Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 480
After suddenly seeing a huge counterweight trebuchet appearing on the north bank of Jishui, the current chief commander of the Western Chu Army, Ma Huanchu, immediately understood that the Jishui line of defense that he had once placed high hopes on was a widow who died and his only child—there was no hope at all. up.

Before that, Huan Chu had great expectations for the Jishui line of defense. Even if he couldn't hold on to this natural line of defense for a long time, it would definitely not be a big problem to hold on to it for more than ten days. The lesson is to let the soldiers under their command be mentally prepared for the boulders and incendiary bombs thrown by the Han army. Coupled with the time the Han army must prepare for attacking the city, it is certainly not hopeless to defend Dingtao, which has a stronger city defense, for a month.

So as early as before the main force of the Western Chu Army left the Dingtao battlefield, Huan Chu couldn't wait to start the deployment of the river defense. Early on, he built fortifications on several river sections in the surrounding area that were suitable for crossing, and set up camps to support each other. , At the same time, a beacon tower was established at intervals on the south bank of Jishui River to closely monitor every move of the Han army on the other side, and always prevent the Han army from launching smuggling.

The lack of ships of the Han army also made Huan Chu feel at ease. Although the soldiers of the Han army had already rushed to the upper and lower reaches of Dingtao to collect boats crossing the river before the main force of the Western Chu army left Dingtao, Because all the ships on the Jishui River were confiscated, and Wanqu, Jiyang and other places upstream were still temporarily controlled by the local troops of the Western Chu Army, it was not until the evening of the fifth day after the main force of the Western Chu Army left Dingtao. However, the Han army only collected more than 800 civilian ships of different sizes, which could carry more than [-] soldiers across the river at a time, but still did not have enough carrying force to initiate a rush to cross.

Huan Chu was also secretly happy because of this, and decided that with Xiang Kang's consistent cautious character in using troops, he would definitely spend more time preparing the boat and raft before launching a rush to cross.

However, what Huan Chu never dreamed of was that just in the early morning of the sixth day, the main force of the Han army's middle road, led by Xiang Kang himself, made a big move and rushed to the lower reaches of Dingtao. The Dingtao Wharf Ferry, which the Chu army attaches the most importance to, also lined up fifty counterweight trebuchets that repeatedly awakened Huan Chu from nightmares on the south bank of Jishui, aiming at the catapults built by the Western Chu army on the south bank of Jishui. Fortifications.

Seeing this scene, most of the soldiers of the Western Chu Army were not overly surprised. On the contrary, they talked about the purpose of the Han Army's doing so. Huan Chu himself and some soldiers of the Western Chu Army who had participated in the Puyang War were ashen-faced, and they immediately understood The Han army wanted to use big rocks to smash down their fortifications, and also smashed the Western Chu army troops who were about to defend the beachhead, covering the Han army commandos to cross the river and occupy the beachhead to build a pontoon bridge.

Dingtao is located in the upper reaches of Jishui River. There is no water supply from the two medium-sized rivers Wenshui and Heshui and other small rivers. The width of the river in the upper reaches of Jishui River is only more than 30 meters wide. The huge stones thrown by the Han army's trebuchets can easily cross the river. , covering the entire beachhead, as well as the fortification defense line that the Western Chu Army had worked so hard to build before. With such a powerful fire cover, even with only more than [-] civilian ships, the Han Army can easily rush across and occupy the ferry to build a pontoon bridge. Follow-up reinforcements continued to cross the river to join the battle.

Facts have proved that this is indeed the case. When fifty Han army trebuchets fired and threw together, the huge stone bombs roared and flew over Jishui, and fell directly on the river fortifications of the Western Chu Army. The antlers rejected the horses and the archery towers, and they were smashed like paper. They also smashed the sheep and horse walls of the Western Chu Army into gaps everywhere, and smashed the soldiers of the Western Chu Army hiding behind the fortifications. Difficult to gain a foothold.

Seeing this scene, the soldiers of the Western Chu Army who had never seen the counterweight trebuchet of the Han Army before, of course exclaimed again and again, and their morale declined. Huan Chu smiled helplessly, and said to himself: "I thought Jishui The line of defense can hold out for at least ten days, and now it seems that it is already a miracle to be able to survive today."

Huan Chu was anxious, but he didn't know that Xiang Kang on the north bank of Jishui didn't have much joy on his face, and he was still hesitating in his heart, because as early as yesterday evening, Xiang Kang had received a spy report and knew that he had left Ding Ding five days ago. The latest movement of the main force of the Western Chu Army on the Tao battlefield - instead of continuing to retreat to Shanfu in the southeast, they actually chose to continue eastward, walking towards the road from Chengwu to Fangyu.

