"Report! Traces of the Qi army have been found ahead! They are rapidly retreating northward, while the Fangcheng cavalry is delaying their ......"

When the scouts of the Song army reported the situation in front to the Song general Dai Busheng, Dai Busheng suddenly perked up and shouted loudly to the Song army under his command: "I, Song Guoerlang, follow a certain to defeat the Qi army in front!" ”

"Oh, oh, oh-"

The soldiers of the Song State raised their arms and shouted, and under Dai Busheng's order, they rushed towards the Qi army in front of them like a flood tide, and they were instantly killed with the rear team of the Qi army.

After the rear of the Qi army was attacked, he immediately sent someone to inform the commander Tian Fu, who was in the middle army.

In fact, at this moment, even if there were no soldiers from the rear team to report the news, Tian Touch had already discovered the abnormality of the rear team - the rear team that was originally marching quietly suddenly broke out with shouts of killing, no matter how you think about it, you know that it must be the coalition army of the Qin, Wei and Song Kingdoms that killed it.

After realizing this, Tian Fu immediately frowned.

"Why did the Qin-Wei coalition come so quickly? Did they let go of Le Yi's Yan army? …… Damn, could it be that Le Yi really fornicated with Song Guo?"

Tian Yan wrinkled and thought secretly.

After all, it stands to reason that there are also sixty or seventy thousand Yan troops under Le Yi's command, and if the alliance forces of Qin, Wei and Song attack the Yan army first, they will definitely not catch up so quickly.

Obviously, the alliance forces of the Qin, Wei and Song Kingdoms did not attack the Yan army, but pursued his Qi army directly, which was a big problem.

But now, Tian Touch has no time to take care of the Yan army, and what he cares about most at the moment is how to preserve the army as much as possible.

Seeing that the soldiers under his command around him were a little panicked after learning that there were chasing soldiers behind him, Tian Touch calmly reassured: "The reason why our army retreated is because the Qin and Wei coalition forces arrived in Tancheng, although our army has 100,000 people, it is difficult to conquer Tancheng in a short time, and then continue to attack the Song State. …… But this does not mean that our army is afraid of the Qin-Wei coalition. ”

After that, he instructed the guards beside him: "Tell Tian Da to immediately take over the command of the rear army and command the soldiers to resist the pursuers." ”

"Whoa!" The guards clenched their fists and left.

However, at this moment, Tian Da had already arrived in the rear from the Chinese army in a chariot.

At this time, the rear army of the Qi army was already in chaos, and about 5,000 Qi soldiers were forced to engage in a melee with the Song army, while the other armies of the rear army of the Qi army at that time were at a loss for what to do, and did not know whether to continue to withdraw to the north or stop to resist the pursuers.

In this case, Tian Touch took advantage of the opportunity that the Song army was temporarily entangled by about 5,000 Qi troops, and immediately divided the Qi army of the rear army into two parts, east and west, and ordered them to form a defensive line, and then he ordered the 5,000 Qi troops who were in the midst of a melee to flee north from both sides.

By the time Dai Busheng led the Song army to pursue, Tian Da had already led about 20,000 or 30,000 Qi troops, strictly blocking the way of the Song army.

Dai Busheng was not a reckless man, and seeing that the Qi army in front of him was neatly arrayed, he certainly did not dare to launch a surprise attack easily.

He instructed his subordinates: "Just hang these broken Qi troops from afar, since they stay to resist our army, they will inevitably break away from their army, and wait for the arrival of the armies of Qin and Wei, and then flank them." ”

Under Dai Busheng's order, the Song army temporarily stopped the offensive, stopped moving, and was about 100 zhang away from the broken Qi army commanded by Tian Da.

Seeing this situation, how could Qi general Tian Da not know what Song Jun's idea was?

In fact, he had long expected the reaction of the Song army, and it was only because of this that he divided the Qi army of the rear army into two parts, east and west, just to cover each other's evacuation.

No, seeing that the Song army did not stop, Tian Da immediately ordered the palace army on the east side to retreat.

Seeing this situation, the Song army was about to take the opportunity to chase and kill, but was shot by the bow and crossbow of the army behind the palace on the west side under Tian Da.

Subsequently, Tian Da ordered the army of the palace on the west side to withdraw to the north, seeing this situation, the Song army tried to pursue the Qi army again, but was shot by the crossbow of the army on the east side.

In this way, the eastern and western parts of the Qi army were assigned to retreat, and they only retreated about one mile at a time, covering each other during the period.

