"Smack."

The bonfire in front of him burst with a few traces of sparks, breaking the dead silence between Sima Cuo and Bai Qi.

At this time, the light of the bonfire shone on Bai Qi's face, and the latter's face was full of surprise.

What did he just hear?

"Captain, what did you just say?" Bai Qi asked incredulously.

I saw Sima Cuo frown slightly and said, "What the old man just said, didn't Bai Zuo hear it clearly?" Well, in that case, the old man will say it again...... Since the country has appointed the old man as the coach, the old man hopes that the white left will do more to assist the old man......"

"Enough!"

Bai Qi angrily interrupted Sima Cuo's words, and said in a deep voice: "Does the national captain think that this defeat was caused by Bai?" ”

Seeing that Bai Qi was a little too excited, Sima wrongly pressed his hand to signal Bai Qi not to be too excited, and then he said with a straight face: "The old man didn't say that, and he didn't think so...... As the old man said to Na Zhaoju, today's defeat is only due to the old man's short-witted and resourceful nature, which is why he was successfully attacked by Na Meng Zhong. The responsibility lies with the old man, and it has nothing to do with anyone else......"

Hearing this, his face turned pale.

He also thought that Sima Cuo was planning to blame him for today's defeat, which really made him very angry.

But if you think about it carefully, how could Sima be wrong, how could he do such a shameful thing?

I saw Sima Coo staring at Bai Qi for a while, and suddenly said melancholy: "About Fang Cheng, about that Meng Zhong, the old man has to apologize to Bai Zuogen, your judgment is correct, if the old man knew that Meng Zhong was so cunning and tricky, at the beginning of April this year, he should not have stopped Bai Zuo from ......."

Seeing that Sima Cuo frankly admitted his mistake, Bai Qi couldn't help but be a little surprised, and a little smile appeared on his face again, quite a kind of joy with his eyebrows raised.

After all, the stubborn veteran in front of him finally gave in to him.

Raising his hand and touching the short beard on his chin, Bai Qi chuckled and said: "The old general can realize this, Bai is also very happy, but the old general also rest assured, although this time by Na Meng Zhong won a small victory, our army still has an absolute advantage, at least in the next is still confident that it can be defeated, as long as the old general is willing to listen to the advice of the next ......"

Although he said it very tactfully, it is not difficult to see from the gesture of "asking" to Sima Cuo from the gesture of raising his right hand that he wants to take the lead.

Seeing this, Sima Coo shook his head and said, "Regarding this matter, the old man can't do it. ”

"What?" Slightly stunned, Bai Qi looked at Sima Cuo in disbelief, and then the smile on his face immediately put away, only to see him frown, and said unhappily: "Are you kidding me?" ”

"Not really." Sima Coo shook his head and explained: "Now the king trusts the old man and appoints the old man as the commander, and the old man thinks that he wants to repay the king, how can he pretend to borrow people's hands? …… The old man knows Bai Zuogen's ability, and he also thinks that Bai Zuogen will definitely become the pillar of my Great Qin in the future, but now...... For example, in early April, regardless of the domestic arrangements and the old man's orders, he started a war against Fangcheng of Wei without authorization...... Bai Zuo even knew that such a betrayal of the covenant would ruin my Great Qin's reputation? ”

"Hush."

Bai Qi pursed his lips, disapproving of Sima's lesson.

After all, in his opinion, whether it is an alliance or a reputation, it is not a reliable thing, the only trustworthy thing is force, as long as there is strong strength, why is he afraid of the rumors of the Central Plains?

He only cares about interests!

Not to mention, his idea coincides with the monarchs of the Qin State in recent generations, such as Qin Hui Wang Yingsi, this is a monarch who pays attention to national interests more than personal honor and disgrace, and it is precisely because of this that the Qin State has been in the civil war of the Central Plains countries in recent decades, and it is the grass on the wall to say that it is good to say, as long as which party can bring benefits to him Qin State, he Qin State will support which party, and during this period, Qin State has also done a lot of things that do not care about the skin.

One of the most typical examples is that the Qin State sent Zhang Yi to promise 600 miles of land to deceive the King of Chu Huai into breaking with the Qi State.

Maybe future generations will think, why is this King Chu Huai so stupid and so easy to believe the lies of the Qin State?

But thinking about it from another angle, it is not difficult to understand why King Chu Huai was gullible about the Qin State - that is, the Central Plains countries all paid attention to commitments and established diplomatic relations with integrity, unlike the Qin State that was shameless and skinless.

