Just as Que Guanzi guessed, Master Zhao held a chess piece in his hand and landed on the chessboard, and said with a chuckle: "I understand what you mean, but I don't need it for the time being." ”

Maybe Meng Zhong didn't know as much about Master Zhao as he did about Bird Guanzi, but Meng Zhong also knew more or less what Master Zhao was afraid of.

What scruples?

It's nothing more than a scruple about fame!

What else could it be?

Shaking his head, Meng Zhong persuaded again: "Master Zhao, although Gongzi Zhang has taken the lead right now, Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui and others have no chance to turn the tables. If you refuse to come forward, you will be robbed of the opportunity by An Pingjun and Fengyang Jun, and once Gongzi Zhang is indeed charged with "holding the master father hostage and plotting rebellion", the army of Zhao will respond to the call of An Pingjun and others in order to rescue you and rescue Zhao Jun. At that time, Gongzizhang will become the target of everyone, and An Pingjun, Fengyangjun and others will be able to occupy the righteousness......

"Alright."

Master Zhao interrupted Meng Zhong's words with a wave of his hand, and said with a smile: "When Zhao Cheng and Li Dui's soldiers and horses arrived, Zhao Zhang would probably have already captured Zhao He, Xin Qi, Zhao Bao and others, what else can Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others do at that time?" ”

"Lord Zhao's Father......"

"Go back and rest, I have a claim."

......Seeing that Master Zhao refused to listen to his advice, Meng Zhong was really helpless, so he had no choice but to leave with Le Yi.

When he walked out of the main hall of the east hall, Meng Zhong let out a long sigh.

Seeing this, Le Yi shook his head and persuaded in a low voice: "I thought that Master Zhao was too conceited, and I never thought it would come to this point......

Even if he excludes his friendship with Meng Zhong, Le Yi also feels that Meng Zhong's suggestion is very reasonable, as long as Master Zhao is willing to take the slightest risk of losing his reputation and take the suggestion put forward by Meng Zhong, he can completely strangle the only line of reversal of Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui and others in the cradle.

It's a pity that Master Zhao cares too much about his reputation.

"Now, we can only pray that Wei Yuan and others can catch Zhao Wang He and others as soon as possible, so that Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others will lose the opportunity to occupy the 'Great Righteousness', otherwise, I am afraid that more Zhao troops will be involved."

"......" Meng Zhong was silent.

After returning to the camp, Meng Zhong sent Meng Sui to Gaotangyi, preparing to briefly tell Meng Hu, who was serving as a general under Xu Jun at this time, about the process of the Dune Incident, as for the purpose, he naturally hoped that Meng Jun would find a way to dissuade Xu Jun from participating in this matter.

Because in Meng Zhong's view, once Zhao Xi learns of the Dune Incident, he will definitely lead the army to come to support, if Zhao Xi says that Xu Jun is moved, then the situation will be very bad, after all, Zhao Xi and Xu Jun each have an army under their command, if the two of them are in one place, it is a force of 20,000 people, only with Han Gu's only 5,000 troops, how can they stop those 20,000 troops?

I have to say that there is no way to let Meng Yu influence Xu Jun, who made Master Zhao refuse to follow Meng Zhong's advice? ——If Zhao's father is willing to stand up for Gongzi Zhang's name and directly order Zhao Xi and Xu Jun not to leave the plains and Gaotang without authorization, then as long as Zhao Xi dares to leave his post without permission and lead the army to help, Xu Jun will lead the army to stop Zhao Xi.

After all, without receiving Zhao Wanghe's order, Xu Jun would naturally obey Zhao's father, even if he was skeptical about this matter.

But unfortunately, Master Zhao did not listen to Meng Zhong's advice.

In the next two days, Meng Zhong, Le Yi and the Xinwei army under the command of the two were stationed in the southern suburbs of the Dune Palace, always paying attention to the progress of Gongzi Zhang's general Wei Yuan to search for Zhao Wang and others.

As far as they knew, Wei Yuan sent a total of 6,000 soldiers into Jize to search for clues about Zhao Wang He and others, and after paying the price of more than 100 soldiers who were unfortunately swallowed up by the mire of Ji Ze, these soldiers finally found the traces of Zhao Wang He - Zhao Wang He and the army protecting him were stationed on a hill in Jize territory.

On the sixth day of the eighth month, that is, the third day of the Dune Incident, the messenger sent by Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao on the day of the incident finally arrived in Handan and sent the news to Zhao Ben, Zhao Bao's deputy general stationed in Handan at this moment.

