Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 485

The Han army team that suddenly appeared on the Yutaiting battlefield was of course the main force in the middle of the Han army led by Xiang Kang himself. Regardless of the consequences, he lied that Zhao Xie rebelled and withdrew from the Dingtao battlefield. On the second day, I crossed the Jishui River in Qiu Xiaoting at the key point of the Chidao, and then rushed along the flat Chidao with a width of tens of meters. I arrived at Kangfu in just two days, and continued to venture south to the Yutai Pavilion. , crossed Surabaya in an all-round way, and opened the way to directly enter Huling.

Crossing Surabaya at Yutai Pavilion is definitely one of the riskiest decisions Xiang Kang has made since he became king. There are two reasons. In terms of military situation, have you made preparations in advance to attack halfway? If Xiang Yu had prepared in advance, he had arranged an ambush in the complex terrain and dense forests directly east of Yutai Pavilion, or rushed to Yutai suddenly when the Han army was crossing the river. Pavilion battlefield, taking advantage of the opportunity when the Han army crossed the river, it was difficult to respond back and forth to launch a surprise attack, so even if the main force of the Han army in the middle road will not be wiped out, it is doomed to suffer heavy losses. The Northern Front Corps of the Han Army came to reinforce to gain time.

The second reason is that even if the Han army successfully crossed Surabaya, the situation is also very dangerous. Xiang Yu is invincible in the field, and the strength of his troops is higher than the main force of the Han army in the middle. It is absolutely impossible for the Han army to build a strong enough The camp can only rely on the Great Wall of Flesh and Flesh to resist the crazy attack of the main force of the Western Chu Army. In addition, Xiang Kang cannot get in direct contact with Uncle Zhou's Corps and tell Uncle Zhou that he is there waiting for him to bring the army to join the army. If you arrive in time, the consequences will be unimaginable!It is not impossible for the Western Chu army to overturn the entire strategy in one fell swoop! ——For example, if Xiang Kang himself was unfortunately killed directly by the Western Chu army.

However, in order to gain the opportunity to eliminate the main force of the Western Chu army as soon as possible, Xiang Kang resolutely made the decision to cross Surabaya at Yutai Pavilion. Or a sneak attack, after crossing the river in an all-round way, he immediately got in touch with the defeated Peng Yue army who fled to Yutai Pavilion before Yong Chi and others, received important information related to the main force of Peng Yue army and the West Chu army, and went to An ambush was set up on the mountain path leading to Huling, severely injuring Liu Laosan's troops of the Western Chu Army who followed and pursued, weakening the Western Chu Army again, and at the same time taking revenge for Peng Yue's army.

Immediately afterwards, Yong Chi, who had worshiped Xiang Kang so much when they met for the first time, was of course led to the Han army camp very quickly. Even when Xiang Kang lay down on the ground and cried bitterly, Xiang Kang was so moved that his eyes dimmed with tears. He first helped Yong Chi with his own hands to comfort him, and then generously rewarded his number one fan. Yong Chi, who is very self-aware, He repeatedly declined and said that he would not be rewarded for nothing.

In the end, under the persuasion of Zhang Liang and Chen Pingping, Yong Chi accepted Xiang Kang's pearl and jade money reward with tears in his eyes. Xiang Kang was not too polite with Yong Chi, and quickly said directly: "General Yong, the military situation Ruhuo, we'll talk about other things later. Let me ask you the most important thing now. Before you separated from Jing Jia and Peng Yue, did you get in touch with General Zhou Shu and the others? Do you know where General Zhou's army arrived? ?”

"Report to Your Majesty, no." Yong Chi shook his head quickly, and said truthfully: "The final general dare not lie to Your Majesty. In fact, we have never contacted General Zhou Shu, and we didn't even have time to confirm whether General Zhou Shu went south to the hinterland of Xue County. It’s just that the King of Chu and Peng Zhuguo didn’t dare to disobey your order, so after receiving your order, they quickly sent troops to the hinterland of Xue County.” (For details, see Chapter 480 III of this book.)

"But don't worry, Your Majesty. Judging from the reaction of the West Chu thief army, it is basically certain that General Zhou Shu has dispatched troops."

