On the evening of the first day of October, that is, on the evening of the day when Meng Zhong was advised to return to Wuyangyi to reunite with his family for a while, Sima Cuo took Bai Qi back to the position where the army was stationed.

Fangcheng's strategy of clearing the wilderness has really created a lot of trouble for the Qin-Chu coalition army, not to mention anything else, at least the date for the Qin-Chu coalition army to build a camp will be greatly extended, and this invisibly increases the possibility of them being attacked by Fangcheng.

For this reason, Sima Cuo specially ordered several generals to lead nearly half of the soldiers to take turns to keep vigil, and on the side of the Chu army, Zhaoju was also asked by Sima Cuo to strengthen vigilance.

After arranging these measures, Sima mistakenly didn't care about eating, so he drew a map on a piece of plain cloth in the handsome tent that had just been built, and drew all the landforms around Fangcheng on the map.

Subsequently, he sent someone to invite Bai Qi and Zhao Ju again, and handed over the map he had drawn by himself to the two, so that the two had an idea of the local terrain.

I have to say that Sima Cuo's move is simply redundant, you must know that Bai Qi has long known the terrain in this area of Fangcheng, and when he was preparing to attack Fangcheng in early April this year, he had already sent someone to understand the surrounding terrain and draw a map like Sima Cuo, but he did not give this map to Sima Cuo.

As for Zhao Ju, he is from Chu, and Fangcheng was originally the city of Chu, and during the Battle of Chuisha that year, he also led the army to assist Ling Yin Tangyu, who was the commander at the time, to jointly resist the Wei and Han coalition forces, so how could he not know the terrain around Fangcheng?

However, for their own reasons, Bai Qi and Zhao Ju didn't say much, and after taking the map, they looked at it twice, and then exchanged it with Sima Cuo.

Because they also understand that this is a sign of respect by Sima Cuo for the two of them, and although this respect is very limited, Sima Cuo will eventually use his own will to formulate a battle strategy.

When he saw Zhao Ju put down the map in his hand, Sima Cuo said, "Before dusk, the old man and Bai Zuogen checked the area around Fangcheng together...... Well, it's not accurate to say that, to be exact, I explored the west and south sides of Fang Cheng, and the north side was slightly checked, as for the east side...... The eastern pass was blocked by a military camp that could not be passed, so it did not get too close. ”

"The east side of Fang City...... It looks like it's the sun.'"

Zhao Ju stroked his beard and did not speak, but through his correspondence with Qu Yuan, he knew that Meng Zhong's gang was going to build a pass in the mountain pass about seven or eight miles east of Fangcheng, called Yangguan, as the second line of defense between Yeyi and Wuyang after Fangcheng.

However, as far as he knew, the pass had not yet been built, to be exact, it had just started this year, so Zhao Ju did not have any hope for that pass.

At this time, Sima Cuo pointed to the map and continued to introduce the results he had found to Bai Qi and Zhaoju.

His understanding of the east side of Fangcheng, although he stopped at Yangguan, he also knew that behind Yangguan were Ye Yi and Wuyang, but he didn't know the specific direction.

As for the north side of Fangcheng, there are continuous mountains called "Ying Mountain" by the locals, and there are also mountains on the southeast side of Fangcheng, which the locals call "Nanying Mountain".

Until this moment, in order to show his intention to help the Qin army and prevent Sima Cuo from seeing through his ulterior motives, Zhao Ju told the names of these two hills, and Sima Cuo knew the real names of these two hills.

On the west side of Fangcheng, about six or seven miles away from the city, there is a river, which flows from north to south, which is an important river for the people in Fangcheng to irrigate their farmland, and the local people call it Fangshui.

This river is not wide, according to Sima Cuo's visual measurement, the narrowest point is about three or four zhang, and the wider part is only five or six zhang, not to mention what can be resisted, whether it is the bow and crossbow of the Qin and Chu coalition army, or the bow and crossbow of the Wei army, they can easily shoot across this river to the other side of the river, maybe this is also the reason why Fang Cheng did not fortify on this river bank - because it does not play a big role.

As for the south side of Fangcheng, it was purely a complete plain area, although the terrain was somewhat undulating, but the amplitude of the ups and downs was not large, and this also gave Sima Cuo a little headache.

Because Fang Cheng burned all the woods in the vicinity, even if they were far away, Fang Cheng's cavalry could clearly peek into the movements of his Qin-Chu coalition army, which greatly increased the difficulty of the Qin-Chu coalition army to launch a surprise attack on the other city—there was basically no chance.