"Childe Zhang really rebelled?"

When Zhao Ben learned the news, he was shocked, and hurriedly sent someone to invite Anpingjun Zhao Cheng and Fengyangjun Li Dui, and told the latter two of Zhao Bao's information one by one.

After learning the bad news, Anping Jun Zhao Cheng was also very panicked, and he exclaimed: "Isn't there Feiyi around you?" How can you let Gongzizhang succeed? ”

Zhao Ben explained: "According to the news sent by Yang Wenjun, Gongzi Zhang kidnapped Master Zhao's father and used Master Zhao's edict to lure Jun Shang and Fei Xiang to go to the East Hall to discuss matters. Speaking of this, he shook his head with emotion: "It's a pity that it's fat...... Gongzizhang and Tian Buyu tried to get rid of the fat phase very early, and this time they were afraid that the fat phase would be more auspicious. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Cheng and Li Dui glanced at each other and were silent.

To be honest, because Fei Yi had always guarded against them before, Fei Yi was killed this time, which was actually not a bad thing for Zhao Cheng and Li Dui, the problem was that it was not the right time for Fei Yi to die.

After pondering for a moment, Li Dui said to Zhao Cheng: "An Pingjun, since Gongzizhang has the courage to rebel, this is enough to prove that he has transferred his army to the sand dunes in advance, although Yang Wenjun and Xinqi have a total of more than 8,000 soldiers under their command, but I am afraid that they are not Gongzizhang's opponents, you and I should immediately lead the army to support!" ”

An Pingjun Zhao Cheng nodded yes.

Only an hour later, Zhao Cheng, Anpingjun, and Li Dui, Fengyangjun, each came to the outside of the city, came to the army to which they belonged, gathered soldiers, and quickly set off to help the sand dunes.

At the same time, Meng Sui also came to Gaotangyi, privately invited his uncle Meng Crane, and briefly told Meng Crane about the Dune Incident, and hoped that Meng Que would find a way to influence Xu Jun, and be sure to ensure that Xu Jun would not be moved by Zhao Xi's words.

"I do my best."

Meng Hu nodded in response.

On the seventh day of the eighth month, after Gongzi Zhang learned the whereabouts of Zhao Wang He and others, he ordered Wei Yuan and Tian Huang to lead 5,000 soldiers each into Jize to attack Zhao Wang He and others.

At this time, Zhao Wanghe only had more than 2,000 soldiers around him, and there was a shortage of food and water, and the situation was very critical.

This almost desperate army, because there is no food, can only find all the edible food in the hilly area, such as the beasts that live there, the mushrooms that grow on the mountains, and even the toads, rats, snakes, and even grass roots that move in the waterfronts, anyway, as long as they can fill their stomachs, they are all collected and caught by these soldiers, roasted and eaten in the bonfire.

It has to be said that most of the animals and plants in swampy areas such as Jizawa have toxins, so some of the soldiers who ate those animals and plants showed symptoms of poisoning, vomiting, diarrhea, and pain.

Compared with food, the most difficult thing has to be the problem of drinking water, don't look at the area of Jize seems to be full of waterholes, but the water in these pools is basically stagnant water, all of which are inedible, in just two days, there are dozens of soldiers who have suffered from diseases because of drinking poisonous water by mistake, and gradually lose their vitality in the pain.

The soldiers who were forced to do so could only suck the sap of the trees or lick the dew on the grass and trees to quench their thirst.

Therefore, Xin Qi, Zhao Bao, Zhao Ping, and Li Ji privately discussed countermeasures.

They knew very well that if they continued like this, they would not have to wait for the army under Gongzi Zhang's command to kill here, and they themselves would die in this land due to hunger and thirst.

"I can't go on like this." The letter period said to Zhao Bao: "Although I ask a hundred soldiers to collect dew for the king every day, the soldiers under the ground can't support it for long...... Yang Wenjun, I don't know when the reinforcements of An Pingjun, Fengyangjun and others will arrive in this area? ”

Hearing this, Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao frowned and estimated: "According to my estimate, the messenger I sent yesterday should almost arrive in Handan, even if Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui and others immediately led the army to set off after receiving the message for help, and arrived in this area from Handan, I am afraid it will take four or five days...... If this is calculated, there should be about three days after today. ”

As soon as they heard this, Xin Qi and the others couldn't help but be a little discouraged.

Hold on for three days without water and food? Not to mention three days, even if it lasts for one day, it is torment.

