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

No mistake

It's getting late, the camp is set up, and it's time to sleep.

A short Chu soldier sat on a straw mat, touched his side, pursed his lips, and a glint seemed to appear in his eyes as he turned to look north.

That was murderous intent, an uncontrollable murderous intent.

If I haven't done anything for my sister, can I still call myself her brother?

Disguised as an ordinary Chu soldier, Zi Huai gritted his teeth, leaned back, and closed his eyes, feeling slightly irritated.

Just wait, the grudge that made my sister shed tears...

......

To the south, Liu Ji's army.

The pressure on the Qin army was mainly concentrated in the north. The pressure on Liu Ji in the south was, to put it nicely, barely enough, but to put it bluntly... what should we call it?

In any case, Liu Ji is winning every battle he has fought. He has conquered a large area between the Ru River and the Ying River, and his advance towards Xianyang can be described as easy and effortless.

"Sigh, why didn't Your Majesty come up with this idea sooner?" Fan Hui munched on a beef leg, looking at Liu Ji with satisfaction.

Beef is a rare commodity, and if he hadn't happened to kill one during the siege, he wouldn't have been willing to eat it.

“The ease we’ve earned is something we’ve earned. If we had chosen this path before, it certainly wouldn’t have been this easy.” Liu Ji shook his head. While the people in the army might feel relaxed, he wouldn’t let his guard down. “The last person who chose this path to attack Xianyang before the Qin Dynasty could react was Zhou Wen. He’s probably just a skeleton now.”

“I remember Zhou Wen was… one of Chen Sheng’s men?” Fan Hui stroked his chin, and it took him a while to remember who Zhou Wen was.

"I'm telling you... it hasn't been long since Prince Chen died, and you've already forgotten the names of all the men under his command?" Liu Ji looked at Fan Hui with some helplessness.

"General!" At this moment, Liu Ji's coachman, Xiahou Ying, rushed in anxiously. "Someone requests an audience!"

"Who is it? Looking for me?" Liu Ji looked at Xiahou Ying with a blank expression.

"That man claimed to be the Queen Consort of King Han, a native of Yingchuan City, and boasted... that he could help you, General, conquer the world!"

"Uh... what's his name?"

"Zhang Liang, Zhang Zifang!"

------------

Chapter 917 Zhang Liang's Magic

"Zhang Zifang? You mean... Zhang Zifang, the one who assassinated Qin Shi Huang at Bolangsha!?" Liu Ji looked surprised, then flattered. "Quickly! Quickly, invite him in!"

Zhang Zifang is quite a celebrity!

The First Emperor reigned supreme and possessed unparalleled power, but everyone knows the saying "the taller the tree, the more the wind blows." He probably faced more assassination attempts than Liu Ji had ever eaten a meal, but by the time the First Emperor died, no one had succeeded in assassinating him.

Even so, there were still a few people who came incredibly close to success.

Gao Jianli, who blinded himself; Jing Ke, who revealed his dagger when the map was unrolled; and Zhang Liang, who struck the First Emperor's chariot with a hammer at Bolangsha.

The most important reason, of course, is that Zhang Liang survived the assassination attempt, while Gao Jianli and Jing Ke were caught red-handed and have been dead for a long time now.

The former subjects of the six states did not have much affection for the First Emperor. Although Liu Ji thought that unifying the world was very domineering and powerful, and even said to the First Emperor, "Alas, a true man should be like this," Liu Ji also lacked affection for the First Emperor himself.

Therefore, Liu Ji naturally admired Zhang Liang, who had once attempted to assassinate the First Emperor and survived, from a very early age.

He was a chivalrous person by nature. When he was a child, he heard the story of Lord Xinling, Hou Ying, and Zhu Hai stealing the tally to save Zhao. He admired the spirit of chivalry and impulsively decided to go north to join Lord Xinling. Later, after Lord Xinling died, he went to Waihuang and became a retainer of the young knight Zhang Er. Until the Qin Dynasty unified the world, he went to Xianyang to work as a laborer.

Guided by Xiahou Ying, Zhang Liang entered Liu Ji's camp.

"This must be the renowned Zhang Liang, Zhang Zifang. I've heard so much about you." Liu Ji stood up, cupped his hands, and greeted him.

Eternal God Emperor

"I dare not accept such praise, General. You are too kind." Zhang Liang looked relatively young, with an expression of composure.

"Ah, um." Liu Ji was a little flustered by Zhang Liang's casual attitude. He looked around and said, "Please sit down, sir, let's talk."

