Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 207 The Eve of the Western Expedition
In fact, after the Qin army in Wancheng was forced to lay down their weapons and surrender, it was not only Song Yang and his dozen or so soldiers who escaped quietly. Because of being severely brainwashed by the Qin court, and because of feelings of war weariness or homesickness, the Qin army surrendered. The fleeing situation is quite serious. Dozens of people flee by night every night, but these people are of humble status, and unlike Song Yang, they leave a letter insulting Xiang Kang after they run away, so the influence is not great. so serious.

However, these soldiers of the Qin Army who escaped soon discovered that they were taking risks in vain. As soon as the situation in Wancheng stabilized, Xiang Kang issued an order allowing the soldiers of the Qin Army who put down their weapons and surrendered to choose their own way out, and were willing to stay and join the Young Marshal Army Welcome with both hands, give dry food to those who don't want to stay, love to go there and go there.

At first, I was worried that the young commander would force me to continue to join the army, and that I might be forced to raise the butcher's knife against the Qin compatriots in the future. I never thought that Xiang Kang would be so kind, so after hearing this order, more than 7000 people put down their weapons The soldiers of the Qin army who surrendered immediately burst into cheers, and they were very grateful to Xiang Kang.Then although most of the soldiers of the Qin army chose to receive dry food and return home, the strict military discipline of the young commander and Xiang Kang's generosity were quickly taken to various parts of Xianyang by these soldiers of the Qin army, and even led Entering the Guanzhong Plain, it caused a lot of repercussions.

Of course, Xiang Kang had no choice but to release people so hypocritically. As mentioned earlier, because of being ruled by the Qin court for decades, the local people in Nanyang have generally recognized their identity as Qin people, and they are very hostile to the six countries outside the pass. Shen, if Xiang Kang forces the Nanyang Qin Army to join the Young Marshal Army, no matter how they are broken up and reorganized, it will be difficult to digest all these Qin Army soldiers, and it is likely to affect the unity and combat effectiveness of the Young Marshal Army. There are hidden dangers within the army, so Xiang Kang can only learn from a certain party. He would rather let the tiger go back to the mountain than force the strong men to use force to force the soldiers to fight for their own army.

Fortunately, deliberate softness is quite effective. After various methods of buying people's hearts were used, the hostility of the local people in Nanyang to the Young Marshal's Army was still greatly reduced. Some poor people began to ask to join the Young Marshal's Army for food. The Nanyang cities around the city also surrendered voluntarily under the persuasion of the surrender officials of the Qin army. Li County, which is directly north, first sent a surrender form, and then Yangcheng and Xiang counties also voluntarily changed flags and surrendered. ) also persuaded Yi Zhi to surrender under the letter of Lu Wei, and closed the southern gate of Nanyang for the young commander.

During this period, because Qi Ji was afraid of having no place to live, and because of his daughter Qi Min's repeated persuasion, he also very helplessly asked to be recruited by the Young Marshal Army, and gave up the unrealistic dream of continuing to be unique, while Xiang Kang For the sake of Qi Min's gentle service to him, he also generously appointed Qi Ji as Nanyang County Prime Minister, and asked him to help Lu Jue manage Nanyang for him, which is also very worthy of Qi Ji.But behind the scenes, Qi Ji still quietly complained more than once, "Sure enough, girls are extroverted. I really didn't expect my daughter to speak for outsiders like this."

In addition, after adopting Zhang Liang's suggestion, Xiang Kang also selected a captain named Ren Kai from the Young Marshal Army, and asked him to lead a combined army of [-] old and new troops to return to Ye County to guard Nanyang. The north gate of the north gate did not give Qin Jun the opportunity to calmly go south to the hinterland of Nanyang.At the same time, they sent people to the north to inquire about the news and understand the current situation of the Central Plains battlefield, so as to seize the opportunity to enter Wuguan.

The distance is far away, the road is not clear and dangerous, of course, it is difficult for the young general Xizuo who went north to inquire about the news to send the news quickly. On the contrary, Danshui, which is due west, was the first to send the news, saying that Danshui Qin Jun refused. The Young Marshal's persuasion to surrender also beat the Young Marshal's envoys out of the city with sticks.Xiang Kang was furious when he heard the report, and immediately summoned the young generals to discuss sending troops to retaliate. He also planned to personally lead the main force to crusade against the ignorant Danshui Qin army.

Uncle Zhou stopped Xiang Kang's decision and persuaded him: "General You, dispatching our main force for the sake of a county is a waste of our military power and food. Now the cities of Nanyang have just surrendered and surrendered. Unstable, our main force is better to continue to sit in Wancheng just in case, on the side of Danshui, we only need to send a partial division to crusade."

