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

Since the first wave of attacks failed, Xiang An was unable to completely eliminate Han Xin in a short period of time.

What followed was a six-month-long offensive and defensive battle.

Instead of wasting his forces playing games with Liu Ji on the vast border, Xiang Yu chose to regroup his troops and attack westward. However, his offensive was like hitting a sandbag. Liu Ji did not intend to completely defend against Xiang Yu's attack. Instead, he chose to use his large number of soldiers to fight Xiang Yu. When Xiang Yu attacked one side, Liu Ji only used a small part of his troops to defend, while using the majority of his troops to bypass Xiang Yu's offensive and attack other parts of Western Chu.

This created a very strange scene.

Xiang Yu kept winning, but the Han state never suffered a devastating blow, and even its territory on the map didn't shrink much. On the other hand, although the Western Chu state won battle after battle, it was always led by the nose by the Han state, and its morale was severely eroded. No matter which direction it attacked, it was unable to expand its territory further.

For a time, the Han Kingdom managed to hold back two countries on both sides simultaneously.

However, the consequences of this were also very obvious. All the Han state could do was to restrain it. Western Chu and Northern Chu could not truly strike at the Han state, and the Han state could not truly destroy either of the two states.

The three countries were locked in a protracted battle of offense and defense for a full year.

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Chapter 988 Assassination

The first day of the third month in 202 BC.

puff--

Zi Huai pulled his dagger from the man's neck, and blood gushed out, splattering all over Zi Huai's face.

"General Wei Hao, commander of the southern defense line of Northern Chu..." Zi Huai murmured to himself, pursing his lips.

The corpse lying on the ground in the darkness was none other than Wei Hao, the mainstay of Northern Chu, who held up the entire southern defense line of Northern Chu.

"I'm sorry, Sister Hua, this is... an order..."

Zihuai gritted his teeth and disappeared from the spot.

This was an order from Liu Ji, and Zihuai had to carry it out.

This was a promise he made to Liu Ji, and also to repay Liu Ji for saving his life.

Zihuai's mental state has become somewhat abnormal; he himself doesn't even know what he's thinking.

He desperately wanted to return to Zijuan's side, but he couldn't convince himself to accept the existence of Xiang An, Zijuan's true "brother."

Furthermore, given Liu Ji's ambition to rule the world, and considering that he was Liu Ji's sharpest weapon, it was impossible for Liu Ji not to use him.

Killing Wei Hao was not the first time this sword had been drawn. Last year, Zi Huai had already killed many Western Chu generals, including Jiang Chun.

"Hurry up, let's finish this..."

"This kind of thing, I..."

Northern Chu was the country of Zijuan.

The country to which Zijuan poured her heart.

"I don't want to do it anymore..."

......

“Wei Hao… is dead.” Xiang An’s eyes were filled with gloom, his brows furrowed, as he spoke to Zi Juan and Xiang Lu, “He was assassinated. He came to the military camp under the guise of an envoy and carried out the assassination at night.”

"Not only Wei Hao, but all the guards on guard around him also died. They were all killed with a single blow to the neck."

The atmosphere inside the tent was incredibly heavy.

Wei Hao was of great significance to Northern Chu, as important as Xiang An's left arm.

Although Han's main target was Western Chu, the border area of ​​the three kingdoms was extremely close, and friction occurred frequently. Han's offensive intentions never diminished, and tens of thousands of soldiers were eyeing the southern defense line covetously. Now that Wei Hao, the backbone of the southern defense line, is dead, if Xiang An does not deal with it in time, what will happen in the future is self-evident.

"Wei Hao's body has been collected. I will order an increase in vigilance on the southern defense line and have General Liang take over Wei Hao's position."

With a long sigh, Xiang An said in a deep voice.

Wei Hao and the people sitting in the tent were all good comrades who had joined the rebellion with the others since the time of Xiang Liang. Now that they were dead, they couldn't even find their bodies. Everyone felt a deep sadness and heaviness.

“Last year, I heard that there were assassins active in Western Chu, killing many generals of varying ranks. It was probably the work of the same person. Now it seems that General Wei…” Xiang Lu shook his head.

"We can't let this happen again. Han Xin is still harassing us, and we can't leave the northern defense line." Zijuan rubbed her temples. "Although it's a bit hard to say this now, I hope... I hope my brother can help us draw more of Liu Ji's firepower."

Xiang An lowered his head, remained silent, shook his head, and handed the written edict to Liao Ye.

"Go, prepare a fast horse and have someone deliver it to General Liang Ning as soon as possible. The southern defense line cannot be without a commander."

"Yes!" Liao Ye replied and quickly took the things and went out.

"...We need to deal with Han Xin as soon as possible." After a moment of silence, Xiang Lu shook his head.

"...His military tactics are so unpredictable, it's impossible to defend against them." Zijuan's tone carried a deep sense of helplessness. "His Majesty occasionally needs to return to Linzi to handle various affairs, and in the vast Northern Chu, there isn't a single person capable of handling logistics..."

When Xiang An was in power, Northern Chu was able to suppress Han Xin. Last year, they even annexed the entire territory of Zhao and Wei. However, when Xiang An turned his attention to domestic affairs, Han Xin only took two months to fight back.

