On the ninth day of the first month of October, the day after Meng Zhong learned that the Qin army had once again divided his troops to Yingshan, he sent Wu Ying to lead 10,000 troops to Yingshan on the north side to prevent the Qin generals Changchi and Wurong from leading the Qin army to cross Yingshan and threaten Yeyi.

As a result, the garrison on Fangcheng's side was even weaker, and there were less than 30,000 troops left—although the number of close to 30,000 did not seem to be a lot, but in fact, except for the 5,000 people in Fangcheng's original garrison and the 8,000 soldiers under the command of Sima Zheng Zheng, the rest were all new soldiers recruited from Yeyi a few months ago, and the armaments were not yet complete, let alone neatly weaponry.

Even though Wei Wangjun had promised to transport 30,000 sets of weapons and equipment to Fangcheng and help Meng Zhong arm 30,000 soldiers, due to the inconvenient transportation conditions, even though Wei had successively transported a lot of weapons and equipment to Fangcheng from various places since April this year, the weapons and equipment transported to Fangcheng were still less than 20,000 sets in a few months, and this was already the result of Meng Zhong's repeated urging.

If it weren't for the fact that Meng Zhong sent a warning message to Daliang at that time, and reported the speculation that Qin and Chu might jointly crusade against Wei in the near future, it would be difficult to imagine that the weapons and equipment sent by Wei would only be half of what it is now.

But the problem is that in order to resist the offensive of the Qin-Chu coalition army, Meng Zhong recruited another 20,000 men in one go after April, bringing the total strength of Fangcheng to nearly 55,000.

Of course, among these 55,000 people, a total of about 16,000 troops, including Zheng Zheng and Cai Wu, are about 16,000 troops, and if this part is removed, the army directly belonging to Fangcheng is currently maintained at about 40,000.

In just half a year, from the original garrison of less than 10,000 square cities, it has expanded to 40,000 at once, and it has to be said that if it weren't for Meng Zhong taking advantage of the Qin general Bai Qi to attack the cities of Chu north of Hanshui, he would have taken away more than 100,000 Chu people, otherwise it would have been almost impossible to rely on the original population of Yeyi alone.

But such a hasty expansion also caused a shortage of weapons and equipment in the Fangcheng army, even if Meng Zhong relied on his connections and Gongzhong's extravagant relationship to borrow or get some of the money from South Korea, but he still could not fully arm the 40,000 troops under his command, so that the soldiers of the Fangcheng army currently only have long weapons, or only short weapons, or only bows and crossbows, and they cannot be like Wei Wushu, who carries several weapons at the same time, and can change combat weapons at any time with the battlefield environment.

But even so, Fang Cheng still has the strength to fight a battle, after all, it is nearly 55,000 troops, even if the number is far inferior to the 230,000 troops of the Qin-Chu coalition army, it will not be defeated by the other party in a single face.

Well, at least that way.

Among the 55,000 troops in Fangcheng before, there were 10,000 people under the command of Le Jin and 8,000 people under the command of Cai Wu stationed in Yangguan, and then 5,000 cavalry were also hidden by Meng Zhong in the area of Wuyangyi, and the total garrison on this side of Fangcheng was about 32,000 people.

However, Bai Qi's deliberate division of troops made Meng Zhong realize one thing, that is, his plan to delay this battle until next year may not be realized, and he must change his strategy.

Wu Ying led 10,000 troops to Yingshan, and naturally he couldn't hide Bai Qi's ears and eyes.

Although the 2,000 cavalry under his command had been led by Hu Yu, the general of Yiqu, to Shangcai, and were preparing to go around from Shangcai to the back of Yeyi and sneak attack on Meng Zhong's rear, in the area of Fangcheng, there were still many patrolling Qin soldiers who were monitoring Fangcheng's every move at any time, and naturally they would immediately report Fangcheng's movements.

Knowing that Fang Cheng was forced to send about 10,000 troops to Yingshan again, Bai Qi was overjoyed, after all, in his opinion, he had finally suppressed Meng Zhong this time, so that Meng Zhong had to act according to his steps.

But in addition to being happy, Bai Qi also had some concerns.

He felt that Meng Zhong on the other side was too "peaceful", which was not quite in line with the character of that guy.

In fact, whether it was Sima Cuo, Ji Hong and others on the Qin army's side, or Meng Sui, Wu Ying and others on the Fangcheng side, they were all very puzzled by Meng Zhong and Bai Qi's thinking that they knew each other, after all, Meng Zhong and Bai Qi had only met twice in total so far, one was the first meeting on Yique Mountain last year, and the second was in Lixian at the beginning of this year.

