After discussing with Meng Zhong and Dai Yingzhi, the crown prince Dai Wu summoned the two messengers sent by Tian Zhang, who were still in the post house in the city, and asked the two to go back to report to Tian Zhang, and agreed that the two sides would meet on the flat ground about five or six miles north of Qiyang City the next day, and no more than ten attendants should be brought during the period.

As for the time, it is from the first quarter to the second quarter of the hour, and if one of the parties does not arrive by then, it is deemed to have abandoned the appointment.

The reason for making these regulations is mainly that Dai Yingzhi is still wary of Tian Zhang, after all, Tian Zhang is a master of the art of war who is accustomed to using tricks, although his righteous brother Meng Zhong is here, Tian Zhang should not want to take the opportunity to rob the prince Dai Wu, but it is always right to be careful.

Meng Zhong has no objection to this.

The next day, that is, on the eighth day of the eighth month, the crown prince Dai Wu took Dai Yingzhi, Meng Zhong and several guards to the meeting.

But after secretly, Dai Yingzhi instructed Xiang Kai and Cao Wei to take 500 Song soldiers to follow them from afar to prevent the Qi army from going back on their word and doing despicable things.

After a while, they found the location of Tian Zhang, who was sitting quietly on a flat ground surrounded by cloth curtains on three sides, and some wine and food had been prepared on the table in front of them, and there was even a copper stove boiling wine from the side, so that the crown prince Dai Wu, Dai Yingzhi, and Meng Zhong and their party had only walked outside the tent and smelled the rich aroma of wine.

After a closer look, Dai Yingzhi found that there were no more Qi soldiers outside the tent, no less, and ten people, and then thought of the fact that he secretly ordered Xiang Kai and Cao Wei to lead five hundred Song soldiers to ambush in the distance, he couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.

After noticing that the crown prince Dai Wu, Dai Yingzhi, and Meng Zhong and his party were walking towards the tent, Tian Zhang also immediately got up and clasped his fists to give courtesy.

"Gongzi Wu, don't come unharmed."

Seeing this, the crown prince Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi also hurriedly returned the salute: "Zhangzi." ”

On the side, Meng Zhong was just about to follow the crown prince Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi to return the salute, but saw Tian Zhang looking at him with a smile and teasing: "Ah Zhong, don't you also want to learn to call these two brothers together?" ”

Hearing this, even Meng Zhong had a hint of embarrassment on his face, but he quickly covered it up, and said with a straight face: "It depends on what is in front of me, whether it is in front of me at this moment or whether he is coming as 'Sima Kuangzhang of Qi Guoda'. ”

"Hahaha." Tian Zhang stroked his beard and laughed when he heard this, and immediately shook his head and said, "At least for the moment, I am still just Tian Zhang." ”

Seeing this, Meng Zhong bowed deeply, bowed and saluted: "Meng Zhong has seen his righteous brother. ”

"Okay." Tian Zhang showed a smile on his face, and immediately beckoned Meng Zhong and the crown prince Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi to enter the table, and then he said to Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi: "Thin wine and lack of food, please don't be surprised." ”

Hearing this, Dai Yingzhi immediately said meaningfully: "Zhang Zi's words are serious, this is the land of my Song Kingdom, as the master, we should prepare wine to entertain Zhangzi, but asking Zhangzi to bring his own wine and food to entertain us, it is really rude, and I hope to forgive me." ”

“……”

How could Tian Zhang not hear the deep meaning of Dai Ying's words, he shook his head with a smile when he heard the words, and immediately said from the bottom of his heart: "Tian can also understand the mood of Gongziwu and Dai Jun Sima, but Tian Zhang is the king's order, and it is difficult to disobey. ”

Hearing this, the crown prince Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi were silent.

I have to say that whether it is between them and Tian Zhang, or Tian Zhang has no grievances against the Song State, the reason why this war broke out between the Qi and Song countries is fundamentally because of the land of the King of Qi - the latter covets the richness of the Song State and tries to take the opportunity to annex the Song State, is it because of Tian Zhang?

In the final analysis, this famous general is just a sword held in the hands of the Qi royal family, and many times he can't help himself.

