In order to become a Heroic Spirit, I had no choice but to cause trouble in history.

Qin Jia was dizzy and exhausted after being beaten by Xiang Yu. After leaving the battlefield, he ran north like a madman. However, he did not know that Zhan County in the north had already been captured by Xiang An, who had bypassed them, when the battle began, and that a hundred or so people had been specially assigned to guard the place.

This vigil unexpectedly yielded a reward!

Two spears were stuck on either side of Qin Jia's neck, pinning his head to the ground so he couldn't lift it. A soldier found a rope and tied Qin Jia's hands together, making a tight knot.

Jiang Chun walked over and gestured for the two soldiers who were holding Qin Jia down with spears to push him away, while he himself grabbed Qin Jia by the hair.

Qin Jia had been fighting all night and was already exhausted. This fall caused him to faint.

"This is... Qin Jia?" Jiang Chun's eyebrows twitched.

"Lock him up! Put him in solitary confinement!" he quickly gave the order.

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Chapter 882 Xiang Liang: I don't understand, but I am deeply shocked

"So, Xiang Yu and Xiang An have now completely defeated and captured Qin Jia's main force, and even captured Qin Jia, the leader of the fake Chu, alive?" Xiang Liang sat in the main seat, looking blankly at the messenger below.

He is now pondering a very profound question: what order did he give to Xiang Yu back then?

It seems like... it's to slightly restrain Qin Jia's main force? And I think I even reminded him not to overestimate his abilities?

So what's happening now...?

"Reporting to the General! Yes!" The messenger was excited, his voice high-spirited. "Xiang Yu's army has now successfully joined forces with Commander Xiang An and is preparing to attack Pengcheng! They should be able to take Pengcheng soon and hang the head of that fake King Jingju of Chu on the city gate!"

Xiang Liang: ......

This... it just feels so weird, so wrong.

I just took Dangcheng and was about to turn around and attack Sishui when... it seems like the enemy's base is completely gone?

"It wasn't you—" Xiang Liang scratched his head, looking like he wanted to ask something but couldn't get the words out. He touched his mouth and winked a couple of times. "You, you tell me first, what did they do? How did they manage to kill Qin Jiajun? Please have a seat, sit down first."

After reluctantly accepting this reality, Xiang Liang was completely baffled; this was his biggest question now.

How did these two brothers manage to do that?

"Reporting to the General, a few days ago, on the eve of the heavy rain, Xiang Yu's army crossed the Ju River and encamped north of it. They did not march during the rain, choosing instead to wait for it to pass." The messenger sat down cautiously, flattered but still displaying unparalleled excitement. "At that moment, we received news from scouts that that old dog Qin led over ten thousand men to attempt a night attack on General Xiang Yu. However, just as he was about to launch his attack, the heavens intervened, and a sudden downpour thwarted Qin's plans!"

"By the time Xiang Yu's generals came to their senses, they had already realized the old Qin dog's intentions. So, Xiang Yu's generals used the same tactics against him! Before the fake Chu could react, they led seven thousand men to attack, directly throwing the more than ten thousand men into disarray, leaving them unable to defend themselves..."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute?" Xiang Liang noticed something was amiss and quickly stopped the messenger. "Seven thousand men? He doesn't have fourteen thousand men under his command, does he? Where are the other five thousand?"

"Oh right! And there's also Commander Xiang An!" The messenger's eyes lit up. "To tell you the truth, General, Commander Xiang An fought a truly magnificent battle!"

"While Xiang Yu's army was bewildered by Qin's 13,000 troops on the front lines, Commander Xiang An had already led 5,000 men to bypass the battlefield undetected from the flank. Before dawn, he led 5,000 men to capture Zhan County and Jia County, and then arrived at Jia County!"

"That Jia County is surrounded by mountains on two sides, but it is also the fastest passage for Pengcheng to support Qin Jia. When General Xiang Yu attacked earlier, he deliberately let a messenger on a fast horse escape. That messenger has returned to Pengcheng, brought 20,000 reinforcements, and set off south!"

Xiang Liang listened, completely stunned.

