"Ding, ding, ding—"

Faced with the crossbow array defense of Yangguan, General Qin Bai Qi reluctantly chose to retreat.

Although he had the intention to test the garrison of Yangguan today, he never expected that Meng Zhong didn't know what tricks he had played, so that he kept shooting a rain of arrows from Yangguan, which not only made the soldiers of Qin and Chu feel panicked, but even Bai Qi was a little upset because of this.

In today's world, although there are "Sun Tzu", "Wu Tzu", "Sun Bin" and other art of war, all generals who have seen the art of war understand that fighting a war requires "righteousness and victory", but the reason why a plot is called a plot is that it can be thought up casually.

But Meng Zhong on the other side, it seems that every time he meets this guy, this guy can come up with some novel things, such as imitating Zhao Guo to form cavalry during the Battle of Yique last year, cracking the wolf-rushing strategy he used to counter the Wei army, and today in Yangguan, I don't know what tricks he played, so that the crossbowmen under his command can continuously fire volleys.

I have to say that this makes Bai Qi's mood particularly complicated.

On the one hand, the better Meng Zhong performs, the more Bai Qi regards him as a fierce opponent in vain, and even Bai Qi is secretly looking forward to whether Meng Zhong can perform even better; But on the other hand, Bai Qi also hopes to defeat Meng Zhong as soon as possible and take him under his command.

There was no shortage of generals in the Qin State who cooperated with each other tacitly, such as Wei Zhang and Ying Ji, and it was the tacit cooperation of these two that enabled the Qin State to finally defeat the Chu State that sent troops to attack the Qin State in those difficult years, and completely annihilated the Chu army that invaded the territory of the Qin State in one fell swoop, so that the arrogant and arrogant Chu State at that time did not dare to provoke the Qin State again.

Because of this, even if Wei Zhang and Ying Ji are both dead today, there are still elderly Qin people who miss these two famous generals.

However, Bai Qi firmly believed that as long as Meng Zhong was willing to defect to the Qin State and join him as a deputy general, he and Meng Zhong would join hands sincerely, even if it was the combination of Wei Zhang and Yingji, they would be compared to them.

But if you want to subdue Meng Zhong, you must first defeat this person, but if you want to defeat Meng Zhong......

It has to be said that this is not an easy task.

"Hooray!"

"The Qin army has retreated!"

"Hooray!"

Seeing the Qin army retreating like a tide outside the pass, first of all, the Wei soldiers on the wall of Yangguan couldn't help but cheer, and immediately, a tidal cheer also sounded inside the pass.

"This is the withdrawal of troops?"

Xu Dijun Sima Zheng Zheng was a little unbelievable, he never thought that the offensive of the Qin-Chu coalition army today would be such a tiger.

No, it can't even be talked about, because the Qin-Chu coalition army hardly poses much threat to Yangguan today.

Of course, although he felt that this was incredible, Zheng Zheng also understood the reason, and he felt that it was probably his Wei army's uninterrupted salvo of crossbow arrows that frightened Sima Cuo and Bai Qi.

And when it came to this uninterrupted volley of crossbow arrows, he couldn't help but admire Meng Zhong a little.

You must know that it has been hundreds of years since the crossbowmen came out, but there has always been a fatal weakness, that is, the loading of crossbows is too slow and cannot shoot continuously, which makes crossbowmen can only be used as icing on the cake on the battlefield most of the time, not enough to become the main force, however, today Meng Zhong relies on ingenious tactics, and only a few thousand crossbowmen can scare the Qin army to withdraw immediately, Zheng Zheng really admires.

Thinking of this, Zheng Zheng immediately walked from the city wall to the Guan Tower, hugged his fists towards Meng Zhong, and said with a smile: "Congratulations to Fang Chengling for repelling the Qin army again." …… However, this time it was too easy, and before the head of a Qin pawn was taken down, this battle was over, and it was really not fun......"

Meng Zhong said with a smile: "Today is just Sima Cuo and Bai Qi were bluffed by us, if they knew the secret, they would not have evacuated so easily when they sent troops to attack my Yangguan next time......

Hearing this, Zheng Zheng's face was stunned, and he immediately frowned and said, "In this case, it is necessary to warn the soldiers to keep secrets, and don't leak this tactic......"

Meng Zhong smiled slightly.

In all fairness, of course, he also wanted to keep the secret of the second stage shooting, but as the saying goes, paper can't hold the fire, no matter how he keeps the secret, Sima Cuo and Bai Qi will eventually learn the secret, and even learn it, and deal with them in turn.

