Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 254
Although the allied forces of the princes were disbanded, the fighting around the area controlled by the young commander's army did not stop. The princes and kings whose fiefdoms were directly controlled by the young commander's army or who were controlled by their reputation also came aggressively, trying to use the young commander's army to gain a foothold in Guanzhong. With an opportunity beyond their reach, they took away by force the land and city that Xiang Yu had entrusted to them.

On the night when he returned to Hongmen Camp, Xiang Kang received an urgent military report related to this. Han Cheng, the king of Han, who had bid farewell to Xiang Kang and returned to Yingchuan from Nanyang, sent an urgent report from Kunyang, saying that he was killed by Xiang Yu. The three generals Liu Laosan, Yingbu and Chaiwu, who were canonized as princes and kings, joined forces all the way, via Yangcheng, Yangzhai and Yingyang, and headed towards Nanyang County, which had already surrendered to the Marshal's army. The total strength was as many as 4 Among the others, Han Cheng, who had only a few thousand soldiers, was not an opponent at all, so he could only ask Xiang Kang for help.

If the distance is not too far, the main force of the Young Commander's Army cannot easily leave the Guanzhong Plain, but Xiang Kang will not hesitate to lead the troops to reinforce Han Cheng, and then use his own tricks of alienation to clean up the three kings' allied forces with their own ghosts. Desperate, orgasm, and then eat them alive until not a single bone remains.But there is no way, given the objective conditions here, Xiang Kang can only hastily summon Chen Ping, Zhang Liang, Zhou Zeng and others to discuss how to deal with the three-king coalition strategy.

It was also a coincidence that when the meeting was about to start, Uncle Zhou, who was most trusted by Xiang Kang in military affairs, also led a team of cavalry back to Hongmen camp from the Yellow River defense line, and was going to attend Xiang Kang's enthronement ceremony. Invite Uncle Zhou into the account, and let him participate in the discussion of the Southern Front strategy of the Young Marshal Army while eating.

After the meeting started, the first person to speak was Zhang Liang, who still held the official title of situ in South Korea, and said directly: "General You, the foreign minister knows that you can't spare us to reinforce our King of Han, and the foreign minister does not dare to force you. If General You needs it, the foreign ministers can immediately write a letter to reply to our King Han, asking him to withdraw to Guanzhong to regroup and send troops to restore the country when the time is right."

"Thank you, Mr. Zifang, for understanding my difficulties." Xiang Kang nodded, and said more directly: "Yes, I can't spare to reinforce your king now, so I can only ask the king of Han to retreat for a while and give me some time to deal with the internal affairs. Problems and the expansion of the army, and then we can have the power to help your country recover."

"General You, what about Nanyang County?" Zhou Zeng asked: "Nanyang County is a large county, rich and prosperous, with a large population, and has not been greatly damaged by the war. It would be a pity if we just give up like this. If Liu Ji, who has already made a death feud with us, occupies it, he can threaten our Wuguan at any time, making us unsafe day and night?"

"This is exactly what I am most hesitant about." Xiang Kang replied with a frown: "It stands to reason that in order to buy time, our best choice should be to not care about the gains and losses of a city or a place, and take the initiative to give up Nanyang and retreat to Guanzhong , but it would be a pity to give up Nanyang like this, it is really difficult to choose, I wonder if you have any good opinions."

Both Chen Ping and Zhang Liang hesitated and didn't know how to answer, but Uncle Zhou, who was eating, stopped his chopsticks and said, "You General, just like what you said, the way to use troops must not be too concerned about the gains and losses of a city or a place. It's a pity to give up Nanyang, but we don't have enough time to rescue Nanyang right now. The most important thing is to buy time. Temporarily sacrificing a county in exchange for our time to gain a foothold in Guanzhong is definitely worth it. So the general thinks, We'd better make up our minds as soon as possible and make preparations to temporarily abandon Nanyang County."