No way, how dare that brat Xiang An? Five thousand people? Stopping twenty thousand?

"Commander Xiang An knew roughly when the reinforcements would arrive, so he first set up ambushes on the hillsides on both sides of Jia County, then settled the people of Jia County in the south of the county, placed many barricades on the main road, and had some soldiers disguised as ordinary people, and just waited in Jia County for that old dog Qin's reinforcements to pass by."

"At dawn, we finally got to see it!"

Snapped!

The messenger was clearly getting excited, and suddenly slammed his hand on the table, startling Xiang Liang, who was deep in thought.

"I don't know what the leader of the reinforcements was called, but he went to the gate of Jiaxian County and knocked on it. Just as he was wondering why the gate wasn't open, he saw Xiang Anshi's troops, who had been lying in ambush on the high slopes on both sides, rushing down!"

"This charge directly shattered the reinforcements' formation! Their leader was tied down by Commander Zhu and couldn't give orders. Just then, Commander Xiang An opened the city gates, and the unsuspecting reinforcements' cavalry entered the city, only to be chased and killed by our infantry disguised as civilians! Outside, Commander Xiang An rushed out and smashed a bunch of people's heads, then roared! Those 20,000 men surrendered immediately! On the front lines, Xiang Yu's army had already thoroughly defeated Qin Jia's army. Finally, the old dog Qin, who had fled north, was captured alive in Zhan County by a second-ranking officer named Jiang Chun under Commander Xiang An, and is now imprisoned in the prison of Jia County!"

Xiang Liang: Ah, um, yes. You're right.

His current reaction is only one.

I don't understand, but I am deeply moved.

"So..." He leaned forward slightly, looking at the messenger.

"We won!" The messenger slapped his thigh. "General, you must believe me! I fought that battle alongside Commander Xiang An, right in the cavalry!"

"Young man, what's your name?" Xiang Liang blinked and rubbed his temples.

He felt that this messenger, at the very least, was quite clever and loyal.

As for the matter between Xiang Yu and Xiang An... he needs a little more time to accept it.

"Reporting to the General, my name is Huang Xiaozhong!" The messenger quickly stood up and knelt before Xiang Liang.

......

After seeing off the quick-witted messenger, Xiang Liang stood at the entrance of his tent, his facial muscles twitching irregularly, forcing him to pat them a couple of times.

The First Evolution

He shook his head as he looked at the sky, then turned and walked into another tent.

This is Fan Zeng's camp.

"General, what's wrong? You look so worried." Fan Zeng asked instinctively, looking at Xiang Liang's strange expression.

"...Brother Fan, am I getting old?" Xiang Liang casually found a stool to sit down and wiped his face.

Fan Zeng: ?

"...Anyway, it's not young anymore?" Fan Zeng tried to answer.

With a sigh, Xiang Liang gave a wry smile: "Let me tell you... what those two kids, Xiang Yu and Xiang An, just did."

"I think... it's really outrageous."

Xiang Liang recounted to Fan Zeng everything the messenger had just told him, and Fan Zeng's expression gradually became quite interesting.

"Are you thinking I'm too old to be easily fooled?" Fan Zeng stared wide-eyed at Xiang Liang. "Five thousand against twenty thousand and you win? How could it be so easy? That's ridiculous!"

"But... it must be true, that bastard Qin Jia has been caught..." Xiang Liang didn't want to believe it either, but the messenger brought a tattered Chu commander's flag. This Chu commander's flag was clearly not Xiong Xin's; it could only be Jing Ju's.

"Those two little brats... they're really something..."

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Chapter 883 Dirty and Even Dirtier

Qin Jia appointed Jing Ju as King of Chu, but anyone with eyes could see what kind of person Jing Ju really was. Qin Jia practically held his life in his hands. Like Xiong Xin, Jing Ju was nothing more than a mascot.

However, this mascot had some bad luck, as it ended up endorsing a counterfeit brand.

Without Qin Jia as their leader and a large army, Pengcheng was easily breached by Xiang Yu with over 6,000 men, even though Xiang An's two divisions did not participate in the battle. Not only was it breached, but Xiang Yu also captured the depressed "King of Chu," Jing Ju, in the "palace" and took him back to be imprisoned with Qin Jia.

