Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 472

Now it's time to take a look at the situation in the middle battlefield of the Chu-Han War. Unlike the turbulent and winding northern battlefield, the middle battle that unfolded almost at the same time was just a little saw-saw in the early stage, and then it has been in the middle of the battle. In a stalemate, neither side had any chance to really defeat their opponents, and there was no hope of deciding the outcome from the beginning to the end.

Like the battlefield on the northern front, the Han army, which had gradually gained the strategic advantage, was the first to fight in the central battle. Just after receiving the news that Uncle Zhou was about to attack, Zheng Bu, the general of the Han army guarding Puyang, was about to attack Li Zuo. With Che's assistance, he led [-] Han troops to the south to attack Dingtao, an important town of the Western Chu army. He joined forces with Zhongli Mei and other ministries, and continued to march into Puyang to reinforce Zheng Bu.

Then, as expected by Xiang Kang, Uncle Zhou and others, although he knew that the Han army marched into Dingtao to share the pressure on the northern battlefield and force the main force of the Western Chu army to march into the middle to defend the hinterland, Xiang Yu decisively chose to lead the army in person. The scumbag cousin entrusted the full responsibility of the northern line to his obedient cousin Xiang Zhuang, and did not dare to entrust the big north to let others confront the scumbag cousin Xiang Kang.

By the way, even if Xiang Yu plucked up the courage to let his subordinates fight against Xiang Kang, and risked going north to reinforce Qi, such a choice would not help, because the Han army advancing eastward from the central and northern lines at the same time could adjust its strategy at any time, so that Zhou Shu The corps took on the task of entanglement with Xiang Yu's main force, and Xiang Kang personally led the army as the main attack. At that time, the Han army aggressively entered the hinterland of Western Chu, which was seriously empty of troops, and cut off Xiang Yu's connection with the rear of Western Chu. The loss of the Western Chu army was obvious. Only bigger.In addition, Xiang Kang hadn't added troops to the northern front at that time, and the Han army had a clear advantage in the middle, so even old man Fan didn't dare to oppose Xiang Yu's decision, so he could only bite the bullet and let Xiang Yu passively fight.

After Xiang Yu, who was invincible in the field, led more than 13 main forces to approach Dingtao, Zheng Bu's troops of the Han army who were fighting with Huanchu, of course, slipped faster than rabbits, and quickly withdrew from the Dingtao battlefield after paying a certain price. Flee back to Puyang and join Xiang Kang who has arrived here.Then, because the strength of the Han army in the middle battlefield was too strong, Xiang Yu was not in a hurry to go north to Puyang to seek a decisive battle. It was very rare to take a defensive position in front of his scumbag cousin, and gathered troops in the Dingtao area and the Han army in the middle. The main force confronts each other far away.

During this period, great changes also took place in the distant southern battlefield. After the Han army's southern army successfully broke through the Western Chu army's Hanshui defense line, Li Ji, a general of the Western Chu army whose ambition was inversely proportional to his strength, was doomed to defeat. Yingbu and his father-in-law Wu Rui, who had a large number of remaining troops in Nanjun and Changsha, could easily clean up the remnants of the troops, and the Han army's Li Shang and Ding Ji were also able to spare themselves to go north to help the battlefield in the middle, prompting Xiang Kang to make a decision. The decision to give priority to increasing troops on the northern front led to the fact that even though Uncle Zhou did not ask Xiang Kang for help, Xiang Kang took the initiative to send reinforcements to Uncle Zhou.

Xiang Kang's decision not only expanded the strength of the Han army on the northern front, but also succeeded in completely angering the violent Xiang Yu. Seeing that his scumbag cousin dared to despise him so much, he took the initiative to weaken the troops in the middle and did not treat himself as a dish. Feeling that he had been greatly insulted, Xiang Yu immediately raised his troops to the north, and led an army of 16 Western Chu, including Huan Chu's troops, to attack his scum cousin, who had weakened his troops to about 12.

What followed was, of course, the brutal, bloody and doomed useless offensive and defensive battle of the camp. Following the example of Zhang Han back then and Cao Jiu later, Xiang Kang shamelessly opened trenches to divert water, using the water from the Yellow River, which was not an above-ground river in this era, to fill deep trenches. In cooperation with the fortification of the wall, a strong fortress was built under the city of Puyang. While standing firm and not fighting, he also took time to make a man with a beautiful woman in his arms. Cousin, provoking and provoking, luring the Western Chu army to continue onslaught.

