Uncle Zhou's decisive choice and sudden Ruixue completely disrupted the wishful thinking of Xiang Yu and Li Zuoche, and also pitted the combined forces of the Western Chu Army and the Henan Army into a no-no, completely crying without tears.

Xiang Yu and Li Zuoche originally planned to do so, thinking that even if the self-army was not sure to quickly take the Guangwu Mountain City behind the Han army's Guangwu camp, as long as they broke through the Han army's Guangwu camp, they would immediately be able to capture a large amount of military baggage, temporarily solve the current urgent needs of the Western Chu army and the Henan army, and at the same time also hit the main force of the Han army's Zhou Shu's department, so that Zhou Shu no longer had any strength to play new tricks, and then the self-army could take the initiative, and if it wanted to hit there first, it would fight there first, and calmly break through the various departments of the Han army.

However, Xiang Yu and Li Zuoche both underestimated Uncle Zhou's viciousness, and just found out that the self-army camp had broken again, so Uncle Zhou decisively burned all the military tents in the Guangwu camp, so that even if the Western Chu army and the Henan army took the Han army camp, there would still be no military tents to rest in the cold. Then, although Li Zuoche saw through Uncle Zhou's shameless attempt to break through the siege at a glance, he suggested that Xiang Yu deploy the army in advance and almost annihilate all the Han troops that broke through to the north, but the sky helped the evil and did not promote the good, and on the same night, the first snow fell after the beginning of winter this year.

The first snow of the year is still very heavy, one after another, it falls for most of the night and does not stop, and when it is dawn, it really becomes a general world, the well is black hole, the yellow dog is white, the white dog is swollen, the snow on the flat ground is more than half a foot thick, and the mountains and hills are snow-capped. At the same time, the temperature dropped sharply again, although it did not freeze off the nose and ears, but it was still dripping into ice, and the air was foggy.

There are no tents or houses to shelter from the wind and snow, even if the officers and men of the Western Chu Army are all carefully selected elite soldiers, they are still frozen in such an environment, and there are countless people with colds and flu.

The situation of the Henan army was even worse, the physique of the soldiers was generally not as strong as that of the Western Chu army, the proportion of frostbite and frostbite was several times higher than that of the Western Chu army, and the mortality rate of the wounded was also much higher than that of the Western Chu army.

Seeing that the situation was not good, after the sky was clear, Xiang Yu, Sima Wei and others could only stand around the bonfire, and hurriedly discussed how to deal with this situation. Aocang's Han thief army is currently the largest in number, and there is Uncle Zhou's puppet in charge, so he can't fight first; Guangwu City is steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and we are not sure that we will take it quickly. The only way is to take Xingyang as soon as possible, seize the city and gain a foothold, and then think about how to take Aocang and Guangwu City. ”

After that, Li Zuoche also sneezed two more heavily, and although Xiang Zhuang, Sima Wei, Ding Gu and others knew that this was too much of a waste of time and would turn this attack into a tough battle one by one, they also sniffed and nodded in agreement, Xiang Yu had no choice but to nod and say: "Then hurry up, the sooner you take Xingyang City, the better, and if we continue to sleep like this, our situation will only get worse and worse." ”

In this way, the battle against the Han army's Guangwu camp had just ended, and with almost no rest and recuperation, the Western Chu army and the Henan army could only immediately move to the outside of Xingyang City, preparing to launch another ant-attached attack with huge casualties. During this period, Sima Wei, who had ruled Xingyang for half a year, naturally had to come to the city in person, identify himself, persuade the old subjects in Xingyang to take the initiative to open the city and surrender, and threatened that if the soldiers and civilians of Xingyang refused to surrender on their own initiative, they would slaughter Xingyang in retaliation after the city was broken.

It's a pity that the surrender and threats are destined to have no effect, Xingyang County Ling Li Yao, who had deceived Xiang Yu once, not only personally went to the city to scold Sima Wei for luring the wolf into the house, but also helped the Western Chu army to kill the people of Sanchuan in the east of the chasm, and encouraged the Xingyang army and people to work together to defend the city and wait for reinforcements, but also personally pulled a bow and fired arrows at the old lord Sima Wei, almost really wounded Sima Wei. Sima Wei was furious, and swore on the spot with the same gambling curse as Xiang Yu, vowing to kill Li Yao's family with his own hands after the city was broken.

