Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 136 Talented people come out in large numbers
Similar to the situation in the Linji War in history, Zhang Han also defeated the main force of the Wei Qi coalition army with the overnight raid, and established the victory of Linji Battlefield in one fell swoop.

It's unbelievable to say it. Facing the main force of the Qin army led by Zhang Han himself, Xiang Kang, who had never lost a battle since he started the army, was trembling. He was not sure or even dared to get too close to Zhang Han. Qi Wang Tian Dan, who led the main force of the Qi army to rescue Linji, still underestimated the enemy, and looked down on Zhang Han to some extent.

However, Tian Dan also has a bit of arrogance, because Tian Dan is really good at fighting. When Wei Xiang Zhou Fu, who was still a minister of Zhang Chu, went north to attack Qi, the Qin army of Qi was basically vulnerable to him. Fu quickly took down many cities in Qidi, but after Tian Dan killed the magistrate of Di County with a trick, he beat Zhou Fu's main force to the ground with a hastily assembled army of a county, and had to retreat. Wei Di.Afterwards, Tian Dan swept the fallen leaves with the autumn wind, and quickly won more than 30 cities in Qidi. During this period, he was also victorious and invincible. It's not enough to be complacent or not.

Secondly, Tian Dan also has the strength to challenge Zhang Han. In addition to bringing more than 6 main troops of the Qi State, he also has more than [-] Wei State troops cobbled together from the Eastern Front by Wei Xiang Zhou Fu. In terms of strength on paper, it is enough to fight Zhang Han head-on.In addition, the main force of the Young Marshal Army stationed in Chenliu was also one of Tian Dan's confidence, so after approaching the Linji battlefield, Tian Dan even took the initiative to attack the Qin army.

Tian Dan's reckless underestimation of the enemy also fell into Zhang Han's arms. Zhang Han's use of troops is very similar to that of Qin's famous general Bai Qi. Unprepared.Therefore, in the face of the Qi army's active attack, Zhang Han tried his best to reject all opinions and deliberately let the Qin army in Pingqiu area feign defeat and retreat, let the Wei Qi coalition army break through the blocking position of the Qin army, and rushed directly to the city of Linji.

The purpose of the Wei Qi coalition's trip was to rescue Linji. After successfully joining forces with Linji's defenders, the Wei Qi coalition certainly thought they had a good chance of winning, and began to relax psychologically. Even a general named Uncle Zhou under Zhou Fu's account had already seen Zhang Han was deliberately deceiving his army to paralyze his own army. Tian Dan and Zhou Fu, whose military ability was even worse than Tian Dan's, didn't take it seriously.

As a result, of course, Zhang Han had a chance to catch him by surprise. On the same night when the Young Marshal defeated Li Youjun, under the cover of night, Zhang Han suddenly dispatched the elite from Longxi under his tent to sneak in with them. Set up camp in the Qi army camp under Linji City, the Qi army was caught off guard, and was directly killed by the Qin army. There was a sudden chaos, and the main force of the Qin army took the opportunity to attack again, taking advantage of the chaos to defeat the Qi army.But Zhou Fu once again rejected Uncle Zhou's suggestion to let the Wei army stick to the camp, and took the risk of sending troops to reinforce Tian Dan at night. The result not only did not play any role, but was thrown into chaos by the defeated Qi army. The Qin army took advantage of the victory to attack and broke through After entering the camp of the Wei army, Tian Dan and Zhou Fu were beheaded one after another among the chaotic army. In just one night, the Wei Qi coalition army was directly smashed to pieces and ceased to exist.

After the disastrous defeat, Tian Rong, Tian Dan's cousin, took some of the defeated Qi army and fled directly to Dong'a, while the Wei army was scattered. Only a small part fled into Linji City, and the rest were either forced to surrender or fled to Dong'e in embarrassment. In other places, Zhang Han was not in a hurry to pursue and kill, and immediately surrounded Linji City again. While sending envoys to contact Wei Jiu, using the threat of massacre of the city to force Wei Jiu to open the city and surrender, at the same time, he quickly increased his troops to the south, preparing to deal with Xiang Kang. Jumping clown.

