Ji Zheng then said: "Last time, our goal was to weaken the state of Wu, but now that the state of Wu is newly defeated, the husband almost does not want to recuperate, but he has to fight again and again, which can be described as self-destruction." Therefore, this time we need to help Wu win the victory, after the great victory of Fucha, the heart of the hegemony has become the reality of hegemony, in order to maintain the hegemony status, he will inevitably increase the number of troops, and the army will be reckless. In that case, Wu's military spending will increase greatly, and the people's taxes will be heavy, and as long as the economy of Wu will collapse in a year or two, the people's will will inevitably be shaken, and the national strength will inevitably decline. At that time, it only takes one chance to completely defeat it. ”

"Well, the general has a point."

"In addition, in the past year, we have trained our troops in accordance with the new law, and we have achieved great results, and the shield army and the bow and crossbow army formed by General Chen are even more outstanding, although it has only been a year, the combat effectiveness of our troops has not been what it used to be. Now, even if we start a full-scale war with the state of Wu, we can have a 30% chance of victory. If it is another year or two, between the advantages of one and the other, we will definitely be able to defeat Wu in an all-round way. ”

After hearing this, King Yue was overjoyed and said with a smile: "Hahaha! In this way, it is indeed a great joy! Revenge is just around the corner! Good! When Wu marched to Qi, we sent 20,000 troops to Yue, led by General Ji, with General Xiao and General Chen as deputy generals, to help Wu conquer Qi! ”

"Whoa!" The crowd responded in unison.

At the beginning of May, Wu sent 100,000 troops, combined with 30,000 Lu troops, 10,000 Chen and 20,000 Yue, a total of 160,000 troops marched into the border of Qi. The army was divided into three armies, left, middle and right, and King Wu personally commanded the overall situation and led the middle army as the main force; Zhang Xun led the left army as the vanguard force; King Lu led the right army as a reserve force.

The Vietnamese army encountered the rainy season and missed the time to gather troops. King Wu led the army to attack on time, and at first it went smoothly, and within ten days, it had already invaded the state of Qi, successfully captured Bocheng and Win City, and the army was stationed in Win City, preparing to attack the main force of Qi State.

In the early morning of May 12, when the sky was slightly bright, Zhang Xun suddenly woke up from his dream, although it was still early, he was completely sleepy. Zhang Xun sat on the edge of the bed in a daze, staring blankly at the sand table next to the bed, the two armies faced each other on the sand table, and the distance in a straight line was only dozens of miles, but between the two armies, there was a pass.

"Ailing...... The decisive battle ......," Zhang Xun said to himself.

"General, you're awake." A person walked in outside the tent, and this person was Yu Xianyao's nephew, Yu Ke.

"Hmm."

"But it's still too early, there are still two hours before the military aircraft meeting convened by the king, and the general might as well sleep for a while."

"I don't sleep." Zhang Xun shook his head and said to Yu Ke, "Take my armor." ”

"Whoa!"

Yu Ke took off Zhang Xun's armor and blazing sword from the shelf on the side, and stepped forward to help Zhang Xun put them on.

"Yu Ke, look here." Zhang Xun pointed to the pass on the sand table while wearing armor, and said: "This place is called Ailing, and the mountain is steep and endless. Now both sides are located in the mountains, and the east and west sides face each other, and only this pass connects them. ”

"General, you asked me to read Mr. Sun Tzu's Art of War, I remember that in "The Art of War", there is a kind of terrain called 'Branch', and this should be the Branch, right?"

Zhang Xun nodded, "That's right, the art of war, 'I am out and unfavorable, he is out and unfavorable, and I say branch; The branch-shaped, although the enemy is beneficial to me, I have no way out; Lead it away, so that the enemy will attack it halfway, and it will be profitable. ’”

"General, what does this mean?"

"That is to say, the terrain of the branch is not conducive to our troops, nor is it conducive to the enemy's troops. Even if the enemy tempts me, don't send troops, it's better to lead the troops to pretend to leave, to induce the enemy to attack, and when they are halfway out, we will suddenly turn back and counterattack, which is the most advantageous. ”

"I see." Yu Ke suddenly realized and nodded again and again. "Then do we want to lure the people of Qi out as it says in the Art of War?"

"Well, that's easier said than done. We came from afar, and the supplies were already difficult to maintain, and the Qi people were intending to defend in this battle, so they would definitely not be able to hold out. On the contrary, the expedition consumes a lot of gold every day, and the king is eager to win, so I am worried that the people of Qi will lure us in. ”

"And how do you deal with the enemy?"

"There is only such a pass between the two armies, if we want to attack the Qi country, we can only take it, but it is not advisable to attack by force."

