Meng Da sent his nephew Deng Xian to greet Wei Ba outside the city. When he saw Wei Ba, Deng Xian was stunned for a moment, then slapped his forehead and burst into laughter, which made Wei Ba puzzled.
"General Meng boosted morale by saying that the reinforcements at the top of the west mountain are General Zhenbei, who is famous in Hanzhong. This has greatly boosted the morale in our Fangling City. Now it seems that although General Meng's words are not accurate, they are not far off. It is not Wei.
The general is Wei Canjun." Deng Xian said enthusiastically: "Wei Canjun, you are able to defeat Sima Yi this time. You deserve the greatest credit. The nearly ten thousand families in Fangling City are grateful to you for your kindness."
Wei Ba smiled bitterly and thought to himself that it would be better for you not to be grateful to me. I regret leaving you as a source of trouble and I don't know how to explain it to the Prime Minister.
"Wei Canjun, General Meng has already set up a banquet in the city and invites Wei Canjun to the banquet."
Wei Ba shook his head: "Please go back first, General Deng. I have to go to Xishantou to gather my subordinates. They have been guarding here for several days, and I don't know what the situation is."
Deng Xian nodded knowingly. He also knew that there were Wei Ba's subordinates at the top of the west mountain. After Sima Yi retreated, Meng Da sent someone to invite him. Unexpectedly, when he arrived on the mountain, he didn't see anyone, only traces of the camp. I thought.
It was those people who refused to have any dealings with Meng Da without Wei Ba's orders. He could understand this. Fortunately, it was not far away, so it probably wouldn't delay the evening banquet.
After bidding farewell to Deng Xian, Wei Ba came to the top of the mountain. The dozen or so people who were left behind saw his banner and immediately rushed out from their hiding places. They saw Sima Yi retreating and Wu Jun's banner. Of course they knew Wei Ba's
The surprise attack was successful, but when they saw the Wei army prisoners tied up in a string, as well as the more than a hundred war horses and dozens of carts of supplies, they still couldn't believe their eyes, and they were all ecstatic.
Compared to them, the people who followed Wei Ba to surprise Anqiao Fortress seemed very calm, although they were more carried away than these people at first.
At the place where they originally camped, Wei Ba called Zhang Jiao and Zhou Yu over.
"The siege of Fangling has been resolved, but the situation may not be simple. Don't enter the city. Immediately take the prisoners and these trophies to meet Captain Zhuge. The distribution of the trophies will be according to the plan we have discussed."
As Wei Ba spoke, he gave Zhou Yu and Zhang Jiao a "you know what" look. Zhou and Zhang understood, pursed their lips, chuckled twice, and nodded vigorously.
"In addition, I told Captain Zhuge that I will stop in Fangling for two days and inquire as much as possible about the situation. Please ask him to send the news back to the Prime Minister's Mansion immediately and ask the Prime Minister to make a decision."
"What about your safety if you join the army?"
"I'm fine. As long as Meng Da doesn't lose his mind, he won't attack me." Wei Ba scratched his head. Although he was confident in what he said, he actually didn't know what he was thinking. Who knows if Meng Da will go crazy? "I'm with you.
We have forty personal guards, so if anything happens, we can escape."
Zhang Jing couldn't help but laugh after hearing Wei Ba's words. Wang Hui frowned: "Join the army, we are here to protect you under the orders of Young Master Feng. If you don't leave, we won't leave either.
"
"No, you go back to your elder brother immediately, he needs you more." Wei Ba said without any argument: "I have my own sense of discretion. You tell my elder brother to let him rest assured and not to worry about me."
Wang Hui nodded helplessly: "Then it's better to join the army and go back as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'm worried that Young Master Feng will send us again."
Wei Ba smiled and said nothing more. Zhang Wei and Zhou Yu immediately took their troops and rushed along Zhushui to Zhuyang and Zhuge Qiao to meet up. They brought a large amount of supplies, especially war horses, and they would not go over the mountains again.
Reality.
Wei Ba took Dunwu and others and turned to Fangling City. Deng Xian sent people to wait at the city gate and immediately welcomed him in. He saw that he entered the city with only his personal guards, thousands of subordinates and a large number of prisoners.
, the trophies were all gone, and he couldn't help but laugh. In his opinion, Wei Ba wanted to keep these trophies for himself and did not want to share them with Pan Zhang. This was a conflict between Wu and Shu, and this was a good thing for them.
"Young men who have joined the army are promising, and their future is boundless. Please take care of me in the future," Deng Xian said politely.
Wei Ba also quickly bowed his hand politely.
Following Deng Xian to Yacheng, Wei Ba saw Meng Da for the first time. Meng Da looked to be around sixty years old, with gray beard and hair, but he was very strong and spoke loudly. He was a very graceful old man. However, his eyes were a little wandering.
It always makes people feel a bit sinister and unreliable. Of course, this may also be due to Wei Ba's preconceived feelings about him.
"General Meng." Wei Ba took two steps forward and bowed in salute. No matter what Meng Da's character is, after all, we are all allies now and may be ministers of the same dynasty in the future. This due etiquette is still required.
Meng Da grinned and raised Wei Ba with both hands: "Wei Wen is so lucky, I am so envious. Wei Junjun, if you hadn't made a surprise attack on Anqiao Fortress this time and attracted General Pan's reinforcements, I would have been in real danger."
