On the tenth day of the fifth month, the day after the Qin army captured the city of Nianhu, Bai Qi immediately sent the generals Wei Yuan, Meng Yi, and Zhong Xu to lead about 30,000 Qin troops to attack the city of "Yangren", which was about 20 miles southwest of the city.

When the Korean soldiers and civilians in Yangren City learned that the city was broken by the Qin army, they had little fighting spirit, and a large number of soldiers and civilians in the city fled, so that the three Qin generals and guards captured the city in only three hours.

During this period, Meng Hu and Hua Hu also led their cavalry to make trouble for the Qin army, deliberately seduced the Qin army to pursue them several times, and killed the pursuing Qin troops after a certain distance, and after repeating this several times, no Qin soldier dared to pursue these Wei cavalry, even if it was a soldier in charge of patrolling, he immediately turned around and fled after seeing these Wei cavalry - as long as they were not too far away from the army, these people were often able to escape from the cavalry led by Meng Hu and Hua Hu.

What made the Qin army feel quite depressed was that in the daylight of May 11, the third Wei cavalry appeared around them, and these three cavalry, all numbering about 300 people, wandered around the two cities of Yihu and Yangren from time to time, specializing in hunting and killing small groups of Qin army troops that went out, for example, the scout team sent by Bai Qi to Yishui in the west to inquire about the news was obviously a team of 500 people, but they couldn't even touch the edge of Yishui, and they were killed by the three Wei cavalry halfway.

A few Qin soldiers who were lucky enough to escape back to the two cities of Yihu and Yangren reported the combat methods of the three Wei cavalry to Bai Qi, which made Bai Qi feel quite jealous of these three Wei cavalry.

At this time, Bai Qi realized that Ji Hong and the others were wrong, they underestimated the cavalry, the cavalry was far from being as weak as they imagined, on the contrary, the cavalry was very strong, especially on this vast flat land, it was simply an invincible existence for the chariot and foot soldiers.

After nightfall on May 11, Bai Qi gathered Ji Hong, Wei Yuan, Meng Yi, Zhong Xu, Tong Yang and other generals in the army.

At that time, the first sentence he said made the hearts of the generals heavy: "According to my estimates, the main force of the Wei army is still two days away from us at most......"

Some people may think it is strange, it seems that such a thoughtful commander as Bai Qi, doesn't he know that he left scouts and meticulous work to monitor the Wei army in the Yingshui area, and he has to increase the difficulty to guess when the main force of the Wei army will arrive?

This is not the case, of course Bai Qi sent a team of scouts out, the problem is that these scouts were all killed by the three Wei cavalry wandering around them - as long as they are ten miles away from the main force of his Qin army, even if the scout team of thousands of people is attacked by those Wei cavalry, in the end, there are not many people left to flee back to the army, how can this monitor the movements of the Wei army?

It is worth mentioning that after realizing the power of the cavalry, Bai Qi also tried to form some cavalry in the army, but unfortunately, there was no soldier in his army who knew how to ride, even if he barely turned over on horseback, he could not gallop like those Wei cavalry.

This made Bai Qi wonder very much: Is there a general in the Wei army who knows how to ride?

That's it!

Since the road to emulate the Wei army to form cavalry was blocked, Bai Qi simply used conventional tactics to solve the current crisis.

First of all, there is a serious shortage of food in the army, although the Qin army can loot a lot of food from the two cities of Yanhu and Yangren, but this will take time, and the most important thing for the Qin army at present is time.

Secondly, that is, the most fundamental of the last crisis, that is, the main force of the Wei army chasing them, in Bai Qi's opinion, if he was not mistaken, the guy surnamed Meng is leading the main force of the Wei army to approach step by step at this moment, and it may only be a short two days away from them.

Don't look at the distance of two days, if you count the time when the Qin army looted grain in the two cities of Yihu and Yangren, maybe he will really be caught up by the main force of the Wei army this time.

Is it a war? Is it withdrawn?

This is the difficult problem that Bai Qi has repeatedly thought about and weighed in the past two days.

Again, that is, the Qin army did not know the situation in the Yishui area: had Xincheng been captured by the Korean army? And how many South Korean troops are deployed in the Yishui area? Does the 50,000 Qin troops under his command have a chance to break through the blockade of the Korean army?

