My father, King Chu, was besieged at Gaixia

Chapter 147: Drive straight in
The tent of the Han army commander.

Han Xin stood in front of the huge map of the military deployment of the Han and Chu camps at Gaixia, with his hands behind his back, his eyes solemn and deep, thinking nervously.

As soon as Xiang Chang returned to Gaixia, he set up camp outside the city with 30,000 Chu cavalrymen. His intention was self-evident: he was going to switch from defense to offense. As expected, during the following period, in addition to harassing the Han camp day and night, he also sent cavalrymen to raid and intercept the Han army's food supply.

The Chu army currently had tens of thousands of fierce cavalry, and the initiative was in their hands. The Han camp, which was mainly composed of infantry, fell into a passive position without realizing it. At this point, the Han camp had to abandon the original tactic of shrinking and defending, and actively seek opportunities to fight the Chu army to the death. Otherwise, if it continued to delay, the food supply would be cut off by the Chu army, and then it would inevitably collapse without a fight.

Faced with this situation, Han Xin was not worried at all, but was greatly excited.

As long as it is a field battle, except for the Overlord, he really doesn't take anyone in the world seriously.

Han Xin kept thinking about what military strategy to use next to inflict a severe blow on that ignorant boy, teach him a severe lesson and turn the extremely unfavorable situation of the Han army around.

"I heard that Xiang Chang has created a very powerful war machine that can be used to equip soldiers on a large scale. It is completely different from the 'detoxifying medicine' and 'gold juice'. Captain Chen Ping has gone personally to negotiate with the Chu army spies. I also ordered Captain Chen that if this machine is as powerful as the spy said, then any conditions of the spy can be agreed. The general must take this war machine into consideration in the next battle with the Chu army." In the tent, Liu Bang, whose face was flushed after drinking wine, said to Han Xin with a little drunkenness.

Han Xin nodded, turned his head and looked outside the tent. He found that it was time for the soldiers to have breakfast. He asked in confusion, "Captain Chen went there last night, right? Why hasn't he come back yet?"

Liu Bang was also startled. Before he could say anything, the panicked and distressed shout of Yang Tian, ​​the eunuch outside the tent, suddenly came:
"Reporting to the King of Han, Commander Chen Ping met with Ding Gu last night and was stabbed to death by Ding Gu. Ding Gu has been deceiving us all along in order to lure Commander Chen Ping into the trap."

When Liu Bang heard this, the wine cup in his hand fell to the ground with a clang, and the wine spilled all over him without him noticing. Then he pushed the two maids to the ground, jumped up, and ran out of the tent barefoot with a nimble figure.

In front of the tent, on a flat wooden board, Chen Ping's body with a dagger stuck in his chest lay neatly on it. His stiff face still retained the twisted and painful look of his death.

Looking at Chen Ping's body, Liu Bang was at a loss for a moment, his face was dull and full of disbelief.

His two major advisers, Zhang Liang, were trapped in the Hengshan Kingdom and his life or death was unknown; now Chen Ping had died tragically. After the subsequent battle with the Chu camp, he had no capable people to give him advice.

There was a roll of cloth wrapped around the dagger that stabbed Chen Ping to death. With some hope, Liu Bang stepped forward to untie it, shook it open, and saw a line of ink writing on it: This precious gift is presented to the King of Han!
——Kill people and destroy their hearts?!

"You despicable bastard Xiang Chang deserves to die!" Liu Bang's face turned red, he was furious and let out a loud roar.

Zhongjuan Yang Tian knelt on the ground, looking terrified, not daring to say much.

Han Xin, who followed him out of the tent at this time, also had a frown on his face and looked very ugly.

During this period, Chen Ping had been of great help to him and could be regarded as his right-hand man. But now that he had met with an unexpected accident, he would have to formulate military strategies, collect intelligence, and deal with the arrogant soldiers and generals in the Han camp all by himself. This would undoubtedly be doubly hard.

It has to be said that when Zhang Liang was not in the Han camp, the importance of Chen Ping was self-evident. Xiang Chang's dagger stabbed extremely accurately, which was equivalent to a heavy blow to the Han camp, and the damage caused was irreparable.

At this time, Cao Shen, Fan Kuai and other generals also gathered together, looked at Chen Ping's body, looked at each other with grim expressions.

At this moment, Han Xin's messenger came with a look of fear and panic, as if he had wings.

When Liu Bang saw it, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat: What bad news?

Then the usher ran up to Han Xin and reported with a trembling voice: "King of Qi, the scouts just received a message that the Overlord Xiang Yu led a cavalry of 30,000 and marched straight into the territory of Qi."

