After dawn, when Tian Tu, the commander of the Qi army, woke up from his sleep, he immediately received a report from the generals under his command, and as for the matter of the report, it was nothing more than the fact that the scouts they sent yesterday suffered heavy casualties.

Since yesterday's daylight, the Fangcheng cavalry in the Wei army has launched a comprehensive blockade of the camps of the Qi and Yan armies, the Yan army is okay, the Fangcheng cavalry will open up the net in Le Yi's face, but the scouts of the Qi army have been ruthlessly slaughtered by the Fangcheng cavalry, so that the Qi army scouts who can return to the camp alive are not one out of ten.

The killing of a large number of scouts meant that the Qi army had become blind and deaf, and it was difficult to monitor the movements around Tancheng.

"Cavalry...... It's actually cavalry, and Wei also has cavalry?"

After learning of the casualties of the scouts from yesterday until night, Tian Touche paced slowly in the tent with his hands behind his back, thinking about countermeasures.

Tian Touch is known as the successor of Tian Zhang in Qi State, and many people believe that after Tian Zhang's death, Tian Touch will carry the banner of Qi's foreign war, so he certainly knows the existence of cavalry.

It's just that he thought that cavalry was only available in Zhao State, but he didn't expect that Wei State actually had cavalry, and there were quite a few of them, and it was roughly estimated that there were no less than thousands.

According to Tian Touch's understanding of cavalry, the best thing cavalry is to act as a scout to monitor the enemy, and by the way, to chase and kill the enemy's scouts - the mobility of the cavalry makes it have a very big advantage when chasing a small group of enemy troops.

No, after learning yesterday that the reinforcements of the Qin-Wei coalition army had arrived in Tancheng, Tian Touch sent additional scouts to monitor Tancheng, but those scouts, so far not many people have been able to send back the news, and it is not difficult to guess that most of these people were poisoned by the Wei cavalry on the opposite side.

"Sun Tzu's Art of War" said, knowing oneself and knowing that the other side will not be defeated in a hundred battles, but now because of the relationship between those Wei cavalry, his Qi army can no longer monitor every move of Tancheng, and this battle has to be said to have become more and more difficult.

Thinking of this, Tian Touch gritted his teeth with hatred for Tian Touch, the commander of the Yan army-if it weren't for the latter's passive slackness of fighting for various reasons, he Qiyan Coalition Army would have already captured Tancheng, and would it be like this?

"Yan people can't be trusted after all."

Tian Yan thought secretly.

Not long after, the deputy general Tian Da came to the Shuai tent.

He asked Tian Touch, "The scouts suffered serious losses last night, did you know?" ”

Tian Touch nodded slightly, indicating that he already knew.

Seeing this, Tian Da frowned and said: "When the Qin-Wei coalition army first arrived, they immediately sent their cavalry to block the news, trying to make our army blind and deaf. …… In such a situation, it may not be the best strategy to wait and see. ”

Standing still for the time being and waiting to see what happens, this is the countermeasure that Tian Touch summed up when he convened the generals of the Qi and Yan armies in the Qi camp yesterday to discuss countermeasures.

To be precise, it should be the countermeasures that the generals of his Qi army negotiated on their own, after all, on the side of the Yan army at that time, Le Yi, Zhao Hao, and Rong Yi were all silent, and they did not put forward any constructive proposals at all.

And the reason why they decided to stand still and wait and see what happened was because Tian Touch and others had almost no understanding of the Qin and Wei coalition forces.

Where will this army meet?

Who are the generals of each army?

How many troops, food and grass are there?

He didn't know anything about this information.

The only information they could get was that the Qin army was mostly led by the famous general Sima Cuo, while the Wei army was supposed to be an army transferred from Fangcheng and commanded by the general surnamed Wei......

"Meng's surname ......"

As soon as he thought of this surname, Tian Touch's eyes couldn't help but flash a little haze.

He was very sensitive to this surname, because a few years ago, there was a Zhao general named Meng Zhong who attacked his tens of thousands of Qi troops at night with 500 Zhao pawns, which caused him to lose face.

No, that Meng Zhong can't be said to be a Zhao general, because after that, when his Qi army launched an army of 150,000 to conquer the Song State, that Meng Zhong was stationed in Qiyang as the general of the Song State.

That time, even Tian Zhang, a famous general of his Qi State, failed to win, so that in the end, his Qi State was forced to make a truce with the Song State.

Then the question arises, is the Wei army in the Qin-Wei coalition this time the army led by that Meng Zhong?

As soon as he thought of this, Tian Touch couldn't help but feel pressured.

