Mang Shen completely shirks Mang Mao's responsibility to Huayang, as if Huayang did not get Mang Mao's support because Lord Xinling did not make a request.
Mr. Guo said: "I heard that the Jin officials asked for reinforcements several times, but the reinforcements did not arrive. I didn't hear any orders."
Mang Shen said: "The Qin people are attacking Huayang with a small number of troops. The young master and the officials must have a strategy to retreat from the enemy. My father has nothing to do with it. Daliang is restricted by the covenant and cannot go more than ten miles south of Liang, so there is no way to get help."
Mr. Guo was a little angry and said: "The people of Qin are attacking Huayang with all their strength. Huayang will not be defeated!"
Lord Xinling quickly stopped the conversation between the two men and said: "The general's order is very clear: Daliang attacks his friends, Huayang attacks his soldiers. The young master has spoken. The Qin people want to capture the ten cities of Wei, but the king does not allow it, so Qin is going to attack them." Huayang, I want to defeat Huayang and gain ten cities. I am so lonely and unvirtuous that I dare not sacrifice my life for the ancestral temple and the country. I am willing to die to protect the ten cities!"
Seeing Lord Xinling's attitude, all the disciples said no more. Mang Shen said: "Don't worry, Sir. The Qin people are deep in the important territory and have enemies on all sides. They will not dare to abandon the others just to succeed on one side. Sir, if you plan well, you will be blameless."
Lord Xinling said: "I hope you will help me with your plans!"
Mang Shen said: "My father just said that the cold winter is coming. If you leave your hometown and live in a different land, without a roof to protect you and no clothes to protect you from the winter, diseases are bound to come. Sir, what's your intention?"
Lord Xinling said: "I have asked Mr. Zhongyue to prepare the winter room properly and Zheng Shan to collect grain and fodder. Is there anything else?"
Mang Shen said: "The bright hall is pure with tiles, and it is the residence of a gentleman. If you want to save him in urgent need, he is in the underground cave! We have many people and troops, and we will definitely succeed."
Lord Xinling blurted out: "It's been two days since the civilian army saw the teachings!"
Mang Shen was silent for a moment, and then said for a moment: "Not teaching the people to fight means abandoning them. That's what the young master said. The weather is still warm, and the matter in the underground cave will wait for another day."
Mr. Zhongyue said: "You must not make mistakes when training, and you must not slow down when building a house. Winter is coming, and if we cannot prevent it, there will be many deaths and injuries."
Lord Xinling said, "I hope you will be able to prepare it carefully, sir."
Mr. Zhong Yue said: "Wei Zhe is good at numbers and is good at planning. We will plan for him as soon as he returns."
After sending Mang Shen away, Lord Xinling said to the gentlemen: "There is no other objection to this. We must defend the enemy for a month and wait for winter."
Mr. Zhongyue said: "The underground cave plan proposed by Mr. Shen may be helpful."
For the training on the next day, the rear camp adopted Mr. Zhongyue's suggestion: one hundred people from each battalion were selected to dig holes in the ground, while the others continued training. Although these militiamen also dug caves at home, they were mostly used for storage, and they had never dug caves to house people. Mang Shen said: "The general has said that the crypt is ten steps wide, preferably round, half a person deep, with steps on the four sides. There are beams on top, covered with branches, leaves and grass. There is a fire pit in the middle. It can accommodate a group." According to what Mang Shen said, he thought about digging a round pit. The training ended when everyone went to find the branches needed to raise the beam. When everyone saw the dug round pit, they were a little excited, and some people jumped into it and lay down. Someone immediately reminded: "Don't lie down on raw soil, it must be burned before you can do it." Another person said: "I want to have ditches all around. Drain the water, otherwise it will collapse." Someone said: "Water needs to be placed at the bottom of the ditch..." Someone immediately retorted: "There needs to be a bracket on the top..." which made everyone laugh.
