Yu Wancheng repaired for a day, and the next day, Sima Cuo led 60,000 troops under his command and 100,000 troops under the command of Chu General Zhaoju to Fangcheng.

During this period, it is worth mentioning that although Bai Qi ordered 70,000 troops under his command to be temporarily stationed in Wancheng, he himself took a few dozen guards to follow Sima Cuo to Fangcheng, and even secretly ordered Hu Yu to hold the contact.

After all, his purpose was to make Sima Cuo realize his mistake and put away the old man in front of him, but he didn't really want to sit back and watch Sima Co be defeated by Meng Zhong - although in Bai Qi's opinion, the possibility of Sima Co being defeated by Meng Zhong is actually small, but it is not impossible.

Just like in the battle of Yique last year, who would have thought that he would be able to defeat Gongsun Xi in one fell swoop? Who would have thought that in the case of the rout of the Wei and Han coalition forces on all fronts, Meng Zhong would still be able to turn the tide and reverse the disadvantage?

Meng Zhong, this is a rather "unexpected" enemy general, Bai Qi has always put the other party at the same level as himself, and he does not dare to underestimate him at all.

Of course, Sima at this moment may not be able to imagine that Bai Qi still has the idea of "catching him at a critical time" in his heart at this moment, mistakenly thinking that Bai Qi is following him just to make it easier to see his jokes, so he is quite annoyed in his heart, but he didn't say anything.

As Bai Qi said, he was the general who had opened up the most extensive territory for the Qin State so far, how could he be afraid of a junior enemy general who was far younger than him?

Wancheng is about a hundred miles away from Fangcheng, when the 160,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops marched towards Fangcheng, they encountered several woods, but these woods were set on fire for some reason, leaving only a pitch-black scorched earth.

When he encountered the first burned forest, Bai Qi, who had a keen intuition, frowned slightly, but Sima Cuo didn't say anything and continued to move forward.

But when the army encountered the second and third burned forests, Bai Qi saw Sima Cuo and frowned deeply.

If Bai Qi was not mistaken, Fang Cheng's side must have burned all the woods within a radius of dozens of miles to prevent his Qin army from cutting down these trees to build a camp.

"Is there a way to clear the wilderness?"

In front of the third burned forest, Bai Qi heard Sima Cuo muttering in a low voice.

Immediately, Sima Cuo ordered the whole army to rest in place, while he rode in a chariot and looked around on the surrounding higher slopes.

"Is this starting to have a headache?"

Bai Qi couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

Of course, the strong wall Qingye is not a sophisticated strategy, and Bai Qi does not expect to be able to stump Sima Cuo, after all, such a thing as "Qingye" only means that his Qin army has to spend several times his energy and physical strength to transport timber from a far place to the area of Fangcheng, but it is not enough to defeat his Qin army with this.

Just like Sima Cuo at this moment, he was estimating the scope of Fangcheng's "strategy of clearing the wilderness", and was preparing to divide his troops and send Qin soldiers to find the woods that had not yet been burned by the Wei army, so that he could build a military camp in the area of Fangcheng in a few days.

I have to say that Bai Qi's guess was not false at all, only half an hour later, Sima Cuo divided two armies - he ordered his generals Changchi and Wurong, each of whom led an army to temporarily break away from the army, and was responsible for finding woods around.

The empty grain carts among the generals were divided into a part with the two generals Changchi and Wurong to facilitate their transportation of wood, and then, Sima Cuo led 40,000 Qin troops and 100,000 Chu troops under his command to continue to march towards Fangcheng.

Not to mention, in this matter, Bai Qi is quite appreciative of Sima Cuo, because Sima Cuo's intuition is also very sharp, not like some foolish generals, even if he encounters two or three burned forests, he still can't imagine that the enemy army has taken the strategy of clearing the wilderness, and stupidly led the army straight to the enemy city, but when he arrived at the local area, he found that there were no trees available nearby, so he had to lead the army back a little.

This back and forth is tantamount to wasting precious time and delaying the fighter.

Of course, admiration is appreciation, but the proud Bai Qi will not show it, and along the way he put on a mocking face of "nothing more than that", so that Sima Cuo is not happy to see his face.

It was precisely because they had to search for usable woods on the way that the marching speed of the 160,000 Qin-Chu coalition army was also greatly reduced, and it took nearly three days to walk just a hundred miles.

