『ps: Thanks to the book friend of "Sadness Behind the Mask" for giving 50,000 Qidian coins~』

The following text

On July 16th, the fourth day after Teng County was captured by the Qi army, Qi general Tian Jing led 40,000 Qi troops to the area around the Weiyang area and stationed camps about fifteen miles north of the city of Weiyang. While building camps, the Qi army began to build siege chariots, siege ladders and other siege equipment.

With only fifteen miles apart, the movements of the total 40,000 people could not be hidden from Fengyang City. After all, during these days, Meng Zhong would occasionally ask Meng Hu to take a team of soldiers outside the city to see the movements of the two generals Tian Chu and Tian Da.

Unexpectedly, although Tian Chu and Tian Da were temporarily still, as if they had temporarily given up their plans to recapture Tancheng, they waited for Tian Jing's large number of Qi Jun.

After Meng Hu immediately told the news to the Crown Prince Dai Wu and Meng Zhong, Meng Zhong frowned deeply.

He asked Meng Hu, "Where did this Qi army come from? Who is the general who led the troops?"

Meng Hu shook his head and said, "I don't know yet, but when I look at the banner, it seems to have words such as "Su Sima Tian" and "Yingqiu Shutian" written on it... I don't know which surname is Tian."

The prince Dai Wu from the side interrupted and said, "It was Tian Zhang's deputy general Tian Jing. I saw his banner when I was in Xueyi."

As he said that, he and Meng Zhong looked at each other, and his face showed a hint of sorrow.

Thinking about it, as they knew before, Tian Jing led 80,000 Qi troops to attack Teng County by Tian Zhang. Now, Tian Jing suddenly led half of the soldiers to reinforce the Weiyang area. Does this mean that Teng County has been lost?

"Depending on this attitude, Qi Jun is probably preparing to attack Wei Yang. Should he recruit Uncle Yingzhi back from Zaolin?" Crown Prince Dai Wu thought about it and asked.

Meng Zhong thought for a moment, shook his head and said, "There were 10,000 soldiers in the city, and the eight thousand soldiers of the clan leader Xiao Yan, and the combat force reached 18,000. Even if the Qi army surrounded Biyang and launched a fierce attack, it would be no problem for us to defend for one month. We do not need the Sima of Dai (Yingzhi) army to return to the aid for the time being, let alone the lonely city is even more uncomfortable. Instead of letting Dai Sima return to the aid for the end, and finally being forced to retreat into the city because of the pressing of Qi, it would be better to keep him out and whether he could attack the front and back... However, Tian Jing led his army to Biyang, he still needed to send someone to notify Dai Sima as soon as possible to make Dai Sima be vigilant."

"Um!"

The prince Dai Wu nodded and immediately ordered his confidant guards to send someone to Zaolin to convey the news to Dai Yingzhi.

Meng Zhong took Meng Hu out of Biyang City in a chariot and went to Tian Jing's Qi army's garrison, wanting to see the scale of the Qi army with his own eyes and guess the other party's next intention.

After waiting for Meng Zhong, Meng Hu and others sneaked to Tian Jing's Qi army's garrison, they stood on the chariot and looked at the Qi army in the distance.

At this time, it was vaguely visible that the soldiers of Qi were fighting against the wood from a distance back to the camp. From a distance, they saw signs of large-scale construction.

It is no wonder that in order to ensure the vision of Biyang City, it also makes it difficult for the Qi army on the opposite side to cut down trees nearby. After Tian Zhang led his army to Dushan, Meng Zhong sent his soldiers to burn all the forests around Biyang City, leaving Jishan and Longshan area. The reason is very simple, because there was Qi general Tian Chu guarding that direction, Meng Zhong did not want to confront the Qi army in the wild.

After all, the Song army suffered consecutive defeats some time ago, which led to the downward morale of the soldiers and almost no morale. Meng Zhong dared to pull such a group of low-spirited soldiers to fight against the high-spirited Qi army?

