Later, it turned out that Zhao Hongrun's worst estimate may not be necessary, because the tribal chiefs discovered the Yi tribe and the Yanjiao flag they were looking for at the end of the western hillside.
It was very far away from Jie Jiao's army, and there were not many tribal warriors near the battle flag, only about a few hundred.
It was as if they were just spectators and had no intention of intervening in the war between Wei Jun and Jie Jiao.
This made Zhao Hongrun secretly relieved, but also vaguely guessed about the intentions of these two groups of "spectators".
Obviously, Yanjiao, who is the guard of the Wusu Royal Court, and the Yi tribe, one of the three major tribes of the Jie tribe, no, one of the four major tribes, most of them heard about this war, so they sent their men and planned to wait and see the war.
of victory or defeat.
Test the strength of our Wei army?
Zhao Hongrun stared at the two groups of spectators in the distance and snorted in his heart.
Zhao Hongrun also had a bad impression of the Yi tribe due to the Jie tribe's reputation towards the Wei state. However, Zhao Hongrun did not want to become enemies with the Wusu Royal Court, because once they became enemies with the Wusu Royal Court, the consequences would be disastrous and unthinkable.
Even the Luoshui Alliance that he created may have tribes that defect before the formation.
At this time, Jiejiao's army had already deployed troops to the west of Luocheng. It is not difficult to guess that this was a sign that Jiejiao's army was planning to attack Luocheng. No, the alarm had already sounded in Luocheng, and a large number of Shangshui troops were marching.
Go up the city wall and increase the defense of the city wall.
"Jie Jiao's army seems to be planning to attack the city... I, the king, will ask again. The minds of the clan leaders should not have changed because of the two unexpected distinguished guests outside the city, right?"
Zhao Hongrun did not look back and asked in a calm tone.
The clan chiefs looked at each other. Of course they understood that the "honored guests" mentioned by Zhao Hongrun were referring to the warriors from the Jie Tribe and the Yi Tribe Royal Guard Army Yanjiao.
"Don't worry, King Su." Halegoh, the leader of the Aries tribe, stood up and said: "Swearing to heaven and making an alliance with blood is the most sacred covenant between our three tribes, Xiang, Jie, and Xiang. Since we have made an alliance with Wei
If the kingdom forms an alliance under the witness of the gods, it will not betray... We will fight with King Su! With Jie Jiao's army!"
Making alliances based on blood...did the Sanchuan tribe originally attach so much importance to it?
Zhao Hongrun was quite surprised. After pondering for a moment, he asked tentatively: "What if the Yi tribe assists the Jiejiao tribe?"
"We will still support King Su!" Halegoh said solemnly.
After hearing this, Zhao Hongrun paused and asked in a serious tone: "What if Yanjiao also assists the Jiejiao tribe?"
"This..." Halegoh hesitated for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said: "I don't dare to deceive King Su. If that happens, we will be in a very difficult situation."
"However, no matter what, we will not betray King Su." Qi Muke, the leader of the Gray Sheep Tribe, promised from the side.
But the chiefs of the Lun tribe and the Meng tribe, Lu Balong and Meng Liang, said solemnly: "The Yi tribe will follow King Su."
Hearing this, the other chiefs of the Yi tribe were stunned, and they also spoke to prove their loyalty.
This scene made the faces of the tribal chiefs of the Yi tribe change slightly.
Regarding this, Zhao Hongrun was also a little surprised and surprised. He wanted to test the determination of the clan leaders, but unexpectedly caught a piece of information: the Wusu Royal Court's prestige among the Yi people was smaller than that of the Yi tribe.
many.
By the way, the Yi people were slaves of the Yi and Jie people hundreds of years ago... so they always had a grudge against the royal court of the Yi people.
"Very good." Zhao Hongrun nodded.
Hearing this, Halegoh, the leader of the Aries tribe, took a breath and glanced at the heads of the Sheang tribe.
He realized that in the heart of His Highness Prince Su, the status of these clan leaders was probably going to change.
Because Jiejiao's army was still making arrangements to attack the city, Zhao Hongrun and the clan chiefs returned to the felt tent that served as the commander's tent, and made some modifications to the garrison of Luocheng based on the deployment of the Jie tribe outside the city.
First of all, because Jie Jiao's army seemed to be planning to attack the west city wall, Zhao Hongrun added another 4,000 merchantmen to the original 4,000 merchant navy troops placed on the west wall as a reserve army, ready to rotate with the soldiers on the wall at any time.
As the main battlefield, the west city wall was commanded by Wu Ji, the general of the Shang Shui Army.
Secondly, there are the north city wall and the south city wall.
At this time, there was a small force of Jie people stationed in the northern and southern suburbs of Luocheng City. Moreover, the small force of Jie people on the south side might have temporarily defeated Cheng Gao's army. Zhao Hongrun estimated that the number of troops was definitely not large.
There will be less.
Therefore, even though the Jiejiao army showed no signs of launching an offensive against the northern and southern city walls, Zhao Hongrun still deployed two thousand and three thousand merchant navy troops on these two walls.
Among them, the south city wall was guarded by Zhai Huang, the deputy general of the Shang Shui Army, while the north city wall was guarded by a 3,000-man general named Lu Zhan of the Shang Shui Army.
Finally, there is the east city wall. Since there was no sign of Jiejiao's army in the eastern suburbs outside the city, Zhao Hongrun only sent a general of 2,000 men named Chen Shu as the guard.
