"Has Sima Co already arrived at Chu Ying? It's fast......

Muttered a few words to himself, Bai Qi thought for a moment, and finally recruited Sima Cuo's guard Ding Bao in.

After a while, I saw Ding Bao walk into the tent, and after glancing at Bai Qi, Zhong Xu, Wei Yuan, and Tong Yang in the tent, he bowed his hand and said: "The humble position is Ding Bao, the guard next to the national captain, and I have seen Bai Zuo and the generals. ”

Zuo Geng, that is, Bai Qi's current title in the Qin State.

"No courtesy."

Bai Qi waved his hand and asked, "I don't know what the national captain sent you, what's the matter?" ”

I saw Ding Bao hugging his fists towards Bai Qi, and Zhengse said: "The national lieutenant learned that Bai Zuogen was leading the army to seek Fangcheng, and thought that it was not the time yet, and hoped that Bai Zuogen would withdraw his troops to Hanshui, and follow him to Chuying, and the national lieutenant had something important to discuss with Bai Zuogen." ”

Hearing this, Bai Qi's face suddenly sank.

He knew that his side had already made preparations to attack Fangcheng, and he was confident enough to take Fangcheng in one battle, but Sima Cuo asked him to withdraw his troops, saying that it was not the time for war between Wei and Han for the time being?

If it were someone else, I am afraid that Bai Qi would have been scolded and expelled from the tent, but considering that the person who came was Sima Cuo's guard, Bai Qi still had some scruples, so he took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "Please go back and tell the national captain that after the attack on Fangcheng, I will go to see him again." ”

Ding Bao glanced at Bai Qi a little strangely, and didn't understand why Bai Qi insisted on attacking Fangcheng, but before leaving, Sima mistakenly instructed him, but he was not allowed to retreat at this time, so he shook his head and said with embarrassment: "I'm afraid this won't work, the national captain hopes that Bai Zuo will withdraw his troops immediately, and go to Chu Ying...... with him."

As he spoke, he took out the tiger talisman that Sima Cuo had given him temporarily from his arms, and looked at Bai Qi.

To be honest, if it were changed in the past, Sima Cuo's tiger talisman order would not be Bai Qi, after all, the two were in different armies, and Bai Qi was also the commander of an army, but this time the situation was slightly different, after all, Qin hoped that Bai Qi would be Sima Cuo's deputy general and assist Sima Cuo in supervising the marriage of the King of Chu and the formation of the Qin-Chu coalition army, so Sima Cuo could temporarily order Bai Qi.

"Unexpectedly...... How dare you persecute me with a tiger talisman?'

Looking at Ding Bao, who showed the tiger talisman, Bai Qi was furious in his heart, and his face was full of anger, and he actually reached out to grab the tiger talisman in Ding Bao's hand.

Seeing this, Zhong Xu, Wei Yuan, and Tong Yang hurriedly stopped Bai Qi and persuaded in a low voice: "Bai Shuai is angry, Bai Shuai is angry." ”

Ding Bao was also taken aback, took two steps back and shouted a little inwardly: "Bai Zuogen, do you really want to disobey?!" ”

I have to say that in fact, Ding Bao is secretly complaining in his heart at this moment.

Who is Bai Qi, doesn't he know? That is the most important favorite general of Marquis Wei Ran! In the Battle of Yique, the new general who captured the famous general Gongsun Xi of the Wei State!

In the Qin State, where military discipline is strict, if an ordinary soldier disobeys an order, nine times out of ten he will be executed, but how could Bai Qi be executed?

Even if it was Sima Mistake, at most, he could only confess in front of King Qin, and let Marquis Wei come forward to reprimand Bai Qi.

Sima Cuo dares to kill Bai Qi to try?

Wei Ran will definitely immediately turn his face with Sima Cuo, and at that time, Sima Cuo will definitely not be able to gain a foothold in the Qin State, even if he has laid a great foundation for the Qin State.

Therefore, Ding Bao didn't dare to persecute Bai Qi too much, so he could only bring out the King of Qin and the Marquis Wei Ran to scare Bai Qi.

Fortunately, there are still three people in the tent at this moment, Zhong Xu, Tong Yang, and Wei Yuan, and the three of them are holding Bai Qi to death.

They didn't dare to let go, in case Bai Qi was angry and grabbed the wrong tiger talisman in Ding Bao's hand and threw it to the ground, then the matter would be a big problem.

