Is Lian Po brave?

Judging from his record of "beheading one person and seriously injuring another" on the night of his night attack on Hu Qian and Peng Zhen's second general, Meng Zhong must admit that this Zhao general is indeed brave, perhaps even more courageous than his late uncle Meng Qing, and may even be the most powerful general Meng Zhong has encountered so far.

Although Meng Zhong never dared to neglect the training of his own martial arts on weekdays, with his sixteen-year-old body, it was probably unrealistic to defeat such a warrior in the prime of life.

But even so, he was not alarmed in his heart, after all, he also brought some soldiers this time, although the number was not large, a total of seven chariots, in addition to removing himself and the soldiers who drove the chariots, in fact, there were only fourteen Xinwei soldiers with crossbow machines, but in the face of Lian Po who was single-handed, fourteen crossbow machines were more than enough, as long as they were not deceived by Lian Po with horsemanship, so that the fourteen crossbowmen could shoot empty.

Therefore, when he saw Lian Po rushing alone on horseback, Meng Zhong first instructed the soldiers around him: "Don't worry, wait until he gets closer before shooting." ”

A close-range crossbow attack, especially when a dozen crossbow machines are aiming, is almost impossible to miss, and it is impossible for anyone to survive, unless Lian Po's eyesight and reaction on the opposite side are beyond ordinary people, and a single sword can cut down more than a dozen crossbow arrows.

Truth be told, it's not very likely.

At this time, Na Lian Po had already slapped his horse and rushed into a range of only about fifty zhang away from Meng Zhong and the others, at this distance, with the speed of Lian Po's sprint, he might be able to kill Meng Zhong in just a few blinks of an eye.

Therefore, Meng Zhong also raised his hands and prepared to order the soldiers around him to shoot Lian Po.

Obviously, Lian Po also noticed Meng Zhong's actions, and suddenly reined in the horse's reins, causing the war horse to turn around in place a few times, so as to relieve the momentum brought by the war horse's gallop.

"Very good riding."

Seeing Lian Po simply stop the war horse, Meng Zhong's eyes lit up and he praised with a smile.

"You're also very good, and the soldiers around you."

Lian Po looked at Meng Zhong deeply from a distance and praised pointedly.

It is undeniable that Lian Po did have the intention to kill Meng Zhong, after all, judging from the rumors he heard, he also felt that the kid opposite might be a threat, and if he could eradicate it as soon as possible, he would naturally not let it go.

Don't look at him breaking in alone, it seems to be arrogant and conceited, but in fact, this is just a manifestation of Lian Po's confidence in himself - the same is true on the night he killed Hu Qian and seriously injured Peng Zhen.

However, what Lian Po didn't expect was that Meng Zhong was so calm when he saw him rushing towards him.

And the soldiers with crossbow machines around him can even calm down at this distance.

I have to say that if these dozen soldiers had just fired crossbow arrows in a panic, he would definitely take the opportunity to slap his horse and cut off the head of Meng Zhong at this moment.

But for now......

Looking at the dozen or so Xinwei soldiers with crossbow machines twenty or thirty zhang away, Lian Po frowned and weighed for a moment, but finally didn't dare to get too close.

He deliberately provoked Meng Zhong and said, "Why don't you order archery?" At this distance, the soldiers around you may be able to shoot Lian to death. ”

Of course, Meng Zhong could guess Lian Po's thoughts, and said with a smile when he heard the words: "Only if you don't hang but don't send it, can you have deterrence, if you can't control your desires, you will inevitably cause trouble...... What's more, there is no grievance with Lian Sima in the next, and this time he is just here to spy on the reality of your camp, so why take risks? ”

After saying that, he caught a glimpse of the more than 100 soldiers under Lian Po's command rushing closer, so he ordered the soldiers in the car to turn the chariot around, apparently preparing to retreat.

Seeing that Meng Zhong was preparing to evacuate, Lian Po was slightly anxious, and said again: "I didn't expect Meng Zhong of the Xinwei Army to be such a cowardly boy!" ”

Hearing this, Meng Hu, who was driving the chariot for Meng Zhong, frowned and said, "Is this guy provoking?" ”

"Maybe he doesn't want me to leave just yet, so that he can find an opportunity to kill you and me......"

Meng Zhong didn't care about Lian Po's provocation, and after explaining a few words to Meng Hu, he smiled politely at Lian Po in a loud voice: "After all, it's a matter of life, it's better to be cautious." …… Lian Sima, if there is nothing else, I will leave first. ”

"Wait!"

