Meng Shenglun went out of the city from the north gate, took ten soldiers, drove three carriages, loaded boxes of copper coins, cotton clothes and other things, walked the main road, and went straight to the camp of officers and soldiers.

After the last defeat, the officers and soldiers retreated from the camp for more than ten miles, occupied a more favorable terrain, and no longer dared to besiege the city at will, although it was easy to defend, and the troops became more and more sparse, and many sections only hastily set up camp fences, without soldiers guarding.

Meng Shenglun looked at it from afar, and couldn't help sighing, feeling that King Wu was too careful, if the whole army participated in the battle today, and attacked from all sides, he would definitely be able to break through the enemy camp, create a great achievement, and deter the world's heroes.

But the order he received was not to look at the enemy's situation, but to "reward" the enemy's reinforcements who had just arrived, and he had to go to the northern city.

A group of cavalry ushered in front, Meng Shenglun stopped, and said in a loud voice: "I am the messenger of King Wu, I want to see the commander of your army, and I am troubled to guide the way." ”

The cavalry did not stop, ran to surround the messengers, carefully examined the contents of the cart, and asked: "What is this?" Bribery? ”

Meng Senglun smiled: "If you want, you can take some." ”

"Hey, we don't lack cotton clothes, the copper money is too heavy, we don't love it."

"Haha, of course there is no shortage of cotton clothes in Jizhou, outsiders may be in need, the copper coins are too heavy because there are many, give one to the guest soldiers who come from afar, and use it as a lottery."

The cavalry officer's face changed slightly, and he reprimanded: "What nonsense? Where are the outsiders, the guest soldiers? ”

"Please lead the way, the two armies will at least let the messengers go back and forth, right?"

The officer snorted and took the lead in running ahead, and his soldiers escorted the messenger to the camp.

Most of the troops in Jizhou were transferred to the east, and there were not many people in the northern battalion, all of them were on guard, and when they saw the messengers in the city, they all showed strange eyes.

Meng Shenglun sighed in his heart.

Wang Tiemei is the commander of Jizhou, of course he will not stay in Beiying to wait for the messenger, nor will he make a special trip, Meng Shenglun and others waited in the tent for a long time, and finally someone came.

Meng Shenglun recognized this person as Wang Tiemei's staff, named Sun Yalu, so he smiled and said: "I'm just here to send some winter things to the guest soldiers, how dare I work for Sun to join the army and come in person?" ”

Sun Yalu smiled and stepped forward and said: "The Jizhou soldiers came from afar, and they are indeed guests, but why did King Wu suddenly remember the way of hospitality and specially send General Meng to give gifts?" ”

"They are all guests from afar, don't misunderstand Sun joining the army, this gift is given by King Wu to the new guests, not the old guests of Jizhou."

Sun Yalu looked confused, "Where is the new guest?" What is General Meng talking about? ”

Meng Senglun sighed lightly, at this time it was the most difficult, King Wu guessed that the reinforcements could only be one of the two ways, so he could improvise and choose to deceive the truth all the way, but now he only saw that the Jizhou soldiers looked different, and he couldn't ask any clues, so he could only be blind once.

"It's my slip of the tongue, for us it is the arrival of a new guest, but for the new guest, it is the return of the old master, the general is running back and forth, there will be a shortage of clothes and money, King Wu presents this small gift, with a heart, there is nothing else."

Sun Yalu laughed, stretched out his hand and patted Meng Senglun's shoulder, looking intimate, "General Meng really likes to joke, the general is far away in Hanzhou, we really want to invite, but we haven't been invited." It's good that you guys even sent the 'thin gift' in advance. Okay, I'll take it on behalf of the general, and when the general comes, I'll transfer it to him, but I'm afraid that the cotton clothes will be useless at that time, and only the copper coins can be divided. ”

Meng Shenglun was disappointed, and it seemed that he had guessed wrong, so he had to remedy it: "The general didn't come, and the Jingzhou soldiers also needed it, they came from the south, and they must not have enough cotton clothes." ”

Sun Yalu laughed even louder, "General Meng, don't laugh anymore, Jingzhou is recruiting troops and horses, don't say that they don't want to come now, even if they are willing to come, there are not many people." Well, this gift from King Wu is enough, and when the general comes, I have to trouble you to send another one. Ha ha. ”

Meng Senglun guessed wrong one after another, his face couldn't help but turn a little red, and he couldn't guess any longer, so he had to say curtly: "Anyway, please accept the gift first, which reinforcements will arrive first, please join the army to send it on your behalf." ”

"No problem, I will definitely convey the good intentions of King Wu. Interesting, how could King Wu suddenly come up with such an idea? ”

"King Wu heard some rumors, presumably the rumors are wrong."