And the above is all the information that Sima Cuo has checked and probed today.

"Do you have any questions?" Sima asked Bai Qi and Zhao Ju about the two people.

Bai Qi was still with his arms folded, squinting slightly, closing his eyes to recuperate, while Zhao Ju couldn't help but glance at the map again after hearing Sima Cuo's inquiry.

His gaze was fixed on a blank area at the intersection of the northeast of Wancheng and the southwest of Fangcheng on the map.

Perhaps Sima Cuo and Bai Qi both thought that the northeast direction of Wancheng was a mountain, but in fact it was not, in that hill, there was a mountain pass hidden, the Chu people called it "Niuweipo (Bowangpo)", if you take this path, you can also reach Fangcheng from Wancheng; On the contrary, it is also possible to reach Wancheng from Fangcheng.

But this hidden route was not marked by Sima Coo.

Does this mean that Sima Cuo is not clear about this matter?

Thinking of this, Zhao Ju secretly glanced at Bai Qi, secretly guessing whether the young general of the Qin State knew about this matter.

『…… If this white road is also a big road, that is to say, he doesn't know the trail of Ushimi Slope......

Zhao Ju thought secretly in his heart.

As if he had noticed Zhao Ju, who seemed to be thoughtful, Sima Cuo chuckled and asked, "Doctor Zhao is thoughtful, could it be that the old man has been negligent?" ”

"Huh?" Zhao Ju was stunned for a moment, and then said quietly: "I'm ashamed, I don't know much about this area, but the situation in the area of Fangcheng is almost like this marching map drawn by the national captain. After that, he swore an oath: "If you think of anything, you will definitely show the national captain." ”

“……”

Sima Cuo glanced at Zhao Ju deeply, and then said with a smile: "Please be sure to point out the old man's omissions at that time." ”

In fact, Sima Cuo could see that Zhao Ju must have something to hide, after all, a while ago, this Zhao Ju also strongly opposed the Chu State and his Qin State joining forces to crusade against Wei and Han, so he didn't trust this Zhao Ju very much.

But there is no way, Zhao Ju is one of the few generals in Chu who can handle it now, even if Sima mistakenly guessed that he might have other intentions, he only pretended not to know for the time being - as long as Zhao Ju didn't go too far, he could turn a blind eye.

What else could he do otherwise?

Put Zhao Ju under house arrest and take over the 100,000 Chu army on his behalf?

Those Chu troops would not obey his orders at all.

"Alas, one is more uneasy than the other."

glanced at Zhao Ju quietly, and then glanced at Bai Qi again, and Sima Cuo couldn't help but sigh secretly.

But in comparison, compared to Zhao Ju, he still believes in Bai Qi more now, after all, he and Bai Qi are only personal contradictions, and Bai Qi will not bring personal grudges to national affairs, but this Zhao Ju, he may not be - God knows that this Zhao Ju has secretly prayed in his heart for the defeat of his Qin army.

After thinking about it, Sima Cuo Zhengse said: "Regarding the strategy against Fangcheng, the old man seems to plan like this, first try to see if he can harvest the rice in the area of Fangcheng, if it is successful, it will be successful, and if it is not successful, it will be set on fire...... But in any case, by mid-October, an all-out assault on the other city was to be launched, and it was imperative to capture this city, do you have any objections to this? ”

Hearing this, Zhao Ju hurriedly arched his hand and said: "The king ordered everything to obey the instructions of the national captain, and the national lieutenant and the orders are to obey everything below. ”

On Bai Qi's side, he simply didn't bother to answer Sima Cuo, after all, his army was all staying in Wancheng, and attacking Fangcheng had nothing to do with him.

He is here for only two things, first, to ensure that Sima Cuo will not be defeated in the hands of the latter because he underestimated Meng Zhong, and second, to wait to see Sima Cuo's jokes.

Seeing that Bai Qi ignored himself, Sima Cuo was not angry at this time, so he turned his head to Zhao Ju and said: "Regarding the grain grabbing, the old man deliberately asked my subordinate Qin pawn to come forward, and the old man also intended to take this opportunity to test the reality of Fang Cheng. However, the old man hoped that Doctor Zhao would be ready to attack Fangcheng. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Ju hurriedly said: "Rest assured, the national lieutenant must be asked to make all preparations for attacking Fangcheng before the fifteenth. ”

"That's good." Sima Cuo chuckled and ended tonight's military meeting.

