Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 101
Turning around and continuing, after using various excuses to send away Li Pan, Chen Sheng's appeasement envoy, according to the original plan, Xiang Kang personally led the main force of the Young Marshal Army with more than 7000 people from Tancheng to the west to attack those who did not want to surrender. The city of Zhuang County.

With the current military strength of the Young Marshal's Army, Xiang Kang would not need to attack Zang County, a small county town only garrisoned by county soldiers. Xiang Zhuang, Chao Zhi, and Zheng Bu, who had gradually experienced in actual combat, He and Ding Ji and other generals, if they send any troops over, they will be sure to take them directly.The reason why Xiang Kang chose to go out in person is mainly because the geographical location of Zang County is more important. The Xiong'er Mountains are to the north, the Lianhua Mountains are to the south, and the Xue County with a large population is to the west. By establishing a military base, the Young Marshal's Army can not only ensure the safety of the northern part of the East China Sea, but also enter Xue County westward from here at any time to seize the land of Lu. That's why Xiang Kang attaches so much importance to the small town of Zan County.At the same time, if conditions permit, the main force of the young marshal's army does not rule out going directly south from Zang County to capture Fuyang and Pengcheng.

The battle was indeed not difficult to fight. The Qin army in Xiangben and Lanling, who had surrendered voluntarily, had just been recruited, and the strength of the Western Conscript had expanded to nearly 9000. The number of defenders is less than a thousand, and they also know that the county magistrate and the county magistrate in Zhuang County have serious conflicts, and it is very easy to divide and dissension. At the same time, the government of Zhuang County is also very unpopular. The people of Zhuang County, under the tyranny of the court, took the initiative to come here to reward the soldiers of the Young Marshal Army. Basically, it can be said that the Young Marshal Army has a sure chance of winning before the city is attacked.

But there was also something that surprised Xiang Kang. The people of Zhuang County who came to Laojun on their own initiative provided important information to the Young Marshal, saying that two days ago, an anti-Qin rebel army from the northern part of Sishui County suddenly entered the army. In the territory of Xue County, Xue County, which borders Zhuan County, the city of Xue County is still under siege.After carefully inquiring about the origin of this anti-Qin rebel army, Xiang Kang, who is actually quite stingy in his bones, inevitably has some blue veins on his forehead-this anti-Qin rebel army with a number of about [-] people turned out to be Liu Ji and Liu's third son Pei. The county army, Fan Kuai, who once cheated Xiang Kang of sixty high-quality steel knives with fake gold, happened to be in this army.

"The road to the enemy is narrow! Fan, if you don't tell me to spit out what you owe me this time, will I still have the face to mess around in this world?"

While gnashing his teeth, Xiang Kang wondered for a while whether to take this opportunity to kill Liu Laosan and directly get rid of the biggest enemy in the future for the old Xiang family?However, after careful calculation, Xiang Kang found that he still couldn't do this. The first reason was that he had no name to attack other anti-Qin rebels for no reason.The second is that the direct killing of Liu Laosan will have too much impact, which will seriously disrupt the future historical process and make Xiang Kang completely lose his advantage of historical prophet.The third reason is more critical. Xiang Kang, who was originally a Han Chinese before time travel, is actually full of respect for Liu Laosan and his gang who opened up the prosperous age of the Han Dynasty, and he was a little ruthless to kill them directly.

"Let's take a step forward." After thinking about it, Xiang Kang chose to be patient for the time being, and secretly said: "It's easy to kill Liu Laosan, but after killing him, if Xiang Yu and I can't get along, who else can help me deal with it in the future? Xiang Yu? Let’s see the situation first, if Liu Bang might threaten me, I will definitely not be relentless, but if he is of value to me, I don’t need to hurry up and kill him, and Hu Hai and Xiang Yu will be cheap.”

With a somewhat contradictory mood, Xiang Kang quickly led the main force of the young marshals to the outside of Zhuang County. As a result, the Qin army in Zhuang County decisively chose to close the city to protect themselves. However, Xiang Kang was not in a hurry, and let the army rush While making siege weapons, he sent people to shoot letters on the head of the city of Zhuang County with bows and arrows, threatening that if the defenders of Zhuang County did not take the initiative to open the city and surrender, after the city was broken, the young commanders would kill all the officials in the city.At the same time, the young marshal Jun Xiaozuo who had infiltrated into the city before also took the risk of sending Xiang Kang's letter persuading him to surrender to the county magistrate of Zhuang County, who had a deep conflict with the county magistrate.

…………

The next day, Liu Laosan, who was born with a certain degree of military talent, also found out the general situation of the Young Marshal's Army through careful investigation. The third child couldn't help feeling a little regretful, and said to his brother-in-law Fan Kuai regretfully: "Unfortunately, if there is no such thing as buying a knife with fake gold, we can send someone to contact that idiot Xiang Kang immediately and try to borrow it from him." Soldiers, ask him to help us attack Xuecheng. Most of this fool’s soldiers are elite soldiers with good weapons from the Tyrant Qin army.”

