In the end, the Yanling Army got what they wanted and went to the Mengshan area to support Xu Yin's Fenxing Army.
After that, Wei Jiao asked Zhao Hongrun doubtfully: "Your Highness, even though you have seen through the Chu army's trick, why do you still want the Yanling army to advance? Isn't this a useless move?"
"Who said it was a useless move?"
Zhao Hongrun smiled when he heard this and said: "If everything is as I expected, then as long as it is done properly, Mengshan, the bait thrown by the Chu army, may not be impossible to conquer..."
Having said this, the smile on his face faded a bit, and he said seriously: "Wei Jiao, you have to consider that General Xu Yin was persecuted by rumors last year and suffered unjust injustice. There are countless people who don't know the truth.
Accusing him behind his back... You can imagine how he feels. At the moment, I am afraid that no one in the Wei camp is more eager to make meritorious deeds than him. Even Qu Cheng, who is extremely utilitarian, may not be like him...
"
"Your Highness, are you worried about General Xu Yin's disobedience?" Wei Jiao understood and couldn't help but ask.
Zhao Hongrun paused and made an analogy: "Few people can resist the temptation when a piece of fresh meat is placed in front of them... In the past, General Xu Yin would probably not be fooled, but now that he is eager to make contributions, he may not be able to do so.
I didn’t notice the trap under that bait... Now Mengshan is in a state of collapse, if I ask him to withdraw his troops at this time, how will he be willing to do so?"
"But Your Highness..." Wei Jiao wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Zhao Hongrun waving his hand.
"I know what you want to say. First of all, I can't guarantee that I have seen through the Chu army's trick for the time being. Secondly, who is right or wrong in this matter in the end will be detrimental to my relationship with General Xu Yin...
...If I remind him, he will most likely not be willing to give up the seemingly easy-to-get victory. If
If it later turns out that I was wrong, will it cause him to have another misunderstanding? And the worst thing is, if I am unfortunate enough to predict it, how will General Xu Yin face me in the future?...That's why,
I simply ignore it, even if the battle is really a defeat, it will not affect my relationship with General Xu Yin."
After hearing this, Wei Jiao thought about it carefully and said convincingly: "Your Highness is far-sighted and I admire him for his humble position."
"What kind of far-sightedness is this?" Zhao Hongrun laughed and then said in a deep voice: "Also, the relationship between the Yanling Army... Because of Qu Cheng's relationship, I was indeed wary of the Yanling Army and was too biased towards the Shang Shui Army. This
Please admit it. The Yanling Army is united and wants to achieve meritorious service in this battle. If it is stopped, it will be detrimental to the morale of the army..."
"But if this happens, Your Highness will have to surrender to the Fenxing Army and the Yanling Army..." Wei Jiao said with some persistence.
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun laughed and said: "I am the commander-in-chief of the Western Route Army of the three kingdoms of Qi, Lu, Wei, and Wei in their attack on Chu. This is a position that even the leader of the Lu Kingdom has not obtained. What else can I ask for?... In fact, at this moment,
A few meritorious deeds are no longer important to me, what’s more, as long as this battle is fought beautifully, even if I don’t take credit, the people of the country will naturally think of me as the coach..."
"That's true." Wei Jiao thought for a moment and nodded in agreement with Zhao Hongrun's words.
After all, Zhao Hongrun is no longer the childish boy who just left the palace two years ago, and there is really no need to compete with the soldiers under his command for credit.
"But having said that, are you sure, Your Highness?"
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun had an inexplicable smile in his eyes, and said with a chuckle: "About 50%... If I am not mistaken, Mengshan's Chu army will be in a very embarrassing situation at this moment.
Hahaha."
At the same time, Qu Cheng had led the Yanling Army to the foot of Mengshan Mountain and joined Xu Yin's Fenxing Army.
The arrival of the Yanling Army made Xu Yin extremely happy.