That night, the Fangcheng Wei army did not attack the Qin-Chu coalition army, so that the Qin-Chu coalition army held empty for the night.

In this regard, Sima Cuo was also quite surprised.

In his opinion, since Fang Cheng had burned the woods within a radius of dozens of miles in advance, his intention was nothing more than to prevent his Qin-Chu coalition army from building a camp in a short period of time, and from the perspective of the art of war, it was to create an opportunity to sneak attack his Qin-Chu coalition army.

Otherwise, would it just be just for him to spend several times more energy on the Qin-Chu coalition army to build a camp? What's the point?

Blindly defending, it is doomed to only a dead end, Sima Coo didn't believe that Meng Zhong on the other side didn't know this truth.

Judging from Bai Qi's admiration for Na Meng Zhong, Sima Cuo did not think that Na Meng Zhong would commit such an omission.

In other words, the other party did not expect a night attack, but guessed that they must be on guard.

"Seems to be a very cautious boy......

With a chuckle, Sima Cuo wrote a letter in his own hand and sent someone to Fangcheng.

The gist of the letter is nothing more than to persuade Meng Zhong to surrender, and not to do a senseless battle of trapped beasts.

In just half a day, he received a reply.

When he opened the bamboo book, he opened his mouth in astonishment, because Meng Zhong had devoted an entire article to accusing him of the treachery of the Qin state, and it was really despicable and shameless to go to war against the Wei state again despite the armistice agreement of the previous year.

Yes, Meng Zhong used a whole article to scold Qin Guo and Sima Wrong, and his words were conclusive and gorgeous, including allusions or the words of a sage.

Bai Qi was also present at that time, and when he saw Sima Coo holding Meng Zhong's letter, he stepped forward curiously and took a few looks, and then secretly happy in his heart.

In addition to the secret joy, Bai Qi finally understood why when he wrote a letter to provoke Meng Zhong, Meng Zhong smiled and asked him to go back and read more books.

Look at the provocative letters...... Gee!

Glancing at Sima Cuo, whose face was flushed and seemed to be trembling with anger, Bai Qi made up his mind that after this battle was over, he would definitely read more books.

Whether in war or in terms of style, he did not want to fall into his old enemy.

And at this moment, he suddenly heard Sima Coo laugh.

Laughing back?

Bai Qi glanced at Sima Cuo strangely, but found that Sima Cuo looked at the letter in his hand, and praised it: "This Meng Zhong ...... is knowledgeable, well-written, and sharp-tongued, no less than Zhang Yi, who debated with her husband in court back then......"

"It is said that he is a disciple of the three schools of Taoism, Ming, and Confucianism, and a disciple of Zhuangzi, Huizi, and Mencius of the Song Kingdom......" Bai Qi said with a strange expression on the side.

If you want to say who in the Qin army knows the details of Meng Zhong best, I'm afraid it can only be in vain.

"It turned out to be the tall feet of the three sages, it's interesting......" Complimenting him twice, Sima Co forwarded Meng Zhong's letter to his guards and instructed him to keep it.

Seeing this, Bai Qi said with a strange expression: "That Meng Zhong wrote a letter to humiliate the national lieutenant, and the national lieutenant was not only angry, but also kept this letter from him?" ”

Hearing this, Sima Cuo smiled and said, "He provoked me with a letter, which shows that he has concerns about the old man, which is a good thing." As for his letter...... The writing is indeed good, the old man is full of energy and blood after reading it, so it is natural to keep it properly, and when he is tired in the future, it can be used to refresh himself......"

“……”

The corners of Bai Qi's mouth tugged, and he slightly admired Sima Cuo's mind, or the city government.

At this time, the returning Qin pawn said again: "The chief general of that city also wrote a letter to Bai Zuogen. ”

"Oh?"

Bai Qi was a little surprised when he heard this.

You must know that Meng Zhong wrote a letter to Sima Co because Sima Co wrote a letter to Meng Zhong first, but Bai Qi didn't write to Meng Zhong, but he didn't expect Meng Zhong to write a letter to him.

This made Bai Qi ...... Well, I'm a little happy.

However, when he saw the content of Meng Zhong's letter, Bai Qi couldn't be happy, because there was only one sentence written on it: When you said that the next time you came, you would break through Fang City, did you mean this time?

Seeing this line of words, Bai Qi's face flushed for a while, and he gritted his teeth, even worse than Sima Cuo.

