The city......

Wrong.

The moment he stepped into Fang City, Bai Qi instinctively sensed danger.

It was like the feeling of being topped by a wild beast after stepping into the mountains and forests late at night, as if a pair of eyes were peeking at him from somewhere.

There is a Wei army in the city!

There must be a Wei army lurking in Wei!

Bai Qi's instincts only told him this, which is why he told his generals to be vigilant and carefully search every building in the city.

At this time, Ji Hong, the deputy general who was walking beside him, said: "Bai Shuai, it's not early, you can find a place to rest first." ”

Hearing this, Bai Qi shook his head slightly.

In his opinion, there must be an unknown number of Wei troops lurking in this city, and most of these Wei troops are preparing to sneak attack them, in this case, how can he sleep peacefully?

"No need, I'll just wait here for news from Zhong Xu and the others."

With a casual remark, Bai pushed the door and walked to the nearest house.

As he entered the door, he suddenly stopped, and looked at the pile of firewood and thatch stacked on the side of the door of this house.

“……”

After staring at the pile of firewood and thatch for a moment, Bai Qi seemed to think of something, reached out and took the torch from the guard beside him, and took a picture towards the dark street in the distance.

It can be vaguely seen that on the street he just walked over, next to the houses or buildings on both sides, there is a pile of firewood from time to time, the amount is quite considerable, as if Fang Cheng cut down the nearby forests in advance and prepared for the winter in advance.

"Bai Shuai?"

The guard beside him looked at Bai Qi's actions in confusion: "What are you looking at?" ”

"Those piles of firewood ......"

Bai Qi pointed to the firewood piles without elaborating on them.

This made the guards beside him mistaken, and they said happily one by one: "Haha, the Wei army not only sent our army a city, but also sent enough firewood. …… I thought that these firewood should have been used by the Wei army when they were preparing for the winter, but I never thought that it would be cheaper for us in the end. ”

“……”

Glancing at the guard, Bai Qi didn't say anything, and walked into the house, lying on the straw couch with his head on his hands, carefully recalling what he had seen and heard after he entered the city.

When he recalled the sound of the guard laughing at Wei Jun again, he couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

"Cheap?"

Bai Qi sincerely felt that this guard was obviously too blindly optimistic, so much so that he forgot who they were facing at the moment.

That's Meng Zhong!

On the use of soldiers and stratagems, Meng Zhong is not under him in vain!

Give him a city for the Qin army, so that his Qin army can spend the winter with it? And by the way, he prepared enough firewood for his Qin army to survive the winter? Are you sure that Meng Zhong is a general of the Wei State and not a spy sent by our Qin State?

But the fact is that Meng Zhong did give him a city for Qin Jun for nothing, and he also gave him a city of firewood reserves - what does this guy want to do?

"Could it be that he wants to take advantage of the unpreparedness of our army and set fire to our army in the city?"

With his eyes closed, Bai Qi thought secretly.

This can be analyzed.

First of all, that Meng Zhong would never make such a stupid move, giving him a city of the Qin army for nothing, not counting the fact that he also gave them enough firewood, as if he deliberately sent a large amount of firewood to them when he knew that his Qin army lacked winter clothes.

In this case, there must be a Wei army lurking in the city, but considering the meticulous work sent by his Qin army, he once saw the main force of the Wei army in Fangcheng retreat to Yangguan with his own eyes, and Fang Cai Zhaoju and he sent troops to the city to conduct a simple search, but did not find any trace of the Wei army, which shows that the number of Wei troops lurking in the city is not too much, and there may even be only a few hundred or so.

These few hundred Wei troops are naturally not enough to sneak attack the more than 70,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops under his command at the moment, unless a strange plan is adopted, and this strange plan, Bai Qi feels that it is a fire attack plan nine times out of ten.

Yes, deliberately surrendering an intact Fangcheng with plenty of firewood, its purpose was to lure him Qin-Chu coalition army into Fangcheng, and then take advantage of his unprepared coalition army to wait for the opportunity to set fire to the city, taking the opportunity to inflict heavy losses on his Qin army coalition - in Bai Qi's opinion, this was obviously the conspiracy of that Meng Zhong.

As for why he chose to be at night, Bai Qi thought that it was only conducive to the Wei army hiding in the city.

『…… Wait, if you think about it that way, isn't that guy deliberately exposing the whereabouts of his withdrawal to the details sent by our army?"

After thinking about it carefully, Bai Qi felt that his guess was very likely.

