Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 116 The Unsuccessful Western Expedition
The news of Zhang Chu’s army’s complete collapse on the Western Front was sent by envoys sent directly by Chen Sheng’s small court of Zhang Chu. In addition to satisfying Xiang Kang’s request to communicate with Zhang Chu’s court, Chen Sheng, who had almost zero control over foreign generals, unexpectedly It was also whimsical to order Xiang Liang and his nephew Xiang Kang, who only surrendered to the small court of Zhang Chu in honor, to send troops to reinforce Chen County and help his mob resist the attack of Zhang Han's army.

Of course, Xiang Kang would send troops to Chen County to die in vain only if he was stupid, but for his own hypocritical reputation, and in order to quickly grasp the movements of Zhang Han's army through Zhang Chu's small court, Xiang Kang still agreed to contact Xiang Liang immediately. After Liang agreed to send troops to reinforce Chen Sheng as soon as possible, he sent away Chen Sheng's envoys, and then Xiang Kang immediately turned his attention to the western front, paying close attention to the situation of his own army's western expedition, planning when to withdraw the western conscripts, and fully deal with Zhang Han. The attack of the army.

To Xiang Kang's surprise, the western expedition launched by Xiang Zhuang with Xiang Guan did not go as smoothly as he expected, although Xiang Zhuang's troops bypassed the Mangdang line, which was the key defense of the Qin army in Dang County, to avoid strong attacks and weak attacks The Qin army was in an empty Xiayi town, but it took five full days for the young marshals to take this small county guarded only by the Qin army's county soldiers. At the same time, they lost nearly [-] soldiers in the siege battle. It was quite difficult.

After careful study of Xiangzhuang's military report, Xiang Kang found that the progress of Xiangzhuang's troops was not smooth, which was probably related to his reorganization some time ago. In order to strengthen his direct army, Xiang Kang sent many elite veterans to Incorporated into the direct army, most of the recruits handed over to Xiang Zhuang were the recruits he recruited in Fuyang and Pengcheng, and Xiang Guan's army was even more miserable. The overall quality of the recruits recruited from the land has declined, which is why they fought so hard in the tough battle.

But fortunately, Xiang Kang still has some time to experience these new recruits, and he also has the opportunity to experience and improve Xiangzhuang and Xiang Guan's troops in actual combat. Don't worry that Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan are in a hard fight.Therefore, Xiang Kang neither blamed Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan for their ineffective combat, nor gave up the idea of ​​continuing the Western Expedition. He just continued to observe the situation of the Western Expedition patiently.

At the same time, Xiangzhuang and Xiangguan's troops, according to the original plan of the Young Marshal's Army, took down the small town of Xiayi with difficulty, and soon turned southwest to attack Lixian County behind the second Mangdang County. .After hearing the news, Dong Ke, the governor of Dangjun County, who commanded the Mangdang Qin Army, also immediately understood that the Young Marshal Army wanted to cut off his connection with the rear of Suiyang, and then joined hands with the Xiangxian County Young Marshal Army to attack his own army back and forth, in order not to fall into a passive position. , Dong Ke also immediately made a decision to order the Qin army in Lixian County to defend the city with all its strength, and at the same time personally lead the Mangdang Qin army back to aid Lixian County. During the enemy's time, first repel Xiangzhuang's troops, and then turn around to deal with the Xiangxian Young Commander's Army.

Dong Ke made a smart choice. Because of the limitation of road traffic on the speed of message transmission, when Xiangzhuang's troops entered Li County, the Young Commander of Xiang County, who hadn't had time to prepare, was not ready to attack. After discovering Dong Ke's retreat through careful scouting, Zheng Bu and Ding Ji rushed west and missed the opportunity to bite Dong Ke's tail.At the same time, at this critical moment, Xiang Zhuang made a wrong choice. After finding out the news of Dong Kejun's return to aid Li County, Xiang Zhuang did not choose to let the army advance slowly to preserve his strength, and waited for Zheng Bu and Ding Ji to come to help. He also asked the army to advance faster, intending to break through Sui Shui first, and then wait for reinforcements to come and attack the Mangdang Qin army.

Strictly speaking, Xiang Zhuang's choice was not too bad. He broke through Sui Shui first, and then waited for the reinforcements to come to help. Big up a lot.However, man's calculation is not as good as heaven's calculation. Xiangzhuang's troops, carrying a large amount of food and supplies, marched relatively slowly. They were rushed to the south bank of Suishui by the Mangdang Qin army, and blocked Xiangzhuang's southward road.

