Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 332 Chain Reaction
From the moment he knew that the Han army announced the so-called Zhao Xieyi belt edict, Prime Minister Zhao knew that the Han army had completely torn his face with him. The only chance he has is to fight the Han army to the death.

Fortunately, Zhang Er was already mentally prepared for this point, and at the same time, with the backing of the Western Chu Army, Zhang Er did not have to be afraid that he would not be an opponent of the Han Army, because Zhang Er firmly believed that the result of the Chu-Han struggle would be the outcome of the Western Chu Army. Xiang Kang, who is inferior to Xiang Yu in terms of force, strength and prestige, will die tragically at the hands of the soldiers of the Western Chu Army one day, so he will surely win the final victory of the Han-Zhao War.

This is also the main reason why Zhang Er has been vacillating between Chu and Han. During the alliance between Han and Zhao, Xiang Kang was really sorry for the state of Zhao when he refused to save Taiyuan and other places, but Xiang Yu did too much for the state of Zhao. In addition to single-handedly directing the split of Zhao's army, he also divided Zhao's land and cities to Zhang Han, Sima Xin and others. In the end, after Zhang Er wavered again and again, he still stood firmly on Xiang Yu's side, because of Zhang Er I have never been optimistic about Xiang Kang who has no courage to fight Xiang Yu head-on.

But there are also things that bother Zhang Er, such as the matter of clothes and belts. Zhang Er is [-]% sure that it was forged by the Han army to drive a wedge between himself and Zhao Xie and the army and people of Zhao Guo, but Zhang Er dare not be [-]% sure. I am sure this must be false, because Zhang Er is very clear, even though the so-called Zhao Wang and Zhao Xie are obedient to him on the surface, but deep down in his heart, he may not hate himself who actually holds the power. Given the opportunity, Zhao Xie would never mind using the power of the Han army to kill him and regain the power of Zhao!

Because of this, Zhang Er also had to put a question mark on this matter, "Could it be that Zhao Xie really promulgated the bullshit clothes and belt edict announced by the Han thief secretly? If so, the truth How to deal with it?"

In the end, a guest put forward a high opinion and said to Zhang Er: "Master En, the truth of the clothes and belts is not important, what is important is the attitude of the king. If the king issues an edict and publicly announces that the clothes and belts are If the Han bandits forge it, then even if the clothes belt edict is true, it will become a fake. But if the king does not make a statement as soon as possible, even if the clothes belt edict is fake, it may become true."

Feeling that what the doormen said was very reasonable, Zhang Er did not hesitate, and went to the palace to meet Zhao Xie on the same day, asking Zhao Xie to issue an edict to reprimand the shameless behavior of the Han army, and publicly declared the edict to be false.As a result, Zhao Xie didn't dare to disobey, so he immediately took up a pen and wrote a book himself, and wrote an edict to anger the Han army according to Zhang Er's request. Zhang Er was overjoyed when he saw it, and hurriedly thanked Zhao Xie: "Thank you, my lord, I have it." If the king personally expresses his opinion, no matter how much the traitors try to stir up disputes and sow dissension, they are destined to be nothing more than clowns jumping on the beam."

"Why should Prime Minister Zhang thank you? This is what this king should do. Aiqing, hurry up and make this king's edict public. Don't give Xiao Xiao a chance to sow discord between our Zhao monarch and his ministers."

Zhao Xie's smile was as warm and gentle as ever, and Zhang Er didn't bother to talk nonsense with him. When he was about to salute and leave, a servant rushed up to his highness, and hurriedly saluted Zhang Er: "Xiangguo, the people in your house Please go back immediately, something serious happened."

"What happened? So urgent?" Zhang Er asked casually.

"Xia said that the rebels are shameless. You led the Han rebels to crusade Zhang Xiangguo under the pretext of leading our Zhao army in Jingxing to surrender the Han rebels. The major generals and the others went one step too late and failed to stop Xia said that the rebels are shameless." Treason, and now our well-being has been lost."