"Humph! Meng Zhong, Meng Zhong, you really underestimate me for being white...... Do you think I can't see through the fire attack?'

Bai Qi secretly sneered in his heart.

But in an instant, he still frowned slightly.

It is true that Meng Zhong's trick has been seen through by him, but how to deal with it makes Bai Qi hesitate.

When it comes to the best way, it is better to order the coalition forces to withdraw from Fangcheng at this moment, so that no matter what conspiracy that Meng Zhong has, it will not be able to carry out - the worst result is nothing more than that the Wei army lurking in the city sees that there is no chance to sneak attack them, and sets fire to it before dawn and leaves, which will not affect his Qin and Chu coalition forces in the slightest.

The only problem is that winter is approaching at this moment, and his Qin-Chu coalition army has been burned by the Wei army A large number of valuable baggage and grain and grass have been burned by the Wei army, they urgently need a garrison that can shelter from the wind and snow, and they also urgently need a batch of firewood to be used for the winter, and this Fangcheng handed over by the Wei army seems to be the best choice.

He Qin and Chu allied forces, and he needed the buildings in this square city, and he also needed the firewood stored in the city.

Thinking of this, Bai Qi couldn't help but hesitate.

Reason told him that he had to do something, otherwise the Wei army lurking in the city would definitely find a way to light a fire in the city and set fire to his more than 70,000 allied troops, but if he withdrew his troops immediately, wouldn't this be a disguised way to tell the Wei troops lurking in the city, so that these people realized that their tricks had been discovered.

In this case, according to normal thinking, those Wei troops would definitely set fire to the firewood in the city.

So, is there a way to get the best of both worlds?

Yes!

That is to find out the Wei soldiers lurking in the city in advance, kill them all, as long as the strange army set by Meng Zhong is eliminated, Meng Zhong's fire attack plan will not be carried out smoothly, and Fangcheng and the sufficient firewood reserves in Fangcheng will be completely owned by his Qin-Chu coalition army.

If it goes well, Bai Qi can even write a letter to laugh at that Meng Zhong.

Thinking of this, Bai Qi immediately sent someone to invite the deputy general Ji Hong.

After a while, Ji Hong walked into this house, and saw Bai Qi sitting on the straw couch pondering, so he clenched his fists and called softly: "Bai Shuai, you sent someone to summon the last general to come, I don't know what is important?" ”

I saw Bai Qi nodding and asked, "What is the result of the search in the city?" ”

Ji Hong shook his head: "So far, there has been no trace of the Wei army in the city. ”

"...... like this" Bai Qi groaned for a moment when he heard this, and said in a deep voice: "I have probably guessed a few ...... of Meng Zhong's tricks" As he spoke, he told Ji Hong his judgment one by one, only to hear Ji Hong's face change again and again.

I saw Ji Hong hurriedly say, "Really? Is there really a Wei army lurking in the city? ”

"Nine times out of ten." Bai Qi nodded, and then immediately instructed Ji Hong: "Don't make a noise about this matter, I don't want the sergeants to fall into a panic because of this." …… According to my estimates, the number of Wei troops lurking in the city will not be too many, at most a few hundred, otherwise they would have been discovered by our soldiers of Qin and Chu. Tonight, then, thou shalt send more men to patrol all parts of the city, and when it is daybreak, I will have the whole army search the whole city thoroughly......

Indeed, in a few hours the sky will be bright, and it will be easier to search for the Wei army's strange soldiers, as long as the Wei army does have a strange army lurking in the city.

"Whoa."

Ji Hong clenched his fists and left, leaving Bai Qi alone on the straw couch in the house.

At this moment, he has no intention of sleeping.

He was gambling, betting on this game, who would have the last laugh between him and Meng Zhong.

If he won the bet, he would have really obtained a Fang City with an intact net and sufficient firewood reserves in the city, which was very crucial for the Qin army, which had just lost a large number of baggage.

And in his opinion, Meng Zhong probably didn't know that he had seen through his tricks at the moment, so his victory in vain was actually very large.

But the question is, what if he loses the bet......

The consequences are also severe.

『…… Forget about the Chu army, or should I deploy half of my troops outside the city?"

Bai Qi thought with a frown.

However, he also knew that if he ordered half of his soldiers to leave the city and stay in the wilderness at night, those unknown soldiers would definitely complain, after all, the night outside the city was still very cold, and his Qin army did not have enough winter clothes.

And just as he was thinking like this, he suddenly heard a noise outside the house.

This made his face change slightly.