Seeing the disappointment on Xiang Kang's face, Yong Chi quickly added another sentence, and then told Xiang Kang that the Chu-Ji coalition army was carrying a large amount of money and food to go south by land, explaining that Peng Yue guessed that Uncle Zhou had already made a move based on this point. Xiang Kang listened and nodded, first he agreed with Peng Yue's conjecture, and also felt that the fact that the Chu-Ji coalition army had no time to transfer supplies by water must be because Uncle Zhou had already made a move. No one can guarantee when the messenger we sent to contact him will deliver the news to him, and no one knows how long we will stay here at Yutai Pavilion. "

"Don't worry, Your Majesty." Zhang Liang, who is excellent in geography, comforted: "Xue County's area is not large, and General Zhou Shu and the others must have marched along the Chi Road. We should also get in touch with General Uncle Zhou’s army within five or six days, as long as General Uncle Zhou hastened to go south, he will be able to come and join us in about ten days.”

"My lord, don't blame the old man for making ominous remarks. Zhang Pushe's analysis may be a little too optimistic." Tang Bing, an old man in Shangshan, said: "Because of calculating the time, when Peng Yue judged that General Zhou Shu had sent troops to the south, you, my lord, give General Zhou an order." The order to send troops should have just been sent to Boyang, that is to say, General Uncle Zhou may have just sent a part of the army to the south, whether the main force was sent south to the hinterland of Xue County, we are still not sure."

After being reminded by Tang Bing, Xiang Kang and Zhang Liang were also very surprised to find out that Uncle Zhou had indeed dispatched soldiers before the order to destroy Chu was sent to Boyang. It cannot be ruled out that Uncle Zhou was just It is possible to send a partial division south to the hinterland of Xue County - because in order to deal with the remnants of the Chuji coalition army, Uncle Zhou only needs to send a partial division.So Zhang Liang quickly changed his words and said: "What Duke Dongyuan said is very true. The junior's analysis is indeed a bit too optimistic. If General Zhou just sent a part of the army to go south, then we may have to hold on for half a month. Above all, it is possible to wait until the main force of General Zhou Shu arrives to join us."

"Our army advances alone, and it's best to plan for the worst." Chen Ping said, "It doesn't matter whether General Zhou Shu's main force arrives within ten days or half a month later, we'd better It is to prepare for the hard battle for more than half a month in advance. The suggestion of the minister is that for the sake of prudence, we'd better seize the time to make a deep trench and high fort here at Yutai Pavilion, and be prepared to stick to it. At the same time, we should find a way to anger the grumpy Xiang Yu, Lure him to go west from Huling, and come to Yutai Pavilion to fight with us."

"That's the only way to go." Xiang Kang nodded, and then said: "Sacrifice one more envoy, Mr. Chen Ping, your writing is good, immediately help me write a letter to my elder brother, deliberately mocking and sarcasm, and persuade him to cede the Huai River." In exchange for a truce with us in exchange for the land and city in the north, encourage him to come to Yutai Pavilion to fight us."

Chen Ping immediately agreed, and Zhang Liang, Li Zuoche and the others had no objections, because everyone knew that with Xiang Yu's fiery temper, he would be furious when he saw such a letter, and he would definitely not listen to any harsh advice, no matter how he ignored it. Take the initiative to come to Yutai Pavilion to find Xiang Kang for a decisive battle—especially now that Old Man Fan has been driven away by Xiang Yu.However, what Xiang Kang and the decision-makers of the Han army miscalculated is that a dangerous person who is more able to control and restrain Xiang Yu than Old Man Fan is about to return to Xiang Yu's side...

…………

This dangerous person is of course Liu Laosan. After the disastrous defeat in the dense forest east of Yutai Pavilion, although the loss was quite heavy, but relying on the desperate battle of Fan Kuai and Zhou Bo and other fierce generals, Liu Laosan finally escaped with nearly half of the army. He was pursued by the Han army, and returned to Huling City in the evening of the same day, where he joined the main force of the Western Chu army.Needless to say, of course Liu Laosan immediately sent an envoy to contact Master Xiang Bo Xiang, saying that he would let Xiao He, who is currently in Pengcheng, send a generous gift to Master Xiang's house, and first send Ai Cai to Master Xiang. Master Xiang, who was so lucky, was flattered, and finally entered the camp to meet Xiang Yu when it was completely dark.

At the same time, it was also at this time that Liu Laosan knew that Old Man Fan had been left by Xiang Yu in anger, and before Liu Laosan could analyze whether the benefits of Old Man Fan's departure outweighed the harm or the harm outweighed the benefits, the scouts of the Western Chu Army had already Reported the important situation that Xiang Kang led the main force of the Han army's middle road to Yutai Pavilion, and reported it to the main camp of the Western Chu army.As a result, this inadvertently helped Liu Laosan a big favor, and made Xiang Yu no longer have any thoughts about pursuing Liu Laosan's responsibility for chasing Zhongfu. With his red eyes, he just shouted: "What is Huan Chu doing? Didn't he say that Zhao Xie rebelled in Zhaodi, did the traitor Xiang Kang personally lead the army to fight the rebellion in Zhaodi? Why did the traitor Xiang Kang suddenly appear in Yutai Pavilion? How could such an important military report be so wrong?"