The rapid defeat of the Wei and Qi allied forces also completely disrupted Xiang Kang's wishful thinking. Originally, for Chen Ping's sake, Xiang Kang planned to do his best to help Wei Jiu and join hands with Wei and Qi's troops to hold Zhang Han down and wait for Xiang Liang. Come over with reinforcements to help, and then figure out whether you can defeat Zhang Han in advance.However, the Wei-Qi allied forces were suddenly defeated, and the defenders in Linji City were too weak to play any role. Xiang Kang, even if he was all-powerful, did not dare to confront Zhang Han again.Therefore, Xiang Kang had no choice but to grab the main force of Zhang Han and go south, and quickly recalled Feng Zhong, the young commander of the defeated Li You, who was under his command, and prepared to retreat to the east quickly to avoid the sharp edge of the main force of the Qin army.

Feng Zhong, who was chasing lightly, moved quickly. The next afternoon when Xiang Kang received the news of the destruction of the friendly army, Feng Zhong quickly withdrew to Chenliu City with his troops. Loaded on ships and trucks, and quickly moved downstream.What surprised Xiang Kang was that at this time, Wei Jiu's younger brother Wei Bao, who was assisting Zhou Fu in commanding the army, also fled south to Chenliu with more than 2000 remnants of the defeated army, and asked the young commander for help.

Time is precious, and Xiang Kang didn't have time to meet Feng Zhong and Wei Bao, who arrived almost at the same time, and directly invited them all into the Chinese army's tent for discussion, and it was okay, Xiang Kang was relieved that he was still calm Wei Bao didn't force himself to send troops north to rescue Linji, but also took the initiative to express his understanding of Xiang Kang's decision to retreat - because the strength of the Young Marshal's army was indeed far from the main force of the Qin army.And Feng Zhong also very much agrees with Xiang Kang's decision to retreat, thinking that a man can bend and stretch, and he must run when it is time to run, leaving the green hills behind, so that there will be firewood in the future.

However, on the issue of where to retreat, Feng Zhong, who has always been obedient, rarely disagreed with Xiang Kang. Originally, Xiang Kang planned to retreat to the front line of Mangdang. Xiang Liang's main force rushed to reinforce.However, Feng Zhong felt that it would be a pity to just give up the hinterland of Dangjun that he had finally won so hard. He strongly advocated retreating to Suiyang, the prefecture of Dangjun, and confronting the Qin army on the front line of Suiyang for assistance.

"Young commander, Suiyang was captured by the last general, and the general general is familiar with the situation there." Feng Zhong said plausibly: "The general must admit that if our main force hadn't wiped out the Tyrant Qin army first The main force of Dang County, the final general is determined to be very difficult to win Suiyang, because Suiyang's city is very strong, and it is extremely difficult to attack from the front, which is enough to hold on for a long time. Such a strong city, if it is abandoned directly, it is not only a pity, but also may be tyrannized by the Qin Dynasty The army is used as a foothold and always threatens our western front, even if our army succeeds in repelling the main force of the Tyrant Qin on the front line of Mangdang, our western front will hardly have peace."

Feng Zhong's words certainly had some truth, but considering the overly open terrain in Suiyang area and the long distance from the rear of Pengcheng, Xiang Kang was still a little worried and refused to adopt Feng Zhong's decision for a long time.But at this time, Xiang Kang, a general of the Wei army who accompanied Wei Bao to visit, also suddenly opened his mouth and said to Xiang Kang: "Young commander, the last general is a foreign minister, so I shouldn't take the liberty to intervene, but this matter has nothing to do with it." It’s too big, the general still has to say a few words, what General Feng Zhong said is very true, our army should just retreat to Suiyang, we must not directly retreat to the front line of Mangdang, and give up the battlefield to take the initiative.”

"Uncle Zhou, this is Young Marshal Xiang's tent in the Chinese army, do you have a voice?" Wei Bao scolded displeasedly.

Fortunately, Xiang Kang is a person who can gather opinions from all the people, and he didn't care about Wei Bao's generals interjecting casually, and asked the general of the Wei army whom Wei Bao called Uncle Zhou: "General, you said that our army retreated to Mang?" On the first line of Dang, you will give up the battlefield and take the initiative, what does this mean?"