"Could it be that the Wei army lurking in the city has begun to move? How is this possible?'

Surprised, Bai Qi immediately stepped out of the house, and looked around while asking the guards guarding outside the house about the situation.

At this time, he suddenly saw that there seemed to be a faint fire coming from the northeast side of Fang City.

"Only the northeast side?"

Muttered to himself, the surprise on Bai Qi's face faded slightly, and he felt that things might not be as he thought.

Sure enough, a moment later, a soldier came to report to him: "Qi Bai Shuai, there is a Wei army outside the city shooting at the city with fire arrows......

"Out of town?"

Bai Qi muttered when he heard this, and then frowned and asked, "Have you ever sent someone out of the city to pursue?" ”

"No, I didn't." The soldier who came to report shook his head, and then explained: "The harassers outside the city are all cavalry, so General Zhongxu did not send troops to pursue them. ”

"Cavalry, ......"

Thinking of the Fangcheng cavalry under Meng Zhong's command, Bai Qi still felt a little headache.

At this moment, he regretted it a little, after all, if he hadn't sent Hu Yu to lead those two thousand cavalry around Cai to attack Yeyi's rear, wouldn't he be able to send those cavalry out at this time to drive those Fangcheng cavalry?

But after thinking about it carefully, Bai Qi was also relieved, after all, don't look at this as his headache, in a few days, when Hu Yu led the two thousand cavalry to the Yeyi area, I'm afraid it will be Meng Zhong's turn to have a headache for this.

Compared to this matter, Bai Qi was more concerned about the actions of those Fangcheng cavalry.

The appearance of these Fangcheng cavalry made him more and more sure that Meng Zhong deliberately retreated to Yangguan in order to lure him to come to Fangcheng with the Qin-Chu coalition army, so as to inflict heavy damage on his coalition army with a fire attack strategy, otherwise how could those Fangcheng cavalry appear here and shoot arrows into the city? ——It is clear that the other party has learned that he and the Qin-Chu coalition army has entered the city.

The question is, what is the purpose of these Fangcheng cavalry?

Could it be that Meng Zhong was going to let the fire arrows fired by these cavalry set fire to the buildings in the city?

With a chuckle, Bai Qi threw this unrealistic idea behind him.

In all fairness, it is not impossible to set fire to the buildings in the city by using fire arrows to cause a fire in the city, but it requires a lot of arrows, which is a lot of work, and it is better to send a team of strange soldiers to lurk inside the city, which is much more effective than setting fire arrows outside the city wall across the city walls.

But to Bai Qi's surprise, the Fangcheng cavalry outside the city seemed to be competing with them, and after placing a few rounds of fire arrows on the northeast side of Fangcheng, they ran to the southeast side of Fangcheng and shot fire arrows into the city again.

Then, he ran to the southwest side of Fangcheng......

These Wei cavalry shot arrows outside the city one after another, which really annoyed the Qin-Chu coalition forces in the city.

"It's on fire, it's on fire."

"Hurry up and put out the fire!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Seeing that several buildings in the city were ignited by fire arrows shot from outside the city, countless soldiers of Qin and Chu ran back and forth, or took off their armor and slapped back and forth, or looked for water tanks and canals in the city to get water to put out the fire.

At this time, in the cellar of a private house, Meng Zhong was sitting cross-legged on the ground, closing his eyes and recuperating.

And beside him, there were about two dozen Wei pawns, one by one, holding their breath, looking a little nervous.

Because from the beginning, they heard the sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets, as if a Qin pawn was searching this house.

Suddenly, a few words of conversation came from above.

"You...... What are you waiting for here? ”

"We are ordered by General Meng Yi to search for traces of the Wei army in this area......"

"Oh, help me find out, are there any tubs or barrels in this room?"

"What's wrong?"

"There's a fire in the city, and you're busy putting out the fire, so don't look for any Wei pawns first, hurry up and help put out the fire. Those damn Fangcheng cavalry didn't let us stop for a moment, and every now and then they shot a few fire arrows into the city...... Hurry, hurry, hurry. ”

As the sound of footsteps approached and moved away, Meng Zhong, who was closing his eyes in the cellar, suddenly opened his eyes and commanded in a low voice: "Action." ”

Hearing this, a few Wei pawns immediately carefully lifted the cover of the cellar entrance, cautiously looked around, and saw that the room was pitch black, obviously those Qin pawns had left.

Seeing this, they quickly climbed out of the cellar, including Meng Zhong, and at the first moment of climbing out of the cellar, they walked to the door of the house, opened a line slightly, and peeked into the street outside.

