Although Xiang Kang was destined to receive the battle report of the Qidi battlefield later than Xiang Yu due to the straight-line distance and road traffic conditions, Master Xiang Boxiang had just sent a secret envoy to deliver the letter from Xiang Liang's wife to Xiang Kang, and Xiang Kang immediately guessed that there must have been a huge change in the Qidi battlefield, or it must be a change that was beneficial to the Han army.

Otherwise, the main force of the Han army in the middle and the main force of the Western Chu army faced off in Puyang for more than two months, why didn't Master Xiang Boxiang remember to send this letter that his second uncle and mother gave him when he set off from Pengcheng? And with Master Xiang's bitter hatred for Xiang Kang, how could he be kind enough to bring a letter to Xiang Kang?

Not only did Xiang Kang judge so, but Zhang Liang, who knew that Master Xiang was a person, was also suspicious, and he was extremely suspicious that Master Xiang Boxiang saw that the situation of the Western Chu Army was not good, so he hurriedly found an excuse to ease the relationship with Xiang Kang, an unfilial nephew, so that in the future, he would return to the precipice and abandon the darkness and surrender to the Han army, enjoy the title of Marquis of Heyong and 3,000 households promised to him by Xiang Kang, and live in the Tongzong Palace rebuilt from the imitation of Chu Palace in Beihan.

Of course, with the treacherous prudence of Xiang Kang, Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, no matter how suspicious they were in their hearts, they didn't dare to take anything lightly before receiving the accurate news sent by Uncle Zhou, so as not to overturn the boat in the gutter and be yin by the Western Chu army in turn, so Xiang Kang also strengthened the army's vigilance, while carefully guarding against the sudden sneak attack of the Western Chu army, while patiently waiting for the military intelligence report from Uncle Zhou's side, and delayed some time to make people with beautiful women in his arms.

To Xiang Kang's surprise, only one day after sending away Master Xiang's secret envoy, on the evening of the third day, the secret envoy of Xiang Bo named Jin Qiang came to the Han military camp again to ask to meet Xiang Kang, and said that he had brought very important information to Xiang Kang, and begged Xiang Kang to meet immediately no matter what. After the news was reported to Xiang Kang, and then, out of curiosity, Xiang Kang let go of the beautiful woman he hooked up with when he was hunting for beauty in Sanchuan County, and once again met with the secret envoy sent by Master Xiang Boxiang.

I have met once before, and when I met Master Xiang's henchman Jin Qiang again this time, Xiang Kang of course saved a lot of nonsense, and asked Jin Qiang directly about Jin Qiang's intention, Jin Qiang did not waste Xiang Kang's time, while respectfully saluting Xiang Kang, he took out a letter and held it with both hands, and said in a more respectful tone: "King Qihan, this is the head of the family ordered the villain to bring, and it is a copy of the military emergency report written by General Sima Xiangzhuang of our Western Chu Zuo Sima Xiang Zhuang to the King of Western Chu, the head of the family said that it is very important, please take a look at it immediately, the king." ”

"Xiang Zhuang's copy of the military emergency report?"

Xiang Kang suddenly became interested, and immediately spoke to Xu Jinu, the chief of the guard next to him, Xu Ji understood, and hurriedly stepped forward to take the letter and forwarded it to Xiang Kang's face, Xiang Kang took a cursory look, and saw that the handwriting on it was scribbled, it should have been copied in a hurry, and he was busy reading the content of the letter, and then when he saw Xiang Zhuang report to Xiang Yu about the defeat of the Chuji coalition army in Qi and the defeat of the rebels of Qi together, Rao is Xiang Kang has always been steady and cautious, and he couldn't help but be ecstatic in his heart, and almost shouted, "If this is true, The Xichu thief army is a grasshopper after the autumn, and it won't be able to reach it for a few days! ”

After careful consideration, he found that whether this letter was true or not, there was no need for him to deliberately hide his excitement, so he simply slapped the table, laughed and said, "Okay! Great news! Quick, set up a seat for Jin Zhuangshi, serve wine and food, this king will personally thank Jin Zhuangshi for his adventure today! ”

