In order to keep the already seriously insufficient troops as much as possible, Xiang Zhuang hesitated again and again, and finally adopted Han Xin's suggestion and sent a fast horse to send an order to Xiang Guansuo, the partial division of the Chuji coalition army on the Tuchengdu battlefield, asking Xiang Guan to lead the army to immediately withdraw the Jinjiling camp that had been conscripted and built by the people before this, and not to fight with the Han army's partial division, which was already doomed to be useless. At the same time, for the sake of safety, Xiang Zhuang also confessed early and allowed Xiang Guan to give up the camp and baggage when necessary, and give priority to preserving the army.

When the order was conveyed to Xiang Guan, the partial division of the Chuji coalition army, which was defeated by the counterattack of the Han army, had actually withdrawn to the camp on its own, so although he was extremely unwilling in his heart, Xiang Guan, who had long understood that his own army had no chance of winning, still roared, and ordered loudly with tears in his eyes, so that the Chuji coalition army immediately abandoned the camp and retreated at full speed, taking advantage of the fact that the Han army's partial division had not yet completed all the river crossings, and also taking advantage of the fact that the Han army and the Qi army had not yet had time to surround his camp, and fled to Jinjiling to reorganize the army first.

Fortunately, the main force of the Chuji coalition army was not pinned down by the main force of the Han army in the main battlefield of Licheng in vain, at least at this critical moment, the main force of the Chuji coalition army can continue to block the ferry, buy time for the retreat of the partial division and the transfer of baggage and military needs of the rear army, and although the main force of the Han army also received this news quickly, Uncle Zhou was not in a hurry to let the Han army soldiers launch a rush in Lichengdu, and said very calmly: "Don't worry, it is not only difficult to rush now, but there are many casualties, or when the main force of the Western Chu thief army also begins to retreat, It's not too late for us to rush and pursue. ”

It's a pity that Uncle Zhou's wishful thinking was also expected by Han Xin, confirming that Xiang Champion had begun to retreat, and after waiting for a while, he still didn't see the main force of the Han army rushing to launch a rush, Han Xin immediately expected Uncle Zhou's plan, and hurriedly said to Xiang Zhuang: "Zuo Sima, the Han thieves in Licheng haven't launched a rush until now, they must want to wait for our main force to start retreating before making a move, and take advantage of the opportunity of our retreating army to panic and hit our army hard, the last general thinks, Only by asking Zuo Sima to personally lead the elite troops to the rear of the palace can we stabilize the morale of the army and cover the smooth withdrawal of our main force to the Jinjiling camp. ”

Xiang Zhuang, who has never been afraid of tough battles, immediately nodded in agreement, and then asked, "Do you want to hold on until it gets dark and then retreat?" After dark, the thieves were afraid of an ambush as they had done last time, and they certainly did not dare to pursue them too much, so that our losses would be smaller when we retreated. ”

"I can't." Han Xin immediately replied: "We have to prevent the Han thieves from crossing the Tucheng to reinforce us, so as long as General Xiang Guan's army withdraws to the Jinjiling camp, we must retreat immediately." ”

Xiang Zhuang nodded silently again, and then patiently waited until Xiang Guan led the partial division to retreat to the vicinity of Jinji Ridge, Xiang Zhuang immediately ordered Liu Laosan and Tian Da to lead the main force of the Chuji coalition army to retreat to the south, and he personally led 10,000 troops to stay behind the original palace, and when he saw that the main force of the Chuji coalition army began to retreat, Zhou Shu also immediately urged the main force of the Han army to launch a rush to cross, and strive to weaken the enemy in the field battle, so as to lay a greater advantage for the decisive battle after crossing the river.

Seeing that the Han army began to rush to cross, Xiang Zhuang not only did not let the palace army form a formation to protect itself, but on the contrary, he was extremely brave to urge the army to attack, preventing the Han army from taking the beachhead as soon as possible, and also used the local strength advantage to kill the enemy bravely, venting the anger of the loss of the Jishui defense line.

The limited strength is destined to the Western Chu army palace army has no way to stop the Han army landing, even during the period when the Han army urgently erected the pontoon bridge, the Chuji coalition army sent all the fireships ambushed in the upper reaches, but still failed to stop the Han army soldiers from crossing the Jishui, fortunately, Xiang Zhuang did not need to stop the Han army for a long time, the main force of the Chuji coalition army had just withdrawn to the new camp in Jinjiling, Xiang Zhuang immediately led the army south, although the Han army soldiers also pursued with all their might, but they were never able to defeat the elite troops of the Western Chu army led by Xiang Zhuang himself, Xiang Zhuang led the army to break through successfully, and successfully retreated to Jinjiling to get rid of the pursuit with a loss of only more than 2,000 people.