These are all information that Bai Qi desperately wants to get.

But the hateful thing is that although he had sent scouts to the Yishui area to inquire about the news when he led the army to Yanhu a while ago, he has not received any news so far.

It's been seven days!

The fox is nearly 100 miles away from Yishui, and it is only about 120 miles away from the new city. There is not the slightest message.

Obviously, these scouts met those Wei cavalry on the way back, and were hunted by those Wei cavalry as prey - this is a very appropriate metaphor, the lone scout in front of those Wei cavalry, like an elk encountering a pack of wolves, without the slightest power to parry.

"What to do? Will we retreat westward, or will we fight a decisive battle with the Wei army here?"

While the generals were discussing, Bai Qi was also thinking hard about this issue.

First of all, his strategy of "feeding the enemy and feeding the war with war" has been broken by the guy surnamed Meng of the Wei army on the opposite side, and at this moment there are three Wei cavalry of about 300 people wandering around his Qin army, although so far this group of Wei cavalry only dares to hunt a small group of Qin troops, but on the other hand, his Qin army has also been targeted by the other party, and can no longer play the main force of the Wei army with the tactics of guerrilla warfare as it did a while ago, so that the latter is tired of running.

Secondly, the more than 50,000 Qin troops under his command have also lost nearly six or seven thousand troops in the recent guerrilla battles and sieges, plus the soldiers who have been hunted by the three Wei cavalry in the past two days, the total strength is only more than 40,000, and the Wei army has not fought during this time, and the total strength is still more than 60,000.

With more than 40,000 Qin troops against the more than 60,000 Wei troops on the opposite side, to be honest, there is not much certainty in the white.

『…… If it really can't be done, they will cross the Rushui south and block the Wei army with the Rushui."

Looking at the marching map spread out in front of him, Bai Qi prepared for the worst in his heart.

And this is also the last retreat of his more than 40,000 Qin troops.

After the military meeting, Bai Qi summoned the general Ji Hong and instructed the latter to send soldiers to prepare materials for building the bridge.

"The materials to build?" Ji Hong was very surprised when he heard this.

"Well, I intend to build a bridge on the Rushui River south of the Yangren, if I can't resist the attack of the Wei army this time, I can use this bridge to cross the Rushui River in the south, withdraw to the other side of the river, and use the Rushui to resist the Wei army......" Bai Qi slowly said his plan.

Hearing this, Ji Hong became more and more surprised, and couldn't help but be surprised and said: "Before fighting, I was defeated first, and I thought that only General Xiang Shou would be like this......"

I have to say that Ji Hong really feels very strange.

You must know his impression of Bai Qi, that is, brave, bold, and decisive.

In the battle of Yique Mountain, Bai Qi ignored the 100,000 Han troops on the opposite side, led the main force to attack the 180,000 Wei troops located in the rear of the Han army, and successively defeated more than 200,000 Wei and Han coalition troops overnight.

Subsequently, when the Wei army deliberately forced them to retreat to the territory of the Eastern Zhou State, Bai Qi resolutely counterattacked into the territory of Korea, and successively broke through the six cities of Xingyang, Zhaiyang, Zhengcheng, Yangcheng, Yihu, and Yangren, and played with the main force of the Wei army pursuing them on applause, which made Ji Hong admire Bai Qi more and more, and felt that Bai Qi was bold, careful, proficient in the art of war, and had no less talent than Gan Mao, Wei Zhang, Yingjian and others.

However, a person like this, before fighting with the main force of the Wei army, considered the question of retreat in case of defeat, which made Ji Hong very stunned, and felt a little inconsistent with Bai Qi's character.

After listening to Ji Hong's words, Bai Qi was stunned for a moment, then smiled reluctantly, and explained: "Plan and then act, know and stop." If you win without a fight, you will be a wise general. …… Today, there is a Wei army chasing behind, and there may be a Korean army in front of Yishui to intercept it, and I, as the commander-in-chief, will decide the survival of more than 40,000 soldiers with one order, and I dare not ignore it. ”

"I see."