Mr. Zhongyue led several people to patrol one camp after another, observing their methods of planning and raising soil, and recorded the better parts of each camp. Mr. Zhongyue did not understand some novel methods, so he asked them one by one. , it must be justified. After going around in circles, Mr. Zhongyue also gained a lot of insights. It is generally known that a hundred people can dig a cave that can accommodate fifty people in one day, and a camp can complete the project in ten days. If it doesn't work, just give up training and concentrate on digging, and it can be completed in two days. Gradually I felt confident. This is much more convenient than going to a room in the countryside.
In the evening, Dr. Jia sent Mr. Fang back to Huayang to report what happened today. Mr. Fang obviously knew very little about diplomatic etiquette, and stated almost like an endorsement: "The doctor came to the court for an audience, and the king ordered him to go to the palace and give him wine. The throne is far away, and the host is the prince. Not long after the wine was given, the king retired and ordered the prince to The official then discussed two things with the prince. First, Qin entered the Wei Dynasty and asked Han to support him; second, Wei entered Huayang to replace Han's guard, and he hoped that Zheng would give him money and food. The prince said that he knew Wei's mission and discussed it with the court when he was young. Then there was a reply. I sang, danced and drank wine until the sun was over. The twists and turns during this period are difficult to describe and cannot be fully remembered. But I can catch a glimpse of it."
Lord Xinling was a little disappointed. He knows that in diplomatic matters, everything is in the details. Without details, it is impossible to guess the thoughts of the Korean people. But Mr. Fang was not involved, and he didn’t understand anything about diplomacy, so it was useless to ask. He had to ask: "What do you mean, doctor?"
Mr. Fang said: "The doctor will gradually visit the Korean Prime Minister and generals to determine his plan."
Lord Xinling said: "The great man must repay the king. Who is it?"
Mr. Fang said: "The doctor said that although the mission has been achieved, it cannot be repaid. Please wait." Lord Xinling had no choice but to let Mr. Fang rest and have a meal.
All the disciples knew very little about court diplomacy and didn't know how to proceed. They had no choice but to wait and see what the doctor did.
It rained lightly that night, and I felt cold the next day. People in Huayang City can still hide in their houses, but those soldiers camping outside can only burn the bonfires more vigorously and rely on "shaking" and stamping their feet to fight the cold.
The big pit dug became a treasure for everyone to keep out the cold. Although there is no roof, it can block the wind, and by burning a fire in the middle of the pit, the heat is lost less than in the open space, making everyone feel warmer. The soldiers, who were too cold to sleep, started digging on their own in the mud softened by the light rain. After digging it, he immediately hid inside. Whether it was real or psychological, he immediately felt warm.
All the trees, big and small, around the camp were damaged: all the branches that could be moved by hand were broken and dragged into the camp, covering the bottom of the pit. Piles of fires were ignited, and the fires soared into the sky, causing plumes of smoke that could be seen dozens of miles away. All the battalions became panicked and sent envoys to investigate what was going on. They reported that the rear army was burning earth for underground caves and dug many underground caves. People could live in the underground caves and provide shelter from wind and rain... Different rumors spread quickly among the armies. open.
As a result, at the regular meeting that day, Doctor Jin Bi was furious. He reprimanded the rear army for doing their own thing, confusing the morale of the army, and punished the rear army and civilians for digging holes for other battalions. The rear army's training plan was completely over. Lord Xinling was not interested in continuing to train the battle formation. Doctor Jin Bi had nothing to do with him, so he asked him to follow the training of the civilian army in the nearest camp of the Chinese army. Unlike the rear army and the civilian army, which formed a separate army, the former army and the civilian army formed a separate army. The civilian troops in the Chinese army are assigned to corresponding soldiers according to battalions, and they only return to each battalion for food and accommodation after the formation is relieved. Now not only the rear army knew that Lord Xinling was receiving military training, but the Chinese army also knew, and even the military soldiers also knew.
Today the Qin army still has not dispatched. According to reports from the scouts, the Qin people seem to have withdrawn part of the current army. This at least means that the Qin people have no intention of taking greater action.
The four young masters who went back to Daliang to get their cold clothes all came back, accompanied by their families, each dragging a full cart of things back to Huayang.