Zhang Liang nodded, maintaining his calm and composed demeanor.

“General Liu Ji, Zifang has come here to join your side.” Zhang Liang bowed slightly to Liu Ji with a smile on his face.

"Of course, of course." Liu Ji nodded readily. "Then what kind of military position does Master Zifang want? A trusted confidant? Or a strategist?"

"Let's leave those things aside for now," Zhang Liang said with a smile, waving his hand. "If I simply said I wanted to join, even if you, General, agreed, the other generals probably wouldn't accept me."

As he spoke, he looked around and then at Liu Ji's generals who were sitting in other parts of the camp, drinking and eating meat.

This was one of Liu Ji's traditional skills. He used to do this under Zhang Er, a group of people drinking and eating meat, having a great time. It was indeed a good way to relax after war.

As soon as Zhang Liang spoke, the tent fell silent, and everyone looked in his direction.

Despite the intense pressure from those gazes, Zhang Liang simply smiled easily.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Zhang Liang's choice was...

He closed his eyes.

Thought patterns—links.

A few seconds later, Zhang Liang opened his eyes again. Centered on him, an aura, like a tide, or perhaps... something else, spread out in a ring in all directions, making everyone in the tent feel their hearts skip a beat.

"...Magic?" After a long pause, Liu Ji stood up with shining eyes and looked at Zhang Liang excitedly.

"The General does have some insight," Zhang Liang said with a smile, looking at Liu Ji.

"I heard about this when I was a retainer under Old Zhang. Apparently, many of the philosophers from the Hundred Schools of Thought knew this stuff. There was also a guy named Yi Ke in General Xiang Liang's army who knew it, but he's dead in Dingtao now... So this really is magic!?"

"I only have a superficial understanding of Huang-Lao techniques." Zhang Liang shook his head, thinking to himself: No one who sees the magic within the mind key patterns would think they are proficient in magic, right?

"Yes! Yes! In that case, it would be good if Mr. Zifang were by my side! He could work with Xiao Fuxin to devise strategies for me and use magic to win at the crucial moment!" Although Zhang Liang said this, Liu Ji still placed Zhang Liang in a very important position in his heart.

"That's good then." Zhang Liang narrowed his eyes slightly and agreed.

......

Three days later, in Linji.

Xiang An made no attempt to conceal his offensive intentions. He crossed the Ju River and Wen River at Quyulian and on the morning of the third day, he directly attacked the city of Linji.

"Kill! Time is of the essence! Western Chu will surely win!"

"!" Xiang An roared, still displaying a fighting style completely different from the other generals, taking the lead and wielding his three-zhang-long spear, charging at the forefront of the army.

Xiang An's more than 9,000 soldiers from Western Chu rushed towards Linji City like madmen.

Zhang Han had won a great victory in Linji, forcing King Jiu of Wei to commit suicide and killing King Tian Dan of Qi in a direct confrontation. Song Yi, the general from Western Chu who was sent to aid Wei, also died on the battlefield.

The Battle of Linji can be considered the catalyst for the decline of the three eastern kingdoms. The Wei kingdom was completely wiped out, the Qi kingdom was nearly destroyed, and the only remaining Chu kingdom was also crippled by Zhang Han in another major battle, the Battle of Dingtao.

But now, Xiang An has led his troops around from the south and fought his way back to Linji City.

Moreover, due to insufficient troops stationed in the rear, this battle was surprisingly easy.

Xiang An took the lead, boosting the morale of the Chu army. Xiang Lu and Liang Ning's cavalry and chariots on the left and right escorted them. The Qin army that went out to fight was almost crushed by their iron hooves. Then, once the battering rams were pulled out, the city gates were broken open. Even if the Qin generals inside the city did not want to surrender, they had to surrender.

From the Kuaiji Uprising to now, more than a year has passed, and Xiang An has almost never suffered a defeat. The reason for this is that Xiang An always charges to the front. If a general is at the forefront of a battle, at the very least, morale will be high. Combined with the various strategies of Xiang An and Han Xin, as well as the unwavering loyalty of his generals, this has made Xiang An a hero in every battle.

Even so, when Xiang An turned around and saw the corpses of Qin soldiers under the horse's hooves, he couldn't help but feel melancholy.

"This damned war..."

Riding on the back of the swiftly moving horse, it was only noon, and Xiang An let out a long sigh.

