At the beginning of September, after more than ten days of travel, Meng Zhong and others converged with the team led by Meng Sui and Meng Hu on the way, and arrived in Yeyi and Wuyang together.

At this time, they could already faintly see the city in the distance, Yeyi.

Yeyi, which dates back hundreds of years to the capital of the vassal state "Yingguo" divided by the Zhou State, is located on the south side of "Yingshan (Pingdingshan)", on the main road connecting the two places, and the Chu State conquered the Ying State and established Yeyi, and then gave the important minister of the Chu State "Shen Zhuliang", so the latter called himself "Ye Gong" - that is, the Ye Gong of "Ye Gong is a good dragon", and also because the father of Zengzi stole the sheep of his neighbor and asked Confucius "what is integrity" Ye Gong, and still defeated the ancestor of Bai Qi "Bai Gongsheng" The act of trying to steal the state of Chu forced the Ye Gong surnamed Bai to flee to the state of Qin.

There are mountains in the northwest and southeast of Yeyi, and there is a unique passage from Wandi to Wei and Han, the geographical location is quite critical, when Ye Gong guarded this place, it was also to strengthen the defense capability of "Chu Fang City", under the governance of Ye Gong, Yeyi has become a large city with a population of up to 3,000 households a few decades ago.

However, during the Battle of Chuisha, the state of Chu was defeated by the combined forces of Qi, Wei, and Han, so that not only Yeyi, Chu Fangcheng, Wancheng and other places were conquered by the coalition forces, but a large number of people of Chu fled south, which led to a sharp decline in the population of Yeyi, even if it was later restored under the governance of Wei, the residence in the Yi area was only barely about 2,000 households, and maybe even less than 2,000 households.

Slowly came to about five miles outside the city of Yeyi, Meng Zhong ordered Meng Sui to be responsible for the stationing outside the city, and he took Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Xiang Yi to lead more than 600 Wei cavalry straight to the city of Yeyi.

Given that it was already the beginning of September, and the fields outside the city were full of crops, this made Meng Zhong's somewhat worried heart relax a little - Yeyi was not a desolate and uninhabited city after all.

The movement of more than 600 cavalry approaching the city naturally aroused the vigilance of Yeyi's guards.

I saw that these defenders immediately closed the city gate, climbed the city wall one by one with weapons in hand, and watched the uninvited guests outside the city vigilantly, until they found that the cavalry outside the city was holding high the banner of the word "Wei", and the vigilance in their hearts was slightly relaxed.

At that time, a soldier questioned Meng Zhong and others on the city wall: "You, who are you?" ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong set his horse out of the queue and said in a deep voice: "I am Meng Zhong, the newly appointed Fangcheng Commander of the King of Wei, Yeyi and Wuyang have been rewarded by the king as food, and the county commander in the city is asked to go out of the city to see me quickly!" ”

As soon as they heard this, the guards of the city did not dare to slack off, and immediately went to the city to report the order.

After about half an hour, the gates of the city slowly opened, and two men came out of the city, one of whom was about forty years old, dressed like a scholar, and nine times out of ten was the county magistrate of the city; The other person was in his thirties, and he was powerful, as if he was the Yi Sima who was in charge of the soldiers in the city.

I saw the two of them walking quickly in front of Meng Zhong and the others, and immediately, the man dressed as a scholar bowed his hand and asked, "I don't know which one is the new Fang Cheng Ling?" ”

"It's me." Meng Zhong slowly pulled his horse forward.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man bowed to Meng Zhong again, and said, "In Xia Zhuhuan, it is the county order here." ”

The sturdy middle-aged man next to him also immediately clasped his fists and bowed: "In Xia Yingmeng, it is Ye Yi Sima." ”

"In the Lower Mong." Meng Zhong turned over and dismounted, and returned the salute with a fist.

After that, the county magistrate named Zhu Huan asked respectfully: "May I ask if your Excellency has a document that can identify you?" ”

"Yes!"

Meng Zhong took out a bamboo tube from the backpack of the war horse, and then pulled out the certificate of reward given to him by the king of Wei, which detailed the reward that Meng Zhong received this time, and also stamped with the seals of the king of Wei and the minister of state, Tian Wen.

After carefully reading it, Zhu Huan respectfully returned the reward certificate to Meng Zhong, and immediately bowed his hand and said: "Xiaguan has received the news from Daliang a few days ago, and has ordered his subordinates to seal the county treasury, just waiting for the delivery of the Fang Cheng ......Order."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and gestured, "Fang Cheng Order, please." ”

"Please!"

