Around noon on May 25, Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo led the Qin and Wei coalition forces to the west of Taoyi City, and slowly lined up in formation in the western suburbs of Taoyi.

After removing the 10,000 troops left behind to be responsible for building the camp, the strength of the Qin and Wei armies is still very close, the Qin army is more than 50,000, and the Wei army is about 56,000, but considering that Hua Hu and Hua Hu have been given the right to move freely, the 4,000 cavalry under the command of Hua Hu and Hua Hu are still relatively strong.

But in terms of the quality of the soldiers, the Wei army, except for the Fangcheng army, is not as good as the Qin army.

Even from afar, Meng Zhong seemed to be able to feel the majestic desire of the Qin army to fight, and it was quite appropriate to describe the Qin army in one sentence: You don't need to tell me who the enemy is, just tell me where the enemy is.

On the other hand, the morale of the Wei army under Zhai Zhang, and even the Fangcheng army under Meng Zhong, at this moment, or more precisely, the enthusiasm for battle, was far less hot than that of the Qin army.

Seeing this, Le Jin said to Meng Zhong in private: "It is not without reason that the Qin State launched three campaigns in two years, and even though it sacrificed more than 100,000 people, it still had a steady stream of troops. ”

Meng Zhong nodded slightly, he knew that it was the military merit system proposed by Wei Ying that made the Qin State full of aggression from top to bottom, and made the Qin State an extremely aggressive country, and the Qin people's obsession with external expansion was unattainable by the Central Plains countries.

A moment later, Meng Zhong rode to the open space in the middle of the formation, only to see that there, Jin Kuang, the general under Sima Cuo, was standing on the chariot, waiting for Meng Zhong impatiently.

It turned out that Meng Zhong and Jin Kuang were the generals of the Chinese army appointed by Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo respectively, to put it simply, in addition to Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo, Meng Zhong and Jin Kuang had secondary command rights in this battle.

In order to better cooperate with the battle, Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo set up their respective positions in one place, while Meng Zhong and Jin Kuang also needed to command the Qin and Wei coalition forces here at a distance where they could communicate with each other, so as to avoid confusion in command.

"General Jin Kuang."

"Fang Cheng Order."

The two saluted each other.

Speaking of which, although Jin Kuang was able to Meng Hu, Hua Hu and others had a conflict when discussing military discussions a while ago, Jin Kuang still had a lot of respect for Meng Zhong, and the reason is not difficult to guess, it is nothing more than that Meng Zhong defeated Qin's foreign wars several times, which made Jin Kuang and other Qin generals feel jealous.

Seeing that the Qin and Wei armies were ready, Jin Kuang sent a general to the camp of the Qi-Zhao coalition army in front to fight.

At this time, Li Dui, the Fengyang Jun who lived in Taoyi City, also received the news of the attack of the Qin-Wei coalition army early, so he immediately came to the camp in the west of the city with his entourage, that is, the camp of the Zhao generals Zhao Xi and Lian Po.

On the sentry tower in the area of the west camp gate of this camp, Fengyang Jun Li Dui took Zhao Xi, Lian Po, Dong Shu and others to look at the Qin-Wei coalition army in the distance.

It is true that he does have 100,000 Zhao troops and 50,000 Qi troops under his command, but this does not mean that he is willing to fight with more than 100,000 Qin and Wei coalition troops.

This is not surprising, although he is indeed the minister of power in Zhao State, and the orders issued are now more effective than Zhao Wang He, but in any case, he is a courtier of Zhao State after all, and naturally does not want his Zhao State's strength to be damaged too much in this battle.

Therefore, if allowed, he was inclined to have a good talk with the commander of the Qin army and persuade the other party to withdraw his troops, but judging from the current situation, the commander of the Qin army opposite seemed to be determined to stand on the side of Wei.

"Report!"