Even if the Song army was led by a fierce and reckless general like Dai Busheng, it was helpless in the face of the Qi army's evacuation tactics.

Of course, the main reason is that the Song army under Dai Busheng is far less than the Qi army.

"General, how can the Qi army put up this formation?" Some generals of the Song State asked Dai Busheng about this.

Dai Busheng frowned and looked at the Qi army in front of him, without saying a word.

According to his character, it must be desperate to pursue the Qi army, but before sending the army, Meng Zhong had deliberately told him, which made Dai Busheng worried.

It's not because he is afraid of Meng Zhong, the key is that Meng Zhong is right, since the Qi army is doomed to retreat, there is really no need for his Song soldiers to pay more casualties to pursue the enemy army - since the enemy army can be defeated with small casualties, why not?

Thinking of this, he gave an order: "Let's hang the Qi army from a distance first, and wait for the Qin and Wei armies to arrive." ”

A moment later, Jin Kuang, a general under Sima Cuo's command, led about 20,000 Qin army vanguard troops to pursue here, and he was also surprised to see the Qi general Tian Da slowly retreating north in front of the Song army by covering each other with the two palace's rear armies.

After all, this tactic did effectively curb the pursuit of the Song army against the Qi army.

But years of experience also made Jin Kuang realize that the Qi army's tactics also had a flaw, that is, the flanks - as long as one of the Qi army's palace troops retreated, the Qin army and the Song army launched a flanking attack on the other palace Qi army, and that palace Qi army would inevitably be defeated.

After dealing with this queen Qi army, he and the Song army pursued another queen Qi army, and he could easily eat these two queen Qi armies.

To put it bluntly, the Qi army used this tactic to resist the pursuit of the Song army, purely to bully the Song army with few soldiers, as long as the number of troops on the Song army's side was large, this trick would not be of any use.

The question is......

Frowning slightly, Jin Kuang's mind couldn't help but think of the orders given to him by Wei Ran and Sima Cuo, the marquis of Suihou, before he led the army to attack today.

"We must assist the Song army in pursuing the Qi army, but we must not let these 100,000 Qi troops be completely destroyed...... That marquis is really going to be embarrassed.'"

As a middle-level general of the Qin State, Jin Kuang certainly understood the nature of war.

The so-called war, in fact, is the continuation of diplomacy, and when it is impossible to achieve the goal with words, the use of force is attempted, and this is war.

In other words, the war served the politicians, and served the important ministers of Xianyang City who were in charge of the country's affairs.

And today, Marquis Wei Ran secretly instructed him not to cause too many casualties in the Qi army, and Jin Kuang guessed the reason for it at the first time: Marquis Wei Ran may still want to make friends with Qi State.

The question is, does it make sense?

Jin Kuang didn't understand, after all, in his opinion, since the fall of Chu, Qi had already been the country that posed the greatest threat to his Qin State among the Central Plains States, and thinking back to the past few crusades against his Qin State by the Central Plains States, the attitude of Qi State could almost determine whether the Central Plains countries' allied forces were successful in their crusade against his Qin State.

Especially a few years ago, Tian Zhang led the alliance of Qi, Wei and Han to crusade against his Qin State, which was the first time that his Qin State's Hangu Pass was broken head-on.

Prior to this, the biggest crisis encountered by his Qin State, that is, the time when King Huai of Chu led the Chu army and devoted all his national strength to attack his Qin State, the Chu army only took advantage of the Hangu Pass to defend the Central Plains and hinder the Chu State, if it were not for the fact that the monarchs of Wei and Han happened to be all dead at that time, no one would doubt that Tian Zhang was likely to lead the combined forces of Qi, Wei and Han all the way to Xianyang, the capital of his Qin State.

Therefore, in Jin Kuang's view, it seems that Qi and other strong opponents of Qin must be weakened first.

And the attitude of Wei Ran, the Marquis of Guanyu, seemed to help the Song State repel the invasion of the Qi army, but also did not want the Qi State to suffer too much loss.

I don't understand, Jin Kuang really can't understand.

But if you don't understand, you don't understand, and you still obey the order.

He ordered to summon the two generals under his command, Fan Bu and Zheng Yin, and told them: "You two go and attack the flank of the Qi army......

"Flanks?" Fan Bu was surprised when he heard this, and asked, "Isn't it the Qi army after the attack is broken?" As long as our army joins forces with the Song army, we can break the broken Qi army in a short time. ”

Jin Kuang was slightly stunned, and then showed a few smiles.

