"PS: I hope the book friends who want to add updates are sorry. The author is preparing to modify the public chapters and delete all the popular science topics. I hope the book's results are slightly better and I don't have the energy to update them for the time being."

————The following text——

On the ninth day of the eighth month, only two days after the Qin general Bai Qi captured Li County, tens of thousands of Qin troops arrived in Rang County and launched an attack on the city.

This Rang County was presented to Qin a few years ago to seek peace from Qin. Later, when Qin Wang Ji enthroned his uncle Wei Ran as a marquis, he rewarded the city to the latter, so Wei Ran was called Rang Hou.

Because he knew that this Rang County was the fief of Rang Marquis Wei Ran, before advancing, Qin generals such as Ji Hong and Wei Yuan might privately persuade Bai Qi to seize the fief in a more peaceful way.

After all, in this era, an army captured cities in other countries, then the next ten is a massacre and looting that indulges soldiers - looting civilians in enemy cities. This is one of the few ways for contemporary soldiers to "get extra money".

But the owner of Rang County is Wei Ran. If the soldiers under his command are instigated to loot in the city, wouldn’t this not give Wei Ran face? Although this Rang Marquis may not care about this remote city in Rang County.

Compared with the generals' concerns, Bai Qi didn't care. First, he was Wei Ran's confidant, and he knew very well that Wei Ran didn't care about a mere Rang County. Second, the appearance of Meng Zhong made Bai Qi more or less anxious about the attack on Chu State.

Although Meng Zhong had explained to him: because he was enthroned in Fangcheng by the King of Wei, he appeared in this area.

But this explanation cannot completely defy Bai Qi's vigilance.

Let me ask, why were the generals like Meng Zhong, who saved the defeat of the Wei and Han coalition forces in one fell swoop in the Battle of Yique, sent to Fangcheng by the King of Wei? Shouldn’t they be appointed as the Hedong Guard? Even if they are not Hedong Guard, they should be transferred to Hedong and let them guard "Fengling", "Puban", "Wei County (there is a Wei County in Hedong)" and other places?

That is the main battlefield for Wei to resist his Qin's advance eastward!

However, Wei State enfeoffed Meng Zhong to Fangcheng area. Who are you guarding against? The State of Chu, which has long been in a slump?

A brave general who was comparable to him, Bai Qi, did not send him to guard the main gate, but actually arranged him in the side gate in the backyard. Bai Qi really couldn't figure out what Wei was thinking.

Could it be that King of Wei and Xiangtian Wen of Wei are really ignorant?

Not to mention.

At least Bai Qi didn't think much of it.

Considering this idea, Bai Qi believed that Wei State was likely to do something during his Qin army's attack on Chu State.

Perhaps, King Wen of Wei and Xue Gongtian Wen had seen through his Qin State's strategy of "to make Chu surrender and attack Wei and Han" and therefore he proposed to deploy the brave general Meng Zhong in Fangcheng and on the borders of Wei, Han and Chu.

It is precisely because of this that even though Bai Qi had reached a verbal alliance with Meng Zhong and made an appointment with each other's army to avoid trauma, the Wei army in the other city was still deeply vigilant.

Make the King of Chu surrender as soon as possible and make the State of Chu surrender to his Qin!

This is Bai Qi’s most urgent thought now.

On the ninth day of the second month, Bai Qi led his army to attack Rang County.

The situation of the siege was not worth describing. Simply put, the fighting spirit of the Rang County defenders was very low. The Qin army had just arrived in the area of ​​Rang County. The Chu soldiers and civilians in Rang County, as well as those outside Rang County who fled from Li County to Rang County, began to flee in panic.

After learning about the general situation, Bai Qi sent his general Zhongxu to lead 5,000 soldiers to attack Rang County.

In his opinion, five thousand Qin soldiers were more than enough to attack a Rang County without fighting spirit. However, the facts proved that Zhongxu only used 3,000 Qin soldiers to break through the city walls of Rang County. From beginning to end, the Chu army in the city had almost no effective counterattack, as if these Chu soldiers were just waiting for the signal that the city wall was broken - once the city wall was broken by the Qin army, they could escape without any burden.

I have to say that Bai Qi doesn’t need to spend much energy to deal with such an opponent.

In contrast, he was more concerned about the movements of Meng Zhong's cavalry.

Just like when the Qin army attacked Li County two days ago, today Bai Qi led his army to attack Rang County. Meng Zhong also led two or three hundred cavalry to stand far away and watch, peeking at the reality of the Qin army.