After a while, the guards with Li Dui at the bottom hurriedly rushed over, clasped their fists and said: "Qi Li Xiang and all Simas, the general banner of the Qin and Wei coalition forces has been explored, the commander of the Qin army is Sima Cuo, the commander of the Hanzhong County of Qin State, and the commander of the Wei army is the Great Sima of Wei State and Zhai Zhang, the commander of Yecheng Ling. ”

Hearing this, Fengyang Jun Li Dui's face became deeper and deeper.

Zhai Zhang, that is his old opponent, when Zhao's father was still alive, Li Dui and An Pingjun Zhao Chengcheng garrisoned in Zhongmu, and from time to time there were some frictions with Zhai Zhang in Yecheng, and they knew each other.

And Sima Cuo, as the only surviving veteran of the Qin State and a veteran of the Three Dynasties, although Sima Cuo's prestige in the Central Plains is far inferior to Wei Zhang, Yingji and others, but he also does not lose the praise of famous generals.

Today, these two joined forces to crusade against themselves, even if it was Fengyang Jun Li Dui, he also felt quite tricky.

At this time, Lian Po said indignantly: "The two armies of Qin and Wei are so arrogant, when they first came here, they didn't set up a village first, and they dared to lead the crowd to come to fight ......" As he spoke, he turned to Li Du and said: "Li Xiang, I implore you as a vanguard to break these two armies for Li Xiang!" ”

Li Dui pressed his hand and signaled Lian Po to be a little calm.

He knew that Lian Po was brave and strategic, and if it were on weekdays, he would probably agree with Lian Po's suggestion, but this time, the stakes were too great.

After thinking about it, he asked Zhao Xi: "Zhao Xi, in your opinion, is it necessary for me to go out of the camp to fight?" ”

Zhao Xi thought for a moment when he heard this, shook his head and said: "There are many soldiers in the Qin and Wei alliances, and we don't know much about them, so in my opinion, it is better to wait and see for a few days......

From the side, Lian Po frowned and said: "Zhao Sima, the Qin and Wei coalition forces came to fight and our side refused to fight, I am afraid that the morale of the soldiers will be damaged......"

As he was talking, the officer of the Qin army who was fighting outside the camp retreated and was replaced by a general of the Wei army, who was Yu Ying, the deputy general of Lejin, and saw this person scolding outside the camp with a few dozens of Wei soldiers, which was probably nothing more than sneering at the cowardice and incompetence of the Qi and Zhao coalition forces and not daring to fight.

Seeing this, although Fengyang Jun Li Dui was angry in his heart, he still held back his anger and comforted the generals: "He has not brought any siege equipment, so he will definitely not dare to attack our army's camp on this, so we will wait and see what happens......

Except for Lian Po, who was a little dissatisfied with this, the rest of the Zhao generals all nodded.

At this time, seeing from a distance that Zhao Ying did not react under the humiliation and provocation of Wei General Yu Ying, Qin General Jin Kuang said to Meng Zhong with a slight smile: "Zhao people are more cowardly than I imagined...... He can't keep it, so what can he do? ”

Meng Zhong stared at Zhao Ying in the distance for a moment, and said calmly: "Try to dampen the morale of the Zhao army first......"

Jin Kuang nodded, turned around and commanded the guards beside him.

A moment later, 50,000 Qin troops began to demonstrate one after another, that is, the sergeants and soldiers struck their shields with their weapons to make a neat and loud loud noise.

"Bang Bang Bang-"

"Bang Bang Bang-"

I have to say that with that momentum, even Meng Zhong couldn't help but turn his head and look at the array of the Qin army with a little surprise.

Speaking of which, this kind of demonstration seems to be a unique deterrent method of the Qin army, I remember that Bai Qi had also used it in Fangcheng and Yangguan before, and the effect was excellent, bluffing the new soldiers of the Fangcheng army at that time with pale faces and helplessness.

The so-called preemptive grabbing is probably what it means.

"A very good way to demonstrate."

Meng Zhong nodded in praise, and immediately ordered him to follow the example of the Qin army, which made the loud voice more than twice as powerful.

