In February of the third year of King Wei, Wei general Gongsun Xi led 80,000 Wei troops to set off in Daliang City, and went up the river, passing through Xingyang and Chenggao, passing through Han and finally arrived in Luoyang, Zhou State, and joined the 100,000 Hedong Wei troops directly under Gongsun Xi in Luoyang, totaling 180,000 Wei troops.

I remember when I was following the army through the city of Gong, Meng Hu had stood on a chariot and looked at the city in the distance, saying with some longing: "Is that city in the distance the city of Luoyang where the Emperor Zhou lived?"

Hearing this, Meng Zhong, Meng Sui, Le Yi, Wu Ying, Rong Fen and others all looked at the city in the distance.

It is no wonder that although the Zhou Kingdom has now been in name only, it is a country that has been passed down for 800 years. Even if it is now weak to the point of being on par with small countries such as Wei Kingdom and Lu Kingdom, it is undeniable that it still has a considerable influence in the world. Even after the Shang Kingdom's surnames such as Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, Wu Ying, and Xiang Liao, they all knew that their ancestors, Shang people, were destroyed by the Zhou King's army.

However, just when Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, Meng Sui and others were stopping their chariots and looking at the city in the distance, Cao Chun, Wei Xu, Cai Cheng and others were laughing secretly.

Finally, Cai Cheng smiled and said, "Several, that's Gongcheng, not Luoyang."

"Not Luoyang?"

Meng Hu was shocked and asked in confusion: "Didn't Lu Wen just now that the city in the distance is the capital of Zhou State?"

After hearing this, Lu Wen waved his hand and said with a smile: "I'm just saying that the city is the capital of Zhou, but I didn't say it was Luoyang... As Cai Cheng said, it was Gongcheng."

Meng Hu, Meng Sui and others looked at each other, and even Meng Zhong was a little confused.

Seeing this, Cao Chun explained briefly to Meng Zhong and others.

It turns out that the Zhou Kingdom, which had been passed down for nearly 800 years, has not only been so weak that it can only be on par with small countries such as Wei and Lu, but it has even been divided into two parts of the East and West, so it is called the Western Zhou Kingdom and the Eastern Zhou Kingdom.

The Western Zhou Kingdom still lived in Luoyi, with Luoyang as its capital, and was governed by the Duke of the Western Zhou Kingdom. By pleasing the countries and getting close to Qin Kingdom, the Eastern Zhou Kingdom was able to survive; while the Eastern Zhou Kingdom used Luoyang's accompanying capital "Gong" as its capital, and was governed by the Duke of the Eastern Zhou Kingdom. Because of its incompatibility with the Western Zhou Kingdom and the two Zhou Kingdoms often went to war, they tended to be close to the Three Jin Kingdoms, especially the Wei and Han Kingdoms.

As for the Zhou emperor mentioned in Meng Hu, he had already defected to the Western Zhou Kingdom and surrendered to the Western Zhou Duke. It is no exaggeration to say that the Zhou royal family has been disgraced to this day, and it can only be considered a stagnation.

"There are actually two Zhou countries?"

After listening to Cao Chun's explanation, Meng Hu's expression was really strange and immediately lost interest in the Gongcheng in the distance.

You should know that Luoyang is not only the capital of Zhou, but also one of the capitals of Shang Dynasty, which was called "Xibo" at that time. Therefore, the descendants of the Shang Dynasty had a complicated mood towards Luoyang.

As for Gongcheng, where is that place? I have never heard of it.

A moment later, 80,000 Wei troops arrived at the city of Gongcheng. Gongsun Xi sent an order and the army temporarily stationed here.

The purpose of stationing was very simple, that is, to join with the 100,000 Hedong Wei troops directly under his command, and reorganize the army.

This order gave a total of 180,000 Wei troops a short and precious opportunity to rest before the war. During this period, many generals of the Wei army led to find a place to drink and enjoy themselves, and Gongsun Xi did not prohibit this.

After all, even Gongsun Xi himself was invited by the Eastern Zhou Duke in Gongcheng to host a banquet.

As the commander of the division, Meng Zhong was a commander of the army who was no less popular than that of the army Sima during this period. Of course, he was also qualified to enter Gongcheng for a while. But just like Meng Hu, Xiang Liao and others, he was not interested in Gongcheng. In the end, he just ordered Xiang Liao to take people to Gongcheng around and see if he could get some wine and reward the 2,500 Wei Wushang under his command.

