Meng Da and Ma Dai took the order and set off.

Meng Da only took away 5,000 crossbowmen, and Ma Dai's 20,000 Qianghu rangers were not in the siege sequence of Wen County, so the departure of the two of them did not make Xiahou Ba have any suspicions.

Moreover, Zhang Xi would not give Xiahou Ba time to doubt, Zhang Xi swaggered and asked the sergeants of his own army to go to the vicinity of Wen County to cut down trees, and make a truce to build siege equipment to attract Xiahou Ba's attention.

Xiahouba is still very nervous about this.

After all, he only has 20,000 people guarding Wen County, and there are about 60,000 or 70,000 Shu thieves outside the city, three times the strength, plus the help of siege equipment, it is really hard to say whether he is sure that he can hold Wen County.

Therefore, during this time, Xiahouba was also busy reinforcing the defense of Wenxian County and stepping up the construction of city defense equipment, so he really had no time to take care of it.

And Meng Da and Ma Dai did not delay all the way, and rushed along the official road all the way to the foot of Taihang Mountain.

In terms of distance, Qin Lang led his troops from Hedong County, detoured to Bingzhou and then went south, the distance was much farther than Meng Da and the two of them rushing from Wen County to the foothills of Taihang Mountain, and it was normal to take a slow step.

Meng Da and Ma Dai briefly discussed, and immediately made a division of labor in accordance with the strategic plan.

Ma Dai camped on the official road, blocking the official road, and preventing Cao Wei's soldiers from leaving Taihang Mountain easily, while Meng Da followed this official road all the way to the foothills of Taihang Mountain, looking for a suitable ambush location.

This place can't be too deep, it's too deep and easy to be surrounded and suppressed by the Wei army, after all, Meng Da only brought 5,000 crossbowmen, and although the crossbowmen are very powerful at a long range, once they are close, the combat effectiveness of 5,000 people is not enough, and they can't kill the 20,000 foot soldiers on the opposite side.

But it can't be too shallow, if it's too shallow, the Wei cavalry can directly kill through the encirclement with a charge, and go to confront Ma Dai on the outer official road, once a melee is formed, the crossbowmen will lose their combat objectives.

You can't shoot even your own people.

Therefore, Meng Da did not dare to go too deep, but walked about twenty miles along the official road, carefully observed, and finally selected a mountain col almost fifteen miles away from Ma Dai for ambush.

This place is so good.

Five miles ahead, there is a steep mountain rock, just sandwiched the official road in the middle, past this side of the mountain and rock group, is this mountain col.

The reason why Meng Da chose to set up an ambush in this place also had his own considerations.

If the most suitable ambush location is actually that steep mountain and rock area, if you set up an ambush there, even if your whereabouts are exposed, the Wei army will not be able to kill them, after all, the mountains and rocks are steep, and you can't climb up at all.

But the problem is that in such a place that is obviously suitable for ambushes, if the main general and scout of the Wei army are not fools, they will focus on investigating this place, if they discover the ambush in advance and go up from the flank of the gentle slope in front of the mountain and rock area, they may not be able to escape from their 5,000 ambush soldiers.

Therefore, Meng Da gave up this most suitable place for ambush and chose to set up an ambush in the col behind this rocky area.

The area of the col is relatively wide, and the slope of the mountain on both sides of the official road is not too high, so on the surface, it is indeed not suitable for ambushes.

But the Wei army had just passed through the Shanshi area with trepidation, and when they came to this place, which seemed safe at first glance, they would inevitably relax their vigilance.

In addition, the inside of the col is not a flat place, in addition to the official road, the woods and grasses here are relatively lush, providing natural shelter conditions. Setting up an ambush here can have an unexpected effect.

I have to say that although Meng Da's character is not very strong, he still has some strategies, especially in this kind of trick to play with people's hearts, he is much stronger than Qin Langke.

If everything is normal, Meng Da will definitely choose to set up an ambush in this mountain col and wait for Qin Lang to lead the troops to arrive, but there will always be some changes in things.

This change comes from the change in the hostile situation.

The scouts sent by Meng Da to reconnoiter the situation of the official road came back to report that they had discovered the whereabouts of the enemy army.

However, it was not 30,000 Wei soldiers, but only 10,000 cavalry.

10,000 cavalry?!!!

Meng Da suddenly realized that something was wrong with this situation.

Qin Lang, although he hasn't heard of any special talents, but since he can be entrusted with the important task of guarding by the Cao Wei court, he obviously can't be an idiot, right?!

The infantry and cavalry march together, the cavalry is fast, the infantry is slow, as the commander, you must let the cavalry slow down and wait for the infantry to follow.

Now his scout actually said that there was only cavalry smoke and dust about twenty miles ahead, but there was no trace of infantry behind him. Foot and horse disjointed march?!

That's not what a good manager should do.

This is a march, not wartime, and the most important thing on the march is to ensure that the echo between the front and back is otherwise. Sun Quan's embarrassing scene in Hefei is probably about to reappear.

Hawkers, when he thought of the people Sun 100,000 lost in Hefei, Meng Da suddenly felt that this thing was not impossible. Sun Quan can make such a mistake, why can't Qin Lang make it?!