Of course, this made Uncle Zhou very disappointed, but there was no way, the new camp that the Chuji coalition army forced the people of Licheng to build was not only built on the dangerous terrain that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, but also built extremely strong, even if the attack weapons were sufficient, the Han army did not dare to say that it was sure to take it in one fell swoop, not to mention that it had just crossed the river now and there was not even a flying ladder attached to the ant, so Uncle Zhou could only quickly recall the pursuing army and make every effort to protect the ferry, and at the same time let the main force of the Han army hurry up to cross Jishui and transfer the camp to the south bank of Jishui.

The size of the army was too large, and the amount of military rations and grass carried was an astronomical amount, so it took more than a day for the main force and partial divisions of the Han army to complete the full crossing of the river and join the division, and they had to spend more time building new camps on the high ground on the south bank of Jishui. During this period, the scouts of the Han army were of course moving around, exploring the various situations in the city of Licheng and the new camp of the Chuji coalition army, and gathering them to report to Uncle Zhou.

The intelligence collected by the Han army scouts made Uncle Zhou frown a little, the fortification of the city defense of Licheng, an important town in Jibei, is still a trivial matter, as long as the northern line of the Han army is given a little more time, it must not be a big problem to take the city with a counterweight trebuchet, the most headache for Uncle Zhou is the Jinjiling camp of the Chuji coalition army, which cannot be beaten by trebuchets on the mountainside, the terrain is steep and it is extremely difficult to attack, and there are lakes and springs on the mountain with sufficient water sources, and they are not afraid of being cut off by the Han army to take their water road, In addition, the Chuji coalition army was extremely cunning and hoarded grain and grass in Jinjiling early, and it was impossible to confirm how long the enemy could hold on to the mountain, so Uncle Zhou also had to worry about such a question - could he eliminate the Chuji coalition army on the mountain before the follow-up reinforcements of the Western Chu army arrived?

What caught Uncle Zhou off guard was still behind, at this time, Tian Wei, the general of the Qi army, suddenly rushed to him, bringing him the amazing news that Tian Heng had taken Linzi and killed Tian Jiao, but knowing this situation, he was as calm as Uncle Zhou was inevitably taken aback, and asked in disbelief: "Is the news reliable?" How can it be? Tian Heng Pifu has such a great ability to directly take Linzi and kill the King of Qi? ”

"Don't hide it from General Zhou, and the last general won't dare to believe it at the beginning." Tian privately wiped the sweat on his face and said: "But the messenger sent by General Tian Wang to contact me dares to swear to heaven that such a thing has really happened in Linzi, and the last general has already sent my people to hurry back to Linzi to understand the situation." Also, the last general has already blocked the news, so as not to affect the morale of our Qi army. ”

"General Zhou, we must immediately block all roads between Licheng and Linzi." Li Shiqi next to him hurriedly said: "If there is really such a thing, Tian Heng's puppet will definitely send someone to contact the Western Chu Thief Army, once the Western Chu Thief Army knows about this situation, it will definitely be more stubborn to defend Jinji Ridge and wait for reinforcements." ”

Uncle Zhou nodded, and when he was about to give the order, he frowned again and said: "I'm afraid it's too late, last time the King of Qi abandoned Chu and returned to Han, the Chuji thief army reacted almost two days earlier than us, and it has been proved that there must be a more rapid secret contact between the Chuji thief army and Linzi, if this news is true, at this time, I am afraid that the Chuji coalition army already knows about this situation." ”

Before Uncle Zhou's words fell, a new voice came from outside the tent, saying that the Qi army camp had sent someone to contact Tian private, and there were 100,000 urgent military affairs to report to Tian private, with Uncle Zhou's permission, after Tian privately ordered the summons, a Qi State guard rushed in with a rolling belt, and said loudly before he had time to salute: "General Tian, the big thing is not good, the Western Chu thief army just sent a messenger to our camp to meet you, saying that they have received the news, and our king has been killed by Tian Heng Pifu under the banner of the King of Han. He also said that he would crown you the king of Qi and persuade you to take our Qi army to surrender to the Western Chu thief army. ”

"Title me the King of Qi?" Tian was taken aback, then immediately came back to his senses, and shouted angrily: "Take down the envoy of the Western Chu thief army and immediately bring it to General Zhou." Besides, the soldiers who clearly told us said that the envoy of the Western Chu thief army was lying to confuse the public, how could our king be harmed by Tian Heng Pifu? ”

When the guards of the Qi army led the order to leave, Uncle Zhou and Li Shiqi also immediately looked at each other and smiled bitterly, knowing that this matter was likely to be true, and the Chuji coalition army immediately used the Han army's best skill to sow discord to retaliate, and the old men of Shangshan on the other side, Zhou Shu and Cui Guang, also glanced at each other quickly, but they closed their mouths tightly together, refusing to express any opinion on this matter.