Seeing this, Jin Kuang glanced at Meng Zhong a little strangely, but he didn't say anything.

In all fairness, does this kind of demonstration really work?

In fact, it is useful, and very effective.

It's the same as when two beasts meet in the forest, they don't bite immediately, but they roar at each other, and the louder and louder the roar of one of them, the other will inevitably be frightened - this is the instinct of the animal.

And man, in fact, is also an animal, they are accustomed to obeying the "momentum".

Just like at this moment, the soldiers of the Qin and Wei armies struck their shields with the weapons in their hands, and the momentum completely overshadowed Zhao Ying's side, and gradually, they were no longer confused or timid in their hearts, because they felt that their own momentum was so great, how could they ignore it?

That's right, it's a psychological cue.

On the other hand, the soldiers in the Zhao camp were like the new soldiers of the Fangcheng Army at this moment, and in the sound of the mighty soldiers of the Qin and Wei coalition forces, their faces were as white as earth and their heads were sweating.

Even though some Zhao soldiers were angry and scolded Wei general Yu Ying and others outside the camp, these scoldings were completely drowned out by the torrent of the Qin and Wei coalition forces that struck their shields.

"The momentum of our army...... It was completely suppressed.'"

Fengyangjun Li Dui noticed that something was wrong, frowned and looked at the Zhao pawns below, and saw that these soldiers were panicked and at a loss one by one.

"I see, the demonstration...... Is that what you're all for? Zhai Zhang, Sima Wrong? ”

He muttered to himself.

If Li Dui was not sure to defeat the Qin and Wei coalition forces on the opposite side before, then now, he would not dare to fight, after all, the momentum of the Qin and Wei coalition forces on the opposite side was too strong and intimidating.

After a full quarter of an hour, the sound of the Qin and Wei coalition forces tapping on the shield gradually stopped, at this time, Meng Zhong stared at Zhao Ying in the distance for a moment, and said to Jin Kuang: "It seems that the Zhao army should not dare to fight, you and my army continue to stay here, but in vain to consume the physical strength of the soldiers, and will give the Zhao army a chance, it is better to retreat first......"

"So you're gone?"

Jin Kuang was stunned and asked, "Then what's next?" ”

I saw Meng Zhong glancing at Zhao Ying in the distance, and said calmly: "The momentum of the Zhao army has been seized by you and my army, and he will not dare to confront us head-on in a short period of time...... In the meantime, you and I will plan the plan, set up an ambush, and wait for Zhao Jun to throw himself into the net. ”

Jin Kuang suddenly realized, nodded and said, "Good plan." But...... Will Zhao Jun really come to the night attack tonight? ”

Meng Zhong said calmly: "As long as Li Dui wants to regain his momentum, he will definitely choose to win by surprise, if he doesn't come tonight, he will definitely come tomorrow night...... Hmph, if he doesn't even have this bit of courage, next, I will send cavalry to cut off his grain route, as long as the grain route of the Qi and Zhao armies is cut off, even if there are hundreds of thousands of people, there is nothing to fear. ”

Jin Kuang didn't expect that Meng Zhong had already thought of a plan for the next few steps, and was slightly stunned.

After coming back to his senses, he immediately said, "Let me tell the national captain and the great Sima of your country." ”

After that, Jin Kuang sent his own guards to tell Sima Cuo and Zhai Zhang what Meng Zhong said.

After hearing all this, Sima Cuo said with emotion: "It seems that Zhao Jun has fallen into the strategy of Fang Cheng Ling......"

Zhai Zhang smiled slightly.

In fact, both of them knew that Meng Zhong's suggestion that they lead the army straight to Taoyi this time was not for the purpose of a decisive battle with the Zhao army, and this kind of reckless behavior was not in line with Meng Zhong's character at all.

To put it bluntly, Meng Zhong expected that Fengyang Jun Li Dui would not dare to go out of the camp to fight, so he deliberately brought his Qin-Wei coalition army to demonstrate, the purpose was to destroy the morale of the Zhao army.

