Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 129
Xiao He's expression changed drastically after reading the letter.

Lu Zhi frowned, and asked softly, "Prime Minister, what happened?"

Xiao He took a deep breath, tried his best to calm down the shock in his heart, and calmly replied: "Queen, the king's letter said that the remnants of the Chu army in Xiangzhuang have captured Sanchuan County. At present, a Chu army is guarding Hulao Pass. , blocking the king’s army from entering Sanchuan, and another Chu army is attacking Hangu Pass, and said that there is a possibility that the invaders may enter Guanzhong at any time!"

"What?!" Lu Zhi was shocked when he heard the words, and lost his voice, "Prime Minister, is this true?"

Xiao He nodded, the expression on his face was quite calm, but his heart was already full of turmoil.

As the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, Xiao He is still very talented, especially the ability to know people. Xiao He knows that Zhang Liang and Chen Ping are both great talents born in the world. Since even Chen Ping said that the Chu army captured Hangu Pass If there is no possibility of Kou entering the pass, then the matter must have been very serious. Maybe, the Chu army has already broken through the pass now!
However, Xiao He didn't dare to tell Lu Zhi about these, nor could he tell anyone.

Otherwise, there will be great chaos in Guanzhong, and those old Qin clans will be ready to move immediately.

Thinking of the old Qin family, Xiao He had a headache. Today, the once glorious Qin Empire has perished, but there are many families left behind by the Qin Empire. Liu Bang absorbed some of them when he entered Guanzhong, and Xiang Yu entered A large number of people were killed during the customs, but there are still many old families left, and there are quite a few famous families.

Once these old aristocratic families know that the Chu army is about to enter the customs, is it okay?

It is said that Qin and Chu are sworn feuds, but Xiao He knows that it is just a means used by the rulers to fool the people and transfer domestic conflicts. In fact, the powerful families of various countries in China have never had a clear national concept. If Chu State can give them greater benefits, they will cooperate with Chu State without hesitation!

If the King of Han's army is still in Guanzhong, then these old clans are nothing to worry about.

But the problem now is that the troops in Guanzhong are extremely empty, especially Xiao He just transferred three thousand more soldiers from Xianyang to Hangu Pass three days ago, and now, even in Xianyang City, there are only less than two thousand defenders left Now, once the Chu army enters Guanzhong, and once the old Qin family hears about it, the situation in Guanzhong will immediately get out of control!
At that moment Xiao He forced himself to be calm and said: "Queen, don't panic, the Chu army has not yet entered the pass."

Having said this, Xiao He said again: "However, for the sake of safety, the queen and the prince can no longer stay in Xianyang, so I will arrange elite cavalry to escort the queen, prince, several sons and princesses to Hanzhong. There is Xi Juan army in Hanzhong. Guarding, and Chencang Pass is extremely dangerous in the world, even if the remnants of the Chu army enter the pass, it is impossible to break into Hanzhong!"

Although Lu Zhi was very scheming, he was a woman after all, and he did not dare to contradict Xiao He on military affairs, so he obediently agreed.

Now Xiao He returned to the residence in a hurry, while arranging soldiers and horses to escort Liu Bang's family to take refuge in Hanzhong, while writing three letters, he ordered flying cavalry to send troops to Longxi, Beidi and Shangjun respectively to defend Xianyang!

To be honest, when Gu Feng sent people to ask for reinforcements earlier, Xiao He didn't take it seriously, so after conscripting [-] troops to Hangu Pass, he was not in a hurry to transfer troops from various counties.

But now, Xiao He knew that the matter was much more serious than Gu Feng's letter said!

At this moment, Xiao He really regretted it. If he knew this, he should have asked for help from the counties. If this was the case, the reinforcements from the counties would have arrived in Xianyang.

But up to now, it can only be a remedy after a dead sheep.

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Zheng County, near the mountains.

The night was dim, and three fast horses were galloping on the mountain road.

Under the dim light of the waning moon, one can faintly see that the rider in front is a white-clothed gentleman, the rider in the back is a young and strong man in a hunting suit and carrying a bow and arrow, and the rider in the middle is a graceful young lady who is the most beautiful. Seventeen or eighteen years old, with pink cheeks and red lips, especially those big eyes that are as bright as stars, smiling before saying a word, very charming.

The three riders rushed up a low mountain ridge, when the white-clothed gentleman suddenly reined in the horse with a "wow", the horse under his crotch immediately stood up, and abruptly stopped his forward momentum. This time it became hasty, but the two riders behind them still reined in their mounts with their superb riding skills, and did not hit the white-clothed gentleman in front.

"Little sister, Zichuan, look, the county is on fire!" the white-clothed gentleman pointed in front of him and whispered.

The strong man in the hunting suit and the charming young lady looked in the direction pointed by the white-clothed gentleman, and they saw that the county town was already on fire, and by the red firelight, dense figures could be seen faintly, as if they were an army. The color of their war robes seems to be the Han army, but why did the Han army loot the county?
"It seems to be old Liu Bang's people." The man in hunting clothes said, "They are looting the county."