During this period, Zhong Xu persuaded Bai Qi in a low voice: "Bai Shuai, now the country trusts Sima Cuo more after all, I hope you will assist him, if this matter is in front of the king, won't this add trouble to the marquis?" ”

Hearing this, Bai Qi restrained his anger slightly, glared at Ding Bao and said hatefully, "Old horseman...... Does he know who Fang Cheng's defender is?! It's Meng Zhong of Wei! Right now, I'm completely sure that I'll capture the city where he is, but the old puppet ordered me to withdraw my troops to Hanshui?! Did he know that if he gave that Meng Zhong a few more months to prepare for the battle, then our Qin army would have to pay several times the price to defeat the lower city! ”

Seeing Bai Qi gritting his teeth and insulting Sima Cuo with the "old horseman", Ding Bao did not talk back very wisely.

At the same time, he finally understood why the young commander Bai Qi in front of him had such a deep obsession with the Fang City of Wei: in that city, there was Bai Qi's old enemy in the Battle of Yique, the Wei general Meng Zhong!

After scolding for a while, Bai Qi finished venting the anger in his heart, only to see the tiger talisman in Ding Bao's hand, and said hatefully: "The old man forced me to withdraw my troops with the tiger talisman today, okay, I will obey in vain, but he will definitely regret it!" ”

After saying that, he shouted indignantly: "Pass the order to go down and withdraw the troops back to Hanshui!" ”

Looking at Bai Qi's sworn appearance, Ding Bao was also a little hesitant in his heart, after all, because of Bai Qi's relationship, Wei General Meng Zhong has gradually become famous in the Qin State.

But the problem is Sima Cuo's order, Sima Cuo asked Bai Qi to withdraw his troops to Hanshui, so even if Ding Bao believed Bai Qi's judgment a little, it was not good to help Bai Qi in this matter, so he could only watch Bai Qi pass the order with an angry face.

A moment later, the order was handed down, and the soldiers under Bai Qi's command looked at each other.

Didn't you say that it was good to attack Fang Cheng?

Why did you retreat back to Hanshui?

But since it was the commander's order, the sergeants did not dare to disobey, gave up the camp that had just been built, chiseled all the siege equipment that had been built, packed their bags, and returned to Hanshui.

When he set off to return to Hanshui, Bai Qi stood on the chariot and looked in the direction of Fangcheng, feeling very unhappy.

He didn't just regret that he had lost the opportunity to defeat Meng Zhong, but hated Sima for ordering him to withdraw his troops when he didn't know what was going on, didn't this give Meng Zhong more time to prepare for the war?

It is not difficult for Bai Qi to foresee that in a few months, when his Qin-Chu coalition army sets foot in Wanfang again, his Qin army will inevitably pay more price to conquer that fortified city.

And all of this is thanks to Sima Cuo!

"Let's go!"

At the sound of an order, nearly 70,000 Qin soldiers returned the same way and returned to Yanxian County to station.

Bai Qijun's abnormal movement immediately attracted the attention of Fangcheng's cavalry.

When Menghu, Huahu, and Mu Wu learned of this, they immediately led the cavalry to lead the Qin army far away.

They originally thought that this was some trick by Bai Qi, but it was not until they followed Bai Qi's army south for fifty miles that Menghu, Huahu, and Mu Wu felt that something was not right: this Bai Qi seemed to have really retreated.

Thinking left and right, they couldn't figure it out, and the three of them immediately reported the matter to Meng Zhong.

After learning the news, Meng Zhong was also stunned for a while.

Because he knew that Bai Qi's tentative attack on the other side city a few days ago had basically figured out the foundation of Fang Cheng, considering that Bai Qi had 70,000 troops, while other Fang Cheng only had 30,000 usable soldiers, which made Meng Zhong also very distressed in recent days how to resist Bai Qi.

Unexpectedly, when the time came, Bai Qi actually withdrew his troops for some reason, even if it was Meng Zhong, he felt incredible.

"Did Bai Qi get the order from the Qin State, or did Sima Coo order Bai Qi to withdraw his troops?"

Meng Zhong thought to himself.

Because as far as he knows, there are only two generals of the Qin State in the territory of Chu now, Sima Co and Bai Qi, if it is not for the order sent by the Qin State to order Bai Qi to retreat, then it can only be Sima Co.

Of course, this was just Meng Zhong's speculation, and he didn't know anything about it.

