The mountain rain is coming, and the wind is full of buildings.

Although Sima Xun may not know this poem, he can vaguely discern his concern for the situation from his unopened eyebrows.

He slowly walked out of the royal city, and looked back at the slowly closing gate wall of the royal city, in the past ten years, he entered here as if he was entering his own backyard, and now, he actually had a feeling of being in a different world.

Suddenly, a thunderclap in the sky woke up Sima Xun, who was a little stunned, he raised his face and saw the rain like cow hair slowly dripping down, hitting his face accurately, he instinctively closed his eyes, as if hoping to isolate the world from the outside in this way.

Just now, he saw King Zhongshan slowly sit up with the support of the crown prince. It was the first time since he had been sick that he had been so energetic. So much so that Sima Cheng was a little stunned, suspecting that he had seen the wrong person. And when he clearly called out his name again, Sima Cheng realized that King Zhongshan's body was really improving.

In a short conversation between the two, the king of Zhongshan once again reaffirmed his trust in Sima Xun, even if there are different degrees of defeat at the north and south ends of Zhongshan now, the will of the Zhongshan people is enough to defeat anyone who offends him.

After the stunned just now, Sima Xun also adjusted, thought about it, and said to the king of Zhongshan: "The minister has decided to ignore the attack of the Zhao army in the north for the time being, and let them attack, as long as our army arranges heavy troops all the way in Hongshang, even if the Zhao army really wants to go deeper, we must also think about the consequences of our army going north." ”

Sima Cheng and the generals of Zhongshan Kingdom thought about it for a long time, and they both thought that if the Zhao army really wanted to attack Zhongshan from the north and south, then the location of Hongshangsai would be very important, because it was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Zhongshan Kingdom had been operating for many years, even if it was attacked, it would take two months to attack it. On the contrary, if the Zhao army dared to go deep into the interior, at most plundered, and if it was a strong attack, then from Hongshangsai could attack Daijun in the north and disrupt the opponent's offensive steps. Therefore, Sima Cheng's order to Hongshangsai is to defend it, and in this seemingly balanced game, whoever moves first will lose.

Then the focus of this war is undoubtedly in the south. The three places that Zhao chose to attack are very important, Shiyi and Fenglong, which held the key points of Zhongshan to the south, if this place is owned by Zhao State, then the soldiers sent from Lingshou want to go south, they will have to face the blocking of the Zhao army, not to mention, when the Zhao army besieges Lingshou, it will be easy.

"So in the south, it is necessary to support, at least under Shiyi City, to deal a fatal blow to the Zhao army. As long as Shiyi can hold on, whether it is Fenglong or Luancheng, it is just an additive, and we can fight when we want. ”

Although the King of Zhongshan is old and has difficulty moving, his brain is not stupid. After most of his life, he naturally knows that there are still words hidden in Sima Cheng's words. He paused slightly, pretending not to know, and said, "What does Xiangbang mean?" ”

Sima Xun was slightly stunned, looking at the eyes of the King of Zhongshan, but he couldn't tell whether he really didn't know or was pretending, but the words had already been spoken, so naturally he couldn't take them back, "I hope to ask the king to give an order to dispatch the iron horse cavalry in Zhongshan." ”

For a long time, each country has its own trump card troops, such as Wei Wushu, for example, the Ruishi battalion of Qin, which is the treasure of a country. After Zhao Yong became the king, he also brought the professionalism of the army into today's Zhao State, and formed a hundred gold battalions with Hu people as the team and Zhao cavalry. Moreover, he was more advanced in extending Wei Wushu's training model into the Zhao State, creating a group of Zhao Wushu's troops with Wei Wushu as a template, but far inferior to the latter in terms of ability. Even so, Zhao's professional troops also shined in this attack on Zhongshan, at least in the battle of Gongwei Grain and Grass Battalion, so that the image of the Juanjia Battalion as if they were at home was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Although Zhongshan is a second-rate vassal state, in fact, whether it is Sima Cheng or King Zhongshan, the yearning for a first-class vassal state has not wavered in the slightest. Otherwise, Zhongshan would not have given up his friendly relations with Qi just for the sake of a move to claim the throne. This also responds to the weakness of human nature, the more desperate a person needs to be recognized, the more likely he is to lose his mind.

The king of Zhongshan is irrational, it does not mean that Sima Cheng is also a madman, he knows very well that the environment of Zhongshan determines that the pattern of this country is destined not to be too strong, Zhongshan is like a buffer zone wedged between Yan, Zhao and Qi, the reason why it has been able to continue, in addition to its own strength, is more based on the consensus of the three countries to seek balance. Once one party wants to annex other countries, Zhongshan is always the first country to bear the brunt of being dealt with. Therefore, the fate of Zhongshan is more in the hands of other countries.

It is also based on this understanding that Sima Cheng vigorously promoted the assimilation policy of Zhongshan as a native of the Central Plains, hoping that Zhongshan, a minority regime, could integrate into the surrounding countries during his lifetime, so that they could treat Zhongshan as a Central Plains person, rather than as a barbaric offspring, which is also the policy that Sima Cheng has been working hard to implement since he came to power.