Jin Qiang hurriedly pretended to push, saying that his status was low, and he was definitely not worthy of drinking at the same table with Xiang Kang, but Xiang Kang laughed and waved his hand and said: "Jin Zhuangshi doesn't have to be polite, you are the confidant of Uncle Ji of this king, and naturally you are also the family of our Xiang family. No need to be polite, Jin Zhuangshi, please take a seat. ”

In fact, Jin Qiang, who didn't know about it, was flattered, and said that his adventurous delivery letter had really hugged Xiang Kang's thickest thigh in the world, and hurriedly thanked Xiang Kang for his kindness, and then sat down on the seat arranged for him by the guards in a panic, and Xiang Kang couldn't wait to ask: "Jin Zhuangshi, in addition to this copied letter, Uncle Ji and his old man haven't asked you to bring any message to this king?" ”

"Back to the King of Han, bring it." Jin Qiang hurriedly replied: "The head of the family asked the villain to report to the King of Han, saying that after our King of Western Chu received Zuo Sima's military intelligence report, he immediately convened everyone to discuss countermeasures, and as a result, Ya Father They put forward two ideas for our king, one is to quickly withdraw the troops to Pengcheng and turn the attack to defense, and the other is to ask the King of Han for peace talks, so that the war will be ceased and divided the world, but our king is not willing to take the initiative to give up so many cities and land, and is afraid to ask the King of Han for peace, the King of Han, you will definitely ask him to abdicate, maybe he will directly annex our Western Chu, So I haven't made up my mind yet. ”

Xiang Kang listened to the calculation, and only after a moment did he ask again: "Jin Zhuangshi, is there anything else?" ”

"Back to the king, and." Jin Qiang's expression became a little cautious, and said: "The head of the family said that if the King of Han can agree to our King of Western Chu to continue to be king, he is willing to come forward as an elder and the current patriarch of the Xiang family, and make every effort to mediate and help the King of Han to persuade our King to accept peace talks." ”

After that, Jin Qiang hurriedly added: "Of course, the head of the family also said that if the King of Han refuses to forgive the King of Western Chu and insists on letting the King of Western Chu abdicate, or if you have any requirements in terms of the land of the city and the relationship between the monarch and the minister, you can also clearly put forward that as long as there is hope, the head of the family will definitely do his best to promote it." ”

Xiang Kang nodded in a deep voice, and then after the wine and food were delivered, Xiang Kang ordered: "Please Jin Zhuangshi return to Uncle Ji of this king, if you Western Chu army wants to ask for peace, you can also ask for peace, three conditions, one is that the king of Western Chu must abdicate, the second is that Western Chu must be incorporated into our Han Kingdom, and the third is to turn down black and white in Hangu Pass to provoke the war, and Liu Ji's subordinates named by this king are all unconditionally handed over to us, as long as you agree to these three conditions, other conditions can be discussed." In addition, please ask Jin Zhuangshi to clearly tell Uncle Ji of this king that if he can facilitate this matter, the reward that this king promised him in the edict issued in Julu will definitely only be more! ”

The purpose was just to act as a messenger Jin Qiang hurriedly agreed, and repeated Xiang Kang's words so as not to forget, Xiang Kang was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly gave Jin Qiang wine in person, and asked people to bring gold and jade to reward Jin Qiang, and then like last time, let Jin Qiang stay in the Han army camp for one night, and let him go back to Xiang Bo at dawn the next day.

After sending Jin Qiang away, Xiang Kang of course told several of his important accomplices about the situation, but Zhang Liang, Chen Ping, Lou Jing and others were also very happy when they heard it, but they persuaded Xiang Kang not to rush to a conclusion first, and continue to wait patiently for Uncle Zhou's military intelligence report, and then act at the opportunity.

