Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 347 The Role of Fame

This is also the largest tactical counterattack of the Han army since its establishment. In order to ensure that Cao Jiu's troops of the Western Chu Army on the Puyang battlefield were wiped out in one fell swoop, Xiang Kang not only mobilized 11 main forces from the Xingyang battlefield to move eastward, but also sent Zhou Zeng to the east. The 15 recruits recruited by Chao Zhi in Guanzhong were dispatched from the hinterland of Sanchuan to the front to join the battle, and [-] troops marched eastward. In addition, Zheng Bu was also ordered to lead [-] troops from Baimajin to the south to join the battle, and a total of [-] troops were invested to attack Puyang. In one fell swoop, it created the highest record of the Han army using troops on a single battlefield.

Don't think that the strength of the Han army is not great. After many times recruited recruits from the rear to supplement the main force, the overall quality of the Western Chu army has actually declined quite seriously. Compared with the elite troops of the Western Chu army who came here, the number of recruits in the Han army was only about half, and the rest were all mature troops with combat experience. There were a large number of elite veterans with rich combat experience in the army. In terms of the number of troops, it surpassed the Western Chu Army in an all-round way.

Not to mention the equipment, the bronze weapons and all kinds of light and heavy armor left by Qin Shihuang and Qin II in Guanzhong alone are enough for the Han army to arm more than [-] newly recruited troops, and the quality is all the best in the Bronze Age. quality.

Even so, in order to respect the customs and habits of this era, and to boost the morale of the army, Xiang Kang still invited the most famous goddess stick of this era, the female grandma of the Han Army, Xu Negative, whom he personally appointed. Let her divination in front of the generals of the Han army, and predict the outcome of this Eastern Expedition—even though it was just a cutscene, Xiang Kang already knew what Xu Negative could divination the first day.

The cutscenes are cutscenes, but there is nothing to say about the solemnity of the ceremony, especially during the period when Xu Ling was wearing a Chinese dress and slowly walked up to the high platform, using various cumbersome etiquettes to worship the heaven and the earth. The Goddess in a trance descended to earth, and she really had a sacred feeling that was out of the world. It made many superstitious soldiers of the Han army fascinated, and they kept praying silently. Now, if the face value is higher, coupled with her temperament, I am afraid that my little wife Bo Yuanzhi and Qi Min will not be able to catch up with her."

In the end, there must be no need to be wordy. According to Xiang Kang's request, Xu negative really took a good fortune, announcing that the Han army will surely win a big victory this time, and that the defeat of the Western Chu bandits would have been sent to heaven long ago. Doomed.Of course, the generals of the Han army cheered endlessly, and their morale was greatly boosted. Xiang Kang also hurried up to the high platform in person, pretending to thank the gods of heaven and earth for their blessings.

It was only after worshiping heaven and earth that Xiang Kang took the time to see Xu Negative's current appearance. The result may be that he has not met a woman for a long time. An itchy feeling, far more graceful than a beautiful figure set off by a gorgeous dress, and because of the sacred temperament added to the ordinary appearance, it looks far more charming than usual, if it is not full of Han soldiers and military officers and soldiers Well, Xiang Kang really wanted to show off the power of his unscrupulous boss and molested this female subordinate who he usually didn't like much.

Probably aware of Xiang Kang's malicious gaze, Xu Negative first gave Xiang Kang a pair of white eyeballs, and then said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, don't be dumbfounded, you can announce that the three armies are marching."

Still had to be reminded by Xu negative, Xiang Kang remembered that he had bigger things to do, and hurriedly announced to the Han army officers and soldiers in the audience: "The worship of heaven and earth is over, the three armies of the Han country obey orders, and immediately march to Puyang!"

"Careful King orders!"

The civil and military soldiers of the Han army in the audience answered neatly, followed by the soldiers of the three armies of the Han army, and then under the leadership of the general of the Han army Ding Ji, the vanguard of the Han army first set out to the east, and first crossed the gap where dozens of pontoon bridges had been built long ago. , Singing military songs and marching towards the Puyang battlefield.Xiang Kang also turned to Xu Negative again, and said in a much gentler tone than usual: "Xu Taizhu, you have worked hard, go back and rest."

"Your Majesty, can I ask you something?" Xu Negative made a rare request to Xiang Kang, and said, "I have the guts to follow Your Majesty to conquer Puyang eastward, please give me your permission."

