Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 303
In the Battle of Aocang in Xingyang, Xiang Kang felt that he had just won miserably, but he did not know that his unlucky cousin Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, was already vomiting blood, so that after he fled to Puyang, Xiang Yu lay on the bed for a whole day He didn't eat, drink, or talk, and was in a daze on the roof. A soldier who kindly persuaded him to eat was kicked by him and seriously injured, almost dying.

I can't help Xiang Yu being so sad and angry. The [-] Western Chu cavalry lost in Xingyang and Aocang were [-]% elite soldiers of the Western Chu Army, and none of them were elite soldiers who had crawled out of the dead for countless times. Now, even if the Western Chu Army has fought ten battles, it is absolutely impossible to lose so many elite soldiers and powerful generals!
However, due to the shameless tricks and despicable tricks of the Han army, as well as the influence of weather and logistics, so many veterans who were the backbone of the army died in the Aocang battlefield in Xingyang in just a few days. Chu Jun had gained almost nothing. Such a tragic failure would be unacceptable to anyone, let alone Xiang Yu, who is notoriously hot-tempered!
I almost forgot, there are war horses. There is no horse production land in the Western Chu territory. The Western Chu army worked hard, relying on trade purchases and war captures. They finally managed to accumulate more than 3 cavalry, and lost half of them all at once. Too much is also a loss enough to make Xiang Yu vomit blood!
Because of this, apart from depression and despair, there was only one thought left in Xiang Yu's heart - revenge!No matter how much you pay, you must make up for the losses suffered in this big defeat!No matter how much you pay, you must kill the despicable villains like Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou, shameless bastards, and avenge your [-] elites!

"Give Cao Jiu, Gong Ao, and Ji Bu orders to go westward at a faster pace, and the sooner they come to meet up with this king, the better!" This was the first sentence Xiang Yu uttered after being in a daze all day. When he said this, Xiang Yu's knuckles were clenched white, and he even tore the pajamas (quilt) into pieces!

Fortunately, Xiang Yu was a little relieved that while waiting for the main force to join up, the good news suddenly came from the north bank of the Yellow River, saying that the Han army had fought against the allied Zhao army in Hanoi County, and the Zhao army was forced to abandon the previous battle. Taking advantage of the fire to rob Chaoge County, which was shamelessly seized, retreated to the east bank of the flood and confronted the Han army across the river.After hearing the good news, Li Zuoche, who fled eastward to Puyang along with Sima Ang, also rushed to congratulate Xiang Yu at the first time, and suggested that Xiang Yu send envoys to contact Zhao Guo again, and persuade Zhao Guo to abandon Han and return to Chu. , directly helping the Western Chu army to attack Xiang Kang.

"We'll talk about it when Cao Jiu and Yafu come." This was Xiang Yu's distraught answer, and he was very reluctant to send someone to contact Zhao Guo, who had already betrayed Western Chu twice. Let Zhao Guo feel that he is asking for them.

Li Zuoche refused to give up, and persuaded: "King of Western Chu, this opportunity is rare and should not be missed. Our detailed work has found accurate information. Cross the Great River (Yellow River) and fight Zhao's army in the flood, and the flood is very close to Baimajin. If we can persuade Zhao's army to pretend to withdraw westward temporarily and lure the Han bandit army to fight in the area of ​​Baimajin, then when our main force arrives, Immediately, we can cross the river and attack the Han bandit army, defeating the enemy is easy."

Xiang Yu was a little shaken, and said after a while: "Is there enough time? Zhao Xie is far away in Julu, and the distance is far away, so he may not immediately make up his mind to abandon Han and return to Chu. The winner has already been decided.”

"Your Majesty, you don't have to worry about this." Li Zuoche also had no choice but to go all the way to Heishi to support Xiang Yu, and said, "Your Majesty can send someone to Julu to contact Zhao Xie and persuade him to abandon Han. Gui Chu had a complete break with the Han traitors, and he sent someone directly to Chaoge to persuade Zhang Wei and Chen Ze to lead the Zhao army to lure the enemy to the east. He and Chen Ze will not consider accepting our proposal for their own benefit."

After thinking for a while, Xiang Yu reluctantly accepted Li Zuoche's suggestion, and selected two Western Chu officials from Puyang City on the spot, and asked them to go north to Julu with their letters to win over the capricious Zhao army, and one to go to court. Ge contacted Zhao Jun on the front line, persuaded Zhao Jun to act according to plan, and lured the Han army to come to Baimajin for a decisive battle.

The distance was not very far, and under the haste of the horse, the envoys of the Western Chu Army arrived in the area of ​​Chaoge in the afternoon of the next day, and got in touch with the generals of the Zhao Army, Zhang Wei and Chen Ze, who were confronting the Han Army across the flood, and submitted a Xiang Yu's letter shows that the Western Chu Army is actively contacting Zhao Xie and Zhang Er to seek a joint attack on Han, urging Zhang Wei and Chen Ze to lure the enemy to the east, and lure the Han army to the Baimajin battlefield to prepare for the upcoming Western Chu Army. The main force creates opportunities to break the enemy.