At the same time, two of the Wei pawns in the rest of the room immediately took out the tongue of fire from their arms, and after blowing the tongue of fire, they lit a pile of firewood placed in the house.

I saw that the pile of firewood was somehow, as if it had been exposed to the sun for days, and it was simply burning at one point.

Looking back at this scene, Meng Zhong beckoned to the Wei pawns beside him, immediately opened the door carefully, and quickly walked out of the house with the team of Wei pawns, and immediately closed the door casually.

Walking out of the house and walking around the corner, a group of Qin soldiers noticed them head-on, and the Qin army led by them shouted: "Hey, you wait...... What are you still doing here? ”

Meng Zhong lowered his head, imitated the accent of Qin State, and said vaguely: "Meng, General Meng Yi ordered us to search for the Wei soldiers lurking in the city......"

When the Qin army leader heard this, although he felt that Meng Zhong's accent was a little strange, he didn't think about it, and said in a deep voice: "Don't be in a hurry to search for Wei Pawn first, you guys immediately go to find wooden basins and barrels, and get water to put out the fire......

Then, the team leader scolded and said a few more words, but Meng Zhong didn't understand it very clearly.

But that's enough.

Meng Zhong immediately left with the team of Wei pawns behind him.

Why didn't those Qin pawns discover the identity of Meng Zhong and the others, in fact, it was very simple, just because Meng Zhong and the others were wearing Qin pawn armor.

A moment later, Meng Zhong and the Wei soldiers he led found some wooden basins and barrels from nearby houses.

When they passed by the house where they were hiding, the house was already burning up at this moment, which made the dozen or so Qin soldiers who heard the news at that time shocked.

"How did this room burn down?"

"Could it be that the fire arrows of the Fang Cheng cavalry have hit this side?"

"You idiot, can those fire bolts reach this side?! …… There are spies! There are spies of the Wei army around here! ”

"Spies? Where is it? ”

"Where's the spies?"

Just when the dozen or so Qin soldiers were looking for the murderer who set the fire, Meng Zhong took the team of Wei soldiers behind him, holding a wooden basin and a wooden barrel, and walked quickly past these people.

I saw these Qin pawns turn their heads and glance at Meng Zhong and the others, and immediately turned their gaze elsewhere.

"Anyway, let's put out the fire! In addition, immediately send someone to report to the generals, saying that the spies of the Wei army have begun to set fire to the city! ”

"Whoa!"

Listening to the voice coming from behind him, the corners of Meng Zhong's mouth raised a slight smile.

In the following time, they sometimes worked together with the nearby Qin soldiers to put out the fire, but when they were unprepared, they took the opportunity to set fire to other houses, or the firewood they had prepared in advance.

Not only Meng Zhong, but also Menghu, Huahu, Mu Wu, Meng Sui and others are all pretending to be the Qin army and the Chu army at this moment, doing the same thing in the city.

This made it possible for countless Qin Chu soldiers in the city to fight the fire, but the fire in the city not only did not decrease at all, but gradually intensified, coupled with the blowing of the night wind, it spread all at once.

At this time, Bai Qi also received relevant news.

In fact, there was no need for Qin Qi to come to report, Bai Qi had already judged the current situation from the fire in the city.

At this time, he finally understood that the main purpose of those Fangcheng cavalry who shot fire arrows in the city was to create chaos and divert the attention of the Qin army coalition forces in his city, so that the Wei army soldiers lurking in the city had the opportunity to set fire.

The question is, he has ordered Ji Hong to send people to deploy patrolling guards in the streets and alleys of the city, how can those Wei pawns light fires in the city again and again from under the noses of those patrols?

Suddenly, Bai Qi thought of something.

I remember that when he led his troops to Fangcheng last night, he had seen the corpses of his Qin soldiers outside the city, and many Qin soldiers were stripped of their armor and weapons at that time.

can be combined with the current situation and think about it again, where would Bai Qi not understand what tricks those Wei soldiers played?

"Damn it! Meng Zhong's bastard actually asked his Wei army to pretend to be my Qin pawn!"

Finally figured out the reason, and gritted his teeth with hatred.

And at this moment, at the corner of the street behind him, out of a team of Qin soldiers holding a few clay pots, led by the leader of the team holding torches, was slightly stunned when he saw Bai Qi's back, but immediately, he bent down and lit two piles of firewood along the street with the torch in his hand.