In addition, Zhao Hongrun deployed most of the generals in the Shangshui Army on the West City Wall, led by Wu Ji. After all, the West City Wall was the main battlefield.
However, such an arrangement greatly weakened the commanding power of the other three city walls. Therefore, after weighing for a long time, Zhao Hongrun decided to let these clan chiefs do the work.
"Clan Chief Mengliang and Chief Lu Balong, I hope that the two chiefs can bring some soldiers to assist the Shangshui Army generals on the south and north city walls. I wonder what the two chiefs want?"
South and north city walls? Didn't Jijiao's army attack the west city wall?
Meng Liang and Lu Balong looked at each other and did not dare to disobey King Su in front of them. They saluted and said, "I am willing to fight for King Su!"
After that, Zhao Hongrun deployed several Yi tribes on the east city wall, and deployed the vast majority of the Yi tribes on the west city wall.
Your Highness King Su, is this deliberately weakening the Yi tribes and retaining those Yi tribes?
From the side, Qiu Yu, the imperial censor who was in charge of supervising the army, vaguely discerned some clues from Zhao Hongrun's deployment of combat power.
In fact, Halegoh, the leader of the Aries Tribe, was also aware of it, but he was very clear about the cause and effect, so he did not dare to tell the truth. Instead, he pretended to take the lead and responded to the problem, hoping to resolve the problem of this person in front of him.
The grudge in King Su’s heart.
After making such a deployment, Zhao Hongrun actually still retained a full 5,000 Shang Shui Army.
Zhao Hongrun does not intend to use these five thousand troops for the time being, because he still does not believe all the tribes that have allied with his Wei State at this moment. Although blood alliance is a tradition that the people of Sanchuan have always adhered to, after all, things can happen, just in case.
Which tribe really betrayed them?
Therefore, Zhao Hongrun had to reserve five thousand soldiers to deal with the betrayers.
Even if it turned out later that his worries were unfounded, it would not be a bad thing to reserve five thousand Shangshui soldiers with sufficient physical strength to deal with emergencies.
Just when Zhao Hongrun was making final adjustments to the deployment of the past few days before the battle, a Shang Shui sergeant hurried to the felt tent, knocked on the ground and clasped his fists to report: "I am reporting to King Su that I am here on the order of General Wu Ji."
Ask for instructions from King Su... Just now, the leader of the Jiejiao army outside the city and the chief of the Jiejiao tribe shouted outside the city, saying that he wanted to speak to the highest-ranking commander of our army..."
"Bitatu?"
"Is Bitatu already here?"
The tribal chiefs couldn't help but whisper.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun, who had been interrupted from deploying his troops, glanced speechlessly at the Shang Shui sergeant who came to summon him.
Wu Ji, isn't he too honest? The Jiejiao man said he wanted to talk to me, but he actually sent someone to ask for instructions? Come on, those are enemies! Besides, according to Bitatu's arrogant nature, this
When extra troops come to the city, they must be here to show off their power. Isn’t this the king asking for trouble if I go to see him?
Zhao Hongrun was speechless for a while.
However, the Shangshui sergeant who came to summon him was also a weird one. He actually asked: "His Royal Highness, King Su, are you going to see the leader of Jiejiao?"
Zhao Hongrun stared at the messenger speechlessly for a long time, and then said angrily: "Tell him to die!"
The messenger scratched his head, returned to Wu Ji, and repeated Zhao Hongrun's original words to the latter.
Blinking his eyes blankly, Wu Ji thought for a long time, and then he realized that the person His Highness Prince Su was referring to was Bitatu who was shouting outside the city, not Wu Ji.
At this time, in the western suburbs outside Luocheng City, just as Zhao Hongrun had guessed, Bitatu, the leader of the Jiejiao tribe, was riding a horse and standing in front of the army with a proud look on his face, waiting to meet Luocheng's "Supreme Leader of the Wei People".
Commander-in-Chief met.
After all, he already knew at this moment that the "supreme commander" of the Wei army that was marching into Sanchuan this time was none other than King Su of Wei, Ji Run, who had "boldly promised" to lead his army to crush his Jiejiao tribe when they were in Heshou.
Because of this, Bitatu intended to have a few words with Zhao Hongrun before the fight to destroy the prestige of this "arrogant boy".
However, after waiting for a long time, Zhao Hongrun did not come up to the tower to meet him. He was a little irritated, so he shouted again: "General Wei in the city, why haven't you seen your army commander yet?... That boy who calls himself King Su.
What? Don’t you dare to come and see the clan leader?”
Wu Ji could hear clearly on the city wall. He folded his arms and replied calmly: "Go to hell! These are the exact words of His Highness King Su of our army... King Su, I don't even bother to see you!"
"..." Bitatu, who was trying to frustrate Zhao Hongrun's spirit, turned pale when he heard this. After a heavy snort, he turned his horse back to his formation, then raised his hand and pointed at Luocheng in the distance, roaring like a roar: "Here you go.
I attack the city!"
"Woo-wu-wu-wu-"
Three low horn flutes sounded on the Jiejiao side, and immediately, the slave army all over the mountains and plains, under the threat of the Jiejiao governor, rushed towards Luocheng with inferior weapons.
The dense crowd of heads seemed to be like a black tide, roaring toward Luocheng.
Those slaves did not notice that there were puddles all over the western suburbs of Luocheng, filled with a black viscous liquid.