Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 419

The sky is getting brighter, and the dawn is shining on the land of Nanyang. Along the road from Yexian County, the north gate of Nanyang, to Yangcheng, there are soldiers corpses in military uniforms everywhere. Many corpses are still incomplete, and the dark red blood is mixed with dew. , flowing slowly, forming small depressions in the depressions, from time to time you can see wild dogs with human remains in their mouths shuttling through the grass, hungry wolves rushing out of the dense forest, grabbing a piece of human flesh and rushing back to the woods, crows even more It is cheering on the branches, hovering in the sky, rising and falling from time to time.

Already used to such a scene, Xiang Kang basically turned a blind eye to it, and he didn't rush to ask the Han soldiers who were resting in the wilderness to clean up the battlefield, because Xiang Kang knew very well that the Han soldiers were too tired now.

In one night, when they had only experienced an attack on the camp the previous day, the soldiers of the Han army rushed out and chased them for nearly sixty miles in one breath. He fought a fierce battle with the Nanyang army many times during the pursuit. He was already exhausted from the beginning to the end, and he was exhausted. It was the time when he needed to rest and breathe the most. Xiang Kang, who still knew how to care about the soldiers, of course would not respect the enemy's corpse for some reason. The moral vain name of the Han army forced the soldiers of the Han army to deal with the bodies of the dead soldiers who accounted for the majority of the soldiers of the Nanyang army as soon as possible.

About halfway through the time, the cavalry brigade of the Han army came back to Xiang Kang. The head of the cavalry of the Han army, Guan Ying, was covered in dust, blood and sweat, and reported to Xiang Kang helplessly. : "My Majesty Qi, my servants are incompetent. I chased them all the way to the city of Yangcheng, but failed to find the whereabouts of Liu Ji, the Nanyang thief king, and Han Xin, the pseudo-general of the Nanyang thief army, whose whereabouts are also unknown."

Xiang Kang smiled, even more helpless than Guan Ying, and said with a smile: "It's okay, it's normal, that bastard Liu Ji is famous for being good at running for his life, it's dark and the battlefield is chaotic, it's normal that you can't find him. It doesn't matter, I can't kill him this time, and next time, he won't be able to run away. It's the same with Han Xin, the Skynet is fully restored, and he won't be able to run away in the future."

After comforting Guan Ying and himself, Xiang Kang casually asked about the current situation in Yangcheng, and Guan Ying replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, when my subordinates led their troops to chase and kill Yangcheng, the Western Chu bandit army had already fled beforehand." When we arrived in Yangcheng, because the soldiers and horses were exhausted, the ministers did not dare to take the risk of continuing to fight with them. They just tried their best to eliminate the Nanyang bandit army that could catch up, and quickly withdrew. Fortunately, the Xichu bandit army should also be exhausted. Enough, so I didn't take the initiative to send troops to fight with my subordinates."

"It's smart to calculate profits." Xiang Kang snorted coldly, and then asked Guan Ying: "How about the loss of our cavalry?"

"I haven't had time to check it carefully, but it must have exceeded the thousand people mark." Guan Ying obviously had a distressed expression when he answered this, and quickly added: "However, I can assure you that last night, my army at least killed There are six or seven thousand Nanyang bandit troops."

"Good job." Xiang Kang praised, and then said: "In addition to the beheading and captives of our infantry, plus the separation and escape, even if Liu Ji is lucky and really escapes to Yangcheng, it is impossible for him to reunite. We have assembled an army that can pose a threat to us. In this battle, we have basically achieved the goal of killing the main force of the Nanyang bandit army. You take the cavalry to rest for a while, and then you retreat first. The king personally leads the infantry brigade to you Empress."

Guan Ying agreed, and then dragged his extremely exhausted body back to the team to rest on the spot, and after a while, the messenger sent by Longqie also came to Xiang Kang, and reported to Xiang Kang that Longqie had been injured last night. Although most of the elite Nanyang army led by Fan Kui was wiped out by relying on the superiority of troops, more than 1000 Nanyang soldiers still fled at night. In addition, Liu Laosan's brother-in-law, Fan Kui, was also missing and was not captured and killed by the soldiers of the Han army. .

Xiang Kang himself didn't take this seriously, and he had already prepared in his heart. Chen Ping, who came with the army next to him, was quite surprised, and said puzzledly: "Liu Jipifu and his subordinates, how can one run better than the other? Liu Jihe Han Xin ran wildly, and Zhou Bo, who was facing General Zhujishi, also ran wildly, why even Fan Kui, who was at the back, also ran wildly? The gang in Pei County are all loach?"