Perhaps because he had been peeping for a long time, the Qi army opposite found the traces of Meng Zhong, Meng Hu and others, and immediately sent a team of soldiers to expel them. Therefore, Meng Zhong retreated very consciously, any of them could peep at this distance. Unless he and Meng Hu had excellent force like Lian Po, Niu Jian, and Teng Hu, he did not dare to get too close to the enemy's camp to avoid any accidents.

Waiting for him to return to Biyang City, the prince Dai Wu and Xiao Yan stood at the north gate of Biyang City. After seeing Meng Zhong return, he shouted a few words on the city, indicating that Meng Zhong climbed up to the city tower.

Xiao Yan is the Sima of the county in "Xiao County" west of Pengcheng, the sect leader of the Xiao clan of Xiao County, and the title of Zhongdafu. I remember that Meng Qi, the sect leader of the Meng clan, was just a junior doctor, and he can be called an old noble family in the Song Dynasty.

A few days ago, after Xiao Jian and Dai Jingchu resisted Yang, Meng Zhong had dealt with the two. As a result, the young Dai Jing was too proud, so when Meng Zhong wanted Le Yi to help him, Dai Jing's reaction was only "Since it was the prince's intention, I will do it." This statement was obviously a distrust of Meng Zhong and Le Yi.

On the contrary, Xiao Yan, who was about the same age as Meng Yan, the leader of the Meng family, was always polite. Although he called Meng Zhong a junior, he had no intention of relying on his seniority and would not make people disgusted.

It is worth mentioning that the Xiao family is a hereditary family of Zhongdafu, while the Meng family is only a lower-level family of doctors. It can be seen that the Xiao family of Xiao County is still quite strong.

"Your Highness, Sima Xiao."

After getting onto the city wall, Meng Zhong bowed to Dai Wu, Xiao Qi and the others and hugged their fists.

Prince Dai Wu nodded, while at the same time, Xiao Yan stroked his beard and asked Meng Zhong with a smile: "Meng Sima, is there anything unusual about the situation in the Qi army?"

Since Meng Zhong's position was a Sima enthroned by Wang Yan of Song, Xiao Yan called Meng Zhong with this serious military position, which is completely different from Dai Busheng, who directly called "Meng Xiao Brother", Dai Yingzhi.

Of course, Dai Busheng and Dai Yingzhi are the only military Simas in the Song Dynasty, they do have this qualification.

He took the bowl handed over by a guard behind Prince Dai Wu and took a sip of water. Meng Zhong wiped the water stains on the corner of his mouth and said seriously: "As far as I see, the Qi army is building a camp fifteen miles away from the northern suburbs, and it seems to be also building siege equipment at the same time. I think this Qi army will launch an offensive against me in three days at most."

Hearing this, the prince Dai Wu sighed faintly, while Xiao Yan stroked his beard and remained silent for a while, and then suddenly asked, "In other words, Teng County has fallen?"

"Eight out of ten." Meng Zhong nodded.

Shaking his head slightly, Xiao Yan turned to the prince Dai Wu and said, "Crown Prince, since all the signs indicate that the Qi army is preparing to attack Wei Yang, then we must also prepare early."

The prince Dai Wu nodded and then looked at Meng Zhong quietly.

Because as far as he knows, Meng Zhong and Le Yi, who have left Biyang, have already finished preparing to defend the city. For example, they have prepared a large amount of wood in the city early on, which can be used as firewood and as wood to smash the Qi army to attack the city.

In addition, Meng Zhong also sent his soldiers to collect a lot of oil in the city of Weiyang.

In short, Meng Zhong and Le Yi had already completed these meticulous preparations, which is also the reason why Prince Dai Wu is increasingly trusting Meng Zhong: he is meticulous and does things very carefully.

Seeing that the prince Dai Wu seemed not to understand what he meant, Xiao Jian simply said directly: "Crown Prince, the old minister refers to the reorganization of soldiers. Look at the soldiers in the city, there are nearly 6,000 soldiers you personally led, as well as 3,000 soldiers left by the Sima of Dai Ying's army. In addition, the eight thousand children of various families headed by our Xiao clan are in chaos and it is difficult to dispatch them uniformly. It is better to rectify them first, which is conducive to defending the city." After a moment, he continued: "Then, select one person as the main general and the rest as the lower generals, so that they can be dispatched uniformly."