"General, you have experienced a hundred battles, and this time you will definitely win, I am really fortunate to be able to follow you."

Zhang Xun shook his head and said: "Not to mention that the outcome of this battle is unpredictable, even if we win, we must pay a huge price, and that price is something that our Wu State cannot afford now, so from the day we set out on the expedition, we have already lost this war." ”

Yu Ke said a little confused: "General, why do you say that?" ”

Zhang Xun didn't answer directly, but asked: "Yu Ke, you were originally an officer and soldier guarding the city, and you were supposed to guard the capital, why did you appear here?" ”

"Because of the general's appreciation and promotion, I can have the opportunity to become your adjutant."

"Hehe, you helped me a lot last year, thanks to you and my family were able to escape from the city, you are kind to me, if there is a chance, I will naturally promote you. But that's not what I'm asking, I'm asking why you're on this battlefield. ”

Yu Ke thought for a moment and replied: "The king used troops against the country this time, mobilized a large number of reserve troops, and among the brothers who defended the city, seven or eight out of ten entered the combat troops. ”

"Well, that's it, my country's standing army is only sixty or seventy thousand, and now I have mobilized 100,000 troops, poured the strength of the whole country, and traveled a long way to fight with the Qi country, this is a ...... death" Zhang Xun didn't finish speaking, but he closed his mouth, he smiled slightly, and sighed: "Hehe, forget it, the big war is coming, and there are some things that can't be said again." However, whether it is a general, or even more so a king, we must not only consider the gains and losses on the battlefield, and the competition for national strength is not only on the battlefield in many cases. ”

Yu Ke nodded thoughtfully, "The truth of what the general said is a bit profound, although I don't understand it very well, but I think what the general said is very reasonable." ”

Zhang Xunping raised his arms, asked Yu Ke to help him put on his shoulder armor, and asked, "By the way, how is the situation of the Vietnamese army?" ”

"When the Vietnamese army set out, it was just in time for the rainy season, the roads were muddy and difficult to walk, and the march was slow and missed the time to gather troops. But they arrived at Win City yesterday and are now stationed next to us. ”

"Let's go, follow me to the Vietnamese army camp."

"Whoa!"

Zhang Xun left the snoring Wu army camp and came to the Yue military camp, only to see that the Vietnamese soldiers had already gotten up to practice, and these soldiers were not very old, and the average was only sixteen or seventeen years old. In Zhang Xun's view, these soldiers are actually more like a group of children, but they practice seriously, and they have a clear eye for every move, and their resolute eyes reveal fearless courage and belief in victory.

Zhang Xun couldn't help but admire: "The future is terrifying! ”

Yu Ke also nodded again and again, he took out a short sword from the weapon rack on the side, looked at it in his hand, and praised in surprise: "General, look! This iron sword can be so sharp! ”

Zhang Xun took the short sword, took a closer look, and found that the short sword was made of pure iron, extremely sharp, and there was not the slightest rust on the sword. Although this kind of mass-produced weapon cannot be compared with the Chongli sword that he has carefully polished, it can be regarded as the best of the iron swords, and in comparison, the bronze swords that the soldiers of the Wu State are now equipped with are dwarfed and not worth mentioning.

Zhang Xun gently rubbed the sharp blade of the iron sword with his fingers, feeling faintly uneasy in his heart, feeling an inexplicable crisis.

At this time, there was a sound of sword dancing in the camp tent not far away, and Zhang Xun looked for the wind sound, which was the general camp tent of the Vietnamese army. I only listened to the roar of the sword and the wind, breaking through the sky, and shaking the four wildernesses. Zhang Xun's palms were oozing with sweat, his heartbeat was getting faster and faster, and the sound of dancing swords appeared outside the house in the early morning countless times, regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, scorching heat and cold.

Zhang Xun remembered that on the first morning after entering the division, he slept lazily under the covers, the snow outside the house was up to his ankles, and the white sky and earth were frozen in ice.

The warm fire in the room swayed lazily, embellishing the sweet warm sun in the dreamland. There was the sound of dancing swords outside the house, and the sound of the swords seemed to carry a chill, and it went straight into the bed. Zhang Xun let out a long yawn, barely opened his sleepy eyes, he was confused for a while before he staggered out of bed, lying by the window and carefully pushing the window open. The snow fell sparsely from the window, and the cold wind poured into the room, blowing him to the core.

In the courtyard, a shirtless boy was holding a blazing sword and dancing wildly in the thick snow, although the weather was cold, the boy was hot, sweating profusely, and white mist evaporated from his solid muscles, he was like a fire, indulging in the burning of the green youth.