Because to be more serious, the reason why his Fenxing army is at the foot of Mengshan Mountain at this moment is partly because of Cai Qinhu, and the other part is due to Xu Yin's eagerness to perform meritorious service and want to take advantage of the opportunity to pursue and capture Mengshan in one go.
Unexpectedly, the Chu army in Xiangcheng responded very quickly and sent two armies of 20,000 men one after the other. This made the Fenxing army not only unable to conquer Mengshan, but instead fell into an embarrassing situation of being attacked from three sides.
It is undeniable that the Fenxing Army's defensive power is indeed very strong. With one against three, 15,000 troops resisted nearly 50,000 Chu's main army, and actually fought evenly with the opponent in a short period of time.
But the problem is that although they can temporarily hold the line, they are held back by the Chu army: if they defend, they cannot hold for long; if they withdraw, they cannot retreat.
Under this situation, Xu Yin could only place his hope in the army led by Su Wang Zhao Hongrun from the rear.
But he couldn't help it. After all, he had tacitly allowed his general Cai Qinhu to go deep into the army alone. Now that his army was in a dilemma, how could he have the dignity to send someone to ask for Zhao Hongrun's help?
You must know that according to the strategy previously designated by Zhao Hongrun, the schedule of storming Mengshan will have to be postponed for at least three days, waiting for the Wei army to test the mutual support of Mengshan and Xiangcheng.
But to Xu Yin's surprise and shame, Zhao Hongrun sent the Yanling Army with a total of 20,000 soldiers without saying anything.
The arrival of the 20,000 soldiers immediately relieved Fenxing's embarrassing situation: because there were 20,000 more friendly troops around him, even if the battle situation was unfavorable, Xu Yin would have the confidence to retreat temporarily without worrying too much about the Chu army's pursuit.
"His Royal Highness King Su...did you ask the general to bring you anything?"
After inviting Qu Cheng to the temporary main tent, Xu Yinlue asked with some concern for gain and loss.
After hearing this, Yan Mo said with a smile: "General Xu, His Highness King Su said that he fully supports the general in attacking Mengshan. However, His Highness feels that there is something fishy about today's battle, so the general must be more vigilant...
"
With that said, he conveyed to Xu Yin exactly what Zhao Hongrun said to their generals in the commander's tent, only to hear the latter frowning.
Perhaps as Zhao Hongrun guessed, if he did not send the Yanling Army to support Xu Yin, but just asked the latter to retreat, Xu Yin would probably not listen, and there would even be some misunderstandings.
But now, with 20,000 Yanling troops at his side, Zhao Hongrun has proved with actual actions that his words of full support for Xu Yin are not empty talk. This allows Xu Yin to restrain his eagerness to perform meritorious service and carefully consider what Zhao Hongrun said to the generals.
those words.
This is where subjective prejudice determines attitude.
"Listening to what General Yan said, Xu is really..."
After saying half a sentence, Xu Yin turned his head and looked in the direction of the top of Mengshan Mountain, thoughtfully.
After a while, he asked seriously: "His Royal Highness, Prince Su, is still in the same place now?"
"Yes!" Yan Mo nodded and said, "His Royal Highness King Su has ordered the Shang Shui Army to continue building the camp..."
Hearing this, Xu Yin was stunned for a moment, and then sighed melancholy, giving people a vague illusion of a hero in his twilight years.
"After this battle, Xu will go to His Highness in person to confess his crime."
After that, he took a deep breath, turned to look in the direction of Meng Shan, squinted his eyes and said: "But before that, let Xu clear some obstacles for His Highness Prince Su, even if it is to atone for his sins..."
After hearing this, Qu Cheng and Yan Mo looked at each other, clasped their fists and said in unison: "The Yanling Army is willing to obey General Xu's dispatch!"
However, to their surprise, Xu Yin's eyes showed a hint of smile, he licked his lips and said: "Two generals, please don't be impatient. Xu was blinded because of his eagerness to perform meritorious deeds.