Sima Wei's threat also had the opposite effect, he had already seen with his own eyes how the Western Chu army brutalized the people of Sanchuan east of the chasm, and this will see Sima Wei threaten to slaughter the city for the Western Chu army, the people in Xingyang City were in fear, not only did not waver, but also spontaneously organized to help the Han army in Xingyang guard the city, young men and women went to the city to help the battle, holding rudimentary weapons to help the Han soldiers kill the enemy and defend the city, and the old and weak women and children helped the Han soldiers carry all kinds of materials to defend the city, and sent water and food to the Han soldiers. So much so that even if the soldiers of the Han army were on the front line, they could drink boiling hot water at any time, and they could eat hot meals at every meal, and the morale of the army was greatly boosted.

In such a situation, when the Western Chu Army and the Henan Army joined forces to launch an attack on Xingyang City, they were naturally attacked by the Xingyang army and civilians, rolling stones and trees were like hail raindrops, smashing the soldiers of the Western Chu Army who were stepping on the ladder to break their heads and blood flow, break their tendons and fractures, and from time to time the boiling dung juice fell, and the soldiers of the Western Chu Army were scalded to the point that the ghosts were crying wolf howls, and the screams continued, even if occasionally there were warriors of the Western Chu Army stepping on the ladder and rushing to the city wall, they would immediately fall into the vast sea of Xingyang soldiers and civilians, and they were cut to the point that flesh and blood were flying, and the bones were incomplete.

After all, the Western Chu army and the Henan army have many soldiers, the total strength is not only more than ten times that of the Xingyang defenders, the quality of individual soldiers is also obvious, and they are anxious to seize the city to gain a foothold, and the fighting spirit is also very strong.

Those who lose the hearts of the people lose the world, at a critical moment, the people of Xingyang establish miraculous feats, and Luo Xian, the guard general of Xingyang of the Han army, has been put into the battlefield with the last ray of hope, and sends the last reserve in his hands - Xingyang County Lingli led the Xingyang militia to reinforce the north gate! As a result, Li Yao was also open-minded, and even asked his family to move all his property and distribute it to the reserve militia, but the Xingyang militia of the reserve categorically refused to receive a penny, and just asked Li Yao to distribute it to the families of the dead militia after the war.

An army with a determination to die is naturally extremely terrifying, after Li Yao's troops went to the city, in addition to the desperate killing of the enemy by forgetting their lives, they also continued to roll down the city wall with the heavily armed Western Chu soldiers, and the enemy died together, the result is also relying on this courage not to fear death, Li Yao's army miraculously expelled all the enemies who ascended the city into the city, and re-stabilized the already precarious north gate defense line.

After the third siege of the Western Chu army failed, Xiang Yu, who was furious, immediately reorganized his army and prepared to launch the fourth attack, but Xiang Zhuang told him with a sad face that the flying ladder prepared before the military had been exhausted in the fierce battle, and there was no siege weapon to launch a fourth attack. Xiang Yu was furious and gave his cousin a slap in the face, but he was still helpless, and in the end, he could only hate and withdraw his troops and withdraw to rebuild more siege weapons.

That night, heavy snow fell again in the Xingyang area, and the soldiers of the Western Chu Army and the Henan Army slept in the wind and snow, and they were miserable up and down, but what caught Xiang Yu and others off guard was that it was still on the same night, the scouts of the Western Chu Army who were sent to the lower reaches of the chasm to investigate the enemy's situation suddenly came back to report urgently, saying that there was an army under the banner of the Han Army that had crossed Quyu and was killing Xingyang, Xiang Yu was shocked when he heard the report, and hurriedly asked: "How many enemies are there?" Is it the army from there? ”

"Returning to the king, the number of enemies is not large, only about two thousand."

Xiang Yu was relieved by the answer of the scout of the Western Chu army, and then said: "Our people disguised themselves as ordinary Qianshou, ventured to contact them, and found out that they were the army of Daliang, saying that it was Wang Chao, the commander of Daliang County, who had surrendered to the Han thieves before, and received the order of Xiang Kang's rebels, and led the soldiers of Daliang County to reinforce Zhou Shupifu first, and also said that Xiang Kang's army of rebels had arrived in Chenliu and would come soon. ”

"Xiang Kang's army of traitors has arrived in Chenliu, how is it possible?" Xiang Yu said in surprise: "It's only been a few days, and he has already returned to Chenliu?" ”

Worried, of course, Xiang Yu could only turn to Li Zuoche, the only think tank around him, and Li Zuoche, who was recuperating, just rolled his eyes and said: "King of Western Chu, this matter is very suspicious, if Xiang Kang's rebel thief has really returned to Chenliu, just speed up to save Ao Cang Xingyang, why order Daliang County to take the county soldiers to the west to send them to death?" Doesn't he understand that a mere 2,000 county soldiers are like lambs to the slaughter in front of our army? ”

"Why did that Kang rebel do this?" Xiang Yu hurriedly asked.