The young man saw Zhang Xun, smiled at Zhang Xun, then turned over and jumped, rolling up a cloud of snow from the ground, only to see that the blazing sword took advantage of the situation, and threw out the snowball, which was smashing on Zhang Xun's face. Zhang Xun hurriedly wiped the snow off his face, and when he opened his eyes again, he found that the young man had come over, and the two looked at each other, close at hand.

"You're new here? What is your name? The boy asked.

Zhang Xun nodded, and saluted respectfully through the window, "My name is Zhang Xun, senior brother." ”

"Don't be so formal, my name is Ji Zheng, I am the youngest in the division, and everyone calls me Xiao Ji."

"Senior brother, I'm thirteen years old this year, what about you?"

"Me, I'm fourteen years old this year, haha, then you will be the youngest in the sect, and you will be my younger brother."

"Yes, senior brother."

"Haha, you can also call me Xiao Ji if it's okay."

"Is that okay? Brother. ”

"Absolutely."

"Little ...... Little Ji ......"

Zhang Xun recalled the picture of the first time he saw Ji Zheng, and before he knew it, he had come to the outside of the general's tent, and across the fence, the sound of dancing swords inside was so clear.

"Who?!" The Vietnamese guards set up their halberds and pointed at Zhang Xun and scolded.

"Bold!" Yu Ke stepped forward and pointed at the guards, and reprimanded sharply: "You don't even know General Zhang, the commander of the Left Army!?" ”

"General Zhang?" The immature guard scratched his head in confusion.

"Hurry up and report it!" Yu Ke rebuked dissatisfied.

"Whoa!"

The guards responded and hurriedly turned around and ran into the camp to report.

"Humph! The Vietnamese people are more rude than the other! Yu Ke complained angrily.

"It's okay, he's still a kid." Zhang Xun didn't care.

"That's too rude!"

Soon, the sound of sword dancing in the tent died down. Then the guard ran out recklessly and said to Zhang Xun and Yu Ke: "General Zhang, my general is invited!" ”

Zhang Xun's heart was beating faster and faster, and the familiar sword whistle seemed to echo in his ears again. He clenched the blazing sword at his waist tightly, and scenes from the past flashed quickly in his mind.

Five years ago, the three brothers went on their second expedition to the state of Chen. Before leaving, because he was worried about Hana, Ji Zheng turned the horse back. Unexpectedly, that farewell was five years.

Zhang Xun walked through the fence and entered the general's tent, and sure enough, he saw a person standing in the courtyard with a short sword, but that person was not Ji Zheng, but a person he didn't want to see - Xiao Shi.

Zhang Xun was disappointed, he looked around, trying to find Ji Zheng's figure, but in vain.

"General Zhang, what are you looking for?" Xiao Shi came to salute with a smile on his face.

"I didn't ...... It's nothing ......" Zhang Xun came back to his senses and looked at Xiao Shi, only to see that there was no trace of sweat on his face, his clothes were clean and tidy, and his hair was meticulously combed.

"I haven't seen you for a year, General Zhang, don't come unharmed?"

"Oh, thanks to you, it's okay."

"I heard that Wu Xiangguo committed suicide? Hey, Wu Xiangguo is a generation of loyalty, and his death is really a common sorrow for the world's virtuous people! ”

"You don't need to comment on our internal affairs."

"Huh?" Xiao Shi waved his right index finger left and right, and said with a smile: "General Zhang's words are wrong, you and I are now allies, and the political situation of the allies has a great impact on us, how can I not care?" In the final analysis, we are now a family, one is prosperous, and one is lost. ”

"Humph! Xiao She, don't talk about it, you and I can be safe. Don't forget, you still have the blood debt of the Yue Nu clan to repay! ”

"Haha! Wronged! It's really wronged! The slaughter of the Yue Nu clan is a strategy, what does it have to do with me? General Zhang must know that at that time, it was I who rescued Shuang Di, Heyu and the remaining Yue Nu people back to Yue Kingdom, by the way, Wu Guo still doesn't know about Heyu and Shuang Di, right? ”

Zhang Xun glanced at Xiao Shi and said fiercely: "One day I will rescue Shuang Di and He Yu, and if they are missing a single hair, I will definitely break you into pieces!" ”

"Hehe, General Zhang, don't worry, you are my junior brother, that frost is my sister, how can I treat her badly, besides, I not only take good care of her, I also help her heal!"

"Heal?! What's wrong with Frosty?! ”

"Huh? You don't know? She was speechless. ”

"What?! Frost never said anything about her aphasia in the letter she wrote to me! ”

"Oops, that's my mouth." Xiao Shi pretended to smack his mouth, and then said with a smile: "It seems that Sister Shuangdi doesn't want you to worry." ”