When these words were spoken, the impact was no less than the execution of Chen Ping. Both Liu Bang and Han Xin's expressions changed drastically and they were horrified.

They had made all sorts of calculations, but they had never expected that Xiang Yu would point his spearhead at Han Xin. Qi had not been stable until now. Xiang Yu's general Li Yi had led a Chu army to attack continuously, and Han Xin had also left his generals to lead the army to pacify the situation, but they had not achieved decisive results. Now Xiang Yu led an army of 30,000 to charge like a flood and beast, but he didn't bring disaster to the entire Qi area? This was simply to cut off Han Xin's roots!
"Where did Xiang Yu get so many cavalry?" Liu Bang blurted out, and as soon as he said this, he immediately realized that it was obviously the 40,000 troops of the Hengshan Kingdom that attacked the Linjiang Kingdom, and they were all requisitioned by him.

"Come on, quickly organize the army and return to Qi!" Han Xin gave the order without hesitation.

Although they knew that Han Xin would definitely rush back to his fiefdom as soon as possible, when he said this, Liu Bang and the generals around him suddenly became gloomy.

The situation had developed to the point where the Han camp had begun to lose the upper hand. If their commander, Han Xin, ran away again, facing the powerful Chu army that dominated the world, and the cunning and resourceful Xiang Chang who had emerged as a new force, no one would be sure of winning the battle, and they might even face a crushing defeat.

"King of Qi, don't do that!" Liu Bang was so hot all over that he didn't feel cold at all when he stepped on the cold ground in early winter with his bare feet. He stepped forward and held Han Xin's hands, and explained earnestly, "King of Qi, can't you see that this is a trick of Xiang Chang, who is trying to divide us? If the King of Qi really insists on rushing to Qi, and my Han camp is not careful, we will really be defeated by Xiang Chang. Then, how can the King of Qi survive alone? Therefore, King of Qi must keep a cool head and don't be fooled."

Hearing this, Han Xin hesitated for a moment, and then he felt that Liu Bang's words made sense. However, he changed his mind and thought again, if he continued to serve as the chief general in the Han camp, the huge Qi state he had conquered would inevitably fall into the hands of the Chu again. By then, he would have lost his base, and he would not be able to become a general under Liu Bang like Cao Shen and Zhou Chang. He didn't know when his life dream of ruling a country and ruling the country would be realized.

It has to be said that people like Han Xin, Ying Bu and Peng Yue all have a fatal weakness, which is that they attach great importance to the benefits they have obtained and cannot accept the pain of losing them!
——After years of life and death, they have finally become rich and powerful. If they become poor again overnight, it would be better to kill them.

"Don't worry, King of Han. I will return to Qi, defeat the Overlord, stabilize the situation, and rush back immediately. As long as the King of Han continues to hold on for a while, the final victory will definitely belong to our Han camp." Han Xin bowed his hands and said generously. Hearing Han Xin's words, knowing that he was determined and difficult to persuade, Liu Bang's face turned cold, let go of his hands, brushed his sleeves, turned around and walked towards the tent, and said lightly: "The King of Qi has made up his mind, so it's up to you!"

As soon as Liu Bang finished his cold words, Xiahou Ying, who had been following him closely, waved his hand, and the elite Han soldiers beside him suddenly fired arrows at Han Xin and the guards and attendants beside him.

Han Xin was shocked and furious, roaring and cursing, and drew his sword to charge out. However, Xiahou Ying led a total of 3,000 guards who surrounded them tightly, so how could they escape? They were shot dead one by one on the spot.

Generals such as Cao Shen and Zhou Chang were all stunned by this sudden change, especially when they saw Han Xin, who was like a hedgehog with arrows all over his body, and was already dead but still standing stubbornly on the spot with his eyes bulging and a face full of grief and indignation. They all felt a chill in their hearts.

However, on second thought, Liu Bang's choice seemed not surprising.

If Han Xin had returned to Qi alone, Liu Bang would have spared his life. But now he was obviously going to take all his generals and troops with him. The Han camp was already outnumbered, and if he took away one-third of the troops, the remaining Han army would be wiped out in the face of the fierce Chu army, which had an absolute advantage in numbers. How could Liu Bang tolerate this?

Although Han Xin died, it did not cause any strong turmoil in the Han camp. A large number of generals under his command originally came from the Han camp and were his confidants sent by Liu Bang. During this period, most of the generals loyal to Han Xin were also won over and bribed by Liu Bang.

"Reorganize the army and fight a decisive battle with the Chu army tomorrow!" When Liu Bang was about to step into the tent, he stopped, turned back and shouted to the generals.