"Historically, you and Zhang Liang are not much better, they are also oil-coated loaches." Xiang Kang muttered in his heart, and said with a smile: "It's not surprising, they all crawled out of the pile of dead people, there is no point. Even if they have the ability to escape for their lives, they will not survive today. Last night, our main brigade was able to directly behead Zhou Ke, the general of the Nanyang bandit army, and this king is already satisfied."

"Your Majesty, it is best to ignore the threat of these common people." Lou Jing, another counselor who came with the army, carefully reminded: "The thieves generals like Fan Kuai, Zhou Bo, and Han Xin are either brave or have both wisdom and courage. Loyalty is unwavering, after they return to Liu Ji, as long as they are given a little time and opportunity, I am afraid that they will soon help Liu Ji form a threat to us again."

Of course Xiang Kang understands this truth better than anyone else, but there is no way, Liu Laosan and his friends from Pei County can run one by one, if Xiang Kang can't catch up with them and can't find them, what can he do to them?So Xiang Kang could only nod his head, and then asked casually: "Chen Ping, Lou Jing, in your opinion, if Liu Ji really fled to Yangcheng, and then went south to attack Yangcheng before we had time What will he do next if he has gathered some remnants and defeated generals to some extent?"

After a little calculation in place, Lou Jing, who has unique insights into strategy and tactics, quickly replied: "Reporting to the king, in the opinion of my subordinates, Liu Jipifu should have two choices next, one is to resolutely retreat to Wancheng, Use the solid defenses of Wancheng to contend with us for a long time, and wait for the main force of the Western Chu bandit army led by the King of Western Chu to rescue us. The second is to leave an army to defend Wancheng, and lead an army to retreat to Deng County (now Xiangfan City). Use the defense of Wancheng to gain time, and be prepared to cross the Hanshui River south at any time."

"Afterwards, Liu Jipifu can play by ear and adapt to the situation." Lou Jing continued: "If it is proved through actual combat that Wancheng's solid city defense can stop our new-style trebuchets, there is hope for a long time, Liu Ji You can wait patiently for the reinforcements of the King of Western Chu in Deng County. If Wancheng is also quickly captured by us, Liu Jipifu will definitely withdraw to Nanjun immediately, taking advantage of the natural dangers of the Han River and the long road to delay time, waiting for the rescue of the King of Western Chu reinforce."

Xiang Kang deduced in his mind, and found that Liu Laosan was indeed only left with these two relatively safe options when the main force was severely injured, so he nodded and said, "Liu Jipifu himself fled directly to Deng Xiaoping." Although the county or Nanjun is very beneficial for us to win Wancheng and the whole territory of Nanyang, I hope he had better not do this. My brother’s main force of the Western Chu Army is indeed a threat behind us. If it is delayed for a long time, it is easy to cause problems, and it is in our best interest to kill our remnant enemies on the southern front in Wancheng and make a quick decision."

"I'm afraid Liu Jipifu will come to this conclusion." Chen Ping said next to him: "Especially when we go south to Wancheng, we must take Ye County and Yangcheng. Destructive power, as long as Liu Jipifu knows the situation through detailed operations, I am afraid that he will be more determined to flee directly to Nanjun."

Xiang Kang planned not to speak, but Lou Jing suddenly had an idea, and hurriedly said: "My lord, how come we forgot to consider the existence of the Liji Division of the Western Chu Rebel Army? If the Liji man uses it, maybe he can give it to us." Can you help me a lot?"

"That's right, why were we so confused and forgot to consider that Li Qipifu can be used?" Chen Ping also woke up, and hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, you made a promise yesterday that as long as Li Qipifu leads the troops to leave first, we will take advantage of it." Never send troops to hunt him down, he did, and you have fulfilled your promise, my lord. With this tacit understanding, as long as we think of a way, maybe we can hope to use Liji's hand to kill Liu Ji directly. "

"How to do it?" Xiang Kang asked calmly.

"Tempting them for profit." Chen Ping said gloomyly: "Life is not very important in the tent of the King of Western Chu. Now the Nanyang bandit army is seriously injured, and it is about to be destroyed. Your Majesty, you only need to secretly send an envoy with him." Li Jipifu contacted him and asked him to take advantage of the opportunity of joining forces with Liu Jipifu to kill Liu Jipifu suddenly, and then entrust the land of Nanyang to him, and let him replace Liu Jipifu as the king of Nanyang. Lijipifu coveted the throne, It might be possible to agree.”