During this period, Bai Qi vaguely noticed that the cavalry of Fangcheng was often haunted around his army, and those cavalry in groups of three or five watched from afar, peeking at the lineup of his Qin-Chu coalition army.

For example, how many Changge soldiers, how many crossbowmen, how many chariots, etc., in this 160,000-strong army, these are inevitably exposed in front of those Fangcheng cavalry.

In the past, Bai Qi didn't have much to do about it, but with the two thousand more cavalry under his command, there were naturally more ways to deal with it. If it weren't for Sima Cuo's disagreement with him, I'm afraid he would have sent his cavalry to expel those Fangcheng cavalry, but for now, let Sima Cuo have a headache for himself.

But to his surprise, Sima Cuo just ordered his subordinates to be careful of the harassment of those Fangcheng cavalry, and did not pay attention to the latter's peeping at them.

Yes, Sima Cuo didn't care at all about the details of his army being probed by the enemy, because he would never give the enemy any chance to take advantage of the situation - even if he was found out about the army lineup? As long as he doesn't show his flaws.

Seeing that Sima Cuo was so calm, Bai Qi was a little uncomfortable, and after hesitating for a moment, he deliberately said to Sima Cuo: "At this moment, there are cavalry from Fangcheng around my army, and the national lieutenant doesn't care at all?" ”

Sima Cuo sneered and didn't answer, and it was boring to be bored.

But think about it, it seems that Sima Cuo, a veteran who has been loyal to the Qin State since the time of King Qin Hui, how could he not know the strengths and weaknesses of the cavalry?

If Bai Qi expected Sima Cuo to be stupid at this time and send foot soldiers or chariots to pursue those cavalry, this could only be said to be too much for nothing.

Seeing that Sima Cuo completely ignored those cavalry, and recalled that he had stupidly sent foot soldiers and a convoy to pursue the cavalry under Meng Zhong's command, Bai Qi couldn't help but feel ashamed of his stupid actions at that time.

At the same time, he had to admit that Sima Cuo was much older than him, well-informed, and indeed more experienced than him in some things.

It's like the two of them have completely different attitudes towards the cavalry under Meng Zhong's command.

After nearly three days of marching, Sima Cuo finally led 160,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops to the area of Fangcheng.

Interestingly, he decided to camp in the same area where the camp was built at the beginning of April.

I have to say that Sima Cuo's expression was also a little strange at that time, and he didn't expect that he casually pointed forward to a suitable place to be stationed, which was exactly the location where Bai Qi had been stationed in the camp before.

Change the location, this location is really good, don't change it, Sima Cuo always felt that Bai Qi was ridiculed from time to time, and after weighing it for a long time, Sima Cuo finally decided to focus on the overall situation and set up camp in this position where Bai Qijun had been stationed a few months ago.

After giving the order to be stationed on the spot, Sima Cuo prepared to take the guards to take a closer look at Fangcheng and take a look at the general topography around Fangcheng.

To his surprise, Bai Qi, who was following him at this time, suddenly said with an expressionless face: "At this time, Fang Cheng's side should start sniping our army's scouts in formation......"

The implication is that if Sima Co only took a few dozen or twenty guards to take a close look at Fang Cheng, there was a chance that he would be chased and killed by Fang Cheng's cavalry.

In all fairness, Bai Qi's reminder this time was something that Sima Cuo did not expect.

I saw Sima Cuo staring at Bai Qi with a little stunned, and suddenly asked, "Didn't that take advantage of Bai Zuogen's heart?" ”

Bai Qi raised a little sarcasm from Sima Cuo's words, and also sneered lightly: "Does the national captain think so? But in this way, I won't be able to see the captain make jokes. ”

Hearing this, the guards behind Sima Cuo were furious and accused Bai Qi one after another, but Sima Cuo raised his hand to stop them.

I saw Sima Cuo look at it deeply a few times, and suddenly said with a smile: "It's true, the old man ignored it." ”

In the end, Sima Cuo brought 800 Qin soldiers with him.

After this incident, the relationship between Sima Cuo and Bai Qi became a little delicate again.

For example, on the way to investigate the situation in the area around Fangcheng, Sima changed his indifference to Bai Qi during the previous march and began to ask Bai Qi's opinion, but in most cases, Bai Qi always ignored him.

Only once, Bai Qi and Sima were able to communicate normally.