When they received this news, Xiang Kang, Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others were all puzzled. They didn't understand how Xiang Yu would not go to Shanfu and Fengyi after he finally got rid of the entanglement of the main force in the middle of the Han army. Take a shortcut and withdraw directly to Pengcheng, buy time to prepare for the two-way attack of the Han army?Why don't you want to go far away and go to the south of Xue County for a circle before returning to Pengcheng?At one time, he thought that Xiang Yu thought that the township-level road from Fengyi to Pengcheng was relatively difficult to walk, so he wanted Fang Yu and Huling to take the county-level road southward.

Li Zuoche, who is proficient in tactics, saw through Xiang Yu's purpose at a glance, and decided that Xiang Yu was going to the south of Xuejun to meet the remaining troops of the Chuji coalition army, and then retreated to Pengcheng together. He also proposed a very risky tactic. Success will make it impossible for Xiang Yu and the main force of the Western Chu Army to withdraw from Pengcheng.

Xiang Kang, who has always acted decisively, hesitated for a while because of this, and was extremely inclined to adopt Li Zuoche's risky tactics, but considering the danger of doing so, it was too late to confirm whether the Western Chu Army was really planning to cross Dang County The salient part of the northeast went directly to Fang Yu, and finally rejected Li Zuoche's tactics, and chose to continue to implement the original defeat tactics.

But Li Zuoche's proposal also took root in Xiang Kang's heart, making Xiang Kang regret more than once whether he made a wrong choice and missed a rare opportunity to eliminate the main force of the Western Chu army as soon as possible, so this will be the Han army's rush to cross. Although the war was progressing smoothly, Xiang Kang couldn't be happy no matter what, and still vaguely felt that he should not continue to rush across Jishui.

"Your Majesty, the Xichu bandit army can't hold on any longer and has voluntarily given up the river defense works. Can we launch a rush to cross?"

Zhang Liang's reminder brought Xiang Kang back to his senses. When he looked up to see the situation on the south bank of Jishui River, he saw heavy casualties. Sure enough, the Western Chu army had temporarily abandoned the smashed river fortifications and retreated to within the range of the Han army's trebuchets. Before reorganizing the team, Xiang Kang nodded and ordered: "Send an order to the trebuchet team to suspend throwing big stones, modify the sheep's head stone, and prepare to cover our commando crossing. In addition, call the commando to board the ship."

The guard next to him sang a promise, and immediately raised a flag to temporarily stop throwing stones from the trebuchet, and let the Han army commando board the boat to launch a rush to cross, but Li Zuoche next to him hurriedly said: "My lord, this is our last chance. Have you made up your mind?"

Xiang Kang looked even more hesitant, and did not rush to answer, while Chen Ping on the other side said: "Mr. Guangwu, although your analysis is reasonable, but we cannot prove that the main force of the Western Chu bandit army is going eastward, and Fang Yu is preparing to meet him." The Chu Ji bandit army retreats southward, if the Western Chu bandit army chooses to take the main road to Huling and go south directly for the convenience of marching, then we will not only be in vain, but also miss the opportunity to wipe out the Dingtao West Chu bandit army?"

"Chen Lieutenant, don't worry, the Western Chu bandits will never change their route for the convenience of marching!" Li Zuoche replied firmly, and then said: "The officer made it very clear yesterday evening that the road from Fengyi to Pengcheng Although it is relatively difficult to walk, the road from Chengwu to Fangyu is similar. This is enough to prove that the Xichu bandits did not change their way to Fangyu for the convenience of the road! If this is the case, then the Xichu army crossed The northeastern part of Dangjun is going straight to Fangyu, it must be to meet the rest of the Chuji bandit army going south!"

"Your Majesty, this opportunity is rare." Li Zuoche continued: "Now we give up rushing to cross the Jishui River, and instead take the Qiudu River instead, take advantage of the convenience of marching on the fast road, and directly attack the southern part of Dang County, so that we can surprise and bite Stay with the main force of the West Chu bandit army, and then wait for General Zhou’s army to arrive. With the strength of our two armies, it will be easy to wipe out the main force of the West Chu bandit army in the north of Pengcheng! Even if Xiang Yu escapes by chance, he won’t be defeated again. Without the chance to hold out in Pengcheng, Dingtian will just flee to Huainan and Jiangdong to survive, without the strength to pose a threat to us."

"We're going to take two risks by doing this." Lou Jing said, "One is that he made a mistake in judgment and missed the opportunity to defeat the Western Chu bandits one by one, giving Dingtao's bandits a chance to escape calmly. The second is General Zhou's attack." If the army fails to arrive in time, not only will we have to deal with the frenzied counterattack of the main force of the West Chu bandit army without a strong camp, but we may also be flanked by the Chu Ji bandit army withdrawing from the hinterland of Xue County."