"What, weren't you supposed to be all that capable?" In the cell, Jing Ju leaned against the wall, idly tearing at the straw spread on the ground, looking at Qin Jia with mockery. "You had all this power in your hands, huh? And look what you've gotten yourself into?"

He wasn't really angry; he just wanted to annoy this so-called "general" who was always bossing him around.

If it weren't for Chen Sheng, who is long gone, how could you peasants have climbed over me?

He was just a peasant, yet he called himself a great general. They made him king, but he always humiliated him. Jingju had long disliked Qin Jia.

Qin Jia's hands and feet were bound with heavy chains.

He was a military general. Heroes emerge in chaotic times, and the power of a military general cannot be restrained by ordinary shackles.

He raised his head, glanced at Jingju with a gloomy expression, and sighed.

"What's the point of telling me all this now? Anyway, we don't have much time left. Why don't you plead with that brat from the Xiang family now and see if he can leave you a whole corpse, Your Majesty—"

He deliberately stretched out the king's face, looking at Jingju with a half-smile, clearly retorting.

"Alright, General." Jingju raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "You really think I'm afraid of death, huh? Well then, I'll go and beg him later. I won't beg him to leave me a whole corpse; I'll beg him to cut your body into several pieces. You're welcome."

"You son of a bitch..." Qin Jia was already despondent, and Jing Ju's words provoked him so much that he suddenly stood up, his shackles slamming against the iron bar with a loud bang.

Jingju, in the next room, remained unmoved, merely watching his general with a cold smile, everything unspoken.

"Hey hey hey—what are you two doing? Do you both want to die sooner?" The foot soldier temporarily in charge of guarding the two important figures was startled by the noise and ran over, looking at Qin Jia and Jing Ju with considerable dissatisfaction.

"If it weren't for me, you'd be nothing but a King of Chu! You'd still be shoveling horse manure in some rich man's house! Everything you have comes from me, and now that I'm down on my luck, you're so happy, huh? Jingju? King of Chu? Your Majesty?"

Peng!

He slammed his hand on the iron bar, and the entire prison trembled.

"Qin Jia! Do you want to die right now?!" the foot soldier shouted in fear.

Qin Jia completely ignored the foot soldier. He slammed the iron bar again, glaring at Jing Ju with resentment, as if questioning him.

"These things mean nothing to you, right? Descendants of the old Chu? If you investigate this thoroughly, you might find a hundred or two hundred in the old Chu territory. Do you think I don't know what you're up to?" Jing Ju laughed instead of getting angry. "King of Chu? Isn't he supposed to be a fool? I'm not stupid. I'm just a facade. When you don't need the facade anymore, who knows how I'll die? Do you really think I'm stupid, my great general?"

The atmosphere became even more serious.

"Go and call for help! I might lose control here!" the foot soldier shouted.

"No need to shout! I'm coming!" Xiang An's voice rang out at the dungeon entrance.

Upon hearing Xiang An's voice, Qin Jia's attention was drawn to him.

Xiang An, unarmed, turned a corner and stood in front of the prison, looking at Qin Jia through the iron bars.

Qin Jia ignored Jing Ju and dragged his heavy body to Xiang An, raising his head to meet Xiang An's gaze.

"How...how did you defeat my 20,000 reinforcements?" His voice, filled with a stubbornness and hatred that refused to admit defeat, was squeezed out through clenched teeth.

"What? Don't you think you've lost?" Xiang An sneered, his expression quite disdainful.

"So, how did you win?" Qin Jia's trembling voice asked again, his whole body shaking.

Xiang An didn't answer again, but instead stared sharply into Qin Jia's eyes.

"You... bastard."

Peng!

Qin Jia didn't move, but Xiang An suddenly kicked out and broke the iron railing, sending Qin Jia flying into a corner. His back slammed heavily against the wall, and he passed out again.

"Disgusting." He glanced coldly at Qin Jia, spat, and turned to leave.

"Just change his cell and make sure he doesn't die before he sees the general."

He sighed as he walked.