Since you are destined to not be able to keep the secret, it is better to go with the flow and devote more of your mind to thinking of new strategies - throughout the ages, which famous general can win all the victories with a single move?

At this time, Meng Sui also walked over from the side of the city wall and chatted with Meng Zhong and Zheng Zheng for a while.

Calculating, Meng Sui lowered his voice and said to Meng Zhong: "Ah Zhong, although this tactic is extremely powerful, the crossbow arrow reserves in the pass are also very depleted, and in just a few moments, almost thirty or forty thousand crossbow arrows have been fired......

Beside him, Zheng Zheng's eyes widened in shock when he heard this.

He couldn't help but interject, "What? That's it? Thirty or forty thousand arrows gone? ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong also smiled helplessly.

For today's guard, the crossbowmen under his command and the crossbowmen under Zheng Zheng were all transferred together, about 6,000 people, and these 6,000 crossbowmen each shot ten arrows, isn't it 60,000 crossbows?

At this time, Meng Sui Zhengse said to Meng Zhong: "For future consideration, I think it is necessary to reserve a batch of crossbow arrows. ”

After a slight pause, he pulled out a crossbow bolt from the quiver on the waist of a crossbowman on the Guan Tower, and told Meng Zhong his thoughts: "I think that relying solely on the crossbow arrows transported from the Wei State is not enough to fully compensate for the consumption of arrows by our army, and if we want to hold this place for a long time, I think we should build some workshops specializing in forging arrow clusters......

"Specializing in forging arrow clusters?" Zheng Zheng next to him was slightly stunned.

"Yes." Meng Sui turned his head to Zheng Zheng, nodded and explained: "In order to save iron and stone, just forging arrow clusters is enough to penetrate the armor of the Qin army, and arrow shafts, using wooden poles is enough, and, in order to save manpower, we can let the people of Yeyi help cut these wooden poles, I Yeyi now have more than 100,000 people, if there are 100,000 people, each person sharpens ten wooden poles a day, it is a million ......"

A million arrow shafts a day?

Zheng Zheng, who was on the side, was already speechless.

It's no wonder, after all, today, a single city can have a population of more than 100,000, absolutely no more than two hands, and it also includes cities like Handan, Daliang, Linzi and other national capitals, the vast majority of Dayi, basically the population is about 30,000 or 40,000, so naturally there is no such exaggerated productivity.

"That's a good idea."

Meng Zhong nodded when he heard this.

He considered Mengsui's suggestion from two aspects, first, the repeated use of crossbow arrows, and second, the labor force of Yeyi.

Don't look at the fact that there is still plenty of arable land in the Yeyi area, but with the development of Yeyi, the adjacent land around the city will eventually be reclaimed, and at that time, there will be a large number of landless people.

Without land, it means no income, and living without income.

Therefore, it is particularly important to develop some small workshops in Yeyi to share part of the pressure on land shortage.

All in all, for a city to develop sustainably, agriculture, industry, and commerce are indispensable.

Thinking of this, Meng Zhong immediately said to Meng Sui: "In this way, you immediately send someone to Xiangyu to Yangguan, and let's discuss this matter well......"

"Hmm!"

Meng Sui nodded, and after greeting Zheng Zheng, he said goodbye and left.

Looking at the back of Meng Sui leaving, and then looking at Meng Zhong standing beside him, Zheng Zheng couldn't help but have a strange thought in his heart: Obviously, these two are about the same age as his son, so he can't understand the conversation between the two of them?

However, when he thought that Meng Zhong and Meng Sui were both disciples of Master Zhou Zhuang of the Song Kingdom, Zheng Zheng was also relieved.

After all, it is the height of a saint, and ordinary people are naturally incomparable.

Subsequently, Meng Zhong and Zheng Zheng inspected the Guannei again, during which they talked to the soldiers under their command by the way to boost their morale, and during the period when he was encouraging morale, suddenly a Wei pawn came to him with two Wei pawns, and reported with a fist: "Qi Fang Cheng order, there is a messenger from Yuncheng to send a letter, wanting to see Cai Wu Cai Sima." ”

Hearing this, Meng Zhong then looked at the two Wei soldiers from Yuncheng and said in surprise: "Cai Sima has led the army back to Yuncheng a few days ago, haven't you two met on the way?" ”

The two Yuncheng Wei pawns looked at each other, and after a while, one of the soldiers lowered his head and said: "We should have arrived here yesterday, but we encountered the pursuit of the enemy cavalry on the way, so ...... That's why ......"