Just as Li Zuoche guessed, Zhang Wei and Chen Ze were indeed very tempted by the proposal of the Western Chu army, and secretly discussed: "We took advantage of the fire to rob and angered the Han thieves, and the Han thieves have turned against us and started a war with us. The choice between the king of Chu and the traitors of Han will never remain neutral. In this case, why don’t we accept the kindness of the Western Chu army and retreat to Baimajin to confront the Han traitors, and then the king decides to return to Chu, and we join forces with the Western Chu army To crusade against the Han thieves, if the king decides to make peace with the Han thieves, we will join hands with the Han thieves army to attack the white horse. Such a great opportunity to take the initiative is better than risking a confrontation with the Han thieves in the flood and taking the risk of victory or defeat alone."

Having made up their minds, Zhang Yan and Chen Ze did what they said they would do. With the help of the flood and the natural danger, they led the army to retreat eastward to Baimajin the next day. After the flood, he launched a pursuit, and was successfully lured by Zhao Guo's army to the Baimajin battlefield to continue the confrontation.

Fortunately, the flood battlefield is not very far from Xingyang, and the road is completely controlled by the Han army. After more than a day, the messenger sent by the Han army's partial division also reported the changes in the battle situation to Xiang Kang. Hearing the complaints, he couldn't help but patted the case in front of him, and said bitterly: "Why don't Longqie and Zhujishi have any brains? Baimajin is so close to Puyang, and Zhao Guo's bandit army dared to retreat there on their own initiative. The Chu rebel army has colluded, if the main infantry of the Western Chu rebel army suddenly arrives and suddenly crosses the river under the cover of the Zhao rebel army, how will they parry?"

"Your Majesty, there may be still time." Chen Ping hurriedly said, "Hurry up and send someone to send an order to Long Qie and General Zhujishi, telling them to immediately withdraw from the flood and build a line of defense to prevent the Western Chu bandits from advancing from the north bank of the Dahe River and attacking us. the hinterland of Hanoi."

Xiang Kang didn't think much about it, and quickly adopted Chen Ping's suggestion, and immediately sent someone to order Long Qie and Zhujishi to evacuate the dangerous area of ​​Baimajin, but the messenger had just received the order, and before he had time to leave, Xiang Kang suddenly stopped, Said: "Wait a minute, let me think again."

"My lord, what's the matter? Is there something wrong?" Chen Ping asked strangely.

"It's very inappropriate." Xiang Kang replied: "The flood defense line is too close to Puyang, but it is a little far away from Xingyang. We built the defense line to protect the hinterland of Hanoi on the flood. Once there is any danger in the partial division, it is difficult for the main force to send troops to rescue immediately. The Western Chu bandits defeated us one by one."

Considering that the flood defense line is only a day's march away from Baimajin, and the main force of the Han army sent troops from Xingyang to reinforce the flood defense line would have to march for at least four days, Chen Ping immediately nodded and asked, "Your Majesty, what should we do? "

"Voluntarily give up the flood and Chaoge." Xiang Kang said in a deep voice: "Let Zhujishi withdraw to Xiaoxiuwu and deploy defenses, and establish a defense line in Xiaoxiuwu to protect the hinterland of Hanoi. Long Qie withdraws from Wude and serves as our strategic reserve team."

After all, Xiang Kang first retracted the previously written order, and re-drafted the order to let Zhujishi directly withdraw to Xiaoxiu to establish a defense line, and asked Long Qi to withdraw to Wude to be in charge of mobile preparations. Then he calculated the time and found that the main force of the Western Chu Army was about to When I arrived in Puyang, I was busy writing a book by myself, and wrote a letter to Xiang Yu, trying every means to lure Xiang Yu to send troops directly from Puyang to attack the heavily guarded border defense line of the Han army. ——The reason why he chooses to act now is because Xiang Kang knows very well that Xiang Yu is fickle, and he is worried that he will act too early, so that time will dilute Xiang Yu's anger and give others a chance to persuade Xiang Yu to adopt the correct strategy.

…………

Fortunately, the messenger of the Han army finally delivered Xiang Kang's order to the front of the Han army's partial division one step ahead. Long Qie and Zhujishi did not dare to hesitate after seeing the order, and immediately voluntarily withdrew from Baima and retreated dangerously westward.Then when Xiang Yu knew about the situation, Cao Jiu, Fan Laotou and Gong Ao led the 22 main force of Western Chu to Puyang and joined Xiang Yu.

