"PS: It's still a cough, sore throat, fever, and uncomfortable, so hurry up and comfort the author with a ticket."

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Gaotangyi, named after the ancient Gaotang Kingdom, was also a vassal state canonized by the Zhou royal family, but it was later annexed by the Qi State and became one of the "five capitals" of the Qi State.

At the beginning of February, the war of "Zhao, Yan, and Song Kingdoms Invaded Qi" broke out, and Zhao's father resolutely decided to attack Qi despite the opposition of Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui, Yangwenjun Zhao Bao and others, and retaliated against Qi for "breaking the covenant" and "falling into the well".

As the guard army of Lord Zhao's father, Meng Zhong led the Xin Guard army to follow Lord Zhao's father to the sand dunes.

acted with Lord Zhao's father, as well as Anyang Jun Zhao Zhang.

On February 11, Zhao's father arrived at the sand dunes and summoned the generals Zhao Yuan, Niu Qian, Zhao Xi, Xu Jun and other generals who were stationed in the sand dunes to discuss the specific strategy of attacking the Qi State.

From the sand dunes to the southeast, cross the "Qing River", that is, to the territory of the Qi State, in this area of the Qi State has two cities, namely Gaotang Yi and Pingyuan Yi.

According to what Master Zhao said in the meeting, the State of Qi had already stationed heavy troops in Gaotangyi and Pingyuanyi to strictly guard the defensive line.

After all, both cities were located north of the Great River (Yellow River), and if they were captured by Zhao, Zhao's army would be able to directly attack the hinterland of Qi, and even threaten the capital of Qi, Linzi.

After discussion, Zhao's father ordered Zhao Zhang, the king of Anyang, and the general "Zhao Xi" to attack Pingyuanyi, while Zhao's father's side ordered Zhao Yuan to lead the left army and Xu Jun to lead the right army to attack Gaotangyi.

As for the Zhao general "Niu Qian", since the army under his command was all cavalry, which was not conducive to the siege of the city, Zhao's father authorized Niu Jian to act cheaply.

At first, Meng Zhong thought that Zhao's father authorized Niu Jian to "act cheaply", that is, let the latter assist Zhao's two-way army, until a few days later, when Meng Zhong learned the news that "Zhao's cavalry had entered Gaotangyi", he suddenly realized.

Yes, Zhao's father authorized Zhao to "act cheaply" with Niu Qian, that is, to ask the latter to wait for an opportunity to harass Gaotang and Pingyuan, kill people and set fires, drive out the people of Qi in Yidi, and make Gaotang and Pingyuan become isolated cities, so that Zhao's army can attack the city in the future.

Around February 20, Meng Zhong led the Xinwei army and followed the Zhao army led by Zhao's master father to reach the territory of Gaotang.

Meng Zhong saw with his own eyes that several townships around Gaotang City had been harassed and attacked by the cavalry under the command of Zhao General Niu Qian, and almost all the civilians of Qi in the area had fled, and from time to time you could see the corpses of civilians of Qi State, both men and women.

This made Meng Zhong can't help but think back to his experience on the battlefield of Song Teng - I remember that at that time, he was also riding in a chariot and saw a messy land, but at that time he was in Teng, and now he is in Qi.

If it is said that the war of the Song State against the Teng State at that time was unjust, then what about the Zhao State against the Qi State today?

Although the reason for Lord Zhao's attack on Qi was to retaliate against Qi for "breaking the covenant" and "falling into the well", it cannot be denied that the first victims of this battle were the civilians of Qi State.

Moreover, in order to facilitate the attack on Gaotang City, they slaughtered and set fire to the towns around Gaotang City in advance to drive away the Qi people living in the local area.

There is no righteousness or injustice in war, and Meng Zhong has personally understood this truth.

But what made him a little helpless was that whether it was Song Guohuateng or Zhao Guolian Song Huaqi, he, as a Song person, was a party with vested interests, which made him not know how to look at the whole thing objectively.

I have to say that witnessing the process of Zhao Guo's soldiers attacking Gaotang with his own eyes, just like the soldiers of the Song State, Zhao's soldiers will also slaughter the civilians of Qi State, and no one will think that this is a wrong thing.

Seeing that there were too many casualties among the civilians of the Qi State, Meng Zhong said euphemistically to Lord Zhao's father: "The Zhao army has killed too much, which is not conducive to the future governance of the Tang Dynasty by the Zhao State. ”

Unexpectedly, Master Zhao chuckled and said, "If you don't capture Gaotang first, how can you talk about governance?" ”

After that, he smiled and said, "Meng Zhong, I know what you mean. …… You probably think that civilians are innocent in the war between the two countries, but in fact, once the war starts, no one is innocent. …… If Niu Jian did not lead the cavalry to expel the Qi people in the township in advance, it was difficult to guarantee that these people would not become an obstacle to prevent my Zhao soldiers from attacking the Qi State in the future. Think about the 'innocent' people of Teng State, didn't they eventually become an obstacle to the Song army? ”

"Teng Guo?"

Meng Zhong looked at Master Zhao with a surprised expression, he didn't expect Master Zhao to take the people of Teng Country as an example.

As if he had guessed Meng Zhong's thoughts, Master Zhao raised his head and glanced at Gaotang City in the distance, and said lightly: "In this world, how can there be so many righteous or unrighteous wars, the purpose is just to fight for land, the 'Battle of Benevolence and Righteousness' is just a foolish rhetoric, including me, I went to crusade against it with the "Qi State reneging on the Covenant", in the final analysis, it was just to carve up the Qi State with the Yan and Song ......."