Although it is very clear that what Uncle Zhou said is right, Nanyang is a prosperous and prosperous county after all, no matter how generous Xiang Kang is, it is difficult to make this decision in a short time.Zhang Liang saw Xiang Kang's intentions, so he also said, "General You, it's really a pity to give up Nanyang like this, but the situation forces us to make a concession when it's time for a long-term plan, and we'd better choose to make a concession rationally. "

"Don't worry, General You, the last general is not advising you to just give up Nanyang and hand over an intact Nanyang County to the enemy." Uncle Zhou said, "Nanyang has to be given up, but we can't just give up, we must dispatch as soon as possible." All the way to the south to reinforce Nanyang, to help the defenders of Nanyang resist the bandits outside the pass, try to slow down the speed of the bandits outside the pass, and also completely smash Nanyang, so that even if the bandits outside the pass can get Nanyang, they can only get a dilapidated Nanyang County, so that the thieves outside the pass will not pose too much threat to our southern line."

"General Uncle Zhou is right." Chen Ping took over the conversation and said, "If we really want to give up Nanyang, we must first destroy Nanyang completely, because the two thieves, Yingbu and Chaiwu, want to give up Nanyang. To enter Nanjun and Hanzhong, you must rely on Nanyang as a springboard to enter the army. Only when Nanyang is completely smashed, so that they have no food, grass and military supplies, they will not be able to successfully take down Nanjun, let alone pose a greater threat to our Hanzhong Bashu. .”

After finishing speaking, Chen Ping added another sentence, saying: "Moreover, there is another advantage of completely smashing Nanyang, that is, it can make Yingbu, Chaiwu, and Liu Ji three bandits have disputes and conflicts over the remaining food, grass and military supplies, which is convenient for us. The next step is to sow dissension, completely dismantle the three bandit armies, and reduce our main counterattack force in the future."

Really unable to save Nanyang with all his strength, Xiang Kang had no choice but to think about it for a long time, and finally made an extremely difficult decision, saying: "Immediately send orders to the counties in Nanyang south of Wancheng, and let the local The county magistrate opened the county treasury, distributed all the money and food to the local people, and led the garrison northward to retreat to Guanzhong. Then he told the county magistrates that Wang Jianguo was imminent, and that the government urgently needed to replenish competent officials, as long as it was done according to the order , When I come to Guanzhong, I will definitely reuse it.”

"A clever plan!" Chen Ping applauded, and said: "Distributing the unsustainable county town grain to the local people can not only buy people's hearts, but also make the bandit army go south without food. Those officials who have been withdrawn have proved their loyalty to you, General You, and they can just be used to replace Xianyang officials and supplement our reliable manpower for governing the country."

"General You is doing more than killing two birds with one stone." Zhang Liang also said grimly: "Without the county magistrate in charge of the overall situation, the southern part of Nanyang will definitely be in chaos. If we don't need to fight with the bandits, there will naturally be ambitious rats jumping around. Come out and occupy the mountain as king, stir up chaos in the southern part of Nanyang, and let the bandit army take over the mess."

Zhang Liang's words reminded Xiang Kang, and Xiang Kang immediately said: "You can't just give up the people of Nanyang south of Wancheng, otherwise, after the chaos in the south of Nanyang, the local people will definitely resent us for ignoring them and change the situation." In order to support Liu Ji, we have to add an order to those county magistrates, asking them to clearly tell the local people that the bandit army is powerful, and we have no choice but to retreat temporarily, so that the local people are willing to follow us Some of them also went north and returned to Guanzhong, and they really couldn’t go. After we liberate Nanyang in the future, we will give the whole county of Nanyang a tax exemption for three years as compensation for them.”

Zhang Liang and Chen Ping nodded in agreement, and Zhou Zeng asked again: "General You, what about Wancheng and the counties to the north of Wancheng?"

"Send Zhong Limei to lead the army to reinforce Lu Ji and Qi Ji, and help Lu Ji and Qi Ji resist city by city." Xiang Kang said: "The city that can be defended should be defended with all its strength, but it cannot be defended. , also distributed all the food to the local people first, and then gave up the city. In addition, the prefect of Nanyang, Lu Wei, was appointed as a court officer, and Qi Ji was appointed as a Zhongwei, and they were asked to recruit troops in Nanyang with all their strength. Bring me back to Guanzhong if possible.”

