After a while, I saw Hu Yu staggering into the white barracks.

I saw that at this moment, the Qin general, who was born in Yiqu, had a pale face, a frosty face, and his armor was covered with mud and snow, and he was really embarrassed.

After seeing Bai Qi sitting in the barracks, a little panicked look appeared on his face, and his lips moved slightly.

But in the end, he didn't say anything, just fell to his knees with a pop, and the whole person fell to the ground, not daring to move, not even daring to breathe.

Seeing this appearance, Hu Yu, who originally had a glimmer of hope, finally sank his face.

Stretching out his hand and rubbing his eyebrow bone, he asked with a blank face: "Hu Yu, how many cavalry have you lost?" ”

Hu Yu, who was lying on the ground, was silent for a moment, and then explained in a low voice: "Bai Shuai, the last general was ambushed by the Wei army......

"I ask you how many cavalry you have lost!" Bai Qi suddenly shouted angrily.

Suddenly, it was clearly seen that Hu Yu's whole person trembled, and then he said hesitantly: "Only ...... There are only dozens of horsemen, and they will escape with the last general......"

"Only a few dozen?" Bai Qi's eyes widened in shock.

Only dozens of horsemen escaped and ascended to heaven, wouldn't that mean the entire army was wiped out?!

Two thousand cavalry! That's 2,000 cavalry!

Bai Qi, who was still expecting Hu Yu at first, suddenly realized his stupidity, and he scolded angrily: "Then you still have the face to come back?!" Come! ”

Hearing this, Hu Yu was obviously aware of what was going to happen, and hurriedly raised his head, begging for mercy with a panicked face: "Bai Shuai spare his life!" …… Although the last general suffered a defeat and lost nearly 2,000 cavalry, he also learned the secret of the strength of the Wei army in Fangcheng......"

At this time, the guards outside the house had already walked inside the house and were about to drag Hu Yu away, as soon as he heard this, Bai Qi immediately raised his hand to stop them: "Wait! ”

He glanced at Hu Yu in disbelief, frowned and asked, "Secret?" What secret? ”

"Stirrups!" Hu Yu didn't dare to hesitate at all, and hurriedly said: "The Fangcheng Wei army used stirrups on both sides, which can make the cavalry stabilize their bodies on horseback......

"Stirrups? Stirrups on both sides? Bai Qi glanced at Hu Yu suspiciously, and after a moment of contemplation, he waved his hand to signal the guards to retreat.

Seeing this, Hu Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and he realized that his life had finally been saved.

At this time, Bai Qi asked Hu Yudao: "The stirrups of the Fangcheng cavalry...... I mean, the stirrups on both sides, really as you say, are of great help to the cavalry? …… Get up and talk back. ”

"Thank you, Bai Shuai."

After getting Bai Qi's permission, Hu Yu stood up and said in a deep voice: "Back to Bai Shuai, the last general didn't notice this thing at first, but he just felt strange, strange that the cavalry of Fangcheng had superb riding skills, and it didn't look like a cavalry who had only been trained for half a year at all. …… Their cavalry could even fight with a long ge on horseback. ”

"Can't you do that?" Bai Qi asked puzzled.

Hu Yu explained: "The last general can do it, just because the last general was born in Yiqu and has been exposed to war horses since childhood, but the horsemen under the command of the last general have not mastered this skill for the time being, so the last general taught them the usual tactics, that is, when fighting with the enemy, order the cavalry to dismount and fight in formation like foot soldiers...... However, none of the Fangcheng cavalry dismounted to fight from beginning to end, and the last general carefully observed, only to find that the Fangcheng cavalry was equipped with bilateral stirrups......"

“……”

Bai Qi was skeptical when he heard this, but he immediately ordered the soldiers outside the camp to take two pairs of stirrups, and immediately said to Hu Yu: "Let me see it with my own eyes...... If you have half a lie, I will not spare you! ”

"Don't dare."

Hu Yu reluctantly responded and invited Bai Qi to the outside of the barracks.

After a while, when Bai Qi's guards brought a war horse, Hu Yu hurriedly tied the two pairs of unilateral stirrups under the saddle, and then turned to Bai Qi and said, "Bai Shuai, please send a guard." ”

"Huh?" Bai Qi frowned: "The guards around me are not good at riding. ”

"It doesn't matter." Hu Yu shook his head and explained: "With this thing, even if you are not good at riding, you can quickly master it." ”

“……”

Bai Qi frowned and glanced at Hu Yu, and then immediately ordered a guard beside him: "You go, listen to his command." ”

"Whoa!"

The guard clenched his fists, and immediately tried to ride a war horse under the guidance of Hu Yu.