He was very pleased that the generals under his command also saw the fatal flaw in the retreat tactics of the Qi army, but the problem was that if he arranged it like that, the tens of thousands of troops of the Qi army were destined to be defeated by his Qin and Song armies in a short period of time.

And this is contrary to the advice of Marquis Wei Ran to him.

The essence of commanding a war lies in concentrating superior forces and crushing an enemy army as soon as possible, so that the enemy army will suffer heavy casualties in a short period of time; And if you want to drag out the war, you can do the opposite.

Take the current situation as an example, if he helps the invincible Song army to flank the palace army of the Qi army, the Qi army will be defeated; However, if he let Dai Busheng face the Qi army's palace army alone, while his Qin army continued to pursue the Qi army, no matter which side of the Qi army was, they would not be defeated by them in a short time.

And the clever thing is that the Song army will not blame them for this, after all, they are indeed chasing the Qi army.

But these words are not easy to disclose directly to his subordinates, so Jin Kuang pretended to say: "What you said is good, but in this way, it is very likely that the Qi army will abandon the army of the palace and lead the rest of the army to flee, therefore, our army must hold back the army of the Qi army......"

Such an explanation can also make sense, at least Fan Bu and Zheng Yin were not suspicious, nodded and clenched their fists and said, "The last general understands." …… The last general immediately led his army to pursue the army of Qi. ”

A moment later, Fan Bu and Zheng Yin, two Qin generals, each led an army to pursue the Qi army, leaving Jin Kuang to lead nearly 10,000 Qin troops behind.

In order to prevent the Song general Dai from becoming suspicious, Jin Kuang pretended to want to join forces with the Song army to flank the enemy army behind the palace, but because Jin Kuang had few soldiers and considering that he did not strictly urge his Qin soldiers to fight, he and Dai Busheng tried once, but there was no great success.

Sure enough, there was no cause for Dai Busheng, he was just a little annoyed.

"What's going on with that Jin Kuang? The Qi army behind the palace has not been defeated, so he actually divided his troops to pursue the main force of the Qi army? Don't he know the truth that he can't chew too much? Is this still a general under Sima Cuo? ”

Hearing Dai Busheng's words, the guards beside him guessed: "Perhaps, the Qin army wants to take the opportunity to leave all the 100,000 Qi troops behind." ”

"Then we shouldn't divide our troops at this time......

Dai Busheng frowned and grumbled, he was very skeptical that Jin Kuang would fight after all.

Similar to Dai Busheng's thoughts, Tian Da, a Qi general who was commanding the soldiers in the Qi army behind the palace at the moment, was also relieved after learning about the movements of the Qin army, and secretly laughed at the stupidity of the Qin army.

"That Qin army, I don't know who commanded it, actually divided troops to pursue the main force of our army at this time...... If he joined forces with the Song army on the opposite side, he was afraid that the soldiers who had broken off would be defeated by them...... God bless you!'

While snickering secretly, Qi general Tian Da continued to command the soldiers, calmly resisting the two armies of Jin Kuang and Dai Busheng.

Even, for this reason, a little self-confidence bursts.

At the same time, Meng Zhong also took Le Jin and led about 16,000 square city troops to the battlefield.

Soon after, he received news from Dai Busheng that the Qi general Tian Dazheng used a special tactic to make the two broken Qi armies cover each other's retreat, so that the Song army could not find the opportunity to pursue and kill.

"Tian Da?"

Meng Zhong recalled it carefully, and then remembered that this person was Tian Fu's lieutenant general.

However, he didn't pay much attention to Tian Da before, and seeing that Tian Da calmly commanded the Qi army to retreat after breaking off today, it was obvious that the other party was also a general who was well versed in the art of war.

From the side, after hearing the news, Le Jin said with a smile: "This formation of the Qi army is not difficult to break, as long as our army attacks the flank of one of the Qi troops behind the palace in a roundabout way, the Song army can take the opportunity to kill it, and it can be cracked." ”

Meng Zhong nodded slightly.

For Lejin, he is still very relieved, and he really doesn't need to tell him anything.

Watching Le Jin lead the city army under his command forward, a few traces of confusion flashed in Meng Zhong's heart.

After all, in his opinion, although the strategy of the Qi general Tian Da was ingenious, it was actually not difficult to crack, and he only needed to concentrate superior forces to launch a flanking attack on it, considering that the Qin general Jin Kuang was one step ahead of the other city army, Meng Zhong was surprised that the Qi army behind the two palaces had not been broken.

