On August 13, two months and five days had passed since Meng Zhong's first attack on Hangu Pass on the sixth day of the sixth month of June, but the Wei troops outside the pass had not launched a second attack on Hangu Pass, and those Wei troops seemed to be still preparing.

"The water of the gate and the water of the great river pour into Hangu Road? Is this really possible? ”

In the early morning of the same day, Bai Qi, as always, came to the tower of Hangu Pass early, stood beside the wall and looked into the distance, looking at the "embankment" facilities built by the Wei army in the past month.

Looking at the position on the opposite side, it seems that the intention is to strengthen the embankment on the east bank of the gate water, so that the introduced water can flow back into the Hakaya Road...... This sounds quite reliable, but considering that Hangu Pass is located between the Hangu Valley Road, and its terrain is originally higher than the location of the barracks in Meng Zhong's army, Bai Qi always feels that Meng Zhong has made a stupid move this time.

I have to say that if it were someone else, I am afraid that Bai Qi would have been laughing at the stupidity of the other side at this time, but because the other side was his old opponent, he never dared to take it lightly, after all, in his impression, Meng Zhong was indeed a general who liked to make strange moves and made strange moves frequently.

I guess there's something I don't know about him.

Bai Qi thought secretly.

Since he couldn't understand Meng Zhong's deep meaning, Bai Qi simply put this matter aside for the time being and thought about his strategy.

His strategy is very simple: on the side of the Qin camp in Menshui, he has reached an agreement with Tian Touch, the commander of the Qi army, and if it is not surprising, Tian Touch secretly helped him drag the coalition army, although in the "cooperation" with each other, in order to avoid the suspicion of the Three Jin Coalition Army, the Qin Army and the Qi Army will inevitably have some casualties due to the pretended fight, but in order to drag the purpose of the Three Jin Coalition Army, it is worth it.

Thinking about it, you also know that this time, he Qin State has only used 100,000 troops to defend against foreign enemies, and it has only used 100,000 troops so far, and it is still a local battle; On the other side, the coalition army had a full 250,000 troops, and the consumption of baggage, grain and grass was more than twice that of his Qin state.

Considering that Qi and Yan are far away from this battlefield, and the transportation of grain and grass is inconvenient, so that Zhao State, as the commander of the joint column, supplied a large amount of grain and grass to the Qi and Yan armies, and the remaining small part was made up by Wei and Han, in this case, Wei, Zhao, and Han could not afford to delay it even more than his Qin State, once this battle dragged on for a year and a half, he Qin State would certainly consume a lot of military salaries and grain and grass, but the losses of Wei, Zhao, and Han would be about three times that of Qin.

In exchange for the loss of his own country, the losses of Wei, Zhao, and Han were nearly three times that of the three countries, not to mention that even Xianyang felt that this deal was quite profitable.

After all, the Three Jin Dynasty are all roadblocks blocking Qin's eastward route to the Central Plains, and if this battle can be used to weaken the national strength of the Three Jin Dynasty, it will certainly be greatly beneficial to Qin's attack on the Three Jin Dynasty in the future.

And this is also the reason why Qin Wangji and Marquis Wei Ran have not urged Bai Qi to defeat the invading coalition army as soon as possible - even if Bai Qi is blocked by Meng Zhong in Hangu Pass, he will not dare to come out, but Xianyang is not dissatisfied with the current battle situation.

Of course, Bai Qi was not satisfied with this, his requirements for himself were not just as simple as resisting the offensive of the coalition forces of the countries, he also wanted to defeat the opposite side completely, but Meng Zhong on the opposite side was in front of him, making it difficult for him to have a chance to show his skills.

In this regard, Bai Qi was also a little resentful in his heart, because if there was no Meng Zhong, maybe he would have celebrated in the main camp of the coalition army in Sanmenxia at this time, how could he still be blocked on the side of Hangu Pass?