Considering the current situation in Nanyang, Xiang Kang quickly adopted Uncle Zhou's suggestion, and decided to send Uncle Zhou and Li Shang to lead [-] troops to attack Danshui. Useful.Then on the second day, Xiang Kang was very grateful that he had adopted Uncle Zhou's suggestion, because Ren Kai, who was fortified in Ye County in the north, suddenly sent someone to send an urgent report, saying that [-] Qin troops had gone south from Xiangcheng to Kunming. Yang, it is possible to attack Ye County.

Fortunately, there was doubt afterward, and Xiang Kang asked very strangely: "How come there are so many Tyrant Qin troops in Yingchuan again? Yingchuan's main force of Tyrant Qin has been wiped out by us, and the territory has basically been destroyed. How can you organize so many troops so quickly?"

"Could it be a tyrannical Qin army from the Central Plains battlefield?" Chen Ping analyzed: "Calculating the time, Zhang Han and Wang Li must have known about the news that we have entered the hinterland of Nanyang, and they are likely to know about it." Send troops to the south for reinforcements, maybe this Tyrant Qin army was sent by them."

"If this is the case, this is an opportunity for us to directly grasp the situation of the battle in the Central Plains." Xiang Kang made some calculations, and quickly ordered: "Give Ren Kai an order to send more spies to monitor the situation of the Tyrant Qin army. .In addition, temporarily move our food and supplies into Wancheng for storage, so that our main force can go north to reinforce Ye County with light loads."

According to Xiang Kang's order, the officers and men of the Young Marshal Army quickly moved most of the food, grass and military supplies into the city for hoarding, and then Xiang Kang left Zheng Bu, a veteran of the Young Marshal Army, to lead an army of [-] to guard the city to protect the food and grass, and personally led two The main force of Marshal Wan's army is to reinforce Ye County, preparing to kill the Qin army from the south and eliminate the hidden dangers on the northern line, so as to avoid fire in the rear when the Marshal Wan's army enters Wuguan, and also take the opportunity to understand the current situation of the Central Plains battlefield.

When the soldiers arrived in Yangcheng, Ren Kai sent someone to contact Xiang Kang again and reported the general situation of the Qin army that came from the south. It turned out that it was the same as Chen Ping's suspicion. The Qin army that suddenly went south was Zhang Han from Aocang. The army dispatched to the south for reinforcements was led by Qi Ben, the deputy of General Sima Jin of the Qin Army. He also said that this Qin army had already moved south from Kunyang and was preparing to attack Ye County.Xiang Kang was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately ordered the whole army to advance at a faster speed, requiring the army to travel two days a day, and must arrive at Ye County before the evening of the next day.

Xiang Kang's decisive decision succeeded in killing Qin Jun by surprise, and the next day was close to dusk, when the main force of the young commander's army suddenly rushed to the vicinity of Ye County, because he never dreamed that the main force of the young commander's army would come so fast, and he was still cutting down trees The Qin army who was rushing to make siege weapons suddenly panicked and fled back to the camp to hide.Xiang Kang, who successfully bit the Qin army, was not in a hurry to launch an attack. He just let the army stand up and rest, and at the same time sent envoys to the enemy camp to deliver the letter of war, and asked the Qin army to fight to the death the next day.

Qi Ben gritted his teeth and agreed to a decisive battle with the Young Marshal Army, but as soon as the envoy of the Young Marshal Army left, Qi Ben immediately assembled the army in secret, and personally led the army out of the camp at half past two o'clock that night, to the main camp of the Young Marshal Army. Launched a sneak attack, trying to take advantage of the opportunity of the young commander's exhaustion from afar, and killed the young commander by surprise.

It's a pity that Xiang Kang, who is good at stealing chickens and dogs, has long been on guard against Qi Ben's attack. He has long ordered the young generals not to disarm and not leave their weapons when they are resting. In Lingye County, Ren Kai immediately dispatched troops when he discovered that the main camp was attacked, and took advantage of the bluff to attack the Qin camp.So as soon as the Qin army touched the vicinity of the young commander's camp, the secret whistle of the young commander's army immediately issued a signal to warn, and the soldiers of the young commander who were always ready for battle also immediately got up and assembled, and the young commander in Ye County also immediately assembled and went out of the city to attack Qin. army camp.

Xiang Kang's full preparation turned Qin Jun's opportunism into self-defeating, and the sneak attack failed. Qi Ben, who was somewhat experienced, did not rush to retreat, and did not give the young commander an opportunity to immediately send troops to pursue him. After the young commander-in-chief took the opportunity to send troops to attack his camp, the soldiers of the Qin army were inevitably shaken and began to panic. Xiang Kang also took the opportunity to urge the army to go out of the camp to fight back, and started a nighttime melee with the Qin army.