What is Qin Jun doing?

Thinking of this, he instructed a few guards around him: "Go and take a look and see what the Qin army is doing." ”

"Whoa!" Several guards hugged their fists and rode their horses in the direction of the Qin army.

About a quarter of an hour later, a scout sent out to report the current situation of the Qin army to Meng Zhong: "Qi Cheng Order, Qin general Jin Kuang himself is pursuing the Qi army behind the palace with the Song general Dai Busheng, and his two generals, Fan Bu and Zheng Yin, are pursuing the main force of the Qi army. ”

"Huh?"

Meng Zhong was stunned when he heard this, and frowned unconsciously.

However, anyone who has seen the art of war knows that in the rapidly changing battlefield, the top priority of the generals on both sides is to concentrate their forces to defeat the enemy first, especially when the strength of the two armies is equal, which side causes the other side to suffer greater casualties, which is almost the same as closer to victory.

Jin Kuang, as a general under Sima Cuo, has been on the battlefield for a long time, so he will not fail to understand this truth.

Frowning, Meng Zhong took his guards and the group rode their war horses in the direction of Qin General Jin Kuang.

At this time, Le Jin had already led the city army under his command to the east side of the Broken Queen's Qi army, and launched an offensive against the nearest Broken Queen's Qi army from the flank.

Seeing this scene from afar, Dai Busheng was overjoyed: "It's still the Wei army under Meng Zhong's command...... Fast! While the Fang Cheng army had already dragged down that Qi army, our army immediately killed it! ”

With an order, the Song army immediately stepped forward and flanked the Qi army behind the palace with the Fang Cheng army.

This broken Qi army that was flanked also had a full army of troops, and it could withstand the 20,000 or 30,000 Song troops who were invincible alone, but now the side was attacked by the Fangcheng army, and the soldiers in the army were suddenly in chaos, and they didn't know whether to defend against the Song army or the Fangcheng army, so that in just a few moments, the Song army and the Wei army broke through the defense line at the same time.

Seeing this scene from afar, although the Qi general Tian Da secretly hated in his heart, he didn't have any way - the Wei and Song armies used their strength advantage to flank him, what could he do?

In desperation, Tian Da had no choice but to abandon the army behind the palace and command another army to quickly evacuate north.

At this time, on the side of the Qin army, the Qin general Jin Kuang also noticed the battle situation of the Wei and Song armies being flanked by the Qi army, and shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"Don't blame me for this, I've already shown mercy......

Looking at the Qi army that was being caught between the Wei and Song armies from a distance, Jin Kuang smiled secretly.

He was not surprised at all by the scene in front of him, after all, in his opinion, he could see the flaws in the tactics of the Qi army, and Meng Zhong, the chief general of the Wei army, could naturally see through it.

However, just as Jin Kuang was looking at the battle situation in the distance with great interest, suddenly a guard gently patted him on the shoulder and whispered, "General......"

"Huh?"

Jin Kuang turned his head in confusion, looked in the direction pointed by the guard, and saw that not far behind him, a banner of "Wei Fangcheng Lingmeng" fluttered in the wind.

Slightly startled, Jin Kuang squinted his eyes and took a closer look, and then saw that Meng Zhong was slowly approaching his direction with a team of guards, riding a war horse.

Seeing this, Jin Kuang's face changed slightly, and he was a little nervous in his heart.

At this moment, he had realized that it must have been his move to divide his troops that aroused the suspicion of that Meng Zhong.

"Should I go see him?" Wait! Why should I go to see him? He is the general of Wei, and I am the general of Great Qin......

Just when Jin Kuang was hesitating about this, Meng Zhong had already taken his guards and rode a war horse to Jin Kuang's side.

Seeing this, Jin Kuang, who was standing on the battlefield, hugged his fists: "General Meng." ”

Meng Zhong also smiled and clenched his fists in return: "General Jin Kuang." ”

Immediately, he asked Jin Kuang with a smile: "General Jin Kuang, I heard that General Jin Kuang sent Fan Bu and Zheng Yin under his command to divide their troops to pursue the main force of the Qi army, I don't know what the reason is?" ”

"Sure enough, this thing ......."

Jin Kuang suppressed the inexplicable restlessness in his heart, and pretended to smile lightly: "Is there anything wrong with this?" ”

Meng Zhong took a deep look at Jin Kuang and said lightly: "It's not inappropriate, it's just that it's not the best decision...... Rash decisions. ”

Jin Kuang changed slightly when he heard this, and said with some annoyance: "Meng Zhong, what do you mean by this? I'm not your general, so I don't need to explain anything to you! ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong took a deep look at Jin Kuang, and that look made Jin Kuang feel a little weak for some reason.