How could he not see that Meng Zhong was mocking him for relying on Sima Cuo's troops?

And Sima Cuo also noticed Bai Qi's abnormality at this time, and glanced at the letter in Bai Qi's hand a few times, but before he could say anything, he saw Bai Qi glaring at him angrily, and turned away with an angry face.

I have to say that Bai Qi would say a few words to Sima Cuo from time to time in the past two days, but this letter made Bai Qi and Sima Cuo's relationship slightly relieved, and returned to the freezing point again.

Even Sima Cuo was aware of Meng Zhong's trick and bluntly pointed out that this was Meng Zhong's discordant plan, but Bai Qi still didn't say a word.

In fact, if you think about it, with Bai Qi's wisdom, can't you see that this is Meng Zhong's divisive plan? But I have to say that the few lines in Meng Zhong's letter just hit his sore spot.

Is there a worse humiliation than being looked down upon by one's own approved old enemy?

At least in the eyes of Bai Qi, no!

In the blink of an eye, on the fifth day of October, the Qin-Chu coalition army still failed to build a camp, although the tent where the sergeants and soldiers rested had been built, but the wood used to build the camp was scarce, forcing Sima Cuo to order the soldiers to dig the earth for the wall, and built several earthen walls, including the 160,000 Qin army.

But in all fairness, these earthen walls, which were no more than half a foot high, were really difficult to reassure people, so that Sima Cuo did not dare to relax his night garrison at all, even if the Fangcheng Wei army had not launched a single sneak attack on them so far.

The camp was not completed, and the siege equipment was not completed, but the rice in the farmland around Fangcheng was about to ripen, which meant that the Qin and Wei armies might start a field battle in the near future - of course, provided that the Wei army stationed in Fangcheng dared to leave the city.

Does Meng Zhong dare?

Of course he dared!

To this end, he summoned a cadre of Sima and Zuo Sima from Mengsui, Menghu, Huahu, Muwu, Wuying, etc., and formulated a strategy to deal with the Qin army's grain grabbing.

On the night of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, around midnight, scouts of the Qin army hurriedly reported to the commander Sima Cuo, saying that there were torches outside Fangcheng, and those Wei troops were stepping up to harvest the rice in the fields.

Hearing this, Sima Cuo was secretly happy in his heart.

You know, he could have ordered the grain grabbing immediately, but he didn't do that, the purpose was to lure out the Wei army in the city, so that when the Wei army grabbed the grain, he, the Qin army, could inflict heavy damage on it.

And right now, after a few days of endurance, Fang Cheng's side finally couldn't bear it.

"How many Wei troops are there?" Sima asked the scout by mistake.

The scout shook his head: "There are countless torches, and there are as many torches as the stars in the sky. ”

"That's at least thousands, isn't it?"

After listening to the scout's words, Sima Cuo made a slight estimate, and immediately sent someone to summon his subordinate general Jin Kuang, and ordered: "According to the scout's report, Fangcheng tried to take advantage of the night to grab the grain in the field, and the old man ordered you to lead 20,000 troops to the area of Fangcheng immediately, on the one hand, to grab as much grain, as much as you can, and on the other hand, take the opportunity to attack the Wei army." …… If necessary, you can give up grabbing grain, but be sure to take the opportunity to inflict heavy losses on the Wei army that left the city! ”

"Whoa!" Jin Kuang clenched his fists and left.

Subsequently, Sima Cuo immediately issued an order to the whole army, telling every Qin soldier to be ready for battle.

If Jin Kuang can inflict heavy damage on the Wei army leaving the city this time, then he will immediately unite 100,000 Chu troops to attack the city together, even if his Qin-Chu alliance army currently only has a few siege ladders.

Around the time of Hai, the Qin general Jin Kuang led 20,000 Qin troops to the area of Fangcheng.

From afar, Jin Kuang saw that the farmland outside Fangcheng City was full of torches, as if the Wei army was taking the opportunity to harvest grain.

Seeing this, he immediately summoned the generals Zheng Yin and Fan Bu, and ordered the two: "Zheng Yin led 5,000 people to grab the grain, and Fan Bu took the opportunity to cover up and kill the Wei army with me!" ”

At the sound of an order, 20,000 Qin soldiers were divided into two branches, 5,000 people harvested grain nearby, and the other 15,000 people, under the leadership of Jin Kuang and Fan Bu, went straight to the city of Fangcheng along the main road between the rice fields on the east and west sides.