The battle situation was completely one-sided. After more than a year of fighting outside the customs, the Qin Army Zhanghan Corps, mainly composed of Lishan prisoners, had lost both morale and vigor in repeated seesaw battles. It is difficult to obtain actual benefits in the war, and the will to fight has dropped very seriously.On the contrary, the Young Marshal Army has been relying on all kinds of shameless means to fight the wind, and can get various rewards through the war, earn a lot of money, and the morale has always been relatively high. He had the upper hand, so it didn't take long for the young commander to defeat the Qin army and flee.

After the defeat, the Qin army still dreamed of returning to the camp to protect themselves, but when they were chased by the main force of the young commander and fled outside the camp, the Yexian young commander had already taken advantage of the emptiness and entered the Qin army camp. Qi Ben saw that the situation was not good. Wonderful, I can only flee directly to Kunyang with the defeated soldiers. The main force of the young commander's army pursued closely. In the pursuit battle, the Qin army was completely defeated, and quite a few prisoners were captured. .

After the victory, Xiang Kang didn't bother to care about how many military supplies and weapons he had grabbed and how many gains he had made. He just escorted all the captured civil and military officials of the Qin Army in the first place, and asked Chen Ping to interrogate them with the civilian officials of the Young Marshal Army. , so as to understand the current situation of the Central Plains battlefield.Then in the afternoon, Chen Ping returned to Xiang Kang with a large pile of confessions, and said, "General You, the question is almost finished. The officer sorted it out and made a summary. Please have a look."

Xiang Kang nodded, first praised Chen Ping, and then took a summary of the confession compiled by Chen Ping himself, and then only read the first sentence, Xiang Kang's eyes widened, and he said in surprise: "The Tyranny of the Qin Dynasty made Zhang Han Unify the army with Wang Li? Zhang Han is in charge of the frontal battlefield, and Wang Li is in charge of the two wings of Sanchuan County. Is this news reliable?"

"Reliable, that's what all the captives said." Chen Ping replied: "Qi Ben's tyrannical Qin army just entered Yingchuan from Aocang south, and Wang Li gave him the following, telling Qi Ben the decision of the tyrannical Qin court , asked Qi Ben to follow his orders instead. For this matter, Qi Ben still sent someone to contact Zhang Han, and was delayed for some time on the road. The matter was very troublesome, so many of Qi Ben's subordinates knew over this."

"Is the Tyrant Qin court crazy?" Xiang Kang said even more surprised: "The front line is so tight, they actually want to divide the army outside the pass into two and mess up their own command?"

"If the lower official's guess is correct, it should be the plan of alienation you used when you went south from the white horse, General You." Chen Ping said with a smile: "The imperial court of the Qin Dynasty became suspicious of Mr. Zhang Han. I was afraid that Zhang Han would be forced to rebel, so I slowly took away his military power and prepared to let Wang Li replace him." (see Chapter 180 of this book)
"If this is the case, it won't be long before the Central Plains battlefield will definitely decide the winner, and we will win!"

Xiang Kang came to a conclusion, and hurried to read the summary of confessions sent by Chen Ping, and only then did he know that his overbearing cousin was not foolishly staring at Zhang Han's flood defense line, and retreated for the time being more rationally, leaving Zhang Han far away from him. At the same time, they dispatched troops to attack Shangdang, successfully cutting off the connection between the main force of the Qin army and the Qin army in the north of Shanxi, and all the new troops of the Qin army were handed over to Wang Li by the Qin court. Zhang Han, who was on the front line, instead There has been no supply of troops, and the situation in the Central Plains such as Wei Bao took the opportunity to raise the Wei flag again in Weidi.

It was only when Xiang Kang finished summarizing the information and put down the bamboo slips to make calculations that Chen Ping spoke again, and said to Xiang Kang with some hesitation: "General You, there is one more thing, because there is no way to prove it, I didn't write it on the slips. , According to the account of Qi Ben and the officials we captured, it seems that Xiong Xin, the king of our state of Chu, issued a decree, saying that whoever can lead the army into Guanzhong first among the rebels against Qin will be crowned as the king of Guanzhong."

"The one who enters Guanzhong first is the king?!" Xiang Kang's heart trembled, he quickly raised his head and asked, "Where did the assistant hear the news?"

"He heard from the envoy who contacted the Qin army and Qi Ben." Chen Ping replied: "Qi Ben led the army south this time, because it was difficult to collect food and grass along the way, he ran out of food when he arrived in Yingyin and was forced to move to Yang. Zhai wasted a lot of time on food. Later, Wang Li sent someone to urge Qi Ben to go south quickly. He came out to entertain Wang Li's envoy on Qi Ben's behalf. He heard it during the conversation. But according to his account, Wang Li The emissary also heard it from hearsay, so I can’t confirm whether it’s true or not.”

"If that's the case, I'm afraid my elder brother will be jealous of me." Xiang Kang said with a cold snort.

