Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 120 Time (seeking a monthly pass)

Liu Kou dismounted from his horse, strode up to Peng Yue's chariot, and shouted, "Your Majesty, the situation is wrong!"

Peng Yue jumped off the chariot and said in a deep voice, "Liu Kou, did you find something?"

Liu Kou nodded, and said solemnly: "My lord, besides Chen Xi's rebels, there is also an elite army that has experienced hundreds of battles. The general suspects that it may be the remnants of the Chu army in Xiangzhuang!"

General Hu Zhe also said: "Your Majesty, the last general also feels the same way. If it was only Chen Xi's rebel army, General Liu's former army should have succeeded in capturing the city just now, but in fact, shutting down the defenders behaved very well. Be calm, even when the light soldiers and dead soldiers are about to reach the top of the city, they didn't panic at all, this is not the behavior that a mob should behave."

"It's no wonder they just shouted that I'm the only one." Peng Yue said, "Looks like it should be the Chu army."

Liu Kou said: "My lord, if it is really the Chu army, our army will not be able to attack by force. You know the sharpness of the Chu army. Although there are only [-] Chu troops left in Xiangzhuang, they are defending according to danger. We Even if the army can defeat them and capture Hulao Pass, the final casualties will definitely be extremely heavy, my lord."

Hu Zhe also said: "Yes, Your Majesty, the general suspects that this is probably the King of Han's plan of two tigers competing for food!"

"Two tigers competing for food?" Peng Yue frowned, and said a little unhappy, "The king of Han is not as miserable as you think."

"Your Majesty..." When Liu Kou and Hu Zhe wanted to persuade him again, Peng Yue suddenly raised his hand and said coldly, "You don't need to say any more, it's getting dark today, so don't fight any more, wait for the luggage to arrive tomorrow. Attack the city again!"

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When Liang Jun and Chu Jun fought bloody battles in Hulaoguan, the Han Army was fighting for time.

In Nanyang County, on the road from Yingchuan to Wancheng, Lu Ze's [-] troops are marching southward.

Vehicles rattled, horses roared, and the road was full of dust. Due to the long march, the soldiers of the Han army were all panting and sweating, and when they were wrapped in the dust in the air, they all turned into loess. The clay figurine is gone, even if it is Lu Tai, the son of a young man, he has lost his usual heroic demeanor.

"Father." Lu Tai rode his horse to catch up with Lu Ze, panting, "The soldiers are exhausted, let's set up camp."

"No!" Lu Ze flatly refused, "How many miles have you traveled? Do you want to camp and rest? No, absolutely not. I ordered the whole army to speed up and continue marching. We must reach Ye County before midnight." After a pause, Lu Ze said murderously again, "If you don't arrive after the deadline, don't blame the county guard for being ruthless!"

"Promise!" Lu Tai agreed with a loud bang, and immediately rode away, "The county guard has an order, the whole army must speed up, and must rush to Ye County before midnight, and those who violate the order...severe punishment will not be neglected!"

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In Baimajin, Guanying's eight thousand cavalry troops are crossing the river in the twilight.

Although there are no boats or pontoon bridges, Guan Ying's cavalry can still cross the river with thousands of large skin bags and hundreds of large urns. The specific method is to tie four large skin bags or large urns to the four legs of the war horse. , and then enter the river with people and horses, relying on the buoyancy of the skin or the big urn, the people and horses will not drown in the water, and then they can paddle across the river calmly.

Because the number of leather bags and large urns is not enough, only 800 cavalry can be crossed at a time, and then a small number of cavalry will carry the skin bags and large urns back to the east bank, and then the second batch of cavalry can continue to cross the river. Thousands of cavalry and more than 1 horses finally crossed the river and entered Zhao's land.

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When Guan Ying's cavalry army crossed the river from Baimajin, the allied armies of princes gathered in Puyang also parted ways.

Zhang Liang rushed to Xingyang with [-] Han troops plus Fu Kuan's [-] Qi troops at night to join Liu Bang. Pi Bei crossed the river and returned to Yandi, while Hengshan King Wu Rui and General Mei Yan led [-] Hengshan soldiers south to Dangjun and returned to the country by way.

Wang Yingbu of Huainan listened to Kuai Che's suggestion, and went eastward in the starry night to kill Xuejun.

Yingbo's goal is the three counties of Xuejun, Sishui, and Donghai. These three counties were originally large counties with a large population, especially Xuejun. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the population once exceeded 60 households and 200 million people!
However, Chu and Han fought each other and fought for years. Peng Yue led his troops into Chu land several times. The population of the three counties has gone to six out of ten, and there are less than 100 million left, but even so, it is more than enough for Yingbrai to claim the king.

In addition, these three counties do not have a clear ownership at present. Before Liu Bang summoned the princes from all walks of life in Gaixia, he promised Han Xin that Donghai, Surabaya, and Xue County should be assigned to Qi State, but more than half of Donghai County is in the south of Huai River. It stands to reason that half of Donghai County should belong to Yingbo, and Jiujiang County should also belong to Yingbo.

