"PS: I've been coughing, sore throat, and fever today, and I wanted to take a leave of absence to rest, but I still insisted on one chapter after thinking about it, but I couldn't hold on to the second chapter."

———— the following text————

At the beginning of the spring of the next year, that is, the fourth year of Zhao Wanghe and the thirty-fourth year of Song Wangyan, Zhao's father decided to unite Yan and Song to jointly send troops to attack Qi.

Since Zhao's father returned to Handan in mid-October last year, he was dissuaded by the domestic ministers, and since then, when Meng Zhong was busy training the Xinwei army, Zhao's father has repeatedly argued with Zhao Wanghe, Feiyi, Zhao Cheng, Li Dui, Zhao Zao, Zhao Jun and others on this matter.

At this time, the state of Qi, the king of Qi had died a few years ago, and was nicknamed "King Xuan of Qi", and was succeeded by the crown prince "Tiandi" - this matter was still in the biography of Zhao's father before Zhao Wang He.

Meng Zhong didn't know much about King Qi Xuan, and he once heard Mencius talk about it.

For example, King Xuan of Qi was good at music, so Mencius once persuaded the former that "solitary pleasure (yuè) is better than the pleasure of others", hoping to make the king adopt his idea of benevolent government. [PS: Mr. Nan Guo of the "indiscriminate filling" allusion, the background of the story is in the period of King Qi Xuan and his son Tian Di (King Qi Xiang). 】

But unfortunately, King Xuan of Qi only valued Mencius's fame, so Mencius eventually left the Qi Kingdom.

King Xuan of Qi can't talk about any Ming Jun, but otherwise during his reign, the development of Qi was very rapid, if it weren't for the fact that Lord Zhao intervened in the war of "Qi to destroy Yan", maybe Qi had completely annexed Yan and became the third giant country in terms of land area after Chu and Qin.

Because of this incident, the relationship between Zhao and Qi was very tense for a while.

When King Xuan of Qi passed away and the prince of Qi succeeded to the throne, the "King of Qi" who was in charge of the throne at the beginning sent envoys to Zhao many times to bribe Zhao Cheng, Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyang Jun Li Dui and other courtiers of Zhao State, hoping to ease the relationship between Zhao and Qi, which made the relationship between Zhao and Qi gradually ease.

It's no wonder, after all, the new monarch of Qi State, he is still quite jealous of Lord Zhao's father, who let Zhao State in Zhao Master Father after the implementation of the reform of Hufu cavalry archery, the national strength has increased by leaps and bounds, and actually defeated Lin Hu, Xiongnu and other foreign races and invaded "Yuzhong". [PS: Yuzhong, that is, the area of the Hetao area. 】

The strong strength of Zhao's army really shocked the world.

On the sixteenth day of the first month, Lord Zhao's father came to the camp of the Xinwei Army from Handan City.

At this time, Meng Zhong, Le Yi and others were leading the Xinwei army to train in the snow, and they were surprised to see that Master Zhao's father only took a team of guards and came to the camp in a chariot.

Leaving the matter of training to Le Yi, Meng Zhong stepped forward and asked curiously after seeing the salute: "Master Zhao, didn't the predecessor of the Crane Guanzi accompany you today?" ”

"Crane Guanzi ......" Master Zhao snorted lightly, and then said meaninglessly: "I asked him to deal with that annoying "appearance" on my behalf. ”

"Appearance?" Meng Zhong thought about it carefully and asked, "Could it be that the envoy from the Qi Kingdom?" ”

"Humph!" Master Zhao snorted lightly, and he answered Meng Zhong.

Meng Zhong suddenly realized, Qi envoy argued, he had a few encounters with this person, but they were only familiar with each other, but they didn't have too much contact - mainly because of each other's positions.

As far as Meng Zhong knew, after the fall of the Zhongshan Kingdom, Lord Zhao's father stationed the victorious army in the area of the sand dunes, and the State of Qi hurriedly sent an envoy to "look good", after all, the Qi people are not fools, how can they not see the intention of Lord Zhao's father to send heavy troops to the border with Zhao Qi? Therefore, he sent Maung Wei to persuade Zhao's father and Zhao Wanghe, hoping to dissuade Zhao from attacking Qi.