No, thanks to Meng Zhong, the soldiers of his Qin and Wei armies had obviously stopped tapping their shields at this moment, but there was still silence in the Zhao camp opposite, and there was no sound of scolding, was this like a victorious army that had just defeated the Song army?

To put it bluntly, the morale of the Zhao army after the capture of Taoyi was cut off by the Qin-Wei coalition army.

Sima Cuo would not be ashamed of Fengyang Jun Li Dui's lack of strategy, and easily fell for Meng Zhong's plan, after all, he was in Li Dui's position, and suddenly learned that the Qin and Wei coalition forces came to crusade hand in hand, he would also wait and see the situation for a while.

And Meng Zhong just calculated Li Dui's reaction, which made Zhao Jun fall into a momentum disadvantage from the beginning.

As the saying goes, step by step, Sima Cuo, who has dealt with Meng Zhong, knows this kid's way of using troops very well: as long as you are suppressed by this Meng Zhong at the beginning, then next, Meng Zhong will try his best to lead you by the nose and let you fall into his rhythm step by step.

Whether it is Bai Qi or his Sima mistake, he has suffered from this point before.

Take today's Fengyang Jun Li Dui as an example, he should lead the army to battle, he has 150,000 Qi-Zhao coalition troops, and the Qin-Wei coalition army is only 130,000, and most of the Wei army is not elite, if you really want to fight, the Qin-Wei coalition army may not be able to take any advantage.

As long as Li Dui has enough courage to drag the Qin-Wei coalition army to fight, fight until night, and then continue to send troops to sneak attack, within two days, the Qin-Wei coalition army, which has not yet set up a camp, will be dragged back by the Qi-Zhao coalition army and have to retreat and regroup.

But it's a pity that Fengyang Jun Li Dui chose not to defend and wait and see, and was in vain occupied by the Qin and Wei coalition forces.

Thinking of this, Sima Cuo and Zhai Zhang couldn't help but feel a little emotional, feeling that in this battle, there may be no need for the two of them to come forward, just Meng Zhong and Jin Kuang are enough to deal with the Qi and Zhao coalition forces.

Of course, this did not come as a surprise to them.

At least as far as Zhai Zhang is concerned, he didn't intend to personally command the battle when he came this time.

He is here, just because he is the great Sima of the Wei State, and he can help deter the Qi-Zhao coalition army, and by the way, prevent Sima Coo from playing any tricks with the Qin army under his command.

Yes, compared with Meng Zhong's talent in leading troops to fight, he was actually more worried that Meng Zhong would be overshadowed by "his own people".

Think about Tian Zhang, the famous general of Qi State, where was the only defeat in his life? Was it defeated at the hands of Yingji? To put it bluntly, isn't it defeated in the hands of the Song army, which secretly communicated with the Qin army!

Therefore, staring at Sima Cuo to prevent the Qin army from playing any tricks, this is what Zhai Zhang needs to personally ensure, as for the battle with the Qi and Zhao coalition forces, Zhai Zhang believes that with Meng Zhong's talents, it will be able to solve it well.

At this time, after seeing the retreat of the Qin and Wei coalition forces, Li Dui, the commander of Fengyang, also immediately took Zhao Xi, Lian Po, Dong Shu and other generals to the military tent to discuss countermeasures.

At this time, Lian Po couldn't help but express the dissatisfaction in his heart: "Li Xiang, you shouldn't be able to defend it, if you say that there is still a five-point chance of winning in the battle between my Qi and Zhao armies and the Qin and Wei coalition forces before, then right now, I'm afraid there are only three points......"

Hearing this, Fengyangjun Li Dui was silent.

In fact, he is also Zhao Chen, who once led troops to fight, of course he understands the importance of morale, but how can he not know that his Zhao army has been robbed of momentum by the Qin and Wei coalition forces?

