The poor King Zang Tu of Yan rebelled this time as a hornet's nest. In addition to attracting Xiang Kang's imperial commander, he also immediately attracted Xia. Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong were three hungry wolves. Xia, who was eager to consolidate Zhao Xiang's status, said that Tao Xi, who had been famous for his love of robbing credit as early as Zheng Bu's command, and Gongsun Tong, who was also not a good thing, were all full of energy and wanted to squeeze the greatest credit from Yan Jun, who had relatively weak overall strength.

By the way, Yan Yao, the old man from the Young Marshal of Hengshan County, was not a good thing. After Hengshan County turned danger, he successfully defended Dongyuan. Yan Yao should have been in the rear to protect the grain and supply grain. However, Yan Yao found all excuses to push these missions to the county magistrate and the county censor, insisting on leading four thousand county soldiers to participate in the northern expedition. Everyone on earth knew that Xia, who was not Xiang Kang's direct descendant, said that the name was Yan Yao's superior, but he never dared to offend Yan Yao, an old lackey who had joined the Young Marshal's army when he was in Tong County, so he had to let him share the credit.

Under the open and secret struggles with each other, the three Han troops advanced rapidly. They had just cleaned the Dongyuan battlefield, and before the Zhao State, who was responsible for supplying food and grass, had even completed the transfer of materials, Tao Xi had already pursued the excuse and led the army to the north. Xia said he was not willing to be outdone, so he hurriedly arranged the task of transferring food and grass. He immediately led his army northward with his troops to march north as quickly as possible to attack Jicheng. Gongsun Tong was the same, hurriedly arranged the defense of Juyang, leaving two thousand troops to guard Juyang to supply food and grass, and then immediately led the army south, relying on the advantage of distance to arrive first, and the first to lead the army to the city of Jicheng.

Then after arriving in Jicheng, Gongsun Tongcai was extremely stunned to find that all the Yan army had entered Jicheng City and did not give him any chance to fight. Fortunately, Gongsun Tong was not helpless and immediately ordered his soldiers to cut down wood, collect stone bullets, and make every effort to build a counterweight catapult.

As a result, at this time, there were indeed disunity within the Han army. Someone advised Gongsun Tong: "General, the catapult has very high requirements for wood. We might as well hurry up and cut down all the suitable trees that can create catapults around us to stock up in our camp. Then when General Tao and Xia's army arrived, they did not have the suitable wood to build catapults and discuss how to attack the city, wouldn't our voice be louder?"

Gongsun Tong laughed, first patted his subordinates who gave him bad ideas, and then said, "Just do this, give priority to cutting trees, send more people to cut down all the suitable wood nearby, and don't leave a single piece for Tao Xi and Xia to tell you."

The Han soldiers under Gongsun Tong took action quickly. When Tao Xi led 32,000 Taiyuan Han troops to the city of Jicheng, the appropriate wood around Jicheng fell into Gongsun Tong's claws. Tao Xi, who had just arrived, had no idea about this, and even ran to Gongsun Tong's camp without a smile and discussed a gentleman's agreement, which agreed that the next step would be to put the flag on the top of Jicheng City, who would be the main force in the attacking city, and the loser would be responsible for assisting.

Then, after Xia Shuo also led nearly 40,000 troops to Jicheng, Tao Xi discovered that he had been fooled by Gongsun Tong. He quickly pulled Xia Shuo, who was still in the camp, to meet Gongsun Tong and forced Gongsun Tong to distribute some suitable wood to him. Of course, Gongsun Tong smiled and found all kinds of excuses to shirk, and had a very unhappy relationship with Tao Xi.

Fortunately, Xia said that he had average skills in fighting, but his political and personnel were very good at being a peacemaker in time, and he tried to persuade both sides to make concessions. Gongsun Tong was unwilling to turn against Tao Xi completely. In the end, he could only agree to tell Xia that each army of Tao Xi was fifteen suitable wood, so that they could rush to build a catapult to join the war, which barely quelled the dispute.

Xia said that he was indeed quite smart in politics and personnel. Seeing that Tao Xi was still angry, he was obviously still very dissatisfied, so he smiled and said to Gongsun Tong: "General Gongsun, since he separated in Pengcheng last time, this is the first time the three of us have reunited. This is your place. Why don't you plan to invite us to have some wine? By the way, discuss how we will fight next."

Gongsun Tong was not stingy in terms of wine and food. He immediately received good wine and rotten meat to treat Xia Shuo and Tao Xi. Xia Shuo also took the opportunity to reconcile the conflict between Gongsun Tong and Tao Xi during the meal, and urged them to put the overall situation first and join forces to attack Jicheng as soon as possible. However, Tao Xi knew the importance of counterweight siege in the siege. In order not to let Gongsun Tong take the credit, he deliberately used the excuse that the enemy situation was not clear enough, and flatly refused Gongsun Tong's decision to launch the siege within ten days, insisting on preparing for more time, and then launched the siege after he understood the general situation of the Jicheng defenders through the scouts.