"Your Majesty, please calm down." Wu She, a military counselor of the Western Chu Army who was reused only after Old Man Fan left, summoned up his courage and comforted him, "Xiang Kang's traitor is full of tricks, and General Huan Chu must have fallen for his tricks, so he reported the wrong military situation. Fortunately, Yutai Pavilion is still nearly [-] miles away from Huling, and the road is not very easy, as long as we cross Surabaya immediately, we can get rid of the entanglement of the Han bandits."

"Fart!" Xiang Yu yelled immediately, "We passed Surabaya, what about Xiangzhuang's army? Stay on the north bank of Surabaya and let the Han thieves wipe them all out?"

Wu She quickly shut his mouth, while Xiang Yu hurriedly walked around the large tent of the Chinese Army with his hands behind his back, and then when he suddenly saw Liu Laosan, Xiang Yu hurriedly opened his mouth and asked: "Liu Ji, my brother and the others are now Where has it retreated? Where has Zhou Shupifu's army chased him again? How many troops are there?"

"Your Majesty, forgive me." Liu Laosan replied with a sad face: "After the minister defeated the Peng Yue bandit army in Chengqiu, in order to carry out Zuo Sima's order to let the minister bite the Peng Yue bandit army to cover the retreat of the main force, he has been chasing the Peng Yue bandit army closely. Fang, since then I have lost contact with Zuo Sima and the others, so I don't know what Zuo Sima and the others are doing now. I only know that Zhou Shupifu sent Li Shang to lead an army of [-] troops to go south first. How many troops have been captured, let alone where the Han bandit army in the north has gone."

"Trash! Idiot!" Xiang Yu was furious, and roared: "Unexpectedly, there are still generals like you in the world who don't know the enemy's situation, and don't know what the main force is like!"

The generous gift offered by Liu Laosan with both hands had an effect at this moment, Master Xiang Bo stepped forward in time, and excused Liu Laosan: "Your Majesty, forgive me, You Sima is also because he resolutely carried out the order of Xiang Zhuang's nephew, so It was only because he severed contact with the main force that Sima was not responsible."

After snorting heavily dissatisfied, Xiang Yu first kicked a case away, and then thought about it for a while, and then said with a livid face: "Tell me, what should we do in the current situation?"

Knowing Xiang Yu's fiery temper, although he had his own ideas in his heart, Liu Laosan didn't dare to speak nonsense. Master Xiang and Wu She couldn't think of any countermeasures because of their lack of ability, and they also didn't dare to say anything. Currently, Xiang Yu's tent is the only reliable Kuai Che also kept in mind the lessons learned by old man Fan, and also did not speak, and the Chinese army's tent fell into silence.When Xiang Yu saw this, he became even more angry, and roared again: "Why don't you speak? What do you dare to eat? My king asks you, what should we do next?"

Liu Laosan, Kuai Che, Wu She and the others still didn't dare to say anything. Master Xiang Bo was afraid that Xiang Yu would get angry, so he took the initiative to ask Kuai Che for advice, "Doctor Kuai, don't you usually have the most ideas? Why? Don't talk today? Tell me, what's your idea? "

Seeing that Xiang Yu turned his one-eyed eye to himself, Kuai Che had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Your Majesty, Master Xiang, in my humble opinion, since Xiang Kang's traitor designed to deceive General Huanchu, he suddenly rushed to Yutai Pavilion to cross Surabaya , its purpose must be to entangle our main force, wait for Zhou Shupifu’s reinforcements to arrive, and work together to defeat our main force. Even so, we have only two choices now, that is, we don’t know what your majesty intends to do.”

"Quickly, what are the two options?" Xiang Yu asked quickly.

"First, the poisonous snake eats the bowl, and the strong man loses his arm." Kuai Che replied cautiously: "The traitor Xiang Kang has just crossed Surabaya, and before he has time to attack Huling and threaten us to cross the river, our main force will immediately cross south to Surabaya and retreat to Pengcheng. Don’t give the traitors Xiang Kang a chance to bite us, and let General Xiang Zhuang and the others break out of the siege and go south on their own, it doesn’t matter how many troops they can keep General Xiang Zhuang, and give priority to ensuring the safety of our main force.”

Gritting his teeth heavily, Xiang Yu asked again, "What about the second choice?"