Although he was fined for half a year by Gongsun Xi, Meng Zhong still had a lot of money on hand, part of it was the money he brought from Song State to Wei State, that is, the Song sword coins given by Prince Dai Wu when he got married, and part of it was the several boxes of copper that Duan Gan secretly funded him before he followed Gongsun Xi to the expedition.

It is no exaggeration to say that as far as the Wei army is concerned, the money he carries with him at this moment is definitely the richest among the first level of the army. Even the generals at the Sima level of the army may not be as rich as him.

Of course, it is limited to the army. After all, each Sima of the army has many fields and houses in his garrison, which is incomparable to Meng Zhong, who had just arrived in Wei.

After waiting for dusk, Xiang Liao brought more than a hundred martial soldiers back from Gongcheng and brought back a lot of wine. Meng Zhong waved his hand and used the wine to reward his soldiers and generals, which attracted cheers from the soldiers and generals.

As for the words, as long as the commander is generous, his soldiers will be willing to work for him, and Meng Zhong is so generous in this regard that in just less than a month, the 2,500 Wei Wu soldiers under his command gradually became devoted to him.

Even Cao Chun, Wei Xu, Cai Cheng and others who were calling "Shishou" on the surface but shouting "That boy" behind their backs gradually called Meng Zhong from the bottom of their hearts, and the cohesion of the army was gradually increasing.

In the past ten days, when Gongsun Xi led the Wei army to station in Gongcheng, three waves of Korean envoys came here to ask for a meeting with Gongsun Xi.

As for what he said, Meng Zhong certainly didn't know, but according to his guess, he probably urged Gongsun Xi to lead his army to the battlefield as soon as possible.

The next day, Gongsun Xi summoned generals of the Sima level under his command in the Wei Ying Commander's tent outside Gongcheng City to discuss military information with them. Meng Zhong did not know what he had discussed, because he was not invited. After all, his military position was only the commander of the division, not the Sima of the army.

But that's it, Meng Zhong was somewhat unhappy, because he was worried that Gongsun Xi would send him to the rear of a certain battlefield and completely miss the war. Although Gongsun Xi would definitely give him some credit for Duan Gan's face, the problem is that Meng Zhong is not interested.

The purpose of Meng Zhong's joining Gongsun Xi this time was to get enough credit on the battlefield so that he could gain a foothold in the Wei State and even become a minister or general in the "Wei and Song Alliance" who could influence the attitude of the Wei State.

That night, Meng Zhong, Meng Sui, Le Yi and Xiang Liao had a plan.

Xiang Liao said to him: "Since Gongsun Xi is obviously trying to leave us idle, it is better for A Zhong to show his strength, even if he can't help but move out Duan Gan's family and the Confucians of Xihe for this..."

Hearing this, Le Yi frowned and said, "In this way, it may be inevitable to break up with Gongsun Xi..."

Xiang Liao lowered his voice and said, "As long as Gongsun Xi doesn't take out the handle, even if he breaks his face with him, he will not dare to do too much... But if we wait until Gongsun Xi formally sends an order to station us in a certain place and stay away from the battlefield, and then we will resist again, it will become a disobedience to the order. At that time, Gongsun Xi will be able to deal with us with justice..."

"That's true." Le Yi nodded and said in a deep voice: "It seems that we still have to find a way to squeeze into the military discussion so that we can figure out how Gongsun Xi will place our people..."

"Have you squeezed into the military discussion?" Meng Zhong nodded thoughtfully.

After that day, Meng Zhong handed over the army to Le Yi, Meng Sui and the other two took charge, and he took Rong Qi and his group of people to walk around the central army to find out when Gongsun Xi summoned the army Sima under his command.

Although the Wei generals in the central army were also puzzled why Meng Zhong often came to their central army for a walk, no one interfered. After all, the incident of Meng Zhong trespassing the rear camp a while ago had already spread his name throughout the army, so that most of the Wei generals had learned that this kid was not easy to mess with.

Even though it was the 100,000 Hedong Wei army directly under Gongsun Xi, he knew that Meng Zhong's backing was Duan Gan and the Xihe Confucian clan. Moreover, this kid was bold and reckless, no one was idle and had a grudge with Meng Zhong because of a small matter.

Of course, this matter is still not hidden from Gongsun Xi's eyes and ears. Within a few days, Gongsun Du, a guard, reported to Gongsun Xi: "Xiwu, according to the soldiers in the army, Meng Zhong has often wandered around the central army in recent days, and he has no idea what purpose it is."

"Hmph!" Gongsun Xi snorted coldly when he heard this, "The battle is imminent, but this kid is very idle... Don't worry about him. After a few days, I will send him away."

