After his father calmed down, Tian Tai remembered that his brother Tian Ru had discussed it with his father.

Tian Tai roughly understood the inside story of the discussion, and in summary, it was just a matter of succumbing to the will of the king of Qi's field - no way, the majesty of the royal power, how could he resist?

What's more, King Qi's field is still an out-and-out tyrant - the weight of the 'tyrant' of the field is more than that of Song Wangyan's 'tyrant', at least Song Wangyan will not be in deficit in the treasury because of the construction of palaces, let alone forcibly reclaim the fiefdoms of domestic princes and nobles because of the deficit in the treasury.

Although Song Wangyan is brutal and murderous, but for those courtiers who are willing to follow him, he is still very generous, and more importantly, Song Wangyan never spends money on building palaces - since the two Song monarchs after Song Pigong, namely Song Chengjun and Song Wangyan, this brother does not build palaces, but uses money to develop national strength, the only difference is that Song Chengjun attaches importance to domestic infrastructure, while Song Wangyan pays attention to strengthening the country's army, constantly expanding the army, expanding the army, and expanding the army.

Compared with Song Chengjun and Song Wangyan, in fact, King Qi Tiandi is more like a tyrant.

But this tyrant still has inviolable supreme power in the Qi country, and anyone who dares to disobey this monarch has been liquidated, Tian Zhang himself is certainly not afraid, but his children and grandchildren may not have this battle.

In the end, in order to protect his family and his children and grandchildren from being hated by King Qi after his death, Tian Zhang finally acquiesced in the decision of King Qi to fight the Song Dynasty and sent his second son Tian Tai to follow the army of the Song Dynasty.

In fact, Tian Zhang also has his selfishness, no, before Tian Tai left, Tian Zhang summoned his second son to the sickbed and asked Tian Tai to go to the Song Kingdom to do one thing for him, that is, to protect the people who were related to his junior brother Meng Zhong as much as possible.

For example, Meng Zhong's righteous brother Hui An, this Hui Zi's nephew and Zhuangzi's nephew, can be preserved as much as possible, after all, killing Hui Ang will not only offend Zhuangzi and Meng Zhong, but also offend Confucianism, you must know that Hui Ang is a 'although not a Confucian disciple but better than a Confucian disciple', the reason why Confucianism has been able to spread in the Song Kingdom over the years is that Hui Ang has contributed a lot.

Another example is Mengzhong's clansmen, that is, those small families in Mengyi, Tian Zhang told Tian Tai that if the Qi army breaks through Mengyi in the future, he must find a way to protect those small families of Mengyi and Le, and persuade them to migrate to Qi.

In Tian Zhang's words, there are two advantages to doing this, one is to leave a personal favor to Meng Zhong, so that Meng Zhong can be a little more merciful to Qi Guo in the future; Second, since the Mengzhong clan can appear Mengzhong, then there will inevitably be other talents, if the Mengshi can be persuaded to return to the Qi country, then maybe in the future there will be no less than Mengzhong Mengzhong talents in his Qi country.

Tian Tai nodded and responded to these instructions, and then said goodbye to his father who was sick in bed and went to Linzi alone.

As for the fact that he pretended to be his father Tian Zhang, it was not Tian Zhang's own idea, but the instruction of the King of Qi Tiandi, which is no wonder, after all, in contemporary times, the fame of Tian Zhang, a famous general of Qi State, is still very loud, enough to deter any enemy with ill intentions towards Qi State.

With the royal decree of the land of the king of Qi, and with the instructions of his father Tian Zhang, Tian Tai embarked on the journey to conquer the Song Kingdom.

I have to say that the offensive so far has been very smooth, and the Song State really lost peace with the Song Dynasty and the crown prince Dai Wu, and his Qi army almost effortlessly laid down a radius of two or three hundred miles of land, and took Tancheng, Qiyang, Pixian, Xueyi and other places, until it reached Pengcheng, the capital of the Song State, and encountered some obstacles slightly.

But this is not a big problem, after all, Tian Tai and Tian Da said with their own eyes that the army of the Song State has almost no fighting spirit, and Pengcheng will fall into their hands sooner or later.

During this time, Tian Tai was even considering whether to send some people to Mengcheng to send a message to the local Mengshi, Leshi and other small families, persuading them to defect to Qi to avoid being implicated.

However, what he never expected was that at this moment, his 'little uncle' appeared......

"I hope tomorrow he won't see through anything......

Muttering in his heart, Tian Tai forced himself to go to bed early so that he would be in good spirits tomorrow to deal with his little uncle, who was no less skilled in the art of war than his father.

The next day, Tian Tai left the camp of Luyi with more than 20 guards and headed towards the place where he had been interviewed.

