After dawn, when Qi army commander Tian Chu woke up from his sleep, he immediately received a report from his generals. As for the matter reported, it was nothing more than the scouts they sent yesterday that they suffered heavy casualties.

From yesterday during the day, the Fangcheng cavalry of the Wei army launched a comprehensive blockade against the camps of the Qi and Yan armies. It was fine with the Yan army. The Fangcheng cavalry would even make a fuss about Le Yi's face, but the Qi army's scouts were ruthlessly slaughtered by the Fangcheng cavalry, so that no ten Qi army scouts who could return to the camp alive were left.

The killing of a large number of scouts means that the Qi army has become blind and deaf, and it is difficult to monitor the movements in the Tancheng area.

Cavalry... It's actually cavalry. Does the Wei State actually have cavalry?

After learning about the scout casualties between yesterday and night, Tian Chufu walked slowly in the tent with his hands on his back, thinking about countermeasures.

Tian Chu was known as Tian Zhang's successor in Qi State. Many people believe that after Tian Zhang passed away, Tian Chu would carry the banner of Qi's foreign war. In this way, he certainly knew the existence of cavalry.

However, he thought that only the State of Zhao had cavalry, but he did not expect that the State of Wei also had cavalry, and the number was large. It was roughly estimated that there were no less than thousands of people.

According to Tian Chu's understanding of cavalry, the cavalry is best at acting as a scout to monitor the enemy and pursue the enemy's scout cavalry by the way, which gives it a great advantage in pursuing a small group of enemy troops.

Just now, after learning that reinforcements from the Qin and Wei coalition forces arrived in Tancheng yesterday, Tian Chu sent additional scouts to monitor Tancheng, but not many scouts have been able to send back the news so far. It is not difficult to guess that these people were mostly poisoned by the cavalry of the Wei Kingdom opposite.

"The Art of War" says that knowing yourself and your enemy will never be defeated in a hundred battles, but now because of the cavalry of Wei, the Qi army can no longer monitor Tancheng's every move. This battle has to be said to have become increasingly difficult.

Thinking of this, Tian Chu gritted his teeth at the commander of the Yan army. If it weren't for the latter's passive and lazy battles for various reasons, the Qi and Yan coalition forces would have already captured Tancheng, and what about it like now?

The Yan people are unreliable in the end.

Tian Chu thought to himself.

Soon after, deputy general Tian Da came to the commander's tent.

He asked Tian Chu: "Did you know that the scout suffered serious losses last night?"

Tian Chu nodded slightly, indicating that he was already aware of the situation.

Seeing this, Tian Da frowned and said, "The Qin and Wei coalition forces were just coming, and they immediately sent their cavalry to block the news, trying to turn our army into blind and deaf. I was thinking that the Qin and Wei coalition forces wanted to defeat our army, probably very urgent... It is probably not the best way to wait and see what happened in this situation."

Keep the troops in motion for the time being, and wait and see what changes are. This is the countermeasure summarized by Tian Chu when he summoned the generals of the Qi and Yan army in the Qi camp to discuss countermeasures.

To be precise, it should be the countermeasures that the generals of the Qi army discussed on their own. After all, at that time, Le Yi, Zhao She and Rong Qi did not say a word and did not make any constructive proposals.

The reason why he decided to keep his troops still and wait and see the changes was because Tian Chu and others had almost no understanding of the Qin and Wei coalition forces.

Where does this army form an alliance?

What are the generals of the two armies?

How many troops are there, food and grass?

His Qi army knew nothing about this information.

The only information they could get was that the Qin army was mostly led by the famous general Sima Cuo, while the Wei army should be an army transferred from Fangcheng and led by the Wei general surnamed Meng...

Meng's surname...

When he thought of this surname, Tian Chu's eyes couldn't help but flash a few traces of haze.

He was very sensitive to this surname because a few years ago, a general named Meng Zhong, once attacked his camp of tens of thousands of Qi troops at night with 500 Zhao soldiers, which greatly damaged his face.

No, Meng Zhong cannot be said to be General Zhao, because after that, when his Qi army launched an army of 150,000 to conquer the State of Song, Meng Zhong was also stationed as a general of Song State in Weiyang.

That time, even Tian Zhang, a famous general of Qi, failed to win, so in the end, Qi was forced to quit with Song.

Then the question is, was the Wei army in the Qin and Wei coalition this time led by the commander Meng Zhong?

When Tian Chu thought of this, he couldn't help but double the pressure.

