"PS: I went to the hospital this afternoon, I waited in line for more than two hours, and it was five o'clock when it was my turn, and the doctor asked me if I wanted to hang a drip, and I wanted to hang a drip, so today's update had to be in the soup again, and then I was equipped with some anti-inflammatory drugs and blood pressure lowering (?). That's right! I really don't understand why I was given the medicine for people with high blood pressure) came back, but after paying for the medicine, the pharmacy was already closed, and I had to go and get it again tomorrow morning, and I was depressed."

———— the following text————

"Report! Niu Qian's army will defect and is attacking Anyang Jun's Chinese army! ”

"What?"

When the herald sent this information, Meng Zhong couldn't believe it.

But when he turned his head to look in the direction of the Chinese army, he did see that the rear of Gongzizhang's army was being attacked by groups of cavalry.

Seeing that scene, Meng Zhong's heart suddenly chuckled.

You must know that the battle between the rebels and Wang Shi has entered a white heat, but at this time, Niu Jian stabbed the rebels from behind, so that the main force of the rebels under Gongzi Zhang was attacked by the enemy in the abdomen, and they were in chaos all of a sudden.

How good is that?

Even if it was Meng Zhong, in the face of this sudden change in front of him, he couldn't help but fall into contemplation, and it was difficult to make a choice for a long time.

After half a ring, he ordered Meng Sui, Le Jin, and Le Xu to lead 2,000 soldiers to support Gongzizhang's army, but unfortunately, with only more than 2,000 people, it was impossible to reverse the situation of the rebels' defeat.

『…… It must be withdrawn.'"

A thought flashed through Meng Zhong's mind.

I have to say that leading the army to evacuate and leave the battlefield at this time is tantamount to abandoning Gongzizhang and the army under his command, this move seems to be very ruthless to Meng Zhong, but the problem is that even if Meng Zhong chooses to stay, he will not be able to recover the disadvantage of the rebels at the moment.

So, just a moment later, when Meng Zhong realized that the 2,000 soldiers led by Meng Sui, Le Jin, and Le Xu could not assist Zhao Zhangjun to block the attack of Niu Qian's cavalry, he decisively ordered a retreat.

After he ordered the retreat, Pang Xuan also gave the order to retreat.

The two rebels quickly withdrew along the southern gate of Handan, fortunately, at this moment, whether it was Wang Shi or the cavalry under Niu Qian, they were all staring at the army led by Gongzizhang himself, which made Meng Zhong, Pang Xuan and others smoothly lead the army out of Handan.

After withdrawing from Handan City, Pang Xuan and Meng Zhong met in the southern suburbs.

During this time, Pang Xuan said to Meng Zhong: "I am going to immediately lead my subordinates back to the Dune Palace, what are your plans?" ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong realized that Pang Xuan had completely given up on Gongzi Zhang, or rather, he concluded that Gongzi Zhang could no longer be turned around.

In fact, Meng Zhong actually thinks so in his heart: it has nothing to do with Gongzizhang's choice, but Niu Qian's defection to Wang Shi has really dealt an immeasurable blow to the rebels.

"I should also lead the army to retreat to the dunes......"

As he spoke, Meng Zhong couldn't help but glance at the city of Handan again.

Seeing Meng Zhong's gaze looking at Handan City, Pang Xuan could of course guess Meng Zhong's mood at the moment, he nodded and said, "Since you ...... Be careful yourself. Then I'll go first. ”

"Please!"

"Please!"

After the two separated, Pang Xuan took Ji Xin, Zhao Hao and other generals, commanded the remaining troops under his command, and quickly hurried towards the direction of the Dune Palace.

And Meng Zhong immediately called Le Yi and instructed him: "There are 30,000 people under Gongzi Zhang, Handan can't trap him yet, you take Le Jin, Le Xu, and Xiang Yi a few people, and lead 2,000 soldiers to Quliangyi immediately to ensure that the camp over there is safe and sound, and I will try to pick up Gongzizhang's evacuation along the way." ”

Le Yi wanted to speak and stopped, but in the end he nodded and instructed Meng Zhongdao: "Then you have to be careful." ”

After the two discussed, Le Yi led 2,000 soldiers straight to Quliangyi, while Meng Zhong led another 3,000 soldiers and immediately went to the eastern suburbs of Handan, regrouped outside the city, and waited for Gongzizhang to come out of the city.

After waiting for half an hour, the rebels under Gongzi Zhang escaped from the east gate of Handan.

At first, when Gongzizhang saw an army guarding outside the city, he couldn't help but panic, but when he saw that the army was an army under Meng Zhong's command, he breathed a sigh of relief and ordered his soldiers to drive the chariot and join Meng Zhong.

