July 20th, the fifth day when the Qi army attacked Weiyang City in a row.

Before dusk, Tian Zhang, who had traveled from Dushan day and night to the area of ​​Biyang, led a small team of people to watch the attack on Biyang City from afar, and watched the general Tian Jing's attack on Biyang City.

Although it was not the whole battle, as Tian Zhang saw, his deputy general Tian Jing did not make any mistakes when commanding the attack on Biyang City. He followed the steps and was quite organized, but unfortunately he was unable to attack the walls of Biyang City.

As dusk approached, Tian Jing had no choice but to order the withdrawal of troops. At this time, Tian Zhang ordered the soldiers who were driving the chariot to drive forward and meet Tian Jing.

"Zhangzi."

"Well, Tian Jing, thank you for your hard work."

"Not hard, just...ah."

While greeting each other, Tian Jing turned around and looked at the walls of Biyang City and said with some annoyance: "This Biyang is no less than Hangu Pass."

Hearing this, Tian Zhang couldn't help but be surprised. After all, according to his understanding, Tian Jing was not the kind of person who deliberately raised the enemy to escape responsibility.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Tian Jing looked at the faraway city and said in a deep voice: "For five days so far, I have led my troops to attack Weiyang. The number of soldiers participating in the war is around 10,000 every day. About half of the casualties after the war. Even though the Song army in Weiyang City is slightly injured, it is estimated that the casualties are at least 15,000... But even so, the defense of Weiyang City has not weakened at all. The morale of the Song army is still high, but the soldiers of our army can no longer hold on..."

"Is the morale of the Song army still high?" Tian Zhang also glanced at Biyang City after hearing this.

If they had no general understanding of the defensive forces of Biyang City before, as Tian Jing attacked Biyang City for five consecutive days, the general forces in the city were almost clearly understood by Tian Jing.

Tian Jing didn't know why there might be less than 20,000 troops in the city of Fengyang. Until he attacked the city on the fourth day, Dai Yingzhi led about 6,000 soldiers from the north to support the city. In other words, the defenders of Fengyang City were about 25,000. In fact, the Song army of Fengyang actually had more troops, but Dai Busheng, Dai Jing, Le Yi and others led about 18,000 people to sneak attack the hinterland of Qi, which made the number of Song soldiers in the area of ​​Fengyang far less than the Qi army.

"Is it because of Prince Song Dai Wu?" Tian Zhang asked with a frown.

In his opinion, under this situation, the Song army in Fengyang City can still be motivated to resist hard, and it is probably only the crown prince Dai Wu. After all, this person is the crown prince of Song State. His position in Fengyang can naturally greatly inspire the Song army and civilians in Fengyang City.

With a prince Dai Wu and a "Ying Ji", it is really difficult to conquer this Fengyang City.

"It should be."

Tian Jing nodded, then seemed to think of something, and said, "However, the North City Wall is not commanded by Prince Song Dai Wu, but another person. This guy can accurately grasp the momentum of our army every time. When our army's offensive slows down, he immediately seizes the opportunity to rotate the soldiers, so that the exhausted and wounded soldiers will retreat into the city, and immediately replenish the physically energetic soldiers; and when our army's offensive is urgent, he will send troops to reinforce in time, and even lead people to reinforce the city wall in person, so that every wave of attacks of our army is blocked by this person..."

Hearing this, Tian Zhang subconsciously narrowed his eyes and asked in a deep voice: "Who is this person?"

"I don't know." Tian Jing shook his head and said, "I only know that all the Song soldiers in the city call him "Sama Suo Sima."

"Support Sima... In other words, the deputy general of the Crown Prince Dai Wu, well, it seems that this person is the "Ying Ji"! If you have the chance, you really want to see him."

After a last glance at Biyang City, Tian Zhang and Tian Jing returned to the camp together to discuss the resurgence of Biyang tomorrow.

They all knew very well that if they could not conquer Biyang in the future, then for the sake of the combat effectiveness of the soldiers in his army, they would have to carry out a rectification and restoration so that the soldiers could recover their physical strength. This means that the goal of conquering Biyang would have to be postponed again.

At this time, watching the Qi army outside the city slowly evacuate on the city wall, the Song soldiers guarding the city couldn't help but cheer, even if they knew that the Qi army would make a comeback tomorrow.

"So Sima, the Qi army has retreated. You can drink a little water first." A clever Song Bing walked to Meng Zhong with a bowl and said respectfully.

"It's been a labor."

Meng Zhong smiled slightly at the soldier, then took the bowl and started drinking slowly.

After all, in the past two days, the Qi army's siege was extremely powerful, and almost every time they attacked from morning to dusk, so that Meng Zhong had no time to drink water and eat.

Now, he has not yet entered the water today.

And while Meng Zhong was drinking water, a complaint came not far away.

"These people finally retreated, but I was so tired that I couldn't even lift my hands..."