"I see."

Meng Zhong nodded, and did not blame the two of them, but said with relief: "But you two can rest assured, Cai Sima has led the army back to help Yuncheng, counting the days, I am afraid that I have arrived in the area of Yuncheng at this moment......"

After that, he glanced at the letter in the hand of one of the Yuncheng Wei pawns, and asked, "If you don't mind, can you take a look at this letter and see what the situation in Yuncheng is now?" ”

Hearing this, the Wei pawn who held the letter immediately handed the letter in his hand to Meng Zhong respectfully, and said, "If it is Fang Cheng's order, it should be fine......

Obviously, this Wei pawn also knew that Meng Zhong and Cai Wu had an excellent relationship.

After thanking him, Meng Zhong took the bamboo book, slowly spread it out, and carefully read the contents of the letter.

Like the letter asking for help a few days ago, this letter was also written by Du Su, the county commander of Yuncheng, to the effect that there were frequent villages in Yuncheng that had been raided and plundered by the Qin cavalry recently, and there were countless casualties.

Looking at Du Su's tone in the letter, it seems that his relationship with Cai Wu is not bad, at least he does not mean to threaten Cai Wu.

But seeing that the letter said that there were countless deaths and injuries, and that many refugees had defected to the county seat, Meng Zhong was still quite sad.

After all, if he hadn't written a letter to implore Cai Wu to bring troops to help, Yuncheng might not have experienced this catastrophe.

On the side, Zheng Zheng also saw the content in his heart, and saw that Meng Zhong was a little guilty, so he persuaded on the side: "Fangcheng order doesn't have to be like this, Fangcheng and Yuncheng, including my Xu County, the three places are not far apart, and my lips and teeth are cold, and Cai Wu and I help Fangcheng, which is equivalent to helping Yuncheng and Xu County." At present, Fangcheng has resisted more than 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops, otherwise, if this place is lost, more than 200,000 troops outside can go straight to the hinterland of our three cities along Yangguan and Yeyi, and by then, the casualties in Yuncheng will be more than hundreds, nearly a thousand......"

I have to say that this is indeed a fact, Sima Cuo's purpose in attacking Fangcheng and Yangguan is to occupy this passage so that he can threaten the hinterland of Wei at any time.

Hearing Zheng Zheng's words, Meng Zhong nodded slightly, and then glanced at the letter asking for help in his hand.

Although he didn't know who the commander of the 2,000 Qin cavalry under Bai Qi's command was, he could see that this person was not reckless but a little cunning, and seeing that Yuncheng was unable to send troops to recruit them, he simply took root in Yuncheng first, raided local villages everywhere, seized food and clothing, and kept them for use in the winter.

Since he is a general with a bit of wisdom, he will naturally not be defeated by Meng Hu, Hua Hu and others in a short period of time, coupled with the winter ice and snow road closure, which is not conducive to cavalry combat, so Meng Zhong does not expect Meng Hu, Hua Hu and others to defeat this Qin cavalry as soon as possible and lead the army back to Yangguan, most of which will not wait until the spring of next year for these two cavalry to break out into a larger fight.

That's fine, at least in this way, Bai Qi will think that the cavalry under his command has been transferred to Yuncheng, but he doesn't know that there are still 3,000 cavalry on his side of Yangguan.

Yes, in order to show the importance attached to Yuncheng's encounter with the Qin cavalry, Meng Zhong not only sent a thousand cavalry veterans under the command of Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu, but also allocated a total of 2,000 cavalry to them, but even so, Meng Zhong still had 3,000 cavalry under his command.

These 3,000 cavalry, even if it is white, I can't think of it.

So, is there a way to rely on these 3,000 cavalry that Bai Qi did not expect to give the Qin army a fatal blow again?

"Wancheng...... Fangcheng ...... Wancheng ...... Wancheng ......

After pondering for a moment, Meng Zhong beckoned a guard and asked, "I have heard that in the mountains on the northwest side of Fangcheng, there is a hidden path that leads directly to Wancheng, I don't know if it is true, you go and investigate." ”

"Whoa!"

The guard clenched his fists and retreated.

Looking at the back of the guard's departure, Meng Zhong frowned thoughtfully.

At the same time, Cai Wu had already arrived in Yuncheng with his army.

is different from Fangcheng, although Cai Wu is the military Sima of the garrison of Yuncheng, he is not the county Sima of Yuncheng - Yuncheng's own county Sima is responsible for public security and anti-theft, and Cai Wu's main task in the past is to guard the border of Wei and Chu and resist the Chu army attacking from the direction of Chu.

