Traveling the Heavens in Thunderbolt

Chapter 192 The Smoke of War Has Cleared
After the Battle of Lantian, Han Xin took advantage of the great victory to recapture Wuguan in one fell swoop and ensure the safety of Guanzhong. Later, after receiving instructions from Cheng Qiao, he joined up with the follow-up troops and began to counterattack the land captured by Long Ju.

Han Xin used soldiers, the more the better. After several years of development, the number of troops under the King of Han, excluding those stationed in Baiyue, had reached more than 600,000. After taking over the Qin troops stationed in Guanzhong, the number reached nearly 700,000.

In order to solve the problem once and for all, Cheng Qiao transferred a large number of troops to Hanzhong early in the morning. Hu Hai died, Zhao Gao was executed, and the situation in the court was stable. After Han Xin recaptured Wuguan, follow-up troops were sent to the front line. With the support of Gongshu Jia's domineering mechanical skills that were good at siege cities and seizing land, it took less than two months to destroy the Kingdom of Han again, and King Xin of Han was killed.

At this time, Han Xin's army had reached more than 400,000. At the same time, Zhang Han received Zhongli Mei's report and learned that the situation in the court had changed and he had become the main ruler. He immediately sent the chief historian Sima Xin to ask for instructions on what to do next.

When Sima Xin arrived in Xianyang, Cheng Qiao showed great importance to him and met him personally. After comforting him, he told him to go back and tell Zhang Han that he must delay Xiang Yu for a while. Han Xin was about to lead a large army across the Yellow River, and in less than a month, they could join forces with Zhang Han to attack the coalition forces led by Xiang Yu.

After seeing Sima Xin off and ensuring the safety of Zhang Han's army's food and grass, he personally led an army of 100,000 out of Guanzhong and headed straight for Xiang Yu's hometown, the seat of Emperor Yi, the already empty Xuyi, intending to cut off Xiang Yu and the other princes' retreat in one fell swoop.

After receiving Sima Xin's report and food supplies, Zhang Han immediately understood the King of Han's intention and decided to continue to hold his ground, waiting for Han Xin's arrival and using absolute military force to annihilate the most powerful force in the anti-Qin alliance in one fell swoop.

After learning that Long Ju had been defeated and killed, Xiang Yu immediately realized that Cheng Qiao, who everyone had previously judged as someone who only wanted to split Baiyue and become the king of Shu, had taken action. Then he received news that the recently restored Han State had been destroyed, and that Han Xin was leading an army of 400,000 to attack.

Realizing that the situation had changed, Xiang Yu wanted to break camp and leave, but was immediately noticed by the astute Zhang Han. Changing his usual style of holding out, Zhang Han and Wang Li led the well-trained Golden Fire Cavalry to hold on to Xiang Yu's troops, preventing them from retreating safely.

But unexpectedly, Xiang Yu made a bold move and let Ji Bu lead 100,000 Chu troops and the coalition forces of princes, totaling more than 200,000 troops, to hold back Zhang Han, while he led the 200,000 Chu troops directly to Han Xin's 400,000 troops.

Xiang Yu planned to attack Han Xin's army before it completely crossed the Yellow River, relying on the local superiority of military forces to divide and destroy them.

Afterwards, he would return with an absolute force to wipe out Zhang Han, who had lost his support, and completely destroy the Qin's combat power. By then, even if Cheng Qiao's martial arts skills were high, he would not be able to make up for the loss of his two main legions.

Everything was just as Xiang Yu had expected. Han Xin's army was too large, and the boats along the Yellow River were collected and destroyed by Xiang Yu in the previous Battle of Julu. Although Gongshu Jia gave full support, it still took several days to barely transport more than 100,000 soldiers across the river.

At this time, Xiang Yu led 200,000 Chu troops and met with 50,000 vanguard troops led by Han Xin himself.

After Han Xin discovered the Chu army, he, contrary to common sense, ordered his soldiers to raise the banner of himself as the commander of the Qin army to attract Xiang Yu to attack.

Seeing that the opportunity was rare, Xiang Yu did not think too much and immediately led his entire army to attack, intending to defeat Han Xin's 50,000-strong Qin army in one fell swoop.

The two armies fought with spears and swords for a while. Then Han Xin led his troops to retreat eastward along the Yellow River. Xiang Yu would not let the fat meat in his mouth escape, so he led his troops to retreat and chased them along the way.

