Because Tian Zhang took the initiative to order the whole army to retreat to the twenty-mile camp, the distance between the Qi army's garrison and Qiyang City increased to a full twenty miles, which made Meng Zhong dare not rashly attack the Qi army at night.

After all, unlike when the two armies were ten miles apart, a full twenty miles away, Meng Zhong could not grasp what would happen on the way to his night attack on the Qi army, after all, the commander of the Qi army on the opposite side was the world-famous Kuang Zhang, and he was the only famous general who defeated Qiang Qin and broke through Hangu Pass so far, so even if it was Meng Zhong, he had to fight for twelve points.

The Song army gave up attacking the Qi army at night, and on the side of the Qi army, Tian Zhang felt that it was meaningless to attack the fortified city of Qiyang at night, so the two armies of Song and Qi temporarily entered a stalemate stage, until the Qi army completely built the twenty-mile camp, and there was no war between the two sides.

On May 18, seeing that his camp had been completed, Tian Zhang decided to try to use troops against Qiyang City.

As mentioned above, although the city of Qiangyang is small, more than two hundred and eighty years ago, the monarch of the Qiangyang Kingdom relied on this small city and absolutely weak troops to resist the army of the Thirteen Kingdoms led by the Jin State for a month, and finally it was the Thirteen Nations Alliance Army that relied on the absolute superiority in strength to attack the city, which broke through this city.

Subsequently, after the Duke of Jin Mourning gave the Yang to the Song State, the Song State also firmly held the Qiyang for the Jin State, the main road to attack the Chu State, and sent people to strengthen the city wall in the Yang City, so that the City of the Yang after this was stronger than before and difficult to overcome.

There are generally three ways to deal with this kind of fortified city.

The first is to lure the enemy, that is, to lure the defenders of the city out of the city and take the opportunity to annihilate part of its forces, which can greatly increase the chances of victory for the besieging side.

The second is to besiege the city, with an army ten times that of the defenders in the city, surround the city on all sides, cut off its firewood, water, and food, and the lonely city will be broken if it is as short as half a month and as long as several months!

The third, and most common strategy, is to storm the city at the cost of casualties, just like the Thirteen-Nation Alliance Army did more than 280 years ago.

And Tian Zhang, as a famous general in Rong Ma's life, of course, preferred to lure the enemy with a plan, but he didn't expect that someone in the Song army would see through his strategy.

As for the siege, he can't do it for the time being, after all, in order to take another fortified city "Tengcheng" without blood, his deputy general Tian Jing has already divided his troops to lead 80,000 troops to Tengdi, which makes Tian Zhang's command only 70,000 people temporarily, and 20,000 of them are still left by him in Xueyi to garrison to appease the people of Yi and deter Xiaoxiao, in this case, what will he do to surround and force Yang?

After all, although the Song army in Qiyang is not as strong as the Qi army, it also has nearly 30,000 troops, and the Song State will inevitably send troops to help in a steady stream, maybe a month later, the Song army in the area of Qiyang will reach 50,000 people, which is completely equal to the army under Tian Zhang's command - in this case, choosing to encircle Qiyang is just delaying the fighter plane and waiting for the Song reinforcements to arrive.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Tian Zhang decided to try to attack Qiangyang City to see if this fortified city was as difficult to capture as the rumors said.

By the way, you can also find the flaws in Forcing Yang City.

However, in order to attack Qiyang City, it is necessary to first eliminate the two camps established by Dai Busheng and Dai Yingzhi in the northwest and northeast corners of Qiyang City - let's just become the West Camp and the East Camp - at least one of the cities must be captured, otherwise, when the Qi army attacks the north wall of Qiyang City, it is very likely to be attacked by Dai Busheng and Dai Ying, so that the Qi army besieging the city will fall into an unfavorable situation.

As for whether he chooses to attack Dai Busheng or Dai Yingzhi's camp, there is not much difference, but after thinking about it, Tian Zhang still decided to attack Dai Busheng's Xiying, the reason is that the combat method of Dai Busheng's army is often vain, and it may be able to open up the situation from this person, in comparison, Dai Yingzhi is not as impulsive as Dai Busheng, and it is more difficult to lure the bait.

On the morning of 18 May, Tian Zhang left 5,000 Qi troops to guard the 20-mile camp, and led 45,000 Qi troops with Tian Touch, Tian Da and other generals, and slowly came to the city of Qiyang, preparing to launch an offensive against the Dai Busheng battalion in the northwest corner of the city.