"Hey! What are you doing?! ”

The guards beside Youbai had already noticed this group of Qin pawns, and they didn't think anything about it, but they were shocked that the team led by the Qin pawns actually used the torches in their hands to ignite the firewood piled up on the side of the road, which made them realize that something was wrong.

Hearing the angry rebuke of the guards beside him, Bai Qi suddenly turned his head and looked at the team leader with a frown, and immediately, a few shocks appeared on his face, as if he felt a little incredible.

"You...... It's you?! ”

"Yo, Bai Qi, long time no see."

Hearing Bai Qi's voice, the team leader raised his head and said hello, it was undoubtedly Meng Zhong.

Reconfirmed that it was Meng Zhong undoubtedly, Bai Qi was angry and happy, angry, he only guessed that there were Wei pawns lurking in the city, and he didn't expect Meng Zhong to ask these Wei pawns to pretend to be his Qin army in advance, and happily, he didn't expect that this surprise attack of the Wei army was actually led by Meng Zhong himself, didn't this give him the opportunity to capture the other party?

Thinking of this, Bai Qi didn't say a word, pointed at Meng Zhong and ordered: "Catch him!" ”

"Whoa!"

When the guards beside him heard this, they immediately drew their sharp swords and ran towards Meng Zhong and the others, seeing this, several soldiers behind Meng Zhong hurriedly smashed the crockpot in their hands on the ground, so that the liquid in it could seep out.

With a snort, the two piles of burning firewood became stronger after being touched by these liquids, and the flames spread along these liquids, forming a wall of fire between Bai Qi and Meng Zhong.

"Oil?"

Seeing that the burning wall of fire was so hot that it could not be crossed, Bai Qi raised his hand to stop the guards around him, and immediately said to Meng Zhong like an old friend: "Have you been preparing for a long time?" ”

On the other hand, Meng Zhong also replied with a smile as if he had met an old friend: "Ah, for this reason, our city has been preparing for half a year to smash pots and sell iron." ”

"Smash the pot and sell iron?"

Bai Qi couldn't understand what this had to do with oil, shook his head and said, "I've been preparing for half a year, but I only came up with this rough fire attack plan?" Oh, from the moment I entered the city, I guessed that you would attack ...... with fire."

"There's no way to guess, after all, it's you who got up ...... nothing"

"Oh? Is this a compliment to Bai? Bai Qi asked with a chuckle.

"Of course not, it's just a mockery of you. If you guessed, why didn't you quit the city? If the army had withdrawn from the city, there would have been no such thing as this now......"

"......" Bai Qi pursed his lips and was silent.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong chuckled and said, "I'll answer for you, because you don't want to give up an intact square city, let alone the firewood in the city, you want to gamble, bet that I may not be able to set fire to the city under your nose......"

“……”

After taking a deep look at Meng Zhong, Bai Qi subconsciously clenched his fists.

At this moment, he realized that not only did he see through Meng Zhong's plan, but the other party had also expected his reaction in advance.

And at this moment, there was a sound of footsteps in the distance, and it was suspected that a large number of Qin soldiers were rushing towards this side.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong hugged his fist towards Bai Qi: "Okay, you have to take a step first, don't pass by." ”

"Wait!"

Seeing that Meng Zhong was about to leave, Bai Qi immediately shouted to stop him, and then said in a deep voice: "Meng Zhong, even if you succeed tonight and set fire to Fang City, the gates of all parts of this city are heavily guarded by our army, and you will not be able to escape if you plug in your wings." …… Why don't you surrender to my Great Qin? With your intelligence, if you are willing to defect to my Great Qin, the prince will pay homage to the marquis, and it will be just around the corner. ”

“……”

Meng Zhong glanced back at Bai Qi in surprise, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he just shook his head as if he thought it was funny, and disappeared into the night with Wei Shu beside him.

"Think about it, Monzhong."

Bai Qi shouted towards Meng Zhong's back, but unfortunately did not respond.

During this time, the guards tried to chase after them, but were stopped by Bai Qi reaching out.

"Bai Shuai?"

"There's no need to chase, there's no point, since he has the guts to come, he will naturally leave a way out in advance, not to mention ......"

He turned his head to look at the raging fire in the city, and said in a deep voice, "Meng Zhong has spent six months preparing for tonight's attack, how can it be that all? ”

After saying that, he ordered in a deep voice: "Pass the order, all the troops retreat from Fangcheng, remember to beware of the sneak attack of the Wei army!" If my guess is correct, next, the Wei army will pursue our army with all its strength! ”

"Whoa!"