"Hey, could it be that you are reluctant to leave my side?" Xiang Kang felt inexplicably happy, and asked with a smile, "Xu Taizhu didn't stay in the back to rest, how could he have the idea of ​​going to the front line to supervise the battle with this king? Don't Taizhu know, It is not ordinary hard work to fight in the army, eat and sleep in the open air."

"It doesn't matter, women have suffered a lot." Xu negative replied with a smile: "To tell you the truth, I have almost never left my hometown Wen County since I was a child, and I finally traveled far to Xingyang. Trapped in the mountain city of Guangwu, I am really bored for a long time, I want to take a chance to walk around and enjoy the magnificence of China's mountains and rivers, and I ask your majesty for your kind permission."

Once again, Xiang Kang was speechless to Xu Negative, so he could only nod his head, agreed to Xu Negative's request very depressedly, and then left the high platform in despair, but what Xiang Kang didn't notice was that looking at As he left, Xu Negative's gaze was not only much gentler, but a mischievous smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

After Ding Ji's army crossed the gap and marched eastward, Xiang Kang immediately led the main force of the Han army to Puyang, and strode eastward along the spacious road left by Qin Shihuang. During this period, Chen Ping, who was in charge of intelligence work, sent another However, to Xiang Kang's regret, the intelligence collected by the Han army is still very brief because of the tight security of the Western Chu Army, which only confirmed that the Western Chu Army in Puyang The strength of the army is the same as the result of the previous preliminary investigation, which is about 12 people. I also found out that the main generals of the Western Chu Army in Puyang include Gong Ao, Xiang Han, Huan Chu, and Zhong Gong. Other information is still very general and vague. , I don’t even know how many cavalry and roughly how much food and grass there are in the West Chu Army in Puyang.

Seeing the disappointment on Xiang Kang's face, Chen Ping guessed the reason, and hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, forgive me. After the Western Chu bandits retreated to the city of Puyang, they immediately took a full-scale defensive position, prohibiting any random outsiders from entering or leaving their barracks, and drew the river to irrigate them. The trenches of the guard camp are full, and it is difficult for us to get close to their camp, so there is really no way to get more information about the enemy's military."

"It's okay, I can understand." Xiang Kang replied generously, and passed the information he just received to Zhang Liang, Tang Bing, Wu Shi and other counselors to read together, and asked casually: "Mr. Chen Ping, in your opinion , do we hope to lure the Western Chu bandits out of the camp and directly fight a decisive battle in the wild when we go east to Puyang?"

"I'm afraid there is little hope." Chen Ping replied: "The Western Chu thieves directly withdrew to Puyang to redeploy their defenses. They also imitated Zhang Han in the past and drew the big river (Yellow River) to fill their guard ditches. It is obvious that they want to hold on Waiting for reinforcements, wait for Xiang Yu to calm down the rear, and then return to the division to join them. Under such circumstances, as long as Cao Jiu is not stupid, he will definitely not take the risk of going out to fight. He will only stick to the camp and block the throat of our army entering the hinterland of Western Chu. .”

"Okay." Xiang Kang laughed at himself: "Feng Shui takes turns, first my second uncle Wu Xinjun Xiang Liang, then my cousin Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu, and now it is finally my turn to face the difficult problem, the King of Han, I hope I don't worry about it." If they follow their mistakes, they will not be able to take down the enemy's camp."

"My lord, this has always been your specialty." Tang Bing said with a smile, "I heard that Cao Jiu is a family friend with your Xiang family, so you should be very clear about his situation, so you can't think of a way to take advantage of it like you usually do. , to draw Cao Jiu out of the camp for a decisive battle?"

"It's difficult." Xiang Kang shook his head and said, "Cao Jiu is indeed a family friend of our Xiang family, but I don't have much contact with him, I just dealt with him for a while when I was with my second uncle. , I don’t have any deep acquaintances yet, I know very little about him, I only found that his personality is quite stable, and he is very down-to-earth in doing things, except for a little face-saving, I didn’t find any weaknesses in his personality.”

"Your Majesty, why don't you do this?" Zhang Liang suggested, "Using our old method, send a capable envoy to find an excuse to meet with Cao Jiu, take the opportunity to spy on the internal military situation of the Western Chu thief army, and take a look at Cao Jiu by the way. What is the current situation of blame, and is there any loophole that can be exploited."

Sending envoys to bluff and take the opportunity to spy on the military situation is Xiang Kang's usual method. Of course, Xiang Kang would not refuse Zhang Liang's proposal. He immediately nodded in agreement and said, "Use the excuse of persuading surrender to contact Cao Jiu." Well, let me tell Cao Jiu clearly about my attitude, because he saved my uncle back then, as long as he puts down his weapon and surrenders, not only will I not kill him, but I will definitely not treat him badly."