Before ordering the attack on the camp, Tian Zhang summoned the two generals Tian Touch and Tian Da, and instructed them: "I will attack the camp of Dai Busheng, and force Dai Wu, the prince in Yang City, and Dai Yingzhi in the northeast corner, or lead the army to rescue, and you two will act when the opportunity arises." ”

During this period, he emphatically told Tian Tudao: "If you force the Song army in Yang City to go out of the city to rescue, you must drag this Song army so that it cannot return to the city." …… The Song army here suffered two defeats in succession in Xueyi, and if it can't take advantage of the city wall of Qiangyang, it will inevitably be defeated by our army! ”

"Obey!"

Tian Touch nodded, indicating that he had understood what Tian Zhang meant.

After completing the instructions, Tian Zhang immediately ordered a general named "Zou Xi" to lead the army to attack Dai Busheng's camp.

Dai Busheng's camp, its barracks are only two zhang high, and it is a wooden structure, far less solid than Qiyang City, so don't look at the Qi army did not carry any siege equipment, just with some long ladders, but with the advantage of troops, it was enough to pose enough threat to the Song army in the camp.

I saw that in the midst of the drums, a famous Qi sergeant carried a long ladder and quickly rushed to the outside of the Song army's west camp, erected the long ladder on the camp fence, and struggled to climb up.

Although the Song army defending the city also used bows and crossbows to shoot hard, trying to repel the attacking Qi army, but the camp is not a city after all, whether it is the position above the camp gate wall that can stand people, or the sentry arrow tower in the camp, it cannot be compared with the real city, which leads to a large part of the Song army's crossbowmen unable to stand in a favorable position to attack the attacking enemy.

The archers are better, after all, the archers can use the projectile to cross the barracks to attack the Qi troops outside the camp, but the crossbowmen can't do it, although the crossbowmen shoot crossbow arrows with some arcs, but they can't do it beyond the barracks to attack the enemy troops outside the camp.

What's even worse is that Tian Zhang is well versed in the use of troops, and has very rich experience in attacking cities and villages, except for Tian Touch and Tian Da's troops to prevent the accident of the prince Dai Wu and Dai Yingzhi, he put the remaining 25,000 military camps into one go, clearly to adopt crowd tactics and capture this western camp with only one round of offensive.

Because of his rich experience in attacking the city, Tian Zhang had no doubt that he would not be able to win this attack, and the only thing worth thinking about was the forced Yang City.

Yes, all the keys are focused on Forcing Yang City, and he needs to quietly observe the reaction of the Song army in Forcing Yang City to make the next arrangements.

And just when the Qi army was attacking Dai Busheng, the Song soldiers on the city had already reported the matter to the prince Dai Wu, and the shocked prince Dai Wu immediately took Meng Zhong, Le Yi, and Meng Hu to the city wall to look at the battle situation.

It may be that seeing that Tian Zhang led the army to attack today, with a full force of 40,000 or 50,000 troops, and Dai Busheng only had less than one army left - about 8,000 people, which made the crown prince Dai Wu couldn't help but panic a little, and after taking a few glances at the battlefield in the distance, he immediately said to Meng Zhong: "Qing, I should immediately support Uncle Busheng." ”

“……”

Meng Zhong carefully observed the battlefield in the distance, and suddenly shook his head and said, "Your Royal Highness the Prince, if you believe it, please allow me to send someone to order Dai Busheng's army Sima to abandon the camp and retreat." ”

The crown prince Dai Wu was stunned, and said with a somewhat puzzled expression: "Dai Wu naturally trusts the Qing, but it's just ...... Is it so easy to give up the camp? ”

Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "It's not a secret, Your Royal Highness the Prince, these two camps outside the city, in my opinion, are actually not necessary. …… I know that when Dai Busheng Sima suggested the construction of these two camps, it was to respond to each other and fight each other with the Yang City, but there was a very fatal problem in this, that is, our army had to go out of the city to confront the Qi army head-on, so that these two camps could play a role. The problem is that our army has lost two battles in Xueyi, and its morale is low, and it is simply not enough to engage the Qi army head-on...... Anyway, it's something you don't use, and there's nothing wrong with losing it. ”