In the Battle of Zhu Ke and the Battle of Bi Yang, Tian Chu had fought with Meng Zhong twice so far. If Meng Zhong only used his negligence to defeat him by sneak attack, then in the later Battle of Bi Yang, Tian Chu had actually developed a twelve-point spirit. After all, although Tian Zhang or Tian Chu did not know that the garrison of Bi Yang was Meng Zhong, considering that Tian Zhang used "Ying Ji" to refer to this opponent, Tian Chu certainly did not dare to take it lightly.

But despite this, he still could not pose any threat to Feng Yang, who was stationed in Meng Zhong at that time.

If the commander of the Wei army in the Qin and Wei coalition forces was indeed Meng Zhong, it would be really...what is great.

After pondering for a moment, Tian Chu also informed Tian Da of his guess.

Unexpectedly, Tian Da's expression changed after hearing this: "If it were Meng Zhong, my army would be in danger!...Don't you know that Meng Zhong was the guard of Master Zhao's father when he was in Zhao State, and was Le Yi his deputy general at that time?"

In fact, Tian Chu also knew about this, but he felt that Le Yi would not betray him because of his old friendship. This was probably a sense of responsibility based on his own position.

It has to be said that in modern times, people still advocate this kind of responsibility. In most cases, most people will not do anything that goes against their position. This is an ethics.

For example, if a Wei man went to Qi and became the prime minister, he might favor his homeland, but this basically only happens without affecting the interests of Qi, and will not harm the interests of Qi for the sake of Wei, because this is his ethics as a minister of Qi unless he was originally a spy sent by Wei.

Because of this, even though Le Yi was once the deputy general of Meng Zhong, given that he is now the Grand Sima of Yan State, Tian Chu did not think that Le Yi would betray the trust of the King of Yan and do something that he would betray Yan State and affair with Wei State without authorization. If Le Yi really dared to do this, even if the world is so big, there would be no place for him to live in, and no countries in the Central Plains would accept a treacherous person.

But obviously, Tian Da’s point of view is different from Tian Chu: "After that being said, you think about it, Le Yi himself is extremely negative about this battle, and he indulges his soldiers to fight passively and lazyly. Do you guarantee that he has no selfishness?"

Tian Chu frowned and refused to speak.

In fact, Le Yi had explained to him before that the Yan army was passive and lazy in fighting because the Yan people generally hated Qi. As for the reasons, all Qi people should know it.

This explanation is actually acceptable to Tian Chu. After all, if you think from the perspective of others, he would not fight for another country that once massacred and looted in his country. However, given that the Wei general surnamed Meng on the opposite side was Meng Zhong, who was the chief general of Le Yi when he was in Zhao State, Tian Chu could not help but have some doubts about this.

"The Yan people are unreliable."

Tian Da said seriously: "If you expect to join forces with the Yan army to resist the counterattack of the three-country coalition forces of Qin, Wei and Song dynasties, I advise you not to do this. If the Yan army turns against each other at that time..."

"No." Tian Chu shook his head: "As long as Le Yi is still loyal to the King of Yan, he will not dare to betray our Qi State."

Yes, Tian Chu still thought about this clearly.

Hearing this, Tian Da sneered: "Even if he won't turn against the battlefield, it's hard to guarantee that he won't watch the fire from the other side... If this person really has some tacit understanding with the Qin and Wei coalition forces opposite, our army will be in trouble then."

Tian Chu frowned when he heard this.

I have to say that Tian Da is right. His 100,000 Qi troops alone may not be able to withstand the coalition forces of the Qin, Wei and Song dynasties.

After thinking about it, he asked Tian Da, "What do you mean... withdrawing troops?"

Tian Da nodded and said, "I thought about it carefully last night. Since the Qin and Wei coalition forces arrived in Tancheng, our army may not be able to capture Tancheng. Since that is the case, it is better to withdraw our troops..."

"But..." Tian Chu's face showed a hesitation, a hint of fear.

What he feared was of course the monarch of Qi, the land of the country now.

Unlike King Xuan of Qi, who values ​​saints and external kings, now his monarchy land in Qi is extremely domineering, both internally and externally.

To be fair, King Xuan of Qi may not be a wise monarch, at least not as good as his father King Wei of Qi. However, King Xuan of Qi is very tolerant and kind to his subjects in the country. Only when treating other countries can King Xuan of Qi show his domineering side.

Be kind and kind to the inside and harsh and domineering to the outside is the strategy of governing the country by "the sage inside and the king outside".