But the two sides were chasing each other, and when they had reached less than 20 kilometers, they saw the troops arranged by Han Xin in advance lined up waiting for them.

Xiang Yu knew that he had fallen into a trap, but he still had the advantage in terms of military strength, so he ordered a strong attack.

But what was unexpected was that the fighting spirit of this Qin army was extraordinary. Despite being at a disadvantage in terms of manpower, they managed to hold off the offensive of the Chu army led by Xiang Yu.

Only then did Xiang Yu realize that Han Xin was copying the strategy of burning his boats and breaking his bridges that he had used not long ago.

It turned out that Han Xin had long anticipated that Xiang Yu would march south and annihilate his troops before his entire army crossed the Yellow River. On the first day of crossing the river, he stationed most of his troops downstream, with their backs to the water, while he led a small part of his troops to attract the enemy.

As the saying goes, "Soldiers are not afraid when they are in a deep trap; they will defend themselves if they have nowhere to go; they will be trapped if they go deep into the enemy's territory; and they will fight if they have no choice." The Qin soldiers saw that there were strong enemies in front of them and water blocking their way behind them, and they had no way to retreat, so everyone fought to the death and fought desperately. The fierce offensive of the Chu army was thus suppressed.

Xiang Yu knew that the enemy was in full force and it was not appropriate to attack any further, so he had to lead his troops back to the camp. However, he did not expect that as soon as he returned to the camp, he saw the flags of the Qin army standing in the camp, fluttering in the wind, looking very majestic.

This was Han Xin's backup plan. Just before Xiang Yu's army pressed forward to chase down Han Xin's retreating troops, Han Xin had already hidden 2,000 light cavalry in the woods.

After Xiang Yu hurriedly pursued him, two thousand light cavalry took advantage of the fact that the Chu army camp was empty and unprepared, suddenly attacked and captured the Chu camp.

The old nest had changed hands, and before Xiang Yu could relax, he heard Han Xin leading a large army behind him, so he had to turn around to fight.

Although the Chu army had been running around for days, had fought several battles, and had fallen into many traps, they were already exhausted, but under the leadership of Xiang Yu, their morale did not diminish in the slightest.

They quickly repelled Han Xin's attack and even launched a counterattack. Xiang Yu even led the cavalry and charged into the battle line himself to attack Han Xin.

Thanks to the protection of Jing Wei and Tian Ci, Han Xin was not killed by Xiang Yu. Later, the follow-up troops of the Qin army crossed the Yellow River and came to support, which enabled the Qin army to stabilize its position.

The main camp was also recaptured after a desperate attack by Ying Bu and Yu Ziqi, giving the Chu army a place to recuperate.

When both sides returned to the camp to count the casualties, the Chu army had 200,000 soldiers who participated in the battle, about 30,000 of them were killed, and more than 20,000 were injured and lost their combat effectiveness. On the other hand, the Qin army had more than 30,000 soldiers who were killed, and more than 10,000 were injured and lost their combat effectiveness.

Han Xin would naturally not be satisfied with such an outcome. After all, the enemy had made a long-distance attack in front and fell into a trap later, yet still managed to cause such great damage to the Qin army.

Xiang Yu was also dissatisfied because since he started his army, the Chu army had never suffered such heavy losses except the time when Xiang Liang died. Since Xiang Yu took charge of the army, he had never defeated the smaller army with a larger force.

What's more, if they could not quickly annihilate Han Xin's troops, allowing Zhang Han to defeat Ji Bu's troops and rush to join them, the Chu army would face an enemy that outnumbered them several times.

The next day, realizing that the situation could not be delayed, Xiang Yu led his officers and soldiers to attack Han Xin's camp.

Although troops continued to cross the river for reinforcements, Han Xin's troops still struggled under the fierce attacks of the Chu army.

Han Xin understood that this was the most critical moment and time was on his side. He should not look at Xiang Yu who was fighting desperately.

The longer the time drags on, the more troops will arrive, and the less likely it is that the Chu army will be able to break through the camp. As long as they hold out until Zhang Han arrives to join them, they will surely be able to eliminate the biggest threat to the Qin State in one fell swoop.

Xiang Yu naturally understood this truth, so the intervals between his attacks became shorter and shorter, and the Qin and Chu armies launched a brutal tug-of-war on the land of Hebei.

(End of this chapter)