In addition to Ding Ji's department fighting a small scale resistance battle in Xiangxian, the rest of the war was actually the active retreat of the young marshal army, and there was no real full resistance, so the battle of Pengcheng was actually the first time that the young marshal army fought with the regular army of the Qin army directly under the jurisdiction of the Qin court since the start of the army, which is of great significance, and the young marshal army must not fail, otherwise, even if Xiang Kang still has the retreat route of fleeing to Jiangdong with the remnants of the defeated army, the city and land that the young marshal army has worked hard to fight in the south and north in the past few months will definitely be completely wiped out.

The young marshal soldiers are also very clear about this, so the Qin army led by Zhang Ping has just arrived in the suburbs of Pengcheng, and the young marshal soldiers outside the city are immediately shrouded in a tense atmosphere, and the inevitable rumors in the army are everywhere, and the soldiers are vying to spread the strong combat effectiveness of the regular army of the Qin army in the outpost battle in Xiangxian County. When asked how Xiang Kang planned to resist the Qin army this time, his morale and fighting spirit were obviously not as high as before.

This can't be blamed on the cowardice and incompetence of the young marshal's army, mainly because the Qin army under Zhang Han's department fought too beautifully before, and easily annihilated the main force of Zhang Chu's western expeditionary army, not to mention, and in just over a month, the Zhang Chu army on the western front was killed to the point that it was a fart, collapsed, and almost effortlessly broke through the capital of Zhang Chu, plus the Xiangxian War of the young marshal Ding Ji's department fell into eight lifetimes of blood mold, and happened to bump into the elite of Longxi of the regular army of the Qin army, how miserable it was to lose, Therefore, it is inevitable that the young marshal and soldiers must be all soldiers and fear the enemy like tigers.

Xiang Zhuang, who had accumulated a lot of experience in actual combat, quickly discovered this danger, and sent people into the city to report the situation to Xiang Kang in the evening of the same day, Xiang Kang also immediately made up his mind and decided to relocate his headquarters to the camp outside the city the next day, so as to stabilize people's hearts and boost morale, so that Xiang Sheng, who he could trust, led the army to guard the city of Pengcheng, and transferred a thousand-man team from the Chinese army team directly under him to strengthen Xiang Sheng's troops, preventing the Qin army from bypassing the camp outside the city of the young marshal army and directly attacking Pengcheng.

In this regard, the old man Fan, who likes to be upright, raised his hands in support, and felt that Xiang Kang had finally taken a boost, but Zhou Zeng was quite worried, and reminded Xiang Kang: "Young marshal, it's better to be careful, the violent Qin army is powerful, after you leave the city, I am afraid that there will be people in the city who have different intentions, especially Wang Yong, the commander of Pengcheng County who dedicated the city to us before, he is a person who sees money and opens his eyes to the wind." ”

"Don't worry, I'll tell Xiang Sheng to be careful." Xiang Kang replied: "Wang Yong's side is fine, if he dares to have different intentions, I will naturally have a way to deal with him." ”

After making the necessary and full arrangements, early the next morning, Xiang Kang walked out of Pengcheng with his own personal army in the snowstorm, and transferred his headquarters to the main camp of the young marshal army outside the west gate of Pengcheng.

But it's a pity that the strength of the young marshal's army is still far from being at a disadvantage, Zhang Ping's army is 50,000 people, plus more than 6,000 people from the Dangjun Qin army who were ordered to rush to reinforcements, the total strength of the Qin army has reached 56,000, even if the 3,000 troops are left to guard the Xiangxian and Xiao counties and other places that were captured before, the front-line troops are still more than double the total strength of the young marshal's army. What makes Xiang Kang even more worried is that there are still an unknown number of elite Qin troops in Longxi in Zhang Ping's army, these elite troops are not only better equipped than the young marshal army, but also have stronger combat effectiveness than the elite troops of the young marshal army.

At the moment of life and death, no matter how worried he was, of course Xiang Kang didn't dare to reveal it, so after relocating the headquarters to the camp outside the city, at the first combat meeting held, Xiang Kang's expression was still as relaxed as usual, and he talked and laughed with the generals under his command, as if he was not nervous at all. And when the young marshal asked how to fight this battle, Xiang Kang immediately smiled and said: "Of course, it is mainly defensive, the tyrannical Qin army is coming from afar, and the grain and grass cannot ensure a stable supply, such a good opportunity, why should we rush to launch a decisive battle?" Could it be that we are still the people under the rule of the tyrannical Qin, and we still have to help the tyrannical Qin army save grain and grass? ”