"Take the initiative to go west, and go to Yutai Pavilion to fight to the death with the traitor Xiangkang!" Kuai Che replied: "Although the traitor Xiangkang deceived General Huanchu, he left [-] troops in Dingtao to contain General Huanchu." It is absolutely impossible for General Huanchu to make a false report. That is to say, the current army of the traitor Xiang Kang in Yutai Pavilion is at most only [-], and its strength is at a disadvantage in front of the main force of our army. There is no city wall to defend on the side of the pavilion. No matter how hard he works day and night, he will never be able to build a strong camp in a short period of time. Chance for a decisive battle."

Just as Kuai Che expected, before he finished speaking, Xiang Yu was already overjoyed, and immediately slapped his legs and said happily: "A clever plan! Let's do it like this! Let our army prepare overnight and send troops to Yutai tomorrow." Ting, go find that traitor Xiang Kang and fight to the death!"

"Think twice, Your Majesty." Wu She hurriedly reminded: "Take the initiative to go west to Yutai Pavilion to find Xiang Kang's traitors for a decisive battle. Of course, it is best to win. If you still can't attack for a long time like before, the Han bandit reinforcements led by Zhou Shupifu will suddenly attack again. Hurry up, I'm afraid we..."

Wu She's voice became softer as he spoke, because Xiang Yu's single eye had already spewed out fire, and he had already been staring at him firmly. The third Liu who was next to him saw him, and immediately understood that Xiang Yu had committed a mess again. Niu also couldn't hold back his determination to take the initiative to go westward for a decisive battle, so he hurriedly said: "My lord, if you are determined to fight to the death with the traitor Xiang Kang, then I have a way to let the traitor Xiang Kang take the initiative to send troops from Yutai Pavilion Come to Huling and come to us for a decisive battle, let us take the initiative and don't have to work hard. Our main force sets out to raise troops and march westward to Yutai Pavilion for battle, so as to give the traitors of Xiangkang a chance to wait for work."

"You have this ability?" Xiang Yu heard the myth, and said with a face full of disbelief: "How treacherous that traitor Xiang Kang is, don't you know? You are also sure that he will take the initiative to go west and come to us for a fight to the death? "

"If Your Majesty gives this opportunity to my servant, I will definitely be able to do it." Liu Laosan replied confidently.

"Then tell me quickly, how can you do this?" Xiang Yu asked quickly.

"Your Majesty, this matter is actually very easy." Liu Laosan immediately pointed to Master Xiang Bo and said, "Just ask Master Xiang to write a letter to the traitor Xiang Kang himself, and tell the traitor Xiang Kang clearly Within two days, if the traitor Xiang Kang does not send troops to Huling for a decisive battle, our main force will immediately cross Surabaya to the south and retreat to Pengcheng. Before sunset, Xiang Kang's traitor will definitely leave Yutai Pavilion on his own initiative, come down to Huling City, and come to his door to die."

"It's that simple?" Xiang Yu asked in amazement: "With just such a letter, can the traitor Xiang Kang come to his door obediently and die?"

"Your Majesty, don't worry, this will happen." Liu Laosan replied more confidently: "Xiang Kang's traitor is willing to take risks, and he will not hesitate to advance alone in order to entangle our main force, so he will definitely not watch us retreat south. We retreated to Pengcheng first, so as long as we threaten him with retreating to avoid the battle, he will take the risk to come to Huling to bite us so as not to give up all previous efforts. By then we will wait for work at leisure, and the traitors of Xiangkang will have no chance to build a strong camp. The situation is far better than a hundred times when our army marched westward to Yutai Pavilion and took the initiative to seek a battle."

"Is it really possible?" Xiang Yu was still skeptical.

"Your Majesty, this strategy should work." Kuai Che said: "Pei Gong's words are quite correct. The biggest purpose of Xiang Kang's traitors is to entangle us and not give us a chance to retreat to Pengcheng. We just need to openly threaten to retreat. Xiang Kang's traitor is likely to take this risk in order not to waste all his previous efforts."

Xiang Yu hesitated for a moment, then nodded, and said, "Then give it a try and see if it works."

Liu Laosan was overjoyed when he heard that, and hurriedly asked Master Xiang Boxiang to write a letter to Xiang Kang immediately, but Master Xiang Boxiang didn't want to bother, and said very dissatisfied: "Why do I have to write the pen myself? Such a trivial matter, Can you just find a small official to write it?"