Although Xiang Zhuang's actions were a little thoughtless, they also inadvertently blocked the way for the Mangdang Qin army to cross the river, and shattered the hope of the Mangdang Qin army for a quick battle.However, Dong Ke, the general of the Qin Army, was quite scheming. He expected that the food and grass of the young commander-in-chief's army would be difficult to guarantee, and he did not dare to confront him for a long time. After a long-term garrison posture, Xiang Zhuang found out that he had fallen into the trap. In order not to give the Mangdang Qin army time to build a solid fortification, he hurriedly collected a batch of ferries and immediately launched a rush to cross. As a result, the well-prepared Mangdang Qin army It was a big defeat and lost more than 500 troops in one breath.

Fortunately, this disastrous defeat finally woke up Xiang Zhuang and made Xiang Zhuang understand his weakness. There are too many recruits in the army, and the combat effectiveness has declined. The battle was also the first time to deal with the main force of the Qin army's county soldiers alone. The command experience was too lacking. If this recklessness continued, another defeat would definitely be inevitable.So Xiang Zhuang quickly forced himself to calm down, and while completely dispelling the idea of ​​a quick battle, he sent someone to contact Ding Ji and Zheng Bu, asking them to enter Li County as soon as possible to help him deal with the Mangdang Qin army led by Dong Ke.

Finally it was Dong Ke's turn to scratch his head. Although he had just won a battle and his morale was high, he was blocked by Sui Shui. If he wanted to cross the river for a decisive battle, he would definitely be attacked by Xiang Zhuang halfway across the river. Arriving, the Mangdang Qin army will definitely fall into the disadvantaged again.After racking his brains, Dong Ke deliberately wrote a letter of war with contemptuous words, and sent people across the river to challenge Xiang Zhuang, intending to anger Xiang Zhuang and lure Xiang Zhuang to cross the river for a decisive battle.

But it's a pity that Xiang Zhuang is known for his stable personality among the Xiang family's children. After calming down, he has returned to normal, and he has been with Xiang Kang for a long time, so he has thickened his face a lot, so look After finishing Dong Ke's deliberately provocative letter, instead of being angry, Xiang Zhuang smiled at the Qin army envoy and said, "Go back and tell Dong Kepifu that if you want to fight a decisive battle, as long as he dares to cross the river, I will accompany him to the end. The decisive battle across the river will be avoided, I'm not in a hurry, our reinforcements will arrive soon, let's see who is in a hurry."

Xiang Guan had a different opinion. Immediately after the Qin envoy left, Xiang Guan asked Xiang Zhuang, "Brother, it is safer to stand across the river and wait for reinforcements. What about fortifications? We don’t have food roads to supply food, if we can’t take down the camp of the Tyrant Qin army and the food is gone, how can we fight?”

"It's better to run out of food than to risk the army." Xiang Zhuang replied: "You have also seen the situation of the tyrant Qin army in Dang County. It is much stronger than we expected. Our army has too many recruits and insufficient combat power. Forcibly crossing the river for a decisive battle is too uncertain, and it is safest to wait for Zheng Bu and Ding Ji's reinforcements to arrive before crossing the river."

After finishing speaking, Xiang Zhuang comforted Xiang Guan again: "Don't worry, we don't dare to confront the Tyrant Qin army for a long time, but if we really can't capture the camp of the Tyrant Qin army, we will turn around and attack Mang and Dang counties. At that time, if the Tyrant Qin army does not turn around to reinforce Mangdang, we will definitely be able to take the two counties of Mangdang easily, and if they turn around and reinforce, it will also give us a chance to defeat the enemy in a decisive battle."

Seeing that his elder brother had already made up his mind, Xiang Guan, who lacked more military experience than Xiang Zhuang, didn't say anything more. Honestly, he followed Xiang Zhuang's command of the army to carefully guard the camp on the north bank, closely monitored the Suishui Ferry, and waited patiently for the arrival of reinforcements. However, no matter how insulting and provocative the Qin army was on the south bank of the Suishui River, they would no longer take the risk of crossing.

There is also a disadvantage of the Young Marshal's doing this. Before that, because of the relatively dense population of Dang County, the people in Dang County, who were unwilling to endure the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty, joined the army enthusiastically. Almost every day, one or two hundred people came to the Young Marshal's camp to volunteer. Let the young marshals be able to choose men of the right age to supplement their soldiers at will.However, after being blocked at the Suishui Ferry and accidentally losing a battle, the number of Dangjun people who volunteered to join the army decreased rapidly. At most, they could only recruit a dozen or so qualified soldiers in a day, and the gap was quite obvious.