It was when Sima Cuo saw the crops outside Fangcheng that were about to be harvested, and when Sima Cuo saw that Fangcheng really did not withdraw his troops, let alone set fire to the crops outside the city, he praised him sincerely: "In any case, this Meng Zhong can be called bold." ”

Hearing this, Bai Qi rarely did not mock Sima Cuo, and chatted with Sima Cuo a little along the topic.

But in most cases, Bai Qi is still silent, as long as it is not a key matter, he may not answer a single sentence when Sima asks three wrong questions.

However, Sima Cuo was not angry at this time, and the reason was nothing more than that before they traveled, Bai Qi had vaguely reminded him to pay attention to safety, so as not to let Fangcheng's cavalry inadvertently snipe the commander of his Qin army, causing his Qin-Chu coalition army to be defeated on all fronts.

And this also made him gradually understand Bai Qi's intentions.

At least Bai Qi didn't really want to harm him.

But think about it, what reason does Bai Qi have to harm Sima Cuo?

He just saw that Sima was wrong so that he could regain the right to speak in the Qin army, and he didn't really want to put Sima wrong to death.

And the old and cunning Sima Cuo gradually saw this, so he slowly came into contact with Bai Qi again.

But there is one thing that these two generals know in their hearts, that is, there are still irreconcilable contradictions between them.

And this contradiction comes from the priority of the right to speak in the military.

Sima Cuo is a general with a strong desire to control, from the time he debated with the famous Zhang Yi on the spot in front of King Qin Hui in the Xianyang Palace, and finally argued against Zhang Yi, it is clear that this veteran is extremely stubborn, and he will never allow a second voice to appear in the army under his command.

And Bai Qi is precisely a general with a strong desire to master, who is accustomed to acting according to the strategy he has formulated, and will never be subservient.

Unless one of them is willing to give in, give up his voice, and wholeheartedly assist the other, the two of them will not be able to truly get along.

The problem is that Sima Cuo does not think that he is old and useless, while Bai Qi is desperate to take power, which is the most difficult contradiction between the two of them.

I have to say that Sima Cuo and Bai Qi are both extremely talented commanders, but it may not be a good idea to put the two together.

At least not for the time being.

When the 160,000 Qin-Chu coalition army built a camp twenty miles south of Fangcheng, the cavalry of Fangcheng had already reported the movements of this coalition army to Mengzhong.

After hearing the news, Meng Zhong climbed the city wall and looked south at the military camp being built by the Qin-Chu coalition army.

After all, since Han Xiao of Wancheng retreated without a fight, the other city will face more than 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops alone, to say that Meng Zhong did not have the slightest panic in his heart, this is purely self-deception.

I don't know how long it took, Meng Sui came to Meng Zhong's side, and said in a low voice: "According to the cavalry who sent the news, the Qin-Chu coalition army is building a camp at the moment where Bai Qi was stationed, and I estimate that it will take at least two or three days before the Qin army can launch an offensive against our city. …… Don't be in a hurry to refuse, you also know that once the two armies start fighting, you, the main general, will not be able to leave. ”

Meng Zhong wanted to refuse, but after hearing Meng Sui's words, he couldn't help but hesitate, after all, in the past few months, in order to prepare for the war, he had been staying in Fangcheng to train new soldiers, and he really had no time to spend time with his family.

"That'...... I'll be back in the middle of the night at the latest. After thinking about it, Meng Zhong said.

Hearing this, Meng Sui smiled and said, "How about coming back tomorrow morning?" Spend time with my sister-in-law......"

As he spoke, he was about to turn around and leave, and suddenly stopped, and after hesitating for a while, he said: "I still mean that, it's best to let my aunt and sister-in-law go to the Song Kingdom to avoid it, you and I both know that this battle will definitely be a vicious battle, once ...... Never mind. ”

Shaking his head, Meng Sui left.

Glancing back at Meng Sui, Meng Zhong was thoughtful.

A moment later, Meng Zhong only took two children from the family who were also from Mengyi and rode back to Wuyangyi on a war horse.

The two guards were instructed to go home to see their families, and Meng Zhong also returned to his own home.

Back at home, according to the guidance of several maidservants in the family, Meng Zhong saw his wife Le Yan in his study.