Meng Zhong turned his head and saw Meng Hu, covered in blood, dragging a sharp sword, slowly walking towards him.

It is worth mentioning that after hearing Meng Hu's complaint, several nearby soldiers immediately surrounded Meng Hu like a good thing. This one helped him pinch his shoulders and the other helped him pinch his hands. Those who didn't know what the noble prince came from.

"This guy..."

Looking at Meng Zhong's enjoyable appearance, Meng Zhong couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

It has to be said that it was not Meng Hu who forced the soldiers to do these things, but those soldiers from the bottom of their hearts. After all, Meng Zhong and Meng Hu often led their troops to reinforce the city walls on both sides these days, which gave the two the opportunity to save many Song Bings who were almost killed by the Qi army at one time. The grace of saving lives is of course worthy of the gratitude of the Song Bings.

Now, in a few days, Meng Zhong, the "Seima" and Meng Hu, the "Meng Ship Commander", gradually gained prestige among the soldiers of the Song army - different from the prestige of the crown prince Dai Wu, this is the prestige that Meng Zhong and Meng Hu really fought hard.

"Boom--"

The North City Gate slowly opened, and immediately, the generals Bian Kou and Huan Fang from the North City Gate each led a team of Song soldiers out of the city to clear the battlefield.

The so-called cleaning up the battlefield is roughly to finish off the bodies of enemy soldiers after the war, then strip away the armor of enemy soldiers, and take away the weapons left by Qi army on the ground. This is the treatment that only the victorious party can get.

At this time, I'm afraid that the few soldiers of the Song army would be happy. After all, the armor of the Qi army was quite good. Although it was somewhat inconvenient to move outside of their armor, the defense ability was greatly increased. Just like the Xinwei Army, when wearing three layers of armor, the enemy's sword blade could not pierce its armor at once. What is this concept?

"Don't rob, go back to the city quickly after finishing!"

Seeing that his soldiers outside the city were clearing the battlefield and laughing and fighting because they snatched armor, Meng Zhong scolded him a few words on the city.

Immediately, the border bandits and Huan Fang scolded the soldiers and quickly cleared the battlefield with the rest of the soldiers.

To put it bluntly, it is to see if there are any corpses outside the city that have not yet died. If the soldiers who unfortunately fell to the city still breathe, then they will be carried to the city immediately to recover from the wounds. If the soldiers from the enemy still breathe, then give the other party a sword to let them breathe completely.

However, so far, we have almost never encountered two soldiers who have a breath.

About a moment later, the Song soldiers outside the city moved all the bodies outside the city to the city wall inside the city wall. Then, they stripped off their armor and buried the bodies, leaving only pieces of land stained with blood outside the city.

"Border bandit."

"exist."

"Sit in the city tower for me."

"Here!"

After finishing, Meng Zhong ordered Bian Kou to sit in the city gate tower for him, while he took Meng Hu to the city with a chariot.

Along the way to the inner city, Meng Zhong saw many Song people in the city going back and forth, helping the Song soldiers transport food and grass, as well as defensive equipment such as marble.

Seeing that scene, Meng Zhong said sincerely: "The prince will make a great contribution to forcing Yangcheng to defend."

It is true that although the Crown Prince Dai Wu claimed to have read military books, he really had no experience in leading troops to fight, but the Crown Prince has a very good personality.

Two days ago, when Meng Zhong realized that the Qi army would launch continuous attacks on Biyang City, he made suggestions to Prince Dai Wu: Only by seeking the assistance of the people in the city can the military and civilians work together to win back the invading Qi army.

When the prince Dai Wu heard this, he agreed and took his guards to visit the people in the city, bowed from house to house, begging the people in the city to help, and did not feel that it was shameful to bend down to the civilians with his noble status.

This is exactly what Meng Zhong admires the most about Prince Dai Wu. Although the prince was taught a little stupid by Hui Ang and Xue Juzhou, two important officials, and lacked the things that a king should have, such as power, his character is really excellent. Even Meng Zhong couldn't help but praise him: It is worthy of being carefully taught by his righteous brother Hui Ang.

Under the sincere begging of the prince, the people in the city spontaneously organized themselves to help the Song army transport food and food. Many people even ran directly to the barracks in the city to help the Song army cook, boil water, and take care of the wounded soldiers, greatly reducing the Song army's fatigue in chores and allowing them to devote all their physical strength and energy to fight against the Qi army.

Because of this, Meng Zhong privately told Meng Hu: The character of the prince Dai Wu is worth the strength of a military force!

Soon, Meng Zhong found the prince Dai Wu in the city wall, who was guarding a pot with firewood burning underneath.

Seeing this, after Meng Hu stopped the chariot, Meng Zhong turned over and jumped off the chariot, and joked to the prince Dai Wu while walking, saying, "What, Prince, I won't carry the rice this time?"

Hearing this, the prince Dai Wu, who had already stood up, smiled embarrassedly and explained: "They thought I was clumsy, so they simply asked me to keep the pot and pour rice in after the water boils..."