However, he believes that the current unfavorable situation will slowly change, and when the coalition forces on the opposite side can't bear the slow progress of the Qiyan coalition army and transfer Meng Zhong to attack the Menshui Qin camp, it will be time for him to launch a counterattack - as long as Meng Zhong is not there, who will compete with him in vain with the coalition forces on the other side?!

Just thinking about it, Bai Qi suddenly heard a rush of footsteps behind him, he subconsciously turned his head, and then saw his subordinate Zhong Xu hurrying over with a panicked expression.

I saw that under Bai Qi's gaze, Qin General Zhongxu ran in front of the former in a few steps, and after clasping his fists and saluting, he said urgently: "Bai Shuai, something happened, the Menshui military camp was captured......"

Hearing this bad news, Bai Qi's initial reaction was to be stunned for a moment, and he didn't react at all.

After being stunned for a while, his face gradually showed a look of anger, and he held back his anger and asked, "Really? What's going on? ”

"It's the Wei and Zhao armies under Meng Zhong."

Secretly glancing at the white and ugly face, Zhong Xu said cautiously: "Last night, the Wei and Zhao armies under Meng Zhong came out of nowhere and attacked the Menshui Qin camp, first Wei Wu attacked the camp, and then the cavalry of the rear city and the army of Zhao State entered the camp before and after, Wei Yuan mistakenly thought that it was the Qi and Yan armies attacking the camp, and he didn't care much at first, but when he noticed that something was wrong, the battle situation was already very unfavorable......"

Speaking of this, he carefully observed Bai Qi's complexion again, and then added: "In the end, when the two armies of Qi and Yan are also killed, the guards are unable to support it, so they can only choose to retreat...... At present, Wei Yuan has led the remnants of the army to retreat to the west bank of Menshui, and is taking advantage of the danger of Menshui to resist the four armies of Wei, Zhao, Qi, and Yan, and is beyond their strength, so they sent people to ask for help......"

As he spoke, he stepped aside half a step and motioned for a soldier behind him to step forward and personally tell Bai Qi about the general course of yesterday's night attack.

Obviously, this soldier was the messenger sent by the Qin general to ask for help.

And during this time, Bai Qi's face was shocked, and he couldn't speak with his mouth open.

He Men Water Qin Camp ...... Lost?

With his eyes wide open and muttering a few words, Bai Qi suddenly turned his head to look at the embankments built by the Wei army in the distance outside the pass, a flash of realization flashed in his heart, and he immediately laughed: "Hahahaha......"

I see, I see! I said why did you Meng Zhong come up with such a counterintuitive trick, it turned out to be out of nothing, your purpose is not the so-called diversion of water to Hangu Dao, you just want to attract my attention, so that it is difficult for me to discover your real intentions......

At this moment, he suddenly realized that he laughed loudly, but this burst of laughter looked a little lonely no matter how he heard it.

"White, white handsome?"

Zhong Xu seemed to be frightened by Bai Qi's abnormality.

And beside Bai Qi, the guard Sima Jin also asked with a look of surprise and concern: "Bai Shuai, are you, are you okay?" ”

Hearing Zhong Xu's inquiry, Bai Qi slowly restrained the wild smile on his face, and clenched his hands into fists, but immediately let go of them helplessly.

Sighing, he said, "Jin, you go to Sima Laolai, I have something important to discuss with him." …… Zhong Xu immediately went to gather troops to support the guards. ”

"Whoa!"

Zhong Xu and Sima Jin responded with their fists clasped respectively.

After waiting for the two to leave, Bai Qi snapped the palm of his right hand on the wall in front of him, and stared expressionlessly at the Daozhong Wei camp in the distance outside the pass, where only the outline could be seen.

Although struggling to slap the wall battlement made Bai Qi feel a tingling pain in his palm, this pain was far less than the pain in his heart at the moment, as if his heart was clenching.