"No way, who told us that we were short of money and had to cheat if we wanted to buy a knife?" Fan Kui, the famous dog nemesis at the end of Qin Dynasty, also had some regrets, and then said: "By the way, Pei Gong, I remember you said before that we We can return the money for buying the knife to him first, and then play him slowly, so why don’t we try it now, send someone to pay him back the money to plead guilty, and then ask him to send troops to help us fight Xue County?"

"Is that so easy?" Liu Laosan shook his head and said, "If it were you, someone else cheated you of a sum of money, and afterward, that person would return the money to you and beg you to pay the price with great effort." How could you agree to help him with a difficult task?"

When Fan Kui was discouraged, Liu Laosan suddenly changed his mind and said, "But you can try it. It's not enough to pay back the money and borrow soldiers. We might as well sell him a favor while paying back the money, and then promise Give him half of the money and food in Xue County, and he may agree. And if we do this, even if we can’t borrow soldiers, we can still pay back the favor we owe him, and we will be able to talk when we meet again in the future.”

"A clever plan." Fan Kuai praised, and hurriedly asked: "Then how do you sell him a favor?"

"Send troops to help him take down Zhuang County."

Liu Bang's straightforward answer surprised Fan Kui, and Fan Kui couldn't help but exclaimed: "Send troops to help him attack the city? Peigong, are you joking? What if Xiang Xiangkang takes the opportunity to annex us? Let alone He doesn't have this ambition, that little Zhuzi has a strong army, and his weapons and equipment are much better than we don't know, so what can we do if we send troops to help him?"

"Sure enough, I eat too much dog meat, so stupid as a dog." Liu Laosan cursed with a smile, and then said: "Of course we don't need to send out the main force to help him, we just need to send out an army to show off, and we There is no need to really help him, as long as we go over and say that we are going to help him, it is tantamount to making him owe us a favor. Reaching out and not hitting the smiling person, we did this, and we want to erase the past Wouldn't it be much easier to borrow troops from him?"

"Good idea." Fan Kui applauded, and said: "This has another effect, it is to take the opportunity to test that silly boy's attitude towards us. If he really wants to harm us, it will be easier for our partial teachers to retreat."

Liu Laosan is a straightforward person, so he made up his mind, and immediately called Cao Shen, a general he trusted very much, and asked him to lead a thousand troops eastward, and sell short favors under the banner of reinforcements for the young marshals.At the same time, in order to take precautions, Liu Laosan clearly explained to Cao Shen that if Xiang Kang really mobilized Cao Shen's troops to participate in the siege, then Cao Shen must not covet anything to preserve his strength. Xiang Kang saw Liu Lao Sanjun's sincerity in wanting to be friends with him, and also let Xiang Kang take a look at Liu Lao Sanjun's morale and fighting spirit—weapons and equipment are a bit poor, but the army is definitely not just for nothing!

According to the order of Liu Laosan, Cao Shen led the army and set off eastward early the next morning. He traveled lightly all the way and arrived near the border of Xuejun in only one day. He walked out of Xuejun the next morning and entered the In Zen County, he immediately encountered the scouts of the Young Marshal who were patrolling the border.The scouts of the Young Marshal Army did not dare to step forward rashly when they saw that Cao Can had a large number of people.

It is true that he came here with good intentions. In order not to misunderstand the young commander, Cao Shen immediately ordered the army to stop advancing, and asked people to come forward to reveal their identity and intention. The scout of the young commander was dubious and replied: "We must report this matter. Xiang Shaoshuai, I will give you an answer. But if you are really here to help us, you'd better wait here and don't move, because our army is attacking the city, you go directly, and if there is any misunderstanding, don't worry about it. Alright. Also, if you have any envoys who want to visit our young commander, explain the reason in person, and we can take him away."

The soldiers who came forward to contact brought the news back to Cao Shen. Cao Shen did not hesitate, and immediately let the army rest on the spot and keep a proper vigilance. The knife money, and Liu Bang's autographed letter to Xiang Kang, accompanied the envoys of the Young Marshal Army to the city of Zhuang County to meet Xiang Kang first.

With endless curiosity about the Young Marshal, Cao Wushang, who received the order, went out and followed the Young Marshal's scout Dong to meet Xiang Kang.However, Cao Wushang was extremely shocked when he saw the city of Zhuang County just now. Cheering soldiers of the Young Commander were already everywhere on the city wall, as well as the flag of Chu State fluttering in the wind. It was obvious that the Young Commander's army had succeeded took the county seat.Shocked, Cao Wushang subconsciously looked up at the sky again, seeing that the winter sun had not yet risen to the top, and it was obvious that it was not even noon, Cao Wushang couldn't help being even more horrified, and blurted out: "It's so fast? What kind of army is this?"