Hearing his words, the Song soldiers nearby who were busy boiling water and the people in the city couldn't help laughing.

『This atmosphere is really good...』

After looking at the Song soldiers and the people in the city who came to help, Meng Zhong said secretly.

As he saw, the Crown Prince Dai Wu truly achieved closeness with soldiers and the people. It was not that others could not do it, but that as Dai Wu's identity, he could ignore the superiority and respect the virtuous military and civilians. This was something that most nobles in the world could not do, or simply say they would disdain to do.

For example, Xue Gong Tian Wen, whom Meng Zhong once met, was known as a famous scholar who "maintained three thousand scholars", but his struggle with ordinary civilians was no less than other nobles. It was just that he had some staff members who valued civilians, such as Feng Xi and Wei Chu, who valued civilians, which made Tian Wen gain the reputation of treating civilians well.

But in essence, Tian Wen still looks down on civilians.

I think it was only when the prince Dai Wu, who was taught by Hui Ang and Xue Juzhou and others since childhood, who had been taught by Confucianism, that he would attach importance to the common people and the hearts of the people from the bottom of his heart.

『This is very good.』

Meng Zhong said secretly.

Although he was a Taoist disciple, he quite agreed with Mencius's claims of "benevolent government" and "respecting the people".

Thinking about the Teng Kingdom back then, the State of Teng was far weaker than the State of Song, but it made the State of Song suffer because Teng Hong and Teng Hu and his son were benevolent and won the hearts of the people. When the State of Song attacked Teng Kingdom, almost all the people of Teng helped their monarch resist the Song army.

Although Teng was eventually defeated by Song, it was just because the strength of the two countries was too different, and it was not a matter of people's hearts.

Nowadays, although Song State is not as powerful as Qi State - it may take two Song State to barely be equal to Qi State, if the royal family can win the hearts of the people, Qi State may not be able to dominate the State of Song State. [ps: Song State's economy and army are actually stronger than Yan State, but they are in the four battles, surrounded by three powerful countries, Qi, Wei and Chu (all of which dominate the Central Plains). Except for attacking Wei State northward as in history (that is, King Wuling of Zhao acquiesced to King Yan of Song to annex the State of Wei State), it would be difficult to expand abroad, unlike Yan State in a corner.]

But unfortunately, the current monarch of Song Dynasty Dai Yan is not a monarch who pays attention to the hearts of the people. Fortunately, the prince Dai Wu has excellent character. As Hui Ang once said, he put all his expectations on Prince Dai Wu.

Indeed, Prince Dai Wu is indeed worthy of hope. Even Meng Zhong has a very good feeling for this prince.

After joking each other for a while, the prince Dai Wu asked Meng Zhong: "Meng Qing, do you think the Qi army will come to attack the city tomorrow? As far as I know, the soldiers have been on the battlefield with injuries in the past two days. If this continues, I am afraid..."

Upon hearing this, Meng Zhong nodded slightly.

After all, the Crown Prince Dai Wu was right. Since the Qi army attacked the city in the past few days, there was no gap between them for a day, this led to more and more Song soldiers in the city, so that in the end, many soldiers could only go into battle with injuries. Even Meng Zhong himself, his left arm was shot through by an arrow, let alone others.

After thinking about it, he comforted the prince Dai Wu and said, "Don't worry, Prince. I think it will be difficult for the Qi army to hold on for a long time. Today I was watching the city and found that the offensive of the Qi soldiers had weakened a lot compared to the previous few days. I think the Qi army has also suffered a lot from the continuous attacks in the past few days, but Tian Jing refused to give me a chance to breathe, so he stepped up the attack... At most, the Qi army would not be able to hold on for a while."

"I hope so."

The prince Dai Wu nodded melancholy, and then he asked Meng Zhong: "By the way, Meng Qing, the soldiers under Uncle Ying, why did you leave three thousand people behind and not send them to defend the city? Although there were not many people, if these three thousand people participated in the battle, the soldiers in the city would be able to breathe a little..."

What he said was Dai Yingzhi, who had been back and forth to help Yang two days ago.

After all, Tian Jing, Tian Chu and Tian Da jointly led 60,000 Qi troops to attack the city, and Shibu Yang's troops were only 18,000. In this case, Meng Zhong naturally wanted to recall the 6,000 troops stationed in Zaolin. After all, calculating the days, Dai Busheng, Dai Jing, Le Yi and others had already attacked the hinterland of Qi, and Tian Zhang showed no sign of sending troops to Tancheng. At this time, Dai Yingzhi stationed in Zaolin is not very meaningful to be honest. It would be better to transfer back to Qiyang to prevent the Qi army from breaking through this city.

But after Dai Yingzhi led 6,000 troops back to Weiyang, Meng Zhong only allowed half of them to participate in defending the city, while the remaining 3,000 people were allowed to station Dai Yingzhi in the city.
To be continued...