After seeing each other, Meng Zhong clenched his fists and said, "Anyang Jun, Pang Xuan has led his army back to the Dune Palace......"

“……”

Gongzi Zhang's face turned slightly red when he heard this, as if he wanted to say something, but when he looked back in the direction of Handan, he nodded silently.

I have to say that Pang Xuan's actions are indeed a little ruthless, but Gongzizhang does not blame him, if he wants to hate, he only hates one person, that is, when he is about to break through the inner city and recapture everything that should belong to him, the person who led thousands of cavalry to defect to the king's division, Niu Qian!

He still can't understand why Niu Jian betrayed him and betrayed Master Zhao's father.

Suddenly, Gongzizhang turned his head to look at Meng Zhong and asked seemingly calmly, "Pang Xuan led the army to evacuate, why didn't you leave?" ”

Meng Zhong said calmly: "I will stay to pick up Anyang Jun, and I have ordered Le Yi to lead two thousand soldiers to Quliangyi to ensure that the camp over there is still in our hands......"

"Hehehe, it's worthy of you, even at this time, you think so thoroughly." Gongzi Zhang smiled slightly when he heard this, and immediately, his bloodshot eyes rarely showed a bit of warmth, and after taking a few deep glances at Meng Zhong, he shook his head and said, "You can also go, Ah Zhong, lead the Xinwei army under your command to retreat to the sand dunes, I am finished...... Thanks to Niu Qian's husband, the good situation we waited for before has been lost......"

As he spoke, he looked at Handan City again with a distressed look.

Don't look at him escaping, but the army under his command is still trapped in the city, including Tian Buyu and Wei Yuan, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan, Peng Zhen and other generals.

Of course, Meng Zhong knew that Gongzi Zhang had been hit so hard, so he had this kind of desperate emotion, but from his standpoint, it was necessary for him to collect the defeated troops under Gongzi Zhang as much as possible.

Therefore, Meng Zhong personally came forward to collect the rebel soldiers who had escaped from Handan City and ordered them to reorganize the formation.

After a short time, Wei Yuan, Tian Huang, and Peng Zhen protected Tian Buyu to escape from Handan City and join Gongzizhang and Meng Zhong outside the city.

At that time, Wei Yuan reported several bad news to Gongzi Zhang.

For example, seeing that something was wrong, Xu Jun immediately surrendered to Wang Shi; For another example, in order to break the queen for them, Zhai Dan was unfortunately beheaded by Wang Shi's fierce general Lian Po.

After learning about this, Meng Zhong asked Wei Yuan: "Wei Yuan Sima, I don't know where my uncle Meng Yu is?" ”

"Still ...... in the city"

Wei Yuan said in a tone of admiration: "After Xu Jun surrendered to the Wang Division, he ordered your clan uncle Meng Yu to lead the army to assist the Wang Division in attacking our army, but Meng Que did not obey the order, led a part of the soldiers to join our army, and finally waited for us with Zhai Dan to ...... the rear" Saying, he glanced at the still somewhat gray prince, and said to Meng Zhong with a little guilt: "Meng Sima, although my proposal is not close to people, but ...... But I have to escort Childe out of here first...... I'm sorry. ”

"Wei Sima is serious."

Meng Zhong shook his head slightly, and then said: "I have ordered Le Yi to lead the army to Quliangyi first, to ensure that the camp over there is still in our hands, and a few Sima Ke escorted Anyang Jun back to Quliang first, and then I will ...... for you."

"Monsima ......"

Moved by Meng Zhong's pride in being willing to stay after the break, Wei Yuan discussed with Tian Huang, and finally Tian Huang decided to stay and accompany Meng Zhong to break the queen together, and by the way, he tried to collect the defeated soldiers as much as possible.

In this way, Gongzizhang, Tian Buyu, and Wei Yuan led the retreat to Quliangyi.

Fortunately, soon after, Meng Hu and thousands of rebels escaped from Handan, and were able to meet Meng Zhong and Tian Huang outside the city.

"Uncle Menghu!"

"Ah Zhong!"

After seeing each other again, Meng Hu couldn't care about talking to Meng Zhong about his uncle and nephew, and shouted anxiously: "Most of our soldiers who are still trapped in the city have surrendered, only this one is willing to fight with me out of Handan, retreat quickly!" Behind me, there are the pursuers of Niu Qian, Zhao Yuan, Lian Po, Zhao Ben and others! ”

Meng Zhong fixed his eyes in the direction of Handan, and sure enough, he saw a steady stream of cavalry pouring out of the East City Gate.

"Let's go!"