"This kind of thing is common, but I don't blame King Wu."

Meng Senglun said goodbye, Sun Yalu led out of the camp, and said as he walked: "General Meng came back really suddenly, you honestly, is King Wu ready to rush out of Dongcheng to fight a decisive battle with the officers and soldiers?" ”

"Haha, I just said that the rumors were wrong, so here's another one. Where did Sun Senjun hear such strange news? Meng Shenglun said casually.

"It's just a rumor, where did it come from? But to be honest, General Wang is serious, you see, most of our army has been transferred to the east, leaving behind all the old and weak, seeing your arrival, I thought that King Wu had changed his mind to attack this side, and I was a little nervous. General Meng went back and told King Wu, don't scare us little soldiers anymore, I really want to fight a decisive battle, let me know in advance, everyone will fight openly, and the victory or defeat will show the true character of heroes, why play tricks with hypocrisy and reality? ”

Meng Shenglun would never allow anyone to belittle King Wu, and immediately replied: "When you people from Jizhou came, you didn't notify us in advance, but now you want us to tell the truth? ”

"It's different, the Jizhou army is the army of the imperial court, and it is ordered to return to the eastern capital, so it can't be said to be 'coming', and there is no need to explain it to the guests in advance."

"Although we don't recognize the holy decree, we know at least one thing that the holy purpose of Tiancheng is Jiangdong, not Jizhou."

"Haha, the two of us are both ministers, why are we fighting for this? There is no chance this time, next time General Meng comes again, we must have a good drink. ”

"I'm looking forward to it."

As he spoke, he had arrived at the door of the barracks, Meng Senglun bowed his hand and said goodbye, and finally glanced at it, the soldiers in the camp were still scarce, and there was still doubt on his face, but Sun Yalu explained very clearly that these people were afraid that King Wu would send troops to attack the north, not because they were hiding reinforcements.

King Wu is wrong, today is just over halfway, if you send troops to fight, maybe it's still too late, Jizhou is not enough troops, Meng Seng Lun feels that he can break through the north camp if he asks for 3,000 soldiers, if the north camp is ready, he will attack the west camp instead, and there will not be too many defenders there.

With this idea, Meng Shenglun galloped back to the city, leaving his entourage far behind.

The army assembled in the city is disbanding, and there are people shouting everywhere, demanding that so-and-so team not move, so-and-so team retreats first, and the soldiers who have stood for a long time will inevitably complain, especially those who have descended into the world, they don't like strict restraint in the first place, and they are even more annoyed by the futility of their work, and the complaints are directed at King Wu, and they don't even shy away from it.

When Meng Seng Lun heard this, his heart became more and more urgent, and he rode straight to the camp.

The guards of the camp had already been explained, and as soon as they saw General Meng, they were immediately taken to the council hall.

In the hall, the kings were waiting for news, rarely talking to each other, looking a little embarrassed, they had just come to the conclusion that it was not appropriate to fight again today, first explain the team, and then choose the fighters.

Meng Seng Lun ran all the way in, visited King Wu, saw that all the kings were there, and some of the kings' generals also came, standing with King Wu's guards, he didn't know what to say to make King Wu save face.

Xu Ji had no intention of listening to the news in private, and said: "Whatever General Meng sees and hears here, please come with him, and there must be no concealment or omission." ”

King Wu said very seriously, Meng Shenglun had to elaborate on it, and did not mention his conclusion at first, but in the end, he felt that time was pressing, so he simply said it all: "The ruling and kings, the opportunity must not be lost, the enemy army will concentrate its forces in the east, and the other three sides must be empty, the north camp is what I have seen with my own eyes, and the west and south camps must be the same." With only 3,000 soldiers, I can break through an enemy camp and make the enemy army lose sight of the enemy. The king of Wu sent me to 'reward' the enemy army, and it was indeed a clever plan. ”

Meng Shenglun tried to exonerate King Wu, but King Wu did not appreciate it.

