Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 471
This time, the children of the Xiang family finally did not rely on Xiang Yu and Xiang Kang to fight for their own strength. Although Liu Laosan repeatedly inquired around the bush, Xiang Zhuang, Xiang Han and others still tacitly kept their mouths shut and did not take Shangshan old man Zhou Shu to heart. What they said was told to Liu Laosan, the chief culprit of the Hangu Pass incident, and insisted that Zhou Shu was just persuading them with some nonsense that they should not fight each other, and then issued a ban on the other people present at the time, not to reveal anything the wind.

Not to mention, because apart from the treacherous and cunning scum of Xiang Kang, the sons of the Xiang family, that is, Xiang Bo, Master Xiang's precious son Xiang You, is more slippery, and the other Xiang family children are usually honest and honest. In the courtesy letter from Uncle Zhou brought by Zhou Shu, there was no mention of asking Xiang Zhuang and others to investigate the truth of the Hangu Pass incident by themselves, so this time even Liu Laosan was rarely deceived by Xiang Zhuang and others. Suspicion arose, all he could do was cry for Xiang Sheng, who was unfortunately killed in battle, and vowed to avenge Xiang Sheng.

Of course, Liu Laosan was just talking about revenge. After being severely injured in the breakout battle, the remnants of the Chuji coalition forces who finally fled back to Boyang totaled less than 8000 people, even in Boyang City, the capital of Jibei. Thousands of troops were supplemented in Li, and the total strength was only about one-tenth of that of the northern army of the Han army. The Northern Front Army avenged Xiang Sheng.

Because of this, on the night when Xiang Sheng's coffin was welcomed back, it was basically confirmed that it was impossible for more remnants to flee back to Boyang and return to the army. They got together and held a meeting to discuss the next step.

After the meeting started, Liu Laosan rushed to be the first to speak, and said straight to the point: "Zuo Sima, King Jibei, and all the generals, in my opinion, in our current situation, there is no way to defend Boyang." There is no hope, and because the water volume of Wenshui is far less than that of Dahe Jishui, it is basically impossible to rely on Wenshui to stop the traitors. Therefore, I think that we had better make preparations to give up Boyang earlier. Withdraw to the battlefield that is beneficial to us to regroup and wait for reinforcements."

Out of duty, Xiang Zhuang temporarily put aside the words of Zhou Shu, the old Shangshan man, and asked, "Then where should we retreat?"

"Two options." Liu Laosan, who had considered this point carefully for a long time, replied immediately: "One is to retreat westward to the Wuyan area of ​​Zhang County in the north of Juyeze, and use the complex terrain with many rivers there to confront the Han bandits. , waiting for our King of Western Chu to return from Puyang for reinforcements. The second is to withdraw directly to the south to the hinterland of Xue County, lengthen the supply line of the Han bandits, trade space for time, wait for our king to return from Chidao for reinforcements, and shorten our The northward journey of other reinforcements behind the Western Chu."

"Absolutely can't withdraw to Zhang County Wuyan." Han Xin said calmly: "If we retreat westward to Zhang County Wuyan, Zhou Shupifu will immediately understand that we want to join forces with the King of Western Chu in the northern part of Juyeze , and will definitely seize the opportunity to attack decisively, and then the traitor Xiang Kang will also take the opportunity to lead his army to pursue, and join hands with Zhou Shupifu to attack us and the army of the King of Western Chu, directly launching a decisive battle between Han and Chu."

"In the decisive battle in the northern part of Juyeze, everything is not good for us." Han Xin added: "First of all, our food roads cannot be guaranteed. Although there is a waterway between the Wuyan area of ​​​​Zhangxian County and our important town of Dingtao, the middle There is a Juyeze that is the lair of the Pengyue bandit army. With the ability of the Pengyue bandit army, after receiving the assistance of the Han bandits, it is easy to cut off our water supply road. On the contrary, the Han bandits can pass through the waterway of Jishui, from Licheng sends an endless supply of supplies to the front line, and will not have to worry about food supply like we do."

"In addition, the northern part of Juyeze is far away from our hinterland of Western Chu. Our follow-up reinforcements are easily surrounded by Han thieves and defeated one by one. Therefore, if we join forces with the King of Western Chu in the Wuyan area of ​​Zhang County, not only will we still have no hope of turning the tables, Even the army led by the King of Western Chu will be in danger of being wiped out by the Han bandits."

Liu Laosan nodded, and then said: "There is no way, we just have to retreat to the hinterland of Xue County, which is the last choice, Zuo Sima, what do you think?"

We must be responsible for the lives of the remaining soldiers of the Western Chu Army. After hesitating for a while, Xiang Zhuang nodded and said, "That's the best thing to do. If it is confirmed that the Han bandits continue to attack Boyang southward, we will immediately retreat to the south." Go to the hinterland of Xue County."