Zhou Zeng and Chen Ping agreed again, and after Xiang Kang had nothing to add, they hurriedly drafted an order and issued orders to officials from all over Nanyang and Lu Yu, asking them to follow the order immediately.Xiang Kang also turned to Uncle Zhou who was still eating, and said: "General Uncle Zhou, I asked you to leave the army on the front line of the Yellow River and come back alone to participate in my enthronement ceremony. I think you should be very clear about what it means? "

"If the last general guessed correctly." Uncle Zhou replied with a smile: "The right general is planning to defend on the southern front and attack on the northern front. Let the last general deal with Dong Yi, who was named King Zhai by the former general, for you." ?”

"Half guessed right." Xiang Kang replied with a smile: "Dong Yi is going to deal with it, but according to my estimation, unless Zhang Han and Sima Xin successfully take over the Taiyuan and Dai Commanderies that my elder brother granted them, for him Provide food and grass as a backup, otherwise he will never dare to march into Shangjun alone. On the contrary, Wei Bao, who was sealed by my elder brother in the Shangdang in Hedong, had to guard against it."

"General You wants me to march into Hedong and drive out Wei Bao?" Uncle Zhou's heart trembled.

Xiang Kang nodded and said: "Hedong is very important to us. If we take Hedong, we can not only gain the benefits of the salt pond, solve the problem of salt use in Guanzhong, but also cut off the backup of Zhang Han and Dong Yi, who tyrannized the Qin Dynasty. Let them have no way to successfully take down Taiyuan and Daijun, which are currently controlled by Zhao Guo, so that the danger on our northern front can be resolved without fighting."

Uncle Zhou was silent, and then he said after a long while: "The last general received the kindness of the right general. Even if he was smashed to pieces, it would be difficult to repay him. Since the right general ordered the late general to send troops to expel the old master, the final general did not dare to refuse, but Hedong was originally Wei. The old land, the last general will send troops to the east of the river to expel Wei Bao who inherited the land of the old country, there must be a well-known excuse for the division."

"I will give you an excuse." Xiang Kang replied immediately: "After I become king, I will send an order to Wei Bao as soon as possible, asking him to conclude an alliance with me and send troops to attack Zhang Han, Dong Yi and Sima who betrayed their homeland. Xin San Thief, if he doesn’t listen, we can use this excuse to send troops to expel and attack him, you just need to refine your soldiers in Puban, let the army form combat power as soon as possible, and then send troops according to the order.”

Seeing that Xiang Kang made up his mind to fight Wei Bao, Uncle Zhou didn't say anything more, but immediately embraced his orders, and Xiang Kang didn't say anything more, just smiled and said: "After talking for a long time, I'm hungry again. Starting tomorrow, I will fast for five days, so I might as well have another meal, serve wine and food, and let us clean up the dust for General Zhou."

Xiang Kang did not forget the little girl Qi Min who fell in love with him at first sight. After drinking and eating, Xiang Kang personally wrote a letter to his future father-in-law, Qi Ji, in which he formally asked Qi Ji to take Qi Min as a child. The girl married herself as a concubine, and hinted that she would further promote and reuse Qi Ji in the future, and asked Qi Ji to send Qi Min to Guanzhong to reunite with her as soon as possible, and issued an order to Lu Wei, Qi Ji and others to ensure that The little girl Qi Min was able to return to her side.

In the early morning of the next day, Xiang Kang called Zhong Limei, the wise and brave young general, and ordered him to lead [-] troops to the south to reinforce Nanyang. He secretly told him to destroy the northern part of Nanyang as much as possible. It is necessary to bring the Nanyang army back to Guanzhong as much as possible, while ensuring the safety of Wuguan.Zhong Limo also knew that this was a test given to him by Xiang Kang, and wanted to exercise his ability to be independent, so he accepted the order without hesitation, and set off southward with reinforcements that day, and rushed to Nanyang for reinforcements day and night.

After fasting for five days, Xiang Kang finally held the enthronement ceremony on the banks of the Weishui River, formally established the Han Dynasty and proclaimed himself King of Han, and stayed in Xianyang Palace. The Young Marshal's Army with the khaki-colored flag of the Chu State was also officially renamed the Han State Army, or the Han Army for short.Zhou Zeng was made Prime Minister of the State, Chao Zhi was made a lieutenant, Chen Ping was made a captain of the guard army, and other civil and military officials were also rewarded.