The Menshui Qin camp fell, which meant that once the coalition forces attacked Menshui, they could directly go around the back of his Hangu Pass, and the fifteen-mile narrow Hangu Road could no longer be used as the biggest bargaining chip to hinder Meng Zhong.

Thinking of the alliance of all countries bypassing Hangu Pass and slaughtering into the hinterland of his Qin State, even if it was white, there was sweat on his head at this moment.

Through Zhong Xu's account with the Qin pawn, it is not difficult for him to guess how the Menshui Qin camp was lost, it is nothing more than Wei Yuan mistakenly thinking that his enemy is only the Qi and Yan armies that have a private agreement with his Qin army, and he lacks vigilance, and Meng Zhong took advantage of this and suddenly attacked and captured the Menshui Qin camp in one fell swoop.

And what makes Bai Qi difficult to let go of is that he also has an unshirkable responsibility for the loss of the Menshui Qin camp this time - if it weren't for the fact that he advocated reaching a private agreement with Tian Touch, instructing Wei Yuan to "cooperate" with Tian Touch and jointly deceive the Three Jin Coalition Army, how could Wei Yuan relax his vigilance against Qi Yan and the two armies, so Meng Zhong could take advantage of it?

To put it bluntly, he thought he had a plan, but he did Meng Zhong a great favor.

"Damn it!"

Bai Qi hatefully hammered the wall battlement in front of him again, and his heart was extremely angry.

A moment later, the veteran Sima Cuo hurried to the Guan Tower, followed by his grandson Sima Jin.

I saw him walking quickly to Bai Qi's side, and he didn't care about saluting, and asked eagerly: "The old man heard that the Menshui military camp was lost?" What's going on? ”

Seeing this, Bai Qi then roughly told Sima Cuo about the fall of the Menshui Qin camp, only to hear Sima Cuo's stunned.

In all fairness, Bai Qi dissociated the relationship between the two armies of Qi and Yan and the Sanjin coalition army, and made a private agreement with Tian Qi not to attack each other, and the two sides pretended to fight to show the Sanjin coalition army, all of which Sima Cuo didn't think there was anything wrong - in fact, he suggested this idea.

However, he never imagined that Meng Zhong, the king of Yuncheng on the opposite side, would actually take advantage of the secret relationship between the Menshui Qin army and the Qi Yan army to suddenly attack the Menshui Qin camp, and launched a sneak attack on the Menshui Qin camp dozens of miles away, and captured this camp that was very important to his Qin army in one fell swoop.

In this regard, even Sima Cuo couldn't understand: then Meng Zhong, how can you conclude that the Menshui Qin Camp will relax its vigilance? Or is it just a coincidence? That Meng Zhong actually just wanted to try to sneak attack the Sect Water Qin Camp?

Faced with his question, Bai Qi shook his head and said calmly: "How can it be a coincidence? …… The Mengzhong garrison is here, and it is his duty to capture Hangu Pass and break through Hangu Road, and on the side of the Menshui military camp, the 100,000 Qiyan coalition troops with Tian Touch and Le Yi are responsible. According to common sense, how could Meng Zhong overstep his authority and cross the defense zone to attack the target where his ** team is located? Unless...... What did he realize? ”

"Realized what?"

Sima Cuo was slightly stunned, and then guessed as if he had thought of something: "You mean...... Then Meng Zhong guessed that Tian Ji secretly communicated with my Qin Jun in private? ”

"Hmm."