Lian Po immediately called out to Meng Zhong, and at the same time, he also ordered the more than 100 soldiers who were chasing behind him to stand by.

Then, he looked at Meng Zhong and asked, "Lian heard that the foot is the guard Sima next to Lord Zhao's father, why do you want to assist Gongzi Zhang and other traitors?" ”

As soon as he heard this, Meng Zhong knew that Lian Po did not know some of the truth.

If it were someone else, I am afraid that at this time, he might have made an explanation that "Gongzi Zhang held Master Zhao hostage, so he had to obey his orders", but Meng Zhong did not agree with this excuse in his heart, he still hoped that Master Zhao would wake up and personally come forward to recognize Gongzi Zhang and give him the righteousness of raising troops, so he naturally would not fall into the trap in this matter.

So he said calmly: "Gongzi Zhang holds the order of Master Zhao's father, and he gives me an order, so I naturally have to obey it." ”

"But as far as Lian knows, Gongzizhang is holding Zhao's father hostage......"

"Really? I have not heard of such rumors. ”

“……”

After staring at Meng Zhong, who was calm for a while, Lian Po suddenly laughed and said: "Originally, I saw that you were young, and I wanted to persuade you to abandon evil and follow good, and lead the army to surrender, but according to the current situation, I am afraid that you have not been bought by Gongzizhang...... "After that, his face was straight, and he said coldly: "Gongzizhang plotted against him and was doomed to defeat, if you know each other, you will lead the army to surrender as soon as possible, otherwise, you will not be far from death!" ”

As he spoke, he pointed the sword in his hand at Meng Zhong.

"This guy is so hateful!"

Meng Hu was furious when he saw this, and bluffed Meng Zhong hurriedly dissuaded him: "This Lian Po is very brave in martial arts, you and I are not opponents, don't be impulsive." ”

It turned out that Meng Zhong was too worried, and he saw Meng Hu laugh in a low voice: "Do you think I will rush over and fight him angrily because of his few provocations?" That's death for nothing! I'm not that stupid! ”

After that, Meng Hu turned his head to look at Lian Po again, looked at the single and majestic latter, and muttered with envy: "It's really majestic, even if you are alone, you are not afraid...... What a warrior! ”

Seeing that Meng Hu was not impulsive, Meng Zhong breathed a sigh of relief, and then said with a smile: "What Lian Sima said just now is very reasonable, but I have other ideas, after all, the outcome of this battle is still unknown. ”

"Oh?"

Listening to Meng Zhong's words, Lian Po raised his eyebrows, and said with a chuckle: "Do you mean that the brave and unscrupulous Gongzi Zhang can defeat our army, or do you Meng Zhong have the confidence to defeat our army?" ”

"If you don't try, who knows?" Meng Zhong replied with a smile.

Although he also knew that the current situation on Gongzizhang's side was very difficult and would become more and more difficult, of course, he couldn't lose to the other party in terms of momentum.

“……”

Lian Po looked at Meng Zhong deeply, and he suddenly sneered: "Boy, don't underestimate the people of the world, I heard that you are good at leading the army to sneak attack, and once led hundreds of soldiers to attack the camp of tens of thousands of Qi troops at night, but my man in Jinyang is not as weak as the soldiers of Qi State, if you dare to come to attack the camp, Lian Mou will definitely make you have no return!" …… If you don't believe me, give it a try! ”

『……』

Looking at Lian Po, who was sneering in the distance, Meng Zhong was a little surprised.

In fact, in all fairness, he also felt that he had attacked the camp of tens of thousands of Qi troops at night with 500 people, which was actually too lucky, so he never mentioned this achievement to others, but for some reason, others always mentioned this incident, as if he Meng Zhong would only attack the military camp at night with one move.

But......

"If the other side really thinks so, then I can do everything I can and find a way to thwart the spirit of the other side......

A thought suddenly flashed in his heart, and Meng Zhong suddenly had an idea.

I saw him nodding and said to Lian Po with a smile: "As Lian Sima wishes, in a few days, let's just try to see it." …… Then I will take my leave, Lian Sima. ”

With that, he hugged his fist towards Lian Po, and immediately instructed Meng Hu and the soldiers to carefully drive the chariot and leave.

Looking at the back of Meng Zhong and the others leaving, Lian Po was stunned.

"Sima."