With Gongsun Xi's words, no one in the Wei generals of the Central Army paid attention to Meng Zhong and let him go around in the Central Army.

In mid-March, Gongsun Xi led the Eighteen Wei army to the Yique area, and stationed about ten miles north of Yique Mountain, and ordered soldiers to cut down trees nearby and build camps.

During the period when the Wei army built the camp here, the commander of the Han army, Bao Yuan, only brought more than a dozen guards to the unfinished Wei camp in person.

Bao Yuan and Gongsun Xi are old acquaintances. After all, when Tian Zhang led the army of Qi, Wei and Han to attack Qin a few years ago, Gongsun Xi and Bao Yuan served as Tian Zhang's left-right deputy generals, assisting Tian Zhang in breaking through the Hangu Pass of Qin in one fell swoop, forcing Qin to cede territory and seek peace.

Since that war, Tian Zhang has become one of the few famous generals in the world today, and Gongsun Xi and Bao Yuan have also gained the reputation of their own country because of this contribution and have won the trust of the monarchs of both countries.

However, even though they were old friends, the atmosphere was not relaxed at all during the conversation between Gongsun Xi and Bao Yuan when they met alone.

The reason is that the two countries clearly agreed to resist the Qin army and attack Qin, but Gongsun Xi deliberately came late and even stationed in Gongcheng for nearly ten days, which made Bao Yuan very unhappy.

You know, when the Wei army had not arrived, the Korean army and the Eastern Zhou army were resisting the Qin army.

How much help can the Eastern Zhou army do?

Although Bao Yuan was very kind, the army of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty was only 10,000, and the strength of the soldiers was quite weak. How could he resist the army of the Qin Dynasty?

But considering that the Wei army came to help him, Bao Yuan could only suppress his unhappiness and briefly introduced the current situation of the Qin army to Gongsun Xi.

"...I have 100,000 Korean soldiers under my command, and nearly 10,000 reinforcements from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty were mainly deployed on the south side of Yique Mountain on the west side of Yishan to resist the Qin army coming from the "New City" in the south... According to my inquiry, the Qin army's strength is about 120,000 to 150,000, and the commander of the army is "Xiang Shou". As long as you and I work together, a total of 300,000 troops will definitely defeat the Qin army in one fell swoop and attack the Qin State with the momentum." In Gongsun Xi's commander's tent, Bao Yuan introduced to Gongsun Xi.

"Xiang Shou..."

After learning that the commander of the Qin army was Xiang Shou, the only worry in Gongsun Xi's heart disappeared.

Qin State is not without famous generals, such as Chuliji, Wei Zhang, Sima Cuo, etc., they are all powerful generals that even Gongsun Xi fears.

Puliji was Yingji. Needless to say, this person defeated Chu's army in the Battle of Danyang and Lantian, and then immediately turned to Pu Shang to defeat Tian Zhang, a famous general of Qi. However, the Central Plains were frightened. Fortunately, this famous general of Qin died early.

As for Wei Zhang, it was Zhang Yi's "confidant general". Qin State had always had the tradition of recommending close generals to command troops outside. During Zhang Yi's period as prime minister of Qin, Wei Zhang cooperated with Zhang Yi's "lobbying" actions, among which Wei State suffered the most losses in this regard: Zhang Yi first lobbying Wei State and demanded that Wei State surrender to Qin State. Wei State refused to obey, so Zhang Yi immediately ordered Wei Zhang to send troops to attack Wei State's city and defeat Wei State. Then Zhang Yi came out to lobby Wei State again to surrender.

It has to be said that this is a very strong lobbying method, which forced King Hui of Wei at that time to surrender temporarily, deposed the Prime Minister Hui Shi, and appointed Zhang Yi as Prime Minister Wei. [ps: Because of this tradition, when Zhang Yi was expelled, Wei Zhang was also expelled by Qin.]

As for Sima Cuo, it was the Qin general who shined brightly when Qin and Chu competed for the land of Bashu a few years ago. At that time, Sima Cuo defeated Chu in the land of Bashu, and then took a one-by-one defeat to attack and overthrow the three countries of Bashu, Shu and Zhu, helping Qin to annex the land of Bashu in one fell swoop, set up the "Shu County" locally, and occupied this fertile land.

The year before yesterday, Sima Cuo was transferred to the eastern front and led his army to capture Xiangcheng of Wei.

If you ask who the Qin general whom Gongsun Xi is most afraid of now, then it is naturally Sima's fault.

