Yanyi, that is, Yanling, is located in the northeast of Xu County, which belongs to the Dayi in the hinterland of Wei, and is also the garrison location of Sima Zhai Zhang of Wei to gather various armies.

Because from Yanling, Xinzheng in South Korea can be quickly supported to the west, Fangcheng and Yeyi can be quickly supported in the southwest, and Yuncheng can be quickly supported in the south.

To put it bluntly, I want to see how fierce the offensive of the Qin-Chu coalition army is this time, and whether this Qin-Chu coalition army is attacking South Korea or attacking his Wei State.

In early December, when Zhuang Xin got a reply from Zhaoju and secretly managed to ask Deng Dian, who had infiltrated the Chu army, to sneak back to Yangguan to report to Meng Zhong, in Yanyi of Wei State, Sima Zhai Zhang, the Great Sima of Wei State, had also received Meng Zhong's third battle report.

Meng Zhong's first battle report was sent in early April this year, that is, after Bai Qi attacked Fangcheng for the first time, and then Meng Zhong immediately sent people to report to Da Liang.

The second battle report was sent after Meng Zhong sent Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu to take the opportunity to burn the baggage of the Qin and Chu coalition forces.

As for this third battle report, it was sent after Meng Zhong abandoned the defending city.

I have to say that compared with the first battle report, these second and third battle reports really surprised and surprised Zhai Zhang.

With only about 50,000 troops, he resisted more than 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops, and once had the upper hand, burning a lot of grain, grass and baggage of the Qin-Chu coalition army, and then used Fangcheng as a bait to ambush the Qin-Chu coalition army.

You must know that the opponent is not an unknown person, such as Sima Cuo, that is the Qin generals of Wei Zhang, Yingji, and Gan Mao's era, and he is one of the few veterans of the Three Dynasties in the Qin State at present, and the younger generation of Bai Qi almost defeated Gongsun Xi and Storm Kite in the Battle of Yique.

And right now, Meng Zhong was able to rely on Fang Cheng's strength to block Sima Cuo and Bai Qi for a while, and made the two suffer a big loss in his hands, even if it was Zhai Zhang, who refused to admit defeat all his life, he couldn't help but have a terrifying feeling at this moment.

In addition to sighing, Zhai Zhang couldn't help but say to his subordinate general Tang Zhi: "Tang Zhi, as you said, this Meng Zhong is indeed amazing, even if it is an old man, he didn't expect that this son would block more than 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops with 50,000 soldiers......"

Hearing this, Tang Zhi couldn't help laughing.

Although the atmosphere was not harmonious when he met Meng Zhong for the first time, in the subsequent contacts, he gradually felt that Meng Zhong was worthy of deep friendship, but unfortunately after the Battle of Yique, Meng Zhong was transferred to Fangcheng, while Tang Zhi returned to Yecheng, and continued to garrison this city on behalf of Zhai Zhang.

It was not until this time that Qin and Chu jointly crusaded against the land of Wan and Fang, and Wei Wangjun appointed Da Sima as the commander of the reinforcements, and Zhai Zhang retransferred Ai General to the army as a vanguard general.

After hearing Zhai Zhang's words, Tang Zhi smiled and said, "If this is not the case, how can that kid recover the disadvantage in the early stage of the battle of Yique?" ”

Hearing this, Zhai Zhang stroked his beard and nodded slightly.

When it came to the battle of Yique, this veteran of the Wei State was eager to dig Gongsun Xi out of the grave, carry the clothes of the dead corpse and scold again.

As the saying goes, one mountain is difficult to accommodate two tigers, Zhai Zhang has always been at odds with Gongsun Xi, but when it comes to leading troops to fight and guarding the city, Zhai Zhang still recognizes Gongsun Xi in his heart, so when he learned that Tang Zhi was treated unfairly by Gongsun Xi, he took into account the overall situation and remained silent about it.

But he never thought that Gongsun Xi would be careless enough to be attacked by Bai Qi's milky little hairy boy - yes, for Gongsun Xi deliberately asked the Korean army to fight with the Qin army, Zhai Zhang didn't think there was any problem, Gongsun Xi's biggest mistake was that he was too careless, so that he was attacked by Bai Qi, and half of the 180,000 Wei army was lost overnight, if it weren't for a Meng Zhong in his Wei army to turn the tide, I am afraid that his 180,000 Wei troops would be killed by the Qin army.

Zhai Zhang really didn't dare to imagine what kind of situation his 180,000 Wei army would be like after the annihilation.

It is no exaggeration to say that the appearance of Meng Zhong not only redeemed the defeat of the Wei army, but also saved Wei and Han in disguise, if there is no son, I believe that the Qin State will take advantage of the victory to pursue, first attack Korea, and then take Hedong, and defeat Wei and Han one by one, at that time, he Wei will no longer have the ability to resist the Qin army.