Seeing that the eyes of the prince Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi were a little less hostile, Tian Zhang smiled and said to the prince Dai Wu: "Childe, before getting down to business, can you allow Tian to chat with my brother-in-law for a few words?" After all, after Zhao Guoyi said goodbye, I had no contact with him again. ”

Of course, Prince Dai Wu will not refuse this kind of request: "Zhangzi, please take care of yourself." ”

Seeing this, Tian Zhang turned his head to look at Meng Zhong, and said with a smile: "Because I was blocked by you and others, I went to Zou to visit the teacher a few days ago when the army was rectifying. …… Attacking Tancheng and countering the Qi State, tsk, this is really a bold and brilliant strategy. …… Don't be cunning, like such a bold scheme, only you can think of it in Yang City, and you have the courage to carry it out! ”

Seeing that he couldn't hide it, Meng Zhong simply admitted it, and apologized: "Please forgive me." ”

"Huh." Tian Zhang waved his hand and said: "There is nothing to forgive or forgive, we should each be our own masters, even if you and I are brothers in the same sect." ”

Meng Zhong nodded subconsciously and suddenly felt wrong: Where are you and I being brothers?

He just wanted to explain, but Tian Zhang suddenly asked, "What are your plans next?" ”

"What's next?" Meng Zhong felt that Tian Zhang's words had a deep meaning, so when he heard the words, he gave up and explained, and asked rhetorically: "What is the next thing that the righteous brother is referring to?" ”

Hearing this, Tian Zhang stroked his beard and thought for a moment, and then said: "It's okay to say these words to your face. …… This time, I was ordered by the king to conquer the Song Kingdom, but I never thought that the Song Kingdom's resistance would be so fierce. Not only is it forcing Yang, but it also includes Jing Wei and Dai Xi in Teng County, as well as Pengcheng...... A few days ago, when I ordered Tian Jing to reorganize the army, I also wrote a letter and sent it to Linzi, asking me to tell the monarch of Daqi to see if this battle would continue......"

Hearing this, the crown prince Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi immediately pricked up their ears and listened carefully, for fear of missing something.

At this time, Meng Zhong asked Tian Zhangdao: "So what does the righteous brother think?" ”

Hearing this, Tian Zhang shook his head slightly with a slight smile on his face, and said without concealment: "What the foolish brother has seen, I am afraid that the monarch of my Great Qi is also hesitating at the moment, and it may not be long before this battle will end. ”

"It turns out that the righteous brother is pointing to this." Meng Zhong did not hide what he said, and said truthfully: "Since the national disaster is lifted, the foolish brother should return to Mengyi and return to my teacher Zhuang Fuzi......"

He deliberately accentuated the words "my teacher, Master Zhuang" in order to clarify that he was not a disciple of Confucianism.

But what he never expected was that the few people present didn't care about his clarification, and they were all thinking about other things.

For example, Tian Zhang concluded from Meng Zhong's words that this virtuous brother really did not officially become a member of the Song Kingdom, so he was thinking about how to turn this righteous brother to the Qi State in order to inherit his position in the future and shoulder the burden of the Qi State's foreign wars.

And the crown prince Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi suddenly realized that Meng Zhong was not his courtier of the Song Kingdom at the moment, and this time he was just "helping" his homeland, so they thought about how to keep this young man.

All in all, Meng Zhong only intended to clarify, and a few people on the side didn't care at all.

"I see......"

Nodding slightly, Tian Zhang suddenly turned his head to look at the crown prince Dai Wu, and said with a chuckle: "As far as I can see, it is not difficult for this battle to end as soon as possible, at least your country is willing to return Tancheng, and then cede the two places of Qiyang and Pixian, I think my king will order the withdrawal of troops." ”

Hearing this, the crown prince Dai Wu's face changed suddenly, and there was a faint anger in his eyes, and Dai Yingzhi even opened his mouth and shouted: "Wishful thinking! ”

Qiyang is the gateway to Pengcheng, and its criticality does not need to be repeated, and Pi County is the main road for the Song State to enter Sihuai - in the first two years, in addition to the Song State using troops, the Song State also took advantage of the current internal and external troubles of the Chu State, and wanted to take the opportunity to annex the Sihuai area of the Chu State, and for the Song State's intentions, the Chu State did not have any reaction for the time being.

It may not even be a reaction for a long time.

First, the western part of the Chu State is currently under fierce attack by the Qin State, so that it has lost a lot of land; Second, the current king of Chu, Xiong Heng, does not pay attention to the government at all, so that the state affairs are deserted, unless the Song State attacks all the way to the capital of the Chu State, otherwise it is just a plot against Sihuai, and the Chu State is likely to acquiesce in this matter.

Because the Sihuai area was the place where the Chu State and the Qi State were bordered before, and at present, the Chu State was weak and the Qi State was strong, considering that "King Chu Huai had taken the initiative to abandon the alliance with the Qi State because of the land of 600 miles of business", the relationship between Qi and Chu was actually very bad - even if the Chu State had suffered the consequences of breaking the contract, the Qi State still refused to forgive the Chu State and was unwilling to join forces with the Chu State against the Qin State.