At that time, Le Yan was sitting next to the bookcase, holding a bamboo slip in her hand, as if she was reading carefully.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong said with a smile: "They said that you were helping me clean the study, but they didn't want you to be lazy......"

Hearing this voice, Le Yan raised her head in surprise, and then she was happy to find that she had been separated from her husband for several months.

I saw that she immediately put down the bamboo book in her hand, and said with a little blush: "How can the concubine be lazy, the concubine is just ......"

"Just what? Sneak into my book? Meng Zhong teased.

Le Yan blushed when she heard this.

For a long time, Meng Zhong's study at home was cleaned by Le Yan himself, because there were many books in the study given by the elders of Zhuangzi, Mencius, and Ram Pingmeng, and Le Yan was afraid that those maids would not know the importance and accidentally destroy these treasures.

However, in addition to cleaning, Le Yan occasionally flipped through these books that her husband had read to ease her longing for her husband, but she never thought that she would be bumped into by her husband today.

Seeing that his wife was so ashamed that even the roots of her ears were red, Meng Zhong stopped teasing her and asked with a smile, "What are you looking at?" ”

Le Yan replied shyly: "It's Master Zhuang's "Heaven and Earth". ”

"Oh." Meng Zhong suddenly realized, walked to his wife and sat down, gently hugged her waist, and asked, "Can you understand?" ”

Le Yan stuck out her tongue and said with a bitter face: "I don't understand, some sentences have a headache to guess......"

"Hahahaha." Seeing his wife's somewhat aggrieved appearance, Meng Zhong couldn't help laughing.

Seeing that she was teased by her husband, Le Yan was ashamed and angry, and couldn't help but lightly punch her husband in the chest, and pretended to be dissatisfied and said: "Although the concubine knew some words before she got married, she didn't read many books, so she couldn't understand what was strange about Master Zhuang's article...... You're still laughing at me......"

"I laugh at you for not being able to do anything."

Meng Zhong stretched out his hand and gently scraped the bridge of his wife's nose, and said with a smile: "As soon as it came up, it was the teacher's article, but you are conceited, isn't it good to flip through the Analects?" ”

Hearing this, Le Yan said angrily: "The husband is too small to look down on the concubine's body, Analects, how can the concubine body say that he has read it, what is the meaning of the books he has read?" ”

"Reviewing the old and learning the new, don't you even understand this truth?" Meng Zhong teased.

Le Yan glanced at her husband, and her little hand lightly hammered her husband's chest to express the shame in her heart that her husband made fun of.

After a while, Le Yan buried herself in her husband's arms and asked softly, "Why did my husband come home empty-time today?" Could it be that the crisis has been lifted in Fang City? ”

In front of his wife, Meng Zhong did not hide it, lay down in the banquet with his hands behind his head, and said casually: "It's the opposite. …… Qin and Chu have gathered more than 200,000 allied troops, and they have been killed under our city, and in two or three days, I am afraid that they will use troops against our city. ”

Le Yan, who was lying on Meng Zhong's chest, suddenly changed her face when she heard this, and quickly sat up, and said with a straight face: "That husband is still going home?" Shouldn't the husband be sitting in Fangcheng at this time? ”

As she spoke, she saw that Meng Zhong had closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, so she was so anxious that she pushed her husband.

"What's the hurry?" Meng Zhong closed his eyes and said slowly: "Didn't you say it, the Qin army has not even built a camp at present, and it will take at least two or three days before we use troops against our city......"

"But even so, the husband should be in Fangcheng!"

"Fang Cheng has Ah Sui and they are there, there is no problem...... What's more, I'm just going home to have a look this time, and I'll have a meal together as a family, and I'll go back to Fangcheng after eating......"

"...... like this" Hearing this, Le Yan also put her mind at ease, and after secretly glancing at her husband, she said in a low voice: "It's true that for a while, my husband hasn't gone home to eat......

Indeed, she thought that after their family moved to Wuyangyi, she would see her husband every day, but she didn't expect that first a war broke out between Qin and Chu, and then, the two countries inexplicably reconciled, and together tried to use troops against Fangcheng, which her husband was guarding.

She really didn't understand, why those people had to kill and kill, couldn't they live their lives well? As a result, she was unable to reunite with her husband from time to time.

Meng Zhong also noticed the change in his wife's tone, sat up and hugged her in his arms, gently stroking her back to comfort her, but he didn't know what to say for a while.