It was from then on that Zhai Zhang became somewhat interested in Meng Zhong.

As one of the highest-ranking people in the Wei State, Zhai Zhang certainly knew about the contradiction between Meng Zhong and Tian Wen, the minister of state, but he was not interested in it at all.

Forget about Gongsun Zhu, don't look at the battle of Yique, Gongsun Zhu was called a famous general after Gongsun Xi by the Wei people, but anyone who knows the battle of Yique knows that Gongsun Zhu's biggest contribution in this battle is to listen to Meng Zhong's suggestion, and withdraw a large number of defeated troops to Yique Mountain that night, so that Meng Zhong has the strength to counter the Qin army, and most of the time afterwards, Gongsun Zhu is just guarding Yique Mountain, and Meng Zhong led more than 60,000 Wei troops, driving Qin generals to flee everywhere.

However, considering that Gongsun Jian and Meng Zhong have a good relationship in private, people don't care about Meng Zhong, and people like Zhai Zhang and Tang Zhi who know about it will naturally not debunk it.

And when it comes to Gongsun Zhi's promotion to Hedong Shou, everyone may have thought that Zhai Zhang would come forward to fight, and even Zhai Zhang himself had this idea at first, but unfortunately, he is too old, he is nearly ten years older than Gongsun Xi, and he really doesn't have the energy to deal with the affairs of the entire Hedong County.

After all, although Hedong, like Yecheng, are the two most tense territories of Wei now, the difference is that since the death of Zhao's father, who has a great military strategy, Zhao's threat to Wei has been reduced again and again, and Hedong is different, the increasingly powerful Qin State has always coveted this rich land, if it weren't for Wei's luck to win the Battle of Yique this time, otherwise Qin would have sent troops to attack Hedong, how could it give Wei a chance to breathe?

Therefore, in the matter of who served as the Hedong Shou, in fact, Zhai Zhang also paid attention to Meng Zhong, firstly, Meng Zhong's exploits in the battle of Yique were indeed dazzling, and secondly, who made his love Tang Zhi full of praise for this son?

Having said that, it was precisely because of Meng Zhong guarding Fangcheng that Zhai Zhang was now so comfortable, although he had collected a large army early, he was not in a hurry to send it to the battlefield, but was secretly watching the situation of this battle.

After all, in his opinion, according to Meng Zhong's level during the Battle of Yique, there should be no problem in holding it until winter, so he is not in a hurry.

Unexpectedly, Meng Zhong was even better than he expected, defeating the Qin-Chu coalition army one after another, although Fangcheng was inevitably lost in the end, but in Zhai Zhang's opinion, Fangcheng was lost if he was lost, it was not a big deal, after all, Meng Zhong also built Yangguan, completely blocking the passage of the Qin-Chu coalition army - in this case, it doesn't matter if Fangcheng is there or not.

After carefully reading Meng Zhong's battle report, Zhai Zhang said to Tang Zhi with a smile: "This kid has repeatedly urged the old man to lead the army to support, what reason do you say the old man should delay?" ”

Hearing this, Tang Zhi blinked his eyes and said with some embarrassment: "I don't understand, why does Da Sima delay?" Today, the army under the command of the Great Sima has gathered to seventy or eighty thousand, if the Great Sima leads the army to support Yangguan and join up with Namengzhong, then we will have more than 100,000 troops, and we should not be afraid of the armies of the Qin State and the Chu army......"

Hearing this, Zhai Zhang shook his head and said: "Tang Zhi, sometimes, the more the army, the better, such as Meng Zhong at this moment, including Zheng Zheng of Xu Di and Cai Wu of Yuncheng, he has a total of more than 50,000 troops under his command, and it is more than enough to defend Yangguan, unless the Qin-Chu coalition army launches a fierce attack on Yangguan again and again, regardless of casualties, otherwise, the old man does not think that I can provide him with much help if I lead a large army......

Speaking of this, he paused slightly, stroked his beard and said: "What's more, the purpose of the Qin army is still unclear, the old man still doesn't know whether the Qin army is going to attack Korea or attack my Wei State later, and now the old man's garrison is here, looking at the three roads of Korea, Yangguan and Yuncheng, no matter which side the Qin army attacks later, the old man can lead the army to support as soon as possible, considering the overall situation, this is the best strategy." ”

"Having said that...... Tang thought for a while and said, "I'm afraid that Meng Zhong's kid will wait for reinforcements for a long time, and he will have some resentment towards Da Sima in his heart." ”

"Hahahaha." Zhai Zhang laughed when he heard this, shook his head and said, "The old man is here as his backing, why is he resentful?" Besides, even if he has a grudge against the old man, so what? Will he dare to pull the old man's shirt and scold him angrily in the future? ”

Hearing this, Tang Zhi couldn't help laughing, after all, a few years ago, when Gongsun Xi was still alive, every time Zhai Zhang and this person met, they would quarrel from time to time, and then even fight.