After a little calculation, Uncle Zhou could only first praise Tian Private for taking the initiative to hand over the loyal behavior of the envoy of the Western Chu Army, and then let Tian Private go back to the camp first to appease the army, so as to restrain the army, and then make a decision after confirming the situation in Linzi. After Tian private gave up his hand, Uncle Zhou suddenly said: "If the number of follow-up reinforcements from the Western Chu thief army is not large, then it is not a big problem, and we can also take this opportunity to annex the Qi country in the name of justice." If the number of reinforcements sent by the Western Chu thief army is sufficient, or even Xiang Yu personally leads the army to come, then the war in Qidi may be extraneous. ”

Of course, it can't be fake, soon, all kinds of news about the great changes in Qi came like snowflakes, first Tian Private's cronies left in Qi sent someone to confirm the situation, and then Tian Wang sent someone to ask for help again, and then Tian Heng simply sent someone to contact Tian Private, using Tian Private's parents, wives and children in Linzi City as a threat, and using Feng Tian Private as the general of Qi as a bait, persuading Tian Privately to surrender Tian Heng's Qi King Tian Guang, and helping the Chuji coalition army to suddenly stab the Han army in the back. At the same time, the news of Tian Jiao's murder and the change of the sky in Qi also continued to circulate in the Qi army camp and the Han army camp, which led to great chaos in the military morale of the Qi army, and the morale of the Han army was also greatly affected.

Then, the cronies sent back to Linzi by Tian Private also brought accurate news, which completely proved that the news of Tian Jiao's murder and the fall of Linzi was true, but at this time, not only Tian Private and the Qi army soldiers were anxious, but even Uncle Zhou couldn't hold his breath, so he had to discuss with Li Shiqi, Zhou Shu, Cui Guang and others in a hurry, and decided to seal Tian Private as the Prime Minister of Qi, and let Tian Private lead the Qi army to return to Linzi to quell the rebellion first, and not give Tian Heng a chance to take the opportunity to sit big.

After learning of Uncle Zhou's decision, Tian Zhi's reaction was very strange, and he hesitated for a moment before saying: "Thank you General Zhou for promoting, but the last general has the courage to ask more, who are you going to crown as the king of Qi?" ”

Glancing at Tian Private, Uncle Zhou replied: "The major matter of sealing the king must be decided by our King Han himself, I don't dare to make decisions without permission, so now I don't know who can be named the king of Qi." ”

"Tian Xiangguo, seize the opportunity." Li Shiqi hurriedly smiled at Tian and said: "You are the prime minister of Qi, there is only one step left before the king of Qi, and our king naturally knows the good performance of this counterinsurgency war." ”

Still after listening to Li Shiqi's hints, Tian Shiqi happily thanked him, and then said goodbye and went back to lead the army back to return to the country to quell the rebellion, looking at his departing back, Li Shiqi snorted coldly, and said: "The ambition is not small, if you want to be the king of Qi, of course you have a chance, but first you have to see if you can recapture Linzi and suppress Tian Wang, the generals of Qi who hold military power." ”

"Regardless of whether he can successfully take back Linzi, for a long time, we can't count on the Qi army to continue to help." Uncle Zhou thought about the current problem, sighed and said: "Let's seize the time to attack the city, first take Licheng, then think about how to deal with the enemy on Jinji Ridge, and finally think about how to solve the problem of Qi State." ”

…………

After learning of this situation, Xiang Zhuang and the others, who were already snickering, were of course overjoyed, and they all laughed and said: "Okay, as long as the Qi thief army is gone!" The Qi thief army is gone, not only can we relieve some of the pressure, but the morale of the Han thieves and Yan thieves will definitely be affected, and the Han thieves can no longer expect to get the food and grass supply of the Qi thief army! ”

"King Jibei, Tian Wang, is there any news?" Liu Laosan asked quietly: "Count the time, we sent to contact Tian Wang and named him the envoy of the king of Jiaodong, he should have already arrived in Linzi, he should have a little reaction, right?" ”

"This king has no eyeliner by Tian Wang's side, and there is no news for the time being." Tian Da shook his head and said: "But Pei Gong can rest assured, this king and Tian Wang are the same sect that has not produced five suits, and the messenger I sent, he will give face to see him, so this king can at least guarantee that Zuo Sima's letter will be delivered to him." ”