I've only met twice, and I can talk about understanding each other?

But in fact, although they have only met twice, the confrontation between Meng Zhong and Bai Qi, whether it is an overt confrontation or an invisible confrontation, has been more than once or twice, which is enough for the two of them to understand each other better.

Just like at this moment, Bai Qi sincerely felt that Meng Zhong was too peaceful.

He knew very well that Meng Zhong was very similar to him in his bones, bold, careful, curious, and unwilling to show weakness easily, a person with such a character honestly obeyed his Bai Qi's coercion this time, and divided his troops to defend Yin Mountain and Ying Mountain once or twice, which made Bai Qi feel a little strange.

He said to the deputy general Ji Hong: "You say, will Meng Zhong have any tricks?" You and I both know that when he was in the Battle of Yique, he never showed weakness, even though the Wei army was at a disadvantage at that time. But this time, he obeyed my coercion...... I don't believe his cunning will see through my intentions. ”

Hearing this, Ji Hong smiled and said with relief: "The last general also admits that Meng Zhong can see through our army's intentions nine times out of ten, but what can he do? That Meng Zhong is very cunning, when he led the Wei army to defeat and confront our army head-on in the battle of Yique, that is when he saw through the physical exhaustion of our sergeants, and the follow-up was weak, but at the moment, our side has 230,000 troops, and the sergeants are full of physical strength, even if he sees through the intentions of our army, what can he do? ”

"Hmm......"

Touching the short beard on his chin, Bai Qi nodded slightly, he felt that Ji Hong's words still had some truth.

Seeing this, Ji Hong also asked Bai Qi with a little excitement and expectation: "Bai Shuai, since Fangcheng has been forced to divide two armies according to your expectations, when do you think our army will attack Fangcheng?" ”

Hearing this, Qin generals such as Zhongxu, Tong Yang, Meng Yi, and Wei Yuan in the tent also echoed it.

I have to say that in the matter of attacking Fangcheng, the Qin generals under Bai Qi have been waiting for a long time, who made Meng Zhong still owe them a blood debt!

If it weren't for the appearance of Meng Zhong, Bai Qi led 80,000 troops to attack the Wei and Han armies last year, and in the end, how could he have ended up fleeing back to Wuguan with only a few thousand soldiers?

Although this is not accurate, Ji Hong and other generals still always believe that it was the appearance of Meng Zhong that caused them to lose the victory of that war, and they also paid nearly 60,000 heavy casualties for this.

"No hurry, let me think about it."

The pressure hand calmed the generals under his command, and Bai Qi folded his arms in contemplation.

He tried to solve the current crisis facing Fang Cheng from Meng Zhong's point of view, but after thinking left and right, he couldn't think of any other way for Meng Zhong to resist the offensive of his Qin-Chu coalition army.

"Unless that guy prepares early, and prepares a few tricks that I don't know about."

After thinking about it for a long time, Bai Qi thought secretly in his heart.

That's exactly what he's worried about.

After all, since the beginning of April this year, Meng Zhong had nearly six months to prepare for the battle, especially Fangcheng, which was not allowed to enter by non-Wei soldiers, which made the detailed work sent by Bai Qi unknown the situation in the other party's city.

Although the fine works he sent also tried to infiltrate Fangcheng, for example, Chu Min, who pretended to defect to the Fangcheng army, but because of the accent problem, those fine works not only failed to succeed, but were also unsurprisingly discovered by the Wei army, killed them with a knife and buried them on the spot, and did not send back any useful news.

After thinking about it and not coming to any conclusions, Bai Qi finally decided to try to attack Fang Cheng first, after all, in his opinion, as long as he had fought a game, he would be able to roughly understand the reality of Fang Cheng, so naturally he didn't need to worry about what tricks Meng Zhong would play.

Thinking of this, he instructed Ji Hong and the others: "Give you two more days, be sure to build fifty ladders, three hundred long ladders, and four chariots for use in the siege of the city." ”

"Whoa!" Ji Hong and others clenched their fists to lead their lives.

After the generals retreated, Bai Qi sent someone to invite Sima Cuo and Zhao Ju.

After Sima Cuo and Zhao Ju arrived, Bai Qi took the lead in saying to Sima Cuo: "Lieutenant, I have decided to try to attack Fangcheng in two days. ”

At this time, the 60,000 Qin troops under Sima Cuo's command had been divided into 40,000 by Bai Qi, and only 20,000 were still in the main camp.