The place of the appointment written by Meng Zhong in his letter yesterday was a forest near the river between Pengcheng and Lüyi.

Of course, the river is still there, but the woods over there, including a few adjacent pieces of land, have long been set on fire by Dai Busheng when the defeated army retreated to Pengcheng, so the vision of this area is still very broad, and you can see it miles away at a glance, even if Meng Zhong did not indicate the exact location, it doesn't matter, you can see it anyway.

No, as he approached the river in his chariot, Tian Tai saw in the distance a burned wood, about twenty horsemen standing on horseback, and only one of them sat behind a low table, boiling wine and waiting.

"It should be him."

Muttering secretly in his heart, Tian Tai ordered the chariot to follow to cross the river from the bridge.

Immediately, four cavalrymen came up, and one of them clenched his fists from a distance, and said with a bit of strangeness on his face: "Your Majesty is the Kuang Zhang of Qi State?" I've been waiting for a long time......"

Tian Tai naturally understood why the other party had a strange look on his face, and bowed back from afar: "I am not my father, I am my father's second son Tian Tai, my father is not in the army for the time being, and he cannot be invited...... Marquis of Yun? ”

"Marquis? Isn't it Yun Jun?'

Tian Tai muttered in his heart, he remembered that his little uncle's title was Yuncheng Jun, and Jun was compared with Hou Bi, but it was a grade apart.

"Oh."

The cavalryman suddenly realized, the strange expression on his face faded, and he arched his hand and said, "Second son, wait a minute, let me tell the Marquis of Yun." ”

With that, he turned his horse away.

It was only about forty or fifty breaths, and the cavalryman went and returned, and raised his hand towards Tian Tai and asked: "Marquis Yun, please, second son, please." ”

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed several retinues and guards who had stepped forward to dissuade him, and Tian Tai stepped out of the chariot and walked to the low table in the distance with only two guards.

In the distance, the young man who seemed to be his 'little uncle' also stood up at this time, smiling as he slowly walked in.

The distance of more than twenty steps, in a blink of an eye, Tian Tai quickly walked in front of the other party about five steps away, arched his hands and clenched his fists and said: "In Xia Tian Zhang's second son, Tian Tai, I don't know how to drive ......."

"In the Lower Mong."

The young man, Meng Zhong, replied with a smile.

Hearing this, Tian Tai hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to perform the junior salute, bowed down and bowed: "It turned out to be my uncle, and my little nephew has seen my uncle." ”

Seeing Tian Tai, who was obviously in his thirties, bowing to Meng Zhong, who was obviously only in his twenties, and calling his uncle, the cavalrymen on the side couldn't help laughing, even Meng Zhong felt a little funny while being slightly stunned, waved his hand and said: "No need, although your father and I are senior brothers, but the second son does not have to follow this ceremony, you and I can just talk about each other." ”

Of course, Tian Tai was inclined to have a relationship with the person in front of him, but after thinking about it, he still shook his head and said, "Uncle's words are bad, and the etiquette cannot be abolished." If I knew that I was not respectful, my father would have been angry and punished me severely. ”

“……”

Meng Zhong glanced at Tian Tai, and suddenly said with a smile: "Since this is the case, then...... Feel free, come, please be seated. ”

"Thank you."

At Meng Zhong's invitation, Tian Tai sat down opposite Meng Zhong.

He carefully looked at the little uncle in front of him.

He had to admit that the little uncle's inheritance and reputation in front of him were no less than his father Tian Zhang, and even surpassed.

The titles of the disciples of the three schools of Taoism, Ming, and Confucianism alone are enough to make many people gasp, not to mention the disciples of Zhuangzi, Huizi, and Mencius.

At this time, Meng Zhong was also observing the eldest nephew in front of him, who was about ten years older than him, and while crying and laughing, he asked, "That...... Second son, when I asked your father to meet next, why was the second son invited? ”

"That's right." Tian Tai replied respectfully: "My father is not in the army at the moment because of some things, and the little nephew is afraid that his uncle will misunderstand, so he came to explain in person." ”

"Oh?" Meng Zhong asked in surprise, "I don't know why Brother Tian Zhang is not in the army?" ”

Tian Tai replied without being arrogant or humble: "This matter involves the secrets of the Qi army, and the little nephew cannot disclose it to his uncle." ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong glanced at Tian Tai with interest, and suddenly asked, "Second son, has the tentacle returned to China?" ”

"Tentacles?"

Tian Tai was stunned, only then did he realize that Meng Zhong was referring to Tian Touch, he glanced at Meng Zhong suspiciously, shook his head and said: "As far as the little nephew knows, Touch Zi and his uncle followed Fengyang Jun of Zhao State to crusade against Qin State......"