Seeing that Xiang Zhuang approved Liu Laosan's suggestion, the Jinbei Wang Tianda who had been on a complicated expression before hesitated again and again, but couldn't help asking: "Zuo Sima, Peigong, what about Boyang? The capital."

"King of Jibei, the foreign ministers know that you are reluctant." Liu Laosan said with a wry smile: "But there is no way, the situation is here, sticking to Boyang is definitely a dead end, leaving the green hills to have firewood, so you, King of Jibei This time, we can only reluctantly part with each other. Not only do we have to voluntarily give up Boyang, but we also have to try our best to transfer the food, grass and military supplies in Boyang City to the south, and burn all the ones that cannot be taken away. Otherwise, the traitors will be cheap Not to mention, the traitors will definitely use these military supplies to continue their pursuit and not give us a chance to breathe."

Tian Da turned his face away in pain, but Jibei Xiang Tianliu refused to give up, and said, "Zuo Sima, Peigong, can't think of another way? Boyang is the capital of our Jibei country, and the city is high, deep and well fortified. , if you stick to it with all your strength, there may not be no hope of keeping it?"

"I can't hold it." Liu Laosan shook his head in pain, and said: "No matter how strong Boyang City is, how can it be as strong as Julu Puyang, a famous city in the world? Even Julu and Puyang can't stop the weird trebuchets of the Han bandits. Let alone Boyang."

On Jinji Ridge, he saw with his own eyes the scene of the Han army using counterweight trebuchets to attack Licheng. Of course, Tian Da, Wang of Jibei, also understood that what Liu Laosan said was definitely not an exaggeration. After gritted his teeth, Tian Da simply said: "This king can Give up Boyang voluntarily, but Zuo Sima, Pei Gong, and this king still have a problem. If the Han bandits take Boyang and still refuse to give up, and continue to pursue south, what should we do? Pengcheng retreated to Huainan, and then to Jiangdong, right?"

Liu Laosan was completely speechless, and he replied after a long while: "We can only take one step at a time. First, try to lengthen the supply road of the Han bandits as much as possible, and buy time to join forces with our king's main force, and then we can discuss the next step. How to go."

Tian Da sneered helplessly, disdainful of Liu Laosan's perfunctory answer, and then Tian Liu had a whim, and suddenly said: "My lord, Zuo Sima, since you all think that you should take the initiative to give up Boyang, why don't we take advantage of this?" Make some fuss and try to instigate that idiot, Uncle Zhou?"

"Is Tian Xiang telling a joke?" Liu Laosan laughed outright, and said, "Let's not say that Mr. Zhou Shupifu is already the general of the Han bandits. Given the current situation, how could that idiot Uncle Zhou vote for us... Huh?"

Speaking of this with a wry smile, Liu Laosan's heart suddenly moved, and he was surprised, and changed his words: "Why did I forget this method? In the current situation, it is impossible for Uncle Zhou to surrender to us, but we can instigate him and persuade him." Does he establish himself as king? As long as he covets the throne and betrays that traitor Xiang Kang, not only will our current crisis be resolved immediately, but the entire war situation in the world will also be completely reversed?"

"That's what I mean." Tian Liu nodded and said, "Since the king and Zuo Sima both think that you should give up Boyang on your own initiative, then we might as well expand our favor and send someone to contact Uncle Zhou to take the initiative. Offering Boyang as an excuse, he took the opportunity to persuade that idiot Uncle Zhou to betray the traitor Xiang Kang and lead his army to establish himself as king in Qidi. It will definitely not kill us all, and then we will not only get a chance to breathe, but also seriously weaken the overall strength of the traitors, completely reversing our current increasingly passive strategic situation."

Having said that, after taking a look at his master Tian Da, Tian Liu quickly added: "Of course, as compensation, we have to ask the King of Western Chu to give us a piece of land from other places to make up for the loss of our Jibei Army." Loss."

Hearing this, Tian Da also immediately understood what Tian Liu meant. Considering that he would not be able to keep the land of Jibei no matter what, and was about to live under the hedge of others by begging for leftovers from the Western Chu Army, Tian Da made a little calculation and immediately said: "Zuo Sima , Pei Gong, as long as the King of Western Chu promises to make up for the losses of our Jibei army, then the king can not only voluntarily cede the entire territory of Jibei, but also use the strength of our Tian clan to help Zhou Shupifu become king in Qidi. In exchange for Zhou Shupifu rebelling against the Han bandit army and turning the world around."

"The problem is definitely not a big one. The king of Chu in the west is wise and powerful. For the sake of overall consideration, he will definitely not be stingy to compensate you for the king of Jibei." Liu Laosan immediately drew a big cake for the Jibei army, then turned to Xiang Zhuang and said: "Zuo Sima, what's your opinion? If you agree, we will immediately discuss how to instigate against Uncle Zhou."