After laughing, Tang Zhi said to Zhai Zhang: "I feel that it is better to tell the truth than to deliberately delay." ”

"Hmm......"

Zhai Zhang pondered for a moment, but finally listened to Tang Zhi's suggestion, and wrote a letter in his own handwriting, telling Meng Zhong about his strategic proposition.

The envoys sent braved the ice, snow and severe cold for more than ten days, and finally delivered Zhai Zhang's letter to Yangguan and handed it over to Meng Zhong.

After seeing Zhai Zhang's letter, Meng Zhong learned that Zhai Zhang had collected seventy or eighty thousand troops in Yanyi, and as Tang Zhi said, the worry in his heart had faded a little.

But then again, in fact, Meng Zhong does not support Zhai Zhang's strategic proposition, although Zhai Zhang's strategic proposition seems to be comprehensive, but it is too passive, in his opinion, to fight a war is to defend the enemy outside the house, so as to reduce the losses of Wei and Han - when the Qin army has run to the house, tear down the door here, tear down the wall there, and you Zhai Zhang will rush out from the inner room to resist, and you don't want the things in your yard?

However, in all fairness, Meng Zhong can understand Zhai Zhang, after all, in the past twenty years, when Wei and Han faced the Qin State alone, they were indeed passive almost every time, and it was often the Qin army that came to the door, so they organized a large army to resist.

On the contrary, it was after Xue Gong Tian Wen, who had a conflict with Meng Zhong, became the state minister of Wei that Wei became a little more active on the issue of targeting Qin - after all, Tian Wen had an enmity with Qin.

But in the battle of Yique, although Wei was victorious, it was only a miserable victory in the final analysis, Gongsun Xi was killed in battle, and 100,000 Wei troops were killed in battle, so that Wei really couldn't muster any additional troops in the short term, so Zhai Zhang decided to defend, rather than take the initiative to attack.

Of course, it's more about personality.

If Meng Zhong replaced Zhai Zhang as the Great Sima of Wei, then he would definitely not be so passively defensive, and he would order Gongsun of Hedong to attack Qin, even if it was to put on a show to put a little pressure on Qin.

It can only be said that Zhai Zhang is old and no longer the Sheng Yong of his youth.

In addition to sighing, Meng Zhong invited Meng Sui and Zheng Zheng to come and showed them Zhai Zhang's letter.

After learning of this, Zheng Zheng said happily: "Yanyi is in the northwest of my Xu County, if it weren't for the ice and snow blocking the road, it would be a maximum of seven or eight days from Yanyi to support Yangguan, since Da Sima has collected seventy or eighty thousand troops in Yanyi, we can also relax a little......

At this time, Meng Sui was carefully reading Zhai Zhang's letter, and when he heard this, he frowned and said: "But I see what this Great Sima means, it seems that he does not intend to support me immediately, and it seems that he is still waiting...... Don't know what he's watching? Wait and see if the Qin army will attack Korea or Wei next? With this kind of work, wouldn't it be good to directly lead the army to join our army and find a way to defeat the Qin-Chu coalition army outside? ”

Sure enough, as one of Meng Zhong's closest people, Meng Sui's thoughts were naturally infinitely close to Meng Zhong's, and his attitude towards the 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops in Wancheng was to find a way to defeat them, rather than just thinking about resisting like Zhai Zhang.

While the three of them were discussing, a soldier suddenly entered the inner report and said: "Fang Cheng Ling, there is a soldier named Deng Dian, I sincerely ask to see you." ”

Of course, Meng Zhong remembered this soldier he sent to deliver a letter to Zhuang Xin, and immediately ordered someone to summon Deng Dian in.

After a while, Deng Dian came to the house, clasped his fists and said to Meng Zhong: "City Order, I'm back." ”

As he spoke, he told Meng Zhong everything about this trip and the fact that Zhuang Xin entrusted him to convey Zhaoju's reply.

Knowing that Zhao Ju finally agreed to meet him in private, this is of course a good thing, but the difficulty is that Zhao Ju said that he was closely watched by Sima Cuo and Bai Qi, and he couldn't leave Wancheng for a long time, and asked Meng Zhong to go to Wancheng to meet him in person, which was inevitably difficult for some strong people.