On the side, Uncle Dong said roundly: "Actually, Li Xiang's concerns are not wrong, the army of Wei has always been strong, the army of Qin is even better, and Zhai Zhang and Sima Cuo are both famous generals in the world, if you offend and fight with them, in case ......"

He didn't say any more, but he believed that everyone present understood what he was trying to say.

At this time, Zhao Xi opened his mouth to explain: "The reason why I persuaded Li Xiang to stay is mainly to consider those ...... Fangcheng cavalry. ”

He glanced around at the generals and said in a deep voice: "The role of cavalry, I believe there is no need to explain too much, the reason why our army was able to successfully take Taoyi this time is that Zhang Ji and others frequently attacked and intercepted Jingyi's grain transportation team, which is really indispensable." But in terms of the strength of the foot soldiers, do you think that compared with the Qin army and the Wei army, which is stronger and which is weaker? ”

Hearing this, Lian Po was also silent.

I have to say that what Zhao Xi said is indeed the truth, and now the advantage of Zhao's army mainly lies in cavalry, but when it comes to the infantry army, in fact, the gap between the armies of Wei and Zhao is not large.

Of course, the Wei army here refers to the ordinary army of Wei, not Wei Wushu, after all, Wei Wushu can even be pressed and beaten by the Qin army, and the Zhao army is not an opponent.

And the Qin army is not to mention, in recent decades, the Wei state, which has the strongest army, Wei Wushu, has defeated the Qin army several times? How many times have they been defeated by the Qin army?

Even Wei Wushu could not recover the painful reality of Wei's repeated defeats, which shows the strength of Qin's army.

And now that the armies of Qin and Wei have joined forces, how many of the generals of the Zhao State who are enemies of them can feel jealous of this?

"Alright."

Pressing his hand, Fengyang Jun Li Dui Zhengse said: "The matter has come to this point, and it will not help to say any more, the top priority at the moment is to find a way to defeat this Qin-Wei coalition army...... What can you do about it? ”

Hearing this, Lian Po took the lead in speaking: "I thought that when the Qin-Wei coalition army first arrived here, the foothold was unstable, and the first to launch an offensive, but ......"

He snorted, and stopped talking.

Everyone here understands what Lian Po means, it is nothing more than that his Zhao army has eaten a dismount of the Qin-Wei coalition army, and now his morale is fluctuating, and he is a little afraid of the Qin-Wei coalition army, which is not conducive to taking the initiative, and he needs to find a way to eliminate the fear of the soldiers of the Qin-Wei coalition army.

And the best way is to find a way to inflict some losses on the Qin-Wei coalition army.

Seeing this, Uncle Dong suggested: "Can you send cavalry to harass the Qin-Wei coalition army?" …… I, Zhao State, have been immersed in the training of cavalry for decades, and the Fangcheng cavalry may not be the opponent of my Zhao State cavalry, right? ”

However, when they heard this, it seemed that Fengyangjun Li Dui, Zhao Xi and others were silent.

Yes, he is very powerful in the cavalry of Zhao State, and it is not a problem to change it to the cavalry of other forces.

For example, the alien races of Lin Hu and Xiongnu were once upon a time a serious problem in the north of Zhao State, but since Zhao Master's father implemented the Hufu cavalry reform, the confrontation between the cavalry of Zhao and the Xiongnu was the upper hand of Zhao State, after all, Zhao State's army cavalry was more executive than the Xiongnu's tribal cavalry.

But this time, the cavalry on the opposite side was the cavalry under Meng Zhong.

Meng Zhong, it is not a problem to say that this person was once a general of Zhao State, and even, Zhao Master's father also personally taught him riding skills, martial arts, and strategy, so to speak, he Zhao State in the training of cavalry, that Meng Zhong has learned everything, and now, this person imitated him Zhao State cavalry trained a cavalry, who dares to say that his Zhao State cavalry will definitely be able to win?

But......