"Forgive me, Master Xiang. This letter must be written and signed by you yourself." Liu Laosan smiled and said, "The reason is also very simple. Master Xiang, you are the elder of the king and the person our king respects the most. You personally threaten the traitor Xiang Kang, saying that if he does not send troops, we will retreat, and the traitor Xiang Kang will understand that the king is definitely not joking, if he does not act according to our requirements, we will definitely retreat."

After saying that, Liu Laosan hurriedly added another sentence, saying: "If the master doesn't want to bother to polish it, then the servant can also draft a letter for you, please make a copy."

"Uncle Ji, you don't need to bother so much." Xiang Yu said impatiently, "Just write a letter and ask Liu Ji to give advice."

Seeing that Xiang Yu opened his mouth in person, and recited it for the generous gift that Liu Laosan promised to give him, Master Xiang Bo sat down to write in person with great reluctance. He wrote a blatant hooligan letter to Xiang Kang, in addition to clearly pointing out the vicious purpose of Xiang Kang's lone army advancing lightly, he also directly released cruel words-if the Han army does not take the initiative to come to Huling for a decisive battle within two days, the Western Chu army will immediately Cross the south and go down, directly withdraw to Pengcheng!
It was also a coincidence that just after the letter was written, the envoy of the Han Army, who was determined to die, had already brought Xiang Kang's letter to the Western Chu army camp, and presented the provocative letter that was originally guaranteed to Xiang Yu. Master Xiang urged Xiang Yu to calm down, clearly pointing out that this was just Xiang Kang's provocation, and urged Xiang Yu not to be as knowledgeable as Xiang Kang. He also persuaded Xiang Yu to let the Han army envoys take back the letter of the Western Chu army's hooligans and hand it to Xiang Kang. .

The matter was not over yet. After sending away the envoys of the Han army, Xiang Yu pondered over and over for a long time, and then he made up his mind again, and ordered: "Give Xiang Zhuang an order to give up retreating immediately after receiving the order, and to retreat immediately on the spot." Stick to it, block Uncle Zhou with all your strength, and buy time for us!"

Liu Laosan and Kuai Che laughed wryly after hearing this, and only then did they realize that Xiang Yu had actually made up his mind a long time ago. If he failed to play hooligans, he would take the initiative to go west and find Xiang Kang for a decisive battle. It must be easier to give up the decisive battle and retreat first. Liu Laosan and Kuai Che still did not raise any objections, and chose to let Xiang Yu mess around. a good choice.

Not to mention, at noon the next day, when the envoy of the Han army delivered Master Xiang's letter to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang was really surprised, and blurted out: "Is the sun coming out from the west? I Brother Overlord, you actually learned how to be a hooligan? Seriously, if he really plays with me as a hooligan, will my affairs really be difficult to handle?"

"Your Majesty, don't worry about Xiang Yu's threat." Chen Ping said: "Our army is small and the camp is not strong enough. Xiang Yu will definitely not give up this opportunity for a decisive battle. As long as we ignore it, Xiang Yu will surely sink the day after tomorrow." Don't hold your breath, take the initiative to come west to Yutai Pavilion to find us for a decisive battle."

Considering Xiang Yu's survival performance after the Battle of Gaixia, Xiang Kang did not dare to easily agree with Chen Ping's opinion this time. After careful consideration for a while, Xiang Kang shook his head and said, "It's hard to say, the current situation of the Western Chu bandit army Putting it here, as long as my elder brother has a little brain, coupled with other people's encouragement, it may not be possible to really cross the river and go down the river, giving priority to the safety of the main force. If this is the case, our previous efforts will be completely wasted."

"Then what is your Majesty going to do?" Chen Ping asked a question, and then reminded: "My Majesty, if we take the initiative to attack Huling according to the request of the Xichu bandit army, our situation will be too passive, and our chances of winning the decisive battle are very small."

Xiang Kang thought carefully for a long time before he said: "Let Ding Ji lead an army of [-] to go first to the old village between Yutaiting and Huling, and build a camp that can accommodate our main force. In addition, step up Prepare fire rafts at Yutai Pavilion, and arrange skilled sailors to be on standby at all times. Once we find that the Xichu bandits are crossing the south and retreating, we will immediately send out fire rafts to burn their pontoon bridges! The sun comes out from the west. Get ready to fight him hard."

"My lord, I'm afraid it's useless to do this." Li Zuoche, who is good at tactics, said: "Seeing our army building a camp in Laozhai, Xiang Yu will definitely understand that we are at a disadvantage in the battle, so he will immediately enter the camp and stick to it. Opportunity to set up camp in Laozhai.”

"I know." Xiang Kang replied immediately: "This is also my purpose."

(End of this chapter)