The camp was originally built extremely strong, and the main force guarding the camp was the elite troops under the generals of the Han army, such as Long Qi, Zhongli Mei, Ding Ji, and Zheng Bu. And when Xiang Yu rubbed the many swellings on his head and finally came back to his senses, it was too late. His 16 main force had already sunk in the mud on the Puyang battlefield. Complete containment, even if you receive a letter from Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da asking for help, it will be difficult to free up your hands to reinforce the northern line.

During this period, Xiang Yu, Fan Laotou and the others, apart from desperately urging the rear army in Jiangdong Huainan to go north, of course also considered the risky plan to divide the troops to rescue the Chu-Ji coalition army, but thinking of Cao Jiu's previous lesson of staying in Puyang, Xiang Yu was even more rare. I didn't dare to act impulsively - it would be useless to draw less troops from the middle, and it would only be destined to give the Han army a chance to encircle and attack reinforcements on the northern line. Also defeated the Western Chu army one by one.

So after much hesitation, Xiang Yu, Fan Laotou and others were forced to give up their plan to draw troops from the middle to save Qidi, and chose to let Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da stand by themselves, waiting for the distant water in the east of Huainan to rescue the nearby fire, and It was hoped that the Qi State battlefield, which was still hopeful at that time, would be able to reverse the situation and provide direct help to the Chu-Ji coalition forces.

Because the Han army soon surrounded the Chu-Ji coalition army and cut off the connection between Xiangzhuang and others and the Western Chu army. Later, there was nothing to upset Xiang Yu. On the contrary, Tian Heng and Tian Wang, two Qi State The news sent by the rebels made Xiang Yu, Fan Laotou and others quietly relieved, thinking that even if the Qi rebels were not the opponents of the Han army, they would definitely be able to share the huge pressure on the Chuji coalition forces and provide support for the Western Chu army. The follow-up reinforcements bought the necessary time.

The cruel facts quickly shattered the dreams of Xiang Yu and others. Within a few days, Xiang Zhuang's letter of pleading guilty sent from Boyang was sent to Xiang Yu by a fast horse, and also brought Xiang Yu the rebels of Qi State and others. The bad news about the disastrous defeat of the Chuji Allied Forces. As a result, this time, not only did Xiang Yu not kick the case in front of him into the air like before, but he also sat still like a fool. It took a long time before his face was full of disbelief Said: "I lost so soon? And I lost so badly? How is it possible? If this is the case, then, then..."

"Then the traitors take advantage of the momentum and go south, what hope do we have?"

The voice of despair appeared in Xiang Yu's mouth for the first time in his life. Old man Fan, Kuai Che, Huan Chu and others present were all ashen ashes, their lips trembling, and they did not dare to imagine what the West Chu army would face in the future. situation.On the contrary, Master Xiang Boxiang was not as hopeless and helpless as they were. He just turned pale for a moment, and then quickly lowered his head, blinking his old eyes that were never cloudy and calculating quickly, with a thoughtful expression on his face.

After a long time, Xiang Yu asked, "Yafu, what should we do next?"

It was rare for Old Man Fan not to answer Xiang Yu's question right away, and he said after a while: "There are only two options, one is to withdraw troops as soon as possible, take advantage of the opportunity of the northern line to go south from Qidi to our hinterland, and slowly withdraw back to Pengcheng, Then concentrate your forces and prepare to resist the attack of the Han bandits."

"What about Dang County and Chen County?" Xiang Yu hurriedly asked, "And Dingtao and Xue County, what about these places?"

"My lord, do you think we still have hope of keeping these places?" Old Man Fan smiled wryly, and said, "After retreating to Pengcheng, if the situation is unfavorable, we have to consider retreating to Huainan and Jiangdong, of course, let alone these places .”

Xiang Yu turned his face away helplessly, and then asked, "What about the second method?"

"Peace."

The two words that old man Fan said made Master Xiang's eyes brighten, who was nervously calculating, and subconsciously raised his head to look at Xiang Yu. Unfortunately, after hearing these two words, Xiang Yu became furious and roared. He said: "What? Let me bow my head to that rebel Xiang Kang to ask for peace?"

"The old minister just told the king that we still have this choice." The old man Fan said expressionlessly: "Please rest assured, the king, because of Xiang Kang's traitor's hypocrisy, and the kinship between you and him, he will definitely not want you." life, but I will definitely ask you to abdicate, the king, and take the opportunity to annex our Western Chu."

"He's dreaming!" Xiang Yu roared, "I would rather die in battle than surrender to that shameless bastard!"

