"Looking at the Qin army's counterattack today, it is really much stronger than yesterday, it seems that after yesterday's recuperation, the Qin army has recovered some vitality...... It's not going to be easy, Sima Dou."

As the Wei army marched to the array, the military Sima Zheng Zheng crossed his arms and stared at the battlefield in front of him, secretly praying in his heart that Dou Xing would be able to defeat the Qin army this time.

Like Meng Zhong said, "The Qin army is vulnerable", it is just used to boost morale, and in the eyes of Zheng Zheng and other soldiers, it is difficult for his Wei army and the opposite Qin army to coexist at all, and his Wei army is trying to suppress the Qin army, and wants to hit the Qin army as hard as possible while the Qin army has not yet recovered, and the Qin army on the opposite side is the same - once the Qin army completely recovers, his Wei army will inevitably be the first to suffer.

『…… Obviously, he has attacked the camp gate several times, but ...... It's just a breath away......

The more Zheng Zheng looked at it, the more anxious he became, and he couldn't wait to lead his subordinates to rush forward and assist Dou Xingjun in attacking the Qin army.

But unfortunately, the battlefield directly ahead was overcrowded at the moment, and it was not enough to accommodate more Wei soldiers, and in this case, even if he and his soldiers squeezed forward, it would not help.

"Dingding-ding-"

"Dingding-ding-"

On the left, there was the sound of striking the cymbals.

At first, Zheng Zheng didn't react, but it wasn't until the sound of the golden sound sounded for the third time that he came back to his senses, and turned his head to look in the direction of the formation with a shocked face.

"Collect the troops? What's going on?'

Frowning, Zheng Zheng immediately ordered the soldiers on the chariot to drive the chariot and carry him to the main formation on the left.

Since the two places were not far apart, it didn't take long for Zheng Zheng to come to the main formation and saw Meng Zhong standing on the chariot.

"Master Meng."

When the chariot approached, Zheng Zheng clasped his fists and asked, "Could it be that something happened?" ”

"Huh?" Meng Zhong may have been pondering what the change in Zheng Zheng's mouth meant, and he was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "There is no change." ”

Seeing this, Zheng Zheng became more and more puzzled, and asked: "Since there is no change, why did Master Meng order Mingjin?" ”

"Oh, that's what you say." Meng Zhong smiled faintly and replied, "I said that the troops would be collected at noon, but now it's noon." ”

“……”

Hearing this, Zheng Zheng opened his mouth, but he couldn't speak.

Indeed, before today's war, this Meng Shishuai did say something like that, but Zheng Zheng didn't take it seriously, after all, in his opinion, whether to retreat and when to collect the troops depends on the specific battle situation, just like right now, his Wei army obviously still has an advantage, but this Meng Shishuai did not hesitate to give up this advantage and ordered Mingjin to withdraw his troops...... It's child's play!

Zheng Zheng didn't understand, he really didn't understand.

After thinking about it for a while, he said with a straight face: "Master Meng, it's still early, why rush to collect the troops?" You see, our army still has the upper hand at the moment......"

Listening to Zheng Zheng's words, Meng Zhong stared at the battlefield directly ahead.

Of course, he knew that his Wei army still had the upper hand, but this little advantage was not enough to help his Wei army attack the camp in front of him.

Don't look at the casualties of the Qin army are heavier than those of his Wei army, but no matter what people say, they are firmly guarding the camp and not giving an inch, so that the Wei pawns under the command of the army Sima Dou Xing have never been able to break through the blockade of the Qin army.

The same is true of the two ruins in Xiying and Dongying: it is undeniable that the soldiers in his Wei army have performed very well, but if the premise is to defeat the Qin army and break through this camp, then it is obvious that the Wei soldiers have not worked hard enough.

What's more, after two hours of fighting, Meng Zhong noticed that the offensive of his Wei soldiers had gradually weakened, so he concluded that it was almost impossible to defeat the Qin army today, so he decisively ordered Mingjin to retreat.

After all, in his opinion, if he couldn't defeat the Qin army in one go, then even if he continued this battle, it would only be a pointless consumption of each other's troops.

Even if he was lucky enough to win the battle in the end, it seems that this kind of victory of killing 1,000 enemies and losing 800 of himself is just a victory built up purely with the lives of his own soldiers, and it can neither be used to deter the Qin army, nor can it be used to boost the morale of his own soldiers.