Hearing Bai Qi's words, Sima Coo nodded and asked, "Do you need the help of the old man's soldiers?" ”

Seeing that Sima Cuo kept his promise and did not interfere with his intentions, Bai Qi was also very happy in his heart, and after thinking about it, he said: "The army under the command of the national captain should stay in the main camp, as long as Doctor Zhao can help him, it is enough." ”

How could the old and cunning Sima Cuo not know Bai Qi's intentions, and when he heard this, he rolled his eyes and turned his head to look at Zhao Ju with Bai Qi.

Seeing that Bai Qi and Sima Cuo both turned their heads to look at him, how could Zhao Ju not understand his current situation?

Sima Cuo and Bai Qi are clearly preparing to transfer part of the doomed battle losses to his Chu army's side - what do you say The two armies of the Qin army sincerely work together, I'm bah!

But even though he was secretly annoyed in his heart, Zhao Ju was not easy to refuse at the moment, so he had to reluctantly squeeze out a smile and said: "The army below will naturally try their best to help Bai Zuogen." ”

Of course, Sima Cuo and Bai Qi could see that Zhao Ju was a little reluctant, but the old and the young all pretended not to see it.

Also, just like Sima Cuo thought before, no matter how Bai Qi contradicted him, but in the face of national interests, Bai Qi would naturally make the same decision as him, that is, make a decision that would benefit him to the Qin State.

The biggest difference between him and Bai Qi is that Sima Cuo was first a general loyal to the King of Qin, and then loyal to the Qin State; Bai Qi was first loyal to the Empress Dowager Xuan, Marquis Wei Ran and other Qin Empress Dowagers and relatives, and then loyal to the King of Qin and the Qin State.

But if it rises to the interests of the Qin State, there is not much difference between the two.

No, after waiting for Zhao Ju to leave after a while, Sima Cuo did not forget to remind Bai Qi and said: "Zhao Ju, although his position is not firm, but in his heart he is actually opposed to helping me Daqin crusade against Wei and Han, you can use him, but you can't entrust him with heavy responsibilities, he may not secretly stab you in the back when you are in danger." ”

Hearing this, Bai Qi chuckled and said, "How can I not see through him? Rest assured, if I use the Chu army, I will only use it to wear down the sharpness of Fangcheng, how dare I entrust it with a heavy responsibility? ”

"That's good." Sima Coo nodded, and then admonished: "However, don't go too far...... The Chu army suffered too many casualties, which may affect the position of the Chu State, and my Great Qin now needs the Chu State as an ally. ”

With a few kind reminders, Bai Qi would not be angry, although Sima Cuo said the truth, he actually knew it in his heart.

In the next two days, Bai Qi commanded 70,000 Qin troops and Zhao Ju's 890,000 Chu troops stepped up the construction of siege equipment.

During this period, Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu and others always monitored the movements of the Qin-Chu coalition army, and when they saw that the other party was vigorously building siege equipment, they immediately reported to Meng Zhong.

After learning this news, Meng Zhong was not surprised, after all, he had long expected that once the other Fang City divided his troops, then Bai Qi would inevitably take the opportunity to attack Fang City.

In contrast, he was more concerned about another thing that Muwu sent to report: "...... For some reason, I haven't seen the cavalry of the Qin State in the last few days. ”

I have to say that this news made Meng Zhong a little concerned.

He knew that there were 2,000 cavalry under Bai Qi's command, and the previous 2,000 cavalry had not appeared, Meng Zhong could still understand, after all, there was a contradiction between Bai Qi and Sima Cuo at that time, so he refused to let his cavalry contribute, this explanation is not unreasonable, but now Bai Qi and Sima Cuo have obviously reached some kind of tacit understanding, but even so, the two thousand cavalry under Bai Qi's command are still nowhere to be seen, which makes no sense.

It's a pity that even Meng Zhong didn't guess that Bai Qi would let the two thousand cavalry go around a long distance in order to attack Yeyi, so Meng Zhong could only tell the troops under his command to be careful.

Two days passed in a flash, and in a blink of an eye, it was October 11.

On this day, Bai Qi led 50,000 Qin troops and 50,000 Chu troops to Fangcheng and tried to attack the other city.

During this period, Sima Cuo also followed the army in a carriage, and halfway through, when he saw the siege equipment in the ranks of the Chu army, he frowned slightly.