Therefore, even though the Yan people hated King Xuan of Qi to the core, King Xuan of Qi had an unparalleled prestige in Qi State. The Qi people often compared him with his father King Wei of Qi, saying that these two were both wise kings and wise rulers.

But now, Tian Di, the king of Qi, only inherited his father's domineeringness, but did not inherit his father's tolerance and kindness. He was equally harsh on his subjects in his country. It was this that led to the civil strife of Tian Jiajie, and led to the wise ministers of Qi like Zou Yan and left Qi and defected to Yan.

Now in the entire Qi State, only Tian Zhang is not afraid of the fields, and there are no other people who are not afraid of this king, including Tian Chu.

Without receiving the order of the Linzi King, Tian Chu could not imagine how he would face the monarch in the future.

As if seeing through Tian Chu's concerns, Tian Da lowered his voice and said, "You and I can hand over the responsibility for the ineffective combat to the Yan army. After all, it is an indisputable fact that the Yan army is passive and lazy in fighting....Don't hesitate anymore, you also know how many cavalry the Wei army has. Once the three-country coalition forces of Qin, Wei and Song dynasties launch a counterattack, our army will inevitably suffer heavy losses. Instead of being trapped here and sending people to Linzi for help, it is better to withdraw the troops early and at least escape unscathed. You know, our army can hardly win this battle."

“Let me think about it.”

Tian Chu said with a frown.

After Tian Da said goodbye and left, Tian Chu sat alone in the tent and pondered.

He was thinking about what kind of responsibility he would have done if Tian Zhang, whom he respected, was here.

"Tian Da is right. Our army can hardly win this battle. If it were Zhang Zi, he would definitely choose to withdraw his troops and reduce the casualties of his soldiers..."

Thinking of this, Tian Chu immediately sent someone to invite Tian Da to discuss the plan to withdraw his troops.

As Tian Chu and Tian Da guessed, on the opposite Tancheng, the prince Dai Wu and Qin general Sima Cuo were indeed discussing the strategy of counterattack.

To be honest, it is not really a clever plan. It is nothing more than using the cavalry of Fangcheng to siege the 100,000 Qi troops. When the Qi army is exhausted, the three-country coalition forces of Qin, Wei and Song will launch a general attack that decides victory or defeat, and defeat the Qi army in one fell swoop.

The principal discussion between Prince Dai Wu and Qin general Sima Cuo was mainly about the task designation of the three-country coalition forces of the Qin, Wei and Song dynasties, that is, who is responsible for which tasks, to prevent chaos within the coalition forces during the war.

It is worth mentioning that it may be because of the passive and lazy battles of the Yan army a while ago, so that the prince Dai Wu or Dai cannot win, did not regard the Yan army as an enemy. Among the tactics they discussed and concluded, the Qi army was the only target.

Judging from their posture, it seemed that they intended to wipe out the 100,000 Qi army this time.

To be honest, Meng Zhong actually tended to be the prince Dai Wu. Dai Wu’s decision was to find a way to make Tian Chu and Tian Da’s 100,000 Qi troops wiped out.

If you lose 100,000 troops at once, even if you are as strong as Qi, you will become weak because of this. You will not dare to invade Song again within three to five years.

But the trouble is that Le Yi was preparing to lead Yan army to help protect Tian Chu, Tian Da and others retreat, which means that the counterattack of the three-nation coalition forces of Qin, Wei and Song dynasties could only annihilate half of the Qi army, but could not completely annihilate its army.

Unless, the Yan army, the three-nation coalition forces of Qin, Wei and Song, also regarded the Yan army as the real enemy and were excluded like the Qi army.

And this will obviously offend Yan State and even Le Yi.

"Meng Qing?Meng Qing?"

Soon, the call of the prince Dai Wu came to Meng Zhong's ears.

Meng Zhong came to his senses and realized that the meeting had ended and the generals from the Qin army had almost gone.

Seeing this, Meng Zhong bowed and said, "I am distracted. Please forgive me for your sins."

Prince Dai Wu waved his hand with a smile, and then he asked with concern: "What happened?"

Hearing this, Meng Zhong fell into deep thought.

After a while, Meng Zhong bowed his hand to the prince Dai Wu and said, "Prince, please borrow a step to speak."

The prince Dai Wu did not doubt that he was there, so he took Meng Zhong to his study. After instructing the guards to stay away from the study and not allow anyone to enter, he asked Meng Zhong: "I think I have something to worry about when I look at Meng Qing?"
To be continued...