In the blink of an eye, it was early September, and the Eastern Army and the Western Army were still in a stalemate in the Maling area of ​​Weiguo.

The terrain in the Maling area is relatively complex. First of all, Maling is not a county seat, but a hill with dense vegetation. It is roughly located at the intersection of "Fan County", "Juancheng" and "Leping" counties. Leping County is further west

, which is Puyang, the capital of Wei State.

Two months ago, Wei Gong Ziyu took the lead in leading tens of thousands of Eastern troops to the Maling area. When passing through "Fan County", the county town surrendered. Since then, the Eastern Army has used Fan County and Maling as strongholds to wait.

With the arrival of the Western Army.

About a few days after the Eastern Army arrived in Maling, Tanyuan Hou Wei Zhen led his army to Leping County, blocking the Eastern Army's westward advance. Shortly afterwards, in Juancheng, southeast of Maling, there was also a man in charge of the Juancheng Army.

Hou "Wei Yun" launched an offensive from the side against the Eastern Army under Wei Gong Ziyu.

Objectively speaking, the eastern and western armies each have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage of the Western Army is that the strength of its soldiers is relatively reliable and its weapons and equipment are relatively complete; its disadvantage is that although these troops are named the regular army of the Patriotic State, they have been away from the battlefield for a long time, and may not show any signs of dispatch except for security and theft.

What's more, it may even be due to lax military management, which inevitably leads to lax discipline and low fighting spirit. To put it simply, these soldiers who defend the country have gradually turned into veteran soldiers.

As for the Eastern Army, its weapons and equipment were relatively imperfect, but this army was young and passionate. Not only did it participate in the confrontation with the Korean general Sima Shang, but he also served as the main force in attacking Qi State's Dongjun. Although the initial abilities of the army's sergeants were not as good as those of the Western Army.

, but after each battle, they gradually gained some experience. More importantly, this army had a strong desire to win.

In the two months of June and July, the Eastern and Western armies engaged in six small- and medium-sized confrontations. Generally speaking, the performance of the Western Army on the frontal battlefield was still weak.

There is nothing we can do about it. After all, the Western Army is a new army founded by Wei Gong Ziyu, and it does not have the support of the Wei State like the Su King Zhao Run. Why did the Shang Shui Army fight fiercely? Is it not because the entire Wei State is behind it?

There are both the Smelting Bureau and the Military Casting Bureau to tailor weapons, equipment and war weapons, and the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War are responsible for distributing pensions and rewards.

If it were just one person, the Shang Shui Army would never be able to become famous all over the world.

The embarrassment of Wei Gong Ziyu lies in this. His father, King Fei of Wei, not only did not like Zhao Si, the first king of Wei, who valued Zhao Run, but also asked for Zhao Run, the successor he cared about. He even did the opposite.

He regards Wei Yu as a thorn in his side, so that Wei Yu can only find ways to raise funds on his own - this is why he protected Xiao Luan before: he was short of money!

With almost no help from the country and his father, Wei Yu naturally did not have the financial resources to arm his Eastern Army, so the equipment of the Eastern Army was generally backward and outdated. Even though he gained a part of the Qi Army's equipment during the attack on the Qi Army in Dongjun,

Equipment cannot completely change the backward equipment strength of the entire Western Army.

But the Western Army, not to mention how excellent the weapons of these regular Patriot troops are, they have everything they should have, especially long-range weapons such as bows and crossbows, which are undoubtedly the biggest threat to the Eastern Army.

It has to be said that the Western Army was able to gain the upper hand even though it was absolutely lagging behind in terms of numbers, and it indeed took a huge advantage in terms of equipment.

However, the advantages of long-range weapons actually come at a price. For example, the Marquis of Juancheng, Weiyun, whose troops almost completely suppressed the Eastern Army in the first few battles, even though the number of Eastern Army soldiers on the battlefield was several times theirs.

However, after several consecutive battles, due to severe consumption of arrows and crossbow bolts, the Juancheng Army regained its previous advantage.

After all, in the Eastern Army, rangers with outstanding personal strength account for a large proportion, accounting for about 20 to 30% of the total number of 890,000 Eastern Army. These people already have the foundation. As long as they adapt to battlefield combat, they will naturally perform better than ordinary civilians.

outstanding.