But it is undeniable that perhaps Qin's shameless behavior also helped Qin gradually accumulate advantages in the wrestling with the Central Plains countries.

The disadvantage is that the credibility of the Qin people has become very poor in the Central Plains, so that now the Qin State wants to adopt a horizontal strategy, and gradually few countries will trust the Qin State.

And this is a very bad thing in Sima Cuo's view.

Different from Zhang Yi, who sought profit, Sima Cuo still adhered to the traditional idea of "no one can stand without trust", advocating friendship with the state with integrity, but the Qin State was too influenced by Zhang Yi, and virtues such as honesty were gradually abandoned in the Qin State, and the younger generation of Qin people valued interests over reputation.

In Sima Cuo's view, this is very bad.

He also read Mencius's writings and learned the truth that "those who have attained the Tao have much help, and those who have lost the Tao have little help", and he deeply thought of it.

It is undeniable that the current Qin State is indeed very powerful, but no matter how strong it is, it cannot stop the Central Plains countries from resisting the Qin State, and the Qin people are untrustworthy, which gives the Central Plains a good excuse to crusade against the Qin State.

It is also a pity that the Central Plains countries have not yet emerged again like Gongsun Yan and Hui Shi, who insist on and have the ability to organize a joint resistance against Qin, otherwise, if the Central Plains countries unite against his Qin State, the situation of his Qin State will be very difficult.

However, the young general in front of him didn't seem to understand this truth, or rather, although he understood, he didn't think about it because he saw that the Qin State was strong, which also made Sima Cuo dare not let go and hand over the burden on his shoulders to this Bai Qi.

Yes, the future of the Qin State is bound to be handed over to an outstanding junior general like Bai Qi, but Sima mistakenly thinks that it is not the time for the time being.

He felt that Bai Qi was still too frizzy for one reason, and he didn't want Marquis Wei Ran to monopolize power, which was another reason - unlike Marquis Wei Ran, Sima Cuo, who was deeply favored by King Qin Hui, was only loyal to the contemporary monarch of Qin, and did not include Empress Dowager Xuan, Marquis Wei Ran, Jingyang Jun Yingfu, Gaoling Jun Yingkui, as well as Mi Rong and Xiang Shou, the domestic Empress Dowager's foreign relatives.

Combined with the above reasons, Sima Cuo would never hand over the power of the military to Bai Qi, but the current problem is that he only has 60,000 Qin troops under his command, and he may not be able to win against Fang Cheng, and Fang Cheng's strategy to make Meng Zhong also make Sima Cuo aware of the danger, so he feels that instead of pinning his hopes on Zhao Ju, the general of Chu who he feels unreliable from the bottom of his heart, it is better to try to reach a tacit understanding with Bai Qi, at least Bai Qi is a Qin general like him Sima Cuo, and compared to Zhao Ju, he pays more attention to the interests of Qin State, even if the domestic power camps in which they are located are not the same.

But to reach a tacit understanding with Bai Qi, it means that he must also make some concessions, some concessions that can satisfy Bai Qi.

So after pondering for a while, Sima Cuo Zhengse said to Bai Qi: "The power in the army, the old man can't teach Bai Zuogen for the time being, but if it involves Fangcheng and the war that involves Meng Zhong, the old man can let Bai Zuogen formulate a strategy......"

He knew that Bai Qi was very concerned about Meng Zhong in Fangcheng of Wei State.

Sure enough, at first, seeing that although Sima Cuo admitted his mistake but did not have the slightest intention of delegating power, Bai Qi was about to get up and leave, but when he heard Sima Cuo's words, he immediately dispelled his intentions, and looked at Sima Cuo with some surprise: "What does the national captain mean is that the future war with that Meng Zhong will be left to the subordinates?" ”

"Yes." Sima Cuo nodded and said, "As long as Bai Zuo can explain the truth more clearly, the old man will never interfere." But the premise is that in this war between Wei and Han, Bai Zuo must wholeheartedly assist the old man. …… Like such an agreement, Bai Zuo is more willing to accept it? ”

"Well...... Let's think about it. ”

After saying this, Bai Qi frowned and thought about it.

In all fairness, with Bai Qi's pride, he did not allow someone to give orders to him when he went on the expedition, even if this person was Sima Cuo, a famous general of his Qin State, so if he was someone else, Bai Qi would never accept the conditions given by Sima Cuo, unless Sima Cuo was willing to give him the leading power in the army, otherwise although he would not deliberately cause trouble for Sima Cuo, he would definitely not help.