Under Zhu Huan's signal, the city gate of Yeyi slowly opened, and more than 600 cavalry of Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Xiang Yi all dismounted, and under the leadership of Zhu Huan and Ying Meng, they slowly walked into the city.

After entering the city, the people in the city saw them, stepped forward to watch, and privately asked each other about the identity of Meng Zhong and his party.

It's no wonder, after all, cavalry is still very rare in the Central Plains, so that some people feel incredible after seeing the war horses of Meng Zhong and others - what about these people's chariots?

During his trip to the county capital in the city, Meng Zhong asked Zhu Huan: "How many people are there in the city?" ”

Zhu Huan replied: "There are about 1,900 households inside and outside the city. ”

According to the calculation of five or six people in a household, Yeyi is equivalent to having more than 10,000 people, to be honest, such a city is not small, at least comparable to Mengzhong's hometown Mengcheng - maybe a little less, but not much.

"Where's the guard?"

Ying Meng replied: "There are 800 guards under his command, and in addition to this, there are nearly 2,000 registered soldiers. ”

According to the laws of the Wei State, no matter whether it is a large county or a small county, every civilian household in the territory must send a male to serve, responsible for repairing the city walls, laying roads, digging channels, etc., if a war breaks out in the local area, these soldiers need to unconditionally assist the guards to defend the city.

As for the remuneration, it is minimal.

Nodding, Meng Zhong had a rough idea in his heart.

After a while, they came to the county government in the city, and under the leadership of Zhu Huan, they transferred to a treasury - let's call it the essay library, because in this warehouse, there are files such as field registers, civil registers, and military registers in the Yeyi area, and the piles of bamboo slips are simply piled up in the entire warehouse.

"Ahem, Xiang Yi." Meng Zhong turned his head to look at Xiang Yu.

As if realizing something, Xiang Yi said with a bitter face: "Just now you brought me, I feel wrong......

Hearing this, Meng Zhong also felt a little embarrassed, and soothed: "Those who can work harder, I am ready to hand over all this matter to you in the future." …… Well, from now on, you will be the edict of Yeyi. ”

On the side, Meng Hu and Hua Hu raised their hands and applauded quite tacitly, expressing their congratulations on Xiang Yu's promotion.

"How do I feel that you have left me with all your troubles? Never mind...... This is our foundation, and I don't feel at ease if you hand it over to someone else......"

As he spoke, Xiang Yi arched his hand towards Zhu Huan, and said, "In Xia Xiangyi, Ye Yi's affairs, please hand over to Zaixia." ”

"Whoa!"

Zhu Huan arched his hand.

At this time, Meng Zhong instructed Huahu's deputy general Cai Chengdao: "Cai Cheng, you have fifty soldiers here, and help Xiang Yu count the treasury." ”

"Whoa!" Cai Cheng clenched his fists and took his life.

After the order was completed, Meng Zhong asked Ying Meng to disband all the soldiers in the city, and then summoned Wu Ying and Wei Xu to lead 500 Wei soldiers to enter Yeyi.

They should be complied with one by one.

By dusk, Meng Zhong's soldiers had taken over Yeyi, which more or less caused panic and uneasiness among the civilians in the city, but fortunately, Meng Zhong ordered Zhu Huan to personally explain to the people of Yi, so that the local people knew that the city had been rewarded to him by the King of Wei as a food town.

However, after understanding the situation, although the people in the city were a little less afraid, they were also a little more worried, after all, after Yeyi became someone's food town, the land rent and land tax that should be levied would be completely drawn up by someone, unless the lord of the city expropriated and extorted to cause a popular uprising, otherwise the king would not ask again, and this means that the future life of the people of Yeyi will be closely related to Meng Zhong as the lord of the city.

In this regard, because Meng Zhong had not yet formulated a specific decree with Meng Sui, Xiang Yi and others, he could not make any guarantees to the local people, so he could only let Zhu Huan come forward on his behalf to appease the people.

The next day, Meng Zhong took Meng Hu, Hua Hu and others and more than 600 cavalry, under the leadership of Sima Yingmeng of the original Yeyi Yi, to Wuyang and Fangcheng.

As mentioned before, Yeyi is located on the east side of the main road of the mountains on the northwest and southeast sides, just stuck in a narrow pass, and along this main road straight to the southwest, there is a narrow pass about twenty or thirty miles away, and Wuyang, located in the southeast of this main road, is surrounded by mountains on three sides.