The purpose of the Tao Xi deliberately delayed time was very simple. It was to send someone to transport the appropriate wood to make more trench machines, so that it would be safe to compete with Gongsun Tong. Gongsun Tong also saw the Tao Xi's beauty at first sight, and immediately insisted on the plan to attack the city as soon as possible on the grounds that it could not give the Yan army a long time to prepare and transport food and grass, and once again fought with Tao Xi.

As a result, Xia Shuo, who was not qualified, was naturally a rat in the bellows and was angry at both ends. Anyone who spoke to him would offend the other party. As a result, when Xia Shuo felt anxious, a personal soldier from Xia Shuo came in outside the tent, attached to Xia Shuo's ear and whispered in a low voice. Xia Shuo first frowned, then suddenly had an idea and said to Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong, who had already had a red face and thick neck, "Two generals, don't argue anymore, I want us to argue more violently."

"Who wants us to make arguing even harder?" Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong were stunned and asked hurriedly: "What does it mean? Who?"

"Two generals, do you still remember the Li Yao who once replaced Zang Yan's rebel thief on the battlefield of Qi Chu?" Xia asked back. After seeing Gongsun Tong and Tao Xi nodded together, Xia said, "He has come and brought many gifts. He is currently waiting to see me in my camp."

"Is there something wrong? What does he want to do?" Tao Xi asked again.

"I don't know, I definitely didn't hold any good water." Xia said calmly: "You two arrived first than me. If Yan Zhe had something to negotiate with us, he should contact you first. But now Yan Zhe ignored you and just waited for me to come. There must be some tricks in it."

"Xia Xiang, can you let us meet him with you?" Gongsun Tong asked in a deep voice.

"If you don't say that, I will ask you to see him together." Xia said, "Two generals, if you want, let's go and see him together. Anyway, Li Yao knows you too."

The matter was related to the secret contact between the Zhao ** team and the Yan army. Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong would certainly not refuse. They quickly followed Xia Shuo to the Zhao army camp. When they arrived at the Zhongjun camp tent of Xia Shuo, they saw that the Yan general Li Hao, who had met several times, was indeed sitting in the tent and talking to a Xia Shuo general whom they had never met. As a result, seeing Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong came together, Li Hao was also shocked and hurriedly got up and left the seat to salute Xia Shuo.

"General Li, it's been a long time since he was gone." Tao Xi smiled and said, "Tell me, what do you want to do when I come to see Prime Minister Xia behind us?"

Li Hao didn't dare to speak, and the general Xia Shuo who did not know Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong next to him spoke out and said, "Two generals, Xia Prime Minister, let's talk for General Li. He is here to commit surrender and delay the army. He wants to take advantage of our three armies' disobedience to fight for merit, temporarily stabilize our Zhao team, reduce pressure on them on the battlefield, and buy time for them to wait until the Xiongnu reinforcements. In addition, if our Zhao army is trapped, they will definitely take action to disagree in the next step."

"You...!" Li Hao glared at Na Xia and said angrily: "You are slandering!"

"Okay, General Li, your tricks can be hidden from others, but I can't hide from me." The Xia Shuo general sneered and said, "Your tricks are nothing but the rest of Tian Dan's play in Jimo. My eldest father suffered such a great loss in Tian Dan's hands back then. How could I repeat my eldest father's mistake?"

"Who is your eldest father?" Li Hao asked in surprise.

"Changguojun Le Yi."

Uncle Le’s answer was very simple, and in one sentence, Li Hao turned into a deflated ball. Then, Uncle Le told Xia that Li Hao came from, Tao Xi and Gongsun Tong said, clearly pointing out that Zang Tu deliberately begged for surrender to the Zhao army was a jealous intention, and he tried to make the Zhao army greedy for merit and refused to attack the city. Then he designed a cooperative relationship between the three Han troops. Xia and Gongsun Tong nodded, and agreed. Tao Xi, who had a relatively anxious temper, screamed and drew out the sword on his waist on the spot.

Xia said and Gongsun Tong of course, quickly grabbed Tao Xi who wanted to kill Li Yao on the spot. Then Xia said to Li Yao again: "General Li, we will not let General Tao kill you. In addition to being an envoy, you cannot take action, there is another important reason that we cannot make up our minds. We have always remembered that you fought side by side with us on the battlefield of Qi Chu, so you go, we will not make things difficult for you."

"Thank you, Prime Minister."

Li Hao bowed with shame, turned around and said goodbye, but Xia said, but he called him again, "General Li, there is another thing, I really can't understand why you are so devoted to Zang Tu's rebels? What's going on in Yan State? Others don't know, you, the general of Yan State, don't know, even if we can't even defeat our three troops, how can we stop our endless follow-up army?"

"Don't count on the Huns, you can't count on it." Xia said again: "It's already spring. In this season, the Huns have to go deep into the grassland to reproduce cattle and sheep. Even if you are forced to send some reinforcements to you, it is destined to be a drop in the bucket and will be useless. Also, no matter how strong the city of Jicheng is, it can be as strong as Puyang, Handan and Julu, what power is our catapult in the siege war? Haven't you seen it with your own eyes when you were in Licheng? Ask yourself, how long can Jicheng hold on to us when we cast dozens or hundreds of catapults at Jicheng at the same time?"

