Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 231 Prepare with both hands
Does Xiang Kang want to become the king of Guanzhong and monopolize the fertile soil of Guanzhong?
It must be a lie to say that I don’t want to. For Xiang Kang himself, to reward the accomplices who go through life and death, and to fulfill his promise to his beautiful sister-in-law, in fact, from the moment he successfully forced Ziying to surrender, Xiang Kang was already thinking about how to Change history, try to get the overlord cousin to recognize his Guanzhong throne, and peacefully resolve the issue of the ownership of the Guanzhong land.

If you want to do this, it is undoubtedly the best way to tie Xiang Yu's hands and feet with siblings. Therefore, Xiang Kang has long been mentally prepared to let Xiang Yu's army enter the pass, and he has made up his mind a long time ago. Decided to take the initiative to hand over the Nanyang land and most of the treasures in the Qin Ting treasury, and honestly said good things, in exchange for Xiang Yu admitting that he occupied Guanzhong, Bashu-the disparity in strength is too great, Xiang Kang dare not dream that he can use force to block the anti-Qin coalition forces Outside the Hangu Pass, they monopolize all the interests of Qin.

It is a pity that after forcing Ziying to lead the officials of the Qin court to surrender, because of the blocked roads, the cities and local armies in Guanzhong did not surrender immediately. Xiang Kang had no time to send someone to contact Xiang Yu and tell Xiang Yu that he was willing to make peace with him. To solve the Guanzhong issue, we can only devote all our energy to internal affairs first. We are so busy that we don't even have time to take care of the important military affairs that the Hangu Pass guards have not responded to for several days, let alone take care of them.

But fortunately, the prefectures and counties implemented by the Great Qin Empire helped Xiang Kang to annex Guanzhong. There were no military nobles from the six countries to lead private troops to make trouble, and there was no fiefdom lord to separate one side. They formed their own system to fight against the central government. Ziying's surrender edict was issued. Afterwards, local officials from all over Guanzhong took the initiative to send surrender forms one after another, changed the banner to the Chu flag, and swore to accept Xiang Kang's command. No city refused to surrender, and no army resisted by force. Today, the Eight Hundred Li Guanzhong Plain has basically become the world of the Young Marshal Army.

The fact that the recruiting and surrender work went so smoothly is of course a lot to do with the benevolent policy of the Young Marshal Army. After entering Xianyang, the greedy and lustful Xiang Kang restrained his desires and set an example. He never lived in any palace city. , and never bullied any woman. At the same time, soldiers are strictly restrained, looting, rape, and indiscriminate killing of innocent people are strictly prohibited. Stabilize the post-war order.

Although these political methods of Xiang Kang are unremarkable, they are just right for the appetite of the soldiers and civilians in Guanzhong. Qin destroyed the six countries, and the Qin people had deep hatred with the six countries outside the Guan. Taking the opportunity to retaliate, seeing that Xiang Kang treated the old people of Qin so hypocritically, the Qin people in Guanzhong were of course very grateful. Apart from willingly accepting the rule of the Young Marshal Army, after the situation stabilized a little, there was no need for Xiang Kang or the officials of the Young Marshal Army to send a message. It hints that the people in Guanzhong have spontaneously organized one after another, electing famous elders as representatives, bringing pigs, sheep, wine and food to reward the young marshal army, and despite Xiang Kang and the young marshal's repeated refusals, they insisted on begging Xiang Kang Kang and the young marshal accepted it.

No matter how much you persist, Xiang Kang, who is anxious to win the hearts of the people, still refuses to take advantage of such a small advantage, and continues to express his generosity, saying that there is a lot of food in the warehouses in various places in Guanzhong, and there is no shortage of food in the army. The folks spent money, not only insisting that the representatives of the people take back the supplies to reward the army, but also paid for it themselves, and in turn entertained the representatives of the people with wine and meat.

Seeing Xiang Kang's generosity and love for the people, the more than a dozen representatives of the people who were elected by the public were naturally overjoyed, and they all took the initiative to say: "General You, I heard that the king of your Chu State issued an order that the first to enter the pass will be the king. , now you are not only the first to lead the army into Guanzhong, but also directly forced the Xianyang court to surrender. I also ask you to become the king in Guanzhong in the future, and protect us in Guanzhong. Your decree, generation after generation will support you as your great king."

Not yet confident that he can monopolize the fertile land in Guanzhong, Xiang Kang actually didn't really want to mention this topic, but now that the representatives of the people in Guanzhong have brought up this matter on their own initiative, Xiang Kang can't help but give them an explanation, saying: "My elders! Don't worry, although I have never coveted the throne of Guanzhong, but since the king of Chu, the leader of the Six Kingdoms, has issued an order, and the elders of Guanzhong, Sangzi, also hope that I can become king, then I will never let you down. Regarding the throne of Guanzhong, I will I will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation as soon as possible, and I will definitely not let you down."