Everyone applauded together, and then under Xiang Kang's dictation, Chen Ping hurriedly took up his pen and wrote a book for Xiang Kang, writing a brilliant letter to persuade Cao Jiu to surrender, using Xiang Kang's tone to explain his strength to Cao Jiu, and tried his best to persuade the old Xiang to surrender. Cao Jiu, who had a close relationship with his family, took the initiative to lead the army to lay down their weapons and surrender, to come to Xiang Kang to enjoy more and better glory and wealth, and directly promised Cao Jiu fiefdom and food.Xiang Kang looked at it and applauded. After signing and stamping, he immediately arranged for a capable envoy and several secret agents who were good at detecting the enemy's situation to pretend to be followers. Contact the internal situation of the Western Chu Army.

It's a pity that the shameless purpose of Xiang Kang and others failed this time. Three days later, the envoys of the Han army arrived at the camp of the Western Chu army under the city of Puyang, and asked Cao Jiu to see him. Cao Jiu didn't think much about it, and immediately agreed to meet him, but Kuai Che, the doctor of Western Chu who Xiang Yu stayed behind to help him with the military counselor, stopped Cao Jiu and said, "Don't wait, Grand Sima, I think it's better for us not to see you." it is good."

"Why?" Cao Jiu asked, "The two countries are fighting each other, and if they don't kill the envoy, Xiang Kang's envoy from the traitor seeks to see him according to the etiquette. He has never treated the envoy we sent to communicate with him. Why didn't we see him?"

"The lower officials don't think that's necessary." Kuai Che replied: "Xiang Kang's envoys from the rebels are nothing more than persuading surrender or making an appointment to fight. Da Sima, you are loyal to our king. Of course, it is impossible to accept the Han rebels. To persuade them to surrender, the king repeatedly told us before leaving that we are only allowed to guard the camp and not go out to fight, and it is impossible for us to agree to an appointment with them. In this case, why do we need to receive their envoys?"

"Besides, Da Sima, you must be very clear that the traitor Xiang Kang is notoriously scheming." Kuai Che added: "He sent an envoy to contact us. He probably has other plans. If we summon him His envoys might fall into his schemes and fall into his traps, so the officials think that it is better for us not to see the envoys of the Han thieves."

Hearing that what Kuai Che said was reasonable, the old man Fan whom Cao Jiu respected very much told Cao Jiu to listen to Kuai Che's good advice before leaving. For the sake of old man Fan, Cao Jiu hesitated and ordered Nodded, sent someone to send the Han army envoy to leave, but the Han army envoy's repeated pleas were useless, so he had to leave with his entourage dejectedly. The enemy's military situation is useful for the Han army.

When the envoys of the Han army returned to Xiang Kang, the main force of the Han army, which had just crossed Yan County with a large amount of food and military supplies, had not yet had time to join forces with Zheng Bu, a partial division of the Han army who was preparing to go south from Hanoi to join the battle. In the end, Xiang Kang was unavoidably a little surprised, and wondered: "My Uncle Cao did such a great job, he didn't even want to meet the envoys I sent? Now it's troublesome, we can't exchange envoys, it must be even more difficult for us to opportunistically gone."

They knew too little about the enemy's situation, and Cao Jiu refused to meet the envoys. The resourceful Zhang Liang and Chen Ping inevitably felt like a tiger gnawed at a hedgehog, but Tang Bing and Wu Shi, the old men in Shangshan, were not in a hurry and whispered After discussing for a few words, Wu Shi asked Xiang Kang: "My lord, do you definitely need to send an envoy into the Western Chu bandit camp? To meet Cao Jiu for you?"

"It's not necessary to do this." Xiang Kang replied: "It's just that if we can find out more about the internal situation of the Western Chu bandit army and try our best to know ourselves and the enemy, then we will have a better chance of winning in the decisive battle in Puyang."

"Understood." Wu Shi nodded, and immediately said: "Your Majesty, since this is the case, then let the old man run for you. The old man thought that Cao Jiu would not treat the old man because of his meager reputation. If you don't see him behind closed doors, you will at least give the old man a little face, and let the old man enter the camp to meet him."

"Good idea." Zhang Liang who was next to him applauded, and said: "Shangshan Sihao is famous all over the world and has great prestige among scholars, even compared to the foreign minister's mentor Huang Shigong. Master personally acted as our envoy, Cao Jiu will save face no matter what, and meet Mr. Qi Liji in person."