Thinking of this, Li Dui's son Li Ji said: "I'm afraid it will be difficult for the soldiers to hold out for another three days, not to mention that An Pingjun and his father may not be able to lead the army to arrive in three days, I think we should make other plans and find a way to break through from this area." …… It is better for me to lead a group of soldiers to the west and explore the road. ”

Xin Qi and Yang Wenjun and Zhao Bao glanced at each other, and nodded in agreement.

So, Li Ji took more than 200 soldiers to continue to the west, trying to cross Jize, I have to say that this is a very dangerous thing, after all, there are too many swamps in the Jize area, one is not good, Li Ji and more than 200 soldiers led by him will be buried in this swamp area.

In the afternoon, the generals under Gongzi Zhang, Wei Yuan and Tian Huang, launched an offensive against the hills occupied by Zhao Wang He and others.

However, due to the fact that this hill is surrounded by waterholes on three sides, and most of these waterholes are actually bottomless mud swamps, this makes Wei Yuan and Tian Huang have no way to arrange troops in this area, and there is no way to really pose a real threat to the hills occupied by Xinqi and Yang Wenjun and Zhao Bao.

Although Wei Yuan and Tian Huang also organized several attacks, but there was no result, Xin Qi and Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao took advantage of the local terrain to easily repel the attacks of Wei Yuan and Tian Huang.

After several failed attacks, Wei Yuan thought of a strategy to attack the heart, that is, to find a way to rebel against the army under the command of Xin Qi and Zhao Bao, and he shouted to the soldiers under the command of the two, pointing out that Xin Qi and Zhao Bao colluded with Anpingjun Zhao Cheng and Fengyang Jun Li Dui and others, trying to seize the power of Zhao by hijacking Zhao Wanghe, hoping to shake the fighting spirit of those soldiers.

Seeing this, Xin Qi and Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao scolded on the hills, scolding Gongzi Zhang for his ambitions, kidnapping Zhao's father, attacking Zhao Wang He, and wanting to seize the throne of Zhao.

All in all, the two groups of people were scolding each other, but there was no real result.

On the eighth day of the eighth month of August, on the day of the sand dune incident, the soldiers under the command of Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao defected to Pingyuanyi and reported the sand dune incident to Zhao Xi, the general of Zhao.

Just as Meng Zhong had guessed before, Zhao Xi immediately counted out the strength of his army, abandoned the plains, and went straight to the sand dunes.

After a day's journey, Zhao Xi's army was blocked by Han Gu, a subordinate general under Gongzi Zhang, in Zhangshui.

At that time, Han Gu questioned Zhao Xi loudly on the west bank of Zhangshui and ordered Zhao Xi to immediately withdraw to Pingyuanyi, but Zhao Xi did not listen and ordered his soldiers to force his soldiers to cross Zhangshui, so that the two Zhao armies fought in Zhangshui.

Don't look at the soldiers of the Daijun Army under Han Gu's command, but the army under Zhao Xi is also the army that participated in the wars between Zhao and Zhongshan several times, and the number is twice that of Han Gu, so Han Gu's side did not bargain for anything, but barely repelled Zhao Xi's attack.

This battle of Zhangshui alarmed Xu Jun, a Zhao general who was stationed in Gaotangyi.

I have to say that in fact, Xu Jun at this time has more or less learned that something has happened in the Dune Palace, after all, on the day of the Dune Incident, Yang Wenjun Zhao Bao and his subordinate Zhao Wen and Zhao Ji were almost broken by Pang Xuan, Ji Xin, Meng Zhong, Le Yi and others, and were beaten to pieces, and many Handan soldiers fled from the battlefield and fled to nearby cities - since there were Handan soldiers who fled to Pingyuan Yi and asked Zhao Xi for help, then naturally there were also those who fled to Gaotangyi and asked Xu Jun for assistance.

Therefore, in fact, Xu Jun also considered whether to send troops to help, but was dissuaded by Meng Hu.

At that time, Meng Yu said to Xu Jun: "The sand dunes have changed, so far we are still not sure whether it was Xin Qi who hijacked Zhao Junshang, or Gongzi Zhang who hijacked Zhao's father, but I always feel that the latter is unlikely. When I followed Sima You to the sand dunes to meet Master Zhao that day, I personally said that Gongzi Zhang only had a few hundred people around him, but Master Zhao had a total of 6,000 troops of Tan Wei and Xinwei around him, how could he be so easily held hostage by Gongzi Zhang? What's more, as far as I know, Master Zhao's father has treated Gongzi Zhang very well in recent years, and he once made a fuss about "canonizing Gongzi Zhang as the acting king", how could Gongzi Zhang hold Master Zhao hostage? ”

"This ......"