Is there anything worth watching about this battle?

There is no such thing as! The Chu army in Rang County is too weak.

But Meng Zhong was still peeking, so the question arises, what is he peeking at?

The answer is obvious, the other party is peeking at him at Qin army!

Even, perhaps he was still thinking about the strategy of restraining his Qin army.

To be honest, Bai Qi felt very anxious and uneasy about this, as if his secret was peeked by others - because he was a general who liked to peek at the real and real enemy troops before the war and used it as a basis for thinking about corresponding strategies.

Obviously, Meng Zhong on the opposite side had similar habits to him.

It is undoubtedly a very dangerous thing to be stared at by such an enemy general who is good at using troops and tricks.

He was determined to send soldiers to drive away Meng Zhong in the distance, but after thinking about it, he gave up.

First of all, he had made an oral alliance with Meng Zhong. If he violated the agreement, Meng Zhong would naturally cause trouble for him in the Qin army, and Bai Qi did not want him to be harassed by Meng Zhong during his attack on Chu.

Secondly, Meng Zhong's command was under his command in the distance, and he was in nowhere to go. Without cavalry, he did not want to provoke the other party.

By the way, when it comes to cavalry, two days ago, after Bai Qi met Meng Zhong, he wrote a letter and sent someone to Xianyang and handed it over to Ranghou Wei Ran, asking Wei Ran to send the established cavalry here.

As far as Bai Qi knows, after responding to his request, Ranghou Wei Ran found a surrendered general in Yiqu who asked the latter to train cavalry on his behalf. However, because the cavalry training was difficult and the time was too hasty, so far, the Yiqu surrendered general had only barely selected nearly two thousand cavalrymen and were stepping up training.

Originally, Bai Qi did not intend to use this cavalry too early. He was preparing to wait for Chu State to be forced to a desperate situation and organize a large army to launch a decisive battle with him in the Han River area, and then send someone to ask the Marquis of Rang to transfer this cavalry to this place and use the decisive battle with Chu State to hone the cavalry so that when he attacks the Hedong of Wei State in the future, this cavalry can have enough strength to compete with the cavalry under Meng Zhong.

Unexpectedly, he saw Meng Zhong in Wancheng area, which changed his mind.

Whether he and Meng Zhong finally maintained a tacit understanding of not breaking the river, or one of the two sides finally tore up the alliance, he felt that it was necessary to transfer the newly formed cavalry here. After all, only the cavalry could fight against the cavalry.

"oh--!!"

"The Chu army was defeated!"

"Break through the city!"

In the distance, the cheers of the soldiers under Qin general Zhongxu came.

Seeing this, Bai Qi turned his head and looked at the distance. As he expected, Meng Zhong's group of Wei cavalry were slowly evacuating.

"...I don't know how much the reality of our army is, but he has seen it."

Looking at the cavalry's leaving backs, Bai Qi thought to himself.

It has to be said that as Bai Qi guessed, Meng Zhong was indeed peeking at the Qin army's military power and preparing for the future when he broke up with the Qin army.

To be precise, it was the Qin army who broke up with him - well, although it sounds strange, he was sure, even if he was very willing to continue to have a peaceful relationship with the Qin army.

Since he knew that the tacit understanding between them could not last long without the waters of the rivers, he naturally had to prepare to fight the Qin army in advance.

Before that, he had to know this Qin army first.

The art of war says, know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.

Like Bai Qi, Meng Zhong also had the habit of peeking at the enemy's virtual and real situations before the war, because he could see many things from it.

As for the Qin army under Bai Qi's command, he could see some clues.

For example, the equipment of this Qin army was not uniform. Some held long spears, while others held short spears. Let’s not talk about the Qin soldiers holding long spears. Let’s talk about the Qin soldiers holding short spears, shields, and sharp swords.

These soldiers are undeniable to have a lot of experience in fighting, but according to Meng Zhong's understanding, most of the battlefields in the Central Plains follow the principle of "one inch long, one inch strong", so that the long spears held by ordinary soldiers were as long as one and a half feet long.

You take a long sword that is only a few feet long, at most no more than ten feet long, and a short sword to fight with other people's weapons that are ten and a half feet long. You have already lost half of it before you fight.

Then the question arises, what happened to those Qin soldiers who held short spears, sharp swords, and had great experience in fighting?