He did not tell Cao Wushang that the reason why the Shaoshuai army was able to move to the county quickly was because the county magistrate of Zhuang County suddenly got into trouble when the Shaoshuai army attacked the city. The Young Marshal entered the city, so Cao Wushang's admiration and envy continued.Because after approaching the battlefield, what Cao Wushang saw was a group of young generals and soldiers holding Qin Army standard weapons, with guns flying like forests, flags covering the sky, and a huge crowd of cavalry, and Hundreds of flag-raising chariots, with strong soldiers and horses, and neat military appearance, are more than eight streets away from Liu Lao Sanjun, who has just started his army.

I still don't know that Xiang Kang deliberately pulled the main force to show off his military power, in order to intimidate and suppress the Qin army defenders in the city. In front of Kang's flag array, before he had time to see Xiang Kang's appearance clearly, Cao Wushang immediately saluted politely and said: "Cao Wushang, the captain of Pei Gong, has seen the young commander of Great Chu Xiang."

"The person who lied to me is here." Xiang Kang sprayed poison as soon as he opened his mouth, and when he was about to say a few more jokes with a smile, he suddenly changed his words and asked in surprise, "What's your name?"

"The last general, Cao Wushang." Cao Wushang answered truthfully, and only then did he see Xiang Kang's appearance clearly. He was thin and thin, but his facial features were fairly correct, and his skin was fair, barely enough to be a softie. .

Although the history is messy, what kind of person Cao Wushang is, Xiang Kang, who has seen the Hongmen Banquet, still knows it clearly, and it is precisely because Cao Wushang is worth buying and wooing, Xiang Kang also immediately changed his mind, and said with a smile : "It turned out to be Captain Cao. I just said a joke. Don't blame the captain. I don't feel sad about sixty knives, and I also admire your brother-in-law, General Fan Kuaifan, who looks so rough. In fact, he is as careful as a hair, and he can even deceive me, admire, admire."

"Young Marshal, forgive me." Cao Wushang said rather nervously: "Our Pei Gong and General Fan were also forced to play tricks at that time, and we have always regretted it afterwards, so this time we heard about you, Young Marshal. Leading the army here, Pei Gong hurriedly asked our Cao Shen and Cao Zhongjuan to lead the troops to come to reinforce, in order to thank the crime of the day before yesterday. In addition, Pei Gong asked the envoy to bring the knife payment that was owed before, please accept it with a smile."

After saying that, Cao Wushang quickly took off the package on his body and opened it, revealing a bag of gold and a jade wall representing the interest. Xiang Kang made some calculations, and quickly smiled: "A little money is nothing to worry about, but If I don't accept it, Peigong might suspect that I still remember the past. If so, then I will accept it. Someone, take the things that Cao Duwei brought, and set up a seat to prepare wine for Cao. The captain takes the wind and washes away the dust."

According to Xiang Kang's order, the guards on the left and right immediately took the package brought by Cao Wushang, arranged seats, and invited Cao Wushang to the table. Xiang Kang took a look at San's autographed letter, saw that the letter was full of words of apology and pleading guilty, he couldn't help laughing again, and said: "Pei Gong is so polite, why do you have to apologize so many times for such a trivial matter?"

After laughing, Xiang Kang asked Cao Wushang again: "Captain Cao, besides helping me take down Zeng County, is there anything else that Pei Gong asked you to come here? If you have any, please feel free to speak up. If I can help, I will do my best.”

"Young commander is really quick to talk, so the general will be bold." Cao Wushang said very carefully: "To tell you the truth, my family, Mr. Pei, would like to ask you to lend a helping hand to our army after the capture of Zangcheng. Send an army to help us take down Xue County, and after the matter is completed, my Pei Gong is willing to give half of Xue County's money and food to thank the young commander."

"It's said that Liu Laosan is a rascal, and he really deserves his reputation. Sending a mob over to pretend to sell me a short favor, not only wiped out the previous incident, but also took the opportunity to borrow troops from me. It was a good idea. No, I absolutely You can't be fooled by this!"

Xiang Kang snorted coldly in his heart, but with the same smile on his face, he said: "Captain Cao, then I'm afraid you will have to make this trip for nothing this time. The young commander-in-chief personally led the troops here, how could the purpose be for a mere Zang County?" Small town?"

"Young Marshal also plans to attack Xue County?" Cao Wushang asked in surprise.