His answer made Meng Zhong suddenly understand something.

For example, Qi may not have known about the fact that Wei and Qin had ceased war.

Some people may find it strange that Meng Zhongdu, who was in charge of the final negotiations between Wei and Qin, had already arrived in the Song State, and Tian Touch, who had left Xihe County one step earlier, had not returned to the Qi State.

The reason is very simple, although Meng Zhong left Xihe County for nearly a month and a half later than Tian Tu, he acted separately from the army, he only returned to Daliang with more than 100 Fangcheng cavalry, and then immediately rushed to the Song State, during which there was almost no stop; But Tian Touch, he wants to take tens of thousands of Qi troops under his command to withdraw to Qi State, if Wei State deliberately delays it, let alone set off a month early, even if it takes twice as much time, it may not be able to return to Qi before Meng Zhong returns to the Song Dynasty.

Of course, although Tian Touch himself could not return to Qi as soon as possible, he could also send his soldiers to return to Qi State first.

However, the problem is that Linzi of Qi is farther than Pengcheng of Song State, even if Tian Touch asks a few soldiers to drive the chariot back to China, where can the speed of the chariot compare to the cavalry?

Meng Zhong himself estimated that around the time he arrived in Pengcheng, the soldiers sent by Tian Touch arrived in Linzi and reported the results of the Battle of Xihe to King Qi Tiandi.

It was probably a while before Tian Tai learned from the messenger sent by Linzi that Tian Touch was about to lead tens of thousands of Qi troops back to China.

Interestingly, when Tian Touch left, Wei and Qin were at the most intense moment of fighting, and after Tian Touch left, Wei Ran compromised with Meng Zhong and Wei on behalf of Qin, which means that Tian Touch did not know the final result of the Battle of the West River.

Therefore, it is understandable why the state of Qi is still tirelessly attacking the state of Song, instead of withdrawing its troops to the north to deal with the upcoming invasion of the five kingdoms of Qi, because they have no idea about it at all.

"Uncle, what are you laughing at?"

Seeing Meng Zhong looking at him with an elusive smile on his face, Tian Tai felt a little uncomfortable in his heart.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing, it has nothing to do with the second son, I just laughed at King Qi's death and didn't know it......" Shaking his head slightly, Meng Zhong suddenly asked Tian Taidao: "Second son, I don't know what Ling Zun's physical condition is now?" A few years ago, I heard that he was getting worse, but for some reason I was never able to visit him in Kuangyi, and I deeply regret this. ”

“……”

Tian Tai glanced at Meng Zhong and said with a smile: "Why does my uncle use words to trick me? My father is in the army, but only temporarily because of something......"

"Alright."

Meng Zhong raised his hand to interrupt Tian Tai's words, and said gently: "You don't have to hide it anymore, if Ling Zun is really in the army, even if he drags his sick body, he will pretend to be physically safe to see me, first, to identify whether it is me, and second, I don't dare to make a mistake easily." …… Therefore, the moment I saw the second son come forward, I already knew that Brother Tian Zhang was not in the Qi army. ”

Hearing this, Tian Tai was inevitably a little flustered in his heart, and he pretended to be angry and said, "Uncle means that the little nephew is not worthy to come forward to meet you?" ”

Meng Zhong smiled and didn't speak, just scooped a bowl of wine for Tian Tai, which made Tian Tai very embarrassed.

Because he knew that Meng Zhong had seen through his trick of feigning anger.

"Although the second son tried very hard to cover it up, I received a letter from Senior Brother Gongsun Chou, which is the ......."

Meng Zhong spread his hands.

Tian Tai opened his mouth, and then sighed a little frustratedly.

Of course, he knew Gongsun Chou, who was Mencius's beloved disciple, his father Tian Zhang, and the senior brother of the young man in front of him.

Although he tried his best to hide the fact that his father Tian Zhang was sick in bed and was not in the army, he had already learned about it through letters, so how could he hide it?

At this time, Meng Zhong smiled and asked, "Don't you pretend?" Oh, then tell you about Ling Zun's current situation, how is your father now? ”

Tian Tai hesitated for a long time, and finally shook his head gloomily: "It's not optimistic. ”

"Sure enough......" Meng Zhong nodded, sighing with a bit of melancholy.

Hearing this, Tian Tai raised his head suddenly and asked in amazement, "You...... You're not...... Didn't my uncle learn about this from Mr. Gongsun's letter? ”

"Oh, that's just me making it up casually, Senior Brother Gongsun is busy editing the next part of "Mencius", how can he have time to communicate with me?"

Taking a sip of wine, Meng Zhong said casually.

Hearing this, Tian Tai's face changed, and he stopped talking several times.