All the generals were shocked, and they all knelt down, clasped their hands, and shouted, "We will obey the order of the King of Han!"

Hengshan Kingdom, Royal Palace.

King Wu Rui of Hengshan was lying on the couch with his legs spread out, drinking wine and watching the graceful dancers dancing. His hands were gently clapping his thighs in time with the music from the bells. His old face was rosy and he looked very happy.

On the soft couch below him, Zhang Liang was kneeling upright. His face had obviously become thinner after not seeing him for many days, and there was a look of deep worry between his brows. Although he was looking up at the dance, his eyes were vague and distracted, and it was obvious that his thoughts had flown to who knows where.

Turning his head and seeing Zhang Liang's appearance, Wu Rui shook his head and wanted to pretend that he didn't see it. However, he couldn't bear it. He sat up straight and waved his hand like swatting a fly. The music in the hall suddenly stopped. The dancers and musicians bowed and held their breath, and retreated quietly.

The entire hall was empty except for the two people.

Wu Rui put down the wine bottle, stroked his beard, and looked back at Zhang Liang with a smile: "After a while of fun, are you still not satisfied? Zifang has been worried for many days, and has never relaxed his brows. Life is short, why torture yourself like this?"

Zhang Liang came back to his senses, gave a bitter smile, shook his head and said sadly: "Although it is fun here, it is not as good as my hometown."

"Is it not as good as the homeland, or not as good as the old master?" Wu Rui teased, then knelt down on the couch with difficulty, his face straight, and said solemnly, "I don't know what's so good about Liu Bang, that makes Zifang so involved? Compared with the brutal, cruel, brainless, and wanton tyrant, Liu Bang was the only choice. Now after a deep talk with Master Chang, I feel that he is undoubtedly a better choice than Liu Bang. Although I know that Xiang Chang may be deceiving me, but from what he said, at least he has the people in his heart, not Liu Bang who is purely selfish."

This was the first time that Wu Rui opened his heart to Zhang Liang after surrendering to the Great Chu, explaining why he made such a decision that day.

Zhang Liang shook his head heavily and said coldly, "How foolish! How foolish! You will definitely regret it! Who among all the superiors is not a tiger or a wolf? Xiang Chang is just trying to comfort you and deliberately deceive you. Once he really gets what he wants, he will also eat meat!"

"Perhaps you are right!" Wu Rui looked up through the palace gate and looked at the houses of the people in Zhucheng. He said in a bleak tone, "Whether my decision is right or wrong, the people under my rule have finally avoided the scourge of war. Our Hengshan Kingdom has not suffered from war for many years. Let's keep the current situation."

"How long can you hold on? The Chu and Han camps will eventually have to decide the winner! What do you think the chances of Chu winning are? In my opinion, the Han camp will have a greater chance of winning in the end." Zhang Liang said coldly.

"Okay, okay, you're right! Since you believe that the Han camp will win in the end, why not just wait patiently? Master Chang didn't bear to kill you, so he kept you under house arrest in my palace. When the Han camp achieves the final victory, his orders will naturally collapse. You can return to the Han camp then, so why are you so depressed and wasting time now?" Wu Rui said with a smile.

"What about you?" Zhang Liang asked abruptly.

"Me?" Wu Rui asked doubtfully.

"The King of Han has won, and you have surrendered without a fight. You have used up all the resources in the kingdom to support the Overlord. How can I forgive you? How will you cope with the situation then?" Zhang Liang turned his head and stared at Wu Rui, saying angrily.

"I'm just going to drink while I have the wine! As long as I'm happy today, I don't care what happens tomorrow!" Wu Rui picked up the wine jar again and laughed.

"You still have so much confidence in little Xiang Chang!" Zhang Liang looked at him deeply and said.

"Zifang, relax and have a good rest. Don't expect to persuade me. The final battle of Gaixia between Han and Chu should have already begun. Even if you persuade me, it will be useless. First, there is no time. Second, the troops and weapons of Hengshan Kingdom were taken away by the Chu army. I am just a typical empty king. I don't have any power at all. I can't influence the situation of Gaixia." Wu Rui said sarcastically.

Zhang Liang sighed. He had known Wu Rui for many years and was very familiar with the cunning of this old fox. Everyone thought that he had persuaded him to abandon Chu and join Han. In fact, he didn't know that this old villain had made up his mind beforehand and just used his hand to push the boat along. Otherwise, if he didn't want to, how could an outsider like him enter the gate of his palace? Now that he said this, it was obvious that he was determined to support Xiang Chang. He couldn't think of persuading him with words.

(End of this chapter)