I was afraid from the bottom of my heart that the six countries outside the customs would take the opportunity to retaliate. Seeing that the hypocritical Xiang Kang made such a promise, more than a dozen representatives of the people were very excited, and hurriedly saluted Xiang Kang to thank him. As soon as they got together, they consoled with hypocritical good words, and kept making all kinds of good promises, promising that they would treat the people of Guanzhong well in the future.

At this time, Chen Ping suddenly came to the side with an urgent official document with chicken feathers on it, and gave Xiang Kang a few winks with an anxious expression. Zhou Zeng, who is good at civil affairs, found an excuse to leave temporarily, led Chen Ping to a secluded place far away, and asked in a low voice, "What's going on? In such a hurry?"

"Ningqin emergency report, Liu Ji, the general under the command of the former general, broke through the Hangu Pass that had already surrendered." Chen Ping answered directly, and while handing over the urgent military report he had just received to Xiang Kang, he said quickly: "After breaking the city, Liu Ji slaughtered all the soldiers in the pass. Only more than 20 defenders in Hangu Pass escaped back to Ningqin to warn the police."

"How is it possible?!" Xiang Kang was taken aback, "How could Liu Ji come so fast? How could he be so ruthless?"

Of course, Chen Ping couldn't answer Xiang Kang's question without being there in person. Xiang Kang could only quickly open the military report sent by the Ningqin garrison on a fast horse. The news that came back reported the general process of the fall of Hangu Pass, saying that the Qin army at Hangu Pass changed to fight the Chu flag at the last moment, but Liu Laosan did not give any excuses, forcibly attacked the city by force, and then slaughtered it brutally.As for why Liu Laosan attacked the friendly army, the method was so cruel. The main force of the anti-Qin coalition army went there, but the defeated soldiers at Hangu Pass knew nothing about it.

"Immediately arrange an envoy to go to Hangu Pass to contact Liu Ji, and ask him why he did this? Send more agents to the east of Hangu Pass, and let me find out the current situation of the main force of the Six Kingdoms as soon as possible. Also, issue a ban , What happened at Hangu Pass is not allowed to be announced to the outside world, and how long it can be kept from the people.”

This is a contingency decision made by Xiang Kang, and it is also the only contingency decision Xiang Kang can make at present. The opponent of the Young Marshal's Army, but Qin Ting surrendered to his current position for more than ten days. The morale of the army and the people in Guanzhong has not had time to completely stabilize.Moreover, Xiang Kang knew very well that if he took extreme measures against Liu Laosan, he would definitely only give the anti-Qin coalition forces an excuse to take the opportunity to fight against the young marshal.

At the secret meeting held that night, several important civil and military members of the Young Marshal Army also unanimously agreed with Xiang Kang's decision, but for the sake of caution, Uncle Zhou still suggested that Xiang Kang immediately lead the main force of the Young Marshal Army to move to Hongmen to guard against the anti-Qin coalition forces Directly send troops to raid Xianyang, and at the same time go to various cities west of Linghangu Pass, and order the local Qin army to prepare to defend the city.Xiang Kang nodded in agreement, and the next day, under the pretext of avoiding the army disturbing the people as much as possible, he moved the main force of the young marshal to Hongmen Heights on the bank of Yushui, in order to build a defense line for Yushui to resist attacks from outside the pass.

In addition, Xiang Kang adopted Zhou Zeng's suggestion, and at the same time sent two messengers to the outside of the pass to contact Xiang Yu and Xiong Xin respectively, to inform them of what happened in Guanzhong and Hangu Pass, and asked them to come forward to stop Liu Laosan from continuing to attack. Go west to avoid further expansion of the conflict, and at the same time express the victim's position of the Young Marshal Army.

It's still okay, although Liu Laosan cheated Xiang Kang unceremoniously, but in order not to make Xiang Kang completely anxious, he led the main force of the young marshal to launch a counterattack immediately, Liu Laosan still came forward to meet Xiang Kang in person The envoy he contacted insisted that it was Wang Muli, the guard of Hangu Pass, who declared that Xiang Kang had become king in Guanzhong, and blocked his army from entering the pass by force. , and was very angry at Xiang Kang's act of claiming the king without authorization, which led to the attack and massacre of the city. He shamelessly pushed all the responsibility for Huo Bing to Wang Muli, the Qin army who had already died in Hangu Pass.The envoy of the Young Marshal Army was shocked, so he could only return to Hongmen in a hurry and report the situation to Xiang Kang face to face.