Just like the infiltration of the Juancheng Army's scouts into the Maling area, those scouts who tried to spy on the Eastern Army's intelligence or to harass the Eastern Army were almost all beaten up in the hills and forests by the Eastern Army's soldiers who were rangers.

A one-sided pursuit - in terms of outfield intelligence, the Juancheng Army did nothing, so much so that Juancheng Hou Weiyun did not know the specific distribution of the Eastern Army.

However, despite its excellent strategic vision, the Eastern Army still could not conquer the two tough bones of "Juancheng" and "Leping".

Regular armies like the Tanyuan Army and the Juancheng Army may not rank high among the powerful armies of the Central Plains countries, but it is not a problem for the defensive side to stop the Eastern Army, which is far behind them in weapons and equipment.

No, Wei Yu's fierce general "Meng Ben" personally led his army to attack Juancheng and fought two battles. In the end, he couldn't even attack the city wall of Juancheng. Meng Bi was so angry that he cursed outside the city, trying to use vulgar and slanderous words.

The humiliating words provoked Hou Weiyun of Juancheng to leave the city.

As a result, Wei Yun, the Marquis of Juancheng, looked down upon Meng Ben's provocative generals - Who are you, Meng Ben? How dare you invite me to fight in front of the powerful Marquis of Wei Yun?

It is worth mentioning that during the confrontation between the east and west armies, King Fei of Wei in Puyang was not idle and issued several royal orders in succession against the prince Wei Yu.

At the beginning, Wei Wangfei's words were relatively restrained, and he did not kill Wei Yu, his son who was not like himself, from a moral point of view. After all, the virtuous name of the young master Wei Yu was there.

If you slander Wei Yu, the Wei people will definitely not believe it.

Therefore, King Fei of Wei did not directly target Wei Yu. He pointed out in the king's order that there must be some treacherous people instigating the young master Wei Yu, which made Wei Yu do the following things that were disobedient to the emperor and his father. This kind of rhetoric is

It was relatively easy for Wei people to accept it.

After all, the young master Wei Yu did indeed act against his father and led his troops directly to Maling.

In this era that emphasizes filial piety, it is absolutely not allowed for a son to disobey his father - even if the fault is actually his father, the son must admit his mistake obediently.

This may sound a bit foolish and filial, but it is true.

In comparison, Zhao Si, the first king of the Wei State, killed his father and seized the throne, and later was able to secure his position as the monarch of the Wei State. This is indeed an extremely rare example in this era.

Of course, this also shows that Zhao Si did have the means to force the clan and Wang Gui of the Zhao family to acquiesce in this matter.

Wei Gong Ziyu was not as decisive as Zhao Si, but he also fought back: he claimed that his father Wei Fei believed that his disobedience was purely slander, and gave detailed examples of Wei Wang Fei's inability to govern the affairs of the country and his debauchery and immorality.

.

But obviously, in this age where filial piety is emphasized, it is inappropriate for a son to say bad things about me, even if these bad words are true.

No, although it was a self-defeating counterattack under forced circumstances, the words of Young Master Wei Yu still gave some people who had previously remained neutral a bad impression of him: Don't you, the crown prince who defends the country so dignified, not

Do you understand the principle of "a son never complains about his father's faults"?

As a result, some people were gradually misled by public opinion, so that the virtuous reputation of Prince Wei Yu inevitably showed some stains.

Due to misunderstandings about Wei Yu, some people in the country who originally supported him remained neutral, and those who originally remained neutral also slightly favored Wei Wang Fei in public opinion. Even among the Eastern Army, there were some rangers.

And civilians chose to leave because of this misunderstanding - of course, this is only a small number of people.

Only then did Wei Yu truly realize that the situation was far worse than he originally predicted. At the same time, he also truly understood the meaning of his cousin Zhao Run's words: Have you awakened?

What happened in Wei during this period was also reported to Wei by the Green Crows and sent to the hands of Wei King Zhao Run.

After learning about King Wei Fei's method, Zhao Run smiled and said to Gao He, the eunuch next to him: "If this trick was really thought up by King Wei, then I really underestimated him..."

The great eunuch Gao He echoed with a smile: "After all, he is the monarch of Weiguo..."

Zhao Hongrun nodded with deep understanding.

Although in his impression, King Fei of Wei always appeared as an ignorant lord, but after all, he was also a person of his father Zhao Si's generation, and besides, he had been in power longer than his father, King Zhao Si.