Some of his soldiers came up and asked, "Don't you chase after you?" ”

Lian Po rolled his eyes and glanced at the soldier angrily: "Can you catch up with the opponent's chariot?" ”

Unexpectedly, the soldier nodded and said straightforwardly: "If Sima orders me to catch up, I can catch up." ”

"If you catch up, the other party will give you a crossbow, won't you die in vain? Okay, anyway, the order for me and others is to drive the other party away, so as long as Meng Zhong leaves, we can go back to the camp and die. ”

Speaking of this, Lian Po frowned and looked at the back of Meng Zhong and the others leaving.

"That kid...... Did he not want to be relented, so he let go of the cruel words before leaving, or did he really have this thought?"

Frowning and thinking for a moment, Lian Po licked his lips, and a few hints of interest flashed in his eyes.

"I was actually underestimated, heh, interesting."

As he spoke, he put the sword in his hand back into the scabbard, the expression on his face became much more serious, looked at the back of Meng Zhong and the others leaving, and whispered, "If you have the guts, you can come." ”

After saying that, he glanced around at the soldiers beside him, waved his hand and shouted, "Go back to the camp!" ”

"Whoa!"

After a while, Lian Po returned to the camp and surrendered to Fengyangjun Li Dui and Yangwenjun Zhao Bao, and by the way, confessed to Li Dui that he had no chance to kill Meng Zhong.

Of course, Li Dui didn't blame him, after all, Li Dui also saw the situation at that time, it was not Lian Po's relationship, but that Meng Zhong was too cautious, if Lian Po continued to step forward recklessly, he might be shot by the soldiers around Meng Zhong.

Compared with this, Li Dui cared more about Meng Zhong's "cruel words" before leaving.

He asked Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao in confusion: "That kid, do you really dare to attack our camp?" ”

"I can't say."

Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao shook his head and said: "Although Meng Zhong's kid is a Taoist disciple, he has been familiar with the art of war since he was a child, and it is difficult for me to judge. ”

Li Dui nodded slightly, and then snorted lightly: "The art of war says, those who are on the battlefield first and wait for the enemy, and those who are on the battlefield and tend to fight later." Our army held Quliang and waited for work to meet the rebels of Gongzizhang, and had a seven-point chance of victory; As long as the rebels are held back here for three months and dragged until winter, they will get the remaining three points. Gongzizhang's defeat has been decided, how can Meng Zhong reverse the victory or defeat with his own strength? Just defend carefully. ”

Yang Wenjun and Zhao Bao nodded when they heard this.

He also agreed with Li Dui's judgment: Gongzizhang had missed his best opportunity to steal the country, although he still had a large army under his command, but the rebels no longer had a righteous name, and there was no support from the rich cities, and the longer it dragged on, the greater the advantage of the royal division.

Therefore, just defend carefully and wait for the rebels to collapse themselves.

In Zhao Bao's opinion, the only thing worth worrying about at present is the attitude of Master Zhao - if Master Zhao comes forward to support Gongzi Zhang, gives the latter a title, and uses his own prestige to transfer the rest of the domestic army, it will be troublesome.

As for Meng Zhong, as long as he was careful on his side and didn't give the latter a chance to sneak attack, there would be no big trouble.

I have to say that, just like Meng Zhong was puzzled, although Li Dui and Zhao Bao both knew that Meng Zhong was familiar with the art of war, what they cared about the most was the latter's night attack, as if Meng Zhong would only use this trick.

And when Fengyangjun Li Dui and Yangwenjun Zhao Bao summoned their respective generals and instructed them to beware of the night attack of Meng Zhong's army in recent days, Meng Zhong had already returned to his army's station in a chariot.

After learning that Meng Zhong had returned to the army, Le Yi, who was commanding the soldiers to build the camp, handed over the things in his hand to Meng Sui, and immediately came to Meng Zhong and asked the latter: "How is the situation over there in Quliang?" ”

Hearing this, before Meng Zhong could speak, he saw Meng Hu and said quite exaggeratedly: "I almost died there." ”

"What?" Le Yi was shocked when he heard this.

"Alright, you can go back and rest first." Meng Zhong sent Meng Hu away, and immediately explained to Le Yi: "I just happened to bump into that Xing Sima named Lian Po, who seemed to be waiting for an opportunity to kill me with all kinds of actions at that time, but I didn't let him succeed and evacuated very familiarly." ”

The last sentence was said in a joking tone, and Le Yi suddenly realized that there was a slight smile on his face.