But in fact, no matter Donghai County or Sishui County, there are Han troops stationed there. Zhao Ou, the governor of Sishui County, and Ding Fu, the governor of Donghai County, are Han Wang Liu Bang's confidantes. They have no intention of handing over the two counties to Han Xin. In the county, most of the cities are still in the hands of the former Chu general Xiang Tuo (who was labeled as Xiang Guan in the previous article, which was a hand error).

Therefore, Kuai Che's vision is still extremely vicious. As long as Yingbo takes the three groups of Xuejun, Surabaya, and Donghai, he will have the capital to settle down. If Han Xin comes to ask for these three counties in the future, Yingbo will have something to say. He was snatched from the Chu army and the Han army, not from the Qi army, so there is a lip service to it.

As for Liu Bang, after returning to Guanzhong this time, it's up to him whether he can get out or not.

According to Kuai Che, it will be very difficult for Liu Bang to think about it after entering Guanzhong this time, and even if Liu Bang goes out of Guandong again, it will be Liang Wang Pengyue who bears the brunt, not Yingbo. After all, Yingbo never thought about it. He wants to compete with Liu Bang for the world, so if Liu Bang leads troops to attack Yingbu, it's hard to say whether Han Xin and Peng Yue will help him.

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Lu Ze's army is racing against time, Guanying's cavalry army is racing against time, Zhang Liang's army is racing against time, Yingbu's army is racing against time, and Xiangzhuang's Chu army is racing against time!

In the Luoyang arsenal, three hundred carpenters were assembling the ladders, well rails, and siege vehicles overnight by the bus transporter.

Rows of blacksmith shops have been set up along the river beside Luoshui outside the city. Nearly a thousand blacksmiths captured from the Luoyang city and the surrounding village pavilions are sweating and making horizontal knives, ring knives, and javelins overnight. The ox carts parked on the riverside are full of horizontal knives, ring knives, javelins and arrow clusters that have not yet been opened.

At the west gate of Luoyang, thousands of Han prisoners of war were dismantling the city gate overnight under the supervision of the Chu army.

The watchtower on the west gate has been completely dismantled, and the bricks covering the inner and outer sides of the city gate have also been removed, but it will take time to dig out the rammed earth layer on the top of the city gate that is several feet thick.

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Hangu Pass, Gu meets Xingyuan.

Gu Feng has already clearly felt the tension of the mountain and rain.

Gu Feng or Chongda, a native of Dang County, was a general of Lu Ze's department, he was cautious and famous for his loyalty, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were in a stalemate in Xingyang, and once had people bring three thousand gold as bribes to Gu Feng, who was the guard of the capital, He tried to lure Gu Feng to rebel against Han, but Gu Feng sternly rejected him, and returned the three thousand gold to Xiang Yu.

Amid the hurried footsteps, the general Tang Cheng strode into the Xingyuan.

Gu Feng immediately stood up and asked anxiously: "Tang Cheng, how is the situation?"

Tang Cheng made a bow to Gu Feng, and responded: "General, the situation is not quite right."

After saying this, Tang Cheng said again: "The general led the cavalry out of the customs for nearly fifty miles, but he didn't meet a group of merchants or a single pawn along the way, but he met several groups of hungry people, but although these hungry people were in rags, But most of them are strong and strong men, and the final general was afraid of disturbing them, so he quickly retreated."

Gu Feng said in a deep voice: "You mean, these hungry people have problems?"

"There must be a problem." Tang Cheng said, "These hungry people are probably scouts!"

"Scout team?" Gu Feng lost his voice, "You mean, all the merchants and peddlers from Sanchuan County were intercepted and killed by these hungry scout teams?"

Tang Chengdao: "It must be so."

Gu Feng said: "Doesn't this mean that Sanchuan County is likely to have fallen?"

Tang Cheng didn't answer, but his expression confirmed Gu Feng's guess.

"Could it be the remnants of the Chu army of Xiaoer Xiangzhuang?" The thought that suddenly popped into Gu Feng's mind surprised him. Hurry up and send flying cavalry to Xianyang, ask the Prime Minister for reinforcements, and then move all the fire oil in the arsenal to the top of the city."

"Promise!" Tang Cheng suddenly agreed and took the order.

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Luoyang, Sheriff's Mansion.

Wei Liao and Wu She were discussing in low voices around the map on the table, while Xiang Zhuang was pacing back and forth rapidly beside him, his face was full of anxiety.

Just now, a very bad news came from the scout team blocking Hangu Pass.

A group of Han cavalry suddenly left the pass and patrolled for nearly [-] miles east along the Chidao. Although they retreated in the end, the behavior of the Chu army scouts to block the news may have been leaked, that is to say, Hangu pass guards The general is likely to be aware of it, which is undoubtedly extremely unfavorable for the Chu army!
Because once the guard of Hangu Gate finds that the situation is wrong, he will probably ask Xianyang for help!

Although most of the strong men in Guanzhong have been recruited, with Xiao He's ability, it is absolutely not a problem to gather [-] to [-] old, weak and disabled soldiers. According to Lu Chan's confession, Hangu Pass originally had [-] elite soldiers. If there are more than [-] reinforcements Even if it is old, weak and remnant soldiers, for the Chu army, the consequences will be disastrous!

In other words, the Chu army must capture Hangu Pass before the reinforcements from Guanzhong arrive!

Time, time, or time, for Chu Jun, what is most lacking now is time!
(End of this chapter)