"Then we have only one choice." Old Man Fan replied with a helpless expression: "Before the Chinese bandits have time to go south and surround us, we should withdraw to Pengcheng as soon as possible, and then think of a way to deal with the attack of the Han bandits."

"Let me think about it again." Xiang Yu was still reluctant to take the initiative to give up the large tracts of land in the two directions northwest of Pengcheng, and said through gritted teeth: "This king think about it again and see if there is any other way to solve the current problem."

Old Man Fan sighed, and did not urge Xiang Yu to make a hasty decision. He just nodded and let Xiang Yu use his muscular brain to figure out the countermeasures. Huan Chu and Kuai Che next to him also frowned. There is nothing that can be done about the current critical situation.And Master Xiang Bo over there saw that he was in a cold spot, so he found an excuse to leave and left, and returned to his camp to implement the important decision he had just made.

There was no mobile force available at hand, and the northern front collapsed suddenly. Of course, Xiang Yu did not think of any way to solve the crisis he was facing that day. So had a sleepless night.Then in the morning of the next day, the eyeliner sent by old man Fan to the army suddenly came to make a small report, reporting to old man Fan who was handling military affairs: "My father, yesterday evening, there was a Xiang Bo Xiang Master's relatives left the camp and spent the night outside the camp, and did not return to our camp until early this morning, and went directly to see Master Xiang."

The brush in Old Man Fan's hand stopped, his snow-white beard trembled wildly, and he bit his teeth directly, but after breaking the brush in his hand, Old Man Fan sighed suddenly, and said to himself: "Forget it!" Well, that's the business of Xiang's family. Why is the old man meddling in so many other matters? Let him go. Anyway, the Han thieves will send the message to the traitors of Xiang Kang very quickly, and it won't affect anything. .”

After lamenting helplessly, old man Fan shook his head and put the matter aside, and continued to deal with the mountainous military affairs for Xiang Yu with a blank face. He suddenly remembered a sentence he had heard before—earthquake (earthquake) ) came, rats and mice always slipped faster than anyone else.

To old man Fan's surprise, in the afternoon, Xiang Yu suddenly sent someone to invite him to the Chinese Army Commander's Tent to discuss matters, and when he hurried to the Zhongjun Commander's Tent to meet Xiang Yu, he saw Xiang Yu's excited and ecstatic face, and couldn't wait He yelled: "Father Ya, come quickly, come and read the letter that my younger brother Xiang Zhuang sent a fast horse just now. He has thought of a good way for us. If this matter is done, we will not only return There is no need to worry, and you can definitely turn defeat into victory!"

Needless to say, the letter sent by Xiang Zhuang just now was of course asking Xiang Yu to allow him to fully instigate the letter of Zhou Shu, an important minister of the Han army. As a result, after reading this letter, old man Fan couldn't help but burst into ecstasy, and blurted out: : "Great plan! If this matter is done, we can indeed reverse the situation in the world immediately!"

The old man Fan reacted in this way, so it goes without saying that Kuai Che, another important counselor of the Western Chu Army, and the new chief Sima Huanchu, just after learning about the situation, said in unison: "Your Majesty, this plan is feasible! There are even more traitor armies under the command of the traitor Xiang Kang himself, as long as we can arouse his ambition and let him establish himself as king in Qidi, we can immediately turn everything around!"

After finishing speaking, Kuai Che quickly added another sentence, saying: "Even if it can't be directly successful, even Xiang Kang's traitor can be suspicious of Zhou Shupifu. As long as he doubts Zhou Shupifu's ambition to rebel against himself, he will Take action against Zhou Shupifu, and then we will add fuel to the fire, and continue to instigate Zhou Shupifu must have great hope! At the very least, it will also make the Han thieves, monarchs and ministers at odds, and mutual suspicion, which will benefit our next battle!"

"Then why are you still in a daze?" Xiang Yu shouted impatiently: "Hurry up, hurry up, discuss an idea quickly, and get this matter done no matter what!"

According to Xiang Yu's request, the resourceful old man Fan and Kuai Che joined forces, and quickly discussed and decided to cast a seal of the king of Qi and prepare a valuable gift, and sent envoys to Qi to give it to Uncle Zhou, and tried their best to persuade Uncle Zhou to stay in Qi. Claiming to be king and self-reliant, he divided the world with the Han army and the Western Chu army.Xiang Yu was overjoyed when he heard that, and immediately nodded in agreement, and ordered the craftsmen in the army to start casting the seal letter of the king of Qi immediately, and couldn't wait to pick up the letter written by Uncle Zhou sent by Xiang Zhuang with the letter, and said: "Brother also asked the messenger to bring us the letter by the way." I read Uncle Zhou’s letter, which was not only written by Uncle Zhou himself, but also the seal of Uncle Zhou’s General Han Thieves. He also brought a message saying that this letter must be of great use to us. What do you think is of great use? ?”

