On the seventh day of the second lunar month, after two days of hurrying, Meng Zhong, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu led more than 1,000 cavalry to arrive in Lixian.

At that time, it was around midnight, and when Meng Zhong and his party arrived in Lixian, they saw countless Chu people from a distance dragging their families and fleeing from the east gate of Lixian.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong and the others stepped forward.

Unexpectedly, their proximity frightened those Chu people.

Even, some Chu Min, who were blocked by the cavalry in front of them, immediately fell to their knees with a thud, begging bitterly: "Spare your life, spare your life." ”

Meng Zhong and the others immediately came to their senses, these Chu people must have regarded them as Qin pawns, so Meng Zhong immediately turned over and dismounted, helped up the Chu people who were kneeling on the ground, and said with a pleasant face: "You have misunderstood, we are not the Qin army, but the army of Fangcheng......

He hid his heart here, and did not directly say that he was the Wei army, but called himself the "Fangcheng Army", after all, it was only a few years after the end of the Battle of Lisha, and the Chu people's fear of the Wei army was actually not much lighter than the fear of the Qin army.

But unfortunately, among the Chu people present, there were also people who knew the details of Fang Cheng, and after hearing Meng Zhong's words, they asked timidly, "Fang Cheng...... Is it Wei Jun at your feet? ”

Seeing that he couldn't dodge, Meng Zhong could only admit it.

Sure enough, after he admitted it, the nearby Chu people were even more frightened.

It's no wonder, after all, during the Battle of Chuisha, although Wei and Qi and South Korea were all "invaders" who took the opportunity to attack Chu, and it was true that Chu did a lot of hurtful things, so that in the eyes of many Chu people, the Wei army and the Qin army were actually no different.

Seeing that these Chu people were becoming more and more frightened of the identity of their Wei army, Meng Zhong could only say kind words to reassure: "Everyone, everyone, the war between our Wei State and Chu State has long ended, our two countries are no longer enemy countries, and our army will not be unfavorable to you......"

But unfortunately, even though he persuaded him kindly, he still couldn't eliminate the fear of these Chu people against the Wei army.

In this case, Meng Hu became impatient and shouted at those Chu people: "Shut up! If our army wants to be unfavorable to you, do you think you will be able to escape?! Shut up and listen! If you want to live, flee to the area of Fangcheng and Yeyi, where there are enough fields and houses for you to live in and cultivate, and our army can also provide you with protection to prevent the Qin army from killing you......

Hearing these words, those Chu people in Lixian County looked at each other.

When did the Wei army have such a good heart and was willing to provide them with protection? So that they were saved from being slaughtered by the Qin army?

But it cannot be denied that the Wei army in front of them really did not have the intention of harming them.

At this time, Meng Zhong saw that these Chu people were suppressed by Meng Hu's voice, so he took the opportunity to say again: "I am Meng Zhong, the newly appointed Fangcheng commander of the King of Wei, and I am not used to seeing the Qin army killing innocents indiscriminately, but as a general of the Wei State, I have never received a royal order, and I cannot come forward to stop the evil deeds of the Qin army, so as not to provoke a war between Wei and Qin, but if you are willing to defect to our city, I Meng Zhong is willing to provide protection for you......"

As he spoke, he immediately threw out Tian Li, who was "exempt from all taxes for two years before moving to Yeyi", and all the Chu people present widened their eyes when they heard it.

After a while, looking at the backs of the group of Chu people who continued to flee, Hua Hu frowned and asked Meng Zhong, "Ah Zhong, how many of these Chu people will believe our words and defect to Fangcheng?" ”

As soon as the words fell, Mu Wu shook his head and said: "I guess, there may only be two or three percent, and most of the rest of the people are still inclined to flee to the area of "Sui County". ”

Sui County, that is, the fiefdom that the Chu State gave to Wei Ran, the Marquis of the Qin State, and this time from the analysis of the Qin army's troop route, when the Qin army conquered Li County, the next one to be attacked was most likely to be Yu County.

"There's no need to rush."

After listening to Mu Wu's words, Meng Zhong shook his head and said: "These people are skeptical about us, whether they will still choose to flee to Sui County, stay for a few days, when the Qin army attacks Qi County, we will go to Qi County again, and there will be more Chu people who believe in our sincerity...... In short, if they want to be willing to defect to our city, they can't be strong. In this way, you will not be able to leave any control on others. ”

"Hmm."

Hua Hu and Mu Wu nodded one after another, deeply convinced.

Leaving Hua Hu and Mu Wu to lead their respective cavalry to "lure" the Chu people to defect to Fangcheng in the east and south of Lixian, Meng Zhong took Menghu and moved to the northwest corner of Lixian to watch the attack of the Qin army's western city wall of Lixian from afar.