"Western Chu..." Xiang An opened his mouth, but still couldn't skip the topic. "Western Chu probably won't last much longer."

Xiang Lu and Zijuan both fell silent.

This is the biggest problem facing Northern Chu at present.

Only the core of Xiang Yu's army still retained sufficient morale; the rest had long been worn down by the endless war, becoming like walking corpses. Generals were also repeatedly assassinated. Xiang Yu himself was also warlike and killed some generals who had high prestige in the army but disagreed with him, resulting in Western Chu having fewer talented people than Northern Chu.

Even more fatally, Western Chu's subsequent troop strength was almost entirely unreplenished.

Currently, the Northern Chu army has 230,000 troops, the Han army has 350,000 troops, and the Western Chu army has less than 100,000 troops.

Facing enemies on two fronts, Western Chu was already at its last gasp. If Liu Ji found a breakthrough, the entire Western Chu would collapse at the first touch.

Liu Ji had been losing for so long, all in preparation for this one victory.

And this victory is not far off.

When Western Chu falls, Northern Chu will face a full-scale attack from the Han state.

Without Han Xin, Xiang An would have been somewhat confident that he could handle the full-scale attack from the Han state. However, Han Xin, who would never leave his lord again, brought too much trouble to Xiang An.

He wasn't capable enough to destroy Northern Chu, but he could help Liu Ji hold off Northern Chu.

Xiang Yu, from beginning to end, never once asked Xiang An for any support or assistance.

Xiang An understood Xiang Yu's thoughts to some extent, but... he absolutely could not agree with them.

"We need to find a way to support Western Chu, at least to attract some of Liu Ji's attention."

"But at this crucial moment, Wei Hao died..."

Xiang An sighed again; this was already the umpteenth time he had sighed today.

......

Liang Ning became the commander-in-chief of the southern defense line and, under Xiang An's instructions, began the offensive against Han.

The Han Dynasty clearly did not expect Xiang An's move, and under Liang Ning's command, they were directly pushed back south of the Huai River.

Meanwhile, Xiang An, in the northern Zhao territory, once again began his campaign to besiege Han Xin.

However, Han Xin's next move surprised Xiang An.

He ran away.

He led his army in a large-scale retreat, ceding vast territories of Zhao and Wei to Northern Chu, leaving Xiang An completely bewildered.

Just as Xiang An was busy recovering the lands of Zhao and Wei, another piece of bad news came.

The new General of the Southern Front of Northern Chu, Liang Ning, is the same as his predecessor, Wei Hao—

He was assassinated.

The assassination methods were identical, so it's almost certain that it was the work of the same person.

Meanwhile, the main force of the Han army led by Liu Ji finally found a weakness in the Western Chu and shattered the Western Chu's defenses.

In just one month, the territory of Western Chu shrank dramatically.

The chaos has lasted long enough, and now—

It seems that someone is about to bring an end to this endless chaos.

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

Chapter 989 Zijuan Collapses, Zihuai Departs

"Isn't that...enough, Your Majesty..."

On the front lines of the Han Kingdom, in Liu Ji's military camp, Zi Huai knelt on the ground, clutching his head, and spoke with great anguish.

His voice trembled, and a drop of liquid clung to the tip of his nose; it was hard to tell whether it was sweat or a tear.

Looking at the trembling Zihuai, Liu Ji couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

The zihuai knife is a good knife, but Liu Ji really doesn't want to use it.

He knew the child's past, the child's misery, the child's tragedy.

And he has to use it.

As Liu Ji is, he could choose not to, or even actively let go of, his advice to persuade Zi Huai to return to his sister's side.

However, as the ruler of the Han state and the King of Han, he had to use it.

Northern Chu was very strong. Even though its number of soldiers was only about half that of the Han state, it was still very strong, so strong that Liu Ji had to deal with it with great care.

The reason why the Han state is able to contain the Northern Chu while almost destroying the Western Chu is entirely due to the existence of Han Xin, but Han Xin is not omnipotent.

Han Xin will eventually be unable to hold on.

Liu Ji needs to commit more troops to fight against Western Chu. Now that he has just broken through Western Chu's defenses, he must take this opportunity to wipe out Western Chu in one fell swoop. Han Xin's resources in the north will be further reduced, and he will eventually be unable to hold on. The disparity in military strength is too great.

If Han Xin were to suffer a defeat, it would not be easy for Northern Chu and Xiang An to defeat Han, but it would not be difficult either.

Xiang An is capable of defeating three talents: Han Xin, Fan Hui, and Xiao He. He can conquer cities and break through enemy lines on horseback, and govern the country and bring peace on foot. He is far superior to his brother.

He would be the biggest obstacle to Liu Ji's desire to unify the Central Plains.

If Han Xin were still by Xiang An's side, Liu Ji felt that the Central Plains might already belong to the Xiang family.

However, Han Xin is currently on his side, and as long as the war continues, Han Xin is unlikely to betray him.

The safest, and only, way Liu Ji could think of to resolve the threat from Northern Chu was to use the Zi Huai sword.