Ji Hong was in awe when he heard this, and hurriedly confessed: "It's a matter of omission." ”

Bai Qi didn't care, and after nodding, he advised: "In order to avoid being detected by the cavalry of the Wei army, General Ji might as well order his soldiers to cut down more trees and set up some defenses outside the two cities of Yihu and Yangren, whether it is for those cavalry or the main force of the Wei army that is about to arrive, I believe it can help somewhat." Remember, beware of a cavalry attack on a soldier while cutting wood, send a crossbowman to be on guard, and if the cavalry approaches, fire arrows far away and do not pursue. ”

"Whoa!" Ji Hong hugged his fists and took the order.

Looking at Ji Hong's departing back, Bai Qi was silent for a moment, and unconsciously reached out and touched his left shoulder.

At this time, the arrow wound on his left shoulder had already scabbed over, and it would heal in a few days, but the fear left by him when he almost faced death that day turned into a fear of someone in the Wei army.

As Ji Hong said, he is a very bold person, "winning by surprise" and "making dangerous moves" are the art of war that he was able to defeat Gongsun Xi.

But among the main forces of the Wei army, there was that guy surnamed Meng, and he didn't dare to use those dangerous tricks again.

Eating the enemy and feeding the war with war, this is the highest use in the art of war, if it is replaced by other opponents, Bai Qi is confident that the whole of Korea will fall into a panic against his Qin army, and by the way, he can also solve the 60,000 Wei army, but the guy surnamed Meng reacted very quickly, and immediately formed three cavalry teams, cracking his strategy of "feeding the enemy", which in turn put him in a dilemma again.

Even if it is white, in the face of an opponent who is no less than himself, he does not dare to speak of victory or defeat.

Of course, although he was not sure to defeat the main force of the Wei army, Bai Qi did not think that the other party could easily defeat him.

Determined to be like Zhang Yi, how could he, who was determined to make his name have the power to intimidate all countries, so easily lost in the hands of an unknown guy? Even the other party has a talent that is not inferior to him.

At the same time, Meng Zhong was at the Wei army garrison outside the city, listening to the cavalry sent by Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu report the movements of the Qin army one by one by a bonfire.

Bai Qi guessed correctly, the main force of the Wei army at this moment is indeed only two days away from the Fox City, and the distance of the two-day journey does not need the Wei army's rapid marching mode, otherwise before dusk tomorrow, or even an hour or two earlier, Meng Zhong will be able to lead the army to the area of the Fox City.

But there is no need, after all, in Meng Zhong's opinion, the Qin army in front is already in the urn - there is the Han army in front of it, and there is his Wei army, where else can the Qin army escape?

What's more, according to the cavalry who delivered the news, the Qin army did not move in the past two days, wantonly looting in the city, Meng Zhong estimated that even if his army rushed at the usual marching speed, it was impossible for the Qin army to throw them too far.

After all, there were nearly 1,000 cavalry led by Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu dragging the Qin army.

After the cavalry said goodbye and left, Meng Zhong invited Dou Xing, Tang Zhi, Wei Qing, Fei Hui, Zheng Zheng, Cai Wu and other military horses together and told them about the current situation: "The Qin army has not moved for the past two days, and only plundered the two cities of Yihu and Yangren, I guess it is to prepare for a breakthrough to Yishui. …… On the Yishui side, Hua Hu has sent someone to inform the Storm Kite, believing that the Storm Kite will immediately send an army to garrison the west bank of Yishui to prevent this Qin army from escaping back to its country. …… Do you have any suggestions for this? ”

Hearing this, the military horses glanced at each other, and the expressions on their faces were slightly strange.

It turned out that these military commanders also wanted to participate in the discussion, or give a suggestion, but the problem was that Meng Zhong had already planned very carefully, and they really didn't know what else to suggest?

Seeing that the military horses were looking at each other, but no one spoke, Meng Zhong thought that they were humble, so he turned his head to Dou Xing and said, "Dou Sima, why don't you start?" ”

"Huh? I? Dou Xing was stunned for a moment, and then waved his hand again and again.

If it was a few days ago, or he would have given Meng Zhong a little advice, such as in the matter of cavalry, and it turned out that the young division commander in front of him was indeed much more powerful than him, and the thousands of cavalry had not only killed more than three times the Qin soldiers so far, but also monitored the main force of the Qin army.

This made Dou Xing secretly ashamed of the previous sentence "cavalry is useless".