"I'm not sure yet, but our next target is either Fu Yang or Xue County." Xiang Kang said, "So there is no way, for the sake of the same anti-Qin rebel army, and also for the sake of Pei Gong's initiative to lend a helping hand." In fact, the most I can do is promise not to attack Xue County when you are besieging Xue County. But we can’t send troops to help you take Xue County. We can’t let you take Xue County and stop us from entering the hinterland of Xue County. path of."

Cao Wushang was tongue-tied, and could only reply to report the matter to Liu Laosan and ask Liu Laosan to make a decision. Xiang Kang laughed and just invited Cao Wushang to toast and drink together. He was very affectionate to Cao Wushang .During this period, several young commanders and officials came to report the situation of the young commanders after they entered the city, but Xiang Kang waved his hands and ignored them, letting the young commanders handle it on their own, and the respectful attitude towards Cao Wushang made the young commanders next to him Everyone in civil and military is inexplicable, which makes Cao Wushang feel even more flattered.

The matter was not over yet, when Cao Wushang, who had been away for nothing, offered to leave, Xiang Kang asked someone to bring him gold and jade as a reward, but Cao Wushang refused to accept it, but Xiang Kang firmly refused and forced Cao Wushang to accept it. He gave his gift and said goodbye to Cao Wushang.It turned out that after Cao Wushang left, Zhou Zengcai who was next to him asked, "Young commander, are you really going to fight Xue County?"

"Of course not." Xiang Kang replied: "Although Xue County is still important, our main force is too far away from the rear of Xiaxiang. The next step is to win Fu Yang and Pengcheng and consolidate our western flank. It is a wise choice. I I purposely answered Liu Ji like this because I wanted to see his reaction and test his attitude towards us."

Zhou Zeng nodded to express his understanding, and asked again: "Young commander, why do you pay extra respect to this Cao Wushang? With his status, he doesn't deserve you to be so polite to him?"

Of course, Xiang Kang couldn't tell Zhou Zeng that Cao Wushang would be one of the most dangerous traitors around Liu Laosan, so he found an excuse and said, "Of course it was for Liu Ji to see, he knew that I would treat one of his generals." They are all so good, when you have nowhere to go, you will think of defecting to us. If there is a chance, we can propose to recruit and incorporate Liu Ji's army, which can be easier."

…………

After Cao Wushang brought back Xiang Kang's reply and the news that the Young Marshal's army had captured Zangcheng, Cao Shen didn't hesitate to continue eastward, and Cao Shen, who had no effect, immediately brought the army who came to make short favors Withdrew to the base of Xue County, and joined forces with Liu Laosan again.After Liu Laosan heard Xiang Kang's reply, he didn't hesitate at all, and said after a moment of calculation: "Retreat, clear the siege, and go west to fight Huling!"

"Pei Gong, why do you want to retreat?" Fan Kui became anxious when he heard this, and hurriedly said, "Are you afraid of that idiot Xiang Kang?"

"So what's the matter with being afraid of him? The strength is here, and when it's time to pretend to be cowardly, you have to pretend to be cowardly. Xiang Kang Xiaozhu has already made it clear that we will take Xue County and block his way into the hinterland of Xue County. If we Insisting on continuing to fight against Xue County is tantamount to making things difficult for him on purpose. We have just started our army, and our strength is far from enough, so there is no point in offending a powerful friendly army for the sake of a county."

Liu Laosan snorted coldly, and said, "Anyway, we are not sure about taking down Xue County. Instead of wasting food and grass in vain, it is better to retreat immediately, find another place where it is easier to attack, and make another short favor by the way. Xiang Kang Xiaozhuzi. And if this little Zhuzi really enters Xue County, it will not be a bad thing for us. At least he can contain the main force of Xue County who is a tyrant Qin for us. He is strong and we are weak. He will only do his best to guard against him, and will not directly stare at us, so we have the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, understand?"

Always in awe of Liu Laosan's bossy demeanor, Fan Kui, Cao Can and other generals did not say much, and immediately ordered the army to prepare to retreat according to Liu Laosan's order, and withdrew from the battlefield under Xue County on the same day.At the same time, Liu Laosan naturally had to send a letter to Xiang Kang, and expressed his willingness to hand over Xue County to the Young Marshal Army with respect and respect.Hearing the news, Xiang Kang sighed, and secretly sighed: "Sure enough, he's a rogue! When it's time to show weakness, he pretends to be better than anyone else. No wonder my big brother with well-developed limbs can't beat him. If he really becomes my opponent in the future, It would definitely give me a headache."

Xiang Kang's other effort was not in vain, as Liu Laosan retreated to the west on the road, playing with the jade that Xiang Kang gave him, and recalling Xiang Kang's polite salute to him, and the young commander's The soldiers and horses are strong, and Cao Wushang, who currently has a low status in Liu Laosan's army, is inevitably a little bit regretful, regretting why he was born in the wrong place, and didn't get the opportunity to join the Young Marshal's Army early?
(End of this chapter)