After a moment of silence, he summoned Liang Ning and instructed, "Gather all the Qin soldiers' corpses and bury them. Although the weather is cold now, we must still be careful to prevent the spread of disease. As for the corpses of my Chu soldiers... bury them too. Remember to collect the tokens of each Chu soldier. These tokens... cannot be lost."

"Yes, sir! I obey your command!" Liang Ning replied solemnly, then turned and went to carry out the order.

------------

Chapter 918 The Reasons for Attacking White Horse City

There are actually quite a few ferry crossings on the south bank of the river, stretching from Xingyang in the west to Dongjun in the east. However, Xiang An chose Baima City, which is closer to the east, instead of a ferry crossing further west, even though it would have been more convenient to attack Anyang from further west, including when crossing the Huan River.

"This is to prepare for future strategies," Xiang An said to Han Xin, shaking his head as he spoke. "What we really need now is not a large ferry crossing like Xingyang or Pingyin; what we need is stability."

“The west side is not only close to Xianyang, but also where many rivers converge: the Yellow River, the Shao River, the Fen River, the Luo River, the Yin River, the Ju River, the Wen River, and so on. There are so many named major rivers, and the waterways are intricate and complex, bringing too many variables.” Xiang An pointed to the location of Baima City. “The location of Baima is very simple. It is right next to the river, and there are no other major rivers nearby.”

“But then we won’t be…” Han Xin frowned, as if he wanted to say something.

"Hey, Lao Han, let me finish." Xiang An raised his hand and pressed down, signaling Han Xin to shut up.

“There are many waterways on the west side. Even if our Western Chu army is good at naval warfare, we don’t have enough troops to completely control it. We only have less than 10,000 men left, Lao Han.” Xiang An looked distressed and slowly lowered his hand to the table.

When he separated from Xiang Yu with his army, he did indeed bring more than 10,000 people with him. To be more precise, the number was 11,554, which includes Xiang An.

But now, there are 9,781 people left, including several hundred seriously wounded. As for minor injuries, they are not considered injuries on the battlefield.

Where the others went is obvious without needing to be told.

"So... General, you plan to control a simple city to prevent intelligence from leaking out?" Han Xin didn't care much about these losses. In war, it's pointless to not lose people. Moreover, in Han Xin's opinion, Xiang An's army's casualty ratio was pitifully small. Otherwise, he wouldn't have followed Xiang An so devotedly.

Xiang An nodded: "We must not let the Qin army in the west know about our crossing the river and changing our attack route, nor can we let the general in the east know about it. Only when both the enemy and our allies are caught off guard can it be considered a surprise attack."

"Even if the General blames you afterward?" Han Xin's eyes held a strange look.

He wasn't stupid; he could naturally see why Xiang Yu had arranged for Xiang An to march westward.

Let's assume Xiang Yu won his attack on Zhang Han in the north, then turned west and marched from Hangu Pass towards Guanzhong. Was this route fast?

It might not be slow, but compared to Liu Ji's attack route, it is definitely quite slow, even to the point of being like a tortoise. Especially considering that Xiang Yu is not even sure if he can defeat Zhang Han. Even if he does win, Zhang Han is no simple character and cannot be dealt with in a few moves. He will definitely keep Xiang Yu occupied for some time.

Therefore, sending Xiang An at this time, besides having the meaning of a surprise attack, naturally meant that Xiang Yu wanted to fight Zhang Han while advancing to Guanzhong faster than Liu Ji. Xiang An's 10,000 men marching at full speed, even if the journey was a bit longer, would definitely be faster than Liu Ji's 40,000 men.

Xiang An paused for a moment, then shook his head: "We can't worry about that now. Zhang Han is still a major concern. If Zhang Han is not eliminated, the tyrannical Qin will not be destroyed, and the world will not be at peace. Eradicating this cancer in the Central Plains is the most important thing."

"As for the agreement between the General and Liu Ji..." Xiang An hesitated slightly, then gritted his teeth, "The General is definitely more suitable for the position of ruler of the world than he is!"

"At worst, I'll just throw away my shame!"

"You—" Han Xin choked with emotion, "You think so highly of the General?"

He had a very strong opinion about Xiang Yu.

Head west to fight Liu Ji for the title of King of Guanzhong? What a load of rubbish! You think you can win with 30,000 against 100,000? How can you be so stubborn? And the orders you give are so decisive, it's easy for you to talk when you're not the one suffering the consequences.

Han Xin truly couldn't understand what it was about Xiang Yu that made Xiang An so devoted.

Could it be simply because he's Brother Xiang An?