"Having said that...... "Prince Dai Wu was still a little unwilling.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong pointed to the army led by Qi generals Tian Touch and Tian Da in the distance and said to Dai Wu: "Has His Royal Highness the Crown Prince seen it?" Tian Zhang could obviously use all his troops to attack Dai Busheng Sima's camp, but he deliberately left 20,000 people just to prevent me from forcing Yang City and Dai Ying's army Sima. …… I can predict that if we send troops out of the city to aid Dai Busheng Sima, not to mention that the 20,000 Qi army will immediately intercept our army, just say Tian Zhang, he will also immediately abandon Dai Busheng Sima's camp and take the opportunity to attack Qianyang, when the time comes, our soldiers under the city and the Qi army are mixed and difficult to distinguish, and the defenders on the city are difficult to effectively repel the Qi army, and our soldiers under the city, due to morale, confidence and other factors, are likely to be defeated by the Qi army, at that time, our soldiers under the city panicked and fled to the city, and the Qi army took the opportunity to kill into the city. Then the city of Forced Yang will definitely fall......"

Listening to Meng Zhongtou's narration, Prince Dai Wu only heard a cold sweat on his forehead, although he had seen some art of war but had never had experience in leading troops, how did he know that there was such a mystery in this?

"So, what then?" He asked, exclaimed.

Hearing this, Meng Zhong said with a smile: "It's very simple, just let Dai Busheng Sima set fire to the camp and abandon the camp and retreat." ”

When the crown prince Dai Wu heard this, he asked again: "Then ...... If Tian Zhang sees that I force Yang not to send troops to rescue, and chase after Uncle Wusheng to the death, how can this be good? ”

"It's very simple, just let Dai Busheng Sima lead the soldiers around the city, and if the Qi army dares to pursue, then the soldiers in my city can shoot them with bows and crossbows." Meng Zhong replied calmly.

The crown prince Dai Wu suddenly realized, and secretly admired Meng Zhong's strategy and calmness.

He secretly praised in his heart: He is worthy of being a general who can be qualified for the guard Sima next to Zhao Wangyong!

Immediately, Meng Zhong sent Meng Hu out of the West City Gate and rode his horse to Dai Busheng's camp.

After entering the camp from the south camp gate of the west camp, Meng Hu immediately found Dai Busheng, who was commanding the soldiers in the north camp area, and conveyed to the latter the order of the crown prince Dai Wu, or simply Meng Zhong's order: "Dai Sima, the prince ordered you to set fire to the camp, abandon the camp and retreat!" ”

Dai Busheng was stunned when he heard this, of course he knew that this so-called prince's order should actually be Meng Zhong's meaning, if it was changed in the past, I am afraid he would have been furious at this time, but recently, he has gradually realized the ability of Meng Zhong's young man, especially the "tired enemy's plan" that forced Tian Zhang to immediately retreat ten miles to rebuild the camp without blood, which made Dai Busheng even more breathtaking.

Therefore, when he heard Menghu's order, he was not angry at first, but a little stunned: "This camp ...... Don't want it? ”

"Don't do it!" Meng Hu shook his head.

Seeing this, Dai Busheng turned his head and glanced in the direction of Qiyang City, and suddenly gritted his teeth and ordered: "Pass the order to go down, burn the camp and retreat!" ”

At the sound of an order, the Song army under his command immediately set fire to the buildings in the barracks, and immediately, Dai Busheng led these soldiers to pour out from the camp gate on the south side.

"Huh?"

Catching a glimpse of the fire coming from Dai Busheng's military camp from a distance, Tian Zhang immediately frowned.

You must know that at this time, the Qi army has not yet entered the Beiying area, in fact, the army under Dai Busheng can resist for a while, at least for nearly half an hour without any problem, as for half an hour, the Qi army will gradually gain the upper hand.

didn't expect that Dai Busheng would order a retreat so decisively.

『……』

Frowning, Tian Zhang turned his head and glanced in the direction of Qiyang City.

As Meng Zhong judged, Tian Zhang has been paying attention to Qiyang City since he was just a child, waiting for Qiyang City to send troops to support Dai Busheng, and now Dai Busheng has chosen to abandon the camp and retreat, which undoubtedly means that Qiyang City has passed the order to Dai Busheng, otherwise, according to Dai Busheng's character, how could he retreat so easily?

"If you want to go, it's not that easy!"

With a whisper, Tian Zhang immediately ordered: "Order Zou Xi to immediately lead the army to pursue Dai Busheng, be sure to drag the latter for me!" ”

"Whoa!"

The soldiers on the left and right immediately went to give the order.

In just a few moments, Qi general Zou Xi received Tian Zhang's order, and without saying a word, he led a large force to chase after Dai Busheng's army.