After only peeking for a moment, Cao Chun, Menghu's deputy general and now promoted to Zuo Sima, couldn't help but speak: "The defense of Lixian County ...... It doesn't seem positive. ”

Maybe he wanted to say that Lixian's defense was very weak.

Obviously, the Qin army only attacked the western city wall of Lixian, but judging from the siege situation, the Qin army seemed to have suppressed the defenders in the city.

Looking at the momentum of the Qin and Chu armies, the Qin army's shouts shook the sky, while the Chu army in Lixian County could hardly hear any sound.

Shouting this kind of thing, to be honest, this is a waste of physical strength, an excellent elite army, the sergeant will never shout needlessly to consume physical strength, but most of the time, the shouting of the non-commissioned officer on one side is loud, which will undoubtedly cause psychological pressure on the other party, especially for the new soldier who has no battlefield experience, maybe after hearing the shout of the opponent's army, he will be frightened and his legs will be weak.

The so-called preemptive voice grabs people, probably this is what it means.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong quietly observed the more than 300 cavalry under the command of Meng Hu and Cao Chun, but saw that they were sitting on war horses one by one, with a relaxed expression of disapproval on their faces, which made Meng Zhong nod secretly: It is worthy of the cavalry that chased and killed more than 10,000 Qin troops last year, and it doesn't matter if anything else, at least the mentality is quite reassuring.

I have to say that Meng Zhong is also doing this too much, you must know that the cavalry under the command of Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu are all from Wei Wu, how can they be cowardly?

Not to mention that since the main force of the Qin army was defeated and retreated in Yicheng last year, this cavalry pursued and killed the defeated soldiers of the Qin army all the way to Wuguan.

In the eyes of the vast majority of cavalrymen, Qin Jun was just a little brother they could knead at will.

No, although there were only more than 300 cavalry on their side, and in the distance, tens of thousands of Qin troops were attacking Lixian, but these cavalry under Menghu's command were not only not worried that those Qin troops might be unfavorable to them, but commented with great interest on the defense of the Chu army in Lixian, as if they had the meaning of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight.

At this time, Meng Zhong's eyes fell on the area of the Qin army's main formation.

I saw that in the Qin army's main formation, in addition to seeing the military flag with the word "Qin", he also saw a general flag painted with the word "white".

"If it's really him......

Thinking of the Qin general Bai Qi, who was almost killed by his own crossbow on the bank of the Yishui River, Meng Zhong couldn't help but reverie.

I have to say that he didn't know that the young white-faced Qin general was the new commander of the Qin army, Bai Qi, otherwise, he would never have asked Bai Qi to flee so easily, so across a Yishui, maybe he would also catch up and kill Bai Qi.

That time he did not kill Bai Qi, the commander of the Qin army, which was a great regret in Meng Zhong's heart during the Battle of Yique.

After all, if he had succeeded in killing Bai Qi at that time, Wei and Han would not have lost nearly 160,000 troops in that battle.

But then again, if it hadn't been for Bai Qi, Gongsun Xi would not have died, and the latter would continue to follow Xue Gongtianwen's instructions and deliberately suppress him Meng Zhong, in this case, Meng Zhong may also be difficult to obtain enough military merits......

From this aspect, Meng Zhong actually had to thank Bai Qi, because without Bai Qi getting rid of Gongsun Xi, he had no chance to replace Gongsun Erection to order Dou Xing, Wei Qing and other military commanders of the Wei State.

All in all, Meng Zhong's attitude towards Bai Qi is actually quite complicated.

If Meng Zhong still has a little "gratitude" for Bai Qi, then Bai Qi may only have "hatred" for Meng Zhong.

Isn't it?

At first, Bai Qi had just succeeded Xiang Shou as the commander of the 130,000 Qin army, and ran to Yique Mountain on the other side of Yishui with great interest to peep at the main camp of the Wei army.

Then in the "Battle of Yique", Bai Qi led 80,000 Qin troops to raid the main camp of the 180,000 Wei army, and defeated more than 200,000 Wei and Han troops overnight, which can be called an unprecedented victory.

originally had the opportunity to become the most dazzling general in the entire Central Plains in the Battle of Yique, but he was forced to be suppressed by Meng Zhong, and Bai Qi naturally hated Meng Zhong to the core.

Of course, in this "hatred", there is no appreciation for Meng Zhong in vain, after all, Meng Zhong is the only enemy general who can keep up with his strategy so far.

"Bai Shuai!"