If it is said that Meng Zhong only took advantage of his negligence during the battle of Zhu Ke and defeated him with a sneak attack, then in the later battle of Forcing Yang, Tian Touch had actually fought twelve points of spirit - after all, although Tian Zhang was good at that time, he Tian Touch didn't know that it was Meng Zhong who was stationed in Forcing Yang, but considering that Tian Zhang used "Yingji" to refer to this opponent, Tian Touch certainly didn't dare to take it lightly.

But despite this, he still couldn't pose any threat to the Yang Yang garrisoned by Meng Zhong at that time.

If the commander of the Wei army in the Qin-Wei coalition this time is really that Meng Zhong, then it is really ...... Dramatically unpleasant.

After pondering for a moment, Tian Touch also informed Tian Da of his guess.

Unexpectedly, Tian Da suddenly changed after hearing this: "If that is really Meng Zhong, my army is in danger!" …… Don't you know that Meng Zhong served as the guard Sima of Zhao's father when he was in Zhao State, and at that time, Le Yi was his deputy general? ”

In fact, Tian Yan also knew about this, but he felt that Le Yi would not betray him because of his old friendship-this was probably a sense of responsibility based on his position.

I have to say that in contemporary times, the world still advocates this kind of responsibility, and most people in most cases, they will not do anything contrary to their position, which is a kind of ethics.

For example, if a Wei man goes to Qi to become the prime minister, he may favor his homeland, but this will basically only happen without affecting the interests of Qi, and will not harm the interests of Qi for the sake of Wei, because this is his conduct as a courtier of Qi - unless he was originally a spy sent by Wei.

Because of this, even if Le Yi used to be Meng Zhong's deputy general, but in view of the fact that he is now the great Sima of Yan State, Tian Touch does not think that Le Yi will betray the trust of King Yan and do things like betraying Yan and fornicating with Wei - if Le Yi really dares to do this, then no matter how big the world is, there will be no place for him anymore, and the countries of the Central Plains will not accept a treacherous person.

But obviously, Tian Da's point of view is different from Tian Yi's: "Having said that, if you think about it, Le Yi himself was extremely negative about this battle, and connived at his subordinates to be passive and sluggish, do you dare to guarantee that he has no selfish intentions?" ”

Tian Yan frowned and did not speak.

In fact, Le Yi had explained to him before that the reason why his Yan army was passive and sluggish was because the Yan people generally hated the Qi country, and as for what the reason, all Qi people should know it.

This explanation, in fact, Tian Touch is acceptable, after all, if you think about it empathically, he will not fight for another country that has slaughtered and looted in other countries, but given that the Meng surnamed Wei on the opposite side is the main general Meng Zhong when Le Yi was in Zhao State, Tian Touch will inevitably have doubts about this.

"Yanren can't be trusted."

Tian Da Zhengse said: "If you expect to join forces with the Yan army to resist the counterattack of the Qin, Wei and Song alliances, I advise you not to do it, in case the Yan army is on the verge of defection......"

"No, it won't." Tian Yan shook his head: "As long as Le Yi still has even the slightest loyalty to King Yan, he will not dare to turn his back on my Qi Kingdom." ”

Yes, Tian Touch still thinks very clearly about this matter.

Hearing this, Tian Da sneered: "Even if he won't defect, it's hard to guarantee that he won't watch the fire from the other side...... If this person really has any tacit understanding with the Qin and Wei coalition forces opposite, our army will be in trouble at that time. ”

Tian Fengyan frowned when he heard this.

I have to say that Tian Da is right, with his 100,000 Qi army alone, he may not be able to resist the coalition forces of the Qin, Wei and Song Kingdoms.

After thinking about it, he asked Tian Dadao, "What do you mean...... Withdrawal? ”

Tian Da nodded and said, "I thought about it carefully last night, since the Qin and Wei coalition forces have arrived in Tancheng, my army may not be able to capture Tancheng, since this is the case, it is better to withdraw the troops......"

"But......" Tian Touch's face showed hesitation, vaguely with a little fear.

What he fears, of course, is the monarch of his Qi country now, the field.

Unlike King Qi Xuan, who pays attention to the inner and outer kings, the sovereign fields of his Qi country are now extremely domineering both internally and externally.

In all fairness, King Qi Xuan may not be a wise monarch, at least not as good as his father King Qi Wei, but King Qi Xuan is very tolerant and benevolent towards his subjects at home, and only when dealing with other countries will King Qi Xuan show his domineering side.

Being benevolent and benevolent internally, and being strict and domineering externally, that is, the policy of governing the country of "inner saint and outer king".