"This is weird." The charming girl said, "Isn't old Liu Bang always boasting of benevolence and righteousness? How did he tear off the disguise on his face this time? It's just that the people in the county have suffered."

"There must be something hidden in this matter, I'm afraid it won't be that simple." The white-clothed scholar waved his hand, and then said, "However, we don't need to pay attention to this for the time being, let's go back to Wubao."

"Yes, yes, let's go back to Wubao quickly." The man in hunting clothes hurriedly said, "Don't let old Liu Bang's people take the opportunity to loot our Wubao, my mother is still in Wubao."

"Brother, let's go back quickly." After saying that, the charming girl reined in her horse and walked away.

The white-clothed gentleman and the man in hunting suit looked at each other, then turned their horses around and rushed along the mountain road to the other side of the hill. Within a moment, they disappeared under the night sky.

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Zheng County, county town.

The once prosperous county has now become a hell!
In the afternoon, groups of defeated Han soldiers poured into the county town. They didn't kill people, they just robbed food everywhere, but in the evening, tens of thousands of defeated Han soldiers rushed into the county town along the road. These defeated soldiers of the Han army were much more vicious. They not only chased and killed the defeated soldiers of the Han army who had advanced into the city, but also killed the people in the city if they disagreed!
In addition to killing people, the Han soldiers who entered the city later also burned houses and looted things everywhere.

Compared with murder and arson, the rape of thousands of young women is not so noticeable. After all, in that distant ancient time, customs in Guanzhong were quite open, and the custom of wives and guests was still preserved in many places. Moreover, even Confucianism does not advocate women's chastity.

At this moment, the entire county has completely turned into hell!
"Damn it, you are so damned!" An old woman was sitting in the yard of her house crying, "You have taken away the only half bag of millet in the house, how can we live? Liu Bang, you The three-year tax-free period has just arrived, and if you don’t want to, you will send troops to grab the food and tax. If you suffer a thousand knives, you will die..."

Not far away, a solid young man was sitting on the threshold and crying loudly.

Not far from the young man, lay an old man with a gray beard, who was already half-breathed in anger.

"Big Brother, Second Brother, have you seen it? Old Liu Bang's rebellious soldiers burned our house down. Grandpa now has no place to live, no place to live, ouch, brother, stop I gave my life to Liu Bang, and I can't earn any Lumi title anyway, and my family has to be bullied by him, ho ho ho..."

In the distance, a group of rebels rushed into a residential house aggressively.

Immediately there was a sound of chickens flying and dogs jumping in the yard. In order to chase a hen, a rebel soldier even jumped over three courtyard walls in a row, and then walked out from the yard next to the strong boy. Glancing at the strong boy, the boy fell silent in fright when he saw the long sword hanging from the soldier's waist.

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Outside the county town, Tian Heng looked at the soaring fire in the city, and sighed faintly.

Tian Heng used to be the king of Qi, and he thought he was a ruthless person, but he didn't realize until today that he was far behind Xiang Zhuang and Wei Liao. Xiang Zhuang and Wei Liao are really vicious!

However, Tian Heng also admitted that this move is quite powerful, it can be said to be an absolute trick!

First, through burning, killing, looting, and animalistic venting along the way, the more than 5000 recruits who survived the Battle of Hangu Pass will completely transform into a group of bloodthirsty tiger and wolf soldiers, and the combat effectiveness of this army will also undergo a completely new transformation. Ascension, this is a great help for the impoverished state of Chu!

Secondly, since the rebels all wore the armor of the Han army, the people in Guanzhong would only put these blood debts on Liu Bang's head.

In this way, Liu Bang's foundation in Guanzhong will suffer double damage. First, after the chaos, the people in Guanzhong will be displaced. From then on, the Han army will lose the big granary in Guanzhong. Second, Liu Bang's reputation will also be severely damaged. The people of Limin would not believe the government's explanation, they only believed in their own eyes!

It can not only train troops, but also destroy Liu Bang's foundation in Guanzhong. This is killing two birds with one stone!

All of a sudden, there was the sound of horse hooves behind him. When Tian Heng turned his head anxiously, he saw that the new right Sima Jin Xiang, who had entered the camp first with Xiang Zhuang's relatives, was already galloping, surrounded by more than ten riders.

"General Tian Heng." Jin Xiang arched his hands at Tian Heng on horseback, and said again: "The general has an order, the left army should rest for a while, and send troops to Xianyang immediately, there must be no mistakes!"

"No!" Tian Hengyao bowed to the east, then reined in his horse and walked away.

In less than a moment, the horns of assembly sounded in the county town. Amidst the endless sound of the horns, the recruits who had already shown enough ferocity and vented their animal desires poured into the street one after another. The next stop is Zhengxian, and the next stop...is Xianyang!
(End of this chapter)