I don't know when, the general Ji Hong came to Bai Qi's side, looked at the cavalry in the distance, and whispered: "Bai Shuai, that cavalry, it is ......"

Bai Qi pressed his hand and motioned to Ji Hong not to make a noise, after all, nearly 10,000 of the 70,000 troops under his command this time were veterans who participated in the Battle of Yique last year.

In other words, these nearly 10,000 soldiers were lucky enough to survive the pursuit of the three Wei cavalry, Menghu, Huahu, and Mu Wu, and even the generals in the army, such as Bai Qi and Ji Hong, were afraid of the more than 1,000 Wei cavalry, not to mention those Qin soldiers who were lucky enough to survive from their hands?

Bai Qi whispered to Ji Hong: "I don't know why, maybe that guy Meng Zhong is ...... in this area" Saying that, he glanced at the Wei cavalry in the distance, and couldn't help muttering: "I thought that guy would be in Hedong." ”

I have to say that Bai Qi's speculation is not unreasonable, after all, Hedong County is the frontline battlefield of Wei against Qin, and the Wei army in Hedong can also be called the elite of Wei.

With this in mind, Bai Qi regarded this war against Chu as a warm-up for the future attack on Hedong, and prepared to take the opportunity to sharpen the cavalry during the attack on Chu, just like Meng Zhong borrowed his Qin army to sharpen the more than 1,000 Wei cavalry last year.

But who would have thought that he would actually encounter the cavalry under the command of Meng Zhong in the Chu State.

I wonder that guy is in the Wei cavalry in the distance at the moment, watching him attack Lixian from afar.

Inexplicably, Bai Qi felt a little nervous, a little restrained, and even had an inexplicable thought in his mind: I led 40,000 Qin troops to attack Lixian but failed to break through the city, will I be ridiculed by that guy?

Of course, Ji Hong couldn't guess what Bai Qi was thinking at the moment, seeing him staring at the Wei cavalry in the distance with a gloomy face, he lowered his voice and asked, "Bai Shuai, do you want to be in the ......?"

"No!"

Before Ji Hong could finish speaking, Bai Qi immediately interrupted: "No matter what the purpose of that Meng Zhong is here, now that Qin and Wei have made peace, as a Wei general, he must not disobey the order of the King of Wei and take the initiative to attack our army, since this is the case, we must not provoke him...... What's more, there are cavalry on his side, and the more than 1,000 cavalry under his hand are powerful, you also know, ordinary foot soldiers can't help the other party at all......"

I have to say that Bai Qi's consideration is not wrong, don't look at the Wei army in the distance, but everyone is cavalry, if he Qin army takes the initiative to offend the other party, although the other party can't fight head-to-head, but from time to time to harass you, and hunt the patrol guards you sent, what are you going to do?

If you can't catch up, you can't catch up, and the other party will wander around you from time to time, hunting down lone patrol guards, like these sufferings, Bai Qi had already deeply tasted them during the Battle of Yique last year.

In a word, don't provoke a cavalry unless you have cavalry!

But the problem is that Ji Hong doesn't mean it at all.

No, Ji Hong was stunned for a while when he heard Bai Qi's words, and then said: "The last general naturally understands, yes, the last general proposed to send someone to ask what happened, first, to ask if that Meng Zhong was here, and second, to ask him for what purpose he led the cavalry here to spy on our army." ”

Speaking of this, he glanced at Bai Qi with a somewhat strange expression.

Obviously, Ji Hong also saw that Bai Qi was very jealous of Meng Zhong and the cavalry under Meng Zhong.

Of course, this is nothing, but all the Qin generals who participated in the Battle of Yique, who doesn't know the name of Wei General Meng Zhong? Who doesn't grit their teeth hatefully at the Wei cavalry under the command of Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu?

"Oh......"

After learning Ji Hong's original intention, Bai Qi responded lightly, and unconsciously felt a slight anxiety on his face.

He also realized that he had just lost his temper a little.

He was also annoyed by this.

I have to say that once upon a time, Bai Qi's courage was indeed very big, and even, even bold, it was better to be a little arrogant and underestimate the heroes of the world, such as during the Battle of Yique, in order to peek at the reality of the main camp of the Wei army, he did not hesitate to go to the Yique Mountain occupied by the Wei and Han coalition forces to peep at the Wei army, and regarded the famous general Gongsun Xi of the Wei State and the famous Korean general Tyrant Kite as nothing.

But since being shot in the left shoulder by Meng Zhong's arrow, Bai Qi has relented a lot, and he has been more cautious and careful in leading his troops to fight.

By the way, Wei Ran, the marquis of Bai Qi, was quite pleased with Bai Qi's changes, after all, Wei Ran also felt that Bai Qi was a little too arrogant in the past, which was not conducive to Bai Qi's future.