No, after hearing Deng Dian's relay, Zheng Zheng said with an incredulous expression: "Is Zhaoju crazy?" Wancheng is currently stationed with 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops, but he wants Fang Cheng to order Wancheng to meet him? ”

From the side, Meng Sui also shook his head again and again, and persuaded Meng Zhong: "Ah Zhong, even if that Zhao Ju has no evil intentions, this matter is too dangerous to agree. In case of...... I mean, in case, if the Qin army learns about it, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

After that, he glanced at Deng Dian and said with a sneer: "In my opinion, that Zhao Ju made such an excessive request, I am afraid that it is to cut off Ah Zhong's intention to make an appointment with him...... As Dr. Qu said, although this Zhaoju is talented, he is cowardly and weak-willed, and would rather be false and wronged with the Qin army than risk uniting with our army and defeating this Qin army in one fell swoop. ”

"Hmm."

Listening to Meng Sui's words, Meng Zhong nodded slightly.

He also felt that Zhao Ju deliberately raised this matter, and there may not be no intention of politely refusing, otherwise, if Zhao Ju really had this thought, couldn't he send his henchmen to come to him secretly?

He Meng Zhong is not from a big family, but there are also a group of confidants such as Meng Sui, Wu Ying, Meng Hu, Hua Hu and so on, Zhao Ju is one of the "three clans" of Chu State, the head of the Zhao family, is there no trustworthy henchman around him?

How is this possible!

Obviously, Zhao Ju just used this as an excuse to politely refuse again.

But the problem is that if this battle drags on, I'm afraid it will only get more and more difficult.

In Meng Zhong's view, although the Qin army has suffered a slight setback in his Yangguan at present, once it comes to the beginning of spring in the next year, the Qin army will inevitably step up its offensive, and it is even very likely that the Qin State will send reinforcements again to support Sima Cuo and Bai Qi.

The reason is very simple, after all, uniting the Chu State to crusade against the Wei State is the only way for the Qin State to break the situation at the moment, and it is impossible to make peace with the Wei and Han countries, otherwise what is the Qin State doing? Could it be that he just watched his eastward road to the Central Plains, and the two countries of Wei and South Korea were stuck?

Therefore, waiting for the spring of next year, unless the Qin army is defeated as soon as possible, the Qin State will definitely send reinforcements one after another, because this is the only way for the Qin State to break the situation now.

The embarrassment of Wei and Han lies in the fact that the casualties of the two armies in the battle of Yique last year were too heavy for them to recruit more troops in a short period of time.

Just look at Zhai Zhang's attitude, isn't the reason why Zhai Zhang's troops are stationed in Yanyi to wait and see is not because of the lack of troops, which makes Zhai Zhang more inclined to send these troops to more critical places? If this Great Sima had collected hundreds of thousands of troops in one go, would he still wait and see like this? I believe that I would have led hundreds of thousands of troops to kill it a long time ago!

It is for this reason that Meng Zhong does not agree with Zhai Zhang's point of view, and he believes that this battle must be resolved quickly.

The Qin State can afford to drag on, and under the stimulation of the military merit system, the Qin State can continuously replenish its troops, and on the issue of grain and grass, the Qin State has the entire land of Bashu as a backing, what does Wei and Han have?

But unfortunately, even though he clearly stated his views in the battle report, it was a pity that Zhai Zhang did not adopt it.

The veteran is too conservative.

Since it is impossible to expect Zhai Zhang to send troops to break the Qin army with him, it has become particularly important to fight for Zhaoju, if he can persuade Zhaoju to turn against Qin, it is of course the best, retreat a few times, so that Zhaoju can get stuck with the Qin army at a critical time, which is also a huge help to him Yangguan.

Thinking of this, Meng Sui asked Deng Dian: "Deng Dian, is there any way for you to return to the Chu army?" ”

Deng Dian nodded and said: "Doctor Zhuang gave him the Xia Fu Festival, and he can pretend to be a Chu pawn to enter and exit Wancheng." ”

"Okay." Meng Zhong nodded, and instructed Deng Dian: "In this case, I will trouble you to try to return to Zhuang Xin, tell Zhuang Xin and Zhaoju, and say that after the Chinese New Year, I will definitely go to visit, and I hope that the two of them will give cover." ”

Upon hearing this, Deng Dian was also startled, and said in exclamation: "Fang Cheng Ling, do you really want to go to Wancheng?" As far as I know, there are more than 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops there......"

Meng Zhong smiled slightly: "It's okay." …… Can it be done? ”

"Do your best under it!"

"Good, go ahead."

"Whoa!"

A few days later, Deng Dian used the talisman given by Zhuang Xin to successfully return to the Chu army garrison in Wancheng, and told Zhaoju and Zhuang Xin about Meng Zhong's reply, only to hear the two of them look at each other.

Na Meng Zhong......

How dare you come?!