The attendant's answer made Zhang Er stunned, but Zhao Xie was ecstatic, and he almost didn't cry out. It was only when Zhang Er turned his head to look at him that Zhao Xie quickly changed to a nervous and angry expression, and took the case. He shouted: "Is this really the case? Xia said that the traitor, how many brains does he have, dare to do such a rebellious thing?"

"Reporting to the king, it was the people in Zhang Xiangguo's mansion who said it, and the specific slave is not very clear."

The attendant quickly answered, and Zhao Xie also hurriedly said to Zhang Er: "Aiqing, hurry back to the mansion to deal with this matter, as usual, you make up your mind about this matter first, and then report to the king."

Zhang Er sang promises, and then left the palace in a hurry, leaving Zhao Xie secretly happy in the Zhao Palace, and secretly praying, thinking: "Han thief, work hard, try to help me get rid of Zhang Er traitor as soon as possible, As long as you help me take back the great power of the Zhao Kingdom, I will definitely turn my back on Chu Touhan, and help you crusade against the Western Chu bandits, and repay your great kindness."

I must confess that Zhao Xie is not daydreaming when he thinks this way. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, it was a very common and common thing for one country to help the monarch or son of another country to seize power. Mr. Zhao Guoxian also encountered or did it before. This is why Zhao Xie is so hopeful about the arrival of the Han army.

Closer to home, he hurried back to his Xiangguo Mansion, and after learning the details of Xia Shuo's defection and defection to the enemy, Zhang Er couldn't help becoming angry no matter how self-cultivated he was. Time ordered that all Xia Shuo's wives, children, old and young children be taken down, and all of them should be executed immediately to vent their anger. Wei Wuzhi, his important confidant and descendant of Lord Xinling, the leader of the four sons of the Warring States Period, said, "Xiangguo, Xia Shuo's rebel The family members are nothing more than fish and meat on an anvil, and they can be executed at any time, there is no need to rush to execute them without conviction, which will damage your reputation, Xiangguo."

"The most important thing for us right now is the battle situation in Jingxing. I think, Xiangguo, you'd better send someone to the major general to order him to guard the dangerous point and not fight. Don't take risks and fight. It is an opportunity for the Han bandits to take advantage of the situation and enter the hinterland of Zhao. In addition, we must immediately contact the King of Western Chu, report the matter to him, and ask him to adopt a strategy to help our Zhao country overcome this difficulty."

"Don't worry about Ao'er." Zhang Er was full of confidence in his precious son, and said: "He has always had a stable personality, and he has Gao Gao to advise him. He will not take risks carelessly if he doesn't need to be accounted for. As for King Xichu Besides, the Prime Minister will send someone to contact him immediately, and ask him to allow our Zhao army to withdraw from the Hanoi battlefield and go north to reinforce the Jingxing battlefield."

"Xiangguo, if we just send our troops from Hanoi to the north to reinforce Jingxing, it may not be enough." Wei Wuzhi hurriedly said, "The best way is to ask the King of Western Chu to send reinforcements to help us defeat the invading enemy. , so our country Zhao can ensure nothing goes wrong."

"This..." Zhang Er was a little embarrassed, and said: "The King of Western Chu is fighting the main force of the Han bandits in the Honggou area. It is not easy to promise us to send Hanoi troops to the north to help the Jingxing battlefield. How could it be possible? Do you have the strength to reinforce us?"

"Not necessarily." Wei Wuzhi replied quite confidently: "Xiangguo just needs to tell the King of Western Chu clearly and explain the current situation of Zhao State, and say that if it is only with the power of our own country, at most it is possible to barely block the northern Han bandits. There is no certainty that we can annihilate the Han bandits on the northern front. If he does not send us reinforcements, it will be difficult for us to withdraw and go south to reinforce him. Only by asking him to share his strength and help us wipe out the invading enemy can we eliminate them. The wings of the traitor weaken the overall strength of the traitor, and can also free up his hands to go south again, helping him attack the main force of the traitor and capture and kill Xiang Kang."