We must take this as a warning... Let Xu first play tricks on the Chu army on Meng Mountain to see if it is really as expected by His Highness."
After that, he summoned a guard cavalry and ordered: "Tell Cai Qinhu's Western Guards Camp to withdraw!"
"Eh?" The guard cavalry was greatly surprised when he heard this, and asked in astonishment: "General, are you asking General Cai to withdraw at this time?"
It’s no wonder that the guard cavalry was so shocked. After all, the gates of Mengshan’s Chu camp had been breached at this moment. It was the right time to pursue the victory, so why did they have to withdraw a battalion of troops instead?
Seeing this, Xu Yin said with a straight face: "Why don't you go?!"
"yes!"
Seeing what Xu Yin said, the guard hurriedly went to deliver the order.
At the same time, on the top of Mengshan Mountain, Chu General Dou Lian was staring intently at the battle halfway up the mountain.
Even though the gate of their Mengshan Chu camp had been breached by Cai Qinhu of the Wei army, Dou Lian was not panicked because he knew very well that the Mengshan Chu camp that he had spent a lot of effort to build would never be destroyed by a single attack.
The camp gate was breached and fell.
"The Wei army's offensive is getting more and more fierce. Do you want to use the soldiers in the Tibetan Army Cave?"
Beside Doulian, a middle-aged lieutenant suggested.
After hearing this, Dou Lian looked at the battle situation, nodded slowly, and said in a deep voice: "One thousand soldiers, don't want more..."
Just as he said this, he suddenly frowned, because he was shocked to see that about half of the Wei army halfway up the mountain actually retreated down the mountain.
What's going on?
Dou Lian's face suddenly darkened.
Seeing this, the middle-aged deputy general said from the side: "Maybe the Wei army has been unable to attack for a long time and wants to withdraw one of its troops and replace it with new reinforcements..."
New reinforcements?
Doulian looked at the Wei army flying the Yanling flag at the foot of the mountain, summoned a personal guard, and said to him: "Tell the soldiers near the camp gate to slow down their counterattack, and don't scare the Wei army away."
"Yes!" The guard understood and immediately ran towards the gate halfway up the mountain.
However, the facts exceeded Dou Lian's expectation. Xu Yin had obviously received the support of 20,000 Yanling troops, but he was not in a hurry to attack Mengshan with all his strength. In addition to mobilizing nearly 10,000 troops to flank to support Deng Peng of the Zhongwei camp, the rest
Xu Yin held about 10,000 Yanling troops in his hands, but he refused to release them.
What makes Dou Lian even more anxious is that this time only the Yanling Army of the Wei Army came to support Xu Yin's Fenxing Fortress. The Su King Ji Run and the other Shang Shui Army with a total of 20,000 people seemed to have
Still staying in place.
Are you not taking the bait?
Dou Lian gradually became a little impatient and at a loss.
"General, most of the Wei army has already reached the foot of the mountain, do you still want to show weakness?" the middle-aged deputy general asked cautiously.
Doulian subconsciously glanced at the place where the Wei army was planning to camp in the distance. He raised his hand several times and clenched his fist, but finally lowered it.
"...continue to show weakness and hold back the Wei army at the foot of the mountain. If we give up now, all our previous efforts will be wasted."
Dou Lian gritted his teeth and said these words with hatred, muttering secretly in his heart: What on earth is that young boy doing? Can't you see that Mengshan Camp is in danger when you see him? In this case, he won't even
Order a general attack?
And while Dou Lian was gritting his teeth secretly, he naturally wouldn't see Xu Yin looking at Meng Shan expressionlessly, with sneers on his lips.
Xu withdrew Cai Qinhu's Western Wei camp, and Chu Xuan's Dongwei camp alone was able to fight evenly with the Chu army on the mountain. Hey, it's interesting... (To be continued.) 8