Immediately, Meng Zhong's expression straightened up for a long time, only to see him frown and say: "I only saw the military camps of Fengyangjun Li Dui and Yangwenjun Zhao Bao, these two military camps are located on the northeast and east sides of Quliangyi, and the two are close to each other. Generally speaking, the eastern side of Quliangyi is more heavily defended, and the western side is more relaxed......"

"It's not unexpected." Le Yi nodded and said, "After all, Gongzizhang's army came from the east of Quliangyi......"

As he spoke, he seemed to think of something, and said to Meng Zhong again: "By the way, when you went to spy on the opposite barracks, the soldiers we sent to Gongzizhang came back......

The soldiers he was talking about, that is, a team of soldiers sent to Gongzizhang after Meng Zhong led the army to arrive here, probably told Gongzizhang that he Mengzhong led the army to be stationed in this position, so that Gongzizhang had a rough idea in his heart, and there was nothing else important.

"Oh?" Hearing this, Meng Zhong asked, "Is there any news from Gongzizhang?" ”

"Hmm." Le Yi nodded and said: "Gongzi Zhang ordered those soldiers to bring you and me, saying that he was going to attack Quliangyi on a large scale in the next two days and try to take this city, but he didn't ask me to help, but just let us wait for the opportunity to move." ”

"Assault?"

Meng Zhong frowned.

After all, judging from the situation he spied today, several military camps on Wang Shi's side were very well guarded, and more importantly, many antlers and other defensive facilities had been prepared in advance.

However, Le Yi has a different view on this.

"The opposite side will not choose to defend the camp to the death, and the initial battle will not be closed, which will seriously hit the morale of the army, since Gongzizhang has decided to attack, the opposite side will definitely go out of the camp to fight!" Speaking of this, Le Yi lowered his voice slightly: "You and I just took advantage of this battle to explore the strength of the other side first." ”

Meng Zhong nodded slightly.

At this time, the Wang Shi who were on the opposite side, Meng Zhong and Le Yi only knew more about the army under the command of Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao and Zuo Sima Zhao Ben, as for the army under the command of Anpingjun Zhao Cheng and Fengyangjun Li Dui, they did not know what it was, they only knew that these two armies were stationed in "Zhongmu" to guard against the Wei State, and they did not know anything about the rest.

First take advantage of the war on Gongzizhang's side to explore the foundation of Zhao Chengjun and Li Duijun, which is not impossible.

However, before that, Meng Zhong and Le Yi discussed the matter of "attacking the grain road".

"Attacking the grain transport team of Zhao Cheng, Li Dui, and Zhao Bao?"

I have to say that after hearing Meng Zhong's plan, even Le Yi's eyes lit up.

After all, food is the most critical material for the army, and an army can lack horses and weapons, but it must not lack food, otherwise, the soldiers in the army will collapse by themselves, and they will flee at least and riot at worst, which can be described as a very serious matter.

But the problem is that the strategy of attacking the grain route is not easy to implement.

Meng Zhong explained: "According to my feeling of spying on the camp opposite today, I feel that the opposite side will focus more on the 'east' and relatively neglect the 'west'......

"Hmm......"

Le Yi frowned and thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "It's indeed a good way." The question is, who to send? ”

Meng Zhong said: "Meng Sui is the main and Wu Ying is the auxiliary, how about it?" ”

In fact, among the people around Meng Zhong, Meng Sui is indeed a good candidate, calm and cautious, otherwise, Meng Zhong would not have appointed Meng Sui as Zuo Sima to take charge of the actual affairs of the army with Le Yi.

But Le Yi pondered for a while, but raised an objection: "It's better for me to go, I'll take Wu Ying to be in charge, and Meng Sui will stay to assist you." ”

Obviously, considering that it is very dangerous to attack the other party's grain and grass behind enemy lines, Le Yi is still a little worried, for fear that Meng Sui will make a mistake in judgment when the time comes, and not only bury himself but also bury the others who followed him.

As for Meng Zhong's side, Le Yi was not worried, after all, in his opinion, Meng Zhong's strategy and use of troops were better than him.

"You're going?"

"What? I'm also a Zosima, and of course I'll go for this kind of thing. ”

Seeing Le Yi's resolute attitude, Meng Zhong hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give you five hundred Xinwei Army?" ”

"It's too much." Le Yi shook his head and said: "Three hundred guards are enough, but too many soldiers are easy to expose their whereabouts." However, you can hand over all the chariots in the army to me, and in addition, you need 300 crossbows and 3,000 crossbows. ”

"Okay, you hand over this to Xiang Yi."

"Well, I'll hand over the affairs of the generals to Meng Sui by the way."