Fortunately, Xiang Kang was not too tormented, and only two days later, Uncle Zhou sent two military intelligence reports with the same content to Xiang Kang by land and water, confirming that the Xiang Zhuang military report secretly copied to Xiang Kang by Master Xiang Boxiang was not a forgery, and the northern line corps of the Han army had indeed achieved a decisive victory on the battlefield of Qidi, completely shattering the dream of the Western Chu army relying on the strength of Qi to continue the confrontation with the Han army, and also completely laid the foundation for the Han army to win the victory of the Chu and Han wars.

It was only at this time that the Han army's central army commander's tent resounded with excited cheers, and then, when Xiang Kang personally ordered the news to be made public, deafening excited roars also sounded among the Han army's battalions and armies, and countless Han soldiers who had suffered from the army cheered, all knowing that the self-army had a solid chance of victory, and it was only a matter of time before the Western Chu army was completely defeated.

At this point, Xiang Kang of course basically believed in Xiang Bo Xiang's flattery and sincerity that Master Xiang deliberately curried favor with him, and Zhang Liang and Chen Ping also agreed that Xiang Bo took the initiative to leak important military information to the Han army, even if it was arranged by Xiang Yu and Old Man Fan, the purpose was just to test whether the Han army could accept peace talks, and to stabilize the Han army through negotiations, so as to buy time for the Western Chu army, which was already at the end of its rope.

Then, as expected, from the beginning of the day, the Han army scouts who closely monitored the movements of the camp of the Western Chu army found that the Western Chu army had signs of secretly preparing to retreat, and then on the second day, the Western Chu army also sent the famous debater Kui Che at the end of the Qin Dynasty as an envoy to carry Xiang Yu's letter asking for peace talks to meet Xiang Kang in the camp, and proposed peace conditions to the Han army with the Jishui chasm as the boundary.

Shameless is despicable in the first place, and when the strength is strong, he is domineering, and when the situation is critical, he is cheeky and begging for mercy with family affection, such a villain method is used on the saint protagonist of Wei Guangzheng, but there may be some hope that it will work, but it is of course ineffective to use Xiang Kang, who is more despicable, so Xiang Kang not only immediately rejected categorically, refuted Kui Che's shameless remarks one by one, but also once again put forward the three conditions he had proposed to Master Xiang's secret envoy - Xiang Yu's abdication, annexation of Western Chu, and unconditional handing over of Liu Laosan and his accomplice lackeys.

The disparity in conditions was huge, and the negotiation was almost doomed to be unsuccessful, but Kui Che refused to give up, and cheekily begged Xiang Kang to make concessions, but although Kui Che's eloquence was outstanding, he could not refute Xiang Kang, who had accumulated the essence of Chinese language for three thousand years, and was in turn refuted by Xiang Kang speechless.

In the end, seeing Xiang Kang's resolute attitude, Kui Che had no choice but to honestly propose his resignation, but when the resignation was out, Kui Che turned his head again, and said with a complicated expression: "King Han, there is a sentence that the foreign minister should not say, but since the Han King has such a resolute attitude and shows no mercy, the foreign minister must offend, although the current situation in the world is extremely beneficial to you King Han, but King Han, you may not have a solid chance of winning." ”

"How?" Xiang Kang sneered and said, "Do you still want to be dying?" Welcome, if you want to fight, continue to fight, this king and our Han soldiers will accompany you to the end. ”

Kui Che's expression was obviously a little hesitant, but in the end he didn't continue to say anything, just arched his hand and quickly left Xiang Kang's Chinese army tent. Then Kuai Che had just walked away, and Wu Shi, the old man of Shangshan who was accompanying him, reminded: "Be careful, the king, Kuai Che's words seem to have a sound outside the strings, as if they mean something else." ”

"Thank you, Mr. Kiriji, for your advice, I can hear that." Xiang Kang nodded, and said somewhat strangely in his heart: "What do Kui Che's last words mean?" ”

To the surprise of Xiang Kang and the decision-makers of the Han army, after Xiang Kang categorically rejected the peace conditions of the Western Chu army, the Western Chu army, which was already secretly preparing to retreat, actually gave up this action, and in turn began to strengthen the camp defense, and continued to put on a posture of confrontation with the Han army for a long time, causing Xiang Kang and the decision-making level of the Han army to be puzzled, but also began to suspect that the Western Chu army was ready to fight to the death with all its might, and strive to achieve victory in the middle and turn the tide of the war. - It's not impossible at all, if Xiang Yu can defeat the main force of the Han army in the middle head-on and directly kill Xiang Kang, a ruthless and unrighteous scum cousin, it is still possible for the world to continue to have the surname Xiang Yu.