Xu Ji listened in silence and said, "What do you think?" ”

Xue Jin shook the first to speak, "General Meng is right, the soldiers outside should not be completely disbanded, let's each lead a city out, and we can return with a big victory before dark." ”

Meng Seng Lun nodded heavily to the descending general, expressing his approval, the only difference being that he wanted to lead his own troops instead of following a certain king.

He was now in dire need of meritorious service to redeem King Wu's favor towards him.

The three kings of Ning, Shu, and Liang did not squeak, as if it was difficult to make up their minds, or it may be that it was not good to embarrass King Wu in public, after all, they were not Xue Jinyao.

King Ning's subordinate Luo Hanqi had just arrived, and he was also anxious, took a step, and said loudly: "It's just a war, what is there to hesitate about?" King Wu made a small mistake, saying that there were reinforcements, but there were none, so what? As long as the officers and soldiers are defeated today, who will remember this? King Wu will order again, and we will ...... the Ning army."

"Stand down." Ning hugged Guan and reprimanded, Luo Hanqi was stunned, but he was really afraid of King Ning, so he didn't dare to refute, so he shut up and retreated into the team, with a look on his face that refused to be convinced.

The generals didn't dare to speak, Ma Wei coughed and said, "Listening to what General Meng said, Jizhou seems to really have reinforcements." ”

Meng Seng Lun was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly said, "How did King Liang listen?" I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything else, but I made it very clear that there was no help from the officers and soldiers, they were just afraid that the rebels would attack the northern camp. ”

Ma Wei disdained to argue with a general, turned his head and said nothing, and the King of Shu smiled and said: "General Meng is in a hurry, and King Liang is reasonable." First, the faces of the Jizhou soldiers were different when they first saw the general, did they change color when they saw the general, or did they change color when they heard that there was a 'reward' for the guest soldiers in the car? ”

Meng Seng Lun thought about it for a while, and immediately understood his stupidity, "It was after hearing about it, but it was ......"

Gan Zhao continued: "Secondly, the person who received General Meng was Sun Yalu, who was not a general with troops, but a staff member under the enemy commander's tent, known for his sharp teeth. The two armies faced each other, and the decisive battle was imminent, Wang Tiemei did not send a general to show his military might, but sent a staff member to receive the envoy, presumably to hide something. ”

Meng Shenglun was stunned again, "I didn't expect this, Sun Yalu ......"

"No wonder, General Meng was originally a military general, he was eager for meritorious service, and he was deceived by a scholar, this is nothing, the battlefield is really capable, Sun Yalu is not enough to worry about."

Meng Shenglun admitted that he was too gullible, but he had not completely changed his conclusion, and looked left and right, most of the generals and guards on both sides had the same idea as him.

"If you have reinforcements, it's better to show them, so why hide them?" Meng Senglun asked.

Gan Zhao looked at the kings, and when he saw that no one spoke, he smiled and said: "It's hard to say, I'm not an officer or soldier, I don't know what they think, so I can only guess randomly." I guess Jizhou is using reinforcements as ambushes, and the ambush location is likely to be Beiying, if the rebels start a war today, no matter which direction they go out of the city, they will probably be led to Beiying. What does General Meng think of the situation in the northern camp? ”

Meng Senglun was stunned again and muttered, "Thinking about it now...... There seems to be a large depression on the west side of Beiying, and if there is anything hidden in it, I can't see it. ”

Gan Zhao said: "Well, that's right, the officers and soldiers guessed that we were going out of the city in the east, so they hid the ambush soldiers on the west side of the north camp and led us in from the east." I just don't know which reinforcements are? ”

"It must be the Great General." Ma Wei sneered, "The general is bringing all the Luozhou soldiers, he wants to go to Hanzhou to gain a foothold, the soldiers are homesick, and there will be a mutiny on the way, so he has to go back, just to join the Yecheng army." They didn't dare to show up, first, because they wanted to ambush soldiers, and second, they were afraid that the righteous army would use the people in the city to blackmail the Luozhou soldiers. ”

Xu Ji was silent, he was thinking, among the kings, who had already taken the lead in Yecheng.