With Meng Zhong's order, nearly 10,000 rebels fled to Quliangyi.

And at this time, the cavalry under the command of Niu Jian was chasing after them.

At this point, Meng Zhong finally got a glimpse of the power of cavalry on flat terrain, especially when facing a routing army.

I saw that a cavalryman, with his legs between the belly of the horse, slowly chased the rebels who fled in front of him, and easily harvested the lives of a rebel, so that on the road where the rebels fled, there were corpses of rebels everywhere.

It's not that Meng Zhong didn't see the tragic situation of those rebel soldiers, but he couldn't do anything about it.

After all, he only has more than 3,000 soldiers in his hands, if he stays behind, once those rebels who have long lost their fighting spirit flee away, his 3,000 soldiers will definitely fall into the encirclement of the king's division, and then be annihilated in one fell swoop.

Therefore, the only thing he could do was to order the soldiers to speed up and escape, even if he saw a rebel soldier fall to the ground because of running on the way, and even was caught up by the king master Zhao who was chasing after him, he could only turn his eyes away, not daring to see the final outcome of those rebel soldiers.

When they fled to Quliangyi in panic, it was already dark, and Le Yi, Wei Yuan and others, who had returned to Quliangyi first, took Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, Wei Yuan and others to withdraw to the camp.

Seeing this, the cavalry of Zhao State, who was chasing the rebels all the way, temporarily retreated.

That night, Gongzizhang once again convened his subordinates to discuss countermeasures.

At this time, in addition to the nearly 5,000 troops led by Meng Zhong and Le Yi, there were only about 7,000 soldiers left under Gongzi Zhang, and these soldiers were all depressed and had no fighting spirit.

In fact, not to mention these soldiers, even Wei Yuan, Tian Huang, and even Gongzizhang were at a loss.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong suggested to Gongzi Zhang: "Anyang Jun, like the current situation, you might as well lead the remnants of the army to retreat to the area of the Dune Palace first, discuss with Lord Zhao, and then make a decision." ”

Gongzizhang nodded silently.

Now that is the only way to do it.

At the suggestion of Meng Zhong, the rebels abandoned Quliangyi the next day, October 12, and retreated eastward again.

On the same day, Niu Jian met with Zhao Wang He in Handan Palace under the recommendation of Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui and Yangwenjun Zhao Bao.

When Zhao Cheng and Li Dui expressed Niu Qian's contributions, Zhao Wanghe praised Niu Jian and praised Niu Jian for abandoning the secret and turning to the light, worthy of being the pillar of the country, which made Niu Jian slightly calm down his little fear of betraying Zhao's father.

Subsequently, Zhao Wanghe asked again: "What is the situation on the rebel side now?" But do you still have the power to attack Handan? ”

Zhao Cheng said with a smile when he heard this: "Thanks to the blessing of the king, the rebels have suffered today's rout, and the 50,000 rebels have lost at least 30,000 people. …… It's a pity that Na Meng Zhong saw that things were not good, so he evacuated from the south gate in advance, and then met the rebels outside the east city, protecting Gongzizhang and his party to retreat to Quliangyi, otherwise, I am afraid that Gongzizhang may be captured and killed by our generals today......"

"Meng Qing ......"

Zhao Wanghe's eyes flickered slightly, turning a blind eye to An Pingjun Zhao Cheng's intentional instigation, and said calmly: "As An Pingjun said, the rebels are defeated. …… Fengyangjun and Yangwenjun, what do you think we should do next? ”

Hearing this, Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao took the lead in speaking: "Your Majesty, among the old ministers, even if Gongzi Zhang leads the defeated army to flee to Daijun at this moment, it will be difficult to recover his defeat. Therefore, the old minister was worried that he might flee to the Dune Palace and kidnap Lord Zhao's father to threaten the king. ”

I have to say that when I heard the words "kidnapping Master Zhao" from Zhao Bao's mouth, the expressions of everyone in the hall were inevitably a little strange, but since some things are really not good to put on the table, then everyone will not debunk them and hold Master Zhao hostage, then it should be regarded as holding Master Zhao hostage.

On the same day, King He of Zhao ordered Niu Jian to assist Anpingjun Zhao Cheng and Fengyangjun Li Dui to pursue Gongzizhang together.

At noon on October 13, the day after the large-scale withdrawal of the rebels from Quliangyi, Zhao Cheng, Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui, Niu Qian, Zhao Yuan, Li Wei and other troops stationed in Quliangyi, and immediately marched to the Dune Palace again.

At the same time, Meng Zhong had escorted the remnants of Gongzizhang's army to the Dune Palace and stationed in the old camp on the southern outskirts of the Dune Palace.