However, after this incident, Dou Xing also understood one thing, that is, the strategy that the young commander in front of him was thinking about should always be more thoughtful and meticulous than him, and instead of making jokes, it was better to obediently obey orders, so that there would be no more jokes about the "useless cavalry".

All in all, in front of Meng Zhong, Dou Xing decided to give up thinking and obey his words.

With the time to rack his brains, it is better to raise enough energy, and have enough energy to kill a few more damn Qin people when the war with the Qin army starts, anyway, this young division commander has considered all aspects of the problem, and there is no need for them to give any more advice.

He smiled and said his thoughts: "I am convinced by Master Meng, and Master Shuai only needs to give an order!" ”

Hearing this, the military horses sitting around the bonfire also showed a kind smile and nodded yes again and again.

Even Wei Qing jokingly said: "With Master Meng in the army, I really don't have to worry about waiting." ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong was stunned and frowned imperceptibly, but seeing that all the military horses had a smile on his face, he nodded reluctantly and didn't say anything.

That night, he took Meng Sui, Xiang Yi, and Meng Ao for a walk in the station, during which he told the three of them about it.

After hearing this, Meng Ao asked puzzledly, "Isn't this good?" This shows that you have great trust in your brothers......"

Meng Zhong shook his head when he heard this, and said, "But this is not a good thing for the entire army, as well as for those military commanders. ”

"What you said reminds me of Xiwu." Xiang Yi sighed beside him.

"yes." Meng Zhong nodded slightly.

He knew what Xiang Yi meant by this, which was nothing more than that Dou Xing, Wei Qing and other military commanders had been accustomed to obeying words in front of Gongsun Xi.

Although obedience to orders is the highest priority for soldiers, it is not a good thing if they give up even thinking.

For example, before the Qin army attacked the Wei army, only he Meng Zhong raised objections in the entire military discussion, and the rest of the military Sima were all convinced of Gongsun Xi's judgment, and the reason was nothing more than that Gongsun Xi was a famous general.

But it turns out that even if Gongsun Xina and other famous generals of the time will make mistakes, if no one points out this mistake, then the end will be like the previous Wei army, although there are 180,000 troops, but they are defeated overnight by the Qin army, which is far less powerful than them.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong couldn't help but say to his brother Meng Ao: "Ah Ao, people must think, have their own opinions, even if it is a wrong opinion, it doesn't matter, you have to use courage to put it forward, this time you are wrong, next time you will learn a lesson." But if you do what others say, you will never be a good commander. ”

"Ah Zhong is right. Ao, you are still young, you should take caution. Meng Sui also nodded in agreement.

Meng Ao, who was only fifteen years old, nodded, taking the words of the two clan brothers to heart.

Suddenly, he rolled his eyes and asked with a snicker, "Brother Mengsui, when you are with Brother Mengzhong, will you also have your own opinions?" ”

Meng Sui and Xiang Yu were stunned for a moment, and then Meng Sui laughed and scolded: "Do you think I am your brother Menghu?" …… In the past, I was the first and second to speak, either Le Yi or me, and then Xiang Yi...... Finally, Ah Zhong concluded. ”

Xiang Yu nodded.

"Huh?" Meng Ao blinked and said deliberately: "Brother Meng Zhong's final summary, won't it be to take care of a few brothers, right?" ”

"This kid owes himself to clean up, and he dares to expose this matter!" Xiang Yu joked angrily.

"I think so." Meng Sui snorted coldly, stretched out his hand and pressed Meng Ao's head, so shocked that Meng Ao quickly admitted his mistake and begged for mercy.

Seeing this scene, Meng Zhong also showed a slight smile on his face.

There are lessons from Gongsun Xi's past, he doesn't want to be surrounded by a group of obedient people, after all, there is an end of people, even famous generals such as Gongsun Xi will make mistakes, and he Meng Zhong is the same, if someone reminds and corrects him when he makes a mistake, he can avoid a catastrophe.

Dou Xing, Wei Qing and those military horses, because of the age gap between each other, Meng Zhong is not good to remind them, but Meng Sui, Xiang Yi and other brothers around them, Meng Zhong does not want them to follow in the footsteps of Dou Xing, Wei Qing and others, whether it is for him or others.

And it turns out that his brothers have quite a lot of personalities, and in fact, there is nothing for him to worry about.