Li Hao looked hesitant and refused to speak with his head down. Xia said that he had been shaken, and quickly said, "Let's do this, General Li, be our inner supporters and help us take down Jicheng as soon as possible. As long as you do this, the three of us can guarantee that you can survive and ensure that you will continue to enjoy the glory and wealth you deserve after seeing His Majesty the Emperor. What do you think?"

Li Yao's expression was obviously even hesitant. Gongsun Tong next to him saw that there was an opportunity and hurriedly said, "Come here, immediately write a letter of commitment to General Li Yao with my reputation as Prime Minister Xia and General Tao, and guarantee that as long as General Li accepts us and takes Jicheng, we will guarantee that his family's life will not be infringed upon and that all the family property will be preserved. In addition, we will also promise to ask General Li Yao for me in front of His Majesty."

In accordance with Gongsun Tong's request, the Chinese clerk quickly wrote a letter of commitment for Li Yao. Gongsun Tong was the first to sign and seal the letter of commitment. Xia said that after signing and sealing the letter of commitment, he handed the letter of commitment to Tao Xi. Tao Xi hesitated for a moment, then wrote down his name on the letter of commitment, stamped his own seal, and handed it to Li Yao, saying, "General Li, this is what we have given to you in the past friendship, you can decide for yourself."

After hesitating for a long time, Li Hao solemnly took the promise letter jointly signed by Xia Shuo and others from Tao Xi, and then said: "Xia Prime Minister, General Tao, General Gongsun, please give me a pen and white silk, and I will give you Zang Tupifu's urban defense deployment picture."

Xia Shuo looked at Gongsun Tong and smiled, then quickly asked someone to bring a silk pen, but Li Hao did not reserve any reservations and quickly drew a sketch of Jicheng's city defense on the white silk, marking the various stations and troops of the defenders of Jicheng, the height and width of the city, and the key locations such as the granary and arsenal in the city. Finally, it was repeatedly checked and submitted them to Xia Shuo and others respectfully, and said: "Three generals, move faster. Zang Tu has sent Zang Yan to the grassland in person and ask for help from the Xiongnu at all costs. No matter what the Xiongnu proposed, Zang Yan will agree on Zang Tu. Although you are not afraid, if the Xiongnu army really comes, it will be very difficult to capture Jicheng with your troops alone."

"General Li, you made a wise choice." Xia Shuo patted Li Hao's shoulder and smiled.

Before the matter was finished, after sending away Li Hao, who was bought and rebellious, he carefully studied the Jicheng defense map he left behind. Xia Shuo and others were surprised to find out that with the existing troops of the three of them, there was a complete hope of directly breaking Jicheng and suppressing the rebellion of Yan State. So Xia Shuo quickly said: "General Tao, why don't you listen to General Gongsun? Take the time to prepare and launch an attack on Jicheng within ten days. The three of us join forces and work together to share this great contribution equally!"

"Work together?" Tao Xi's voice became a little sarcastic again, and he said, "I am willing to work together, but some people deliberately cut all the wood they can use in order to seize the merits, so that I can't build enough catapults. How do I work together?"

Xia Shuo turned his eyes to Gongsun Tong, and Gongsun Tong was also hesitant. However, at this moment, another guard rushed in outside the tent and presented a military report to Xia Shuo, saying: "Prime Minister, the prime minister Zhu Jishi just sent a quick horse to him. He wants us to advance carefully and never be greedy for merit and advance lightly. It is best to give priority to garrison grass and accumulate grain to ensure military supplies. When his army arrives, we will join forces to launch an attack on the main force of the Yan thieves."

Before the guard's report was finished, Xia Shuo laughed and said to Gongsun Tong: "General Gongsun, have you heard that, do we want to make contributions? Those who want to make contributions more than we are still behind. Zhu Xiangguo's words were almost equivalent to shouting to let Zang Tu go and let him come. However, with his official position, qualifications and prestige, when Zhu Xiangguo's army arrives, do you think we have no chance to make contributions yet?"

Gongsun Tong blinked the small eyes of mung beans and suddenly said in a deep voice: "One hundred and twenty-six suitable wood, our family has forty-two, and we will launch an attack within ten days. We will not distinguish between the main attack and feint attack, and three troops will attack at the same time! We will draw lots to the siege location, discuss things when encountering problems. The few people will obey the decision of the large number of people!"

"One hundred and twenty-six suitable wood?" Tao Xi's nose was almost slight and said, "General Gongsun, didn't you insist that there were only more than fifty trees in your camp just now? Why are so many of them suddenly appearing?"

Gongsun Tong smiled bitterly and bowed to Tao Xi and said, "Brother Tao, you have broken Jicheng, I will invite you to a big banquet in a big prison. Don't mind such a small matter, okay?"
Chapter completed!