What's worse is that in recent years, the state of Chu has been losing ground in front of the offensive of the state of Qin, who can guarantee that the state of Qi will not rush to swallow the land of the state of Chu in front of the state of Qin because of new hatred and old hatred?

In this case, it is not unacceptable to take the initiative to abandon the land of Sihuai and let the Song State intervene between Qi and Chu as a buffer.

After all, even now, Chu is the country with the most extensive territory in the Central Plains, although Chu has organized many Northern Expeditions, but its main purpose is not to seize the land of other countries, but to enhance its influence in the Central Plains and dominate the entire Central Plains - after all, for a long time, Chu has always been contemptuously called "Southern Barbarian" by the Central Plains countries, and has been greatly despised and humiliated, which makes the monarchs of the Chu State quite persistent in dominating the Central Plains.

In the final analysis, there is no shortage of land in the Chu State.

The silence of the state of Chu greatly boosted the ambition of the Song state to annex Sihuai - the state of Chu is not short of land and population, but the state of Song is lacking, the state of Song is surrounded by enemies, the state of Wei in the west, the state of Qi in the east, and the state of Chu in the south, and it is not possible that in the future, the state of Zhao in the north will also turn against the state of Song, in this situation of enemies on all sides, Song Wangyan is eager to expand externally, get more people to train into soldiers, and get more land to feed these soldiers.

Now that the state of Chu has finally remained silent about the matter of Sihuai, and acquiesced in the Song state to swallow Sihuai to act as a buffer between Qi and Chu, how could the Song state give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

But now, Tian Zhang asked Song Guo to cede Pi County under the condition of returning Tancheng?

Doesn't this mean that the Qi State also intends to get involved in the land of Sihuai?

Even, it's not enough to want Pi County, you still want to force the sun? What is this? Do you want to put pressure on Pengcheng from time to time when the heavy troops are forcing Yang in the future? Or is it to prepare for the next crusade against the Song Kingdom?

"What does Childe think?"

Ignoring Dai Yingzhi's angry shouts, Tian Zhang Zhengse said to the crown prince Dai Wu: "This time, I have dispatched 150,000 troops in Daqi, and I have already asked your country to devote all its troops to compete with it, but in my Daqi, there are still hundreds of thousands of troops, why not cede Qiyang, Xiapi and other places in exchange for the truce of Qi and Song?" ”

The crown prince Dai Wu frowned and was silent.

At this time, Meng Zhong suddenly spoke: "It seems that the person in front of me at this moment is no longer my righteous brother Tian Zhang, but the great Sima Kuangzhang of the Qi State. ”

“……”

Hearing this, Tian Zhang turned his head to look at Meng Zhong, chuckled slightly, and did not refute.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong's face changed, and he turned to the crown prince Dai Wu and said, "Prince, if such an impudent request is made, please refuse!" ”

Hearing this, Prince Dai Wu looked at Meng Zhong, and a trace of hesitation appeared on his face.

Of course, his thoughts were the same as Meng Zhong and Dai Yingzhi, how could he accept Tian Zhang's excessive request?

But what Tian Zhang said just now that "there are still hundreds of thousands of troops in the Qi Kingdom" made him hesitate.

In all fairness, the Song State was by no means a weak country, taking the Wei State as an example, if it weren't for the Wei State behind the Wei State, the Song State would have annexed this small country long ago.

If we roughly evaluate the strength of the Central Plains countries today, that is, Qin is the first, Qi is the second, Zhao is the third, and Wei is the fourth, as for the fifth, it is not necessarily South Korea.

It is no exaggeration to say that today's Song Kingdom and today's South Korea are actually difficult to judge the strength or weakness.

In the past, Korea was certainly stronger than the Song State, but over the years, the strength of the Song State has increased rapidly, while South Korea has become weaker and weaker under the blow of the Qin State.

In the end, the Yan State was at the bottom, experienced the difficulty of overthrowing the country, and was defeated by the Qi State in the "Power Land" some time ago, and the 100,000 army was completely annihilated.

As for Lu and Weiguo, they can be simply ignored: Lu is in a special situation, and almost no country will touch it for the time being; And Weiguo, now there is only one "Puyang" left, and its monarchs (Wei Heijun, Wei Xiaoxiang Marquis) have also degraded themselves to the title of Jun, from "Hou" to "Jun", and have completely become a vassal state of Wei, strictly speaking, they have long lost the qualification of vassal states.