Old man Fan thought about it, but Kuai Che smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this matter is difficult to handle. Using this letter, it is not difficult to forge a letter that can prove that Zhou Shupifu intends to rebel against himself, but the forgery of the letter is not difficult. After we come out, we have no way to hand over the letter to the traitor Xiang Kang in a reasonable way?"

"Think of a way." Xiang Yu refused to give up and said, "That traitor always forges other people's letters to sow dissension. Kang traitor and Uncle Zhou!"

When Kuai Che was trying to figure it out, old man Fan suddenly had a heart move, and he quickly thought about it again, and then immediately turned to Master Xiang Bo, who was sitting beside him silently, and asked, "Master Xiang, I asked you to send someone to secretly deal with the traitor Xiang Kang yesterday. How are you doing with the contact?"

"what?!"

Everyone present was astonished, Xiang Bo and Master Xiang turned pale all of a sudden, and then Xiang Yu immediately exclaimed dumbfounded: "Yafu, you let my Uncle Ji and the traitor Xiang Kang secretly contact? Why did you do that?"

"Your Majesty, I will explain this matter to you later." Old Man Fan shook his head and refused to answer, but said to Master Xiang Bo, "Master Xiang, why don't you speak? The old man's people saw with their own eyes that you sent The secret envoy who contacted Xiang Kang's traitor has already returned to the camp, but the old man was busy with business just now, so I didn't have time to ask you the result, now there is no need to hide it from our king, tell me quickly, what is the result?"

Master Xiang's face was blue and white, and he was so flustered that he didn't know how to answer. Old man Fan understood what he was thinking, hurriedly stepped forward, dragged Master Xiang far away, and whispered in his ear: "To tell the truth, the old man will smooth things over for you, admitting that it was my arrangement for you to contact the traitor Xiang Kang, the king will never blame you. But if you don't tell the truth, don't blame the old man for not giving you face, send someone immediately Go and send you to your entourage to arrest and hand over to the king for interrogation. When the time comes, the king will get angry. I will see if you can still be granted the title of Heyonghou, live in the Tongzong Palace in Xianyang, and enjoy three thousand households (details) See Chapter [-] of this book)."

After thinking about it with a blue face and a white mouth, he couldn't stand the repeated threats of the old man Fan, Xiang Bo and Master Xiang still whispered: "I just sent a letter to the traitor Xiang Kang, and the letter is my sister-in-law Qiu (Xiang Liang's wife) Written with my wife, urging him and our king to make peace with each other and stop beating you to death. The traitor thanked my messenger, sent me a hello, and brought a reply letter to my sister-in-law Qiu and the others. , nothing else."

"It's enough." Old Man Fan showed a relaxed smile, and then said in a low voice, "Master Xiang, this time, you have really done a great service for our King."

After all, old man Fan really turned to Xiang Yu who was full of confusion, cupped his hands and said with a smile: "My lord, I really have to ask you for your sins. Although you refused to ask the traitor Xiang Kang for peace yesterday, I am not Ken gave up his mind and wanted to test whether the traitor Xiang Kang was willing to negotiate peace with us, so he secretly persuaded Master Xiang to agree, and asked him to come forward as Uncle Ji, using the honor of delivering letters to the traitor Xiang Kang for Mrs. Wu Anjun, and the traitor Xiang Kang I made a secret contact once. This matter is all decided by the old man without authorization, and has nothing to do with Master Xiang. Please don't punish him, Your Majesty."

Master Xiang Bo breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly cupped his hands to Xiang Yu and said, "Your Majesty, forgive me. The situation is indeed like this. I have contacted Xiang Kang's traitor without your back. You deserve death. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

"You!" Xiang Yu still got angry, and said with a livid face: "You two are the elders of this king, and you dare to do such a thing behind my back, isn't it too much?"

Old Man Fan and Master Xiang hurriedly pleaded guilty, while Kuai Che, who was beside him, had already understood the meaning of Old Man Fan, and hurriedly cupped his hands to Xiang Yu and said, "Congratulations to Your Majesty, Congratulations to Your Majesty, Your Majesty is Hongfu Qitian, Yafu and Master Xiang are fighting sideways. Once, we finally have a way to separate the traitor Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou in a reasonable way!"

(End of this chapter)