Meng Da thought for a while, and ordered the whole army to stay still for the time being, and he personally followed the scouts to the high ground and looked at the direction of the official road from afar.

Cao Wei's cavalry was obviously in a state of marching, and the speed had not been raised, and they were slowly advancing all the way to the ambush circle.

Because of this, the smoke and dust caused by the cavalry was not very large, and Meng Da could barely pass the climb and see the movement behind Cao Wei's cavalry.

Indeed, the distance from the ambush circle is about twenty miles, and with the speed of the cavalry, it is likely that it will take about an hour for the guards to reach themselves.

But. The official road behind the cavalry was quiet, and the silence was a little unusual.

It's not like a disjointed rhythm of cavalry and infantry, but more like only cavalry.

Meng Da's decades of military experience, this basic judgment is still there, even if it is disconnected, the distance between the cavalry and the infantry cannot be too far, otherwise it will be inconvenient when you set up camp and rest at night.

But as the official road meandered past, until Meng Da's gaze was limited, he did not see any trace of large-scale troop movement behind the cavalry.

There is only one possibility, behind Cao Wei's cavalry, there is probably no infantry at all.

If that's the case. The whereabouts of Cao Wei's infantry may be a bit troublesome.

Yes, with Meng Da's strategy and experience, he soon had a prediction - Qin Lang did not stupidly take only one official road as Zhang Xi predicted, he divided his troops.

Let the cavalry take the official road of Taihang Mountain, let the infantry take the mountain road of Wangwu Mountain, and divide the troops to attack, which can not only save time, but also reinforce Wen County from two different directions, so that the Han army can not be completely guarded.

Obviously, this Qin Lang is really not an imbecile, and even Zhang Xi misestimated him, which led to a mistake in his judgment of the use of troops.

If you continue to wait stupidly in this encirclement, use Ma Dai's rangers to block the way, and set up an ambush to shoot the cavalry team with crossbow arrows on the way, it will be okay, but the remaining Cao Wei 20,000 infantry may have enough time to directly rush to the aid of Wen County.

Now in front of Meng Da, I am afraid that there are only two paths.

One is to act according to the original plan.

In doing so, Meng Da would set up an ambush in the same place, let go of the vanguard of Cao Wei's cavalry, let Ma Dai successfully attract the attention of Cao Wei's cavalry, and then take advantage of Cao Wei's cavalry's eagerness to enter the battle and kill Cao Wei's rear cavalry troops with bows and crossbows.

Then, with the counterattack of the frontal Ma Dai cavalry troops, they used bows and arrows to block the retreat of this group of cavalry, and finally achieved large-scale destruction, and even completely annihilated the battle plan of this Cao Wei cavalry.

In doing so, he Mengda is the first merit without suspense.

And the second is that Meng Da immediately asked Ma Dai to lead the Qianghu rangers along the official road to the direction of Wangwu Mountain, and to intercept the Cao Wei infantry drilled out of Wangwu Mountain, and he stayed here himself, using 5,000 crossbowmen to intercept Cao Wei's cavalry troops.

It's just that if he does this, it's hard to say whether Ma Dai can pursue Cao Wei's infantry troops in time, and he, Meng Da, I'm afraid he will have to fight to the death at the foot of this Taihang Mountain.

Obviously, the first article is more in line with Mengda's consistent human nature, after all, Mengda has never been a person who is willing to sacrifice his life for righteousness.

But. There are some things, but Meng Da can't help but think about it.

Since the Northern Expedition, Meng Da has made contributions, but he has also had them.

In Yique Pass, Meng Da had a meritorious role and was in place in time to sabotage Sima Yi's sneak attack, but there was no actual result. There is no head killing, this battle feat, can be big or small.

But in Hexin Prefecture, Meng Da led to a big defeat because of greed for merit when the situation was dominant, and the strategic plan was also affected.

With the current achievements of Meng Da's Northern Expedition, it is not enough for him to turn over again and gain the trust and reuse of the imperial court.

Of course, if the first plan is adopted this time and this Cao Wei cavalry is gathered here, then Meng Da's credit is enough, but in case Zhang Xi's side can't block the reinforcements of Cao Wei's infantry, the biggest responsibility for letting Qin Lang and Xiahou Ba join forces is of course Zhang Xi's, but his own credit will also be greatly discounted.

The second one, the biggest flaw is that it is too risky, once it fails, then Meng Da's old life will be explained in this Taihang Mountain.

However, if the first battle is successful, and Zhang Xi completely annihilates these 30,000 Hedong soldiers, the credit is much greater than the annihilation of 10,000 cavalry.

Meng Dasi thought about it, and his heart was horizontal. Lao Tzu spelled !!

Meng Da ordered the 3,000 regular crossbowmen to get out of the original ambush area of the col, move forward immediately, occupy the high place of the cliff and rocky area in front of the col, and prepare for the attack.

Since the Wei thief has no infantry, he is still afraid of a bird, and you have the ability to attack the mountain on horseback.

And Meng Da himself personally led two thousand crossbowmen who used the No. 2 Zhuge Repeater to set up a village and stick to the official road.

Lao Tzu will be crucified here today.

Back then, Huo Jun's puppet could use 3,000 soldiers to guard the Jiameng Pass, wouldn't my Mencius be as good as that brainless puppet? !

(End of chapter)