Listening to Meng Yu's words, Xu Jun also felt that this matter was incredible, and he frowned and said, "Credible period...... It is impossible for him to hold the king hostage, the letter period is a person personally selected by the fat minister, and he has been guarding the king's side for a long time, how could he commit such a traitorous behavior? ”

Meng Yu followed Xu Jun's words and said: "I don't know the letter period, but since Master Zhao and Zhao Junshang have not sent their henchmen to ask for help, it is no big problem to come to the Dune Palace, so it is better for Sima You to wait and see what is going on." After a few days, Master Zhao's father or Zhao Junshang sent his cronies to come, and then Sima acted according to the order, I think this is the safest. After all, Sima You's garrison is here, mainly to guard against the Qi country. ”

"Hmm."

Xu Jun frowned and nodded, and made plans to give up for the time being.

But what he didn't expect was that only one day later, Zhao Xi took his army to Zhangshui and fought with Han Gu under Gongzi Zhang, which made him a little at a loss - should he help Zhao Xi? Or should I help Han Gu? Or do you want to wait and see what happens?

And just when Xu Jun was in a dilemma, Zhao Xi suddenly sent several soldiers to come.

From the mouths of those soldiers, Xu Jun learned the truth about the Dune Incident, that is, Gongzi Zhang plotted to rebel, not only held Zhao's father hostage, but also led the army to attack Zhao Wanghe, and Zhao Xi led the army here this time in order to rescue Zhao's father and Zhao Wanghe.

In the end, the soldiers conveyed Zhao Xi's plea to Xu Jun, that is, Zhao Xi begged Xu Jun to help him and join forces to defeat Han Gu's army.

After thinking for a while, Xu Jun ordered someone to summon the love general Meng Hu to discuss with him.

Of course, Meng Yu knew what was going on in the Dune Incident, so after listening to Xu Jun's story, he was not surprised.

He said to Xu Jun: "Zhao Xi went to the sand dunes to rescue, could it be that he got an order from Lord Zhao or Zhao Junshang?" ”

Xu Jun shook his head: "This is not clear. ”

Hearing this, Meng Hu Zhengse said: "I think Sima, you still have to ask clearly, whether Zhao Xi Sima got the order of Master Zhao or Zhao Junshang, or whether he is good at making claims. ”

"It makes sense."

Xu Jun nodded, and immediately summoned the soldiers sent by Zhao Xi again, and ordered them to return the same way, return to Zhao Xi's army, and ask Zhao Xi for the royal orders and orders of Zhao's master father or Zhao Jun.

Those soldiers returned to Zhao Xi's army according to their words and relayed Xu Jun's words to Zhao Xi, which made Zhao Xi feel very annoyed.

After all, how could he have any orders on Lord Zhao or Zhao Jun?

In desperation, Zhao Xi had no choice but to send someone to explain to Xu Jun again.

However, Meng Hu bit the point that "Zhao Xi has no order" and tried his best to dissuade Xu Jun from assisting Zhao Xi.

Xu Jun thought about it left and right, and finally felt that what Meng Hu said was reasonable, so he rejected Zhao Xi's request - after all, as a general of Zhao State, how could he make a claim without getting the edict of Lord Zhao or Zhao Jun?

However, regarding Meng Hu's suggestion that Zhao Xi should be prevented from attacking Han Gu without order, Xu Jun thought about it again and again, but finally did not implement it.

It's no wonder, after all, he was more or less suspicious of the Dune Incident, so he decided to let Zhao Xi go to the bottom first-what if it was really Gongzi Zhang who kidnapped Zhao's father and attacked Zhao Wanghe? Standing by like him, wouldn't he be biased towards helping Gongzizhang?

Meng Yu wanted to persuade at first, but seeing that Xu Jun had made up his mind, he couldn't persuade him to say anything, so as not to make Xu Jun suspicious of him.

Afterwards, he wrote a letter in obscure language and sent a reliable guard to Meng Zhong's hands.

On the ninth day of August, the fourth day after the Dune Incident, Meng Zhong received a letter from his uncle Meng Hu, in which he told about the fierce battle between Zhao Xi and Han Gu in Zhangshui, and his inability to persuade Xu Jun to lead his army to attack Zhao Xi's army.

