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Mengkeng is located at the junction of Xiangfen and Quwo counties in Shanxi Province.

In such an inconspicuous place, there have been four large-scale wars in history.

And the results of two of these wars had a major impact on the direction of Chinese history.

The battle of Qin and Wei, due to the complete victory of the Northern Wei Dynasty, laid the foundation for the Northern Wei Dynasty to obtain the unification of the north in the future.

In the battle of Qi and Zhou, the Northern Zhou won the victory, which gave the Northern Zhou an advantage in the confrontation between Zhou and Qi, and had a profound impact on the later unification of the Sui Dynasty.

Wei Shuo led 10,000 Hexi troops to Mengkeng, and when he saw the danger of Mengkeng, which was surrounded by mountains and rivers, he was full of confidence in blocking the Qin army.

"With this natural risk, not to mention that Hou Qin came with 50,000 horses, it is twice as much, and Shuo is not afraid."

Hearing this, Cui Hao and Zhang Teng felt the same way, and the pit was too dangerous.

The 10,000 Hexi army only needed to build a wall on Qiao Mountain, which was enough to block more than ten times the Qin army.

"What the lord said is very true, but it is a taboo for soldiers to passively defend to the death, in the opinion of the minister, you might as well take the initiative to attack."

"Take the initiative?" Wei Shuo's heart moved.

"Exactly!"

"It is said that our army is waiting for work at ease, and it is almost invincible because of natural dangers, and it should not take risks to attack."

"However, don't forget, the purpose of this battle is to seize the Shangdang and take all the states."

"The Battle of Pingyang is just an appetizer, the real battle is yet to come!"

"Therefore, our army must defeat Yao Xing in the shortest possible time and at the lowest cost, so that it is expected to achieve its pre-war intentions."

"Yao Xing is coming with a large army today, if it can't be broken quickly, our army will be trapped in Pingyang and can't extricate itself."

"Well, Bo Yuan is reasonable, but the enemy's strength is superior, what can our army do except defend according to the danger?"

"You can send elite cavalry to harass the enemy along the way, this is a strategy to exhaust the enemy."

"The Later Qin army traveled thousands of miles and harassed the elite cavalry along the way, making them sleepy and lacking horses, wouldn't our army have a greater advantage?"

"I knew that today, I shouldn't have sent Huan Zhen to the party, he was the best at sneak attacks."

Wei Shuo's face was full of remorse, but this was also helpless.

After all, no one expected that the situation would change so quickly.

At first, everyone thought that a big war would break out in the eldest son, but due to the alliance between Wei Yan and Qin, the Hexi Army had to go south to open up a new battlefield.

In the end, Wei Shuo had no choice but to send Gao Jinzhi to lead 3,000 elite cavalry to the south, looking for an opportunity to sneak attack and harass the Hou Qin army.

……

On a summer night, a mixed Qin army on foot was rapidly heading north along the water, with large military ranks and horses picking up bridles, and riding the night towards the direction of the firewood wall.

Later Qin monarch Yao Xing rode his horse and walked in the middle of the army.

The whole person didn't say a word, only a pair of eyes vigilantly scanned the dark night ahead.

The lives of nearly 50,000 soldiers in front of and behind him were tied to him alone, and he could not relax at all.

Due to the urgency of the military situation, the rapid march continued for several days, which made all the soldiers panting like cattle.

Approaching the end of the day, the army had already arrived outside Wenxi City.

At this time, the stars twinkled in the sky, the morning mist floated in Pingchuan, and the south gate tower was already visible in the distance.

Hedong Taishou Liu Gong had already ordered people to prepare food, wine and food, only to see the bonfire in front of him, and the figures of people were building, and it was the county order of Wenxi County who came to greet the holy car.

Yao Xing raised his hand and ordered the army to rest on the spot.

It's not that the Later Qin people were high-spirited and deliberately put the city and didn't enter, but Wenxi County was too small to garrison 50,000 horses.

Yao Xing could only order the army to camp outside the city, and only he himself took the generals into the city to rest.

As soon as he entered the city, he called the county magistrate of Wenxi County to inquire about the details, and found that the Hexi army had not gone south to Hedong recently.

Hearing this news, Yao Xing was not happy but worried.

He very much hoped that the Hexi Army would move south, so that Hedong Taishou Liu Gong would not be able to stay out of the matter.

Instead of just providing some food and grass supplies to the army as it is now, there is no intention of sending troops to help.

Because when Liu Gong was appeased, Hou Qin promised not to interfere in the specific affairs of Hedong, and also allowed the Liu family to listen to the tune and not listen to the announcement.

Therefore, in the face of Liu Gong's neutral attitude towards the current war, Yao Xing was also helpless.