Although Wei Ba had been mentally prepared, his heart skipped a beat when he heard Meng Da's words. This old guy only mentioned Pan Zhang's rush to help, but did not mention my previous trip to Xishan, let alone Zhuge Qiao's contribution. This is obvious.
There is more to it than words.
"General Meng has been in Xincheng for a long time and is a veteran of many years of fighting. How can Sima Yi, a mere scholar, conquer Fangling? Even if General Pan and Captain Zhuge don't arrive, Fangling will have no worries. General Meng said this, I, a junior
How dare you do that?"
Meng Da smiled slightly and extended his hand to invite. When he arrived in the hall, Wei Ba took a look at the seat and couldn't help but shook his head. Meng Da saw it, his expression did not change, and he asked calmly: "Is there anything wrong with Wei joining the army?"
?”
Wei Ba smiled bitterly in his heart, thinking that of course there was something wrong, it was very wrong. Meng Da was the host and he sat in the chair, so there was no problem at all. But guest seats have their own specialties. The left-hand guest seat is the most respected, and the right-hand guest seat is slightly less important.
Now Mengda let Pan Zhang sit in the guest seat on the left hand side, but asked him to sit in the guest seat on the right hand side. This clearly placed him under Pan Zhang. For him personally, it didn't matter where he sat, but for the current situation
In other words, Meng Da's move has profound meaning.
If Wei Ba does not argue at this moment, or just sits down in confusion, it will be equivalent to admitting Mengda's independence, and the fact that the status of the Wu people is higher than that of the Shu Han will reach Zhuge Liang's ears in the future, and there is no guarantee that it will not be a flaw.
Wei Ba raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "General Meng, it is a great good thing that you have turned from darkness to light this time, found your way back, and returned to the banner of the Han Dynasty. Wu is an ally. It is said that those who come from afar are guests. General Pan is older, so are you here?"
Yes. However, everything must be done with courtesy. Since General Pan is a guest, it would be a bit inappropriate to sit in this position, right?"
Meng Da pretended to be puzzled: "Did you join the army and think that you should be the one sitting on the throne?"
"It is not I, Wei Ba, who will sit here, but Captain Zhuge who was sent by the Prime Minister to assist General Meng. If Captain Zhuge is not here, then his representative should be seated."
Pan Zhang snorted dissatisfied: "Captain Zhuge, I don't know where he is. If we had to wait for him to come to help, I'm afraid Faang Ling would already belong to Sima Yi. Don't say he didn't come, even if he did come, would you be embarrassed to sit in the seat?
?”
Wei Ba also darkened his face: "May I ask General Pan, how many days did General Pan stop in front of the Anqiao Fortress before I opened it?"
Pan Zhang suddenly went crazy. He jumped up, drew his sword and shouted angrily: "Do you mean that without you, I can't break the Anqiao Fortress?"
Wei Ba sneered: "I didn't say that. Maybe if I don't go, General Pan can still break through Anqiao Fortress. But I'm sure that you can't fight for a seat here now."
"You're rude!" Pan Zhang was furious. He drew his sword out of its sheath and pointed it at Wei Ba: "How dare you despise me?"
Wei Ba took a long breath and said in a cold voice: "General Pan, please put away your sword and don't regard me as your enemy."
Pan Zhang ignored him at all and pointed the tip of the sword directly in front of Wei Ba. He left the table and walked towards Wei Ba. As he walked, he shouted loudly: "Draw the sword and let me test your skills."
Wei Ba glanced at Meng Da and saw Meng Da standing with his beard stroking, as if he hadn't seen everything in front of him, and he couldn't help but become nervous. Meng Da clearly had some kind of deal with Pan Zhang and wanted to use Pan Zhang to suppress him.
.In that case, going to the city for a banquet is a bit careless.
Wei Ba's mind was spinning rapidly. In a moment, Pan Zhang had already taken two steps in front of him. Wei Ba narrowed his eyes and stared at Pan Zhang's toes. He didn't believe that Pan Zhang dared to kill him with such a knife.
Just bluff and give him a showdown. When he reaches a certain distance, he will definitely stop.
Sure enough, just when the tip of the knife was about to point to his nose, Pan Zhang stopped. He raised the knife and was about to curse, when Wei Ba, who had lowered his hands without making any movement, suddenly moved.
He raised his left leg, took a half step forward, turned his right foot half a circle, and suddenly exerted force. The recoil pushed the whole body forward. At the same time, his left hand raised from his waist and pulled out the dagger.
Holding it upside down in his hand, he blocked Pan Zhang's sword. He clenched his right hand into a fist, bent his elbow like a bow, and suddenly exerted force, like a sharp arrow leaving the string. In the blink of an eye, his fist reached Pan Zhang's chest.
With a loud "boom", Pan Zhang flew up into the air and smashed his huge body on the table full of tableware. The table could not withstand such a huge force and broke into two pieces with a "click".
The cutlery was flying everywhere.
Meng Da was taken aback and opened his mouth subconsciously. Before he could shout, Wei Ba, who had succeeded in the attack, followed him like a shadow, jumped up in the air, bent his right knee, and hit Pan Zhang hard on the chest.
There was a "dang" sound on the armor, and the breastplate was dented and smashed to pieces. Pan Zhang, who didn't react at all, spat out a mouthful of blood.
Wei Ba restrained Pan Zhang with his knee, and the dagger hidden under his left hand pressed unceremoniously on Pan Zhang's neck, saying word by word: "General Pan, I warned you not to treat me as an enemy."