However, while showing weakness, we must not let others slaughter us, and we must have enough strength to resist. Therefore, Sima Yuncai proposed to form a professional army with Zhongshan characteristics, which is the iron horse cavalry he said.

The Iron Horse Cavalry is not a mysterious existence in Zhongshan, but the barracks and soldiers of the Iron Horse Cavalry are fixed in a living quarter, and there is little contact with other soldiers and the people. However, its secrecy is not so strong, for example, the direct guard of the King of Zhongshan is a branch of the Iron Horse Cavalry, except for the King of Zhongshan, even the prince has no right to command.

And the reason why this unit is called the Iron Horse Cavalry is because the horses of the cavalry here are wrapped in iron armor in important parts. This is definitely very rare in other countries, because in the era when iron tools were just beginning to prevail, being able to raise the strength of the whole country to build such an iron horse army shows how the forbearance kung fu of Zhongshan is in the end.

Not only that, but the riders of this cavalry are also wrapped in iron armor on the vital parts of their bodies, which ensures the battlefield survival rate of this army, and in the era when bronze swords are popular, it is still very difficult to inflict damage on these iron armors at one time. The riders of this cavalry are also different. Different from the mixture of the Hu people of the Zhao State and the Zhao people, the personnel of the Iron Horse Cavalry are all ethnic minority blood, all of them have Xianyu blood, which is the foundation of the rule of Zhongshan State. Every Iron Horse Cavalry, at least three generations up, is the ruler of the Zhongshan Kingdom. In order to encircle such a group of soldiers, Zhongshan also issued very attractive conditions, at least each family can get a piece of grassland with abundant water and grass, which is the most basic treatment.

It is precisely because of this that these die-hard elements of Zhongshan can treat death as if they were at home and kill people like hemp.

But as the hole card of Zhongshan Kingdom, should it be exposed in front of Zhao Guo?

The King of Zhongshan stroked his beard with one hand and banged on the table with the other, and his body fell backwards. And the crown prince behind King Zhongshan also felt the old man's actions, and invariably increased his strength to support him from falling down. Of course, for an old man in his last years, how much should he weigh?

The regular tapping stopped, and the King of Zhongshan said slowly: "Although the Iron Horse Cavalry has long been no secret, there has been no good battlefield to practice. What's more, it took the wealth of the ancestors to build such an ironclad cavalry, and it took the accumulated wealth of the ancestors to achieve the formation of this ten thousand people, and it would be a pity if it was thrown out like this. ”

When Sima Cheng heard this, he didn't expect that King Zhongshan didn't want to use this secret weapon at all, and his heart immediately became entangled. In his eyes, no matter how powerful the Iron Horse Cavalry is, it is nothing more than a unit that has always been strong in combat. Could it be compared with the importance of Shiyi City, if the Zhao army attacked Lingshou City one day, would this 10,000 cavalry troops be able to repel the opponent's attack? No matter how good the army is, you will make him lose sight of the light of day, and he will become moldy sooner or later. It's better to take this opportunity to take it out and dry it well.

"However, since Shiyi City has reached a precarious point, presumably if we don't give the Zhao people a huge blow, I am afraid that after the other party attacks Shiyi, it will drive straight into Lingshou, and it is unknown." Just when Sima Cheng was about to advise again, King Zhongshan's eyes flashed with rare brilliance, and he said with a serious face.

"Yes, no matter how good the troops are, if they don't use them, they will be bad after all." Sima Xun nodded in response, it seems that things may not have taken a turn for the better.

King Zhongshan closed his eyes, took a heavy breath, and then his eyes opened suddenly, as if he had persuaded himself, and said categorically: "Since this is the case, then let them go!" ”

Thinking back on this, the worry in Sima Xun's heart became even heavier. He was already able to experience the embarrassment of his position from the changes in the back and forth of King Zhongshan. Especially after the King of Zhongshan fell seriously ill, his power was extremely expanded, which was enough to make the crown prince feel threatened. Although none of this was planned by him on his own initiative, but today, in his position, it is difficult not to be suspicious.

In particular, there are people behind them, fueling the flames.

"Father, why haven't you gotten into the carriage yet?" Seeing that the rain was getting bigger and bigger, the curtain on the carriage behind Sima Yun opened a corner, revealing a young and delicate face. He looked at Sima Cheng in a daze in the rain, and he frowned, then took an umbrella from the car and came to open it for him.

"Ugh." Sima Cheng let out a long sigh, as if to himself and Sima Xi, and said, "Yes, it's time to go, let's go." ”

This unclear sentence startled Sima Xi. He forced Sima Cheng to come to the royal city to ask for troops, which was nothing more than to take the opportunity to expand Sima Cheng's influence, after all, the king of Zhongshan was old and could not lead the troops in person, and the crown prince was not an ideal commander, so after all, only Sima Cheng met the conditions. And Sima Xi hoped that through this incident, the influence of the royal family in the army would be further weakened.

But listening to Sima Chen's tone, does King Zhongshan have the courage to let Sima Cheng hand over the position of Xiangbang at this time?