As for Xiang Shou, in Gongsun Xi's opinion, he was just a careless opponent. He was only because he was the relative of Queen Mother Xuan of Qin's family and was able to become a general of Qin. His ability to lead troops to fight was indeed very sparse, and Gongsun Xi did not take it seriously at all.

"The Qin army actually led the troops to Xiang Shou, not Sima Chou?"

To be on the safe side, Gongsun Xi specially asked Bao Yuan for some confirmation.

As if he had guessed Gongsun Xi’s thoughts, Bao Yuan nodded and said, “That’s right, although the commander of the Qin army was indeed Xiang Shou, although he was not sure what the reason was, it was indeed not Sima’s fault.”

"Can it be... this is the trick of Qin?" Gongsun Xi asked with a frown.

"You mean, it is Sima Fool that claimed to be Xiang Shou leading the troops to the outside world?" Bao Yuan thought for a while and shook his head and said, "It shouldn't be. As far as I know, Sima Cuo's way of using troops is very fierce. If the commander of the Qin army was really Sima Cuo, he would definitely take a fierce attack on our army before the army arrived, trying to defeat our army first, and then fight with the army to decisively. However, so far, the Qin army has only taken a decent attack. This is not like Sima Cuo's way of using troops. It should be Xiang Shou..."

"I see!"

Gongsun Xi nodded suddenly, secretly laughing in his heart.

He didn't expect that Qin would abandon Sima Cuo and other powerful generals this time and appointed a cowardly and incompetent person like Xiang Shou as the chief general.

Of course, to be fair, the Qin general Xiang Shou was not as unbearable as Gongsun Xi thought, but compared to the Chliji, Wei Zhang, and Sima Cuo, the Xiang Shou was indeed too far apart and was not comparable to the above three famous generals of the Qin State.

With his eyes slightly turned, Gongsun smiled and said with a smile: "Since Xiang Shou led his troops, I believe that even if the Han army is just relying on the Han army, the general of the Baoyuan army is enough to resist the Qin army, right?"

Hearing this, Bao Yuan changed his expression slightly and frowned and asked, "What does Xiwu mean? Is Xiwu trying to sit down and watch our Han army fight with the Qin army? Although I, Han, asked your country for help, Xiwu must understand that Qin has always had the ambition to advance eastward. If I, Han, was defeated by Qin, would Xiwu think that Wei would be able to get benefits?"

Seeing that Bao Yuan was getting more and more excited, Gongsun Xi hurriedly said, "Don't be excited by the generals of Bao Yuan... Wei and Han have always joined forces to resist Qin. This time, your country was attacked by the Qin army. The king specially ordered me to bring 180,000 Wei troops to help..."

When he heard that Gongsun Xi brought 180,000 Wei troops this time, Bao Yuan's face cleared slightly.

After all, the Qin State's army attacked South Korea this time was only between 120,000 and 150,000. Wei State could send 180,000 troops at once, and this friendship was really nothing.

Seeing that Bao Yuan's face cleared, Gongsun Xi continued, "But the 180,000 Wei troops are of different advantages and disadvantages. Except for the 100,000 troops I transferred from Hedong, the other 80,000 Wei troops were transferred from Yecheng, Yancheng and other places. In addition to the long journey of many days, the soldiers in our army were exhausted and needed some time to rectify the army... It is better to do this. First, the noble army and the Eastern Zhou army resisted the Qin army together to destroy the spirit of the Qin army. When the time is ripe, I will lead the 180,000 Wei troops to attack the Qin army and win in one battle. Then you and I will join forces to advance to the Qin State together."

“…”

Bao Yuan frowned slightly at Gongsun Xi.

He was not stupid, so how could he not guess what Gongsun Xi thought, it was just to use him to consume the Qin army first.

Thinking of this, he smiled bitterly and said, "Although I still have 100,000 Han troops under my command, these soldiers have fought hard with the Qin army since last year, and it is probably difficult to stop the Qin army..."

"The general of the Baoyuan Army is too humble." Gongsun said with a smile: "Who doesn't know today that South Korea is famous for its benefits for crossbows. The weapons (swords) and crossbow tools forged by your country are unstoppable. As for the general of the Baoyuan Army, unless the Qin State uses Sima Cuo, they can barely compete with the general of the Baoyuan Army. What's the point of being Xiang Shou?" Speaking of this, he turned a straight face and promised confidently: "Of course, if there is any change during the period, I will send troops to reinforce the army immediately. After all, Wei and Han countries are dead and cold. How can you sit down and watch the army be severely damaged by the Qin army?"

After hearing Gongsun Xi's words, Bao Yuan frowned and thought for a moment.
To be continued...