After the meal, Hou Qin, who was already extremely tired, lay down and rested one after another.

They had no idea that at this moment, a Hexi cavalry was quietly attacking.

……

On the same day, Gao Jinzhi led the Dadu Protector Order all the way south, crossed the Huhe River (not a tributary of the Huai River) and entered the territory of Hedong County.

In a dense forest, he summoned his subordinates and said, "The scout has come to report, the enemy has just arrived in Wenxi. ”

"Because of the long journey, I didn't expect that we would go deep into the hinterland of Hedong, so the camp defense was loose."

"Most of the people are sleeping peacefully, and it is time for us to take it by surprise and break its camp."

Everyone said yes, Gao Jinzhi then led the cavalry to attack, and 3,000 men and horses quietly rushed to the camp outside Wenxi City.

When the Hexi army attacked, the soldiers of the Later Qin Dynasty were still asleep, and suddenly heard people outside shouting and horses, and it was noisy.

Frightened, the crowd put on their robes haphazardly, picked up their weapons, uncovered their tents and ran out.

At this time, the camp was full of fires, and the Hexi cavalry had already rushed to the front.

But he saw arrows like locusts, whizzing and flying towards him.

The dozens of soldiers who were running at the front were caught off guard and fell to the ground one after another, and the screams were endless.

The three thousand Hexi cavalry, under the command of Gao Jinzhi, each holding a crossbow in their hands, fired crossbow arrows continuously at the Later Qin people who were running around.

Seeing this, Yao Liangguo, the crossbow general who was in charge of guarding the camp, knew that the attack was bad, and he didn't have a good idea in his heart.

But after all, he was a battle-hardened general, and he quickly came back to his senses and shouted, "Array to meet the enemy!" ”

Hearing the order of the main general, the drummer beat the war drum, two short and one long, repeating constantly, the sound is deep and audible.

The Hou Qin soldiers, who were originally flustered, gradually regained their composure when they heard the sound of drums, and began to line up according to the order, and soon a "mouth" shaped defensive array was assembled.

I saw thousands of strong armor soldiers raising their big iron shields, interlocking each other, and walking side by side, forming an impermeable defensive formation.

It was like a moving steel fortress, guarding the grain cart and most of the soldiers in the middle.

Then there were flying arrows, which were blocked by iron shields, although they looked like sparks were splashing everywhere, but in fact they were not in danger.

Only a few disheveled soldiers did not listen to the order, and they threw away their armor and fled for their lives.

Gao Jinzhi did not chase after the rout, but ordered the whole army to quickly pass through the camp, causing chaos in the Qin army's camp.

However, after all, the Hou Qin people are not waste, although they were a little panicked by the sudden attack, but with the passage of time, under the command of generals at all levels, they gradually stabilized their positions.

In this way, the pressure on Gao Jin doubled, and in order not to be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy, he had to give up burning the enemy's grain and grass, and led everyone to take advantage of the chaos to fight out of the encirclement.

In this raid and harassment battle, the Hexi Army achieved brilliant results.

Then the Qin army panicked and rushed to meet the battle, killing and wounding thousands of people before and after.

And after this blow, Yao Xing was frightened, and suddenly felt that this time he went north in a bit of a hurry, and he no longer had the momentum to fight to the death with Wei Shuo.

After hesitating, Yao Xing temporarily stopped going north on the grounds of rectifying the army, and thus missed the best opportunity to go north.

During the few days that Yao Xing stayed in Wenxi, Wei Shuo had already commanded the Hexi soldiers to rush to repair a temporary barrier along Qiaoshan, on which dozens of bed crossbows were secured.

These laid a solid foundation for blocking the Later Qin soldiers in the future.

Originally, for Yao Xing, he was not without a chance to win.

If Hou Qin wanted to defeat the Hexi Army in this battle, he had to fight quickly before the Hexi Army had set up a defensive line and defeat the Hexi Army in one fell swoop, so that it would be possible to rescue the besieged Yao Pingbu.

It's a pity that perhaps it was the battle of Shangjun that left a big shadow on Yao Xing.

When he crossed the Yellow River with the main force of the army, Yao Xing was no longer decisive, but seemed a little indecisive.

Yao Xing's overwhelm was all seen by Di Bozhi, which also made him pessimistic about the prospects of this battle.

After all, even the coach doesn't have the belief that he will win, and can he expect ordinary generals to turn defeat into victory?

Before arriving in Mengkeng, Di Bozhi finally reaffirmed Yao Xing's faith.

However, it can be seen from this incident that Yao Xing's will is not firm enough, and once he encounters a major setback, it is easy to collapse.