Unable to know the truth, Xiang Kang was of course taken aback after hearing the messenger's report, and at one point suspected that the culprit of the incident was Wang Muli, a general of the Qin Army. Provoking conflicts between us and the coalition of princes, wanting to use the coalition of princes to avenge our destruction of Qin?"

Considering that there are indeed some diehards in the Qin army, Zhou Zeng, Zhou Shu, Li Shiqi and others inevitably have such doubts, but Chen Ping is very calm, and after thinking for a while, he said: "General You, Wang Muli should be wronged. Yes, the report of the soldiers who escaped from Hangu Pass is very clear, Liu Ji's army captured Hangu Pass by surprise attack while the gate was closed and wide open."

"If Wang Muli deliberately provoked conflicts between us and our allies, and used the hands of troops outside the pass to avenge the Tyrant Qin court, he would definitely not be so negligent and let Liu Ji easily succeed in a sneak attack. The conflict is further expanded, and the situation is completely out of control, so the effect will be the best. But Wang Muli did not do this, and he was so careless that he didn't even pay attention to closing the door, allowing Liu Ji's army to approach and attack. It is enough to show that Wang Muli is not deliberately sowing dissension, luring Liu Ji to fight with him."

After careful consideration for a while, and finding that Chen Ping's words were very reasonable, Xiang Kang thought about it for a second, and his expression changed immediately, and he said, "Could it be that Liu Ji lied and intentionally slandered Wang Muli to cause the fire? In fact, he Are you sowing dissension, wanting to create an excuse, so that my elder brother has an excuse to start a war against me, and enter the pass by force?"

"General You, the truth of the matter might be like this." Chen Ping said in a deep voice, "Liu Ji must be very clear that Xiang Yu, your brother's former general, would never want to see us monopolize Guanzhong, but he is bound by brotherhood and family. It’s an excuse to start a war, so I deliberately slandered Wang Muli to start the fire, and let your elder brother take the Guanzhong division by force to be famous!”

Considering that Liu Laosan is as noble as himself, Xiang Kang certainly dare not rule out this possibility, especially now that Xiang Kang does not know where the main force of the coalition of princes is and what situation it is in, of course Xiang Kang has to be on guard against himself The overlord cousin pushed the boat along the way and used this as an excuse to start a war against himself.So after careful consideration for a while, Xiang Kang couldn't help but said worriedly: "If this is the case, then we will be in big trouble. My brother's temper is already irritable, and after listening to Liu Ji's inversion of black and white, it is very likely that he will be in trouble." They will not listen to any of our explanations, and directly turn against us and start a war."

"General You, if the former general is behind this incident, then it's not very likely." Li Shiqi said grimly, "It's affirmative!"

Xiang Kang couldn't believe that his simple-minded overlord brother could be so sinister and vicious, but considering the incident at the time, Xiang Yu deliberately refused to give himself the opportunity to capture and kill Zhang Han because of his position as a general. There is also Master Xiang Bo, Xiang Yu who hates him to the bone, and Xiang Kang, who does not have the perspective of God, still dare not rule out this possibility.So after thinking for a long time with a gloomy face, Xiang Kang could only ask: "If this is really the case, what should we do?"

Chen Ping, Zhou Zeng, Li Shiqi and others racked their brains together, and after talking in a low voice for a few more words, Chen Ping came forward and replied: "General You, at this point in the matter, we can only prepare for it with both hands at the same time." Of course, the first is to prepare for the battle quickly and prepare to defend Guanzhong. The second is to push the boat along the way and put all the responsibility on the dead general of Hangu Pass, Wang Muli, and use this as an excuse to negotiate with the former general and sacrifice some land For the benefit of the city and the treasure, strive to make this big event into a small one, and make it small."

"How to push the boat smoothly? How to contact and negotiate?" Xiang Kang asked calmly.

"We can find out the documents that Wang Muli had previously communicated with the Tyrant Qin court, imitate his handwriting, and forge a letter he wrote to Ziying." Chen Ping said: "Tell Ziying in Wang Muli's tone in the letter, just say Not reconciled to Qin being destroyed by us, we are determined to take advantage of his opportunity to guard Hangu Pass, deliberately claiming that you, General You, have become king in Guanzhong, and using your banner to block the troops of the Six Nations from entering Guanzhong by force, so as to provoke the Six Kingdoms The army is fighting among themselves, and is ready to sacrifice his life for this. Ziying, please prepare early, restore the Qin State as soon as possible, and lead the Tyrant Qin army in Guanzhong to go south to Bashu to rebuild the Tyrant Qin court."