Sure enough, with the aid of the stirrups, the guard had mastered the rudimentary riding skills in just a moment or so, and he was pacing back and forth outside the barracks on his horse, looking very steady.

Then, after the guard was familiar with him for a while, Hu Yu told him to speed up and drive his horse to run in the open space in front of the barracks.

Seeing this scene, Bai Qi's eyes showed a little incredulity.

Although he had not trained cavalry before, he had also heard that cavalry training was extremely difficult, and that a good cavalryman often needed to train for several years, and the guard not far away, from the most ignorant of horsemanship, could run around the camp on a war horse, but it took less than an hour.

This gap is not small.

Thinking of this, Bai Qi immediately summoned the guard and ordered him to dismount, and then he himself got on the horse.

He also knows how to ride, it was after April last year that he was idle and asked Hu Yu to teach him, and he also suffered a lot in order to master this riding skill at that time, I don't know how many times he was thrown off the horse when he was running, and his hip bone was also stabbed because of the long-term riding.

But Bai Qi gritted his teeth and endured these hardships.

He believed in Meng Zhong's judgment that the cavalry would eventually replace the chariot and become the king of the flat land.

"Bai Shuai, be careful......"

Under the close concern of Hu Yu and several guards, Bai Qi stepped on the stirrup and turned over on the horse, and immediately tried to step on the stirrups on both sides, feeling different from the past.

As soon as he tried it, he immediately noticed a huge gap.

In the past, riding skills did not rely on stirrups, so when people were on horseback, there was nowhere to borrow strength, but to rely on their legs to tighten the horse's belly to maintain the stability of the body; And at this moment, with this bilateral stirrup, both feet can be firmly stepped on the stirrup, as if stepping on flat ground, there is a place to borrow strength, it is really much easier.

And more importantly, at this moment, he feels that he can exert more power on horseback.

Thinking of this, he instructed Hu Yudao: "Have two tricks with me." ”

"Whoa!"

Of course, Hu Yu understood what Bai Qi meant, and after a while, after the guards fetched two Changge, he held one of them in his hand and stood like a foot pawn.

At this time, Bai Qi on the opposite side also took over a long song and instructed: "Don't leave your hands!" ”

"Bai Shuai rest assured."

After getting Hu Yu's assurance, Bai Qi drove the war horse farther away, and then sprinted towards Hu Yu's horse, and when he got close to the war horse, he waved the Changge in his hand and swung it at Hu Yu.

And Hu Yu didn't leave his hand, and waved the Changge in his hand to face the white Changge.

Hearing only a loud bang, Bai got up and shook his body, unable to control his body, although he was forced to give up his weapon and lie on the horse's back, but in the end he unfortunately fell off the horse's back, but it was his war horse, riding past Hu Yu's side.

Hu Yu, on the other hand, took a few steps back, and finally relied on Changge to support him on the ground, which barely stabilized his body.

"Bai Shuai!"

Bai Qi's guards exclaimed in surprise and hurriedly ran towards Bai Qi.

During this period, some guards also glared angrily at Hu Yu and scolded: "Hu Yu, if Bai Shuai makes any mistakes, will you take responsibility?" ”

However, before Hu Yu could explain, he saw Bai Qi, who was helped up, laughed and said: "Hu Yu is not to blame for this, it is that I am still used to this kind of riding technique......"

As he spoke, he walked up to Hu Yu in a few steps and asked with a little excitement: "Hu Yu, have you just collected your strength?" ”

Of course, Hu Yu understood what Bai Qi meant, and when he heard this, he took out his right hand and said, "How dare the last general cheat?" Bai handsome and look. ”

Bai Qi carefully observed Hu Yu's right hand, and saw that Hu Yu's right hand was trembling uncontrollably, and there were traces of cracking at the tiger's mouth, and a few traces of blood were faintly oozing.

Seeing this, Bai Qi said happily: "Okay! Good! ”

It was no wonder that he was so excited, because he was on horseback, and he had almost exerted all his strength, which was simply not possible with previous riding skills.

According to the previous riding skills, in order not to fall off the horse, the cavalry had to clamp the horse's belly with their legs at all times, in this case, it was often difficult for the cavalry to exert force, and once the force was too strong, it was inevitable to fall off the horse.

But just now, Bai Qi used almost all his strength, although it was inevitable to fall off the horse's back in the end, but the fundamental reason was that he was not familiar with this kind of riding with the help of bilateral stirrups, so that when his body shook, he subconsciously shrank his legs, trying to stabilize his body by clamping the horse's belly, which caused him to finally fall off the horse's back.