"In addition, the traffic connection with General Zhou Shu is also a big problem." Lou Jing frowned and added: "We ventured deep into the south of Xue County, and we didn't know that General Zhou Shu and the others had already arrived there. If General Uncle Zhou gets in touch, it will definitely be difficult for his army to arrive in time for reinforcements, and it will definitely be longer for us to fight alone."

"War is a gamble." Li Zuoche replied very straightforwardly, "It's such a risk. If we lose, we will be defeated in the middle, and the time to destroy Chu must be postponed. But if we win, the time to destroy Chu can be greatly improved." In advance, Xiang Yu will no longer have the opportunity to withdraw the main force of the Western Chu rebel army to Huainan and Jiangdong to regroup."

Xiang Kang remained silent with a gloomy face, still unable to make up his mind, but the generals of the Han army did not give Xiang Kang time to think about it, and after a moment of hesitation, all the commandos of the Han army had already boarded the ship, waiting for Xiang Kang's order After a while, Zhang Liang immediately launched a rushing attack, and Zhang Liang hurriedly reminded again, saying: "My lord, all our soldiers have already boarded the ship."

Xiang Kang still didn't say a word. Under the complicated mood, Xiang Kang simply stood up and walked to the high place on the north bank where the Han army's flag formation was located. What are the consequences?"

Just at this time, a sudden gust of bitter river wind reminded Xiang Kang, who had a poor history, of a famous story——Wujiang committed suicide.Then after a little calculation, Xiang Kang turned around again and asked Li Zuoche, Zhang Liang and others a nonsensical question, "Where is Wujiang? If I remember correctly, it seems to be called Wujiang Pavilion now." .”

"Where is Wujiang?"

Zhang Liang and Chen Ping were all dumbfounded. Fortunately, everyone present was quite familiar with Xiang Kang's leaping thinking. After recovering, Zhang Liang, who was familiar with geography, immediately replied: "Reporting to the king, in the Yangtze River in the northeast of Jiujiang County On the side, Your Majesty did not remember wrongly, there is indeed a small pavilion under the jurisdiction of Liyang County."

"On the edge of the Yangtze River?" Xiang Kang's expression was obviously a little surprised, and he couldn't help but blurted out: "So, there is not only a Huai River between Wujiang and Gaixia, but also hundreds of miles away? "

Chen Ping was even more dumbfounded when he heard this. Zhang Liang had no choice but to bite the bullet and replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, I don't know the exact distance from Gaixia to Wujiang River, but a rough estimate is at least four hundred miles."

Xiang Kang also closed his mouth, and then said in his heart: "Historically, Xiang Yu suffered a disastrous defeat in Gaixia. He only took a few cavalry to break through and escape for his life. He fled for more than 400 miles to Wujiang River. He was completely at the end of the road. In the end, he felt that he had no face to face Jiangdong's elders. Only then did he make up his mind to kill himself, which means that he didn't want to die at all, at least he had the intention of going to Jiangdong to make a comeback when he broke through Gaixia."

"Now Huainan and Jiangdong are still in the hands of Xiang Yu. If I miss this opportunity, even if I join hands with Uncle Zhou to go south to Pengcheng, Xiang Yu will probably continue to retreat to Huainan and Jiangdong in order to survive and make a comeback. The food road has been stretched extremely long, and the surrounding area is full of the cities of Western Chu that have not yet surrendered. There is no way to chase after it. I can only watch Xiang Yu regroup in Huainan and Jiangdong. At that time, not only do I not know what Only when he is completely wiped out, that traitor Liu Laosan may fish in the troubled waters of Jiangdong and Huainan, and become a bigger threat to me!"

It was only when the calculation reached this point that the hesitation on Xiang Kang's face was completely wiped away, and then he shouted decisively: "Ming Jin, withdraw the troops and return to the camp!"

"Your Majesty! Did we hear correctly?" Except for Li Zuoche, all the civil and military soldiers of the Han army present screamed out loudly, scrambling to scream: "Mingjin withdraws troops? Mingjin withdraws troops at this time?"

"You heard me right!" Xiang Kang said coldly, "Immediately call for gold and withdraw troops back to camp! This is an order!"

It was rare to see Xiang Kang's expression so dignified, and Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and the others immediately understood that Xiang Kang had made up his mind, so they didn't dare to say anything more, so Xu Ji also hurriedly asked the guards to ring the golden bell of retreat, ordering the Han who had already boarded the ship The soldiers immediately disembarked and retreated.As a result, needless to say, after the sound of the golden gong, the commando soldiers of the Han army who had already boarded the ship were of course all baffled. They all suspected that there was something wrong with their ears. Convincingly exclaimed loudly, "We didn't hear wrong, did we? The Han thief has called for gold?"