Chen Ping didn't dare to provoke the relationship between Xiang Kang and Xiang Yu, so he kept his mouth shut and didn't answer the quarrel. After thinking about it for a while, Xiang Kang quickly made up his mind and said, "The Tyrant Qin army has been defeated. Supply is also difficult, Qi Ben's defeated soldiers will definitely not dare to stay in Kunyang to die, we don't need to waste time, let our soldiers rest for two days, and then immediately withdraw to Wancheng."

As Xiang Kang expected, on the second day, news came from Kunyang, saying that Qin General Qi Ben had led the remnants of the defeated general and continued to retreat northward, fleeing to the hinterland of Yingchuan, Xiang Kang did not delay any longer , After explaining that Ren Kai was guarding Ye County, he quickly went south with the main force lightly, and returned to Wancheng to continue commanding the overall situation.

He had just returned to Wancheng, and soon there was new good news. Uncle Zhou, who went west to crusade against Danshui, not only took down the city easily, but also successfully persuaded another anti-Qin Yishi Wangling Division in Nanyang, who was active in Danshui, to Accepted the incorporation of the Young Marshal Army, and at the same time, except for Xixian County, all the remaining Nanyang counties also sent their surrender forms.Xiang Kang was overjoyed when he heard the news. In addition to ordering Uncle Zhou to move his troops to attack Xi County, he immediately started preparing for the westward expedition to Wuguan.

During this period, Xiang Kang also summoned Zhang Liang alone, gave Zhang Liang the information he had collected on the Ye County battlefield, and asked Zhang Liang for his opinion on his own army's marching into Wuguan. Zhang Han and Wang Li did not belong to each other, and each formed an army. Zhang Liang immediately said: "General You, the time is ripe for you to enter Wuguan. Let alone the fact that the Tyrant Qin army has been divided and chaotic, Zhang Han may be attacked at any time. In the event of a disastrous defeat, even if you enter Wuguan at this time, and the Tyrant Qin court dispatches Wang Li's Tyrant Qin army to return to Guanzhong for rescue, Zhang Han will be defeated immediately. It is difficult to care about the beginning and the end, and it is also certain to lose."

Seeing that Zhang Liang, who is good at strategy, also believed that the time was ripe to enter Wuguan, Xiang Kang of course did not hesitate any longer, and immediately began to mobilize the army, and formally made public the strategic plan of the young commander's army preparing to enter Wuguan from Wuguan to Guanzhong. Prepared mentally, made all kinds of promises to boost morale, and met the habits of the people of this era, carefully selected an auspicious day, and decided to send troops westward on the 25th day of the first lunar month, formally marching troops to Wuguan.

The plan did not change quickly. At noon on the 23rd day of the first lunar month, the little girl Qi Min suddenly ran up to Xiang Kang. She first asked Xiang Kang about his plan to leave the day after tomorrow. After getting an accurate answer from Xiang Kang, the little girl mustered up her courage again. , blushing and asked to go out with Xiang Kang.Xiang Kang was moved by her shy appearance, first he winked to let the soldiers in the tent go out, then he pulled the little girl Qi Min into his arms very skillfully, took advantage of her with ease, and smiled lewdly Asked: "Why do you have to go to Guanzhong with me? Are you reluctant to part with me and want to be by my side at any time?"

Trying to hold Xiang Kang's claws swimming in his underwear, Qi Min's face was already red to the base of his neck, but his mouth was very strong, and he said angrily: "Who can't bear you? He has never been to Guanzhong, and he wants to go." Take a look at the scenery there."

"Forget it." Xiang Kang smiled even more lewdly, and said: "If you say you don't want me, I can take you with me. If you just want to go to Guanzhong to see the scenery, then you should wait in Wancheng Well, after I break into Guanzhong, I will let you Aunt send someone to take you to Guanzhong to see the scenery."

"Then I'm not going."

Qi Min struggled, got up a little angry and wanted to leave, but Xiang Kang hugged her extremely tightly. Not only did Qi Min struggle all the time, but he was touched and kissed by Xiang Kang again, taking advantage of countless times. When the body was slowly weakening, the voice of the captain Xu Ji suddenly came from outside the tent, "General You, Captain Ren Kairen sent someone from Ye County to send a messenger from the former general, saying that he brought the There is a letter from the former general, which I want to present to you in person."

"Finally remembered to take the initiative to contact me." Xiang Kang snorted coldly, and said casually, "Bring him here."

Xu Ji outside the tent agreed, but when he was about to deliver the order, Xiang Kang suddenly felt agitated and hurriedly shouted: "Wait! Go and tell the former general's messenger, saying that I have gone to the city. I don't know when I will come back. Tell him Wait at the guest tent. Also, immediately go and invite Mr. Chen Ping, the lieutenant of the guard."

(End of this chapter)