To put it bluntly, he and the army under his command are only attached to Yuncheng, but they are not the army directly under Yuncheng.

If Wei was in a tight position on other defensive lines, Cai Wu and his troops would also be transferred elsewhere, just like when Wei supported South Korea last year, Cai Wu and Zheng Zheng were transferred from their own garrison areas to South Korea.

Because of this, even if Cai Wu wanted to thank Menghu, Huahu, Mu Wu, and Cao Chun for returning to Yuncheng with him, and intentionally set up a banquet to entertain them, he couldn't directly take Menghu and a few people into the city at this moment, and he needed to send someone to inform Du Su, the county commander of Yuncheng, first.

Therefore, after arriving in the area of Yuncheng, Cai Wu took Menghu, Huahu, and Mu Wu to his military camp and stationed them, and at the same time immediately sent someone to inform Yuncheng Ling Du Su.

At this time, Du Su was anxiously waiting for Cai Wu to lead the army back to help, and suddenly learned that Cai Wu had led the army back to the military camp outside the city, he was overjoyed, and immediately ran to Cai Wu's military camp in a carriage.

When he saw Cai Wu, Du Su naturally couldn't help but complain, after all, some people under his rule were broken into and killed by the armies of other countries, and the county commander and Sima were both to blame.

It is also thanks to Cai Wu's garrison in Yuncheng for nearly ten years, and Du Su has long been acquainted, so Du Su concealed it, if he is not familiar with it, he directly sent someone to sue Cai Wu in front of the King of Wei, saying that he, as the military Sima of the garrison Yuncheng, did not guard Yuncheng well but ran to Fangcheng with soldiers and horses, resulting in several villages in Yuncheng being attacked and plundered by the Qin cavalry, and it is difficult to guarantee that the King of Wei will not be angry.

Facing Du Su with a complaining face, Cai Wu could only be comforted with kind words: "Aren't I coming back?" …… Lao Du, compared to my Yuncheng, the Fangcheng Order is the real main battlefield, do you know that Qin and Chu sent more than 200,000 troops to attack Fangcheng, if it weren't for Fangcheng Order, so that the 200,000 Qin and Chu coalition troops were blocked in Fangcheng and Yangguan, those Qin people and Chu troops would have been killed long ago...... With an army of more than 200,000 troops, how long can we defend Yuncheng? ”

Hearing this, Du Su didn't want to say anything, after all, Cai Wu was right, compared to Yuncheng, it is indeed the situation on Fangcheng's side that is more urgent now, and once Fangcheng is lost, more than 200,000 Qin-Chu coalition troops will enter the hinterland of his Wei State, and the situation will be even more critical at that time.

Thinking of this, Du Su didn't want to complain about Cai Wu anymore, and frowned and said: "It's not that I blame Sima Cai, and I also understand the stakes of things, but those Qin pawns who are riding horses ...... Oh, it's called cavalry, right? So far, those Qin cavalry have raided and plundered five villages in my Yuncheng territory, killing a total of nearly 1,000 people from those families, so in recent days, various families have sent people to question me, asking why I didn't send troops to expel that enemy army...... I only have 800 defenders in Yuncheng, what do you say I should use to crusade against that Qin army? ”

Indeed, just like the Song State, most of the villages in the Wei State also exist in the form of families, a village is a family, and now the villages connected to the families have been looted by the Qin cavalry, and Yuncheng as the county seat of the city is indifferent, no wonder those families are angry and have sent people to question Du Su.

Hearing this, Cai Wu hurriedly reassured: "Don't worry, this time I not only brought back the army under my command, but also brought reinforcements...... Fang Cheng Ling was very righteous, and when he learned that my Yuncheng was attacked by the cavalry of the Qin State, he sent 3,000 cavalry in one breath, and among them 1,000 cavalrymen, he was a veteran who participated in the Battle of Yique last year...... You know the Battle of Ique, right? ”

Du Su nodded.

Of course, he knew about the Battle of Yique, and he must know that this battle has become a war that the Wei people talk about, and the reason is that his 180,000 Wei army was attacked by the Qin army in the early stage, and lost nearly 100,000 troops overnight, and was almost defeated by the Qin army in one fell swoop.

However, Gongsun Xi's lieutenant general Gongsun Zhu, as well as a young general named Meng Zhong under Gongsun Xi's account, forcibly reversed the disadvantage, led the remnants of the defeated generals, united with the Han army, which was also defeated by the Qin army, and in turn defeated the Qin army.