"Zhao Xi really acted......

After receiving Meng Yu's letter, Meng Zhong frowned and pondered.

Han Gu and Zhao Xi's two armies fought fiercely in Zhangshui, but there was no need for him to report to Gongzi Zhang, I believe that Han Gu might have already sent someone to report to Gongzi Zhang.

As for Meng Ju's failure to persuade Xu Jun to stop Zhao Xi, Meng Zhong was not surprised.

He couldn't help but feel sorry for this, after all, if Lord Zhao's father was willing to follow his advice, personally come forward to affirm Gongzizhang's behavior, defile Xin Qi and others as traitors, and send Xu Jun another order, even if Xu Jun was suspicious of this, most of them would lead the army to intercept Zhao Xi's army according to the order.

It is even very likely that with the order of Lord Zhao's father, he will directly disintegrate Zhao Xi's army and make his soldiers refuse to carry out Zhao Xi's orders.

Yes, in the Zhao State, whether it is the order of Zhao's master father or the order of Zhao Wanghe, it is possible to make the soldiers in the army defect and refuse to obey the orders of the generals.

However, it is a pity that Master Zhao's father was afraid that his reputation would become infamous, and he was always unwilling to take some risks to affirm Gongzi Zhang's army, so that the army on Gongzi Zhang's side could not achieve "righteousness".

In this case, Meng Zhong was already very fortunate that Meng Jun could let Xu Jun temporarily adopt the attitude of "not helping each other and maintaining neutrality".

"Childe Zhang has to be done as soon as possible, if it is delayed any longer, the situation will become more and more unfavorable......

Meng Zhong frowned and thought to himself.

In fact, Gongzizhang himself is very clear about this truth, so on the morning of the tenth day of the first month of August, he once again convened five generals Wei Yuan, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan, Hu Qian, and Peng Zhen in Shuai Tent.

As far as Meng Zhong knew, during the meeting that day, Gongzi Zhang was very angry, and he was very dissatisfied that Wei Yuan spent four whole days and failed to catch Zhao Wanghe.

He was no longer patient, so he ordered Wei Yuan, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan, Hu Qian, and Peng Zhen to lead the army to besiege Ji Ze from all directions, and at all costs, to capture and kill Zhao Wanghe.

After receiving the order, in addition to Han Gu, who was still blocking Zhao Xi in Zhangshui at this time, Wei Yuan, Tian Huang, Zhai Dan, Hu Qian, and Peng Zhen each led about 5,000 troops, distributed in all directions of Ji Ze, and launched a siege on Ji Ze.

Among them, Wei Yuan is responsible for the northwest, Tian Huang is responsible for the northeast, Zhai Dan is responsible for the southeast, and Hu Qian and Peng Zhen are in charge of the southwest.

The five generals ordered their men to cut down the woods, split them into planks and spread them on the muddy pools of Jize, paving the way, so as to attack the hills where King Zhao and others were.

In all fairness, in fact, Gongzi Zhang was also wary of the reinforcements of Anpingjun Zhao Cheng, Fengyangjun Li Dui and others, and therefore he ordered Hu Qian and Peng Zhen to lead a total of more than 10,000 soldiers to be stationed in the southwest of Jize and between Jize and Handan, which was not only to prevent Zhao Wang and others from escaping, but also to guard against the reinforcements of Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others.

But they never expected that even though Gongzizhang's side had taken precautions, the reinforcements of Zhao Cheng, Li Dui and others still quietly approached Jize, and even on the night of October 11, an army of about three or four thousand people attacked the camp of Hu Qian and Peng Zhen at night.

During the night battle between the two armies, Hu Qian, who was born in Rongdi, was conceited and brave, and took the lead in meeting the Zhao army who came to attack at night, and fought fiercely with the generals who led the Zhao army.

At that time, Peng Qian, who witnessed this scene with his own eyes, was simply unbelievable.

You must know that Hu Qianna is the most powerful general under Gongzi Zhang.

"You...... Who are you?! ”

Peng Zhen asked the Zhao general who killed Peng Zhen in shock.

I saw that under the illumination of countless firelights, the Zhao general glanced at Peng Zhen expressionlessly, with a thick contempt and disdain in his eyes.

"I'm Sima under the command of Fengyang Jun, Lian Po!"

That night, a Zhao general named Lian Po attacked the camp of Hu Qian and Peng Zhen at night, killed Hu Qian, seriously injured Peng Qian, and caused the Daijun sergeant under the command of the second general to lose his armor and flee.