The generals laughed, and Xiang Kang said with a smile: "By the way, I will tell you a few more good news, our marshal Xiang Zhuguo has sent a letter, saying that he will soon lead the Jiangdong elite of our Chu State to cross the Yangtze River north and come to Pengcheng to reinforce us." General Feng Zhong, on his side, is also about to lead our southern army from Jiujiang to the north and come over to reinforce us. In addition, Liu Ji and Liu Peigong in our north, in order to thank us for helping him keep Fengyi last time, he also personally led the army south to reinforce us. If it goes well, our total strength will soon surpass the Tyrant Qin army. ”

Usually don't like to talk big and lie has an advantage, that is, it is easy for others to believe when they suddenly lie, so after listening to the good news that Xiang Kang casually fabricated, the young marshal generals suddenly relaxed a lot, and their mood was no longer so nervous. Xiang Kang said again: "Okay, everyone knows the situation, don't worry, don't be in a hurry to fight a decisive battle with the tyrannical Qin army, first hang out the battle exemption card, and concentrate on closing the camp and holding on." If the Tyrannical Qin army likes to attack the camp, let them come, and we will only defend without fighting, and see how they can break through the strong camp we have worked so hard to build. ”

The generals sang the promise, and then of course some people were curious to ask what the war-free card was, Xiang Kang also remembered that the war-free card seemed to be something in the romance commentary, but the words had been spoken, Xiang Kang still asked someone to get a big wooden card, and asked Zhou Zeng to write the two big words 'exempt from war' on the wooden card, and asked people to hang it on the camp gate of the self-army, and told the Qin army by means in the romance commentary, saying that the self-army had no interest in field battles with them. - To be precise, he didn't have the courage to fight in a field battle with the Qin army.

Of course, the props in the romance can't play any role, it's noon on the day, the menacing Zhang Ping still sent an envoy to the camp, and asked Xiang Kang to send troops to a decisive battle the next day, Xiang Kang refused, saying that he was not interested in a decisive battle with the Qin army for the time being, and told the Qin army not to have to run back and forth so troublesome in the future, and if he didn't take off the war-free card hanging in front of the camp for a day, he would not accept the Qin army's battle for a day. The envoy of the Qin army reported the news to Zhang Ping, and Zhang Ping was also furious, and shouted as soon as he took the case: "Xiang Kang will not fight the thief!" Let's fight! Tomorrow, send troops, go to the outside of the Chu thief camp to line up and insult, and provoke Xiang Kang to send troops against the thief! If he still doesn't send troops, he will attack the camp for me! ”

According to Zhang Ping's order, in the early morning of the next day, the Qin army sent 46,000 troops to the east in one go, and set up a huge battle formation outside the gate of the young marshal's barracks, and sent many high-voiced Qin soldiers to the front of the battle to insult and rudely greet Xiang Kang's parents and ancestors, but the thick-skinned Xiang Kang was not moved at all, and in turn sent some high-voiced soldiers to the camp gate to scold back, from Zhang Ping's eighteenth generation ancestors to Zhang Ping's unborn grandson. Zhang Ping, who was not thick-skinned enough, was furious, and despite the dissuasion of several subordinates, he immediately ordered the army to attack the camp.

Zhang Ping's impulse also hit Xiang Kang's heart, in order to hold Pengcheng for a long time, the young marshal army built his main camp to be strong and abnormal, in addition to building a high earth wall to defend the camp, and built a female wall for standing and fighting, and built a sheep and horse wall outside the earthen wall, and there are two trenches outside the sheep and horse wall to protect, the trench is deep and half a foot wide, and countless sharp piles are buried in the trench to kill the enemy. If the Qin army wants to break through the camp of the young marshal's army, in addition to attacking the camp gate guarded by the heavy soldiers of the young marshal's army, it can only use the trench bridge car to step forward and build a trench road, and then it can touch the camp wall of the young marshal's army.

However, the Qin army also had certain preparations, in addition to having built some trench bridge cars, it also rushed to build a large number of light flying ladders to deal with the camp wall of the young marshal's army, so even if it was a hasty attack on the camp, the Qin army still fought in an orderly manner, first stepped forward with a long shield, set up a large number of temporary fortifications outside the young marshal's barracks, arranged crossbowmen to suppress the defenders of the young marshal's army, and then pushed the trench bridge cars to attack, preparing to open a certain number of trench roads first, and then launch a general attack.

In the sound of war drums, the long shield of the Qin army strode forward in a neat horizontal formation, although the young marshal army desperately released arrows to block, but unfortunately the wide long shield blocked most of the feather arrows of the young marshal army, so the bow and crossbow of the young marshal army always had little effect, even if he relied on luck to shoot and kill some of the Qin army's long shield men, but still could not stop the Qin army's long shield team from advancing, watching the Qin army's long shield team force force in front of him, forming a row of temporary fortifications, and then the Qin army's crossbowmen hiding behind the long shield immediately released arrows to shoot back, He was very happy to shoot with the young marshals and soldiers who were hiding behind the sheep and horse walls and on the camp wall.