No, before Meng Zhong could speak, Jin Kuang's attitude softened first: "It's a gaffe, General Meng is not to blame." I just don't want the main force of the Qi army to take the opportunity to escape......"

Meng Zhong smiled meaninglessly, and then nodded and said, "I see, it seems that there is a misunderstanding." By the way, General Jin Kuang doesn't mind if I stay here for a while, right? For the majesty and courage of your army, I have always admired it very much. ”

"How, how could it be."

Jin Kuang barely squeezed out a smile.

But in the bottom of his heart, he was extremely reluctant to Meng Zhong to stay here, after all, if Meng Zhong stayed here, it would be difficult for him to fulfill the secret entrustment of Marquis Wei Ran and show mercy to Qi Jun's subordinates - because he knew that this Meng Zhong beside him would definitely see it.

At this time, the Wei and Song armies led by Le Jin and Dai Busheng had already broken through the encircled Broken Queen's Qi army, and then went straight to the other retreating Queen's Qi army.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong rode on horseback and said lightly: "Heh, the abandoned Qi army behind the palace has been defeated, and our army can go forward in a big way, don't you say, General Jin Kuang?" ”

Hearing this, Jin Kuang barely squeezed out a few smiles, nodded and said, "What General Meng said is that it is indeed an excellent opportunity to pursue the Qi army. ”

After that, he took the plunge and gave the order to pursue the Qi army with the Wei and Song armies.

Faced with the interception and killing of the three pursuing armies of Qin, Wei and Song, the Qi general Tian Da gritted his teeth, and finally decided to sacrifice the other palace army to buy time for his main force to evacuate.

Seeing from a distance that the two armies of Wei and Song caught up with the broken Qi army and launched a flank attack again, Meng Zhong said lightly: "If you attack from three sides, this broken Qi army will inevitably be defeated immediately, are you right, General Jin Kuang?" ”

"General Meng is talking about ......"

Jin Kuang nodded reluctantly, and had no choice but to order the Qin army under his command to unite with the Wei and Song dynasties again to encircle the broken Qi army.

Sure enough, under the entrapment of the three armies of Qin, Wei and Song, the broken Qi army was quickly defeated, and countless soldiers surrendered on their knees.

At this point, all the broken troops of the Qi army were defeated, and the three armies of Jin Kuang, Dai Busheng, and Le Jin could finally kill directly into the hinterland of the Qi army.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong smiled and said to Jin Kuang: "It's still General Jin Kuang's foresight, and he sent Fan Bu and Zheng Yin to contain the main force of the Qi army early, thanks to the blessing of General Jin Kuang, the main force of the Qi army did not flee too far...... General Jin Kuang is worthy of being a general under the command of Sima Guowei, and he uses soldiers like a god. ”

“……”

Jin Kuang reluctantly pulled the corners of his mouth, although he was praised by Meng Zhong, his smile was even more ugly than bitter.

He didn't know how to explain this matter to Marquis Wei Ran later.

At the same time, on a dirt slope about a mile or two away from this battlefield, Le Yi was taking Rong Yi and a number of Yan soldiers and soldiers to watch the pursuit of the Qi army of the Qin, Wei and Song armies.

Seeing that the broken army of the Qi army was defeated by the Three Kingdoms Alliance, and then attacked into the belly of the army by the Three Kingdoms Alliance, Le Yi let out a long breath and ordered: "Pass the order, and tell the soldiers to prepare for the attack immediately!" ”

Hearing this, Rong Yan reluctantly said, "Do you really want to do this?" ”

"Hmm." Le Yi nodded and said, "We must take this opportunity to gain the trust of Qi and Tian Touch." ”

"Then you don't have to be in such a hurry, right? Wait a little longer......"

"No! The king of Qi is mean and unkind, if Tian Touch and Tian Da lose too many troops, they will inevitably be severely punished, in case the king of Qi is angry and executes Tian Touch and Tian Da, even if you and I deceive the trust of the two, it will not help...... When the time comes, the soldiers of our Yan army will die in vain. ”

Hearing this, Rong Yi nodded helplessly: "Okay, I hope you are right." ”

A moment later, a trumpet sound was heard from the northwest corner of the battlefield, and then, like a tidal wave, the Yan army came from the southwest.

Yan Jun, officially join the war!