In other words, as long as troops were sent to garrison the narrow passes on the east and west sides, it was almost impossible for Wuyang to be invaded by foreign enemies.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong had already made up his mind in his heart and was ready to use Wuyang as the residence of his children and family members in Mengyi.

And in the "West Pass" further southwest, just in front is a Great Wall that can not be put at a glance, that is the Great Wall built by Chu in ancient times in order to prevent the invasion of neighboring countries, from the Danjiang River (old road) in the east, to the Han River in the west, built on the mountains on the north side, undulating for more than 100 miles, quite spectacular.

According to Ying Meng, Fangcheng is located on the southwest side of this section of the Great Wall, mainly responsible for assisting the eastern section of the city wall, in addition to this city, there are two large passes on this Great Wall, one is in the east, called Fangcheng Pass, which belongs to Fangcheng, which is also controlled by Wei; The other one is called Jingruan Pass, which is located in the southwest of Fangcheng Pass and directly north of Wancheng, but it is the same as Wancheng, which is garrisoned by South Korea.

In addition, there are a number of small passes on this Great Wall, such as Zhulian Pass, Qinggang Pass, and Sanjianshan Pass, all of which are controlled by Wei and Han respectively.

These large and small passes, including Fangcheng and the Great Wall that stretches for more than 100 miles, constitute the "Chu Fang City", which is the longest and oldest defensive wall built in the Central Plains so far.

However, considering that this "Chu Fang City" is mainly to defend against enemies from the north, so like the stone steps used to climb the city wall, the Chu people are built on the south side of this Great Wall, so for Wei and Han, in fact, this Great Wall does not play much role, unless Wei and Han are willing to spend huge energy to rebuild this Great Wall, and change this Great Wall to prevent incoming enemies from the south - just considering that the current Chu State has long been in a collapse and has almost no ability to attack Wei and Han again, so Wei and Han are too lazy to modify this Great Wall.

As a result, the entire historical "Chu Fang City" fortifications were abandoned by Wei and South Korea, and the South Korean troops were stationed in Wancheng, preparing to build Wancheng into a border fortress on the border, while Wei was stationed in the military Fangcheng, and the Wancheng garrisoned by the Korean army was at the corner of each other.

As for Fangcheng Pass, Jingruan Pass, Zhulian Pass, etc. on the Great Wall, they were all abandoned by the local Wei and Han garrisons.

On the same day, Meng Zhong took Meng Hu and Hua Hu to go around Fangcheng a few times under the leadership of Ying Meng, recording the local terrain in his mind, and then entering the city and handing over to the guards in the city.

The general of Fang Cheng is called Wei Chi, it is said that he is still a child of the Wei State Prince, and he is about thirty-eight or nineteen years old, Meng Zhong thought that he would make this person unhappy when he took over the Fang Cheng Order, but what he didn't expect was that the other party seemed to be very happy.

Puzzled, Meng Zhong opened his mouth and asked Wei Chi: "Brother Wei Chi doesn't seem to be unhappy about coming down to take over from you to guard Fang City......

Hearing this, Wei Chi said with a smile: "Not only is it not unpleasant, but I am very happy." …… Brother, I won't hide it from you, there is nothing in this place, in the past, if I wanted to drink some wine, I had to send someone to Daliang to make a special trip to transport it...... Oh, in fact, it's not that you can't buy alcohol, Wancheng, which is occupied by Koreans, you can buy wine there, but the wine of Koreans ...... Evil! I can't swallow it anyway! ”

Speaking of this, he shook his head, and then complained: "I used to want to be here, why do we want this place in the Wei Kingdom?" If it weren't for Wang Ling's embarrassment, I would have gone back to Daliang earlier, compared to Daliang, this place is not a fart......"

As he spoke, he suddenly realized that the young man in front of him was here to replace him, so he quickly changed his tone: "However, the land in this area is very vast, if my brother has the time, you can ask the servants to reclaim private land for you, anyway, the Liang side will not take care of you......"

After chatting a few words, Wei Chi immediately summoned the soldiers under his command.

As far as Meng Zhong knew, Fang Cheng should have had a garrison of one army, that is, 12,500 people, but the actual strength that Wei Chi handed over to Meng Zhong was less than 8,000, and what about the remaining 4,000 troops?

Seeing Wei Chi trying to reveal the matter with a haha, Meng Zhong immediately understood: it was as if he had been paid by Wei Chi.