After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Er found out that this was indeed the case. Following Wei Wuzhi's suggestion, Zhang Er wrote a letter asking for help to Xiang Yu, asking Xiang Yu to agree to send the Zhao army from Hanoi back to Jingxing, and to send reinforcements to help him deal with the Han army. Pianshi arranged for an eloquent messenger to go south to contact Xiang Yu.Then Zhang Er hurriedly sent an order to Zhao Jun in Hanoi to prepare them to go north and return to the mainland. Finally, under Wei Wuzhi's repeated insistence, Zhang Er sent another order to his precious son Zhang Ao , Let Zhang Ao lead the army to guard the dangerous points, not to take risks, and wait patiently for the arrival of reinforcements.

Several days passed like this, after doing all kinds of contingency work, and after finishing the trial and conviction of Xia Shuo's family, Zhang Er came to Zhao Palace with the document of conviction for Xia Shuo's family, and asked Zhao Xie He allowed himself to behead Xia Shuo's entire family in Julu Market.However, what makes Zhang Er's nose crooked is that Zhao Xie, who has always been obedient to himself, didn't know what medicine he had taken this time, but he refused to nod his head and agreed to execute Xia Shuo's family immediately, and said plausibly: "Why should Xiangguo be anxious?" Since Xia said that the traitor and his family have been taken down, they can’t fly or run away, so why not wait until we capture Xia said that the traitor and his family are smashed in front of the public, wouldn’t it be more police-friendly? Qun Xiao, let those who have different ambitions dare not have unreasonable thoughts?"

"Don't do this! Don't think that the old man doesn't know. You want to tell those who have stereotypes and disagreements with the truth. As long as they continue to fight against the truth, even if they commit a capital crime, you will try your best to protect their homes. Little one, leave them a chance!"

Zhang Er roared in his heart, restraining his anger and said: "Your Majesty's words are wrong. Since ancient times, didn't the whole family of a traitor who conspired against the country have to be imprisoned immediately after his crime was revealed? A small precedent? Xia said that the traitor is a traitor and his family should be punished for his crimes, please immediately issue an order to kill his whole family in the city!"

In order to encourage others to follow Xia Shuo's example and turn against Zhang Er, Zhao Xie of course continued to find excuses to delay the execution of Xia Shuo's family, but Zhang Er refused to budge. Zhao Xie, who had turned against Zhang Er, had no choice but to sigh in his heart: "There is no way, Xia Aiqing, don't blame me for not helping you, I have tried my best, if you want to hate, you should continue to hate Zhang Er, this traitorous person." .”

Sighing softly, Zhao Xie was about to let go of his mouth and give in. He never thought that at this moment, another servant stumbled into the hall, and shouted from a distance: "Your Majesty, it's not good, Prime Minister Zhang, it's not good, something serious happened!" It's gone! Something big happened!"

"What happened?" Zhang Er, who was full of anger, shouted: "The sky is falling? How can you be so flustered?"

"It's worse than the sky falling! Zhang Xiang, the people in your mansion just came to report that the major general was defeated in Jingxing, and the [-] army was wiped out! Your son, General Zhang Ao, was captured alive by the traitors. It's in the enemy's hands!"

With a slap, the jade jade in Zhang Er's hand fell to the ground, and his face suddenly turned gray. Zhao Xie quickly lowered his head, for fear that Zhang Er would see the ecstasy that he could no longer hide.After finally recovering, Zhang Er didn't even say hello, and rushed out of the hall with a livid face. Zhao Xie also recovered, and hurriedly shouted at Zhang Er's back: "Mr. Zhang, Immediately punish Zhan Xia and tell about the traitor’s family, the widow agrees! You can figure it out, and you don’t need to ask the widow for instructions when you start!”