He had to divert the topic: "What about my mother and Xiaoyan?" I heard from the maidservants of the house that they were not at home. ”

"Mother-in-law went to talk to other houses in the city to relieve boredom, as for Xiaoyan, she went to our field to check, according to her, our field will be harvested soon, but there are always some birds flying to the field to peck at the rice, but she is not lightly angry, maybe at the moment with those servants in the field to catch birds......"

"Hah!" Imagining Meng Yan leading a group of servants to hunt birds in the fields, Meng Zhong couldn't help but shake his head.

His sister has indeed been very energetic all the time.

When the meal was approaching, his mother Ge Shi and his sister Meng Yan both returned home, and when they saw Meng Zhong, they were both very happy, and happily asked Meng Zhong how he had time to return home today.

glanced at Le Yan, Meng Zhong didn't explain truthfully, just lied that he missed his family and wanted to come to the house to have a look.

He didn't want to tell Ge the truth, for fear that his mother would worry about it day and night, as for Meng Yan, although the latter is now a seventeen-year-old girl, in Meng Zhong's long-term impression, he always subconsciously felt that his sister was still young, and he didn't want her to be afraid.

Therefore, the only person in the family who can share secrets with him is his wife Le Yan, which is why Meng Zhong did not hide it in front of Le Yan.

Subsequently, when the family was happily eating together, Meng Zhong couldn't help but think of Meng Sui's suggestion, but he didn't know how to speak, so that until the meal was over, he didn't say the words "I hope you will go back to the Song Kingdom for a while".

But Le Yan saw something, and when she saw off her husband after dinner, she said to Meng Zhong: "When eating, does your husband want to say something but have some scruples?" ”

Meng Zhong didn't hide it, nodded and said truthfully: "I won't hide it from you, this battle is ...... It will be a fierce battle, and I don't know if I can resist the Qin-Chu coalition army, so Ah Sui suggested that I send someone to temporarily send you to Mengyi to hide for a while......"

"What about the rest of the city?" Le Yan pointed to the families of the children of other Mengyi families in Wuyangyi.

Meng Zhong was silent when he heard this.

The smart Le Yan immediately understood, covered her mouth and chuckled: "It's good that the husband didn't speak, otherwise the mother-in-law would have been very angry......"

"yes."

Meng Zhong sighed wistfully.

In order to prevent the turmoil in the hearts of the army, he can only secretly bring the three of you back to the Song Kingdom for refuge, how dare he mention such unkind and unrighteous words in front of his mother?

“…… In fact, the concubine body will also be angry. ”

Just when Meng Zhong was worried, Le Yan gently hugged her husband, leaned her head on her husband's chest, and whispered: "Since the concubine has married her husband as a wife, she should share weal and woe, how can there be a husband who fights in front of her to kill the enemy, but the concubine cares about the reason for fleeing?" ”

"But ......"

Before Meng Zhong finished speaking, Meng Yan raised her hand, blocked her husband's mouth with her fingers, and then said with a smile: "Wouldn't it be good to win?" ”

Immediately, she stroked her husband's face, and said with a chuckle: "The concubine is not afraid at all, because the concubine knows that the husband will definitely be able to defeat the enemy army and protect Yeyi, Wuyang, and our family's ......."

Looking at the smile in front of him, Meng Zhong's heart seemed to be full of pride for a while, and he leaned over and kissed his wife on the lips.

"Hmm!"

Two hours later, Meng Zhong returned to Fangcheng.

Meng Sui heard the news and walked out of the county government, and happened to meet Meng Zhong, who turned over and dismounted.

"How?" Meng Sui asked with some eagerness.

Of course, Meng Zhong knew what Meng Sui meant, shook his head and said, "I can't open my mouth." ”

"You ......" Meng Sui was angry when he heard this, and said with a frown: "Ah Zhong, once Yangguan falls, he may not have time to take them away......"

Hearing this, Meng Zhong said with a smile: "Wouldn't it be good to win?" That's what your sister-in-law said. ”

As he spoke, he threw the horsewhip in his hand to Meng Sui.

"Win the war?"

Meng Sui was stunned, looked at the horse whip in his hand, and then looked at Meng Zhong, who was striding towards the county government, he thought for a moment, and then shook his head with a smile.

"There has been such a big change before and after? Looks like I'm going to have to find a marriage too......"

He muttered to himself.