Another day passed quickly, and on the second night of the day after he categorically rejected the Western Chu army's request for peace, Xiang Kang was about to go to bed to bully the Guanzhong beauty he had found on the streets of Xianyang, when the guards outside the tent suddenly hurriedly came to report and said to Xiang Kang: "King Qiqi, there is a person who claims to be your cousin Xiang You, who came to the door of our camp to ask for a meeting, please be gracious to receive it, please be gracious." ”

"Xiang You?" Xiang Kang almost suspected that his ears had heard it wrong, and he couldn't help but blurt out: "He actually has the face to ask to see this king?" ”

"King, what should I do with that?" The guard heard that Xiang Kang's tone was not good, and hurriedly said: "That person has been taken down by our soldiers in front of the camp, and the king can do whatever he wants." ”

After hesitating for a moment, Xiang Kang changed his words and ordered: "Take him to the big tent of the Chinese army to wait, search his body strictly, and don't let him hide his weapons." In addition, Mr. Zifang, Mr. Chen Ping, and Lou Shilang were invited to go to the big tent of the Chinese army and accompany the king to meet him. ”

After comforting the Guanzhong Mazi who looked obviously disappointed, Xiang Kang, who had already taken off his clothes, changed into regular clothes, and led Xu Ji and other guards to the Chinese army tent to meet Xiang You, and then as Xiang Kang estimated, the person who was taken by the guards to wait in the Chinese army tent was indeed the cousin Xiang You who was most sorry for himself among the children of the Xiang family except for Xiang Yu.

After many years, he finally met Xiang You again, even if he had long wanted to strangle Xiang You to death, but out of hypocrisy, Xiang Kang still hugged Xiang You and cried - of course, this is based on the fact that the guards have searched Xiang You closely, fortunately, Zhang Liang, Chen Ping, Lou Jing and others have also been ordered to come to the Chinese army's big tent to accompany the reception, Xiang You, who has received Zhang Liang's great kindness, must salute Zhang Liang respectfully, Xiang Kang quickly let go of Xiang You, whom he despised very much, There is no need to cry tears and say goodbye to Xiang You.

After being polite to each other for a long time, the guests and hosts sat down, Xiang Kang also asked Xiang You what he meant, Xiang You first wiped the tears from his face, and then choked up and said: "Brother, my father asked me to come, my father asked me to beg you, in the matter of peace talks, make some concessions, don't force our brother to a dead end, and don't cheap other people with foreign surnames, you and Brother Xiang in Huaxia Kyushu can share it equally, there is no need to share it to others." ”

"Brother, what do you mean by that? To put it bluntly. Xiang Kang immediately heard that something was wrong, and Zhang Liang and Chen Ping next to him also immediately glanced at each other, and together they understood that tonight's affairs would definitely not be simple.

"Brother, the next words of the foolish brother may be too shocking for you, you have to be mentally prepared." Xiang You's expression was very sincere, and he said in a hoarse voice: "But please understand one thing, Brother Fool and Father, we are doing this for the sake of the interests of our Xiang family, we can fight to the death in order to fight for the world, but we must not cheapen outsiders for nothing!" ”

"Brother, just say it." Xiang Kang's expression became serious, and he said, "I will understand what you and Uncle Ji mean." ”

Xiang You nodded, and then took out a letter from his arms, presented it with both hands and said: "Brother, this is my father, who risked his life and personally stole it from Brother A's bed, and it is the original letter that our Brother received the day before yesterday." ”