He turned his head to look at Meng Zhong and said earnestly, "You are a great general, but first, you have to throw away the childish thoughts in your heart. Especially in a war where the survival of a nation is at stake, what do you think there will really be 'civilians' who are innocent? ”

“……”

Master Zhao's words touched Meng Zhong deeply.

On the same day, when the army led by Zhao's father was stationed about twenty miles northwest of Gaotang City, Gaotangcheng sent an envoy to ask why Zhao's army invaded his Qi country for no reason.

Master Zhao did not talk nonsense with this envoy, and because of this envoy's disrespectful attitude, he ordered the soldiers to beat the envoy with a stick, and then drove him out of the barracks.

The next day, Gao Tang City sent a messenger again.

It may be that he learned about the experience of the previous envoy, and when this envoy invited Master Zhao's father, his attitude was obviously much more submissive, and he could simply describe it in a low voice.

This person said that Master Zhao's father led an army to attack Qi for no reason, and there must be some misunderstanding in this - if it is wrong in his Qi country, please allow him to report to Linzi first, and then Linzi will send someone to negotiate peace with Lord Zhao.

However, even though the Qi envoy's attitude was very deferential, Master Zhao still did not change his mind and still ordered to attack Gao Tang.

On February 28, Zhao's army launched its first offensive against Gaotang City.

In this siege battle, the Zhao army invested a total of about 60,000 soldiers, which lasted for three hours in total, and attacked the walls of Gaotang City five times, but due to the stubborn resistance of the Qi army in Gaotang City, the Zhao army finally failed to break through the city.

Around the time of the event, Master Zhao's father ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops.

Meng Zhong was very surprised by this, because there were still more than two hours before dusk at this time, and there was still the possibility of capturing Gaotang City.

After listening to Meng Zhong's confusion, Master Zhao said with a smile: "When I came today, my Zhao army was full of energy, but after nearly three hours of hard fighting, I still failed to capture the city; At present, the morale of my Sergeant Zhao has plummeted, and his energy is not as good as at the beginning, even if he attacks for two more hours, will he be able to break through Gaotang? …… It is better to withdraw our troops before there are huge casualties, stay for two days, and wait for the soldiers to regain their strength again, and then capture Gaotang in one go! ”

This opinion, even for people like Meng Zhong who have read a lot of military books, feel that the mouth is suddenly opened.

I have to say that Master Zhao, who has been in Rong Ma for half his life, has a grasp of the battle situation, which is far from being comparable to Meng Zhong, who has read several art of war.

It can also be said that Meng Zhong was lucky, during the Zhao army's attack on Gaotang City, Meng Zhong, as a guard beside Zhao's father, could hear Zhao's father's comments on the enemy and the situation from time to time, for example, in the case of the Qi army choosing to defend the city, how the Zhao army should adopt strategies, and how the Qi army should resolve it, etc.

These valuable experiences have benefited Meng Zhong a lot.

On the fourth day of the first month of March, when Zhao's father was preparing to attack Gaotang City for the second time, an envoy from Qi from Linzi came to Zhao's military camp and asked to see Zhao's father.

The origin of this envoy of Qi is not simple, he is the guest secretary of Xue Gongtianwen, the minister of Qi, and the younger brother of the famous lobbyist Su Qin, "Su Dai".

At that time, Su Qin initially decided to go to Qin to show his ambitions, but because Qin had just executed Shang Ying at that time, and King Wu of Qin hated lobbyists, Su Qin left Qin and came to Zhao, but because Zhao Cheng and Li Dui did not like Su Qin, Su Qin finally left from Zhao and came to Yan during the "Yan Wenhou" period, and was reused by Yan Wenhou.

Marquis Wen of Yan sent Su Qin as an envoy to Zhao in the hope of improving relations between Zhao and Yan, and only then did Su Qin persuade Marquis Su of Zhao to unite the states against Qin.

During the period when Su Qin was heavily used in Yan Kingdom, his younger brothers Su Dai, Su Li and others also came to settle in Yan Kingdom.

Then Yan Wenhou passed away, and it was passed on to King Yan Yi, and King Yan Yi passed away and passed on to King Yan - that is, because he wanted to cede the throne to the prime minister of the country, there was a civil strife in the Yan State, and the Yan State was almost destroyed by the Qi State.

Before the death of King Yan Yi, Su Qin, Su Dai and others went to Qi as envoys of Yan State, and settled in Qi State thereafter.

It is worth mentioning that Su Dai played an extremely key role in the "internal strife of the son" in the Yan Kingdom, and it was he who persuaded the king of Yan to trust the minister of the country, Zizhi, and even handed over all the major national affairs to the latter.

The reason for this is that Su Dai and Yan Guoguo had a marriage. [PS: One said that Su Qin and his son had a marriage. 】

After that, Su Dai also represented the State of Qi as an envoy to the State of Wei, the State of Chu, and even the State of Song, and was a more famous columnist in the world.

For such a character, even if it is Lord Zhao's father, he must be given corresponding respect.

A moment later, with the permission of Master Zhao's father, Su Dai, dressed in a gorgeous costume, came to Zhao Jun's tent.

According to Meng Zhong's visual observation, this Su Dai was about forty years old.

After inviting Su Dai to sit in the tent, Zhao's father instructed his subordinates to prepare wine and food to entertain Su Dai, after all, Su Dai had also sent Zhao many times, and Zhao's father was no stranger to him.

After three rounds of drinking, Master Zhao asked with a smile: "Mr. Su came to see me today, I don't know what is important?" ”

Master Zhao asked knowingly. Su Dai said with a smile, immediately straightened his expression, and said, "I came here to solve the monstrous disaster of Zhao Guo. ”

Hearing this, Master Zhao and Meng Zhong raised their eyebrows in unison.

It's just because Su Dai's "alarmist" trick has long been used by lobbyists in this world.