No, Bai Qi then experienced it a few more times, which fully verified his guess: with the help of bilateral stirrups, the cavalry could indeed better stabilize their bodies, and they could exert their strength on horseback close to flat ground without falling off their horses.

Even Bai Qi faintly felt that if he could use the momentum of the war horse and the strength when he rotated his waist, the cavalry could exert more terrifying strength than the foot soldiers.

At this moment, he suddenly came to his senses, and while stroking the mane of the war horse, he said to the people around him: "No wonder when the Fangcheng cavalry attacked our military camp at night last year, those left-behind soldiers who were lucky enough to escape said that the group of Wei cavalry was extremely powerful and difficult to stop, I thought it was because those Wei cavalry were all Wei warriors, but I never thought that the key to it was this thing......"

He looked down at the stirrups.

Suddenly, his heart moved slightly, and he muttered in disbelief: "In this way, during the Battle of Yique the year before last, when Meng Zhong formed the cavalry, he had already begun to use this kind of bilateral stirrup...... Well, it must be the case, cavalry training is not easy, even if those Wei cavalry were all Wei warriors, they may not be able to master riding skills in a short period of time, there must be this thing to help them......"

Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at Hu Yu, and said in a deep voice: "Hu Yu, if you lost two thousand cavalry, I should have dealt with you by military law, but seeing that you have broken the powerful secret of Fangcheng's cavalry, I will spare you this time." ”

Finally waited for Bai Qi to open the net, Hu Yu's face was overjoyed, and he immediately knocked on the ground on one knee, hugged his fists and thanked: "Thank you Bai Shuai for forgiveness!" ”

"Okay, come with me into the house and tell me exactly what happened to this battle."

"Whoa!"

After a while, Bai Qi and Hu Yu returned to the barracks, and immediately Hu Yu told Bai Qi about the story of his defeat, only to hear Bai Qi frowning frequently.

Through Hu Yu's narration, Bai Qi quickly understood the course of this battle.

Indeed, Hu Yu is certainly guilty, his ridiculous lure of the enemy, in Bai Qi's opinion, even a three-year-old child can not be deceived, on the other hand, the Fangcheng cavalry, deliberately put on a slack appearance to lure Hu Yu to lead the army to attack, even if it is Bai Qi, he has to praise a good strategy, but in the final analysis, the reason why Hu Yu lost so badly in this confrontation between the cavalry of the two armies is that the relationship between the two stirrups is after all.

At that time, the Fangcheng cavalry had such divine objects, but his Qin cavalry did not, which was the most critical reason for the fiasco of Hu Yu and his cavalry.

And for this, Bai Qi thinks that he also has to bear part of the responsibility.

After all, this group of cavalry of his Qin State was built by him begging the Marquis Wei Ran to follow the cavalry commanded by Meng Zhong during the Battle of Yique, but at that time he did not pay attention to the magical object of the bilateral stirrup, and missed it, which has to be said to be a great mistake.

Thinking of this, Bai Qi frowned and said to Hu Yu: "In this way, I will also be at least thirty percent responsible for your defeat this time, if I had seen through the bilateral stirrups used by the cavalry under Meng Zhong's command at the beginning......"

As soon as he heard this, Hu Yu hurriedly said, "What is Bai Shuai talking about?" In this defeat, all the mistakes are on the last general...... Bai Shuai didn't know much about cavalry before, so how could he see the strangeness at a glance? The last general believes that the most important thing is that we have learned the secret of the strength of the Fangcheng cavalry, and when the cavalry is formed again next time, our Qin army will no longer be inferior to the Fangcheng cavalry! ”

How dare he let Bai Qi bear any responsibility, anyway, even if he admits his mistakes at this time, Bai Qi will not punish him, so why don't you hurry up and say something nice to get closer to each other?

Sure enough, hearing Hu Yu say this, even Bai Qi could guess Hu Yu's thoughts, but he still had a little good impression of this Yiqu person.

"You're right! With this thing, the cavalry of my Qin State will definitely not be weaker than the cavalry of Fangcheng......"

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but think of his old rival Meng Zhong again.

He never cared that others said in front of him that he had been defeated by Meng Zhong, because he knew that although Meng Zhong had defeated him again and again, causing him to suffer, he had also become stronger and stronger.

Just like this time, he learned the secret of the strength of Fangcheng's cavalry, without Meng Zhong's appearance, who would have known that the little stirrup would have such an effect?

It's a pity that Meng Zhong refused to defect to his Qin state, otherwise, he would have personally recommended Meng Zhong in front of Qin King Yingji and Marquis Wei Ran, and implored the latter to serve as his lieutenant.