It's just a battle, that's all.

What's the point?

Of course, he wanted to defeat the Qin army and achieve victory, but only if he did not want too many casualties from the Wei army, especially the Hedong army.

Gongsun Xi has passed away, if the Wei army in Hedong suffers heavy losses again, if the Qin State sends troops to attack the Hedong of the Wei State this year and next year, what will the Wei State do to resist the offensive of the Qin army?

This was from the perspective of the big picture, and from Meng Zhong's personal point of view, he did not think that a victory that was built entirely on the lives of soldiers was enough to be called a victory.

"Master Meng? Master Meng? ”

Seeing that Meng Zhong's eyes were not on him at all, Zheng Zheng immediately reminded him.

At this time, Meng Zhong was seen staring at the battlefield and said in a deep voice: "What Zheng Sima said is extremely true, but there are also considerations below. ”

“……”

Zheng Zheng opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say.

I remember mentioning before that the 180,000 Wei troops of the Wei State to rescue South Korea this time were divided into three parts, and the highest status was naturally the Hedong Wei Army directly under Gongsun Xi, followed by the Hanoi Wei Army of Zhai Zhang's lineage, and then Henan, that is, the Wei Army stationed on the territory of the Wei State south of the Great River.

And Zheng Zheng is the general of the Wei army in Henan, how dare he insist on his own opinion in front of Meng Zhong and offend this "young noble" in the army?

After all, it is well known that Gongsun Zhu intends to promote Meng Zhong, and Meng Zhong is equivalent to being regarded as a member of the Wei army in Hedong, maybe Dou Xing, Wei Qing, Fei Hui and others dare to question Meng Zhong with their qualifications, but Zheng Zheng does not dare.

"Under ...... I see. He hugged his fist towards Meng Zhong, and Zheng Zheng stopped talking.

Probably noticing Zheng Zheng's expression of forcibly restraining his emotions, Meng Zhong said softly: "Zheng Sima, please give me more trust in Zaixia, and I will explain it to you afterwards." As for the moment, please ask Zheng Sima to return to the army and break off the three Simas of Dou, Wei, and Fei at any time, so as not to take the opportunity for the Qin army to pursue. ”

“…… Here! ”

Zheng Zheng hesitated for a moment, finally hugged his fists and left in the chariot.

At the same time, the heralds sent by Meng Zhong had already spread the sound of Ming Jin to the battlefield ahead.

After hearing the sound of gold behind them, the Wei pawns who were fighting bloodily were all stunned.

"Sima, there is a sound of gold from this formation, ordering me to wait for the troops to retreat."

"I can hear you!"

After yelling in a vicious tone to remind his soldiers, Dou Xing, who was covered in blood, turned his head in annoyance and looked in the direction of his formation.

"That kid...... What the hell are you doing?!'

He cursed in his heart.

In all fairness, Dou Xing's impression of Meng Zhong is still very good, although in his opinion, no matter how good Meng Zhong is, he can't compare with their former coach Gongsun Xi, but it is undeniable that he is indeed very witty and strategic, whether it is taking advantage of the weakness of the Qin army to suddenly counterattack, or trading with the Han army, and getting the grain and grass that his Wei army needs most at present, these things are done very beautifully.

But what's going on with Mingjin at the moment?!

You must know that up to now, the Wei army under his command is still steadily suppressing the Qin army, even if it has not yet entered the camp.

"Sima, what should I do?"

The left and right guards asked Dou Xing's opinion.

Hearing this, Dou Xing turned his head and glanced at Qin Ying, who was close at hand.

In his opinion, he and his Wei soldiers could break through the Qin camp with a little more effort, but he didn't expect Meng Zhong to order them to retreat at such a critical time.

"He'd better give me an explanation......"

A few words burst out of his mouth in a vicious tone, and Dou Xing ordered with a pale face: "Pass the order, our army ...... Fall back! ”

"Whoa!"

In the end, Dou Xing still restrained himself, because he knew that, like the current situation, their Wei army could only defeat the Qin army and survive if they were united, and if he had a conflict with Meng Zhong, who commanded the army on behalf of Gongsun Zhu, it would inevitably affect the morale of the entire Wei army.

A moment later, Wei Qing and Fei Hui, who were fighting bloodily in the ruins of Xiying and Dongying, also noticed the sound of gold coming from their own square formation.