At that time, Bai Qi had nothing to do, and was chatting with Sima Cuo, when he saw Sima Cuo's sudden frown, he was also a little puzzled, so he asked, "Captain, what's the matter?" ”

I saw Sima Coo staring at the team of the Chu army not far away, frowning and saying, "This Zhao Ju...... I'm afraid that I am really selfish, and I will not help you and me with all my heart. ”

"How so?" Bai Qi was a little puzzled.

Hearing this, Sima Coo's beard stroked and said, "As far as the old man knows, the Chu State will build a siege machine called a building car. ”

"Floor car?"

"Hmm. Legend has it that the building car was invented by Mo Zhai, the son of the Mo family, and was later improved by the public loss class and became a siege weapon, however, when the Chu State used the building car to attack the Song State, it was defeated by Mo Zhai with fire arrows and oil pots......

"The public loss clan that the national lieutenant said, but the public loss clan in China?"

"Hmm. The Gongyi clan was originally in the Chu State, but was later resisted by the Mo family forces in Chu, so he angrily defected to my Great Qin. I believe Bai Zuo has also heard that the Gong Yi clan and the Mo family are mortal enemies. ”

Bai Qi nodded slightly when he heard this, and then asked strangely: "But I have been in China for so many years, why have I only heard of the ladder, but I don't know about the building car?" ”

"Because it's not easy to build a building car, and the ladder is even simpler." Brushing his beard, Sima Cuo recalled: "A few years ago, I heard that when the Song State attacked the Teng State, it seemed that it used a building car...... It is unbelievable that at that time, the Teng State had the help of the Mo people, and the Mo family's city law was not defeated by the army of the Song State, and that Song Wang Yan really couldn't be underestimated......"

Speaking of this, he turned his head to look at the Chu army's team, lowered his voice and said, "It's far away." …… As the old man said before, Chu Guo knows how to build a building car, but Na Zhaoju only built some long ladders and rushed the car perfunctory, which shows that he is not really helping our army. ”

Hearing this, Bai Qi also turned his head and glanced at Chu Jun, and snorted lightly.

Like Sima Cuo, he didn't mean to send someone to question Zhao Ju, after all, this is meaningless, so Zhao Ju can completely shirk the way to build a building car, what can he do with him?

Just think about it carefully, the Zhao clan has frequently held the position of Ling Yin in the past dynasties, as long as the Chu State does have a way to build a building car, then Zhao Ju will definitely know.

However, considering that there is only one Zhao Ju in the Chu State who can handle it, Sima Cuo and Bai Qi don't bother to ask for guilt, so as not to tear each other's faces seriously.

After all, in their opinion, although Zhao Ju has different intentions, he doesn't dare to do it too obviously, and with this person's talent, Bai Qi can at least use him to resist Meng Zhong, but in case the King of Chu sends another person to replace Zhao Ju, and the other party is a fool and can be easily defeated by that Meng Zhong, then it is better to keep this Zhao Ju.

Thinking of this, Bai Qi said to Sima Cuo with a little emotion: "The former strong Chu never thought that it would decay to this point. It's a pity that the timing is not good, otherwise, you can take the opportunity to annex the Chu State......"

Sima stroked his beard and didn't speak, but he didn't correct Bai Qi's words either.

It can be seen that this veteran of the Qin State has also thought about this matter in his heart, but it is not the time yet.

At present, the enemies of Qin are Wei and Han!

If he wanted the Qin State to advance eastward into the Central Plains, he had to completely defeat these two countries.

Like this, chatting while marching, about two hours later, the 100,000 Qin and Chu army arrived at the southern outskirts of Fangcheng.

Although today's main purpose is to test the reality of Fang Cheng, but unlike at the beginning of April, today's Bai Qi also has the idea of taking Fang Cheng in one go, after all, he had written a war letter to Meng Zhong a few days ago, and he didn't want to lose his trust.

At least in front of that Meng Zhong.

He didn't want to be ridiculed by Na Meng Zhong again.

Through that letter, he already understood that no matter how plain and easy-going that Meng Zhong looked, as long as that guy was willing, that guy could make others angry half to death at any time.

When the 100,000 Qin and Chu coalition troops were preparing in formation, Bai Qi gathered all the generals of the Qin and Chu armies together, and ordered Zhaoju to lead the army to attack the west city wall, while his Qin army attacked the south city wall.