Therefore, even if the Yan people hate King Qi Xuan, King Qi Xuan has unparalleled prestige in the Qi country, and the Qi people often compare him with his father, King Qi Wei, saying that these two are virtuous monarchs and masters.

But today's King of Qi's fields only inherited his father's domineering, but did not inherit his father's tolerant and benevolent side, and he was equally harsh on the subjects of his own country, which led to the civil strife of the king of Tianjia, which led to the sages of Qi such as Zou Yan leaving Qi and defecting to Yan.

Now in the entire Qi country, only Tian Zhang may not be afraid of the field, and the rest are not afraid of this king, including Tian Touch.

Without receiving the order of the king of Linzi, he withdrew his troops without authorization, and Tian Touch could not imagine how he would face that monarch in the future.

As if seeing through the concerns in Tian Touch's heart, Tian Da lowered his voice and said: "You and I can put the responsibility for the ineffective battle on Yan Jun, after all, Yan Jun's passive slackness is indeed an indisputable fact. …… Don't hesitate any longer, you also know how many cavalry the Wei army has, once the Qin, Wei and Song Three Kingdoms Alliance launched a counterattack, our army is bound to suffer heavy losses, rather than being trapped here at that time and sending people to Linzi for help, it is better to withdraw the troops early, at least you can retreat with your whole body. You know, this battle is almost impossible for our army to win. ”

"Let me think about it."

Tian Yan said with a frown.

After Tian Da said goodbye and left, Tian Yan sat alone in the tent and pondered.

He was thinking about what kind of responsibility he would take if Tian Zhang, whom he respected, was here at this moment.

"Tian Da is right, our army can hardly win this battle, if it is Zhang Zi, he will definitely choose to withdraw his troops to reduce the casualties of the soldiers......"

Thinking of this, Tian Touch immediately sent someone to invite Tian Da to discuss the plan to withdraw the troops.

As Tian Touch and Tian Da guessed, on the opposite side of Tancheng, the crown prince Dai Wu and the Qin general Sima Cuo were indeed discussing the strategy of counterattack.

To be honest, in fact, it is not a very clever strategy, it is nothing more than to besiege the 100,000 Qi army with the help of Fangcheng cavalry, and when the Qi army runs out of food and grass, and then the Qin, Wei and Song Three Kingdoms alliance army will launch a wave of decisive general attack and defeat the Qi army in one fell swoop.

The main discussion between the crown prince Dai Wu and the Qin general Sima Cuo was the task designation of the alliance forces of the Qin, Wei and Song dynasties, that is, who was responsible for which task, so as to prevent chaos within the coalition forces during the battle.

It is worth mentioning that it may be because the Yan army was passive and sluggish a while ago, so that the crown prince Dai Wu and Dai Busheng did not regard the Yan army as an enemy, and in the tactics they discussed, the Qi army was the only target.

Looking at their posture, it seems that they intend to annihilate the 100,000 Qi army this time.

To tell the truth, Meng Zhong was actually also inclined to the decision of the crown prince Dai Wu and Dai Busheng, that is, to find a way to annihilate the 100,000 Qi troops of Tian Touch and Tian Da.

Losing 100,000 troops at once, even if it is as strong as the Qi country, will it become weak because of it, right? At least three or five years will not dare to invade the Song State again.

But the trouble is that Le Yi is ready to lead the Yan army to aid Tian Touch, Tian Da and others to retreat, which means that this counterattack of the Qin, Wei and Song Three Kingdoms Alliance can only annihilate half of the Qi army at best, but it cannot completely annihilate its army.

Unless, the alliance of the Qin, Wei and Song Kingdoms also regarded the Yan army as a real enemy and excluded it like the Qi army.

And this, obviously, will offend Yan Guo and even Le Yi.

"Meng Qing? Meng Qing? ”

Not long after, Meng Zhong's ears heard the call of the crown prince Dai Wu.

Meng Zhong came back to his senses, only to find that the meeting had ended, and the generals on the Qin army's side had almost gone.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong arched his hand and said, "I'm distracted, please forgive the prince." ”

Prince Dai Wu smiled and waved his hand, and immediately, he asked with a worried look, "Did something happen?" ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong fell into deep thought.

After half a ring, Meng Zhong arched his hand to the crown prince Dai Wu and said, "Prince, please take a step to speak." ”

The crown prince Dai Wu did not doubt that he had him, so he took Meng Zhong to his study, and after instructing the guards to stay away from the study and not allow anyone to enter, he asked Meng Zhong: "I look at Meng Qing, what seems to be on my mind?" ”

So, Meng Zhong told the crown prince Dai Wu about the appointment with Le Yi last night and Le Yi's intention to help the Qi army evacuate, including Le Yi's true purpose.