Zhang Er's footsteps paused for a moment, and there was an urge to turn around and strangle Zhao Xie to death——Lao Tzu's only son is now a prisoner, and you want Lao Tzu to kill Xia Shuo's family, do you want Xia Shuo to take him? Lao Tzu's only son vented his anger and killed Lao Tzu's son? !

After finally suppressing the impulse in his heart, he rushed back to his mansion with a dark face. After carefully understanding the ins and outs of the Jingxing fiasco, Zhang Er shouted at his precious son for being stupid and incompetent, and shouted: "Quick, send me back immediately." The messenger went south and contacted the king of Western Chu as quickly as possible, asking him to send us reinforcements immediately, and told him clearly that if he doesn't send reinforcements to help us, our country of Zhao will be finished!"

"Also, send an order to our Hanoi army, telling them to return to the north immediately to rescue the mainland! There must be no delay!"

…………

In fact, Zhang Er didn't need to send a second messenger to ask for help. He couldn't break the deadlock on the frontal battlefield. Xiang Yu, whose strategic vision was not yet short-sighted, listened to the good advice of Fan Zeng, Kuai Che and others. The plan for development was to let Zhou Yin, Xiang Sui, and Xiang Han gather troops in the rear of Western Chu. At the same time, he also asked Tiandu, the king of Jibei who is currently surrendering to Western Chu, to reorganize his troops and prepare to increase troops on the two wings of the battlefield. Break the deadlock in the Central Plains battlefield from the side.

Against such a background, the first envoy sent by Zhang Er had actually persuaded Xiang Yu to agree to send troops, but in order to ensure the superiority of troops on the main battlefield, Xiang Yu flatly rejected the suggestion to deploy troops from the chasm battlefield to reinforce Zhao. , decided to order Zhou Yin, Xiang Sui and Xiang Han to lead an army of 13 to the north to rescue Zhao Guo, and ordered Tian Du to send [-] troops from Jibei County to form a northern front army to fight to the death with Zhou Shu in the territory of Zhao State, and strive to eliminate Han. The northern line of the army slanted to the division, took advantage of the situation and marched into Jinzhong, and then directly attacked the hinterland of Guanzhong of the Han army from Jinzhong.

And when Zhang Er's second messenger for help arrived at the border battlefield, he learned that the situation on the northern front had reached such a critical point, Xiang Yu didn't dare to hesitate, and quickly ordered Zhou Yin, Tian Du and others to speed up their march to Zhao, and not to waste half an hour.

In addition, although he was extremely unwilling, under the hard persuasion of Fan Zeng, Kuai Che and others, Xiang Yu still decided against his will to deploy [-] troops from the rear, and went south to reinforce Liu Laosan through Chen Jun and the south of Yingchuan to help Liu Laosan. Let Liu Laosan kill the shameless and rebellious Yingbu as soon as possible, so that Liu Laosan can free up his hands to put pressure on the southern line of the Han army again.

For this decision, all the generals of the Western Chu army sang praises, and they all praised Xiang Yu's strategizing and decisive victory. Old man Fan, Cao Jiu and others did not have any objections, but Kuai Che was worried and remonstrated with Xiang Yu: " Your Majesty, deploy troops from the rear to reinforce the battlefield on both wings. Although we can continue to maintain our superiority in the frontal battlefield, but if we send another 16 troops to Nanyang and Zhao, the rear of our Western Chu Kingdom will be completely empty. Any army can respond flexibly, if there is a sudden change in our rear, will we have no way to deal with it?"

"How can there be changes in our rear?" Xiang Yu asked proudly: "Chu land has long been completely pacified by this king, so what enemies there can threaten the safety of this king's rear?"

"Your Majesty, this is not certain." Kuai Che warned: "The reason why Chen Sheng and Wu Guang are in Daze Township is all because Tyranny abused the power of the people and recruited soldiers poorly. Qianshou is already overwhelmed, if another Chen Sheng and Wu Guang appear among them..."

