Zhang Meng, who had not replied to his joint plan before, humbly repaired the book and asked Yan Xing in Guanzhong for help.

In the letter, Zhang Meng first said words of admiration and compliment, then clarified the relationship between Handan Shang's death and himself, and then explained the reason why he did not reply in time before, and finally talked about his dangerous situation and Yan Xing's opportunity to send troops to Yongliang, and humbly asked Yan Xing for reinforcements.

Yan Xing had already sent Pei Juan to serve as the county magistrate of a county under the rule of Jingzhao County, and the secretary of the office beside him was Fu Gan, who had just been promoted, and he stretched out his hand to let Fu Gan take the letter and hand it to Jia Xu, Xun You, Zhao Hong and others for viewing.

Jia Xu, who was the first to read Zhang Meng's letter asking for help, passed the letter to Xun You, smiled narrowly on his face, and said with a chuckle:

Han Feizi said that in ancient times, morality was competitive, the Middle Ages were based on resourcefulness, and today they are striving for strength. Liangdi is strong and does not respect officials, Zhang Meng is majestic and knows military affairs, and it is expected that he will replace Handan Shang. It's just that the current situation in Liangdi is delicate, and the first disaster is dead, and Zhang Meng killing Handan Shang at this time is bound to become the target of public criticism. ”

Speaking of this, Jia Xu looked at Yan Xing again and said:

"However, Zhang Meng's letter seems to be in an embarrassing situation, but it has not yet reached a difficult situation, Guzang is an important town in Hexi, with high walls and deep ravines, rich and saving, Zhang Meng is familiar with military affairs, if the wall is clear and the field is stubborn, Wei Duan, Li Piao, Yan Jun, He Luan and other people's soldiers and horses in a short period of time really can't help him!"

Yan Xing nodded, Jia Xu is a wise and resourceful person who understands the situation in troubled times, Guzang City is his hometown, and the judgment he made when he is familiar with Liangdi has always been worthy of trust.

At this time, Xun You also finished reading the letter, he handed it to Zhao Hong again, and began to say:

"That being said, after all, Handan Shang has served as the assassin of Yongzhou for many years, and his ability may not be as good as Zhang Meng, but after all, there are some henchmen scattered outside, or officials who have received his favor, once they take advantage of Zhang Meng's siege, they should cooperate with the outside and cooperate with the enemy to sacrifice the city, Zhang Meng is afraid that it will be difficult to escape the destruction."

Zhao Hong heard the conversation between Jia Xu and Xun Yu before, and he already knew the content of the letter asking for help, and after reading it at a glance, he immediately said out loud:

"What Xun Junshi said is exactly what Hong is worried about, if Zhang Meng is quickly divided by various families and horses, then the cool land will inevitably form a balance of power, and each family will be outside the wall to resist its insult, and then if you want to enter Yongliang, it will inevitably be resisted by the joint resistance of each family, the general might as well send troops as soon as possible, and take advantage of Zhang Meng's opportunity to attract all families and horses to gather in Wuwei, and annihilate them all in one fell swoop."

Zhao Hong and Wei Qi sent Ma Tengjun to persuade Ma Tengjun to surrender without blood, and made great contributions, Wei Qi has been appointed as a local governor of 2,000 stones, in charge of Feng Yi County, but although Zhao Hong has been rewarded, the new promotion has not yet arrived.

The Taishou capital of the seven counties has already been selected, the upper county that has been reduced to the land of Qianghu, the newly annexed Anding, and the northern land, Yan Xing is worried that Zhao Hong's ability to be a lot of thoughts will not be able to bear that burden, so he still leaves him in the hussar general's mansion.

But Liangdi is Zhao Hong's homeland, theoretically after pacifying the separatist forces of Yongliang, there are nine more counties under Yan Xing's rule, and when the time comes, Zhao Hong, who is familiar with the customs and customs, will be the Taishou of Liangdi, who else can be used?

Therefore, Zhao Hong was keen to quickly send troops to pacify Yongliang.

Yan Xing listened to Zhao Hong's words and looked at Jia Xu, the older Jia Xu's eyelids moved slightly, but he didn't speak.

Yan Xing smiled, looked at Fu Gan, who was kneeling on the side, and asked out loud:

"Hikosai, what do you think?"

Fu Ganxin was promoted to the secretary of the office, and he was already flattered to hold a key position beside this hussar general, and it was a rare honor to be able to listen to Yan Xing and his advisers discuss military and political affairs.

He didn't expect Yan Xing to ask his opinion, he was a little excited, but he knew that he couldn't speak rashly, so he hurriedly said:

"Ming Gong, this is a military matter, don't dare to discuss it."

"It's okay, you are also a cool person, Ling Zun is a famous general in this dynasty Liangdi, and he is knowledgeable, just talk about his opinions, it's okay!"

Fu Gan is the son of Fu Xie, who was desperately guarded by Yang Hui and escaped from Ji County.

Yan Xing's words have all said this, and Fu Gan is not good to deliberately shirk it, he thought about it, and then said:

"I feel that the current situation in the cool land is like a pack of wolves preying on and eyeing their prey, and this is the time when they work together, even if they suddenly encounter tigers and leopards, the wolves dare to show their claws and teeth to fight with them, so even the most skilled hunters in archery do not dare to hunt closely."

"But when the wolves that spend a lot of physical effort to catch their prey bite each other because of uneven food, the hunters can often get twice the result with half the effort when they hunt again, and the wolves with poor physical strength and each wounded will also fall apart and flee on their own."

"Therefore, I don't think it's appropriate to enter the army immediately. Maybe Zhang Meng's situation is not critical, he just wants to let Ming Gong's army divert the attention of the Liangdi families for him, so that he can take advantage of the chaos and grab greater benefits. ”

"Haha, sure enough, after being a famous general, he has extraordinary knowledge!"