"According to Fei Xiang, that appearance seems to be the doorman of Qi State's "Jingguo Juntian Baby"." While walking on the snow with Master Zhao's father, Meng Zhong said.

Jingguo Juntian Ying was a courtier of Qi during the period of King Qi Wei, and assisted King Xuan of Qi, and the Xue land that King Yan of Song tried to obtain was the fiefdom of this person - Jingguo, that is, the name of the city of the ancient Xue State.

After Tian Ying's death, his son Tian Wen inherited the family business, known as "Xue Gong", and now serves as the state minister of Qi.

It is worth mentioning that although Tian Wen served as the minister of Qi, in the past two years, he was not in Qi, but in Wei, presiding over the attack on Qin by Qi, Wei, and Han.

The three kingdoms of Qi, Wei and Han invaded Qin, this war has lasted for several years, even Meng Zhong has heard of it, Kuang Zhang of Qi, Xiwu (Gongsun Xi) of Wei, and Storm Kite of Korea, these three famous generals of the time each led their own troops to attack Hangu Pass of Qin, which is said to be in full swing - this is also one of the reasons why Zhao's father wanted to take the opportunity to unite Yan and Song to attack Qi.

"Do you still know Jingguo Juntian Ying?"

Turning his head to look at Meng Zhong, Master Zhao asked with a little surprise.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong explained with a smile: "I learned about it when I was chatting with each other when Prime Minister Fei invited me to his mansion for a banquet a while ago. ”

"Oh......"

Master Zhao nodded suddenly in understanding.

Regarding Meng Zhong's communication in Handan, Zhao's father was very clear, and he knew that although they had different positions, Meng Zhong still maintained a good relationship with Zhao Xiangfeiyi, Yang Wenjun and Zhao Bao.

After thinking about it, Master Zhao asked Meng Zhongdao: "Meng Zhong, what do you think of Feiyi?" ”

Meng Zhong praised without hesitation: "Fat Minister, he is a virtuous minister who is loyal, righteous and courteous......"

"I'm not asking you this." Master Zhao interrupted Meng Zhong's words, and immediately said, "I'm asking you ......."

At this, his voice stopped abruptly, as if he was hesitating something.

After a long time, Master Zhao shook his head and said, "Forget it, don't talk about this." ”

After that, he looked up into the distance, and saw that at this time, five hundred Xinwei soldiers in the distance were throwing snowballs at each other in the vast snow, and some soldiers could be vaguely seen bending their waists, and there seemed to be some hidden actions in a sneaky manner.

"What are they doing?" Master Zhao asked curiously.

Meng Zhong glanced at it and explained, "It's a break during training...... Seeing that the soldiers are practicing every day and are nervous, let them use this game to reconcile......"

Master Zhao stroked his beard and asked curiously, "It seems that there are any rules for this game?" ”

"Yes."

"Talk to me."

"Yes......"

At the request of Master Zhao's father, Meng Zhong told the former the rules of the "snowball fight".

The rules are simple, let the soldiers try to "kill" each other's "main generals", the two conspicuous snowmen in the positions of both sides.

Protecting your own snowman and trying to destroy the opponent's snowman is the only rule of this game.

But it's easier said than done, if you act recklessly, you are likely to be hit by dozens of soldiers on the other side with snowballs - the snowballs that these five big and three thick soldiers pinched out hard, if they hit their faces and heads, it will still hurt.

Therefore, under the leadership of their respective commanders, the soldiers used tricks one after another, such as first pretending to charge to trick the other party into consuming the snowball, and then rushing to the opponent's position in one go—at first glance, it also has a bit of a trick of war, which aroused the interest of Zhao's master.

So much so that Master Zhao also joined in after understanding the rules of the game.

In the next few days, Meng Zhong trained Xinwei with Le Yi and others, while paying attention to the matter of "Zhao Guo's War".

As far as he knew, Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao, Fengyangjun Li Dui and other Zhao courtiers all opposed the crusade against Qi, on the grounds that the current strength of Qi was very strong, comparable to his Zhao State, and if Zhao and Qi attacked each other, it was very likely that Qin would benefit the fishermen.