At this time, Dai Busheng, who was rapidly retreating to the south and towards Qiyang City, also noticed the pursuers behind him, turned his head and said to Meng Hu, who was on the side of the horse, and said: "The Qi army is in hot pursuit at the moment, I should not lead the army into the city, otherwise the Qi army will definitely take the opportunity to break in." ”

As soon as the words fell, I heard Meng Hu say with a smile: "Dai Sima, please rest assured, my brother does not plan to open the city gate to let Sima you in, please order your corporal to go around the city." ”

“……”

Dai Busheng was stunned, and he didn't know why, but because of his trust in Meng Zhong, he still complied and ordered his soldiers to walk around the city wall.

However, after a while, when he looked up and saw the dense crossbowmen on the city wall, the veteran who had commanded the army for many years quickly reacted, stood on the chariot and clasped his fists, and said with a smile: "I see! What a solution! ”

After understanding, he turned his head to look at the Qi soldiers who were chasing behind him, and deliberately shouted: "Quick! Get in town! ”

Faintly hearing Dai Busheng's shouts in the distance, Qi General Zou Xi was overjoyed, mistakenly thinking that Qiyang City was about to open the city gate, so he wanted to take the opportunity to enter the city, and ordered his corporal to chase after him.

However, what made him stunned was that Dai Busheng and his subordinates did not stop at the west gate of Qiyang at all, and went directly to the far corner of the city.

In order to take the opportunity to break into the city, a part of the Qi army had already entered the firing range of Forcing Yang City, and the Song army crossbowmen on Forcing Yang City unceremoniously unceremoniously vented their arrows above their heads.

"Ahh

"Ahhh

Suddenly, many Qi soldiers were shot by arrows and fell to the ground wailing.

"This ...... How's that good?'

Qi General Zou Xi felt a little hesitation and struggle in his heart.

It stands to reason that he should immediately order a retreat, after all, chasing Dai Busheng around the city under the city of Qiyang, this is purely for nothing to let his soldiers be shot by the Song army in the city, but if he retreats, wouldn't it let Dai Busheng escape?

It has to be said that the Qi general Zou Xi is not a fool who is greedy for merit, and after struggling and hesitating for a moment, he finally gave up the pursuit, and immediately ordered his soldiers to stay away from Qiyang City - and in this way, he could not catch up with Dai Busheng and his army.

At this time, in the northwest corner of Forcing Yang City, the crown prince Dai Wu saw from a distance that the Qi army that was chasing Dai Busheng had given up the pursuit, and immediately withdrew from the shooting range of Forcing Yang City, and he said with great regret: "Why don't you chase it?" How nice it would be to catch up again. ”

Hearing the innocent and naïve words of the crown prince Dai Wu, Meng Zhong and Le Yi on the side also laughed - how could this kind of trick alone make the Qi army suffer heavy casualties, then the generals of the Qi State were too stupid!

After secretly enjoying themselves, Meng Zhong and Le Yi once again turned their attention to Tian Zhang in the distance.

"You say, when he sees that his plan fails, will he take advantage of the situation to attack the city?" Le Yi asked casually.

Of course, Meng Zhong knew who Le Yi was talking about, shook his head and said: "Finally, if you test the reality of the defense of the city of Qiyang, you will definitely not attack, otherwise he will not be the famous general Kuang Zhang in the world......"

"Also, with his little strength, I'm afraid that a strong attack will not be enough to capture the Yang." Le Yi nodded slightly.

Just when they were chatting in a low voice, the herald sent by General Qi Zou Ji had returned to Tian Zhang's side in a chariot, and told Tian Zhang what happened on the west side of the city wall of Qiyang: "Qi Qi Zhangzi, Dai Busheng led his soldiers to flee around the city, but did not flee into the city, Zou Ji Sima led the army to pursue, and did not notice for a while, but was shot and killed by the crossbowmen of the Song army on the city of Qiyang. ”

"Huh?"

Tian Zhang's eyebrows furrowed again when he heard this.

"Tell Dai Busheng to go around the city, lure our army to pursue, and take the opportunity to ask the crossbowmen in the city to release arrows......

Tian Zhang took a deep look at Qiyang City, and the suspicion in his heart became thicker and thicker.

He still hadn't figured out who was commanding the Song army, but through the ingenious strategy of Dai Busheng walking around the camp, it was not difficult for him to feel that the commander of the Song army was quite flexible and changeable, and he was not confined to the art of war at all.