"I'm afraid this may not be Xiang Kang's arrangement." Li Zuoche came to a conclusion and said: "The foreign minister suspects that this matter is not arranged by Uncle Zhou's puppeteer, or that Wang Chao's puppet acted without authorization, and wanted to deliberately spread rumors while pretending to enter the army to reinforce Xingyang, claiming that the main force of Xiang Kang's rebels would arrive soon, and bluffing to intimidate our army to take the initiative to retreat." ”

Xiang Yu carefully calculated, quickly nodded his head, and said: "There is this possibility, Uncle Zhou knew that we would definitely be afraid that Xiang Kang's main force of the traitors would return to Xingyang Aocang, so he deliberately let the traitors of Daliang bluff, pretending that the main force of the Han thieves would arrive immediately, and intimidated us to take the initiative to retreat." ”

Li Zuoche sneezed heavily again, and then said: "King of Western Chu, the foreign minister thinks that we don't need to worry about the reinforcements of the thief army, we just need to send more people to keep an eye on their actions, and then send scouts to keep an eye on the direction of Chen Liu, to see what tricks they can play." ”

Xiang Yu gladly accepted Li Zuoche's suggestion, and in addition to ordering his soldiers to hurry up and make siege weapons, he only sent people to keep an eye on the movements of the Great Liang army and strengthen the monitoring of Chen Liu's direction. However, to Xiang Yu's surprise, the Great Liang Army, which was obviously coming to see him off, was extremely bold, and he actually stopped to set up camp only after advancing to Bolangsha the next day, and at the same time, the scouts who monitored Chen Liu's direction also returned with Pegasus, saying that Chen Liu's side had also sent more than 2,000 county soldiers to the west, and they were following the Great Liang Army to Xingyang.

The matter was not over, on the same night, the cavalry of the Western Chu Army also caught a man with suspicious behaviors, and searched from him for a letter written by Wang Chao, the commander of Daliang County, to Uncle Zhou. Xiang Yu heard the great joy, and hurriedly ordered someone to escort the fine work to his own personal interrogation, seeing that Wang Chao claimed in the letter that Xiang Kang's main force had arrived in Chenliu, and asked Uncle Zhou to stay at ease and wait for help, and was busy asking the Great Liang Army to make detailed things, and the captured Great Liang Army was very tough, and insisted that he had seen Xiang Kang's main force had arrived in Chenliu with his own eyes, and he would be able to arrive at the Xingyang battlefield in three or four days.

Xiang Yuhu looked at the Liang messenger suspiciously, and suddenly shouted: "Put this puppet on the fire and burn his feet with the fire!" ”

The torture began, and after being forcibly put on the fire, the Liang messenger was first burned to the point that his skin was oily, and he scolded, and then his skin was scorched and his flesh was stinking, and he screamed endlessly, and Xiang Yu said coldly: "If you tell the truth, let you go immediately." ”

Unable to resist the torture, the messenger could only tell the truth, and said miserably: "I said, I said, I didn't see the army of the King of Han, it was Wang Xianzun who asked me to lie to you, and said that if I was accidentally caught by you on the way to deliver the letter, I must explain that I saw the army of the King of Han with my own eyes, but in fact, I have not seen it at all." ”

"Piff! With your appearance, you still want to pretend to be a hero in front of this king? ”

Xiang Yu scolded, and then asked other believers, the Daliang messenger also poured beans into the bamboo tube, and told Xiang Yu everything he knew, saying that Wang Chao suddenly decided to personally lead the army to reinforce Xingyang, and insisted on bringing the army to Bolangsha despite the persuasion of others, and said that Wang Chao ordered the Liang soldiers to spread the news along the way, claiming that Xiang Kang's main force had arrived in Chenliu and would be able to rush to Xingyang immediately. Xiang Yu was greatly relieved when he heard this, and first stabbed to death the fine work who tried to deceive him, and then instructed Ding Gu: "At dawn tomorrow, you will take the army to Bolangsha for me, and bring me the head of Wang Chao's traitor." ”

Early the next morning, according to Xiang Yu's order, Ding Gu first led his army east to pack up the reinforcements of Daliang, and then at noon, after preparing enough siege weapons, Xiang Yu led the main force of the Western Chu Army and the Henan Army to attack Xingyang again.