Xiang Kang was overjoyed when he heard that, but he was a little worried, and said in a hypocritical manner: "Mr. Qiliji, it is extremely dangerous to go to the enemy's camp as an envoy, and you are so old, so you can easily go straight to the enemy's camp. I can't bear it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your concern." Wu Shi cupped his hands to express his gratitude, and said, "But it's okay, this old man can still hold on, so please allow me, Your Majesty, to let me be our army's envoy and go to the Xichu bandit camp for you to inquire about the enemy's situation." False and true, in order to repay Your Majesty's kindness."

Xiang Kang hypocritically persuaded him a few more words, but Wu Shi insisted on being a spy for Xiang Kang in person, so Xiang Kang changed his mind and agreed, and asked someone to arrange a gorgeous float for Wu Shi to ride on, and asked him to choose The capable and meticulous work that came out continued to play the role of entourage, protecting Wu Shi and rushing forward, and then came to the camp of Western Chu to contact Cao Jiu.

The distance had become shorter, and it was only at noon the next day when Wu Shi drove to the outside of the Western Chu army camp and asked the soldiers of the Western Chu army guarding the gate to see Cao Jiu. For the sake of Wu Shi's white beard and hair, he replied politely: "Mr., it's not that the villain didn't pass the news on for you. It's because our chief Sima has issued an order. If there is an envoy from the Han army visiting the camp, I will never see you again, so I have no choice but to ask you to go back."

"I don't even see the old man?" Wu Shi smiled slightly, and said again: "General, I beg you to report to the Chief Sima of your army, that is, Qili Ji Wu Shi, one of the four great men in Shangshan, begs to see him. If the Chief Sima of your army still does not see you, The old man will not force it, and will leave immediately, and will not embarrass the general again."

After Wu Shi finished speaking, the captain of the entourage assigned to him by Xiang Kang immediately stepped forward and stuffed a piece of valuable emerald into the hands of the Western Chu military officer. Bufan nodded and said: "Then please wait a moment, old gentleman, I will report it for you, but I have something to say first, I really don't have that confidence."

"General Lao is here."

Wu Shi thanked him with a smile, and the officer of the West Chu Army personally rushed to the camp of the Central Army of the West Chu Army to pass the news on for Wu Shi. Wu Shi was nearly eighty years old, and he really didn't dare to be exposed to the scorching sun for a long time, so he could only go back to the carriage with the help of his attendants, and sat under the umbrella to hide from the cool.

At this time, Wu Shi's cloudy old eyes moved suddenly, and he caught a glimpse of a detail—at the gate of the camp, a soldier of the Western Chu Army suddenly went out with a bucket, walked to the side of the trench of the Western Chu Army's guard camp, and filled a bucket of Western Chu Army's open water. He brought the river water from the Yellow River ashore, and couldn't wait to lie down next to the bucket and drink a cow to cool off the heat-the Yellow River water in this era is still quite clear, and it is not a big problem to drink it directly, let alone it has been in the ditch for a while. Add precipitation.

Seeing this scene, Wu Shi rolled his eyes, and hurriedly whispered to the attendant next to him: "If you can go in later, you must pay attention to the problem of water fetching by the Western Chu bandits."

At the same time, in the Western Chu army's big tent, the messenger had already forwarded Wu Shi's message to Cao Jiu, but Cao Jiu was also taken aback immediately, and blurted out, "Wu Shi, Qili Ji, one of the four heroes of Shangshan? Kang Rebel is so rude, how could he send such a respected, respected, respected person as an envoy?"

"Big Sima, no matter who it is, it's best not to see him." Kuai Che who was beside him quickly dissuaded him.

What Kuai Che said this time is tantamount to saying nothing. Everyone knows how famous the four old men of Shangshan are. Even Liu Laosan, an old rascal who likes to pee in a Confucian hat, has to be respectful to them, and he even changed the crown prince. Such major national events have changed their minds because of the appearance of the four old men of Shangshan, let alone Cao Jiu.So Cao Jiu glared at Kuai Che immediately, and shouted angrily, "How famous is Shangshan Sihao among the scholars? Mr. Qiliji among them came to visit in person. If I don't see you, spread the word, and all the scholars in the world will Why don't people all say that we, Xichu, don't respect the elders, and don't respect celebrities?"

Kuai Che, who is also a scholar, had no choice but to shut up, but Cao Jiu hurriedly shouted, "Quickly, come out to meet Mr. Qiliji with this Commander."

(End of this chapter)