It will take longer. Is it really that easy to deal with?

"If you continue to break, you will suffer chaos..."

Thinking of his cousin Wei Gong Ziyu, Zhao Hongrun shook his head slightly.

I remember that when his cousin Wei Yu came to consult him for advice, Zhao Run could tell that his cousin had not realized anything.

In this regard, Zhao Run's father Zhao Si was very decisive - regicide, killing his father, imprisoning and killing his eldest brother, and exiled his younger brother (the King of Nanliang). When the clan government and the Zhao family in the country reacted,

, the wood has become the boat, the rice has become the cooking pot, even if some people oppose it, it will be of no avail.

Compared with Zhao Si, Wei Gong Ziyu's current approach is very stupid - in fact, it can't be said to be stupid, it can only be said to be too indecisive.

Indecisiveness is not completely considered a deficiency, but at certain critical moments, it can lead to failure or even kill you.

This is like the civil war in the country.

From Zhao Run's point of view, what are you, Wei Yu, explaining to Puyang? Wouldn't it be over if you just fight them? Although a forced confrontation with the Western Army will definitely cause heavy losses to the Eastern Army, you must know that this kind of thing will take longer and longer.

The longer you grow, the more disadvantageous it will be to the young master Wei Yu.

However, Wei Yu looked forward and backward, and actually delayed the civil strife for two months - even after two months, Wei Yu still failed to take the initiative.

I have to say that this slightly lowered Zhao Run's evaluation of his cousin Wei Yu.

Two days later, Zhu Jin, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, came to consult Zhao Run on the issue of defending the country.

After all, unlike Qin and Chu, Wei State is both an ally of Wei State and a vassal state dependent on Wei State. Therefore, as the suzerain state, Wei State naturally cannot turn a blind eye to Wei State's civil strife.

Logically speaking, the State of Wei should support King Fei of Wei. After all, it is well known that King Fei of Wei is friendly to the State of Wei. However, the young master Wei Yu is Zhao Run's cousin. Therefore, the Ministry of Rites did not dare to make its own decisions, and specially sent Zhu Jin, the left minister, to come.

Test the young king's tone, and then decide what attitude to take towards Wei Wang Fei and his son Wei Yu.

But to be honest, Zhao Hongrun really doesn't care about this matter, because no matter which side wins, it will have no direct impact on his Wei State: Wei Wang Fei will never and dare not abandon the Wei State, and the young master Wei Yu will not either

He made the stupid decision to betray Wei.

Therefore, Zhao Run told Zhu Jin directly not to interfere in the internal affairs of Wei State - after all, this was Wei Yu's previous plea.

Now that we have received instructions from King Zhao Run, Wei will certainly not participate in the affairs of Wei. Even though King Fei of Wei specially sent an envoy for this matter, the Ministry of Etiquette of the Wei Dynasty only said euphemistically: This is your country's affairs.

It is inconvenient for our country to interfere in internal affairs.

Since Wei State did not intervene, the civil strife in Wei State lasted until September.

However, as the civil strife continued to stalemate, Duke Ziyu of Wei gradually realized that any further delay would be extremely detrimental to the defense of the country, so he and his general Xia Yu devised a method to defeat the Western Army.

It has to be said that although the young master Wei Yu did not have much experience in using troops, he was a genius who was familiar with the art of war. After thinking hard for several days, he actually came up with a strategy.

In order to implement this strategy smoothly, Wei Yu remained stationary for the next half month, and deliberately asked people to collect food from Fan County and the counties in the east, creating the illusion that the Eastern Army's food supply was out of supply.

Within two days, Juancheng Hou Weiyun learned the information that "the Eastern Army was short of food" through his detailed operations in Fan County, and he was convinced of the matter.

Think about it, excluding the troops stationed in the eastern counties of Wei State, the army led by Wei Gong Ziyu to Puyang this time totaled 40,000 to 50,000 to 50,000 soldiers. The daily ration consumption of these 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers was not a small amount.

.

On that day, Juancheng Hou Weiyun came to Leping County in person and met with Tanyuan Hou Weizhen.

He said to Tan Yuanhou Wei Zhen: "According to Fan County's detailed reports, Gong Ziyu has sent people to various counties many times to urge for food. It must be that the army cannot continue to supply food and grass... This is a God-given opportunity."
To be continued...