The resistance of the Xingyang army and the people is still extremely tenacious, and the siege of the Western Chu army and the Henan army has not been smooth, and it is time to Shen, and the Western Chu army is still able to occupy the city's head position, fortunately, during this period, Ding Gu sent someone to send an urgent report, saying that they easily killed the Liang reinforcements led by Wang Chao, and successfully defeated the Chen Liu's reinforcements who came later in the pursuit, and captured a little military baggage, and was already on the way back to Xingyang in triumph, Xiang Yu was not too anxious, and he just urged the army to continue the siege.

Xiang Yu, who was calm, was always extremely terrible on the battlefield, no matter how stubbornly the Xingyang army and people resisted, when it was slightly dark, the Western Chu army finally seized a city wall position, and this time, the Xingyang militia led by Li Yao was not able to replicate the miracle, even if they rushed to the city wall reinforcements, they failed to drive the Western Chu army off the city wall, and the Western Chu army continued to climb the city, and it was only a matter of time before the Xingyang city was broken.

At the same time, Ding Gu also returned to Xingyang City triumphantly with the captured military baggage, and Xiang Yu, who was in a good mood, also waved his hand and promised to let Ding Gu randomly select four beauties to him as a reward after Xingyang City was broken, Ding Gu thanked him with great joy, and Li Zuoche next to him sneezed and asked: "General Ding, how far did you chase after you defeated the Han thief's Chen Liu's reinforcements?" ”

"I didn't chase far." Ding Gu replied truthfully and said: "As soon as the thief army was defeated, they immediately fled everywhere in all directions, so I probably only chased for five or six miles and did not chase again. ”

Li Zuoche was completely relieved, nodded and smiled: "Then it's no problem, if Xiang Kang's rebel thieves have really come closer, Chen Liu and Daliang's thief army will definitely lead you to chase you far away, since they will be defeated in a battle and flee in all directions, then we don't have to worry about anything." ”

…………

At the same time, Ao Cang Cangcheng, although he did not dare to fight, Uncle Zhou still did not give up the investigation of the enemy, relying on the hard work of the Han army scouts, at this time, Uncle Zhou also knew that the Great Liang army came to help and was easily defeated by the Western Chu army, and then because of the different angles of thinking, Uncle Zhou quickly found out that the situation was wrong, and said suspiciously: "Our Liang defenders came to save us?" They are so bold that they dare to come to the tiger's mouth to pull teeth? ”

"I guess I'm afraid of losing my lips and teeth." Lu Kuang, the original Aocang guard, analyzed: "If we lose Xingyang Aocang, none of the Liang defenders who surrendered to our Han King before will definitely not survive, and in order to survive, they can only gamble desperately." ”

"That's not right." Uncle Zhou shook his head and said, "The defenders of Daliang are not fools, the disparity in strength is so big, it is impossible for them to come and take the initiative to die." ”

"What's that for?" Lu Kuang asked suspiciously.

Uncle Zhou pondered, and after a long time, he suddenly thought of a possibility, and said: "Xiang Yu rushed lightly to attack Aocang Xingyang, and he will definitely prevent our main force from suddenly coming back to help, Li Zuoche's old fox is treacherous and incomparable, and he will definitely persuade the Western Chu thief army to keep an eye on the direction of Chen Liu's beam, if our main force really comes back, it will definitely not be able to hide from their eyes." If our Han King wants to deceive Xiang Yu and Li Zuoche Old Fox, so that they will not be wary of our main force suddenly returning to help, there is only one way! ”

"What's the solution?" Lu Kuang hurriedly asked.

"Hide from the world, but it's true!" Uncle Zhou replied with two military terms, and then said: "Use feints to attract the attention of the Western Chu thief army, and cover our main force to suddenly return to the battlefield of Xingyang Aocang!" ”

"General Zhou, what do you mean by that?" Lu Kuang's joy was not trivial, and he blurted out: "Could it be that our main force is coming back soon?" ”

"Not sure, but it can't be ruled out." Uncle Zhou shook his head, and then thought about it and said: "Our Han King has always been extremely accurate about time, if the Great Liang Army is really sent by him to arrange the illusion, then within tomorrow, our main force will definitely be able to come back." ”

After coming to this conclusion, Uncle Zhou suddenly had a bold idea and said secretly: "Do you want to take a gamble?" The Western Chu thief army has been storming Xingyang since noon today, even if they can take Xingyang, they will definitely have a serious decline in physical strength, if I take a gamble and let their physical strength consume more, then our main force will suddenly kill, and the situation will be too favorable for us. ”

"But if I lose ...... bet, I'll be in big trouble."

Of course, Uncle Zhou also had to worry about the consequences of his analysis mistakes, but after thinking about it, Uncle Zhou still felt that the sudden arrival of reinforcements was very suspicious, and he didn't send someone to ask for help, nor did he give orders to Daliang.