"Then we handed over this letter to the former general, saying that our guards monitoring Ziying captured Wang Muli's messenger sent from Hangu Pass back to Xianyang, and found it on the body of Wang Muli's messenger." Chen Ping continued. : "In this way, we don't have to bear any responsibility for the Hangu Pass fire annihilation, and we can also take the opportunity to bargain with the former general, sacrifice part of the city land under our control, in exchange for the former general not to pursue it, and resolve the matter peacefully."

Xiang Kang made quick calculations, and quickly said: "Although the method is feasible, I'm afraid that my elder brother will not only want a little land in the city, but also become greedy for the whole Guanzhong."

"General You, if the former general really wants the entire Guanzhong, we may have to admit it." Chen Ping said helplessly: "After all, we have absolutely no chance of winning if we turn against the former general now. It’s also a well-known teacher, if we can’t satisfy his appetite, he can absolutely insist that we are wrong about Hangu Pass, and use this as an excuse to forcibly take down the entire pass.”

Xiang Kang was even more helpless than Chen Ping. After a long time, Xiang Kang said dejectedly: "We can only try our best. As much land in the city can be saved as much as possible."

"General You, let me go." Li Shiqi once again volunteered, saying, "Even if I risk my old life, I will definitely persuade the former general to give up attacking Guanzhong by force, and try to save as much land as possible for you. "

Xiang Kang also knew Li Shiqi's eloquence very well, so he nodded in agreement immediately, and decided to let Li Shiqi bring more rare treasures out of the customs, to persuade Xiang Yu not to kill his brother for the control of Guanzhong, and let Li Shiqi Shi Qi secretly bought Xiang Yu's cronies, and tried to get the sycophants around Xiang Yu to say more good things for him.Chen Ping also tried his best to help, and took the initiative to explain to Xiang Yu who had a secret relationship with him before, and arranged for people to help Li Shiqi attack these people, and bribed them to help speak.

Before the matter was over, Xiang Kang suddenly remembered a very important question, and hurriedly sent someone to invite Zhang Liang to come over to meet him, and then said to Li Shiqi: "Old Mr. Li, it's not enough for you to go alone. , must ask Mr. Zifang to go with you, and let him face my third uncle Xiang Bo for you, otherwise, my third uncle who stirs shit will definitely do everything possible to ruin our big event."

When I was in Pengcheng, I talked to Uncle Xiang and knew how difficult and unreasonable Master Xiang was and how much he hated Xiang Kang. Of course, Li Shiqi did not refuse Xiang Kang's arrangement.Then after a while, Zhang Liang, who had settled his suspicions with Xiang Kang, was invited to the tent. Xiang Kang treated him with courtesy, and first told Zhang Liang the ins and outs of the matter carefully, and even prepared to forge Wang Muli's letter. He didn't hide anything, and begged Zhang Liang and Li Shiqi to go out together to help him resolve the crisis. He was responsible for persuading Uncle Xiang not to be a hindrance, and promised to help South Korea restore the country as soon as possible after the matter was completed.

After carefully listening to Xiang Kang's entreaty, Zhang Liang quickly replied: "General You, the foreign minister can go for you, but the foreign minister has something to say beforehand. I'm afraid you will have to sacrifice the entire Guanzhong this time. Because your elder brother , will definitely not be satisfied with only a part of the Guanzhong city land, and will definitely take the opportunity to annex the entire Guanzhong, as well as the Guanzhong throne."

Xiang Kang smiled wryly, and replied decisively: "As long as it can prevent my brother and I from fighting each other, how much city land will be given to my brother, Mr. Zifang and Mr. Li, you have the final say, as long as you can give me a little foothold just land!"

Zhang Liang nodded, and said worriedly in his heart: "I'm afraid that your elder brother doesn't want to leave you a foothold. With a younger brother like you who is good at fighting and buying people's hearts, which brother dares to let you rest assured?" Commanding an army alone, raising tigers?"

Of course, Xiang Kang also has such worries, so Xiang Kang has also made psychological preparations early on, planning to really turn against his overbearing cousin and fight against his overbearing cousin when Xiang Yu's conditions are too harsh, and resolve Guanzhong and the ownership of the Guanzhong throne by force question.

Overlord Cousin is very strong, but fighting not only depends on force, but also on brains.The anti-Qin coalition army is very powerful, but the composition of the anti-Qin coalition army is very complicated. They only cooperate with each other for the common benefit of destroying Qin. They are definitely not monolithic. If Xiang Kang wants to, he can think of a hundred ways at any time Sowing dissension caused Xiang Yu's anti-Qin coalition forces to fall apart, and even turned against each other.On this point, Xiang Kang has absolute confidence!
(End of this chapter)