I have to say that after hearing all this, Prince Dai Wu's lips opened slightly in shock, quite incredulous.

It's no wonder, after all, he Song just wanted to weaken the power of Qi State, however, he didn't expect that Yan Wangzhi and Le Yi were more ambitious, and they actually wanted to completely destroy Qi State.

That's Qi country!

The most powerful country in the Central Plains.

After half a ring, the crown prince Dai Wu frowned slightly and said, "I don't doubt King Yan's hatred for the Qi Kingdom, but I never thought that King Yan would try to bring down the Qi Kingdom, which ...... Can it really be done? ”

Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "I don't know about this matter. ”

"Didn't Le Yi reveal how Yan Guo planned to destroy Qi State?"

"This ......" Meng Zhong thought for a moment and explained, "He roughly mentioned that the first step is to try to separate the two countries of Qi and Zhao, so that the Qi country will fall into an isolated and helpless situation; The second step is to unite all the countries to crusade against the Qi State...... Probably so. ”

Crown Prince Dai Wu said thoughtfully: "If it is said that the Yan army wants to destroy the Qi State on its own, it is really difficult to convince people, but if it is to unite the Central Plains countries, ......" Speaking of this, he nodded and said: "Then let's try." ”

"Try?" Meng Zhong's heart moved slightly, and he said tentatively.

The crown prince Dai Wu was very sincere, and said frankly: "Since King Yan and Le Yi have this determination, then my Song Kingdom must not destroy its great plan. Just as Le Yi wished, ask him to help the Qi army evacuate...... I can't interfere on the side of the Qin army, but I can still speak with the army of my Song State, and when the time comes, I will ask Uncle Busheng to follow Meng Qing's instructions for the time being......"

Hearing this, Meng Zhong asked in surprise, "Prince, do you acquiesce to Le Yi's approach?" ”

I saw the crown prince Dai Wu brushing the handful of beard on his chin, and said quite elegantly: "If it were someone else, Dai Wu would naturally not believe it easily, but Le Yi, Dai Wu is still willing to believe his words, after all, the passive slackness of the Yan army a while ago is enough to prove that Le Yi has no intention of assisting the Qi State to invade my Song State...... Whether it is Uncle Sheng, I am self-aware, if Le Yi is serious, we will not be able to defend Tancheng at that time. Le Yi is kind to the Song Kingdom, how can I, the Song Kingdom, repay virtue with resentment? Le Yi wants to help the Qi army evacuate, so as he wishes, it is not worth offending a resourceful general to pursue tens of thousands of Qi troops. ”

“……”

Meng Zhong blinked and looked at the crown prince Dai Wu in surprise.

Although he once had similar feelings, he still had to say that his brother-in-law Hui Ang and the prince's teacher Xue Juzhou had indeed taught the prince of the Song Kingdom very well, both in terms of morality and foresight.

With the support of the crown prince Dai Wu, Meng Zhong secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

But like the crown prince Dai Wu, Meng Zhong was also a little worried about the intentions of Yan Wangzhi and Le Yi to plot the Qi Kingdom, after all, the steps of these two were really too big, and it was not an easy task to destroy the Qi Kingdom in one go.

Even if he was Meng Zhong, he was only thinking about weakening the Qi State by annihilating the 100,000 Qi army, rather than destroying the entire Qi State.

"I wish you knew what you're doing......

Meng Zhong thought secretly in his heart.

On the same day, the alliance forces of Qin, Wei and Song began to launch a counterattack against the Qi army.

The Qin general Jin Kuang, the Wei general Meng Zhong, and the Song general Dai Busheng each led their troops to leave the periphery of Tancheng and march towards the Qi camp, stationed in the southwest, southeast, and east of the Qi army camp respectively, plus the Fangcheng cavalry wandering around the Qi army camp at this moment, the Qin, Wei and Song Three Kingdoms alliance army gradually launched the encirclement of the Qi army.

The scouts sent by the poor Qi army were ruthlessly pursued by the Fangcheng cavalry, and they almost didn't know the actions of the three armies of Meng Zhong, Jin Kuang, and Dai Busheng.

But to the surprise of all the generals on the coalition side, on the evening of the same day, the Qi army began to retreat north.

When the Fangcheng cavalry reported to Meng Zhong, Meng Zhong was also quite surprised.

He was not surprised by the retreat of the Qi army, but surprised by the decisiveness of the Qi army - the encirclement network of the alliance forces of the Qin, Wei and Song dynasties had just been activated, and there was no reason to bluff the Qi army to withdraw immediately, not to mention that because of the relationship between the cavalry in Fangcheng, the Qi army may not be able to accurately grasp the movements of his coalition army.