However, Sima Cuo gave him a condition that was difficult to refuse, that is, all the battles with Na Meng Zhong would be made by him in vain, which meant that although he was still the deputy general of the Qin army, in the battle with Fang Cheng and Meng Zhong, he and Na Meng Zhong were almost equal, and Sima Co would no longer be an obstacle to him.

Accept? Or refusal?

I have to say that even if it is white, I am hesitant at this moment.

Of course, he wanted to get the power in the army, but it seemed that the conditions given by Sima Cuo were not unacceptable to him......

Instead of tearing his face with Sima Cuo, or should he accept the conditions given by the former?

The old and cunning Sima Cuo seemed to see Bai Qi's hesitation and hesitation, and continued to induce him: "If Bai Zuo still insists on forcibly demanding power and ignoring the old man's concessions, then the old man can only send someone to inform Xianyang for the sake of the overall situation, and implore the king to come forward and transfer Bai Zuo to another place, so that Bai Zuo will miss the opportunity to compete with that Meng Zhong again; On the contrary, if Bai Zuo is more willing to accept the old man's proposal, it will be the best of both worlds, our Qin army can be united, and Bai Zuo can also compete with Na Mengzhong again...... The old man could see that Bai Zuo admired that Meng Zhong even more, but he was unwilling to be defeated by him when he was in Yique, as long as Bai Zuo was more willing to accept the old man's proposal, he would be able to lead my 130,000 Qin army to preside over the attack on Fangcheng in the coming day...... The old man remembered that a few days ago, Meng Zhong wrote a letter to ridicule Bai Zuogen, could Bai Zuogen swallow this breath? ”

“……”

Bai Qi turned his head and glanced at Sima Cuo.

He didn't know that Sima was stimulating him by saying this, but he was rarely not disgusted.

Especially when Sima mistakenly mentioned Meng Zhong's letter, Bai Qi subconsciously clenched his fists.

I have to say that the letter that Meng Zhong sent to Bai Qi that day, although Bai Qi also understood that Meng Zhong was trying to separate him from Sima Wrong, it also seriously hurt Bai Qi's self-esteem.

As Sima Cuo said, there are only two ways in front of Bai Qi at the moment: either accept Sima Cuo's proposal and cooperate with the former to defeat Wei and Han at the price of his personal will; Either he completely tore his face with Sima Cuo, and was sued by Sima Cuo in front of King Qin, and was finally transferred out of this battlefield and temporarily disappeared in front of Meng Zhong.

"You said that the next time you came, you would break through Fang City, is that what you mean this time?"

Suddenly, Bai Qi's ears seemed to echo the humiliation and ridicule in Meng Zhong's letter that day.

He was not afraid to tear his face with Sima Coo, but he had to respond to this humiliation of Meng Zhong, how could he just be transferred elsewhere and disappear temporarily in front of that Meng Zhong?

"Good!"

He raised his head suddenly, looked at Sima Cuo, and said in a deep voice: "Bai accepts the proposal of the national captain!" ”

Sima Cuo may not have reacted for a while, and looked at Bai Qi in a daze, and then asked, "Really?" Bai Zuo must know that once you accept this matter, you will no longer be able to disobey the old man's orders in the future...... The old man refers to the war that does not involve Meng Zhong. ”

"Naturally!" Bai Qi said firmly.

"This white ...... Seems to really care about that Meng Zhong......

Brushing his beard, Sima Cuo looked Bai Qi up and down with strange eyes.

In fact, he can understand Bai Qi, because he and Bai Qi are the same kind of people, and when he was young, he didn't like to have a Wei Zhang above his head to give orders to him.

The difference between him and Bai Qi is only that Sima Co could only endure it at the beginning, while Bai Qi was more arrogant and domineering because he had the support of Marquis Wei Ran behind him.

But for the sake of a Meng Zhong, this Bai Qi was willing to temporarily let go of his intention to seize power in the army, which made Sima Cuo a little surprised.

At the same time, I was also a little curious about the relationship between Bai Qi and Na Mengzhong......

As for Meng Zhong's understanding, Sima Cuo only knew that Meng Zhong had defeated Bai Qi when he was in Yique, or some people said that if it wasn't for Meng Zhong in the Wei army at that time, Bai Qi might have replaced him Sima Cuo's position in the Qin State.

If this is true, it stands to reason that Bai Qi should hate Na Meng Zhong deeply, and he would like to dismantle it in eight pieces, but Sima mistakenly looked at Bai Qi's attitude at the moment, how could he not see it......