Kuai Che's words reached this point and he didn't dare to say any more, because Xiang Yu's one-eyed eyes were blazing with anger and murderous intent, and Kuai Che was so scared that he could only shut up by himself, not daring to express his stupid opinions anymore. He also lowered his head, not even daring to let out a breath, and muttered in his heart, "Kai Che, stop talking, if you talk about it, you won't be able to keep your head."

…………

The straight road was controlled by the Zhao army and the Western Chu army. After confirming that the main force of the Zhao army had withdrawn from the Hanoi battlefield, Xiang Kang finally received the news that Zhou Shu had captured the Zhao army's coach Zhang Ao alive in the Jingxing victory. He cheered , Xiang Kang couldn't help feeling remorseful and regretful, and said, "It would be great if I could receive this news a few days earlier. Taking advantage of the opportunity of Zhao Guo's bandit army rushing back to save the mainland, as long as our Hanoi partial division launches an offensive decisively, Not only is there hope to win the battle, but it can also make it easier for Uncle Zhou."

"There's no way around it. Who told us to contact General Zhou to bypass the Taihang Mountains? We're at a disadvantage in terms of roads." Zhang Liang spread his hands helplessly, and said, "But there's one thing that's very strange. Logically speaking, Zhao Guo's bandit army The situation has become so critical. In addition to withdrawing troops to rescue the mainland, we must also ask for help from the Western Chu bandits. Why is there no movement from the Western Chu bandits? Not even a single soldier will be given to the Zhao bandits. help?"

"This is not surprising." Chen Ping replied: "The most important thing in the Chu-Han War is the chasm battlefield. In order to ensure their superiority in the main battlefield, Xiang Yu will definitely not easily deploy his main force to go north to reinforce Zhao. If we want to save the Zhao country, we can only send troops from the rear to go north."

"Will the King of Western Chu dare to deploy troops from the rear?" Zhang Liang couldn't help but exaggerate his expression, and said with a smile: "In the Great Gap War, the King of Western Chu has already invested more than 30 troops on the Xingyang battlefield. Already overwhelmed, he still dares to continue to mobilize the army to go north. He is not afraid that the heads of Chu and Guizhou will learn from our Han King and Chen Sheng and Wu Guang to rise up and rebel against him like the one who rebelled against Qin? He even has such a little..."

Having said this with an exaggerated smile, Zhang Liang's voice gradually lowered, and his expression gradually became hesitant. After he closed his mouth and thought about it for a while, Zhang Liang suddenly changed his words and said, "Not necessarily, the King of Western Chu may not be able to do it." When something like this happens, he doesn't have any policies at all, and he likes to use up the resources wherever he goes, and he may not be able to do this kind of thing that doesn't care about the life and death of the rear and blindly abuses people's power!"

Chen Ping nodded, and also thought that Xiang Yu might not be able to do such a crazy thing to kill himself, but Xiang Kang remained calm, just leaning on the case with his chin in his hands and calculating carefully. After a while, Xiang Kang suddenly asked Chen Ping: " Mr. Chen Ping, are you sure you can contact Peng Yue?"

"The road is blocked, and Peng Yue's whereabouts are erratic. It can only be said that he tried his best." Chen Ping replied.

"Then try your best!" Xiang Kang said decisively, "Arrange people immediately, take a boat to the lower reaches of the Dahe (Yellow River), find a way to contact Peng Yue, tell him our current situation, and let him use whatever means And methods, we must find a way to give my elder brother a big vote, win over my elder brother's rear and make the world turn upside down, forcing my elder brother to divide his troops to save Chudi in the rear!"

Chen Ping agreed, and hurriedly drew up a pen to draft an order for Xiang Kang, but Xiang Kang was not greedy enough, and added casually, "Tell Peng Yue clearly, if he can force my elder brother to personally lead the army to rescue the rear, leave the chasm temporarily For a period of time on the front line, no matter what kind of reward he wants, I will never let him down!"

(End of this chapter)