“…… Let's give it a try. ”

Fengyang Jun Li Dui stroked his beard and said in a deep voice: "Ask Zhang Ji, Chang Yong and others to lead the cavalry to harass the Qin and Wei coalition forces." ”

It's not that he trusts the cavalry of his Zhao State, the key is that he knows the strategic significance of the cavalry very well, if his own cavalry is defeated by the opponent's cavalry, then his Qi and Zhao coalition forces will probably be constrained everywhere in the future.

A moment later, Zhao generals Zhang Ji and Chang Yong received an order from Fengyang Jun Li Dui, and each led a thousand cavalry from the camp to follow the Qin and Wei coalition forces.

During this period, some soldiers of the Qin army heard the sound of horses' hooves behind them, and immediately reported the matter to Jin Kuang.

I have to say that the Qin army really has some psychological shadows for the cavalry.

Let's not talk about the old troops under Bai Qi, after all, those Qin soldiers and soldiers are basically dead, and the Qin soldiers under the command of Sima Cuo, when they were trapped in Wancheng, they were afraid of the cavalry of the other city.

After all, at that time, the Fangcheng cavalry sometimes attacked their grain routes, killing the lone Qin soldiers like hunting wild beasts, so that these Qin soldiers and soldiers could not help but tremble when they heard the sound of horses' hooves behind them at this moment.

"It seems that the Zhao battalion sent cavalry to pursue our army."

Jin Kuang turned his head and said to Meng Zhong, who was not far away.

Meng Zhong glanced back twice, and said calmly: "Don't worry, just tell the soldiers to retreat slowly, and the cavalry of our army will intercept them." ”

As Meng Zhong said, at this time, the cavalry led by Meng Hu and Hua Hu wandered around the side of the Qin and Wei coalition forces to ensure that the army would not be attacked by the Zhao army when it was evacuated.

And now, they saw that about 2,000 or so Zhao cavalry had rushed to pursue, and they immediately led the crowd to intercept and block the way of the Zhao cavalry.

Looking at the general flag with the word "Zhang" in the cavalry of Zhao State in the distance, Meng Hu and Hua Hu both knew that it was Zhang Ji on the other side, but this did not mean that they would show mercy.

At the same time, Zhang Ji looked at the Fangcheng cavalry that was quickly blocking in front in the distance, and secretly smiled bitterly in his heart.

Even though Meng Hu, Hua Hu and others used to be close to him, it would be difficult to disobey him.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Ji ordered in a deep voice: "Pass the order, increase vigilance, the Fangcheng cavalry on the opposite side is trained to imitate our cavalry, and the other party can be regarded as the strongest opponent of our cavalry so far!" …… Let's do a bit of testing and see how the other person is riding. ”

After the order is issued,

Zhang Ji and Chang Yong deliberately provoked the Fangcheng cavalry and lured the Fangcheng cavalry to chase them.

Realizing the challenge of the cavalry of Zhao State, Meng Hu and Hua Hu did not say a word, and chased straight after them.

Although they were chased by the four thousand Fangcheng cavalry, Zhang Ji and Chang Yong did not panic, and after leading the cavalry around in a circle, they hung the Fangcheng cavalry without hurrying.

In the pursuit battle, they deliberately picked the complex terrain such as the woods, deliberately made bends, and even made emergency turns from time to time.

If it is a cavalry with poor riding skills, it is possible that they may accidentally fall off their horses while pursuing these Zhao cavalry.

However, the Fangcheng cavalry that pursued these cavalry of Zhao State, but not a single cavalry was left behind from beginning to end, and they chased after the cavalry of Zhao State steadily, but it was the cavalry of Zhao State itself, and there were a few unlucky people who accidentally fell off their horses.

Seeing this, Zhang Ji was stunned.

You must know that the ones he led were the old troops under the late Zhao General Niu Qian, all of whom were veterans with rich combat experience, so there was no need to say much about horsemanship.

But those Fangcheng cavalry behind him, the riding skills are still above them?

How is this possible?!

I have to say that it was just a preliminary temptation, and Zhang Ji was shocked by the superb riding skills of the Fangcheng cavalry.