Chapter 334 328. Battle
"Your Majesty, it's bad. Marshal Dong Tu sent a message saying that reinforcements have arrived from the Han army."

Meng Huo had not been happy for long about the arrival of reinforcements from King Duosi and Meng You, when he received news that reinforcements from the Han army were also arriving.

"What? How many people? Do you have any specific information?"

Meng Huo sat up and asked hurriedly. The quality of the soldiers in the Nanzhong Army was not high to begin with, and they might not have an advantage even if they were two against one. If the Han army came to reinforce, they would definitely not be able to win if the troops were one against one.

"Marshal Dong Tuna said there were probably more than 10,000 people, but less than 20,000."

Dong Tuna was relatively efficient and immediately collected the approximate number of Han army reinforcements through various means.

"More than ten thousand... Tsk..."

Meng Huo couldn't help but snort. Things really went in the direction he least wanted to go. The Han army had reinforcements coming in continuously, causing the forces of both sides to become closer and closer. He went from 50,000 to 10,000 at the beginning to 50,000 to 50,000 now.

"Damn it... Tell Marshals Dong Tuna, Ahui Nan, and Duo Si to prepare for defense. Be careful not to let the Han army take advantage of the arrival of reinforcements and launch a surprise attack on our army."

Meng Huo issued a military order to prevent the Han army from raiding the camp. However, after Meng Huo issued the order in the morning, a Han army envoy arrived in the afternoon.

"Why did the Han envoy come here?"

Meng Huo still maintained a certain degree of courtesy towards the Han envoy at this time and did not kill him directly, otherwise the Han army would probably have really fought him to the death.

"Your Majesty, there is no enmity between us. It is just that some unexpected events caused friction. I am here to explain the whole matter to you, Your Majesty."

The visitor bowed and spoke in a rather polite manner.

"That's true. The friction between Nanzhong and the Han people is ultimately about Yang Feng. However, Yang Feng is an internal matter of Nanzhong. I don't know why the Han people want to get involved in this matter?"

Meng Huo took the initiative and tried to occupy the commanding heights of the situation and shift the blame for the friction to the Han army.

"Your Majesty, what you said is absurd. Since Cave Master Yang Feng admires the Han people and is willing to naturalize, he is naturally a citizen of the Han people. Your Majesty is using an excuse to stop us, the people of the Han people. Isn't that your fault?"

The Han army envoy was naturally not someone who just wanted to do nothing, and he very domineeringly threw the responsibility back to Meng Huo, which made Meng Huo a little annoyed.

"If the Han envoy says so, then this matter is simple. Isn't this thief Yang Feng willing to submit to the Han? This matter is simple. He and his few surviving sons can leave, and I will never stop them. But the people of his Yinzhi Cave are all Nanzhong people, and none of them can leave."

Meng Huo had revealed his bottom line, but the Han envoy on the opposite side just smiled, as if he had heard a joke.

"Your Majesty, what you said makes sense. The 100,000 people in Yinzhi Cave have voluntarily joined our Han people and become Han Chinese. Do you want to say that Han Chinese are also under your control? And it will definitely be fruitless for you to argue with me like this. Why not let the people of Yinzhi Cave decide for themselves? Those who are willing to naturalize can leave with Cave Master Yang, and those who are willing to obey your orders can stay in Yinzhi Cave. Isn't it killing two birds with one stone?"

Theoretically, what the Han envoy said was actually the best way to resolve the dispute, but Meng Huo was definitely unwilling to do so. Is there any need to ask this? Yinzhi Cave has been ruled by the Yang family for so long, and God knows what Yang Feng has said to them. By then, Yang Feng will surely respond to their call. Why would I ask this? Wouldn't it be a waste of face?

"I don't agree with this. The bottom line of our Nanzhong is still what I said just now. Yang Feng and his family can leave, but the people of Yinzhi Cave cannot leave with him."

Meng Huo shook his head and simply refused to say any more to the Han envoy, sticking to his bottom line and refusing to give in.

"In that case, I wonder if the king dares to fight with our army? Three days later, on the plain not far away. Since the king cannot reach an agreement with us, why not use strength to make it happen?"

Seeing Meng Huo's reckless attitude, the Han envoy sneered, as if he had been prepared. He took out a declaration of war from his arms and attacked Meng Huo with courtesy first and then force.

Meng Huo did not expect that the Han envoy would directly hand over a declaration of war. He asked his guard to take it and saw that the Han army did not write anything else. They just said that since Meng Huo was unwilling to negotiate, the two sides might as well deploy their troops and fight a decisive battle to avoid wasting words. Meng Huo was full of doubts, but he did not want to lose face, so he had to bite the bullet and accept it.

"Come here, invite King Duosi and King Mulu to come."

After the Han envoys left, Meng Huo immediately asked someone to find two people. King Duosi was naturally very wise, so Meng Huo wanted to ask him for advice. King Mulu was currently the combat power of the Southern Central Army, so he also needed to listen to his opinions.

"Your Majesty."

"Please take a seat, both of you."

Not long after, the two men came to see Meng Huo. Meng Huo was not in the mood to be polite and asked them to sit down.

"The Han army has sent us a letter of challenge, asking us to fight in three days. How should we fight them?"

Meng Huo handed the letter of war in his hand to the two men and asked them to pass it around.

"Your Majesty, there is something fishy about this. The Han people have been defeated by King Mulu for a while. It is impossible that they do not know that the wild beasts in our south are fierce. Why would they invite us to fight them in the wild? They must have a trick to defeat our army of wild beasts in the south."

King Duosi thought about it and immediately pointed out an important strategy of the Han army. The Han army wanted to fight a battle in the field with the Nanzhong army, and King Mulu was a hurdle they could not avoid. Meng Huo made a promise and reward to King Mulu, asking him not to care about the casualties of wild animals, so King Mulu would not hesitate in this battle.

"What is this army of beasts afraid of... Could it be that the Han army is going to use fire attack?"

Meng Huo thought about it carefully but couldn't get the point. King Duosi also shook his head.

"Your Majesty, why don't you send more scouts to spy on the Han army's movements and see how they are preparing. It won't be too late for us to make plans then."

Duo Si was not a prophet after all, and did not know what the Han army was going to do, so he could only collect intelligence first. Meng Huo saw that he had no choice but to follow Duo Si's advice.

After a day, the scouts discovered that the Han army had actually begun digging trenches in advance on the plain where the decisive battle was to take place. The scouts immediately returned and reported the matter to Meng Huo, who did not delay and summoned King Duosi to come.

"Hmm... dig deep trenches... King, I understand. The Han people want to use this to defeat King Mulu's army of beasts."

King Duosi pondered for a moment, then immediately clapped his hands and laughed.

"Oh? Dosi, come on and tell me."

Meng Huo didn't understand, so he asked quickly.

"The Han people dug deep trenches and used kerosene to wait for our army to release wild beasts. When they set the trenches on fire, the wild beasts would not dare to cross the fire wall and might even disrupt it. The Han army could then use this opportunity to attack us and counterattack us."

King Duosi laughed, having already seen through the Han army's arrangement.

"Then what should our army do?"

Seeing that King Duosi's words made sense, Meng Huo quickly asked for advice on how to respond.

"This matter is simple. Your Majesty only needs to..."

(End of this chapter)