Thinking of this, Sima Cuo couldn't help but ask: "Bai Zuogen, the old man asked casually, if he can capture that Meng Zhong this time, how will Bai Zuo deal with that Meng Zhong?" ”

"Huh?" Bai Qi frowned, puzzled and asked, "Why did the national captain ask such a question?" ”

"Haha......" Sima Cuo laughed dryly, stroked his beard and said: "The old man asks casually, it doesn't matter if Bai Zuo answers or not." ”

“……”

Bai Qi frowned and glanced at Sima Cuo.

He also felt very strange, after all, his deputy general Ji Hong had also asked him the same question, and Ji Hong's expression at that time was also very strange, exactly like Sima Cuo at the moment.

Considering that the contradiction with Sima Co had been temporarily eliminated, Bai Qi hesitated for a moment and replied: "Although I don't think I can catch him this time, but if I can catch him by luck, I will find a way to make him surrender to my Great Qin...... That Meng Zhong is a talent who is not weaker than me, if he is willing to surrender to my Great Qin and become my general, even if I face the alliance of the Central Plains countries, I will have nothing to fear. ”

"Why does that sound awkward?"

Sima looked at Bai Qi in a daze, and asked with a dry smile: "...... What if he refuses to surrender? ”

"Huh!" Bai Qi sneered and said, "There are means below!" If Na Meng Zhong refuses to surrender, I will arrest his teachers and family members, and I don't think he will surrender or not! ”

『……』

Sima Coo stared at Bai Qi for a while, and suddenly asked, "Why didn't Bai Zuo use any means to force Xiwu to surrender to my Great Qin?" ”

"Xiwu? Gongsun Xi? Bai Qi was stunned, and then snorted disapprovingly: "That kind of stupid person who is not worthy of the name, what do I want him to do?" …… It's not worth my notoriety! ”

After that, he turned his head to Sima Cuo and said, "Lieutenant, what are you asking me for?" This is not the time to talk about this, is it? ”

"Yes, yes, yes......"

Sima Cuo pretended to be awake and nodded again and again, and then said with a smile: "Hmm, just like the old man's promise, this war against Fangcheng will be handed over to Bai Zuogen, no matter what kind of decision Bai Zuogen makes, the old man will never interfere, as long as Bai Zuogen informs the old man, the old man will naturally cooperate......"

Hearing this, Bai Qi also had a little good impression of Sima Cuo again.

I saw him think for a while and said: "Although the baggage of the army under the command of the national captain and the Chu army was destroyed by the cavalry of Fangcheng, but the army under my command stationed in Wancheng still has a batch of baggage and grain and grass, which can solve the urgent need, the key is that it is now approaching winter, and the time is pressing, if we can't capture Fangcheng before the end of this month, my Qin army wants to attack the lower city, and the chance of victory may be very small......"

As he spoke, he took out a white cloth from his bosom and spread it out in the palm of his left hand.

Sima Cuo took a closer look, only to find that it was clearly a map of the area around Fangcheng, and it was more detailed than the map he had drawn, and even the locations of Yeyi and Wuyang were marked on it.

"You have a map, why didn't you bring it out earlier?" Do you have to personally explore the area around Fangcheng and redraw a map of the area?"

Glancing at Bai Qi, although Sima Cuo was a little unhappy in his heart, seeing that he and Bai Qi had reached a tacit understanding, he still didn't say anything in the end.

At this time, Bai Qi said to Sima Cuo: "This is a map drawn by me sending my corporal to defect to Fangcheng around April, pretending to be Chu people, and taking the opportunity to explore the terrain around Fangcheng, as far as I know, Fangcheng is like a new city in South Korea, the city is full of Wei troops, there are few Yi people, and the local Yi people were all moved to Yeyi by Meng Zhong, Yeyi absorbed more than 100,000 Chu people, but few troops were stationed, I can send people to attack Yeyi and harass its rear ......"

"But isn't there a Wei army blocking here?"

Sima mistakenly pointed to the location of Yangguan on the map, that is, the pass guarded by Le Jin, the lower part of Meng Zhong's command.

"You can go around it."

As he spoke, Bai Qi drew on the map with his right hand, and at the same time explained: "This is Shangcai, Shangcai is Yuncheng to the north, and Yuncheng can reach Yeyi to the west, and there is no danger between the two places, and there is no danger to defend......"

Sima Cuo frowned when he heard this, and said: "But now it's October, if you send an army to attack Yeyi from Shangcai, it will already be ......around November or December when the soldiers arrive in Yeyi."

"I can send cavalry!" Bai Qi chuckled and said: "The national captain must also know that there is also a cavalry in his hands, and the number is twice that of Meng Zhong, the general who commands this cavalry, Hu Yu, is from Yiqu, as long as they are given enough dry food and winter clothes, Hu Yu will harass the rear of Fangcheng on our behalf......"