It can be seen that the Song State is actually not weak, and it can basically be ranked fifth among the countries, ranking in front of Han and Yan, but if you compare the Song State with the Qi State in second place, then the Song State is naturally still the weak side.

Therefore, Song Wangyan would only unite with Zhao's Zhao lord father before to conclude the "Zhao-Song Alliance", to the west against the "Wei and Han Alliance", and to the east against the Qi State, which was enough to compete with Qin for the first power.

And now that the alliance between Zhao and Song has broken down, the Song State can only fight against the Qi State alone for the time being, which makes the crown prince Dai Wu dare not stimulate the Qi State, lest the Qi State pour all its troops to attack - if the Qi State pours all its national strength to attack the Song State, will it be weakened because of this, the Prince Dai Wu has no intention to think about it, he only knows that he Song State will be defeated!

After all, the money and grain savings, the number of troops, and the generals of the two countries are not at the same level.

At least the two Song Kingdoms, I'm afraid that they can be worthy of a draw with the Qi Kingdom.

Tian Zhang saw the hesitation in the eyes of the crown prince Dai Wu, squinted his eyes and forced him: "Childe, Tian advises you to think about it more, you must know that the Zhao State has already concluded an alliance with my Qi State, and the Yan State has also surrendered to my Qi State not long ago, if your country insists on being the enemy of our Great Qi, I am afraid that it will not be long before the combined forces of Qi, Zhao and Yan will set foot in your country, and when the time comes, how will your country resist?" ”

“……”

Hearing Tian Zhang's words, Prince Dai Wu was even more hesitant in his heart.

After half a ring, he shook his head and said, "Father...... I won't agree. ”

Hearing this, Tian Zhang said with a smile: "This matter is easy, as long as my Qi country supports the prince to inherit the throne!" ”

“！！”

Crown Prince Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi changed color when they heard this, and Meng Zhong also frowned and looked at Tian Zhang.

I have to say that this is really an old trick of the Qi State, thinking that when the Song Dynasty became the king, in fact, there was the support of the Qi State behind it, just like what the Song Wangyan told Meng Zhong that the Song State in the era of the Song Dynasty Chengjun was actually a vassal state of the Qi State, whenever the Qi State launched a foreign war, the Song Army had to assist the Qi Army as an assistant army, and even offered a lot of wealth and beauties to the Qi State every year.

It was precisely because he could not bear this humiliation that Song Wangyan, who was the great Sima of the Song State at that time, the younger brother of the Song Dynasty, rebelled against and expelled his brother, established himself as the king, and single-handedly tore up the unfair alliance with the Qi State, so that the Song State was able to stand on its own under the control of the Qi State with a strong hand.

And now, Tian Zhang may have seen that the annexation of the Song State may be too costly, so he repeated the trick, and wanted to support the crown prince Dai Wu to expel the Song Wangyan, so that the Song State would become a vassal state of the Qi State again, even if it was Dai Yingzhi, who was quite elegant on weekdays, he couldn't help but shoot the case when he heard the words, and angrily reprimanded: "Tian Zhang, you deceive people too much!" ”

It's no wonder, after all, it seems that Dai Busheng and Dai Yingzhi were dissatisfied with Song Chengjun's compromise of the Qi State Committee, and followed Song Wangyan to rebel together, so that the Song State was out of the control of the Qi State, in this case, how could he sit back and watch the Qi State have another chance to control the Song State?

"Uncle Yingzhi is angry."

The crown prince Dai Wu pressed his hand and signaled Dai Yingzhi to restrain his anger, and immediately, I saw him take a deep breath, look at Tian Zhang Zhengse and say: "Zhangzi, Dai Wu will never disobey my father, no matter how tyrant my father is in the mouth of outsiders, but in my opinion, it is my father who has freed my Song Kingdom from the control of your country, and there is no need to offer wealth and women every year." …… If your country is willing to make a truce with our Song State this time, Dai Wu will feel very fortunate, but if the King of Qi is unwilling to make peace, my Song people will resist desperately. Our Song Kingdom will neither return Tancheng, nor will it cede the two places of Qiyang and Xiapi, on the contrary, my country will also recover the lost territory, recover Tengxian County, recover Xueyi, and regain the lost land inch by inch! …… Every time an inch of land is recovered, our Song Kingdom will build a city there, a barracks for ten miles, and a city for a hundred miles, to the border of Qi and Song. …… Since your country insists on fighting with my Song State, then my Song State will accompany you, it is not enough to fight, if you want to fight, you will fight for ten or twenty years, even if my Song State will inevitably be broken by your Qi State in the end, my Song State will also drag your Qi State from the position of a powerful country, and ask you Qi State to follow in the footsteps of my Song State and bury my Song State! ”

“……”

Hearing the words of the crown prince Dai Wu, Tian Zhang's face was slightly moved, and he stroked his beard without saying a word.