Just like Zheng Zheng and Dou Xing, Wei Qing and Fei Hui were also stunned, and couldn't figure out why Meng Zhong chose to retreat when his Wei army still had a chance to break through the enemy camp—wasn't it just noon? Until sunset, there is still half a day!

But after hesitating for a while, Wei Qing and Fei Hui still obeyed the orders of the formation and led the soldiers to slowly retreat.

I have to say that Meng Zhong's order to withdraw troops not only confused the Wei soldiers of the three armies, but even the Qin army was stunned.

I saw that on the sentry tower inside the south camp gate of the Qin camp, Bai Qi stood on the sentry tower and watched the Wei army retreat rapidly as if the tide was receding, and he was surprised in his heart.

"I can't figure it out, I can't guess ......"

He muttered to himself.

He really felt incredible, obviously that the "commander of the Wei army" was still boasting two times ago, boasting that he would defeat his Qin army in half a day - this made him feel extremely angry at that time.

It stands to reason that since the other party boasted of such a sea port, it really should not be easily retreated when the Wei army still had the strength to spare.

『…… Is this a deliberate ruse to lure our army into pursuit?'

Bai Qi frowned and thought.

But according to his careful observation of the Wei army outside the camp, it didn't feel like a trick.

"Bai Shuai."

Under the sentry tower, the shout of the Qin general Meng Yi came: "The Wei army has retreated, do you take the opportunity to pursue?" ”

"No!"

Bai Qi waved his hand, looked at the Wei army outside the camp, shook his head and said: "The Wei army's retreat this time is quite strange. ”

During the period when Bai Qi stopped his subordinate generals, Dou Xing, Wei Qing, and Fei Hui, the three main military commanders, had quickly evacuated the Qin camp under the protection of Zheng Zheng and Cai Wu.

Looking back, seeing that the Qin army did not go out of the camp to pursue, Dou Xing, Wei Qing, and Fei Hui invariably threw the army to their lieutenant generals, and they came to the main camp in person.

Because he was afraid of causing a misunderstanding among the Wei soldiers in the army, Dou Xingqiang endured his anger, and he didn't dare to say too loudly, so he lowered his voice and asked: "Master Meng, our army obviously still has spare strength, why did Ming Jin withdraw his troops?" ”

However, to the surprise of Dou Xing, Wei Qing, and Fei Hui, Meng Zhong smiled and pressed his hand, and then whispered to them: "Don't be impatient, don't be impatient, and cooperate with me first." ”

Before Dou Xing, Wei Qing, and Fei Hui could react, they saw Meng Zhong deliberately shouting loudly: "The three Simas asked me why Mingjin withdrew his troops?!" ”

Hearing Meng Zhong's shout, the Wei pawns around who were slowly retreating all subconsciously stopped and turned their heads to look at this side.

They were surprised to see that the young "Master Meng" was pointing at Dou Xing, Wei Qing, and Fei Hui and scolding.

“…… In the face of a vulnerable opponent like the Qin army, I thought it would be enough to defeat it in two hours, but the result was ......" Speaking of this, Meng Zhong shook his head and pretended to be disappointed and said, "It's too disappointing for me!" ”

“……”

Dou Xing, Wei Qing, and Fei Hui looked at each other.

In view of Meng Zhong's whispered reminder, the three of them were scolded by Meng Zhong at the moment, but they didn't feel angry.

The problem is that they haven't figured out what Meng Zhong wants to do until now, even if they have the intention to "cooperate", they don't know what to say, and in desperation, the three of them simply pretend to be weak-hearted, and lower their heads and let Meng Zhong scold them.

"Shame! It's a shame! ”

Knowing that there were countless Wei pawns watching this, Meng Zhong deliberately said loudly: "The Qin army is not vulnerable at all, what else will they do except for a sneak attack?" We are the army of Wei, the most powerful army in the world! It only takes half a day to deal with this kind of opponent! For more than half a day, what face does he call himself Wei Zu? Or even call yourself a warrior? ”

Speaking of this, he glanced around at the Wei soldiers around him, took a long breath, and said in a deep voice: "I know that at this moment, there are many people like Dou Sima, Wei Sima, and Fei Sima who are confused and puzzled by my order to withdraw their troops...... However, before this battle began, I made an appointment with all of you present to defeat the Qin army before noon, and I think this deadline is more than enough! …… Three Simas, what do you think? ”

Dou Xing, Wei Qing, and Fei Hui gradually guessed Meng Zhong's intentions.