However, at this moment, suddenly countless Wei pawns scurried up in the rice fields on both sides of the road, and immediately, an overwhelming rain of arrows shrouded the heads of the Qin army.

For a time, many Qin soldiers fell to the ground one after another.

"Ambush?"

Qin General Jin Kuang frowned, but he was not surprised, he raised his arms and shouted: "Don't panic, the battle with the Wei army is even if you are fighting, Fang Cheng has few soldiers, and he is destined not to be the opponent of our army!" ”

Hearing this, the Qin army under his command also calmed down and launched a counterattack one after another.

For a time, 20,000 Qin soldiers and an unknown number of Wei troops fought fiercely in the rice fields, trampling countless rice grains, not to mention the Wei army, in fact, Qin soldiers also felt extremely sorry for this.

But compared to grabbing food, it is naturally more important to kill the enemy.

"Report! The west side is attacked! ”

"Report! The east side is attacked! ”

During this period, there were reports of sneak attacks on the troops under his command from time to time, which reached the ears of the Qin general Jin Kuang.

Gradually, he sensed that something was wrong.

Didn't it mean that the Wei army was trying to grab the grain? Although it is inevitable to set up ambushes to guard against his Qin army, the number of ambushes is inevitably too much, right?

He looked around with a frown.

Although he couldn't see far in the night, even by the light of the torches, he could clearly hear and hear the angry roars of the Wei troops opposite.

"These hateful Qin people, it is they who destroyed our hometown and forced us to leave our hometown and go to Fangcheng, but even so, these Qin people still do not let us go, how can we allow the second hometown to be destroyed by these Qin people?!"

"It cannot be tolerated! Intolerable! ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, behind Fang Cheng is Ye Yi, where there are our old fathers, old mothers, brothers, wives and children, how can these Qin people threaten our relatives again?"

"Kill them!"

"Kill them!"

"Kill ——!"

It seems that in all directions, all over the mountains and fields, there is the roar and roar of the Wei army everywhere.

"That's not right...... This number is not right...... Could it be that the whole army of Fangcheng has been dispatched?"

The more Jin Kuang listened, the more frightened he became, because according to his estimates, the number of Wei troops coming from all directions was definitely not less than theirs, and even more than them, much more, as if all the Wei troops in Fang City were pouring out at this moment.

What's even worse is that those Wei troops who are killing from all directions are not holding torches, which means that the Wei army is in the dark, they are in the light, and they don't know how many Wei troops are lurking around.

"Could it be that Fang Cheng's action to harvest grain tonight is just a trick to lure the enemy?"

The more Jin Kuang thought about it, the more wrong it became, and the Qin soldiers under his command were also panicked in the face of voices from all directions, so that the 20,000 Qin troops actually still had more than ninety percent of the troops, but their morale was greatly affected.

"Withdraw! Remove! Remove! ”

Ignorant of the surrounding nights, Jin Kuang also lost his sense of normalcy and gave the order to retreat.

He didn't know that in fact, before this, the Wei army's offensive against the army under his command was only thunder and rain, although it sounded terrifying, but most of the Wei soldiers just hid in the night and shouted, and the real battle with the Qin army was actually only a few thousand Wei troops.

Of course, thousands of Wei troops are also the most backbone of Fangcheng at present, and they were the "middle si" in Bai Qi's mouth at the beginning.

However, Jin Kuang couldn't see the specific casualties of the army under his command because of the obstruction of his vision, and mistakenly thought that Fang Cheng was ambushing them, and hurriedly ordered the withdrawal of troops, which gave the Wei army the opportunity to pursue and kill.

"Kill all the Qin people and protect Fang City!!"

With a shout like thunder, the Wei army, which had been hiding in the night, all stepped forward to chase the Qin army and launched a pursuit of the Qin army.

Even those new soldiers of the Chu people who had only undergone a few months of training and had not yet been stained with blood on their hands dared to let go of their courage to pursue the Qin army at this time, and took the opportunity to kill a Qin soldier who fled in a hurry, and in one fell swoop passed the most difficult psychological difficulty after the new soldier stepped on the battlefield.

At this time, in the main camp of the Qin-Chu coalition army, Sima Cuo also received the news that Jin Kuang sent people to ask for help, and he was greatly shocked in his heart.

Fang Cheng on the opposite side, as soon as it came up, the whole army was dispatched?

Didn't fight like that, did you?

Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: book guest residence