Xiang Zhuang, who had already accumulated a lot of experience, didn't care about this, knowing that as long as his own army could defeat the Mangdang Qin army, the situation would definitely improve immediately.Xiang Guan, who managed to get the chance to go out with great difficulty, was quite worried and cared about this matter. The next evening after he made up his mind to stand firm and wait for help, Xiang Guan went to the recruiting office outside the gate of the camp to find out in person. However, it is a pity that this day was actually less than the previous few days, and only twelve qualified soldiers were recruited in one day.

"Why are there fewer and fewer?" Xiang Guan asked the recruiter with some dissatisfaction: "Is it because your subordinates are lazy and didn't go to the surrounding villages to spread the word and persuade the villagers here to join our young commander?"

"Lieutenant, no." The recruiter yelled, "The servants of the subordinate officials go to the surrounding villages every day to persuade the villagers to join the army. Their voices are almost hoarse, but those people are afraid that they will not come. There is no way."

Xiang Guan became more and more disappointed, and was ordering the recruiting officer to end today's recruitment task, but suddenly a fast horse came running from a distance, and came directly towards the camp gate of the Young Marshal's Army at a very fast speed. At first, Xiang Guan thought it was The self-army scouts found the enemy and came back to report, but when they took a closer look, Xiang Guan was quite surprised to find that the knights were just ordinary people's attire, so Xiang Guan pouted immediately and ordered: "Stop him."

Xiang Guan's personal soldiers led the order to step forward, shouting orders to stop the ride, but what surprised Xiang Guan's little snack was that the man had just heard the shouts of his personal soldiers, and suddenly reined in his horse in a high-speed sprint , the horse raised its hooves and stopped, but the man seemed to have taken root on the horse's back, and he was not affected by anything. He only held the horse tightly with his legs until the horse's inertia disappeared and the front hoof landed on the ground. Then he calmly turned over and got off the horse. Came on foot. ——You know, there are no Takahashi saddles and stirrups in this era, and there are not many people who can do such difficult movements in this era.

"Generals, don't misunderstand, the villain is here to join the army." While leading the horse over, the man said loudly: "I heard that your young commander's army has entered Dang County, so I came here from Suiyang to join the army." , I want to join you and fight against Tyranny with you."

It was only after that person walked in front of him that Xiang Guan realized that the person who came was only in his twenties. Although his appearance was ordinary, his temperament was very imposing, and he couldn't help asking: "You are good at riding, when did you start learning?" Horsemanship?"

"Last year." The man gave an answer that surprised Xiang Guan, and said, "Last year in June."

Qin Shi used September as the end of the year, and now it is December. In Qin Shi, last June is actually the current June of this year, so Xiang Guan was even more surprised when he heard this, and said: "I only learned six Moon? Can you have such riding skills?"

"The general deserves the prize, but the villain just practiced and played casually, and he is still far behind those real masters of book riding." Are you soldiers? The villain not only knows how to ride horses, but also draws bows and arrows, and can shoot eight bows with one stone."

"Can you open a bow with eight fights with one stone?" Xiang Guan, who could barely do this step, was a little surprised. He simply asked the soldiers to bring his own bow and arrow, handed it to the man and said, "It happens to be a bow with eight fights with one stone. Let me see with an arrow."

The man was not polite, he took the bow and arrow immediately after saying an offense, drew the bow and set the arrow like a moon, and moved his finger lightly, the arrow immediately flew out and disappeared into the depths of the twilight. Everyone present applauded loudly, but the man Without changing his face or panting, he said again: "General, do you want to shoot a target? It's getting dark, if you want to shoot a target, you can only ask someone to prepare a brazier as a target."

"No need, I accept it. If you are so good at riding and archery, you can join my cavalry team." Xiang Guan replied with a smile, and then asked casually: "By the way, I forgot to ask your name."

"The villain is feeding the baby." The man replied respectfully.

The arrival of Guan Ying was just a small episode of the battle of Suishui, the main theme sounded very soon, it was the middle of the night, the Mangdang Qin army, who was anxious to defeat the young commanders, suddenly boarded a boat and rushed across, intending to attack Po Xiangzhuang by surprise. department.Fortunately, sneak attacks at night have always been the young marshal's forte. As soon as the Qin army's ferry came up to the north bank, the secret sentry arranged by the young marshal at the ferry immediately sounded the gong to call the police. Xiang Zhuang also immediately got up and organized the army to fight. He took the risk to attack, but also relied on the fortifications of the camp to successfully repel the Qin army's sneak attack, and never gave the Qin army any chance.As the sky became brighter, the Qin army, whose physical strength had declined, had no choice but to flee back to the south bank of Suishui. More than 200 sergeants were killed and injured in vain, but they got nothing.