After glancing at each other, Wei Qing pretended to be ashamed and said, "What Master Meng said is extremely true, but today's resistance of the Qin army is particularly ......."

"I don't want to hear these excuses!"

Meng Zhong interrupted Wei Qing's words, and immediately turned his head and questioned Dou Xingdao: "Dou Sima, you are the leading fierce general under the command of Xi Wu, you can explain." ”

"I ......" Dou Xing pretended to be ashamed, and deliberately hesitated for a while, then lowered his head and said, "I...... I was careless......"

"yes, you're careless." Meng Zhong nodded, and after glancing around at the surrounding Zhu Wei pawns, he said in a deep voice: "I think everyone present is careless. Yes, the Qin army on the opposite side is certainly vulnerable, far from being the opponent of our army, but please keep one thing in mind, even if the Qin army on the opposite side is weak, it is also exactly the same person as us, a living person, and the number is comparable to ours, they are forced to a corner, and they will fight hard! …… If you fight with such an attitude of despising the enemy, let alone defeat the other party within two hours, even if it is ten or twenty days, don't even think about defeating the Qin army! ”

"Light...... Enemy?'

"We're underestimated in this battle?"

The countless Wei pawns around looked at each other.

In fact, most of the Wei soldiers have a kind of poor cognition at this moment: it is clear that the Qin army is "very weak", and they also suppressed the Qin army in today's battle, but for some reason they just can't attack the enemy camp.

It is this poor perception that makes many Wei soldiers very confused: is the Qin army "very strong" or "very weak"?

In fact, of course, the Qin army is brave, saying that the Qin army is vulnerable, it is just the words of Meng Zhong, Dou Xing and other generals in the army in order to boost morale, in fact, some Wei soldiers have already felt it in today's battle, but Meng Zhong's words at this moment made them a little confused: It turned out that it was not the Qin army that was strong, but our side underestimated the enemy?

"You are too underestimated! …… Just because you heard the phrase 'you will be able to defeat the Qin army today', you think that victory in this battle is within reach? Meng Zhong looked at the nearby Wei soldiers with an angry face, and shouted indignantly: "The proud soldiers will be defeated!" How different is it from an arrogant soldier who is so light as you are?! ”

“……”

The nearby Wei pawns lowered their heads one after another.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong let out a long breath and said in a deep voice, "Today...... Forget it. I'll give you another chance, wait for tomorrow, tomorrow we will make a comeback and attack this Qin camp again, when the time comes, I don't want anyone to slack off the enemy, tomorrow, be sure to break the Qin camp before noon! …… At that time, I will personally implore General Gongsun to take credit for everyone else! …… Do you understand?! ”

"Understood!"

The Wei soldiers shouted in unison.

"Good!"

Nodding with satisfaction, Meng Zhong ordered loudly: "Since this is the case, let the Qin army survive one more day." …… Withdraw the troops back to the camp and rest with food! ”

"Wow——!"

Thousands of Wei pawns raised their arms and shouted.

"Powerful ...... Harm!'

Looking at the look on Zhu Wei's face, Dou Xing, Wei Qing, and Fei Hui glanced at each other, and the resentment in their hearts had already disappeared.

At the same time, Wei Jun's shout had also turned into Bai Qi's ears.

I remember that a moment ago, Bai Qi was still secretly sneering at Meng Zhong for saying that he was not ashamed, saying that he would defeat his Qin army in half a day, but he lost face.

At the moment, however, he couldn't laugh anymore.

"I actually forcibly blamed the 'light enemy' for the failure to break through our army before noon today...... Yours is the real thing!'

Gripping the railing of the watchtower with his right hand, he cursed someone for his cunning.

He had probably guessed the tricks of his opponent, the "Wei Army Marshal", so that at this moment he had an extremely strong sense of crisis in his heart: when the Wei army came to attack the camp again tomorrow, most of the Qin troops under his command would not be able to stop it.

If those 60,000 or 70,000 Wei troops believed the lie of the "Wei army commander" and thought that they could defeat his Qin army in two hours—more than 60,000 Wei troops all believed that they could defeat his Qin army in two hours, what a terrible thing!

"Someone, please ask General Ji Hong to discuss matters in the tent."

"Whoa!"