In order to push the trench and bridge car to the side of the trench as soon as possible to build a bridge, the Qin army convoy has just entered the range of the bow and crossbow of the young marshal army, and the beating rhythm of the Qin army's war drums suddenly accelerated, and the Qin army infantry with only a round shield body also charged at full speed like crazy, and the young marshal soldiers hiding behind the sheep and horse wall and the camp wall were shooting arrows together, hitting the Qin army's trench bridge convoy head-on, and the Qin soldiers without the protection of the long shield were constantly killed and wounded by arrows. The screams continued one after another, and in just a few moments, dozens of Qin soldiers lay down on the battlefield forever.

The Qin army's trench bridge convoy was also close to the trench, and the arrows of the young marshal's army became more fierce and dense, and the young marshal's soldiers hiding behind the sheep and horse walls took turns to release arrows and effectively hit the Qin infantry at close range. At the same time, behind the camp wall of the young marshal's army, dozens of boulders suddenly flew up, and smashed directly on the head of the Qin army, the Qin army was caught off guard, and was immediately smashed into chaos, and Zhang Ping in the back was shocked, and then immediately came to his senses and roared: "Shameless traitor!" There are even trebuchets in the camp! ”

The matter is not over, after helping the crossbowmen to smash the Qin army's trench convoy, the young marshal's trebuchet hiding behind the camp wall leaned on the lookout finger at the end of the camp wall, and smashed the stone on the hand of the Qin army's long shield, the Qin army's long shield could not protect the sky overhead, and was soon smashed by stones falling from the sky, and the young marshal soldiers behind the sheep and horse wall took the opportunity to release arrows one after another, shooting and killing many Qin soldiers who had lost the protection of the long shield, and the Qin army's long shield team was also more chaotic, and the strength of the young marshal's army archers was suddenly greatly reduced.

The disobedience of the attack on the camp made Zhang Ping even more annoyed, and he roared and immediately threw another thousand troops to strengthen the attack, and at the same time directly sent troops to storm the camp gate of the young marshal's army. Xiang Kang in the camp calmly commanded the army to meet the battle, and a thousand crossbowmen quickly came out of the camp from the north and south gates, and with the protection of the sheep and horse wall, the cat waist ran to the west to participate in the battle, helping the defenders of the west gate who had decreased physical strength to resist the enemy's attack.

It was really unable to resist the fierce arrow rain of the young marshal's army, and for the first time since the army was dispatched from Guanzhong, the Qin army was also forced to retreat, and at the same time, Yao Ang and Dong Ke and other generals also bitterly advised Zhang Ping not to act impulsively, not to use too much force in the case of insufficient preparation, and to frustrate the troops. Zhang Ping had no choice but to let people ring the golden cymbals and withdraw the front-line troops, leaving corpses all over the ground and broken trench bridge cars. As a result, as soon as the Qin army retreated, the young marshal soldiers who had been nervous immediately erupted in thunderous cheers, their morale was greatly improved, and the morale of the army was also encouraged.

Before the matter was over, the Qin army had just retreated, Xiang Kang immediately asked the young marshal soldiers who had scolded the formation before to leave the camp, and continued to insult Zhang Ping loudly outside the camp gate, Zhou Zeng saw the strangeness, and hurriedly asked: "Young marshal, the tyrannical Qin army even threw the trench bridge car, and it is clear that it is no longer ready to attack, why do you still ask people to go out and scold the formation?" ”

"The enemy is strong and we are weak, the enemy is outnumbered, and if the enemy's commander remains calm, our battle is likely to be more than auspicious." Xiang Kang replied: "So there is no way, only by desperately provoking Zhang Ping, making him lose his cool and always in an irrational state, can we have any hope of winning this battle." ”

Zhou Zeng woke up and quickly nodded yes, but the old man Fan next to him snorted heavily, and said disdainfully: "I want to be opportunistic again!" ”

The means are despicable, but the despicable means are sometimes more effective than the fair, after the young marshal scolds the hand and runs outside the camp to insult Zhang Ping in public, Zhang Ping really hit the plan, and almost wanted to urge the army to attack the camp in anger, and finally although he was stopped by Yao Ang and others, Zhang Ping was still so angry that he kicked the case in front of him, and roared: "Collect the troops and return to the camp, go all out to build trench bridge cars, trebuchets and flying ladders, and come to Xiang Kang to settle accounts with the thieves another day!" ”

In this battle, the losses of the Qin army were actually not large, only about 400 people were killed before and after, and only dozens of people were seriously injured. But there is no way, if you lose, you lose, the Qin army, which has not fought a defeat since the army sent a letter to Guguan, has still been affected to a certain extent in terms of military morale, Zhang Ping is even more angry about this, no matter how others persuade it, it is useless, after returning to the camp, he just blindly urges the soldiers to make equipment, and he just wants to launch another attack on the camp tomorrow, and arrest Xiang Kang and tear the corpse into pieces, and break the bones and ashes.