The next day, on May 12, after reaching a tacit agreement with the Han soldiers in the city, Meng Zhong ordered the army Sima Cai Wu to lead 10,000 Wei troops to garrison outside the city, while he himself led the remaining 50,000 Wei troops straight to the city of Huhu.

On the way, when passing through the source of Yingshui, Meng Zhong ordered Sima Zhengzheng to lead 10,000 Wei troops to garrison the local area, which ensured the smooth grain routes in the rear and prevented the Qin army from fleeing north.

But what made Meng Zhong feel strange was that according to the news sent by Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu, the Qin army was guarding the two cities of Yihu and Yangren, and there was no sign of breaking through to the west.

I have to say that this is different from Meng Zhong's previous prediction: he thought that the Qin army would hurry up and break through to Yishui, especially when he learned that he was chasing after his 60,000 Wei troops.

"Could it be that the Qin army plans to fight a decisive battle with our army in the area of the Fox and Yangren?"

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong became more cautious and slowed down his march again to ensure that every Wei pawn had enough physical strength after arriving at Yihu.

At the same time, during the hurry, Meng Zhong also told Tang Zhi and Dou Xing to be careful of the ambush of the Qin army, even if there were actually cavalry led by Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu, they kept an eye on the movements of the main force of the Qin army.

Steady!

Play it safe!

Now that victory is in sight, Meng Zhong doesn't want to lose all his advantages because of his momentary aggressiveness.

On May 13, at noon, the main force of the Wei army arrived twenty miles northwest of the city of Yanhu.

After issuing the order to cut down trees on the spot to build a camp, Meng Zhong took Rong Yi, Meng Sui, Xiang Yu, Wei Xu and other cadres, under the protection of 500 Wei soldiers, slowly approached the city of Huhu, and peeked at the movements of the Qin army from a distance.

During this period, Mu Wu learned of the arrival of the army and led more than 300 cavalry to join Meng Zhong.

After seeing each other, Meng Zhong asked Mu Wudao: "In the past few days, has the Qin army shown no signs of preparing to break through to the west?" ”

Mu Wu explained: "The Qin army should have been preparing to break through to the west at first, so Hua Hu led his cavalry to wander on the west side of the two cities of Yihu and Yangren, hunting down and killing the Qin army in the past, so that the Qin army could not know the situation in the Yishui area......"

"The situation in the Yishui area? Does it refer to the Korean army of the violent kite? ”

"Hmm! The cavalry under my command met the cavalry on Huahu's side this morning, and learned that the storm kite had led the army to withdraw from Yiyang, and was currently stationed on the west bank of Yishui...... I remember I sent someone to inform you, didn't you meet it? ”

"When I met it, I just asked casually."

After exchanging information with Mu Wu, Meng Zhong and his party also approached Fox City far away.

While Meng Zhong was looking at the city in the distance from afar, Mu Wu said on the side: "It may be because Huahu cut off the news of the Qin army, so that the Qin army still does not know the specific situation in the Yishui area...... In short, the Qin army seems to have given up on breaking through to the west, in the past two days, many Qin soldiers went out to cut down trees and build defenses outside the city, I was going to sneak attack those Qin soldiers who were logging, but there were Qin army's crossbowmen on guard, I didn't dare to move. …… Ah Zhong, do you think the Qin army is planning to fight our army here? ”

"I can't say."

Meng Zhong shook his head slightly.

He also felt that the reason why the Qin army did not break through to the west for the time being was very likely to be related to the three cavalry of Menghu, Huahu, and Muwuna.

But if you think about it carefully, as long as the Qin army has the determination to break the wrist of a strong man, it will not actually be pinned down by a few thousand cavalry - the big deal is that thousands of people were killed by the cavalry during the breakout, this loss is at the top, and it is unlikely to be more, unless the Qin army breaks up halfway.

It is strange that most of the army could have been evacuated to Yishui, but it was not done, as if the Qin army had really decided to fight his Wei army here.

The question is, where did Qin Jun get his self-confidence?

『…… Or is that the one surnamed Bai is going to defend the two cities of Fox and Yangren to lure our army to attack the city?"

After thinking about it, Meng Zhong still felt that this guess was more likely.

"Siege ...... Yes. ”

Looking at the Fox City in the distance, Meng Zhong muttered to himself.