It is still due to duty, although Xiang Zhuang's heart has begun to waver, but after repeated calculations, Xiang Zhuang still said: "This matter is too big, we must first report to the king, and then act according to the king's decision."

"Zuo Sima, don't miss this opportunity, never miss it again." Liu Laosan hurriedly said: "Uncle Zhou's camp is only more than a day away from Boyang, and it is possible to come south to attack Boyang at any time. If we want to Waiting for the king to make a decision before taking action, it is very likely to waste the precious opportunity of using Boyang to instigate Zhou Shupifu. In the final view, it is best for us to send someone to report the situation to the king, and at the same time to instigate Zhou. Shupifu will establish himself as king! If this move is successful, the situation in the world will definitely reverse immediately. Even if it doesn’t succeed, we can still make Xiang Kang’s rebel suspicious of Zhou Shupifu, so that our king can personally instigate rebellion after agreeing!”

"Also." Liu Laosan added: "According to the general's opinion, considering the current situation in the world, our king will definitely not object to our plan. After knowing the situation, he will only praise us for doing a good job. Yes, we will definitely not blame us for taking the initiative and making this decision for him."

Xiang Zhuang, who lacked his own opinions, still hesitated, but he couldn't stand Liu Laosan's repeated persuasion, and Tian Da, who was about to send him under the fence, hoped to exchange favors with Xiang Yu to compensate himself, and continued to help persuade Xiang Zhuang to make a decision. Xiang Zhuang finally reluctantly He nodded and said, "Okay, then you guys discuss how to do it quickly, and then we will act according to plan."

Liu Laosan, Tian Da and the others were overjoyed when they heard that, they hurriedly discussed, and soon decided to send an eloquent debater as an envoy, carrying Xiang Zhuang's letter to Zhou Shu, and went north to contact Zhou Shu, so as to actively donate the whole territory of Qi. In exchange for acknowledging Uncle Zhou as the king of Qi, he tried his best to persuade Uncle Zhou to betray Xiang Kang and make himself king, and induced other Han soldiers to report to Xiang Kang. At the same time, he gave up Boyang, which was impossible to defend, without any resistance , Doing Shun Shui favors proves the sincerity of the Western Chu Army's willingness to turn enemies into friends with Uncle Zhou, and also induces Wenwu and Xiang Kang of the Han Army to become more suspicious of Uncle Zhou.

Unable to resist Liu Laosan and Tian Da's repeated pleas, Xiang Zhuang first wrote a letter instigating rebellion to Uncle Zhou, and then wrote a letter to Xiang Yu, explaining the whole story to Xiang Yu, asking Xiang Yu to forgive and support his decision to exceed his authority .However, when Xiang Zhuang arranged for people to deliver the letter to Xiang Yu, Han Xin who was next to him suddenly said: "Zuo Sima, wait a minute, I have a question. Come to the letter that Uncle Zhou wrote to you?"

"Brought one, the content is to comfort me not to be too sad, why?" Xiang Zhuang asked suspiciously.

"Great!" Liu Laosan next to him woke up and jumped up and said, "Zuo Sima, please send the letter written to you by Uncle Zhou, together with the letter you just wrote, to the front line of Puyang." Go and give it to our king!"

After all, he was a person who spent a lot of time with the top bad guy Xiang Kang, Xiang Zhuang also immediately understood the meaning of Liu Laosan and Han Xin, and said: "Pei Gong, what do you mean, let our king arrange someone to imitate Zhou Shupifu's behavior?" Handwriting seals, forging his letters to alienate Han thieves and ministers?"

"To be precise, it's a direct complaint!" Liu Laosan said with a smirk: "Xiang Kang's traitor has always liked to forge other people's letters to sow discord, and now it's our turn to use his methods to deal with him. I don't believe it anymore. He really has absolute confidence in Zhou Shupifu, who commands more troops than him! Then he only needs to do something to Zhou Shupifu, and our affairs will be much easier!"

Xiang Zhuang made some calculations, nodded, and first ordered the guards to find Zhou Shu's letter from Uncle Zhou that Zhou Shu had brought by the way today, hand it over to the courier and send it to the front line of Puyang, and then said in his heart: "Repaying grievances directly is a I will remember what you said."

"Uncle Zhou, don't blame me for using despicable means to harm you." Han Xin also said in his heart: "You are the one who is shameless first, and you will only rely on more to win when you fight with me. I can only use this method to get rid of you, a troublesome opponent. As long as the traitor Xiang Kang tricks you into taking away your military power, even if we only have more than 2 troops left, I may not be able to defeat the 20-odd army of your traitors!"

(End of this chapter)