Xiang Kang is also very good at adding fuel to the fire, not long after the Qin army returned to the camp, Xiang Kang sent a letter, claiming that since Zhang Ping refused to agree to negotiate with him face-to-face, he was not benevolent and unjust to send troops to attack his camp, and he was forced to have no choice but to conclude an alliance with Wei to help Wei drag down the Qin army, and win the opportunity for Wei Zhou Fu's army to take the opportunity to enter Guanzhong, and also advised Zhang Ping to quickly withdraw his troops and go back to rescue Guanzhong, and not to waste time in Pengcheng again. The tone of the letter was arrogant, and he put the face of the fearless villain to the fullest, and laughed at Zhang Ping a few words.

Of course, Xiang Kang's arrogant attitude made Zhang Ping more and more furious, but Yao Ang next to him saw that something was wrong, and hurriedly admonished Zhang Ping: "The general is angry, Xiang Kang's traitor deliberately provoked you, and it was clear that he wanted to lure you to send troops to storm his strong camp, so that he could consume our army with the camp fortifications. I hope that the general must not be fooled, act calmly, and do not blindly just attack head-on, and find another way to break the enemy. ”

"There's no need to be so troublesome, a group of rabble, even if there is a strong camp, it will definitely not be able to stop our Great Qin army!" Zhang Ping said angrily: "In today's battle, we just lost due to lack of preparation, and when we prepare enough offensive equipment, we can definitely take the camp of the thieves!" ”

Zhang Ping went to the rear camp to supervise the soldiers of the Qin army to build the attack equipment, and in more than a day, he built one hundred and twenty trench bridge vehicles, sixty towed trebuchets, and six hundred light flying ladders, and then Zhang Ping immediately urged the army to fight, and on the morning of the third day after the failure of the attack on the camp, he once again launched a frontal assault on the camp of the young marshal's army.

In addition to preparing to attack from the southwest two directions at the same time, Zhang Ping also decided to use the elite of Longxi, which Zhang Han regarded as a treasure, to participate in the camp battle. And after the news of the Qin army's dispatch was reported to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang also immediately summoned the young marshal's generals to do pre-war mobilization, and said to the young marshal's generals through gritted teeth: "Whether Pengcheng can hold it depends on today's battle!" The Tyrannical Qin army came to attack our camp this time, it must be the main force exhausted, and there will definitely be no backhand, what we are facing today must be a bitter battle! Fierce battle! Bloody battle! I hope you will lead the army to fight the enemy bravely and resolutely defend our camp! Defend our Pengcheng! ”

"Tell every soldier what I say, in today's battle, we can only win, not lose! If we win, we will be able to hold out until reinforcements arrive and turn the tide of the battle! If we lose, none of us will want to live! The Tyrant Qin has already released a word, as long as we break through our camp, it doesn't matter if our soldiers surrender or not! Kill them all! One does not spare! ”

It was also a coincidence that the young marshal's generals sang their promises in unison, and after receiving the order, the soldiers hurriedly brought a messenger from Liu Laosan, saying that the reinforcements led by Liu Laosan himself had arrived at a position only forty miles away from Pengcheng yesterday evening, and they could arrive at the Pengcheng battlefield today to reinforce Xiang Kang. Xiang Kang was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately ordered: "Quick, send a fast horse to the north to contact Pei Gong, tell him about our current situation, and ask him to speed up and go south to help me share the pressure." ”

"Young Marshal, there shouldn't be any need to tell Liu Ji about our current situation, right?" Zhou Zeng next to him reminded in a low voice: "Otherwise, if he thinks that our situation is critical, he may choose to watch the fire from the other side, deliberately slow down the speed of the army to listen to the wind, so that he can leave at any time." ”

Xiang Kang hesitated for a moment and said, "Things have come to this point, and we can't hide anything from our allies anymore." Don't worry, Liu Ji knows that he knows that once we are defeated, Zhang Pingpifu's next target will definitely be him, for his own sake, he will not be confused in this matter. ”

Not to mention, Xiang Kang's words were really not used to comfort Zhou Zenghe and comfort himself, because Xiang Kang clearly remembered that although Liu Laosan in history was not very good in terms of faithfulness, he was never ambiguous in the anti-Qin matter, and he had never done anything sorry for the anti-Qin friendly army, and he had no bad reputation.