After nightfall that night, Le Yi and Wu Ying led 300 Xinwei soldiers and quietly left the camp that had not yet been completed.

When Le Yi and Wu Ying left, Meng Zhong personally went to see them off, and instructed the two of them: "If you can't do anything, give up immediately, don't take risks." ”

Le Yi and Wu Ying nodded, and left with three hundred Xinwei soldiers.

The next day, that is, on August 20, Gongzizhang took the three generals Wei Yuan, Tian Huang, and Zhai Dan, and personally led an army of 30,000 towards Quliangyi.

Since Meng Zhong received the relevant news yesterday, he also took Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu and others, led 700 Xinwei troops and 3,000 county soldiers to Quliangyi, leaving Meng Sui, Le Jin, Le Xu, Xiang Yi and others and 2,000 county soldiers to defend the camp.

Because of this, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu also asked Meng Zhong with great interest: "Ah Zhong, look at this posture, are we going to fight?" ”

However, Meng Zhong poured a basin of cold water on the three of them: "Leading the troops is just to boost the momentum of Gongzi Zhang." ”

About two hours later, Gongzizhang's army and the army led by Meng Zhong arrived in the Quliang area one after another.

At this time, Wang Shi had already learned the news, just like Le Yi judged, although Wang Shi had the intention of dragging the rebels to death, he did not intend to destroy himself at the beginning of the battle, and resolutely led the army out of the camp to fight.

The strength of the Guanwang division is probably more than 10,000 Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui is more than 10,000, Yangwenjun Zhao Bao is more than 5,000, plus some fragmentary soldiers and horses, the total strength is probably in the early 30,000s, which is not much different from the strength of Gongzizhang's side.

After the confrontation between the two armies, the first thing was to scold each other.

Zhao Cheng, Li Dui, and Zhao Bao scolded Gongzi Zhang for committing crimes and raising troops to make trouble, while Gongzi Zhang accused Zhao Cheng, Li Dui, Zhao Bao and others of being the country's cancer, and claimed to have come to crusade against the three on the orders of Zhao's master's father.

After they scolded each other, the soldiers on both sides had also lined up in formation, so a war of 60,000 people slowly unfolded on the flat land around Quliangyi.

In this war, Meng Zhong stayed on the sidelines and watched from beginning to end.

The only contribution of him and his nearly 4,000 troops was to contain Zhao Bao's deputy general Zhao Ben and about 4,000 or 5,000 troops under his command, so that the latter did not dare to act rashly.

But on the other hand, it was precisely because of Zhao Ben that Meng Zhong could not see the opportunity to support Gongzizhang.

But then again, Gongzizhang didn't need Meng Zhong's help, because from beginning to end, the rebels on Gongzizhang's side had the upper hand, but the flanks suffered losses, and it seemed that they were killed by Lian Po, a fierce general under Li Dui, and pulled back a game.

Seeing this scene, Meng Hu said disapprovingly: "The army on the other side is nothing more than that, I thought that the army under the command of Zhao Cheng and Li Dui would be stronger." ”

Meng Zhong smiled slightly.

In his opinion, Zhao Chengjun and Li Duijun's performance did not seem to be good, but that was because they were facing Gongzizhang's army, and Gongzizhang's army was one of the main forces of Zhao's attack on Zhongshan.

Under this standard, even the Xinwei army he personally trained was barely strong, let alone the other armies of the Zhao State.

But this does not mean that the strength of the army under Gongzi Zhang is weak, and in the same way, it does not mean that Zhao Chengjun and Li Duijun, who can be equal to Zhao Zhangjun, are weak, after all, they are both standing armies of Zhao State.

This confrontation lasted for about two hours, and the two sides invested as many as 40,000 troops, and in the end, the two sides ended in a draw, and Gongzizhang led the army to retreat temporarily, probably intending to rest for two days to regroup morale and attack again.

And Wang Shi's side also quickly withdrew into the camp.

"Sure enough, Gongzizhang wants to capture Quliang by storming, but it's not so easy......

Thinking of this, he instructed Meng Hu and the others: "Let's go, go back to the camp." ”

Meng Hu was shocked when he heard this: "Let's come out once, and this is the end?" ”

"The end?"

Meng Zhong chuckled and said, "For Gongzizhang, the offensive is over for the time being, but for our army, it has just begun......"

After saying that, he glanced at the camps in Quliangyi, and his expression immediately became correct.

"Next, it will be our army that will take the offensive ......"