Of course Xiang Kang was moved when he heard this, but after careful consideration, Xiang Kang shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult. First, Mr. Liu Jipi is too cunning. He will not prevent us from continuing to instigate rebellion and has already betrayed him." Liji once. Second, Lijipifu is a general of Western Chu, not only his parents and family members are all in Chudi, but there are also many generals of Western Chu who are loyal to my brother, and he secretly negotiated with him to persuade him to withdraw first. He can agree to the opportunity to save the Xichu bandit army, and his subordinates will not object too much, but if we let him lead the Xichu bandit army to openly betray, the generals of the Western Chu army who are loyal to my brother will definitely not Promise, Lippief will not ignore these things."

"Also, the third." Xiang Kang added: "In order to win the support of the princes, my elder brother made the generals Zang Tu, Shen Yang, and Sima Ang kings, which has already caused chaos in the world. .If this king instigates rebellion against the enemy again, he will assassinate the princes and kings and reward them with cracking the earth. His behavior is worse than my elder brother, and there will definitely be more troubles in the future!"

Both Chen Ping and Lou Jing are very politically minded, and they immediately woke up after hearing Xiang Kang's words, knowing that in Xiang Kang's position, they really can't use the means of becoming a king to instigate a few self-made troops to kill Liu Laosan— — Otherwise, if Zhou Shu, Zheng Bu, Li Shang and other generals of the Han army who are currently in command of the army all follow the example of Liji, there will be chaos in the world!
After categorically refusing to instigate rebellion against Li Ji with the means of becoming a king, Xiang Kang suddenly felt a move in his heart, and secretly said: "I can't give Li Ji a title, but I can give Li a few titles as a Marquis? With Liu Laosan's cunning, and I like to instigate rebellion." As for the habit of alienation, Liu Laosan will definitely prevent me from repeating the old tricks, and the instigator has already betrayed his profit once, if I do something about this point, maybe there is hope for miraculous results."

After having this idea, he settled down to think carefully for a while, Xiang Kang made up his mind, and ordered: "Order the whole army to retreat to Ye County to rest. Pick a few prisoners of the Nanyang Army who are familiar with Liu Ji's appearance, and give them some Preferential treatment is of great use to me. Besides, arrange careful monitoring of the situation in Yangcheng, as long as it is confirmed that Liu Ji has fled to Yangcheng, report to me immediately."

The order was quickly conveyed, and the various ministries of the Han Army who had been resting on the spot for a period of time also set off to the north one by one, and retreated to the Ye County camp to rest at ease. Needless to say, according to the practice of this era, the soldiers of the Han Army naturally did not forget to bring them with them. The enemy's heads they cut off on the battlefield last night were ready to be exchanged for military rank rewards after returning to camp.At the same time, Chen Ping, who was in charge of the intelligence work of the Han army, also dispatched special agents to closely monitor Yangcheng as required.

When the main force of the Han army returned to the camp in Ye County, it was already dark. Xiang Kang, who hadn’t slept for two days and one night, yawned and hurriedly entrusted the night defense task to Ding Ji’s troops who hadn’t participated in the battle yesterday. Didn't eat, went back to the dormitory and slept until dawn.Then when Xiang Kang was still eating breakfast, Chen Ping came to him, and said with a wry smile: "My lord, our detailed work has confirmed that Liu Ji's banner did reappear in Yangyang yesterday afternoon." The head of the city."

"Understood." Xiang Kang nodded, and then ordered casually: "Mr. Chen Ping, have you had breakfast? If you haven't eaten, eat with me. I have something to ask you after the meal."

Chen Ping, who was in a hurry to report the situation to Xiang Kang, did not eat breakfast. After sitting down to eat with Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang quickly put all the rough food in the bowl into his mouth, and then let the guards wipe his mouth. He took a silk pen, sat down and took up the pen himself again, and wrote another letter to Li Ji, the commander of the Southern Front Corps of the Western Chu Army.