The only thing he could do was to select some trustworthy new pawns from among the Chu people who defected to the Fangcheng army, and let them disguise themselves to go to Chu Ying to inquire about the situation and see if they could find out any news.

It is worth mentioning that during this period, Meng Zhong also thought of Chu Chen Zhuang Xin, judging from the previous deeds of Zhuang Xin sending people to report to Fang Cheng, Zhuang Xin was obviously against Chu State's submission to Qin, so Meng Zhong could also send someone to get in touch with Zhuang Xin and try to get some information from Zhuang Xin's side.

After all, Zhuang Xin is also a courtier of the Chu State, so he is naturally more well-informed.

But after weighing it, Meng Zhong finally gave up: he was worried about exposing Zhuang Xin's "internal response" and causing him to be killed.

In short, no matter what the reason for Bai Qi to temporarily withdraw his troops, the purpose of Qin to force Chu to submit was still to crusade against Wei and Han, and it was always right to seize the time to prepare for war in this free time.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong no longer pondered the reason for Bai Qi's retreat, but instead devoted all his energy to preparing for battle.

A few days later, around the first day of the fifth month, Bai Qi led 70,000 troops under his command and returned to the area of Yanxian County to station.

Subsequently, he followed Sima Cuo's guard Ding Bao, under the protection of more than 100 Qin soldiers, arrived in Chu Ying and met with his lieutenant of the Qin State, Sima Cuo.

In view of Sima Cuo's sabotage of his plan to attack Fangcheng, Bai Qi, who already lacked respect for this veteran, did not have a good face for Sima Cuo, so that when he saw Sima Cuo, he had a straight face from beginning to end, and he looked like no one should enter.

And Sima Cuo, he is also a very serious person.

I think that when Zhang Yi was still in the Qi State, Sima Cuo once started a debate with Zhang Yi in front of King Qin Hui for the question of "attacking Bashu or attacking Korea".

As a result, Zhang Yi relied on his incorruptible tongue and did not argue with Sima Wrong, which made King Qin Hui finally listen to Sima Cuo's suggestion and use part of Qin's forces to attack the land of Bashu.

When he finally saw Bai Qi that day, Sima Cuo also asked Bai Qi unceremoniously: "Why did you disobey the domestic orders and use troops in the other city without authorization?" ”

Bai raised a straight face and replied bluntly: "There is Meng Zhong in Fangcheng, if you wait for the national lieutenant to spend a few months to form the Qin-Chu coalition army, I am afraid that Meng Zhong will already be ready to prepare for war......

Hearing this, Sima Cuo was also stunned for a moment, and asked in surprise, "Meng Zhong?" That Wei general Meng Zhong during the Battle of Yique? The one who beat you? ”

Although Bai Qi was a little unhappy with Sima's wrong statement, he did not reject it, after all, Meng Zhong was his recognized opponent, even if he was said to be a success or failure to Meng Zhong, he didn't feel any shame - how could there be a general in this world who won a hundred battles?

"Not bad!"

Bai Qi said in a deep voice: "The State of Chu surrendered to my Qin State, such a big matter, it can't be hidden from Fang Cheng at all, with Meng Zhong's talent, he can see through at a glance that my Qin State wants to unite the State of Chu to crusade against Wei and Han, so he will definitely prepare in advance...... It took a few months for the lieutenant to form a coalition army, and Meng Zhong would have a few months to prepare for war, and instead of spending several times the casualties to defeat the lower city, I think we should immediately use troops against the other city and kill him by surprise. ”

"I see."

Sima Co nodded, his face was a little pale, after all, Bai Qi's explanation made him quite satisfied.

But even so, he still put forward a strategy diametrically opposed to Bai Qi: "It's not wrong for Bai Zuo to think so, but everything must be done step by step, first to promote the marriage of the king of Chu, and then form a Qin-Chu coalition army, and then lead the Qin-Chu coalition army to attack Wanfang...... With the formation of the combined forces of Qin and Chu, are you still afraid that you won't be able to capture a square city? ”

Hearing this, Bai Qi sneered in his heart.

The Sima Cuo in front of him didn't know how difficult Meng Zhong was to say it so easily.

But there is no way, he is only a deputy general this time, and everything is based on Sima Cuo's opinion.

"You're going to regret it, you're going to regret it."

After taking a deep look at Sima Cuo, Bai Qi couldn't help sneering in his heart.