After the Battle of Yique, Bai Qi became more cautious and steady, which made Wei Ran value Bai Qi more and more.

Wei Ran thought that Bai Qi had become stable because of the defeat in the Fox Demon, and only Bai Qi himself knew that the reason why he became cautious and steady was because of the arrow wound on his left shoulder - it was this arrow wound that made him no longer dare to underestimate the heroes in the world.

"Let's go say hello."

After thinking for a long time, Bai nodded and said.

So, Ji Hong sent a few soldiers, held high a military flag with the word "Qin", and slowly headed towards the Wei cavalry where Meng Zhong and Meng Hu were located.

Seeing from a distance that several Qin soldiers were approaching with banners, Meng Zhong immediately understood that this was a messenger sent by Bai Qi, so he took Meng Hu and a few people to move forward.

Sure enough, after the Qin soldiers approached, they asked, "Which one is General Meng Zhongmeng?" ”

The generals in the Qin population refer to the generals on the Central Plains.

Hearing this, Meng Zhong stepped forward and said, "It's Meng Zhong down there. ”

I have to say that Meng Zhong looked quite young, but those Qin soldiers didn't dare to slack off, and even looked at Meng Zhong with all kinds of awe in their eyes, and at a glance they knew that they were veterans who had experienced the Battle of Yique.

I saw that the first Qin soldier asked in a trembling voice: "General Meng, General Meng, may I ask why you and the sergeants under your command are here?" ”

Before Meng Zhong could speak, he heard Meng Hu say with a smile on the side: "Why are we here, do we still need to report to you?" If you want to know the reason, ask Na Bai to ask himself! ”

Those Qin soldiers turned their heads to look at Meng Hu a few times, their eyes swallowed and saliva, obviously they also recognized Meng Hu as the three Wei cavalry generals who chased and killed them last year, and they didn't dare to fight back, so they immediately returned to their own formation and told Bai Qi what Meng Hu had said.

"Then Meng Zhong is really here?"

After learning about the situation from those soldiers, Bai Qi thought about it in his heart.

In all fairness, he did not rule out meeting Meng Zhong face to face, after all, in addition to hatred for Meng Zhong, he also had appreciation, after all, Meng Zhong was the only enemy general who could keep up with his strategy so far.

Compared with the opponent he met this time, Jun Jingwan - this guy is also worthy of being his opponent for nothing?

A moment later, Bai Qi took Ji Hong and led the five hundred Qin soldiers in the formation, slowly approached the Wei cavalry in the distance, and stopped at a distance of one stone's throw away.

Then, Bai Qi took Ji Hong and the rest of the dozen or so guards to drive the chariot and slowly stepped forward.

On the other side, Meng Zhong also led Meng Hu, Cao Chun and the rest of a dozen cavalrymen to slowly move forward.

After nearly ten months, Meng Zhong and Bai Qi finally met for the second time since they met in Yique Mountain in April last year.

"White General."

"General Meng."

Under the gaze of countless pairs of eyes, Meng Zhong and Bai Qi greeted each other.

Glancing at the five hundred solemn Qin soldiers not far behind Bai Qi, Meng Zhong chuckled and said to Bai Qi: "When we first met last year, the white army general only brought more than 20 soldiers to dare to break into Yique Mountain to peep at the main camp of our Wei army, but I didn't expect to meet again today, and the courage of the defeated general was not as good as it was at the beginning. ”

"Who do you think this is for?"

Bai Qi snorted lightly, diverted the topic and asked, "Bai thinks that after the Battle of Yique, General Meng will definitely be treated as a guest of honor by the Wei State, why is he here?" ”

Considering that it was not a big deal, Meng Zhong said lightly: "King Wei ordered the order of Fang Cheng under the order, I heard that your army went out of the military pass, and I led the soldiers to find out." ”

"It turns out that this Meng Zhong was transferred to Fangcheng by King Wei......

Suddenly in his heart, Bai Qi said in a deep voice: "This time Bai accepted the king's order to crusade against the Chu State, which has nothing to do with the Wei State, and the Qin and Wei countries have spoken and reconciled, I advise General Meng not to do some meaningless things, so as not to affect the diplomatic relations between Qin and Wei, and finally be reprimanded by the King of Wei." ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong asked with amusement, "What counts as doing meaningless things?" ”

Bai Qi's face sank when he heard this, and he stared at Meng Zhong with a frown.

He wouldn't believe that Meng Zhong was idle and ran to spy on him Qin army attacking Lixian, and the other party was clearly here to spy on him Qin army.