Out of curiosity, Chen Ping stood aside with a bowl in his hand to watch Xiang Kang write the letter, but saw that Xiang Kang first thanked Li Ji in the letter, thanked Li Ji for helping him run first, and created a situation for himself to try his best to avenge Liu Laosan. Opportunity, promised that if there is an opportunity in the future, I will definitely thank Liji a lot.Then he told Liji plainly that he already knew that Liu Laosan had fled to Yangcheng, and he also guessed that Liu Laosan would continue to flee south soon, so he asked Liji to do his best to persuade Liu Laosan to lead the army to retreat to Hanshui He promised that as long as Liji could do this, no matter when Liji was willing to submit to the Han army in the future, he would make Liji a marquis and give food to [-] households.

Seeing that Xiang Kang wrote this, Chen Ping also fully understood Xiang Kang's meaning, and said, "Your Majesty, are you trying to get caught? You deliberately asked Li Ji to persuade Liu Ji to retreat directly to Hanshui, arousing Liu Ji's rebellious heart and seducing Liu Ji. Did Jipifu stick to Wancheng with all his strength? Will this backfire and make Liu Jipifu make the most unfavorable choice for us?"

"As long as you can persuade Dongli to help, it will definitely not be counterproductive." Xiang Kang replied confidently: "Liu Jipifu directly retreats to the front line of Hanshui. Although it is indeed not good for us, he will not ignore the people of Nanjun If you don't agree with the problem of weak money and food, you will not be willing to just give us the fertile land of Nanyang. This man is treacherous, and he will definitely prevent us from secretly rebelling against Liji. Liji only needs to persuade him not to defend Wancheng and go south directly. , he will definitely have doubts, and then he will be more inclined to stick to Wancheng with all his strength."

After talking about this, Xiang Kang handed the letter to Chen Ping, and ordered: "Arrange a meticulous work, bring a generous gift, and send this letter to Liji as soon as possible, the better."

Chen Ping immediately sang the promise, and quickly took the letter with both hands, Xiang Kang then ordered: "Also, our military officials should already be counting the heads, and call out those prisoners of the Nanyang Army that I asked you to pick yesterday. Let them pick someone who looks like Mrs. Liu Jipi from among their leaders, the more like him the better..."

"Then send it to Ye County, so that the Nanyang Bandit Army in Ye County will think that Liu Jipifu is dead, and take the opportunity to persuade the helpless Nanyang Bandit Army to surrender."

Chen Ping finished speaking for Xiang Kang with a smile, and Xiang Kang smiled and said: "Mr. Chen Ping, who knows me, please leave this matter to you. Also, if there is no accident, Liu Ji will definitely stay An army is defending Yangcheng, buy him time, find out the situation of the Nanyang bandit army staying in Yangcheng as soon as possible, try to find a way to break the city directly without using our catapults, so that the Nanyang bandit army can't figure out the details of our siege. "

Chen Ping sang promises again, and hurriedly acted according to Xiang Kang's orders, and at the same time selected a capable and capable spy from the Han army under his command, and asked him to go south immediately to Yangcheng with Xiang Kang's letter and a pair of jade buckets Go and get in touch with Liji.While arranging for the dispatch of the Nanyang Army prisoners selected in advance, they selected a head that looked similar to Liu Laosan from the pile of Nanyang Army heads piled up with people, and then relying on the huge base number, they really quickly captured the head In the pile, I found a Nanyang soldier leader who looked very similar to Liu Laosan...

Let’s first take a look at the situation on the side of the Han army, which was a little bit out of Xiang Kang’s surprise, because Yangcheng is only [-] miles away from Ye County. They had already taken the remnants of the Nanyang Army's defeated generals and headed southward, fled in a hurry towards Wancheng, and voluntarily gave up their tents and luggage. In order not to sleep in the open for a long time, they also went southward under the leadership of Liji, and they were very loyal. '' took on the task of the rear of the palace, so when the Han army Xizuo arrived in Yangcheng, the target Liji had disappeared.

Fortunately, the meticulous work arranged by Chen Ping was very effective and competent. After inquiring about the West Chu Army, he left at noon, and immediately chased him on foot. The scouts of the Western Chu Army got a chance to meet Liji, and personally handed Xiang Kang's letter and the gift of thanks to Liji.

Same as the last time, after reading Xiang Kang's letter, Liji still didn't make any statement, and sent someone to send the Han army's spy away without any reply.However, what Liji didn't know was that Liu Laosan, who was as treacherous as a fox, had not only been suspicious of him long ago, but had already paid off two of his personal soldiers with a lot of money. After a while, he was directly reported to Liu Laosan...

(End of this chapter)