"Reporting to the young commander, because the terrain around Suiyang is very open, it is extremely beneficial for our army to weave around and attack the weak points of the Tyrant Qin army." Uncle Zhou cupped his hands and said: "The last general has carefully studied Zhang Han's method of using troops, and found that This common soldier likes to put more emphasis on front power than reserve, and likes to concentrate superior forces on one battlefield to take the initiative, but the protection of the rear food road is obviously insufficient. That's why when he was in Chenjun, he gave two generals, Lu Chen and Yingbu, two The second opportunity to restore Chen County, and later gave you the opportunity to attack Yangwu and cut off his food road. Therefore, the final general can conclude that in order to annihilate the main force of the young commander and avenge his partial division, Zhang Han must We will concentrate our forces again to attack Suiyang, and we will not leave too many troops to guard the rear and protect his food routes."

"In this way, our army's opportunity will come out." Uncle Zhou continued: "Although Suiyang is the county seat of Dangjun, it is far away from other cities. The nearest Meng County is still in the north, far away from Zhanghan. The food road is very conducive to the army's interspersed raids and roundabout surprise attacks. When you confront the Zhang Han people head-on in Suiyang, young commander, you only need to separate part of the division, and you can fight mobile, directly threatening the Zhang Han people's grain transportation road. , let Zhang Han’s head and tail be troubled, exhausted, and when his teachers and veterans are exhausted, you, young commander, will definitely have a chance of victory!"

"But the situation is completely different if you retreat directly to the front line of Mangdang." Uncle Zhou continued to point out: "There are many cities in Mangdang, and they are very close to each other, so that Zhang Han can easily find a safer place to store grain. It is also very convenient to transport grain to the front line. It must be extremely difficult for you, young commander, to attack and rob grain. It is difficult to force Zhang Han to divide his troops to protect the grain road. Moreover, the last general in Mangdang has also been there, and there are ten people there. It is true that there are a few hills, but the mountains are not high, so it is only suitable for a small number of troops to intersperse and detour, and it is difficult to achieve a surprise victory if you highlight the surprise soldiers. The chances of a man defeating you one by one are far less favorable than concentrating our forces on the city of Suiyang."

When Uncle Zhou was expressing his opinions, Xiang Kang was listening intently, but the soldier surnamed Han who stood behind Feng Zhong was horrified. He looked Uncle Zhou up and down carefully, and couldn't help saying in his heart: "Unexpected In the mob of the Wei army, there is such a capable person, who can have the same opinion as me? If this person is not only proficient in strategy, but also very proficient in tactics, I am afraid that this person's ability to use troops will Not under me."

After Uncle Zhou finally finished speaking, Xiang Kang gradually figured it out for a long time, and then gradually realized that Uncle Zhou's words were indeed very reasonable. The terrain in Mangdang area is relatively complicated, and it is more suitable for him to steal and deceive, but the only one in that area There are more than a dozen small hills, but it is destined to be difficult to cover their large-scale mobilization of troops, and suddenly launch a sneak attack.At the same time, Shoumang had to defend Dang and divide his troops to defend the city. If he didn't do well, he might be defeated by Zhang Han one by one, and it would be too late to regret it.

After pondering carefully for a long time, considering that Suiyang is tightly pinched on the water, land and food road behind Zhang Han's Jinbing Huaisi, Xiang Kang made up his mind, nodded, and said: "General Uncle Zhou is right, and Brother Feng is also right. , we should not be able to retreat directly to the front line of Mangdang. That's it, we will retreat to Suiyang, where we will resist the main force of the Tyrant Qin army from advancing eastward, and wait for our reinforcements!"

After finishing speaking, Xiang Kang gave Uncle Zhou a very appreciative glance, and said in his heart: "If the next battle proves that his views are correct, this person must be recruited and let him be used by me."

Having decided on the idea of ​​retreating to Suiyang, Xiang Kang quickly arranged a retreat plan, and arranged for Feng Zhong's troops, who were too tired after successive battles, to retreat first, and rushed back to Suiyang in advance to organize the people to strengthen the city's defenses and rush to repair a strong camp similar to the Pengcheng battlefield. so that their own troops can be stationed for a long time.Then he arranged for Xiang Zhuang to take up the task of the rear, and he himself led the main force of the Chinese army and brought the three servants of Yingbu, Lu Chen, and Wei Bao as the second team, and moved to Suiyang with as much food, grass and military supplies as possible along the way.

In addition, out of morality, Xiang Kang arranged for a few secret agents to go to Linji overnight to contact Wei Jiu, tell Wei Jiu his helpless decision to withdraw, and suggest that Wei Jiu abandon the city as soon as possible to break through, or go south to meet with Wei Jiu. Meet up by yourself, or don't go to another country, and wait for the opportunity to make a comeback in the future.