Xiang Kang, who is officially called the queen, is even busier. In addition to dealing with a mountain of business affairs every day, he has to spare himself to participate in the development and experimentation of new weapons and advanced agricultural tools, and build an iron smelting factory that is far larger than that of a low-level man. Before Qin Ting also attached great importance to the development of science and technology. There were thousands of skilled craftsmen in Xianyang.Zhou Zeng was also very good at managing internal affairs, and helped Xiang Kang share a lot of work pressure.

While he was busy with internal affairs, Xiang Kang certainly did not forget the surrounding wars, let alone Wen Wei Bao in the honor of King Han, asking Wei Bao to change his course and sign an alliance with himself to deal with Zhang Han, Dong Yi and Sima Xin who betrayed their fathers and folks in Guanzhong. As a result, when the letter of credence just arrived in the hands of Wei Bao in Anyi, Wei Bao, who was named King of the Western Wei Dynasty by Xiang Yu, was also caught in a dilemma.

Wei Bao must also be in a dilemma, because his army is too weak. Even if he took advantage of the opportunity of the coalition of princes and Zhang Han and Wang Li to fight in the old land of Wei State, the total army in his hand would be only For [-] people, the equipment is poor, and there is no shortage of weapons, food, grass, and military supplies. Not to mention the elite young commander who has just been renamed the Han Army, even the Zhao Guobian Division led by Shen Yang and Sima Ang can easily deal with him. ——The old land of the Wei State is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains. No matter which army passes by, they have to fish for it. They have been tossed to pieces for a long time. Wei Bao, who finally went to the old land of Wei to recruit troops and expand his army, of course can't get anything decent. oil and water.

It is very clear that if Xiang Kang is rejected, the Han army that has already stationed troops on the front line of the Yellow River may send troops to retaliate at any time. To be cautious, Wei Bao can only hastily call his cronies Bai Zhi and Feng Jing to discuss countermeasures with them.To Wei Bao's surprise, just as he explained the situation, Bai Zhi and Feng Jing said in unison: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Xiang Kang is surrounded by enemies and can't take care of himself. How can there be any spare power to send troops east of the river? We don't need to talk about it." Just reject his request directly."

"However, Uncle Zhou, a traitor of our Wei State, stationed troops on the west bank of the Yellow River, and we have not yet gained a firm foothold in Hedong. If we flatly refuse, what will happen to that traitor, Uncle Zhou, to immediately send troops to Hedong?" Wei Bao said worriedly.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty." Feng Jing said with a sneer, "The armies of Zhang Han, Sima Xin, and Dong Yi are still in the territory of Hedong, and they can go south to help Anyi at any time. Hanoi sent troops to reinforce our Western Wei Kingdom, Xiang Kang Xiaoer and Zhou Shupifu are a hundred courageous, and they would never dare to seek their own death and take the risk of sending troops to Hedong."

"I can't wait for Uncle Zhou, who can only talk and talk, to send troops to die." Wei Bao's most trusted general, Bai Zhi, was even more contemptuous, and said: "It's that little boy Xiang Kang who has no eyes and no eyes, and actually treats an incompetent person like Uncle Zhou. As a general, I also told him to station troops on the Yellow River to prevent us from sending troops to Guanzhong. If he dares to cross the river to die, he will never return to Guanzhong!"

Considering that he really has a lot of help, and that Xiang Kang, who is not stable in Guanzhong, has no spare power to send troops to Hedong immediately, after deliberation, Wei Bao decided to adopt the suggestions of two confidants, and immediately called Xiang Kang to present his credentials The envoy rejected Xiang Kang's request for an alliance face to face, and Wei Bao refused to listen to Xiang Kang's emissary's persuasive words. Xiang Kang's envoy had no choice but to leave with Wei Bao's reply.

The matter was not over yet, when Xiang Kang's envoy left Wei Bao's large tent of the Chinese army, he wanted to return to the guest tent immediately and take his entourage back to Guanzhong to return to his command, but unexpectedly, he ran into a luxuriously dressed man before he left the tent. A middle-aged woman, and a charming young girl dressed in fancy dress.Everyone knows the love of beauty, and Xiang Kang's envoy couldn't help but look at the mother and daughter for a few more times, and then it was okay if he didn't look at it. The mother and daughter couldn't help but said, "Wei Wei? Miss Bo? Why are you here?"