After a while, Qin General Ji Hong came to the tent in accordance with the order, and when he saw Bai Qi standing in the tent, he clenched his fists and asked, "Bai Shuai, are you looking for me?" ”

"Hmm."

Bai Qi turned around, and after thinking for a while, he said to Ji Hong: "General Ji, you start preparing immediately, I have decided to break through tonight." ”

"Breakout?"

Ji Hong was stunned and asked puzzledly, "Bai Shuai, aren't you going to fight a decisive battle with the Wei army?" ”

"I can't beat it." Bai Qi shook his head.

Hearing this, Ji Hong said with a strange expression: "The Wei army's offensive today is indeed fierce, but even so, they still failed to break into the camp......

"I don't mean that."

Bai Qi shook his head, and quickly explained, "Didn't you notice the commotion when the Wei army retreated? That cunning guy actually attributed today's defeat to 'underestimating the enemy', but it was really ingenious...... Far from damaging the morale of his Wei army, it made those Wei soldiers even more convinced that they could defeat our army...... More than 60,000 Wei soldiers are convinced that they can defeat our army, and General Ji should be able to understand how terrible this is. …… If our army does not choose to break through tonight, sit back and wait for the Wei army to come again tomorrow, and wait until noon tomorrow, our army will definitely be broken by the Wei army! ”

"W-really?" Ji Hong was speechless in surprise: "Just because of some words? ”

"That's a stratagem!" Bai Qi let out a long breath.

At this moment, he was really helpless in his heart, he thought that after killing Gongsun Xi, he would be able to easily defeat the remaining Wei and Han coalition forces, but out of nowhere, an opponent who even he felt jealous of, and used a series of countermeasures to revive a group of remnants of the defeated generals, and even, in turn, posed a serious threat to his Qin army.

"Don't hesitate any longer, break through tonight!" Bai Qi said in a deep voice: "This is my thoughtful consideration: on the one hand, the current Wei army is too sharp, and on the other hand, I have been thinking about a question this morning, the Wei army lost this camp and lost all the grain and grass, but why are the more than 60,000 Wei soldiers under its command not hungry? There is only one answer, that is, the Han army gave their grain and grass to the Wei army...... It is enough to feed sixty or seventy thousand Wei troops for a period of time, and the tyrant kite may not easily agree, if he does, unless the Wei army promises him an offer that he cannot refuse, for example, the Wei army will drag our army and give the Han army a chance to attack Xincheng......"

Hearing this, Ji Hong's face changed suddenly, and he immediately lowered his voice and said: "If Xincheng is captured by the Korean army......

"If Xincheng is broken by the Korean army, if the Qin State sends troops to attack Korea again, it will have to pay a greater price, I know. …… That's why I hoped to break the Wei army as soon as possible, and then pursue the Han army, but it's a pity that ......" Speaking of this, Bai Qi let out a long breath.

Hearing this, Ji Hong lowered his voice and asked, "If you break through...... In which direction to break through? ”

"Let's go west." Bai Qi thought for a moment and replied: "It is impossible to cross Yishui to the east, the Wei army has built a dam upstream, although I think they are mainly for water storage and fishing, but if our army passes through here, they may not destroy the dam and release water, and then our army will inevitably be flooded; If you go north from Luoyang to bypass, it will take too long, and I am afraid that you will not be able to return to Yiyang and Xincheng in time; Only by forcibly breaking through from the west......"

"In the west, there are 10,000 or 20,000 Wei troops stationed in Yushui...... Ji Hong frowned and said.

"Until now, the only way to break through ...... is to forcibly break through"

Bai Qi said in a deep voice: "Remember, try not to alarm the Wei army in the area of Yique Mountain, otherwise our army will definitely fall into a desperate situation of being attacked by the enemy." ”

"Whoa!"

Ji Hong clenched his fists and took his life.

Watching Ji Hong's back walking out of the tent, Bai sat down behind the low table in the tent, staring intently at the marching map spread out on the low table, thinking about various countermeasures.

After all, he also had a full 60,000 Qin troops under his command, and there were still more than 50,000 casualties in the past two days, and more than 50,000 people moved at night, and Bai Qi was not sure that he could hide from the eyes and ears of the Wei army.

If the Wei army learned of their purpose and took the opportunity to lead their troops to pursue, how they should respond at that time was what Bai Qi was considering at the moment.

Suddenly, a good idea struck him.