"That's fine." Liu Laosan smiled and said: "Tian Wang and Tian Private were originally of the same level, but now that Tian Private is leading the army back to China, the Han thief will definitely give him an official promotion and let him command Tian Wang, as long as Tian Wang is not convinced, the affairs of Qi will be easy to handle." ”

"Of course, our Tian family ......." Tian Da was so happy that he was a little speechless, and said with a smile: "If you are not afraid of being embarrassed, although the people of our Qidi Tian family are all descendants of Tian Chengzi, everyone in the world knows how our respective ancestors came from, as long as there is an opportunity, fighting in the nest has always been more ruthless than fighting with foreign enemies." ”

Liu Laosan, who had heard Tian Chengzi's story, couldn't help but smile, and Han Xin on the other side said quietly: "The most important thing at the moment is the follow-up reinforcements of our Western Chu army, if they can arrive before the Han thieves break through Licheng, and the number is enough, then we will definitely have a chance in Qidi." If they can't get there before the Han thieves take Licheng, and the troops are smaller than we hoped, the situation will be difficult to say. ”

"Don't rush." Xiang Zhuang rubbed his knuckles and said, "Count the time, our reinforcements should be coming, and we should also receive the news of reinforcements." The battlefield of Qidi is related to the fortune of our Western Chu country, and my brother and father will definitely not take it lightly, I think even if the Han thieves are also marching in the middle and entangled our king, there will definitely be no shortage of reinforcements sent to us. ”

Xiang Zhuang's hope came true, and more than a day later, a messenger of the Western Chu Army who came from the rear, taking advantage of the opportunity that the Han army could not completely block the contact between Licheng and the rear, finally came to Jinjiling, and finally brought the news of the reinforcements of the Western Chu Army to Xiang Zhuang and others. When Xiang Zhuang and the others heard the news, they hurriedly met with the messenger as soon as they could, and as soon as they identified him, they immediately asked, "Where are our reinforcements?" How many? Who is the main general? ”

"Back to Zuo Sima, when the villain was ordered to go north, our reinforcements had already arrived in Chengting, counting the time distance, it must have arrived in Boyang at this time." The messenger of the Western Chu army replied truthfully, and said: "Eighty thousand are here, led by General Ji Bu, General Xiang It, Xiang Sheng, and General Xiang Han, and the king has an order, let them accept your command in a unified manner!" ”

"Eighty thousand!" Han Xin on the other side was so excited that he jumped up directly and roared loudly: "Great! Now we finally have the strength to fight the thieves head-on! ”

Soldier Immortal Han Xin is still like this, of course, not to mention Xiang Zhuang, Liu Laosan and Tian Da and others, excitedly clenched their fists and waved, Xiang Zhuang and others roared angrily, laughing wildly: "80,000 reinforcements, plus our 60,000 troops, are basically the same as the total strength of the Han thieves and Yan thieves (the Han Yan coalition army must deduct war losses)!" At this moment, even if it is a head-on battle, we don't have to be afraid of the Han thief! ”

The one who laughed the happiest was of course Han Xin, and under the excitement, Han Xin also opened his arms, looked up at the sky, and said to himself: "I have fought so many battles with the Han thieves, I finally waited for this opportunity, and finally have the same strength as the Han thieves to confront each other head-on, this time, I want to see how much ability you have Uncle Zhou, the number one general of the Han thieves, and whether you are my opponent in a head-to-head duel!" ”

…………

Han Xin laughed wildly, his current opponent Uncle Zhou was of course struck by lightning, more than a day later, when the Han army sent to Boyang to send the general situation of the follow-up reinforcements of the Western Chu Army to Uncle Zhou at the fastest speed, Uncle Zhou, who had not been able to send troops to attack because of the influence of the climate, was stunned for a while, and then said slowly: "This time, it seems that it can only be a head-on decisive battle with the Western Chu thief army. ”

"Don't worry, general." Li Shiqi hurriedly comforted: "Even if the reinforcements of the Western Chu Thief Army can arrive at the Licheng battlefield in time, our army still has a certain advantage in terms of experience and equipment, and we don't need to be afraid of them in a dignified head-on decisive battle." ”

"And." Li Shiqi added: "Don't forget, the king once told us in a letter, saying that if we don't have enough troops, we can ask him for help at any time, and no matter what he thinks, he will send us enough reinforcements, and we can just ask the king for help." ”

"I hope I don't have to ask the king for help." Uncle Zhou's answer was a little lacking, because Uncle Zhou was also very much about the situation of the northern line of the Han Army - first recruited a large number of troops in Jindi and Daibei, and then added more soldiers in Zhao State, and the veterans he brought from Guanzhong and Hedong were repeatedly diluted, and the overall strength actually did not rise but fell, although there was still a certain advantage in weapons and equipment, but this advantage was not big and could not play a decisive role.