In all fairness, this is actually true, after all, at this time, the State of Qi had "Xue Gongtianwen" as the Minister of State, and the famous general "Kuang Zhang" in charge of the soldiers and horses, and the Qin State was known as the two great powers in the world.

Even after the "Battle of the Falling Sands", even the state of Chu surrendered to the state of Qi, so that the prestige of the state of Qi was still looming above the state of Qin.

Therefore, Zhao Cheng, Zhao Bao, Li Dui and others all supported the vertical and horizontal strategy proposed by "Fu Ding".

Fu Ding, also a Zhao person, was ordered by Zhao's master father to go to Wei a few years ago, and this person advocated that "Zhao State unite Qi and Wei to attack Qin", trying to consume the national strength of Qin and Qi, so that Zhao State can reap the benefits.

This person and Qiu He, a minister sent to Song by Zhao, were opposed in terms of their views—Qiu He advocated that "Zhao should unite with Qin and Song to suppress Qi".

But in the end, Master Zhao still took Qiu He's suggestion, after all, Qi people are not stupid, how can they obediently obey Zhao people's expectations and fight to the death with Qin State?

Regarding this matter, Meng Zhong also asked Master Zhao's father.

When it came to this matter, Lord Father Zhao once again praised Song Wang Yan, according to Zhao Master Father, only the alliance he signed with Song Wang Yan was stable and reliable, and except for Song, the rest of the states were unreliable, even the Qin State, which currently had an alliance with Zhao State.

This is not a one-sided statement of Lord Zhao's father, in fact, as early as a few years ago, that is, when King Qi Tiandi had just succeeded to the throne, Qin and Qi had sneaky contact - first Qin sent "Jingyang Jun Yingfu (fèi)" to Qi as a proton, that is, Qin Gongzi Fu, who had the opportunity to become the king of Qin but was disturbed by Zhao's father, tried to exchange this for Tian Wen, who had not yet become Qi Xiang at that time, to go to Qin to serve as a phase.

The state of Qi agreed to this matter, and the following year sent Tian Wen to the state of Qin, as if trying to promote a tacit understanding of the "Qin-Qi alliance".

Like this kind of thing, how can Master Zhao's father allow it?

Therefore, at that time, Master Zhao's father immediately ordered the retainers in the Qin State to "Lou Zhuan" and asked the latter to try to solve the matter.

So Lou Chu released rumors unfavorable to Tian Wen in the Qin State, so that the Qin State not only withdrew Tian Wen's phase, but even wanted to get rid of it, forcing Tian Wen to flee the Qin State overnight. [PS: That is, the origin of the allusion to "chicken and dog thief". 】

After escaping back to Qi, Qi Wang Tiandi felt guilty that he almost let Tian Wen die in Qin, so he ordered Tian Wen to serve as the minister of state, Tian Wen hated Qin deeply, so he tried to unite Wei and Han to attack Qin, which is why in the past two years, Qi general Kuang Zhang, Wei general Xiwu, and Han general Storm Kite three famous generals jointly led the army to attack Qin.

It is precisely for this reason that in the past two years, when the Song State attacked the Teng State, the Qi State did not dare to send troops to support the Teng State, and when the Zhao State attacked the Zhongshan State, the Qi State did not dare to send troops to support the Zhongshan State, lest it anger one of the Zhao and Song countries, and trigger the "Zhao Yan and Song Three Kingdoms to Attack Qi" in advance.

On the other hand, if the Three Kingdoms of Zhao, Yan and Song really want to carve up the Qi Kingdom, now is the best opportunity.

In February, the Song State took the lead and sent troops to attack Xue Yi of the Qi State.

Subsequently, the Yan State also raised 100,000 troops and waved its army south to attack the Qi State.

As for Zhao Guo, although Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others tried their best to dissuade him, he could not change the will of Lord Zhao's father.

On the tenth day of the second month of the fourth year of King He of Zhao, Zhao sent 150,000 troops to attack the "Gaotangyi" and "Pingyuanyi" of Qi.

The Three Kingdoms of Zhao, Yan and Song finally launched a war to carve up the Qi State.