Xiang Yu's raid had just suffered a disastrous defeat not long ago. Of course, there was no festive atmosphere when the Western Chu army joined forces. Fortunately, time did dilute a lot of Xiang Yu's anger, so it was rare for Xiang Yu not to vent his anger on others. The head of the main infantry of the Western Chu Army who arrived late, just said to Cao Jiu and others: "It's good to come, just rest in Puyang for a day, and the day after tomorrow we will go west to seek revenge for the traitor Xiang Kang."

Wen Wu of Western Chu hurriedly agreed, but Kuai Che didn't wink and asked Xiang Yu, "Your Majesty, I have one more question, how do we plan to march?"

"We'll discuss it tonight." Xiang Yu's answer made Kuai Che heave a sigh of relief, and said, "You should first understand the situation of the Han bandit army. After dinner tonight, we will discuss how to enter the army."

Only then did Kuai Che agree, and he hurriedly asked Xiang Yu's military Chinese officials to ensure the summary, carefully understand the deployment of the Han army and the latest changes in the military situation, and study the marching route and western expedition strategy for Xiang Yu, as did Cao Jiu and Fan Laotou. In this way, during the period, Li Zuoche also joined in, and together with Xiang Yu's confidantes, they have been discussing in a low voice how to help Xiang Yu do justice for the sky and kill Xiang Kang, a villain who has done many evils.

It's a pity that before Xiang Yu's confidants and Li Zuoche and others made up their minds to unify their opinions, an urgent report suddenly came from outside the city, saying that Xiang Kang sent envoys to Puyang to visit Xiang Yu, saying that there was Xiang Kang. Handwritten letters should be presented to Xiang Yu face to face.Xiang Yu didn't hesitate when he heard the news, and immediately ordered to summon him, but Kuai Che hurriedly stopped him and said, "Your Majesty, I think it's better not to see you. Xiang Kang's traitor is notoriously scheming, so he suddenly sent someone to send a letter. , there must be some ulterior motives to meet his envoy rashly, I'm afraid it will fall into his scheme."

"Could this king be afraid of him?" Xiang Yu snorted coldly, and then shouted decisively: "Go, bring the envoy of the traitors in!"

Everyone did not dare to disobey, and the envoys of the Han army were quickly brought before Xiang Yu, and presented the letter written by Xiang Kang to Xiang Yu with both hands.Then, just like what Kuai Che was worried about, after reading Xiang Kang's letter, Xiang Yu was really furious, laughed wildly, and said with a very ferocious expression: "Okay! Okay! As expected of my younger brother, he is really courageous." How dare you persuade this king to become a minister to him, to offend your superiors, to bully your brother with your brother, you have made a lot of progress!"

"Your Majesty, Xiang Kang, that little bastard, dares to ask you to submit to him?"

Master Xiang Bo exclaimed in astonishment, and couldn't wait to beg the letter from Xiang Yu to read it. Cao Jiu and Old Man Fan also rushed to read it together. When I came to Li Zuoche, seeing Li Zuoche also had a helpless wry smile on his face, he couldn't help sighing in his heart: "It's troublesome, and I've been tricked by the general again. No matter what kind of honest advice I have, I'm afraid I won't be able to listen to it anymore."

The content of the letter Xiang Kang wrote to Xiang Yu is actually very simple, it is hypocritically describing the brotherhood, saying that blood and blood should not be fratricide and other high-sounding nonsense, and then persuading Xiang Yu to return his wife, son and sister-in-law, and surrender to himself Paying tribute, he also promised that as long as Xiang Yu agreed to bow to him, he would never send troops to attack Western Chu, and the two countries of Han and Chu would always be brothers, and there would be no war.

The simpler the letter, the more effective it is. Needless to say, Xiang Yu, who has a bad temper, carefully read Xiang Kang's ignorant letter, and even Xiang Bo couldn't help laughing wildly, saying: "Little evil animal, as expected! He became more and more courageous, and even dared to persuade us Xichu to surrender to him, as if he had already won. This old man is almost 50 years old, and he has never seen such an ignorant Lizi! Sinister! "

"Your Majesty, the traitor Xiang Kang is clearly trying to provoke you on purpose. Please be careful, Your Majesty, and don't fall into his tricks." Kuai Che persuaded very helplessly.

"Is this king not able to see such a superficial aggressive strategy, and you still need to remind me?" Xiang Yu sneered, too lazy to continue the nonsense with Kuai Che, and directly pointed to the envoy sent by Xiang Kang, and shouted: "Go back and tell Xiang Kangni Thief, he wanted to provoke this king to a decisive battle with him, but this king fulfilled him by telling him to wash his neck and wait for death! Get lost!"

The envoys of the Han army hurriedly took their leave and left, but Xiang Yu didn't think about it, and immediately said: "Order the whole army, get ready to continue to march, rest for a day tomorrow, and continue westward along Chidao the day after tomorrow, directly to Xingyang and Han. The bandit army will fight to the death!"