Yan Xing smiled and praised Fu Gan, he looked at everyone and said:

"There are droughts and locust plagues this year, although the impact on Guanzhong and Sanhe is not great, but once the soldiers and horses in Guanzhong march into Longyou, military rations will become a big problem. Liangzhou is located in the bitter cold, in addition to a few important towns, the food in various places is mostly beyond their means, and the army can not wantonly plunder and feed the enemy, so I must try to let each family and horses weaken each other first, and then find the right time to march as fast as possible, and extinguish the weakened them in one fell swoop. ”

"Soon after Guanzhong was newly settled, Tuntian and canal repair also required a lot of manpower and material resources, and soldiers and war horses needed to rest and recuperate, so Guanzhong still needed to collect enough autumn grain and plant wheat before he could use troops to Yongliang."

"However, the situation in Liangdi should also be closely monitored, and if there is any change, report it immediately. Ziyu, this matter will be handed over to you to be responsible! ”

When Zhao Hong heard the last, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly got up to receive the order, and happily agreed.

Yan Xing nodded slightly, and after motioning for Zhao Hong to take a seat, he picked up the letter for help that was passed back to him, he looked at Zhang Meng's handwriting, seemed to be smiling, and said indifferently:

"In the end, since we want Zhang Meng to defend Guzang to the death, then Gu has to reply to the letter, making him believe that as long as he sticks to it, the army will come soon!"

···

Wuwei was attacked by soldiers and horses from all sides in Liangdi, Zhang Meng knew that he was in danger, so he lifted the siege of Wuwei City as soon as possible, gathered soldiers and horses, grain and grass to Guzang, and prepared to clear the wilderness with a strong wall, wait for work, and defend Guzang City.

The movements of the parties who sent troops were not slow, and the troops were dispatched from Jincheng, and the Li Piao coalition army, which did not have the danger of the big river, was like a bamboo, attacking the two cities of Zhangye and Luanniao, and the troops arrived at Guzang; The Han-Hu coalition army of Heluan and Zhang Jin took time, and also captured Xianmei, Xiutu and other places, and the second group rushed to Guzang City; Yan Jun, who was defending and attacking, also raised his eyebrows, captured Xuanwei, and surrounded Guzang City from the north.

The last to arrive was the state soldiers who sent troops from Hanyang, commanded by Wei Kang, the son of Wei Duan, Mu Wei of Liangzhou, they captured Zuli City, and broke through the defense line of the big river and the mouth of Yuyin, and captured the cities of Zhuci and Cangsong along the way, and made a lot of profits, and unhurriedly marched under the city of Guzang at the end of June.

The soldiers and horses of the four parties finally gathered in Guzang City, Li Biao's coalition soldiers and horses were the most, with more than 10,000 soldiers and horses gathered by various families, Wei Kang also brought 10,000 soldiers and horses from Hanyang and Nan'an, Yan Jun's soldiers and horses were the least, but with the soldiers and horses of He Luan, Zhang Jin and others who sent troops to respond, there were also nearly 10,000 horses.

There are more than 30,000 enemy troops outside the city, and Zhang Meng's main force is only his 3,000 county soldiers, although Ding Zhuang in the city and the unusable state soldiers in Handan can also make up six or seven thousand people, but compared with the enemy army outside the city, the strength is too disparity, and he can only hold out, relying on the high walls and deep ravines of Guzang to resist the enemy outside the city.

However, although there are many enemy troops outside the city, they have their own thoughts, although Li Biao has the most men and horses, but he has no legitimate reputation, and in order to capture Guzang City, all walks of life can only temporarily support Wei Kang as a general, responsible for coordinating and distributing the troops and horses of all parties to the attack on Guzang City and the distribution of profits after the war.

In addition, the large number of coalition forces is not good at attacking the fortified city, and the people outside Guzang City cannot supply so many soldiers and horses to eat and chew, so all the men and horses need to spend more time to build siege equipment, divide troops to collect, and escort grain and grass to their respective military camps under the city.

In this way, Zhang Meng, who was trapped in the lonely city, had a lot more time to strengthen the city defense and clear the internal troubles in the city.

Needless to say, Zhang Meng, who was well versed in military affairs, had already made up his mind to defend at all costs until the arrival of reinforcements in Guanzhong after the autumn when he learned that Yan Xing would not immediately send troops to rescue him.

What he fears most is the hidden dangers lurking in the city.

Defending the city for more than two months, it is not difficult to say, and it is not easy to say.

With the situation that the enemy army outside the city is not good at attacking fortifications, each has his own thoughts, and preserves his strength, Zhang Meng, who has a strong city, is confident that he will defend Guzang City, but in addition to the external people and things such as soldiers, equipment, grain and grass and baggage, the most important point in defending the city is the hearts of the people defending the city.

It is not for nothing that there are deeds of uniting as one and being outnumbered, but what Zhang Meng lacks is this kind of rare and valuable human heart.

He has been charged with killing and assassinating Shi Handan Shang, although he flatly denies it, but everyone believes that the person was killed by himself.

Among the 3,000 county soldiers, the soldiers and officials in the city can hardly guarantee that they have not received the favor and promotion of Handan merchants, and the current situation is so critical that it is difficult to ensure that no one has the bad intention of making chaos in the city, killing themselves, sacrificing their heads, and sacrificing the city.

Zhang Meng had no choice but to send his henchmen to strengthen surveillance in the city and in the army, while he set an example, did everything himself, shared weal and woe with the soldiers, and publicized the ferocity and cruelty of the enemy army outside the city, slaughtering the city and plundering the land, and the reinforcements in Guanzhong would soon enter the cool land, wanting to stabilize the hearts of the people in the city.