After Lord Xinling returned to Huayang after his training, the four young masters came with their families to pay their respects. Some of the family members here are real family members, not retainers: Wei Zhe and Wei Gao introduced their fathers, Wei Zheng, the elder in the Wei Xiang Mansion, and Wei Mang, the guest minister in the Wei Sima Mansion; Liang Bugu introduced them It was Wei Ming, the clan leader of Dazaifu. Wei Min brought Wei Xin, the most capable retainer in the family. The four family members knew each other, and after some humility, they naturally arranged themselves in order according to the status of the head of the family: Dazaifu had the highest status, headed by Wei Ming and Liang Bugu; followed by Wei Mang and Wei Gao of Wei Sima Mansion, and Wei Xiang Wei Zheng and Wei Zhe from the Mansion, and Wei Min and Wei Xin from the Xiaowei Mansion. Because my children were favored by Lord Xinling and allowed to return home, they all came to express their gratitude.
Lord Xinling bowed into the hall one by one. Everyone refused to sit at the guest table and insisted on meeting each other with the courtesy of servants. Lord Xinling had no choice but to sit in the middle, with the guests on the left and the young masters and their families on the right.
After expressing his gratitude to Lord Xinling for his kindness to his children one by one, Lord Xinling said: "When the battle broke out in Huayang, the Qin people rushed straight to the city, and all the ministers knew it. But it is a family to be able to send your children back to camp in person. The sincerity of Guozong Temple!"
Everyone bowed and said: "I am willing to follow the young master, even if I die, I will have no regrets!"
Lord Xinling said: "If you die in the ancestral temple of your home country, Gu Yuan will be the leader, please follow him!"
Wei Mingdao, a member of the Dazaifu clan, said: "Young Master's words are inappropriate. The king is worried about his ministers' overwork, and the king humiliates his ministers to death. How can the king die and the ministers live alone? Dazai has said that since Liang Bugu has acted like a master, he should fulfill his duties as a minister and do not fail. To live a secret life and make the world laugh."
Everyone said: "That's what the young master said."
Lord Xinling said: "Righteousness is for the king and his ministers, they are brothers and sisters, and we share life and death."
Everyone bowed down and worshiped.
Lord Xinling said: "I have been alone in Daliang for more than ten days. I am exhausted from the military and have heard little about other things. Now that I see you, I would like to hear about Daliang's affairs."
It was Wei Ming who spoke first and said: "Young master, what do you mean by the peace talks between Qin and Wei? When the Qin people enter the heart of Wei, we, the people of Wei, should work together to drive Qin out of the suburbs. If this is not the plan, we want to negotiate peace. My lord and ministers are all I don’t know what it means.”
Seeing Wei Ming's blunt statement, Wei Mang of the Wei Sima family was embarrassed to refute, so he had to tactfully say: "I heard that the peace talks were based on trade talks. When Qin entered Qifeng, Daliang closed the city for three days, and all the people It was inconvenient. However, there were giant merchants who invited the king. Liang was losing thousands of gold every day, and it was difficult for the nobles to survive. It was better to temporarily negotiate with Qin to open up trade routes. The peace agreement was concluded. Liang and Qin could not fight, so naturally they needed to make another peace agreement, but Qin would definitely win. Ten cities and then peace is achieved, which is difficult for anyone to do."
Lord Xinling asked: "What do you think of the king?"
Wei Zhengdao, the Prime Minister of Wei, said: "The peace talks are confidential, but the young master is the younger brother of the king. All the ministers are the pillars of the country, so it's okay to hear about it. General Mang first took charge of the city and guarded it. All the people had to go to the city, day and night. Rest, prepare your troops for war, and wait for the Qin people. If Qin does not arrive in three days, the nobles in the city will have no food or fodder, those who are looking for doctors and medicines, those who are getting married and funerals, those who come and go for inquiries... and so on. The generals all ordered the city to be opened, and it gradually became a system. However, the opening and closing was unpredictable, which was very inconvenient for the people, especially the merchants. There was a wealthy businessman named Duanmu who met the king as a Confucian and asked to make peace with Qin and open up trade. Please ask the general , said yes. Then he went out to unify and met Ranghou, the prime minister of Qin. Ranghou responded, and the peace agreement was concluded."