But let's eat empty salary, after all, what Meng Zhong values is only the amount of the army, not to mention anything else, just say that the 8,000 troops under Wei Chi's command, he Meng Zhong may not all stay, who knows if there is a pure number of them?

You must know that as far as he knows, since the combined forces of Qi, Wei, and Han attacked Xiacheng, the State of Chu was busy dealing with the pressure from the State of Qin, and there was no time to fight with the Wei army in Fangcheng, and Wei Chi, the defender of Fangcheng, was such a guy, Meng Zhong really did not dare to guarantee how much combat power these eight thousand Wei soldiers could have.

On that day, Wei Chi lost the army and Fangcheng to Meng Zhong, and then he took some generals who were willing to follow him and set out on the road back to Daliang.

Looking at his posture, it seems that he can't wait to leave this damn place sooner.

Seeing this, Meng Hu and Hua Hu looked at each other, and they were full of interest when they came, but they were immediately broken by Wei Chi's attitude.

Ordering Meng Hu and Hua Hu to temporarily guard Fangcheng, Meng Zhong returned to Yeyi with more than a dozen cavalry.

After returning to Yeyi, he sent someone to summon Meng Sui and Xiang Yi, and prepared to discuss with the two of them to make a plan for Fang Cheng, Yeyi, and Wuyang.

Under the eyes of Meng Sui and Xiang Yi, Meng Sui told them what he had seen and heard in the past two days, and immediately said: "I intend to move the people of Fangcheng and Wuyang to Yeyi, and in the future, Wuyang will be used as a garrison for the children of my Mengyi family to live in, and Fangcheng will be used as a garrison fortress......"

Hearing this, Meng Sui frowned and asked, "What about the fields outside Fangcheng?" Is it all wasted? ”

Meng Zhong then explained: "Those fields can be used as military fields...... I went to Fangcheng to see, the soil quality there is quite good, the grassland all over the mountains can be grazed with war horses, and the next to the city is changed to military tuntian, I think it can make up for part of the consumption of military food...... As for Yeyi, it is located on the main road connecting Wandi and Yingchuan, and the geographical location is very superior, if it can attract merchants from all over the world to come here, we can get abundant money to feed the army...... In addition, if we have more money in our hands in the future, I am also going to build another pass at the pass on the west side of the valley road, so that there is this pass in the west, Yeyi in the east, and Wuyang is located in it, so it can be safe and sound. ”

Hearing this, Meng Sui, Xiang Yi and the others nodded one after another.

Indeed, for the children of these families, the most important thing is the safety of their families, and the small town of Wuyang is very suitable for the families of their children in Mengyi.

After discussing the rough plan, Meng Zhong, Meng Sui, and Xiang Yi began to arrange the duties of everyone, or rather, to confer official positions.

After a full hour of deliberation, the trio finally came to the result:

Xiang Yi was appointed as the minister of Ye Yi, mainly responsible for the internal affairs of Ye Yi, and then sent Le Xu, who was originally his partner, to serve as Yi Sima, as his deputy, mainly responsible for anti-theft, law and order, and management of the service of the people of Yi.

On the Fangcheng side, following Meng Zhong's Fangcheng order, Meng Sui served as the "Fangcheng Minister", responsible for a series of military logistics affairs such as selecting soldiers, training the army, and reclaiming the army's tuntian.

As for the generals who directly led the troops, Meng Zhong still decided to let Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu, Wu Ying, and Le Jin serve as military commanders, and promote Cao Chun, Cai Cheng, Wei Xu, Lu Wen, and Yu Ying, the five former brigade commanders, to serve as Zuo Sima and assist them.

By the way, when Meng Zhong came to Fangcheng, he had already received a letter from Tian Di, and learned that Wei Wangfu had allowed him to expand the size of the army to 50,000 men, so he had no qualms about preparing to build an army of 50,000 people.

As for the stationing of these five people, Meng Zhong decided to ask Wu Ying to be stationed in Yeyi; The two of Lejin were stationed at the West Pass, and the rest of the armies of Menghu, Huahu, and Muwu were all stationed in Fangcheng as the main army of his "Mengjia Army".

As for Wuyang's side, there is no need to send any officials, anyway, they are all places where the children of Montessori, Hua's, Le's, Xiang and other families live.