“…”

When the prince Dai Wu heard this, he looked at Xiao Yan deeply.

It has to be said that since the prince was in his teens, he began to receive Hui Ang's teachings. After waiting a little older, Hui Ang recommended Xue Juzhou to teach him. It was because he was taught by Hui Ang and Xue Juzhou for more than ten or twenty years that he is now over thirty years old this year, and even his son is eleven or twelve years old, but he still seems quite honest. To put it bluntly, that is, he is serious and follows the rules, as if he looks stupid and stupid.

However, this does not mean that the crown prince is really stupid. After all, he was taught by Hui Ang and Xue Juzhou. Although in Meng Zhong's view, the crown prince crown prince was too obedient to the rules and had no power.

"Recommended one person as the main general..."

After muttering, Prince Dai Wu suddenly smiled and asked Xiao Jian, "Who is Dr. Xiao paying attention to?"

"Your Highness the Crown Prince misunderstood."

Xiao Yan lived so old, how could he not know that Prince Dai Wu was a little unhappy and immediately said: "Before the old minister led his army to reinforce the prince, it was Meng Sima who assisted the prince to defend the prince. He made an indelible contribution. Of course, the old minister recommended Meng Sima as the chief general. How dare he have other thoughts? However, the old minister was worried that Meng Sima was weak, so he wanted to recommend a few young children from various families as subordinates of Meng Sima to jointly assist His Highness in guarding Biyang."

"It turns out that I want to pave the way for the younger generations in the clan."

Prince Dai Wu suddenly realized, and the smile on his face suddenly became sincere.

Anyway, in his opinion, the master general who blazed Yang must belong to Meng Zhong. After all, after this period of getting along, he admired Meng Zhong more and more.

It is no exaggeration to say that in recent days, the prince Dai Wu learned a lot of knowledge about leading troops to fight from Meng Zhong. If Meng Zhong was not too young and could not convince the public for the time being, he would have been determined to take Meng Zhong as his army and learn the art of war from the latter.

After all, there is an example of his father, Wang Yan of Song. Crown Prince Dai Wu believes that as the future monarch of the Song State, he must know how to lead troops to fight. If he becomes the monarch in the future, he will not dare to face the army of Qi State, and how can he ask others to resist?

At this point, Dai Wu admired his father, Song Wangyan very much. After all, Song Wangyan is like King Wuling of Zhao State. He is a monarch who will resolutely lead his army to fight as long as the country falls into war. He is very courageous and completely different from those monarchs who only hide in the palace and order the soldiers on the front line to fight to the death.

"So that's it. Doctor Xiao can do this matter. It's true that I urgently need young talents."

"Thank you, Your Highness,"

After some words, the prince Dai Wu and Xiao Yan were both satisfied.

As for Meng Zhong, he was also very happy.

It was not because he got the position of the chief general. After all, as a Taoist disciple, he did not care much about fame and fortune. But the problem was that only by getting the position of the chief general could he command and dispatch the soldiers in the city, so that he would not repeat the tragedy of his own defeat in Zhao State due to his slight words, and even Zhao's father died in civil strife.

"Meng Zhong, the army's Sima, please do your best to assist Dai Wu in guarding Wei Yang."

After Xiao Yan left with satisfaction, Prince Dai Wu said to Meng Zhong half-jokingly.

As the prince of Song and the commander-in-chief of the front-line battlefield, Prince Dai Wu still has the right to promote Meng Zhong to the army's Sima. [Note: Army Sima, that is, the chief general who commands at least one army's strength (12,500 people), can also be called military general.]

Meng Zhong smiled and immediately said sincerely: "I understand the prince's beauty, but I am the nameless person in Song Guo. If I serve as the Sima of the Army, I will not motivate the soldiers in the city. Besides, I don't want my righteous brother Tian Zhang to know that it is me..."