The sneak attack of the Qin army also proved the correctness of the young commander's strategy of sticking to the strategy of waiting for help. In the next two days, the two generals Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Guan also became more and more cautious. .And at noon on the third day, the reinforcements led by Zheng Bu and Ding Ji finally arrived at the south bank of Suishui after getting rid of the entanglement of Mangdang County soldiers. The dream of the Mangdang Qin army to defeat the young commanders one by one.

With the initiative in hand, of course the young commander-in-chief can fight as he wants, but the Qin army is at a loss. In order to fight for the last chance, the general of the Qin army, Dong Ke, fought dangerously and asked a thousand Qin troops to intercept Xiangzhuang. The Ministry crossed the river and led the main force to start a decisive battle with the two armies of Zheng Bu and Ding Ji.In vain trying to rely on the Qin army's better battles to defeat the reinforcements of the young commander's army, and then turn around to deal with Xiangzhuang.

No matter how desperately struggling, it is useless. Zheng Bu and Ding Ji, who saw through the purpose of the Qin army at a glance, took the defensive decisively and held back the Qin army's attack with a tight formation. The Qin army's soldiers were barely able to hold on at the beginning, but after a long time, they were quickly stretched, and the defense line was breached one after another. Even if the Lixian county soldiers rushed over to help, it would not be effective.Dong Ke was so anxious that he kept urging the main force to attack the strong formation of the young commander's army, but the young commander's army, which was sure of victory, stood still and persisted until Xiangzhuang's brigade successfully crossed the river. Dong Ke had no choice but to give up quickly. In fact, he had no intention of The Nan'an camp that stood firm, led the army back to Li County to defend the city before being encircled by the young marshal's army.

Next, Xiang Zhuang, who had regained his composure, played much smarter. Knowing that it would be extremely difficult to win Li County after the main force of the Qin army retreated to the city, he decisively chose to avoid the truth and pretend to be false. The handsome army came in to attack the second city of Mangdang. Dong Ke, who was already at a disadvantage, did not dare to move any more, so he could only watch helplessly as the young commander returned to the army calmly, and easily took down the second city of Mangdang that he had defended for several months, and expanded his territory. To the territory of Dang County.

The battle report was sent to Pengcheng, but Xiang Kang did not feel any joy. The first reason was that the Western Expeditionary Army did not complete the established goal of annihilating the main force of the Qin Army in Dang County, leaving behind hidden dangers. Many weaknesses and shortcomings were exposed in the battle. The main general Xiang Zhuang lacked flexibility. He still needs to continue to hone if he wants to be able to stand on his own. After the division of troops, there was a lack of cooperation among the various armies, and the precious opportunity to encircle the enemy was missed. The army still has some Fearing tough battles, his combat effectiveness must be improved, so much so that Xiang Kang couldn't even imagine that if after Zhang Han's army defeated Chen Sheng, the main force would directly attack him, how would he resist?How could it be possible to resist?

What worried Xiang Kang even more was Xiang Liang's attitude. After Xiang Kang sent the emergency letter to Jiangdong, Xiang Liang, who had not had time to completely pacify the land in Jiangdong, not only did not consider sending troops to the north immediately to reinforce Xiang Kang, his precious nephew, but also comforted Xiang Kang. Kang said that it would be impossible for Chen Sheng to collapse so easily for a while, and he would definitely buy enough time for the Young Marshal to allow Xiang Kang to give himself a little more time, and then send troops to help Xiang Kang when he is free.

"No matter how great a hero is, there are times when he gets confused. If you are also a time traveler, you will know how vulnerable Chen Sheng's troops are in front of Zhang Han."

While sighing and worrying, another bad news suddenly came. Chen Sheng sent an envoy to Pengcheng to tell Xiang Kang that Zhang Han's army had easily swept through Yingchuan's Zhang Chu army with overwhelming momentum, and had entered Chen Jun's army. He asked Xiang Kang to send troops to Chen Jun to help Chen Sheng.As a result, when he heard the news, Xiang Kang, who had always been quite calm, turned pale immediately, and said to himself: "If Zhang Han destroys Chen Sheng, he brings the main force directly to my side, with my current strength, how can it be possible?" Can I resist it? What should I do? Do I have to be prepared to run away, and if the situation is wrong, I will immediately take the army and go to Xiang Liang?"

(End of this chapter)