In the afternoon of the same day, Meng Zhong summoned Meng Hu, Hua Hu and other companions, as well as Cao Chun, Wei Xu and other generals, as well as Meng Heng, Meng Min and other children of various families who came to join him, and promulgated the decision reached by him in consultation with Meng Sui and Xiang Yu in public.

After learning that he was promoted to military Sima, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu, Wu Ying, and Le Jin were extremely happy, after all, they had been eager to lead an army alone since Zhao Guo, and now, they finally had the opportunity to realize their dreams.

And for the promotion of himself and others to Zuo Sima, Cao Chun, Cai Cheng, Wei Xu, Lu Wen, and Yu Ying are also very satisfied, after all, they used to be just a brigade commander, but after being transferred to Meng Zhong, it didn't take long for them to be promoted to Zuo Sima, jumping two levels in a row - you know, I don't know how many generals in the world are stuck at the level of brigade commander.

What's more important is that Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu and others basically don't care about things on weekdays, so this Zuo Sima of Cao Chun and others can be said to be very heavy.

The only one who is dissatisfied with this is probably Wei Xu, because his main general, Wu Ying, was once again "squeezed out" of the main force and was stationed in Yeyi......

Although it is said that Ye Yi is about to become the foundation and main source of money and food for the "Mengjia Army", and being appointed to guard this place can be regarded as Meng Zhong's trust in them, but the problem is that he hopes to become a member of the main army!

But there is no way, he has always been hot-tempered, but unfortunately followed a steady general who made him lose his temper, even if he vented his dissatisfaction, but in the end Wei Xu still had to honestly shoulder the responsibility of expanding the army and training the new army.

In view of the approaching autumn harvest, Meng Zhong and others did not issue a decree on "relocating the people" for the time being, but devoted themselves to reorganizing the army first.

According to Meng Zhong's count, there were 8,000 defenders in Fangcheng, 800 in Yeyi and more than 400 in Wuyang, totaling more than 9,000 people.

Of these more than 9,000 people, Meng Zhong decided to re-screen them and select the outstanding soldiers to join the new army, while the rest, after eliminating some treacherous people, were all incorporated into the anti-theft guards of Lexu, who were in charge of the security situation in the local area, and were no longer responsible for the campaign.

After the arrangement was completed, he took his mother Ge Shi, his wife Le Yan, and his sister Meng Yan to climb the hill on the north side of Wuyang and look down at Wuyangyi.

“…… After the autumn harvest in October, I will move all the people of that township to Yeyi, and when the time comes, we will move to that township......"

"Why wait until after the autumn harvest in October?" Meng Yan asked puzzled.

I saw Meng Zhong touch his sister's head and said with a smile: "Because the autumn harvest is approaching." …… The people of Wuyang have worked hard for a year, and now that we have come, we have driven them out of their hometown without saying a word, and occupied their fields and crops waiting to be harvested. ”

Meng Yan suddenly realized and praised: "Brother has a really good heart. ”

Indeed, although Meng Zhong had issued notices in Fangcheng and Wuyang, informing the people of the city to move to Yeyi after the harvest in October, he did not force the locals to move immediately, which made the people of Fangcheng and Wuyang feel a little more at ease with the newly appointed Fangcheng Ling.

Of course, Meng Zhong also knew that the vast majority of the people of Yi would still be dissatisfied and complain about his "willful" decree, and Meng Zhong did not want to explain more, and time would prove that his plan was correct, which was conducive to the development of Yeyi and the threat from the south.

It's just that the Chu State in the south can still pose a threat to the Wei State now?

Or is this threat actually coming from the Qin State?

In the blink of an eye, it was the middle of October, and the autumn harvest in Fangcheng, Yeyi, and Wuyang was over, so Meng Zhong officially implemented the "relocation order", so that the civilians in Fangcheng and Wuyang moved to Yeyi, although some of them must be dissatisfied with this, but unfortunately, in this area, Meng Zhong's order of Fangcheng is absolute, whether those civilians are dissatisfied or not, they have to move.

During the promulgation of the "Relocation Order", Meng Zhong also issued a "Recruitment Order", that is, to recruit young and strong men to supplement the army.

What can be done if the total population of the local area is insufficient and the number of soldiers is insufficient?

Just when Meng Zhong was worried, he suddenly thought of something.

He had heard that the state of Chu had been very chaotic in the past two years, the king had no way, and the country was frequently attacked by the state of Qin, and the land was lost in succession, and countless Chu people were displaced and homeless......

In this case, can you abduct those Chu people to He Yeyi?