At that time, what should Wei and South Korea fear? Why should Qi be afraid?

"It's a pity."

Shaking his head and regretting for a moment, Bai Qi instructed Hu Yu: "Hu Yu, you will rest in the army for a few days, and you will be under my account for the time being, and then return to China to reorganize the cavalry, and then you will command it." ”

Hearing Bai Qi's assurance, Hu Yu's face was overjoyed, and he hurriedly clenched his fists and said, "Thank you Bai Shuai." ”

"Okay, it's not too early, you can stand back and rest first."

As he spoke, Bai Qi ordered two guards to take Hu Yuluo's place to live.

After Hu Yu and the two guards left, Bai Qi paced back and forth in the room with his arms crossed, thinking about countermeasures.

At the cost of the annihilation of 2,000 cavalry, the secret of the strength of the cavalry under Meng Zhong's command was solved, and Bai Qi thought that this was not a loss.

But then again, given that the 2,000 cavalry under his command were all wiped out, the Fangcheng cavalry began to roam around his army again, waiting for an opportunity to hunt down the scouts of his Qin army, which also gave Bai Qi a bit of a headache.

For those Fangcheng cavalry, he didn't dare to take it lightly before, not to mention after listening to Hu Yu's narration - according to Hu Yu, with the help of bilateral stirrups, in fact, those Fangcheng cavalry are fully capable of attacking the infantry phalanx, what an incredible thing.

You must know that in the eyes of the world, the cavalry is just a weak existence, just like the sword dance in the royal court, flashy, far less practical than the chariot, and the cavalry did not have the ability to fight head-on before, at best it can only be used as a surprise soldier to sneak attack a small group of enemy troops.

But the appearance of Meng Zhong broke this cognition: cavalry is actually capable of attacking the infantry phalanx.

However, so far, Meng Zhong has never sent cavalry to attack the formation of the Qin army in the middle of the battle with the Qin army, at most it is to let the cavalry shoot with a bow and crossbow from a distance, Bai Qi has not thought about it in detail before, but today, Bai Qi has realized this: that Meng Zhong is obviously hiding a lot of secrets, ready to use it to calculate him.

Thinking of this, Bai Qi couldn't help but be a little excited.

In his opinion, the return of Fangcheng's cavalry to the battlefield was definitely not just as simple as sweeping away the threat of Hu Yu's two thousand cavalry, he thought that Meng Zhong must have some tricks.

But what exactly is the ruse?

Why did Meng Zhong suddenly send dozens of Fangcheng cavalry with a size of twenty people to operate in this area?

Could it be that Meng Zhong will have some big action? So you're going to sweep away his white ears and eyes beforehand?

『…… Quite possibly.'

Bai Qi thought secretly.

After nightfall that night, Bai Qi summoned his subordinate general Zhong Xu and asked, "How many people did our army's scouts lose today?" ”

Zhong Xu reported truthfully: "Nearly 600 people did not return to the camp on time, most of them ran into the Fangcheng cavalry and were killed by those cavalry. ”

"Six hundred, ......"

Bai Qi nodded, looking quite calm.

Indeed, after adapting to the battle with the Meng Zhong army, the casualties of 600 scouts were not a big deal.

After all, the cavalry hunting a small force of troops has a natural advantage, not to mention that today Yangguan has dispatched dozens of cavalry scouts with a size of about twenty people, and a few of the scouts sent by his Qin army can escape back, which is already a very lucky thing.

"That's right, Bai Shuai."

As if thinking of something, Zhong Xu clenched his fists and said: "According to some scouts who escaped back to the camp by luck, those Fangcheng cavalry only went out of Yangguan, but they did not see them return to Yangguan, and for some reason, many teams of cavalry went north......"

"To the north?"

Bai Qi frowned slightly.

Fangcheng cavalry does not return to Yangguan, this is easy to understand, after all, most of the Fangcheng cavalry carry water bladders and dry food, and can be out for ten days and a half in a row.

But why did the cavalry go north?

Bai Qi couldn't figure it out, after all, as far as he knew, there was Yingshan in the north, where Meng Zhong's sibling brother Wu Ying led the army to guard it, and remembered that Meng Zhong also transferred 3,000 soldiers to go today.

"Three thousand Wei troops were transferred to Yingshan, which is easy to understand, but those cavalry ...... Could it be that these cavalry were also reinforcing the Yingshan Wei battalion? ”

"This last general can't figure it out."

"Hmm......"

After pondering for a moment, Bai Qizheng said: "I feel that Meng Zhong may be about to take some action, you will send someone to watch every move of Yangguan day and night, and report any troubles immediately!" ”

"Whoa!"