In Bai Qi's opinion, this Meng Zhong was a very strategic enemy general, and now this person was spying on the strength of his Qin army in vain, which made Bai Qi feel very uneasy—this was a very dangerous message in his opinion.

Thinking of this, he lowered his voice and asked, "So, General Meng insists on interfering with the actions of my Qin army?" ”

"Not really." Meng Zhong said indifferently: "As the general of the white army said, now that the armistice between Wei and Qin has been repaired, without the order of the king of Wei, he will naturally not take the initiative to disadvantage your army, but I hope that your army will not interfere with our army, and the well water of each other will not interfere with the river water." ”

"Huh? This Meng Zhong...... What does he want to do? Could it be that when my Qin State attacked the Chu State, he fell into the well of the Chu State?"

Bai Qi was quite puzzled in his heart.

I have to say that it is not uncommon in countries to fall into a well.

For example, the Battle of Chuisha was a situation in which the Qi State saw that the Chu State was attacked by the Qin State, and took the opportunity to unite Wei and Han to crusade against the Chu State, so that it eventually evolved into a situation in which the four states of Qin, Qi, Wei, and Han joined forces to attack the Chu State.

Thinking of this, Bai Qi asked in surprise: "Could it be that General Feimeng also received an order from the King of Wei and wants to take the opportunity to crusade against the Chu State?" ”

Meng Zhong said casually when he heard this: "There is no need to report the affairs of our army to the general of the white army. I only want to know whether the White Army will be willing to do not interfere with each other's well water. ”

Bai Qi frowned and thought for a moment, then asked, "General Meng won't hinder the attack on Chu State?" ”

"Of course!"

Meng Zhong shrugged his shoulders and said: "Your army will capture the cities of the Chu State, at most, you will see the majestic strength of your army from a distance, and you will never wait for an opportunity to sneak attack, but in the same way, your army must not hinder the actions of our army...... If any of your soldiers take the initiative to attack our army, then our army will also make a corresponding counterattack. …… Is it okay to make such an agreement? ”

"This Meng Zhong...... What the hell do you want to do?'

Bai Qi frowned and stared at Meng Zhong, but unfortunately he couldn't see any clues.

After a long time, he nodded slowly and said, "Okay! …… Even if it is Chuyi captured by our army, the surrounding area is also at the mercy of your Wei army, but I hope that General Meng will keep his promise, if the Wei army takes the opportunity to cut off our army's rear route, or attack the city captured by our army......"

"Of course not!"

Without waiting for Bai Qi to release his cruel words, Meng Zhong chuckled and agreed.

What he wants is the population of the Chu State, what do you want the city of the Chu State to be defeated by the Qin army?

Seeing Meng Zhong nodded, he said in a deep voice: "The gentleman ...... a word."

Meng Zhong smiled slightly: "...... Horses are hard to chase! ”

Seeing that Meng Zhong nodded, Bai Qi returned to his own camp with Ji Hong, and Meng Zhong, after seeing that the Qin army had entered Lixian, immediately led more than 300 cavalry under Meng Hu to leave.

Seeing Meng Zhong and his party slowly leaving, Bai Qi secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

For Meng Zhong, a fierce rival, he was somewhat jealous.

At this time, General Ji Hong asked beside him: "How credible is Meng Zhong's promise?" ”

Bai Qi shook his head slightly: "I don't know. But...... Looking at his expression, I did not seem to have any intention of being an enemy of our army. That's enough, as long as he doesn't come to harass our army, then let him go. …… Pass the order, if you encounter the Wei army, unless the other party takes the lead in attacking our army, you must not attack without authorization, and those who violate the order will be severely punished! ”

"Whoa!" Ji Hong clenched his fists and took his life.

"Nameng Zhong...... What do you want to do?'

Glancing at the distance, glancing at the position where the more than three hundred Wei horsemen were standing, Bai Qi's heart couldn't help but rise a little confused.

However, this confusion was quickly answered.

Only an hour later, when the Qin soldiers under his command went out of the city to pursue the fleeing Chu people, a soldier sent news that the cavalry of the Wei State had sheltered the Chu people and moved to Fangcheng and Yeyi.

After learning of this, Bai Qi suddenly realized: Sure enough, Meng Zhong was planning to take advantage of the fire to rob and take the opportunity to rob the people of Chu to increase the population of Fangcheng and Yeyi.

However, Bai Qi didn't care, as long as Meng Zhong didn't harass his attack on Chu State, the other party would be whatever he liked, and it had nothing to do with him.

『…… There are thousands of Chu people north of the Han River, so how many of them can Meng Zhong take away?"

He thought with certainty.

However, in less than half a month, he didn't think so......

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