For example, the matter of "Dai Busheng fled around the city", it was obvious that he Tian Zhang wanted to drag Dai Busheng and see if there was a chance to take the opportunity to enter the city - after all, he thought that the general Dai Busheng would never be easily given up in the city of Qiyang, but he didn't expect that the person who commanded the Song army on the opposite side actually cleverly designed it, not only helping Dai Busheng escape from the pursuit of the Qi army, but also taking the opportunity to shoot and kill many Qi soldiers.

It seems that this way of helping friendly troops outside the city has never been mentioned in the art of war such as "Sun Tzu" and "Wu Zi", although it is not a profound plan, but Tian Zhang can see at a glance that this is a countermeasure that he came up with when he was faced with it.

"Who the hell?!"

Tian Zhang felt that he was being made into a little angry.

"Sun Tzu" said: Know yourself and know your opponent, and you will not be defeated in a hundred battles.

He Tian Zhang has always paid attention to understanding the character of his opponent in advance, because it helps him to judge the opponent's intentions.

For example, Dai Busheng, Dai Yingzhi, and Jing Ying, the three military commanders of the Song Kingdom, Tian Zhang knows very well the characters of these three people: Dai Busheng is brave and less scheming, Jing Ying is timid and timid, and only Dai Yingzhi has a little strategy.

After understanding the personalities of these three people, Tian Zhang can make a judgment based on this: Dai Busheng is a person who can be defeated by luring the enemy; And Jing Wei, with many times the number of troops, can make him completely lose the confidence to win; As for Dai Yingzhi, although he has some strategy, he is not good at scheming, and he can defeat him with troops in the right way.

Yes, before this, the personalities and combat methods of Dai Busheng, Dai Yingzhi, and Jing Yu had almost been understood by Tian Zhang, so he had no doubt that he would definitely be able to defeat these three.

However, now, things have changed, and there is a "main general" in the Song army that he doesn't know at all, Tian Zhang doesn't know anything about this person's name, character, and way of using soldiers, which makes him feel very uncomfortable, and there is a faint feeling that I am in the light and the enemy is in the dark.

What's even worse is that under the command of the "main general" of the Song Army, Dai Busheng, who was originally only a second- or third-rate person in Tian Zhang's opinion, actually turned into a general who knows how to advance and retreat, and understands the interests and disadvantages.

Tian Zhang knew that this was the change that an excellent master general could bring to his own generals.

It's not that he boasts, why did the armies of Wei and Han frequently lose in front of the Qin army, but after he Tian Zhang became the commander, the combined forces of Qi, Wei, and Han broke through the Hangu Pass in Qin that no one had breached before? It was nothing more than that he Tian Zhang pointed out the direction to those generals of Wei and Korea.

And now, the unknown "main general" in the Song army has also had this effect, so that under the command of this person, Dai Busheng, who was originally not afraid, has become so slippery and difficult.

"Tell Tian Touch and Tian Da to try to see the siege."

After thinking for a moment, Tian Zhang gave the order.

Under Tian Zhang's order, Tian Touch and Tian Da led their subordinates to carry a long ladder to try to attack Qiyang City.

As Tian Zhang expected, the defense of Forcing Yang City was tight and orderly, and the distribution of foot soldiers and crossbowmen was just right, which was simply watertight.

Tian Zhang never believed that it was the result of the command of Dai Wu, the crown prince of the Song Kingdom.

"Withdraw first! Return to the camp for a long-term plan. ”

After giving the order, Tian Zhang couldn't help but take a deep look at Qiyang City again.

He had a faint illusion that he had returned to the "Pushui Battlefield" and was facing the famous Qin general "樗 (chū) 里ji", who was the only man who had defeated him Kuangzhang.

Of course, Tian Zhang was not convinced by the defeat on the Pushui battlefield, but unfortunately, he had lost the opportunity to defeat the Lu Li Disease to wash away the shame, because before he led the armies of Qi, Wei, and Han to attack the Hangu Pass of the Qin State, the Lu Li Disease had already died of illness and was buried in the east of Zhangtai in the south of Weishui of the Qin State.

Otherwise, if Li Ji is the main general and guards the Hangu Pass, he Tian Zhang may not be able to break through this pass.

And now, the unknown "Song Army Commander" in Qiyang City faintly gave Tian Zhang a kind of uneasiness and apprehension as if he had faced the disease in the past.

『…… Interesting, in that case, let me Tian Zhang try your catties!"

may be because he thought of Qin Jiangliji, the only opponent who had defeated him, Tian Zhang, who was fifty-seven years old this year, gradually ignited enthusiasm in his heart.

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