Originally, Bai Qi also thought about launching a three-sided attack on the other city, that is, abandoning the north city wall far away from here, and attacking the west, south, and east sides of the city at the same time, but then he thought about it carefully, Fangcheng was only seven or eight miles away from Yangguan, and he was not sure that the Wei army in Yangguan would sneak attack the rear of his Qin army, so he finally dismissed the attack on the east city wall, and only sent guards to lead 10,000 troops to camp in the southeast corner of Fangcheng to prevent being attacked by the Wei army in Yangguan.

"Do you have any questions?"

After briefly explaining the tasks of the Qin and Chu armies, Bai Qi looked around at the generals in front of him, and seeing that no one raised any objections, he ordered the generals to return to their respective armies and wait for the order to attack the city.

At the same time, Meng Zhong, who had already learned that the Qin and Chu army had arrived, had already taken Meng Sui and Zheng Zheng to the city wall, and climbed to peep at the formation of the Qin and Chu coalition forces together with the generals Meng Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu, Cao Chun, Cai Cheng and other generals who had returned to Fangcheng in advance after learning that the Qin army was alarmed.

I have to say that 100,000 enemy troops are pressing the border, even if they are not serious Menghu, Huahu and others on weekdays, they are all serious at this moment, not to mention the rest of the generals.

Taking advantage of the time when the Qin and Chu coalition forces were preparing outside the city, Meng Zhong held a short military meeting on the gate tower of the south city gate, and assigned various generals to defend the city walls.

"Looking at the formation of the Qin and Chu armies outside the city, I am afraid that today Bai Qi is preparing to launch an attack in two places at the same time, the Chu army on the west side, its main general is the secretary of Chu Zhaoju, as far as I know, may not really assist the Qin army, so there may be some reservations, but don't underestimate the enemy...... Zheng Sima. ”

"Yes." Zheng Zheng hugged his fists in response.

I saw Meng Zhong hugging his fists towards Zheng Zheng, and said sincerely: "There is Lao Zheng Sima to defend the western city wall and resist the Chu army. ”

"Fang Cheng Ling, where is this right." Zheng Zheng responded without hesitation, and then the fox asked, "But...... I don't mean anything else, I just think that it's better for the army under my command to defend the south city wall, right? ”

Obviously, Zheng Zheng was also a little worried that the army under Meng Zhong would not be able to stop the Qin army.

Hearing this, Meng Zhong shook his head and said, "Zheng Sima's kindness has been comprehended, but after all, this is what the soldiers of our city must face......

Zheng Zheng nodded as if he understood, didn't say anything more, and after hugging his fist towards Meng Zhong, he immediately rushed to the south city wall.

Immediately, Meng Zhong instructed the generals present: "Although the Qin-Chu coalition army only attacks the west and south sides, but the north and east sides must not be left unguarded, Cai Cheng, you guard the north city wall, Lu Wen, you guard the east city wall, I will divide the two of you with 2,000 troops, if there is really a sneak attack by the Qin army, then send reinforcements." ”

"Obey!"

"Ah Hu, Hua Hu, Mu Wu, Cao Chun, you are all here."

"Whoa!"

After a while, after Meng Zhong's side assigned the defensive task, the Qin army in the southern suburbs outside the city was almost ready.

Although they were far apart, Meng Zhong could still see the Qin soldiers retreating to the front of the formation, counting them carefully, I am afraid that there are dozens of them.

The so-called ladder is a chariot with a large chassis and four wheels, and the car is equipped with a fixed, collapsible ladder, once the hook on the ladder hooks the battlement, the soldiers on the city wall can hardly overturn it, and the Qin army can climb up without fear.

Therefore, the only way to deal with the siege equipment such as the ladder is to completely destroy it, either by cutting it with a sword or burning it with fire.

In comparison, those ordinary long ladders that Qin soldiers resisted on their shoulders were much easier to deal with, but the number of these long ladders made Meng Zhong frown.

What was said in the past will be practiced now!

At this moment, Meng Zhong's ears seemed to echo the oath that Bai Qi had made on that battle book.

He raised his head, looked at the sun that was not yet in the middle of the sky, and then turned his gaze to the Qin army outside the city, and threw himself at the general flag with the word "white" written on it.

"Looking at this posture, it seems that Bai Qi really intends to fulfill his promise that day and capture our city today, in this case......

Standing by the city wall with his hands behind his back and watching the Qin army's main formation for a long time, Meng Zhong was thoughtful.

If Bai Qi really planned to forcibly break the city today, he wouldn't mind helping Bai Qi so that he could fulfill that oath.

By the way, I will give Bai Qi and the Qin army coalition outside the city a generous gift.