Unexpectedly, they would meet acquaintances. The mother and daughter Wei Wei, who had met Xiang Kang several times before, were taken aback for a while, and then when they looked carefully at Xiang Kang's envoy, Wei Wei also found some familiarity, so she said suspiciously: "Are you... ...?"

"In Xiayueyu, the former right general of Chu State is a guest of General Xiang." Xiang Kang's emissary, Yuelu, replied with a smile: "When you and Miss Bo were staying in our army for a while, you met with me. After a few days, I just don’t know if Wei Wei and Miss Bo can still remember.”

"I remembered." Wei Wei suddenly realized, and said, "That's right, we met several times under the tent of General Chu You."

"That's right." Yue Yan nodded, and then hurriedly asked: "Wei Wei, Miss Bo, why are you here?"

Still under Xiang Kang's envoy Yue Yan's questioning again, Wei Wei talked about the origins of her and her daughter in a rambling manner. The place where Wei Wei's mother and daughter live, Wei Wei showed her signboard as the daughter of the Wei Kingdom's clan daughter, cheekily begged Wei Bao to bring them into the army, and came to Anyi in Hedong. Today I have something to visit Wei Bao, Unexpectedly, I will run into Xiang Kang's staff here.

After roughly introducing her background, Wei Wei asked rather arrogantly: "Mr. Yue, how is General Xiang Kang's situation recently? Is he still the same as before, sleeping on a wooden shelf all day long, eating Bean Soup and Vegetable Rice?”

"Mother, how can you talk like that?" Bo Yuanzhi was coquettish, with a bit of complaint in his tone, and asked with concern: "Mr. Yue, is General You okay now?"

"Still as snobby as before." Yue Yan was made angry by Wei Yu, and said with a smile: "Miss Bo, don't worry, our right general is fine now, but you can't call him right general in the future, you have to respect him Your Majesty, our Right General has now declared himself King of Han in Guanzhong."

"Also." Yue Yan said to Wei Wei again: "Wei Wei has said that our king's clothing, food, housing and transportation are of course completely different from before. He lives in Xianyang Palace, bells ringing and dining, brocade robes and crowns, in and out of carriages and horses. Officials follow each other, how can it be compared with before? Even the subordinates have followed suit, and now they have been named Dianke Xingren (official name) of the Han Kingdom."

"Live in Xianyang Palace? Bells ringing and dining food?" Wei Wei was a little dumbfounded, and couldn't help asking: "How big is Xianyang Palace? Is it as big as the palace of our Kingdom of Wei?"

Yue Yan laughed straight away, and said, "Wei Wei was joking, the royal palace of the Wei Kingdom can also be compared with Xianyang Palace? No one in the world knows that the Xianyang Palace is three hundred miles away. Those are the current palaces of our King of Han. Also, in Beiban of Xianyang, there is another palace that is exactly the same as the palace of King Wei. "

Wei Wei opened her mouth wide, then blinked her eyes, and looked at the dilapidated Anyi City in the distance, which has been designated as the capital by Wei Bao, and then looked at the direction of Guanzhong far away, thoughtfully .But Yue Yan was too lazy to continue talking nonsense with her, he said his sins and left, while Wei Yu thought about it for a long time, then suddenly pulled Bao Yuanzhi up and walked back, saying: "Daughter, let's go back."

"Mother, you forcefully pulled your daughter here, why did you suddenly go back?" Bao Yuanzhi asked with a blushing face.

"Stupid daughter!" Wei Wei scolded in a low voice, and then whispered into Bo Yuanzhi's ear and said, "Mother brought you here because she wanted to offer you to our King Wei as a concubine, but now that Xiang Kang That silly boy is more developed, so why should mother waste your youth? Go, go back, mother will think about it carefully and see if there is any way to dedicate you to Xiang Kang, that silly boy. "

"Mother, what do you think of your daughter? Why do you dedicate it to this one and then to that?"

"Silly daughter, mother is doing it for your own good? I forgot that when we passed by Hanoi, my mother asked the god named Xu to tell your fortune. She said that your face can give birth to the emperor. Since your fate is so precious, of course mother took it You dedicated it to the man who is most likely to become the emperor, and after you get married, your mother can enjoy the blessings too, right?"

(End of this chapter)