Xiang Kang blinked his eyes, and then he said to Xu Jinu, Xu Ji understood, and immediately stepped forward to take the letter and forwarded it to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang stretched out his hand to take it, and when it was unfolded, the familiar handwriting of Zhou Shu, Xiang Kang's most trusted Han army general, also immediately caught Xiang Kang's eyes, and then Xiang Kang couldn't help blurting out: "How is it possible?" ”

Quickly read the original of Uncle Zhou's letter, and saw that the content was that Uncle Zhou tested whether Xiang Yu supported him to establish himself as the king in Qidi, and after dividing the world with Han and Chu, Xiang Kang's face gradually became extremely gloomy, and then he repeatedly read Uncle Zhou's letter, and also instructed the guards to take the handwritten letter that Uncle Zhou had written to him before and carefully compared, during which he looked up many times to check Xiang You's expression.

The big tent of the Chinese army was quiet for more than 20 minutes, but after a long time, Xiang Kang suddenly slapped the case and shouted: "Come on, take Xiang You down for this king!" ”

The guard in the tent sang a promise, and immediately stepped forward to hold down Xiang You, a trace of panic flashed in Xiang You's eyes, and then forced himself to calm down, and said: "Brother, if you suspect that this letter is forged and that my father and I used it to deceive you, then you can do it, brother, I have absolutely no complaints!" ”

"You think I wouldn't dare?" Xiang Kang roared angrily: "Play this game with me, you are still a little tender!" With this letter, if you want to divide the relationship between this king and our Han generals, you want to be beautiful! ”

"Then you can do it." Xiang You said boldly: "But before being tortured, I have a word that I must tell you, because you refused to negotiate peace with our brother, our brother has agreed to the conditions put forward by Uncle Zhou's secret envoy, and is ready to do his best to help Uncle Zhou become king in Qidi, and the three kingdoms of Han, Qi and Chu are divided into three parts of the world, and then the next step is to join forces with Uncle Zhou to attack you." Father, he was against it with all his might, and he was unwilling to give the world that should belong to our Xiang family to outsiders, but my brother refused to listen to anything. ”

Xiang Kang's expression showed hesitation, and Xiang You said again: "There is one more thing, don't you think it's strange, brother?" Brother, why did he propose to draw a boundary between the water and the chasm with you, and not make much concessions to you in terms of land and city? It was because he knew that Uncle Zhou was anti-minded and he still had room for it, so he refused to give in too much. ”

Xiang Kang fell silent, and finally handed over Uncle Zhou's letter to Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others to read, Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others were also shocked after reading it, and they didn't dare to say a word or a half, but they asked Uncle Zhou's previous letters to carefully compare and compare. Then it was only after Chen Ping put down the letter that Xiang Kang walked up to him, turned his back to Xiang You and asked Chen Ping: "Mr. Chen Ping, you are an expert in imitating handwriting, what do you think?" ”

Chen Ping opened his mouth to answer, but Xiang Kang shook his head and signaled him not to speak directly, and pointed to his ear again......

At this moment, Xiang You's heart of course rose to his throat, and he almost rushed out of his chest, but fortunately, after Chen Ping finished speaking, Xiang Kang did not shout at him, on the contrary, he turned in circles in the Chinese army's tent with his hands behind his back, and his steps were getting faster and faster, obviously in a very agitated state. Xiang You observed his words, and hurriedly said: "Brother, as long as there is peace talks now, the world will be our Xiang family's immediately, and no one will have the opportunity to snatch an inch of land from our Xiang family, why are you so stubborn and give outsiders and our Xiang family a chance to divide the world?" Forget me, let me go, don't be cheap outsiders! ”

Xiang Kang's footsteps suddenly froze, and after standing for a long time with muscle twitches on his face, Xiang Kang suddenly kicked over the desk next to him and roared angrily: "Piff! This king trusts you so much, I can't imagine that you will repay me so much! This king has made you a great general, but I am blind——! ”