In addition to these, of course, Uncle Zhou still remembered Xiang Kang's repeated advice, and when he met Han Xin, in addition to relying on the advantage of troops to win, don't expect any opportunistic shortcuts and surprise wins. And at this point, Uncle Zhou has already paid a bloody lesson.

It is still no coincidence that there is no book, just when Uncle Zhou was quietly worried, a guard suddenly entered the report outside the tent, saying that Xiang Kang sent a messenger to contact Uncle Zhou, and when Uncle Zhou hurriedly ordered a meeting, a Han army messenger was quickly led to him, and as soon as they met, he smiled and said: "Congratulations to General Zhou, congratulations to General Zhou, congratulations to General Zhou for being named the general of our Han Kingdom, and the lower official congratulated the general." ”

"Title me a general?" Uncle Zhou was dumbfounded when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "When did it happen, why didn't I know?" ”

"Returning to the general, it was a decision made after our king commanded the troops out of the customs, so you haven't had time to know yet, general."

The Han army messenger hurriedly replied, and quickly took out Xiang Kang's general seal to Uncle Zhou, as well as the edict of canonizing Uncle Zhou as a general, Uncle Zhou and others did not dare to slack off when they saw it, and hurriedly fell to the ground to receive the edict, and the Han army messenger unfolded Xiang Kang's edict and recited it aloud, first praised Uncle Zhou's outstanding performance on the northern front for Xiang Kang, and officially canonized Uncle Zhou as the first general in the Han army's military circles, and then solemnly handed over the edict and the general's seal ribbon to Uncle Zhou with a smile.

Seeing this scene, of course, the Han army and civil and military hurriedly congratulated Uncle Zhou, but Uncle Zhou was surprised and embarrassed, and took the initiative to say: "It seems that when the king made this decision, he should not have known that I suffered a big defeat in Jishui, otherwise, with that battle, I would not be qualified to be the general of our Han Kingdom." ”

"Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, why should you care about it, general?" The Han army messenger comforted him, smiled again, and said: "Besides, if our king doesn't promote you to the general, how can you command and restrain the Han army generals sent by the king to help you?" ”

"What do you mean, sir?" Uncle Zhou heard that something was wrong, and hurriedly asked, "Listen to Mr.'s tone, the king also sent me reinforcements?" ”

"Sent." The Han army messenger nodded casually, and said: "Counting the time and distance, General Zhu Jishi, General Li Shang and General Feng Zhong should have crossed Dongwu City by now, or it won't be long before they can rush to Licheng to help you, General." By the way, the king still has a will, as soon as our 120,000 reinforcements arrive, they will immediately accept the command of you, the general. ”

"120,000 reinforcements?!" Uncle Zhou's eyes almost didn't pop out, and he exclaimed: "I didn't ask the king for help, and the king sent me 120,000 reinforcements?" ”

The Han army messenger smiled and nodded, and said: "The king said that the battle of Qidi is very important, and you can only win, not lose!" Therefore, the king sent all the recruits we recruited from Guanzhong Bashu and Hedong Jindi, as well as the troops we can draw in the middle of the southern front, and all those who can be sent, only ask the general, you must win, and successfully take Qi land for our king, eradicate the last wings of the Western Chu thief army, and also kill the army sent to Qi by the way. ”

After that, in addition to quickly taking out the letter written by Xiang Kang to Uncle Zhou, the messenger of the Han army added, "I almost forgot, we have formed a new 2,000 heavy armored soldiers in Guanzhong, and the king himself did not leave a single heavy armored soldier, and all of them were sent to the general." ”

With trembling hands, he took the handwritten letter written by Xiang Kang to himself and read it carefully, seeing that the content was probably the same as the envoy's dictation, Uncle Zhou couldn't help but close his eyes, and his lips twitched slightly, after a long time, Uncle Zhou suddenly opened his eyes and said quickly: "Immediately, make the news of the imminent arrival of our 120,000 reinforcements public, spread it everywhere, and be sure to let the Western Chu thief army know!" ”

"General, there's no need for this, is it?" Zhou Shu next to him hurriedly said: "When our reinforcements suddenly arrive, wouldn't it be more able to surprise the Chuji thief army?" ”

"No!" Uncle Zhou shook his head categorically, and said with a cruel smile: "There is absolutely a need for this!" ”