Then, Meng Zhong returned to the Dune Palace with Gongzi Zhang and Tian Buyu, and asked to see Master Zhao's father.

At this time, Master Zhao had already learned about "Niu Qian's defection and the defeat of the rebels", after all, Pang Xuan had already led his army back to the Dune Palace two days ago and told Master Zhao about this matter.

According to Meng Zhong's inquiry to Pang Xuan afterwards, at that time, Lord Zhao's father was furious, scolded Niu Jian for betraying his trust, and even smashed many valuable decorations in the east hall of the Dune Palace in anger.

may be because he had already vented at that time, so when Gongzi Zhang and Meng Zhong asked to see Master Zhao again, Master Zhao's emotions were much more restrained.

After many days, the father and son met again, but the atmosphere was no longer what it used to be.

Everyone present, whether it was Master Zhao's father, Gongzi Zhang's father and son, or Que Guanzi, Tian Buyu, Pang Xuan, and Meng Zhong, didn't know what to say about the current situation.

Just like what Master Zhao's father ridiculed: "How could a good situation fall into such a field?!" ”

"yes, how did you end up in such a field?"

Crane Guanzi glanced at Meng Zhong, who was standing under a pillar with his arms folded, and shook his head slightly.

He knew very well that Gongzi Zhang was defeated, but the fault was not Gongzi Zhang - how could Gongzi Zhang expect that Niu Qian, the most trusted commander of Zhao's father, would actually turn against Wang Shi?

If you want to blame, you have to blame Zhao's father, blame him for being too conceited, if Zhao's father listened to Meng Zhong's suggestion, when Zhao Wanghe fled into Jize, he personally came forward to affirm Gongzizhang's behavior, and then returned to Handan with Gongzizhang, Gongzizhang would have already sat in the position of the monarch of Zhao, where would there be a chance for Zhao Wanghe and his party to reverse the situation?

Thinking of this, Que Guanzi asked Meng Zhongdao: "Little friend Meng Zhong, the matter has come to this...... What other strategies do you have? ”

I have to say that everyone present didn't expect that Que Guanzi would ask Meng Zhong at this time, and even Meng Zhong himself didn't expect it.

After being slightly stunned, Meng Zhong turned his head to look at Master Zhao, and saw that Master Zhao also looked at him with a somewhat complicated expression, Meng Zhong immediately straightened his standing posture, thought for a moment, and said with his fists clenched: "This time we suffered a big defeat, if we are limited to Zhao State, I am afraid that we have no chance of winning, but if we focus on the countries, I think things may have a turnaround." After a short pause, he said with a straight face: "I heard that Lord Zhao has a trusted courtier "Lou Zhuan" who is serving as the prime minister of the Qin State, why didn't Lord Zhao send someone to contact this courtier and seek help from the Qin State?" …… I believe that the Qin State will never want to see a Zhao State that is friendly to the Qi State, as long as the Lord Zhao asks the Qin State for help, the Qin State will definitely send troops to help, and in the same way, the Song State will also send troops to help. As long as the troops of the Qin and Song dynasties can be invited, then the situation may be reversed. …… This is the only way he can think of at the moment. ”

"Asking for help from the Qin and Song ......"

Master Zhao nodded slightly when he heard this.

Song State, that will definitely support Lord Zhao Father, after all, Song State is more reluctant than Qin State to see a Zhao State that is friendly to Qi State, as for Qin State, Lord Zhao feels that he Zhao State must have to pay some price, such as Qin State may take the opportunity to ask for Xihe or something - but even so, Qin State will still agree to support.

After all, in the entire Central Plains, Qin has so far only Zhao and Song can be called allies, like Wei and Han, Qin is strong and falls to Qin, and Qi is strong and falls to Chu, which cannot be regarded as an ally at all, not to mention that because Zhang Yi has forced Wei to submit to Qin's relationship several times, Wei actually hates Qin to the core.

Seeing that Master Father Zhao seemed to agree to his suggestion, Meng Zhong continued to persuade him: "Since Master Father Zhao has agreed to this matter, without further ado, you might as well evacuate the palace immediately." ”

"Evacuate the palace?" Master Zhao was a little puzzled.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong explained: "If the minister is not bad, in two days, Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others will lead the royal division, will arrive at the Dune Palace, the palace will be surrounded, in order to avoid any accidents, Lord Zhao may wish to withdraw to Wei Guo first, Wei Guo is quite afraid of Zhao and Qin, and does not dare to stop you...... After a little hesitation, he said: "You can also withdraw to Song State, I believe that King Song will settle Zhao Master Father you ...... well"

I have to say that when it came to withdrawing to the Song State, Meng Zhong hesitated slightly, because he didn't know whether he should persuade Master Zhao to withdraw to the Song State, and he couldn't conclude whether this move would cause trouble for the Song State.