"Is it because I saw that the Qin and Wei coalition forces rushed to Tancheng, and I thought that the attack on the Song Dynasty could not succeed, so I knew how to withdraw the troops? That Tian Touch, is that such a decisive person?"

Surprised, Meng Zhong asked the Fangcheng cavalry who came to report the news: "What about the Yan army, what is the movement of the Yan army?" ”

The Fangcheng cavalryman shook his head and said, "The Yan army has not made the slightest movement, and there is no sign of withdrawing with the Qi army. ”

Upon hearing this, Meng Zhong shook his head slightly.

Obviously, Le Yi and the Yan army under his command were abandoned by the Qi army, or rather, they were regarded as outcasts when the Qi army evacuated.

After pondering for a moment, Meng Zhong said in a deep voice: "This may be a trick of the Qi and Yan coalition forces, so that Meng Hu and Hua Hu will keep an eye on the movements of the Qi army, and when tomorrow dawns, it will be found that the Qi army is really preparing to evacuate, and I will lead the army to pursue." ”

"Whoa!"

The Fang Cheng cavalry clenched his fists and left.

At the same time, in the camp of the Yan army, there were also soldiers of the Yan army who reported to Le Yi.

"Da Sima, the guards who are in charge of checking the movement outside the camp have announced that a large number of Fangcheng cavalry are heading north with torches, for some reason."

"What?"

Le Yi frowned when he heard this, and immediately ran out of the camp, squinting at the dark night sky on the north side.

Then, he turned his head to look in the direction of the Qi army camp, and then looked at the dark north, and then couldn't help but curse in a low voice: "Those damn Qi people actually left our army and retreated alone......

At this point, he immediately commanded: "Quick! Tell the soldiers to pack their bags at once, and our army will withdraw overnight in an hour...... Then he sent an order to Rong Yi and told him to lead an army to ambush outside the camp to guard against the night attack of the Qin and Wei coalition forces. ”

"Whoa!" The soldier clenched his fists and left.

Glancing at the direction of Tancheng, a trace of anxiety appeared in Le Yi's eyes.

Tian Touch, Tian Da and others actually left his Yan army to retreat alone, which he did not expect, and the trouble is that the Fangcheng cavalry of the Wei army has already learned about the evacuation of the Qi army overnight, and it is very likely that Tancheng has also learned at this moment, even Le Yi does not dare to guarantee that after a while, there will be a large number of Qin, Wei and Song Three Kingdoms Coalition troops to kill his camp.

But to Le Yi's surprise, he waited for an hour, and when the sergeants and soldiers of the army were ready to evacuate, they did not see the troops of the Qin, Wei and Song Kingdoms Alliance to attack them.

Le Yi knew that this was Meng Zhong, Prince Dai Wu and others showing mercy to his Yan army's subordinates.

On the way to evacuate at night, the Yan army under Le Yi kept encountering the Fangcheng cavalry, but to the surprise of many Yan soldiers, those Wei cavalry seemed to move north quickly with torches one by one as if they hadn't seen them.

Seeing this, Rong Yan sneered happily: "Hey! They all went to those damn Qi people...... actually left our army to evacuate alone, Tian Touch and Tian Da really did it! It's a pity that he never thought that the target of the Wei and Song armies was his Qi army! ”

On the side, although Zhao Hao felt a little strange that the Wei and Song armies did not pursue his Yan army, that is, as if he had fornicated with the enemy army, the treacherous practice of the Qi army leaving his Yan army to evacuate alone also made Zhao Hao feel extremely disgusted.

As Rong Yu guessed, when he learned that the Qi army was withdrawing north, the Wei generals Menghu and Huahu gathered the Fangcheng cavalry under their command and kept harassing the Qi army halfway, so that the Qi army obviously withdrew more than an hour earlier than the Yan army, but was overtaken by the Yan army, and even was left behind by the Yan army.

Gradually, a little light appeared on the horizon.

At this time, Le Yi felt something in his heart and turned his head to look in the direction of Tancheng.

Sure enough, he saw that on the distant horizon, countless figures of the Qin, Wei and Song Kingdoms alliance gradually appeared.

He subconsciously pinched the reins, and his heart was inevitably a little nervous.

After all, on that day, although he revealed to Meng Zhong his decision to support the evacuation of the Qi army, Meng Zhong did not give him an answer.

If Meng Zhong did not support his actions after thinking about it, it would mean that there would inevitably be a fierce battle between his Yan army and the Wei and Song armies opposite.

The thought of meeting his former brother on the battlefield, even if it was only for a short moment, still made Le Yi feel a great burden.