Xiang Kang somewhat underestimated Wei Jiu's character. Early the next morning, after Feng Zhong quickly withdrew his troops to Suiyang, in the afternoon of the same day, news came from the northern line that Wei Jiu had obtained After Zhang Han gave up his promise to slaughter the city, he opened the gate of Linji City and surrendered to Zhang Han. Then Wei Jiu still burned himself in the city and died. It is very noble to exchange his death for the continuation of the soldiers and civilians in Linji City. Survive.

Hearing the news, Wei Jiu's younger brother Wei Bao, of course, burst into tears and fainted on the ground. Xiang Kang also wept and ordered the whole army to hold a funeral, and sacrificed to Wei Jiu, who was a pretty good character, to express his gratitude. My own respect for Wei Jiu, and buying Wei's support.Then Xiang Kang didn't dare to have any hesitation anymore, and hurriedly led the main force to give up Chen Liu and retreat eastward early in the morning of the third day, for fear that if he walked too slowly, he would be entangled by Zhang Han's main force.

This is also the first time that the main force of the Young Marshal was forced to retreat for a long distance under the threat of the enemy. Of course, the morale of the soldiers is not very high, and Xiang Kang's face is also somewhat gloomy. It is rare that there is no smile all day long. Fortunately, The preparations for the retreat were sufficient, but there was no confusion. Even though they were carrying a large amount of military supplies and three servants with varying qualities, the main force of the Young Marshal's army withdrew to the city of Yongqiu in the afternoon of the same day, and there was no sign of it yet. He was overtaken by the Qin army's pursuers.

All the grain, grass, and military supplies in Yongqiu city had been loaded into the carts long ago. As soon as Xiang Kang arrived at the city of Yongqiu, the grain team immediately left the city to join Xiang Kang.Seeing that the time was only Shen Shi, Xiang Kang didn't hesitate, and hurriedly let the army continue to advance westward, hurrying away from Zhang Han's main force as soon as possible.But at this time, Xiang Yang came to Xiang Kang in a hurry, cupped his hands and said, "Brother, there is an old Confucian scholar named Li Yiji who wants to visit you, and said that he has something very important to meet in person. You Chen Zou."

"Li Yiji?" I was taken aback by this awkward name, and I didn't want to miss it, but after hearing Xiang Yang say that he was old and a Confucian scholar, Xiang Kang changed his mind and let the army move forward while strangling him. On the side of the road, ask Xiang Yang to bring that Li Yiji to meet him.

After a while, an old man wearing a Confucian square hat was brought to Xiang Kang. Xiang Kang casually looked at him and saw that he was about sixty years old. Although he was skinny, he was much taller than ordinary adults. , at the same time, his expression was very arrogant, and he didn't lean down to bow down when he saw him, and just bowed his hands casually as a courtesy, and it looked like he was the same as old man Fan.Fortunately, Xiang Kang has long been used to dealing with such people. Not only did he not mind the old man's rudeness, but he immediately returned the salute with his hand and said with a smile: "Old man, thank you for your hard work. I heard that you have something to see me. What is it?" important event?"

With a sneer, he looked Xiang Kang up and down, and then the old man opened his mouth, and said arrogantly: "I heard that Young Commander Xiang is humble and polite, and I thought it was true. Now that I see it with my own eyes, I know that he is a famous man. It's better to meet, the world is exaggerating."

"Old man, what do you mean by that?"

Xiang Yang next to him was furious, but Xiang Kang helplessly stopped Xiang Yang, looked down at his situation carefully, and immediately realized that something was wrong, hurriedly whipped off his horse, stood on the ground and bowed his hands to the old man and said, "Teach me a lesson, sir!" Yes, as a junior, it is indeed too rude to answer the elders while riding on a horse, the boy corrected himself and apologized to the old man."

Seeing that Xiang Kang respected him so much, the arrogant old man who claimed to be Li Yiji nodded and said, "Master Xiang, you came in a hurry and left in a hurry, but because the Tyrant Qin army is about to arrive, you don't know what to do." Can't fight, can only retreat immediately?"

"What the old man said is very true, that's exactly the case." Xiang Kang nodded, and then said: "Mr. Li, you must have heard that the over [-] troops of the Violent Qin Dynasty have already broken through Linji, the capital of Wei, and forced them to death." The King of Wei, Wei Jiu, has only [-] soldiers, so he is really unable to fight the enemy, so he has no choice but to retreat to avoid his sharp edge."