"Have the traitors called for gold?" Of course the Chief Sima Huanchu of the Western Chu Army, who was in fear, screamed the loudest, shouting, "What happened? Why did the traitors suddenly call for gold? There is no reason for that?"

At the same time, in the Han army flag formation, Xiang Kang called Guan Ying to the front again, and told him: "Take the cavalry and the equipment for building the pontoon bridge, and set off immediately to Chengqiu to build the pontoon bridge. There must be no mistakes in building six pontoon bridges in Chengqiu."

After Guan Ying agreed loudly, Xiang Kang quickly added: "Go north first, and then turn to the direction of Chengqiu when you reach Chidao Road. I will pretend to evacuate the boats in a while and send you some boats to help you in Chengqiu. Build a pontoon there."

Guan Ying understood that there must be a reason for Xiang Kang's explanation, so he clasped his fists and sang promises, and then returned to the camp to prepare to lead the cavalry to attack. It is a chance for the Chu Army scouts to cross the river to detect our movements. In addition, let the Western Chu bandit army know, saying that King Zhao Xie colluded with Tian Heng of Qi State to rebel, and this king will personally lead the army back to Zhaodi to put down the rebellion."

"My lord, will this affect our army's morale?" Chen Ping asked quickly.

"I can't take care of that much anymore." Xiang Kang said with a serious expression: "The most important thing now is to buy us time. The sooner the Dingtao bandits know our real movements, the better."

Seeing that Xiang Kang's determination had been made, the Han army's civil and military forces did not dare to violate it, so they hurriedly preserved Changnuo, and then deliberately sent people to the bank of Jishui to yell loudly, declaring that Zhao Wang and Zhao Xie had colluded with the Qi State to rebel, and Xiang Kang would personally lead the army back. Zhao Guoping rebelled.Xiang Kang also said in his heart: "It's a big deal that the army is defeated in the middle. It's enough to retreat back and regroup. With Xiang Yu's temper, as long as he wins a battle, he will definitely plan to counterattack immediately. At that time, my battle may be better. .”

Not to mention, Chen Ping's Han army military law team deliberately ran to the bank of Jishui, pretending to urge the Han army soldiers to retreat quickly, and took the opportunity to loudly declare that after Zhao Xie rebelled in Zhao State, the situation was really quickly heard. The scouts of the Western Chu Army heard it and quickly reported it to Huan Chu. As a result, Huan Chu was of course ecstatic when he heard it. He raised his hands in excitement and cheered loudly, "God bless! Zhao Guo suddenly rebelled, no wonder Han The thief will suddenly call for gold! Now we can finally sit back and relax, and no longer have to worry about being wiped out by the Han thief in Dingtao City!"

After the cheers, in view of Xiang Kang's treacherous behavior, for the sake of caution, Huan Chu, besides not daring to report the unconfirmed news to Xiang Yu immediately, quickly sent scouts across the river to investigate the movement of the Han army, and the Han army scouts who sealed off the river bank A number of small-scale scout battles were launched.

After returning to the camp, Xiang Kang immediately issued three orders, one is to let the main force of the Han army in the middle of the road immediately pull out the camp and prepare to retreat, the other is to let the backup troops led by Qi Ji and Han Xin rush to join him in the south of Xue County along Chi Road, and the third It is to let Zhong Limei lead an army of [-] to stay on the north bank of Jishui, pretending to be the rear of the brigade of the Han army's main force in the middle, but in fact it is responsible for monitoring and restraining the [-] Western Chu army under Huan Chu's command, and is responsible for launching a scouting battle with Dingtao's Western Chu army. , Try to delay the time when Huan Chu's troops know that the main force of the Han army is moving.

In addition, Xiang Kang also took the risk of asking Zhong Limei to block the news of the [-] Han soldiers who stayed behind, declaring that he returned to the north to go to Zhao Guo to fight the rebellion, and he did not hesitate to affect the morale of the army. Misleading Huan Chu's troops' judgment on the movement of the self-army.

Fortunately, because Xiang Kang was already preparing to cross the south of the river, although Xiang Kang's decision was extremely hasty, the main brigade of the Han army was ready to set off just after Shenshi that afternoon. He personally led the [-] Han army to go northward, preparing to go north to the Chidao, then turn around and go east, and take the Chidao tens of meters wide to pursue the main force of the Western Chu army.In addition, Xiang Kang also clearly ordered: "Prepare more drums and gongs, and march overnight. Before tomorrow morning, we must rush to Chengqiu to cross the Jishui! Rush to the south of Xue County to surprise my brother!"

(End of this chapter)