"I understand what you mean."

Crown Prince Dai Wu raised his hand to interrupt Meng Zhong's words and said seriously: "I know all of what you said. I will come forward to motivate the soldiers in the city according to your wishes, but in Dai Wu's heart, you, Meng Zhong, are the only ones who are in the army that are forced to Yang!... In this way, I will temporarily take over your military achievements first, and wait until the battle is over, and then I will personally express my merits to you in front of my father. At that time, you are the real army Sima of my Song State."

Meng Zhong was stunned for a moment, and then realized that the prince Dai Wu was preparing to promote him.

He laughed and said, "Will the army Sima, who is not yet in a bad mood, arouse surprise from others?"

Prince Dai Wu smiled and said, "The father has always done his own things. As his son, I am also such a person."

After saying that, he patted Meng Zhong on the shoulder to show his closeness, and then said solemnly: "Dai Wu does not understand military tactics, but he also knows that forcing Yang cannot be misunderstood, otherwise the Qi army can drive straight into Pengcheng... I'll ask you everything!"

After hearing this, Meng Zhong suddenly felt a heavy burden on his shoulders.

He nodded solemnly, clasped his fists and said, "Prince, don't worry!"

Immediately, the prince Dai Wu left, leaving only Meng Zhong and Meng Hu standing at the top of the city.

He didn't have time to think about it some time ago. It was not until today that Prince Dai Wu mentioned that he thought of the key point of Biyang City. As the main general of Biyang City, he naturally inevitably suffered pressure.

When Zhao State failed, they could still return to Song State, but if this battle was defeated and led to the fall of Song State, where should they go?

"There is no mistake to force the sun!"

After a while, Meng Zhong looked outside the city and whispered.

His voice was light, but firm.

Hearing this, Meng Hu leaned against the city wall and tilted his head. He had always been fearless and grinned and responded to Meng Zhong: "Yes!"

On the afternoon of that day, the prince Dai Wu General forced the county government in Yangcheng to summon several generals in the army, as well as the patriarchs of various families such as Xiao Yan, Sima, and young children nominated for promotion.

After laying the groundwork, the Crown Prince Dai Wu formally handed over the Fu Jie that Song Wangyan had previously handed him to Meng Zhong, at least among these people, to "reform" Meng Zhong and appointed his chief general.

The generals under the command of the Crown Prince Dai Wu were not surprised by this. Xiao Yan, the patriarchs of some families and Sima, had learned about some of the situation, but the young children of various families who were unaware of it, felt quite incredible.

After all, they are already past the age of twentieth, and Meng Zhong obviously looks younger than them. How can He De become the leader of the army?

I have to say that this is also the reason why Meng Zhong refused to resign from the position of Sima in the past. After all, he has no prestige in the State of Song. If the prince Dai Wu is aside, the soldiers of the Song army may not necessarily obey his orders.

Afterwards, Meng Zhong came forward to formally guard several guards guarding the city gates on all sides.

The city gate to the north is guarded by Sima "Border Bandits" under the command of Prince Dai Wuyuan; the city gate to the west is guarded by Sima "Mo Heng" under the command of Dai Yingzhi; the city gate to the south is guarded by Sima "Cao Feng" of the Cao family; the city gate to the east is guarded by Sima "Xiang Chu" of the Xiang family.

These four are all the best recommended by the Crown Prince Dai Wu and Xiao Yan.

In addition, the crown prince Dai Wu and Xiao Yan recommended "Dangyu", "She Qing", "Xiang Kai", "Huan Fang", "Jiao Li" and other dozens of young people who were estimated to be in their twenties to thirties, and Meng Zhong arranged positions for them one by one.

I have to say that most of them looked at Meng Zhong with a strange expression. They thought about Meng Zhong’s background in private and didn’t know where Meng Zhong came from, and why he was so young but could be entrusted with important tasks by Prince Dai Wu.
To be continued...