The answer is self-evident. This is the Qin army sent by Qin State to attack Hanzhong and Bashu in a few years ago. Because there are many mountains and forests in the area and long weapons are not conducive to combat, it is why it uses short weapons. Yes, these soldiers are Qin troops transferred from Hanzhong and Bashu in the Qin State.

Although it is not clear why Qin did not replace weapons for these soldiers, as for Meng Zhong, he could no longer use his previous strategies to fight against this Qin army.

After all, this Qin army defeated the Ba people and Shu people in Bashu. They were good at fighting with short weapons. Compared with those Qin soldiers holding long swords, these Qin soldiers must be more flexible, more explosive, and more adept at fighting one-on-one.

Even more adaptable to sneak attacks and counter-sneaking attacks.

Therefore, for these Qin soldiers, either let the cavalry use short-range weapons to deal with them, or they must organize a tight line of defense. Never let these Qin soldiers break through the defense line. Once these Qin soldiers who are good at fighting in close combat break into the hinterland of the army, the situation will become very bad.

These are all judgments made by Meng Zhong through his observations over the past few days, and they are also the virtual and real military situations that Bai Qi never wants to be learned about.

Unfortunately, the Chu army in Li County and Rang County were too weak to force out the strength of the Qin army soldiers. Otherwise, Meng Zhong would have a more comprehensive understanding of this Qin army. These understandings will help him fight against this Qin army in the future.

At this time, the Qin army under Bai Qi had already captured Rang County. Seeing this, Meng Zhong quickly evacuated. He was not afraid, but he was just in a hurry to help Hua Hu and Mu Wu "rob".

Yes, just when the Qin army launched an offensive in the west wall of Rang County, the Chu soldiers and civilians in the city fled from the south gate and the east gate, while Hua Hu and Mu Wu were just in the southern and eastern suburbs outside the city, blocking the way for the Chu soldiers and civilians, and tempting the Chu soldiers and civilians with words to flee to Yeyi instead of fleeing south to the Han River.

It has to be said that the Wei army's actions were so angry that the Qin soldiers who had just captured Rang County were so angry.

They thought to themselves, I, Qin army, worked hard - well, these two siege battles are actually quite easy, but even so, your Wei army cannot steal our spoils!

The credit for capturing the city was attributed to the generals who led the army, and the property obtained from the looting of civilians in the city was given to the soldiers. This has always been an unwritten tacit understanding between generals and soldiers in the army of various countries in the world.

However, at present, our Qin army captured Rang County, and your Wei army followed behind to get the bargain and were preparing to take all the Chu people from Rang County to Yeyi. What's the matter?!

With this idea in mind, countless Qin soldiers chased outside the city regardless of Rang County, which had almost become an empty city, but were blocked by the cavalry led by Hua Hu and Mu Wu.

"What do you think?!"

Seeing countless Qin soldiers rushing towards this place in the distance, Hua Hu, who is not as brave as Meng Hu, stared at his eyes and scolded: "My head and general have reached an agreement with your Qin army commander. The Wei and Qin army will not violate the rivers. Are you going to violate the agreement and attack our army?!"

Upon hearing this, some Qin soldiers who were trying to chase the Chu people were forced to stop and looked at each other with Tongze.

Not to mention that since reaching an agreement with Meng Zhong, Bai Qi has indeed issued an order, ordering the soldiers in the army not to take the initiative to attack the Wei army.

Because of this, these Qin soldiers looked at the "Wei" army flag in the Huahu Army and dared not approach it.

Seeing this scene, the helpless Chu people seemed to have found their backbone and moved closer to Hua Hu, and then fled towards Fangcheng and Ye Yi under the guidance of Hua Hu's cavalry.

But some Qin soldiers ignored the warnings of Hua Hu and others at all, continued to chase, concealed the fleeing Chu people, and robbed the property they carried with them.

Seeing this, Hua Hu was furious and led more than 20 cavalrymen to block the Qin soldiers and angrily scolded: "Stop!... Do you really want to be an enemy of our Wei army?!"

Hearing this, the veteran Qin army soldiers who participated in the Battle of Yique subconsciously took two steps back.

No wonder, after all, the cavalry led by Meng Hu, Hua Hu and Mu Wu did leave them with indelible fear last year.

However, after hearing Hua Hu's anger, some Qin soldiers still defended indignantly: "Don't intimidate us, this general, although the Qin and Wei armies here agreed not to invade each other, we did not offend your army. We were just chasing these Chu people. The general blocked our army's way for no reason. It was your side's right!"
To be continued...