Looking at Zhong Xu's departing back, Bai Qi secretly pondered, guessing Meng Zhong's intentions.

At the same time, in the Yingshan area on the north side of Fangcheng, groups of Fangcheng cavalry gathered one after another, and then under the leadership of Menghu and Huahu, they turned west and went straight to Niuweipo.

As for the 3,000 foot soldiers led by Tang Zhi, they had already gone straight to Niuweipo.

Because the Fangcheng cavalry cut off many scouts of the Qin army along the way, the Qin army did not know the movements of the Wei army's 3,000 foot soldiers and 2,000 cavalry, and even Bai Qi subconsciously guessed that Meng Zhong just sent them to reinforce the Yingshan Wei camp.

In this case, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Tang Zhi each led their armies and quickly crossed the hidden Niuwei Slope, and after a two-day journey, they arrived at the valley on the northeast side of Wancheng.

As Meng Zhong said to Zhai Zhang that day, the Qin army did not know about this narrow mountain road, so that the five thousand Wei troops easily bypassed Bai Qi's army and invaded the hinterland of the Qin army, Wancheng.

When Menghu, Huahu, and Tang Zhi led the army to arrive in the Wancheng area, it was approaching dusk.

At that time, the three of them ordered their soldiers to hide in hidden places such as woods and valleys to rest and recover their strength, while the three of them quietly sneaked close to Wancheng and peeked at the situation in Wancheng from afar.

I saw Wancheng in the distance, the camps inside and outside the city - that is, the original Chu military camp, a calm, inside and outside the city, there were a few cooking smokes faintly visible, obviously the Qin army stationed in the Wancheng area has begun to bury the pot to make rice.

In addition, some Qin soldiers can also be seen leaving the city, cutting down trees, and carrying logs here.

I have to say that Wancheng at this moment is peaceful, and the Qin army stationed in this area has no idea that there are 5,000 Wei soldiers staring at them in the distance.

Seeing this, Tang Zhi, Menghu, and Huahu were secretly happy, so they got together to discuss countermeasures.

After all, the 5,000 Wei troops under their command, 2,000 are cavalry, which will not help much in attacking the fortification, and the remaining 3,000 foot soldiers lack siege equipment, so only when Wancheng is unprepared and suddenly kills and takes the first step to make the cavalry enter the city, they can successfully burn the granary in the city.

Otherwise, the Qin army in Wancheng City closed the city gate, and it would not be able to defeat it in a short time.

And when Tang Zhi was thinking about the strategy of defrauding the city, he saw Meng Hu and Hua Hu smiling evilly, and took out a few flags of the Qin army from the backpack of the war horse, including the military flag with the character of Qin, and the flag of the general with the character of Hu, which was obviously the banner of the cavalry under the command of the Qin general Hu Yu.

"I said it must be useful to keep these things, right?" Meng Hu said with a smile.

Hearing this, Hua Hu pursed his lips: "Do you need to remind me?" ”

"Shh

After some discussion, Meng Hu and Cao Chun were in charge of defrauding the city, and Tang Zhi, Hua Hu and others cooperated.

I saw the cavalry under the command of Meng Hu holding high these banners captured from the cavalry of the Qin State and slowly heading towards Wancheng.

In order to avoid startling the snake, Meng Hu and Cao Chun only brought 500 cavalry this time.

But even so, they were still clearly seen by the Qin soldiers patrolling the walls of Wancheng.

"Huh? The cavalry...... Could it be the one under General Hu Yu? ”

"It should be, if it was Wei Jun, we should have received a warning signal a long time ago. But it's strange, what are these cavalry doing in Wancheng? ”

"I don't know. …… Anyway, let's tell the general first. ”

A moment later, Peng Tang, the Qin general stationed in Wancheng, learned of this and was also quite puzzled, after all, he had not received the news of Hu Yu's return to Wancheng.

Thinking of this, Peng Tang personally came to the city gate and waited for the cavalry.

After a while, after Meng Hu and Hua Hu led their troops to the city gate, Peng Tang stepped forward and frowned and asked, "Are you the cavalry under Hu Yu?" What are you doing here? What about Hu Yu? Where is he? ”

Of course, Meng Hu knew that as soon as he opened his mouth, he would be recognized by the other party because of the accent problem, so he didn't speak, just pretended to be at a loss, and then suddenly raised his hand to the west side, muttering a vague sentence in his mouth.

Peng Tang didn't hear it clearly for a while, but the person subconsciously turned his head to look at the west, and at this moment, Cao Chun, who was beside Meng Hu, burst into trouble, and suddenly drew his sword and slashed at Peng Tang's neck.