"That Meng Zhong also has cavalry under him, and he will transfer the cavalry to Yeyi."

"I know. …… Another purpose of my move was to transfer the cavalry under Meng Zhong's command. Maybe the national lieutenant doesn't know that the cavalry under Meng Zhong's command are all veterans who have experienced the battle of Yique, and it can be seen from the sneak attack of these cavalry on our main camp tonight that leaving this cavalry here, this is always a threat, it is better to take the opportunity to lure it away, so that there will be no obstacle from the Fangcheng cavalry on our side, and Meng Zhong can only use infantry to compete with my 230,000 Qin-Chu coalition army, which adds a few more chances of victory. ”

"Hmm......"

"In addition, it was decided to divide the troops to occupy these two hills."

Bai Qi pointed to Yingshan on the north side of Fangcheng, as well as Yinshan Mountain that surrounded Wuyangyi, and Zhengse said to Sima Cuo: "Although dividing troops is a taboo for soldiers, there is no absolute in everything, as long as our army occupies these two hills and puts on a posture of wanting to climb through the mountains and sneak attack Yeyi and Wuyang, Fangcheng will definitely panic...... Therefore, he will inevitably divide his troops to guard these two hills, so that his garrison guarding Fangcheng will become smaller and smaller, and our army will only need to attack it with one blow, or it will be able to capture Fangcheng. ”

"Hmm......"

Sima stroked his beard in thought.

Although Bai Qi said it in a very general way, Sima Cuo still felt that this was indeed a feasible strategy.

The only flaw is ......

"What if Meng Zhong didn't divide his troops, but took the opportunity to gather heavy troops to attack the main camp of our army again?" Sima Cuo asked contemplatively.

Unexpectedly, when he heard this, Bai Qi laughed.

"Hahahaha, you think I'm ......" Halfway through, Bai Qi glanced at Sima Cuo, who was a little embarrassed, and after a little thought, he changed his words: "Don't worry, if that Meng Zhong dares to lead the army to attack, I will call him to come and go!" ”

Seeing that Bai Qi seemed to have made up his mind, Sima Cuo could only nod: "That's good." ”

The next day, Meng Zhong really kept his promise and sent people to distribute some wine and food to the Wei army in Fangcheng City as a reward.

Although each Wei pawn could get not much wine and food, only a few more pieces of meat, and the wine was only enough for each person to get a small bowl at most, but even so, the city was still filled with the joy of a small victory over the Qin army.

And this joy diluted the fear of the Qin army for those Chu people who had just joined the army for a few months.

But at the top of Fangcheng, the generals were still deeply worried about this battle, such as Mengsui.

In Meng Sui's view, although they successfully burned a lot of grain, grass and baggage of the Qin-Chu coalition army last night, this victory could not completely relieve the crisis faced by the other city, after all, the real key lies in the more than 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops.

At that time, Meng Sui said to Meng Zhong: "Chu Ying is just north of the Han River, although we are lucky enough to burn the baggage and grain and grass of the Qin and Chu coalition army, but I think the Chu State can still raise a batch in a short time, and at that time, Sima Cuo will be more cautious, and will not give me a chance to succeed in a sneak attack......

Hearing this, Meng Zhong comforted: "It's okay, at least we delayed for some more time." …… You and I both know that in terms of head-to-head confrontation, our city cannot fight against the more than 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops, since this is the case, let's target him...... In. ”

As soon as the words fell, a soldier walked into the house, holding a bamboo book in his hand and said: "City order, city Cheng, dare to disturb you two." A few Qin guards sent a letter and handed it over to the city commander. ”

Meng Zhong was stunned, and couldn't help but joke: "It can't be that Sima wrote a letter by mistake to scold me, right?" ”

Meng Sui was happy when he heard this, shook his head and said, "I don't think so, he is also a famous general of the Qin State......

As he was talking, he suddenly saw Meng Zhong's face change when he was reading the letter, and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong?" ”

He walked quickly to Meng Zhong's side, stretched out his head to look, but saw that there were only a few words written on the letter in Meng Zhong's hand: What was said in the past will be practiced now!

"This ......" Meng Sui turned his head to look at Meng Zhong: "Bai Qi? ”

"Hmm. Although I don't know what's going on, it seems that he has reached some tacit agreement with Sima Cuo, in short......"

Slowly putting away the letter, Meng Zhong exhaled with a little sorrow.

"We're in trouble......"