It is precisely because of this great turning point that the Wei people firmly believe that this is a gift from God, believing that this is the blessing of God for his Wei army.

Thinking about it, wouldn't it be a miracle that you could turn defeat into victory under such circumstances?

As the two were talking, it turned out that Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu, Cao Chun, Cai Cheng, and Lu Wen came over, and Meng Hu, led by Meng Hu, saw Cai Wu from a distance, so he greeted with a smile: "Old Cai, have you asked the soldiers to prepare wine and food?" I feel like I'm hungry enough to eat a dolphin ......"

"Lao Cai?"

Yuncheng made Du Su look back, and saw that the person who called Cai Wu so was actually a young man who was only about twenty years old, and he couldn't help but be stunned in his heart.

You must know that Cai Wu is also a military commander no matter how he says, and he is the chief general who commands 12,500 soldiers, and it is not just anyone who can call him a brother.

What is the origin of this young man?

Seeing Du Su looking at him with a puzzled expression, Cai Wu shook his head helplessly and said, "Let me introduce you, these three young looking little brothers are all Fang Chengling's siblings, and they are also one of Fang Cheng's three military horses......

Hearing this, Meng Hu said with some complaints: "Lao Cai, explain to people like you, just say that a few of us seem to rely on relationships to become military horses, I am brave and good......"

"Isn't it?" Hua Hu pouted beside him and said: "Without Ah Zhong, I can barely be a division commander, you can't survive a brigade commander......"

"Hey, hey, I can't pretend I didn't hear you...... I'm very fierce, you go to Qin Jun to inquire, who doesn't know my bravery of Menghu? Cao Chun, you said yes, right? ”

"What Sima said is extremely true." Cao Chun smiled and nodded.

The smile on his face at the moment was the same as Cai Cheng and Lu Wen.

However, teasing is teasing, ridiculing is ridiculing, whether it is Cai Wu, Cao Chun, Cai Cheng, and Lu Wen, they must admit that the three young people of Menghu, Huahu, and Mu Wu are indeed very brave, especially in commanding the cavalry.

With only a thousand cavalry in total, they dared to hunt down tens of thousands of Qin troops, who could have imagined?

"Two ......, two people"

Seeing that Menghu and Huahu were arguing, Cai Wu hurriedly persuaded as a peacemaker: "It's all my fault, both of them are warriors who are unique in ten thousand......"

Hearing this, Meng Hu and Hua Hu were happy, but Mu Wu, who was on the side, stared at Cai Wu vigorously, but unfortunately Cai Wu was busy introducing everyone to Du Su and didn't notice Mu Wu's expression.

I have to say that Cai Wu's introduction really shocked Du Su, he really didn't expect that the three young people, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, and Mu Wu, were actually military horses like Cai Wu.

However, he still adhered to etiquette, although there was a moment of consternation, but he quickly reacted, and bowed to the three of Menghu: "It turned out to be the three military horses of Fangcheng, and they ordered Du Su in Xiayun City to see three ......."

Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, he was patted on the shoulder by Meng Hu, and immediately hooked his neck, and the latter said with a smile: "When I came, Lao Cai told us, saying that you have known him for more than ten years, then you are not an outsider, Lao Du, you can rest assured, there are only 2,000 Qin cavalry, I will definitely kill them without leaving a piece of armor, and avenge the loss of the people of Yuncheng!" ”

"Old, old?"

Looking at Meng Hu, who was about the same age as his son, Du Su opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say.

At the same time, Hu Yu, the Qin general who had just raided a village, was sitting on a wooden stake in the village with his eyes closed, deaf to the cries and begs for mercy from the women in the village.

Suddenly, but I heard the sound of horses' hooves from far and near, and there was a report from the cavalry under his command: "General, we just found traces of cavalry in the area of Yuncheng, most of them are cavalry ...... Fangcheng."

Hearing this, Hu Yu opened his eyes suddenly and asked, "How many people are there?" ”

"I don't know the specifics, maybe two or three thousand."

"Two or three thousand cavalry? This is a little inconsistent with the situation described by Bai Shuai......" Hu Yu frowned, and then said in a deep voice: "Explore again!" Find out the specific number of Fangcheng's cavalry, and in addition, send someone to report these to Bai Shuai......"

"Whoa!"

After a few moments, the corpse-strewn village was quiet again, except for the faint sounds of women crying and moaning.