He knew that he couldn't reverse Song Wangyan's thoughts, so he planned to start from the side of the crown prince Dai Wu, but he didn't expect that this prince of the Song Kingdom would also have such courage - to start a ten-year or twenty-year war with his Qi State? It was really the first time Tian Zhang had heard such heroic words.

"Let's leave today's appointment." Looking at Tian Zhang, the crown prince Dai Wu Zhengse said.

Tian Zhang nodded slightly, and seeing this, Dai Wu, Meng Zhong, and Dai Yingzhi got up to say goodbye to Tian Zhang.

When he walked out of the tent, the crown prince Dai Wu let out a long breath, and the tense complexion on his face eased slightly.

At this time, Dai Yingzhi couldn't help but praise: "The prince is really imposing, and even Kuang Zhang was speechless by the prince. ”

Hearing this, the crown prince Dai Wu said with a face full of shame: "I just relayed Meng Qing's original words......

"No, he said this in front of us, it is completely different from you saying this in front of Kuang Zhang." Dai Yingzhi shook his head, and immediately looked at the crown prince Dai Wu with appreciative eyes.

On the side, Meng Zhong also nodded secretly.

To be honest, he really didn't expect that the prince Dai Wu, who was usually strict and polite, would have such an outburst as Fang Cai, and even his brother-in-law Tian Zhang was suppressed by this prince.

And at this moment, Tian Zhang walked out of the tent quickly and called out to Meng Zhong and his party.

Seeing this, the crown prince Dai Wu opened his mouth and asked, "Is there anything else going on with Zhangzi?" ”

Tian Zhang smiled when he heard this: "Right now, I'm just Tian Zhang." After that, he turned to Meng Zhong and said, "Virtuous brother, don't hate the foolish brother because of this......

Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "Brother Yi, where is this to say, each is his master." ”

"It's best if you think so." Nodding, Tian Zhang reached out and patted Meng Zhong's shoulder, and said with a smile: "Although it is too early to say this at this time, ...... When this battle is over, you and I will get together again, just hopefully...... Don't really wait ten or twenty years......"

His words were also full of helplessness.

"I hope." Meng Zhong nodded slightly.

Then, seeing Meng Zhong and his party walk away, Tian Zhang suddenly shouted: "Each is his master, don't show mercy to his subordinates." ”

As soon as the words fell, Meng Zhong's response came from afar: "Brother Yi, don't worry, I will lead the troops to fight Xue Yi in a few days!" ”

Hearing this, even Tian Zhang couldn't help but laugh and scold: "Delusional! ”

Although the meeting on that day was not pleasant, because of the relationship between Meng Zhong and Tian Zhang, it didn't end up to the point of breaking up unhappily, at least there was still a trace of affection between them.

To Tian Zhang's surprise, Meng Zhong's last words before leaving did not seem to be a lie, because within a few days, the Song State launched a counterattack.

Under the orders of Song Wangyan, Jing Wei and Dai Xi attacked Tengxian in an attempt to recover Teng County, and in the Dushan area, Song Wangyan personally led his army to fight fiercely with the Qi general Zou Xi.

Of course, in fact, the most lethal for Tian Zhangjun is the army of Dai Busheng, Dai Jing, and Le Yi, which turned the earth upside down in the territory of Qi State, so that the grain and grass escorted by Qi State to Tian Zhangjun have been delayed many times.

The problem of grain and grass made Tian Zhang have no choice but to shrink the front and retreat to Xueyi.

During this period, the Song army took the opportunity to recover Teng County.

It is no exaggeration to say that this battle has been fought to the point where it is now, in fact, the Qi State has already lost: it has not defeated the Song State for half a year, and even let the Song army counterattack into the territory of the Qi State.

In late August, Tian Zhang received an urgent letter from Linzi: King Tian of Qi ordered him to return to Linzi immediately to discuss important matters.

After receiving the news, Tian Zhang handed over the army to Sima Tian Jing, and he only took a few guards with him and returned to Linzi day and night.

He knew very well that neither he nor Meng Zhong could control this war, only the land of King Qi.

The decision of the monarch of the Qi State was enough to decide the fate of the two countries of Qi and Song.