But fortunately, he didn't need to worry about this matter at all, because Master Zhao had no intention of escaping the palace at all, only to see him laugh and laugh after listening to Meng Zhong's words: "Meng Zhong, you told me Zhao Yong to escape from my country?" Just because Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others did my former courtiers? Hahahaha! …… Do you think they have the guts to surround the palace and harm me? ”

"Don't be on guard." Meng Zhong said calmly.

"Humph! I, Zhao Yong, inherited the throne of the monarch in the fifteenth year, and worked hard for decades, and finally made my Zhao State as strong as it is today, but in the twilight of my Zhao Yong, I will be besieged by a cadre of courtiers? Who dares to surround me Zhao Yong?! Master Zhao sneered.

Meng Zhong wanted to persuade again, but suddenly a soldier entered the palace and reported: "Master, there is a cavalry wandering around the palace, looking at the banner, it seems to be the army of my Zhao State. ”

"Niu Jian ......"

A few traces of hatred flashed in Master Zhao's eyes, and he gritted his teeth and sneered: "It's so fast, it's worthy of being a cavalry." ”

After that, his son Zhang said: "Zhao Zhang, how many soldiers do you still have under your command?" ”

"And more than 7,000 soldiers?" Gongzi Zhang said honestly.

Master Zhao nodded, and asked Meng Zhong and Pang Xuan again: "In addition to the Xinwei Army and the Tan Wei Army, how many generations of county soldiers do you have?" ”

"More than four thousand." Meng Zhong and Pang Xuan replied before and after.

Hearing this, Master Zhao nodded and said: "Okay, Meng Zhong and Pang Xuan, the two of you will return the more than 4,000 generations of county soldiers under your command to Zhao Zhang, so that Zhao Zhang will have 15,000 soldiers, plus more than 3,000 people from Han Gu, you can get together nearly 20,000 people, Zhao Zhang, you will lead these nearly 20,000 people to guard the Dune Palace until winter." I will send someone to contact Lou Chuan of Qin and Qiu He of Song, and wait for the beginning of spring tomorrow, and ask Qin and Song to send troops to support...... Remember, you're the last chance! ”

"The retainers obeyed."

Gongzizhang took a deep breath and responded to the matter.

The next day, October 14, the troops of the royal division arrived in the vicinity of the Dune Palace one after another.

On October 16, Zhao Cheng, the king of Anping, Li Dui, Niu Jian, Li Jian, Zhao Yuan, and others led their armies to the area around the Dune Palace, and surrounded Gongzizhang's army with the entire Dune Palace.

In the early morning of October 17, Meng Zhong stood on the wall of the Dune Palace, looking out at the joint camp of the royal division that was being built in the distance.

I still remember that some time ago, they also surrounded the city in Handan like this, but I didn't expect that just a few days later, it was the turn of the king to surround them in turn.

"Do you think Gongzizhang can stay until winter?"

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

Meng Zhong turned his head to take a look, only to find that it was his clan uncle, who was also the young sect leader of the Meng clan, Meng Hu, who led Meng Hu and Meng Sui to this side.

"It's hard to say."

Meng Zhong shook his head and said: "In fact, according to my observation, the Wang division on the opposite side does not have many troops, probably only more than 40,000 foot soldiers, plus Niu Qian's nearly 10,000 cavalry, Gongzi Zhang still has nearly 20,000 troops at present, as long as he takes the stubborn defense, it may not be impossible to defend until the winter...... Not to mention that it is already late October, and the weather is getting colder and colder, and it may snowfall heavily in a few days, but ...... I'm afraid that Wang Shi's side also thought of the prestige of Master Zhao's father in the Qin and Song dynasties, and desperately attacked the Dune Palace......"

"I just had a chat with Pang Xuan."

Standing beside Meng Zhong, Meng Ju shook his head and said, "Pang Xuan also said that Master Zhao is too conceited, if he is willing to listen to your opinion early, how can he get to this point today?" ”

"What are you talking about until now?"

"No, I have to say!"

Interrupting Meng Zhong's words, Meng Yu glanced at Meng Zhong, lowered his voice and said, "Uncle Wei just wants to tell you that you have done your best to Lord Zhao's father, if you end up being inviolable...... We simply returned to the Song Kingdom. Don't forget, Mengyi and our relatives are waiting for us to return safe and sound. ”

"Hmm......"

With a long breath, Meng Zhong nodded rather wistfully.