"Your Majesty, our route of attack should not be to go directly westward along Chidao." Kuai Che hastily stopped him, saying: "Xiang Kang's rebel deployed his main force on the front line of the chasm, and our army would go directly westward, and it would only hit us right in the middle." In his arms, he fell into a series of tough battles."

After finishing speaking, Kuai Che hurriedly added: "Our best choice at present should be to divide our troops into two groups, march all the way to the chasm to confront Xiang Kang's rebels, contain his main force, and cross the Yellow River at Baimajin all the way. It is the best policy to march into the hinterland of Hanoi, then cross south from Pingyin, capture Henan and Xin'an, and cut off the road connection between him and the rear of Guanzhong."

"The foreign minister agrees." Li Zuoche also hurriedly said: "The Zhao army took advantage of the fire to rob Xiang Kang's rebels before. The country is for our use, while we divide our troops to advance to the hinterland of Hanoi, bypass the main defensive front of the Han thieves, detour to Pingyin and cross the river south, and cut off the connection between the Han thieves and the rear, so the Han thieves will be defeated in a maximum of two months!"

"You don't need to be so troublesome!" Xiang Yu waved his hand and refused, and said with a sneer: "Xiang Kang's rebels currently have less than 23 troops in Xingyang, and my king's army is a full [-]. It only takes one big battle to wipe out the rebels. Kill them all, why waste time and divide the troops in Hanoi?"

Kuai Che and Li Zuoche smiled wryly. They both knew that Xiang Yu had fallen into Xiang Kangming's aggressive strategy, so they could only continue to try their best to persuade Xiang Yu to act calmly and not to bet all the bets on the frontal battlefield. Che and Li Zuoche were in a hurry to persuade them, and couldn't help losing their temper.

In the end, it was Xiang Yu's most trusted Cao Jiu and old man Fan who persuaded Xiang Yu to calm down, and then old man Fan said: "Your Majesty, the words of Lord Guangwu and Dr. Kuai are actually quite reasonable. The country's face is about to fall, and it's a pity that Zhao's external force is not used. How about we try our best to win over Zhao, and at the same time send out a partial division to cross the river at Baimajin and enter the hinterland of Hanoi. We don't want to destroy the enemy, but only If we can contain the Han bandits led by Long Qie and Zhujishi in the hinterland of Hanoi, we can reduce countless resistances on the frontal battlefield."

"Your Majesty, there is another advantage to doing this." Cao Jiu also chimed in, "That is, after we win over the Zhao Kingdom, we can immediately let our partial division join forces with Zhao's army to attack the western city of Hanoi County from the west. Let Zhao Guo's army help us to contain the Han bandit army more effectively, and make Xiang Kang's traitor even more difficult to care about."

Xiang Yu could still listen to the words of Old Man Fan and Cao Jiu, and nodded his head reluctantly. After thinking about it for a while, Xiang Yu suddenly remembered a past event, and hurriedly asked Xiang Bo: "Uncle Ji, if I If I remember correctly, Long Qi seems to have been Xiang Sui's brother's subordinate, right?"

"Your Majesty has a good memory. Long Qi, that fellow is indeed your brother Xiang Sui's former general." Xiang Bo replied with a smile, and then said bitterly: "It's a pity that that fellow was ungrateful and forgot that it was the old man and his son who promoted him personally." As for him, recommend him to Xiang Kang, that little bastard, and now he is still helping that little bastard to do evil, and he will avenge his kindness."

"With this relationship, you can give it a try." Xiang Yu made up his mind and said, "Brother Xiang Sui is currently collecting food and grass in the East China Sea of ​​Xuejun. Go to Hanoi to help us contain the Han bandits, and also try to recruit Long Qie to surrender. He and brother Xiang Sui are blood brothers, with this relationship, there should be a lot of hope."

Uncle Xiang was overjoyed when he heard that, and hurriedly thanked Xiang Yu for his precious son. Old man Fan had a good look on his face, but he knew that he was close to each other, so he didn't dare to object to Xiang Yu's random employment, so he could only recommend Xue Gong, the general of Western Chu Xiang You acted as the deputy, helping Xiang You lead the army to contain the Han army's partial division. Fortunately, Xiang Yu also trusted Xue Gong, so he immediately agreed.

Xiang Yu made a wise personnel arrangement. After the Han army carefully reported the news that Xiang Yu had sent Xiang You to lead a partial division to Hanoi to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang not only laughed ecstatically, but also directly smiled with his mouth crooked, and then laughed again The order said: "Quickly, call the governor of Hanoi to come forward and send some beauties to my elder brother Xiang You. My elder brother must be lonely and boring when he is away in battle. He must be surrounded by beautiful women."

(End of this chapter)