"Then, young commander, do you want to leave your soldiers and family members alone?" Old man Li suddenly raised his voice, and said, "Young commander, when you captured Yongqiu before, you sent people to all the places in Yongqiu because of the large population of Yongqiu. In order to help you destroy the Qin Dynasty, many Yongqiu people gave up farming in the busy spring and joined your army. Now that the Tyrant Qin is about to make a comeback, you are going to drag these Yongqiu soldiers away from their relatives and abandon them. Going west from home, young commander, you are not afraid that the Qin army will retaliate against their families? Or use the families of these soldiers as hostages to force them to betray you? You are not afraid that your Yongqiu recruits will betray you on the way because of homesickness. And go, to shake your morale?”

Xiang Kang was silent. In fact, soldiers in the Young Marshal's army often deserted because soldiers missed their families. However, Xiang Kang had always protected the rear very well. Most of the soldiers' families were in the relatively safe rear of the Young Marshal's Army. So this situation is not serious, nor did it cause too serious consequences.But not long after occupying Yongqiu, he recruited a large number of soldiers and then gave up immediately, without considering the feelings of the local recruits. Xiang Kang had never encountered this situation before, so Xiang Kang really did not consider this hidden danger.

After hesitating for a while, Xiang Kang bowed his hands to the old man Li and said: "Mr. Li is right. I really didn't think carefully about this point. Originally, I also intended to let these soldiers go home, but the recruits from Yongqiu have already returned home." Being recruited into the army by me, if I disband on the spot, it will inevitably hit and shake the morale of my main army. It is really a dilemma. If Mr. Li has a good strategy to teach me, please give me some pointers."

Seeing that Xiang Kang was so humble, Old Man Li finally showed a smile on his face, and said, "This matter is not difficult. Since the young commander has this heart, then immediately draw out the recruits you recruited in Yongqiu and let them organize into an army alone." , tell your cronies to lead you to stay at Yongqiu for you. When the Tyrant Qin army chases and kills Yongqiu, your department will let Yongqiu recruits choose their own way out. Those who are willing to leave will retreat to the west to chase you, and those who do not want to leave Dismiss on the spot. In this way, young commander, you can eliminate hidden dangers without affecting the morale of the army, and you can also win the hearts of the people in Yongqiu, and at the same time, you can also get some Yongqiu warriors who are willing to follow you with all their hearts?"

Xiang Kang suddenly came to his senses, bowed his hands to thank the old man Li, and then immediately ordered: "Order the whole army to temporarily stop marching, draw out all the recruits we recruited in Yongqiu, form a separate army, and let them stay in Yongqiu! "

The soldiers agreed, and hurried to convey the order for Xiang Kang, while the old man Li nodded in satisfaction, and said, "Young Marshal Xiang, other old men can't guarantee it, but my younger brother Li Shang who has already joined your army, I can guarantee that he will." I will follow you again. At that time, the old man may have to go with the army and join your younger brother. I hope that the young commander will not hesitate to include it, and give me a bowl of food. The old man has no other skills, but he can write Forget it, she is also very good at talking and persuading people, maybe I can help you a little bit."

"Good at talking and persuading others? With your temper, if you meet old man Fan, you won't fight?" Xiang Kang murmured in his heart, but he still cupped his hands and said, "If that's the case, that kid will be here in Sui. Mr. Yangjing Hou Li is a great driver."

"Suiyang?" Old man Li raised his gray eyebrows, and hurriedly said again: "If the young commander decides to retreat to Suiyang, then when passing by Xiangyi, please don't forget to raze the city walls of Xiangyi, so that If you do it, it may be of great help to your future, young commander."

"Raze the city wall of Xiangyi?" Xiang Kang was completely stunned, because Xiang Kang immediately thought of an important question. If he razed the city wall of Xiangyi, then from Yongqiu to Suiyang for more than two hundred miles, the Qin army Doesn't the grain transport team have any reliable foothold anymore?If the self-army wanted to harass and cut off the Qin army's food roads, wouldn't there be countless more spaces and opportunities?

Then, of course, a thought came to Xiang Kang's mind immediately, and he said to himself: "This old man Li, doesn't seem to be simple? But the name Li Yiji, why didn't I seem to have seen it in books before?"

(End of this chapter)