Bai Qi nodded and said, "I remember that Elder Sima said some time ago that it doesn't matter whether my Great Qin can win this battle or not. Even, from the point of view of Qi wanting to annex the Song State, the Qi State should hope that our Great Qin can severely damage the Three Jin Coalition Army, especially the Wei Army, because only if the Wei ** team is severely damaged, when he swallows the Song State by the Qi State soldiers, the Wei State will be unable to support the Song State...... From this point of view, Tian Touch will most likely not help Meng Zhong capture the Menshui Qin camp, if Meng Zhong really discusses with him, Tian Touch will most likely send someone to leak Yu Wei's aid, so that the Menshui military camp will be more vigilant, so as not to be succeeded by Meng Zhong. …… However, Wei Yuan was not on guard, if it was not Tian Touch who betrayed the agreement with me, then it means that Meng Zhong's night attack was hidden from even Tian Touch...... Why did Meng Zhong hide it from Tian Fu? Wouldn't it be good to let Qi Yan's two armies participate together? The Wei and Zhao armies under his command could also reduce some casualties. Thinking about it, there is only one possibility, that is, he suspects that Tian Touch is secretly communicating with our army in private, and he did not notify Tian Touch in advance, so Tian Touch did not have time to send someone to remind the guards in time. ”

After listening to Bai Qi's well-founded analysis, Sima Cuo nodded thoughtfully: "Guowei's analysis is also reasonable, but it's just ...... How did Meng Zhong know that Tian Touch was secretly communicating with our army? Is there an internal response from Meng Zhong around Tian Touch? ”

Hearing this, Bai Qi's mind immediately appeared with the appearance of Le Yi, the commander of the Yan Army.

He didn't suspect that Tian Touch had betrayed his Qin army, because Tian Touch's betrayal of his Qin army would not be of any benefit to Tian Touch himself or to the Qi State—could it be that the Qi State still had the luxury of occupying the territory of his Qin State across the Three Jins?

At that time, Tian Zhang, a famous general of Qi State, united Wei and Han to crusade against Qin several times, because his Qin State was too strong at that time, and forced Wei and Han to submit to him Qin State several times, which made Qi State feel threatened; But right now, the Three Jin Alliance, which is huddled together for warmth, should be the most feared by the Qi State, what reason does the Qi State have to hit him hard? ——Qi Guo knew that he Qin State wanted to set foot in the Central Plains, so he was destined to start a bloody battle with the Three Jin Dynasty, leaving him Qin State and the Three Jin Dynasty to fight each other, isn't it good to watch the fire from the other side?

Because of these truths, Bai Qi did not doubt Tian Fu, in contrast, he was a little suspicious of Le Yi, suspecting that Le Yi had reported to Meng Zhong.

After all, Meng Zhong and Le Yi used to be the relationship between the main general and the deputy general, just like he Bai Qi and the deputy general Ji Hong, he has great trust in the latter, as long as he is not in the army, he will hand over all the military affairs to Ji Hong - this is the trust of the general in the deputy general.

On the other hand, if it weren't for trust, how could he have been selected as a lieutenant?

But thinking about it carefully, Bai Qi couldn't understand Le Yi's motive for reporting to Meng Zhong.

You must know that the situation of Yan State and Qi State is similar, he Qin State is defeated, and Yan State can hardly get any actual benefits from the Sanjin side, is it just because Le Yi is worried about his friendship with Meng Zhong?

Bai Qi really couldn't figure it out.

However, at this time, he didn't have time to think about whether it was Le Yi who betrayed Tian Touch and betrayed his Qin army, and reported to Meng Zhong behind his back, after all, the top priority was to find a way to block the coalition army in the door.

After thinking about it, he discussed with Sima Cuo: "If what I expected is not bad, then Meng Zhong will inevitably transfer the elite under his command to the upper reaches of Menshui and try to cross the river to attack the hinterland of our country, and I am ready to draw troops to intercept it...... Here in Hangu Pass, I want to ask Sima Lao. ”

Of course, Sima Cuo knew what the result would be once the coalition forces crossed the gate, and when he heard this, he nodded and said, "Don't worry, the national lieutenant, this place will be handed over to the old man." …… Did the lieutenant immediately set off for the upper reaches of the Gate? ”

I saw Bai Qi ponder for a moment, gritted his teeth and said, "No! It's hard to get rid of the hatred in my heart like this......"

Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at the Daozhong Wei camp outside the pass, and said through gritted teeth: "Since Meng Zhong sent his Wei Zhao elite and Fangcheng cavalry to attack the Menshui camp, his camp must be empty, and I will try to see if I can defeat his camp...... If this happens, there may be a chance to cut off the coalition forces from it......"

Hearing this, Sima Cuo frowned slightly.

In the veteran's view, Bai Qi's counterattack on Meng Zhong's Daozhong Wei camp at this moment is purely a battle of will.

You must know that Meng Zhong has three military camps in his hands, Dou Xing's Beishan Wei camp can be said to be insignificant, but Wei Qing's Nanshan Wei camp and Meng Zhong's Daozhong Wei camp are interdependent and hold the main road, Bai Qi's idea is good, but the problem is that just capturing the Daozhong Wei camp cannot cut off the alliance of all countries, unless Bai Qi even captures the Nanshan Wei camp together, but, is it so simple?

However, considering that Bai Qi was angry at the moment, Sima Cuo didn't want to have any contradictions with Bai Qi because of this, anyway, in his opinion, even if Bai Qi was angry, he would still make a calm judgment and not be angry and do something that would make the situation even more unfavorable.

Sure enough, just an hour later, Bai Qi gave up the idea of attacking the Wei camp in the Daozhong.

The reason is very simple, because when Bai Qi led the army to kill in front of the Daozhong Wei camp, the banners of Fengyang Jun Li Dui and the Korean Great Sima Storm Kite appeared in the Daozhong Wei camp.

What does this mean? This means that Meng Zhong had expected that he would take the opportunity to attack his Daozhong Wei camp, and put the troops under the command of Li Dui and Storm Kite into the camp in advance, so that there would be no such thing as the empty strength of the Daozhong Wei camp.

"Mon-Zhong-"

After seeing those flags, Bai gritted his teeth with hatred.

Although he also knew that even if he used all his strength to capture Meng Zhong's Daozhong Wei camp, he would not be able to reverse the current trend of the war that was very unfavorable to his Qin army, at best, he would take the opportunity to repel Meng Zhong and take the opportunity to burn the building cars and stone throwers that Meng Zhongjun had built these days, but what made him angry was that Meng Zhong did not even meet his request, and invited the troops of Li Dui and Storm Kite in advance, forcing him not to act rashly.

"Withdraw!"

With anger and helplessness, Bai Qi could only give up, and then led a large army to support the upper reaches of Menshui, hoping to block the offensive of the allied forces in the upper reaches of Menshui.

The fact that a large number of Qin troops had retreated before the camp was of course not hidden from the soldiers of the Wei camp in the Daozhong, who immediately reported the matter to Meng Zhongyu.

As Bai Qi guessed, yesterday, when Meng Zhong decided to launch a sneak attack on the Menshui Qin camp that night, he sent people to ask for support from Li Dui and Storm Kite, who were stationed in the Sanmenxia area.

And according to Meng Zhong's intentions, Li Dui sent the cavalry of Zhao State to arrive and bring him and the banner of the violent kite here, so that Bai Qi was frightened back.

But then again, in fact, this is not a deception, after all, even if the three generals of Jin Con, Wei Qing, and Lian Po were dispatched, there were still Dou Xing, Le Jin and about 20,000 Wei troops under their command here, and it was not without the power to resist, not to mention that Li Dui and Storm Kite were indeed leading the army from Sanmenxia to this side.

In the final analysis, Meng Zhong just didn't want a senseless fight with the angry Bai Qi, after all, since his coalition army took the Menshui Qin camp, the focus of this battle was no longer on the side of Hangu Pass, but on the upper reaches of Menshui.

After Li Dui and Storm Kite led the army to arrive here, he Meng Zhong led his army to the upper reaches of Menshui and confronted Bai Qi across the bank.

Didn't Bai Qi always want him to go to the upper reaches of the Gate Water?

This time, Meng Zhong decided to satisfy him.