Coincidentally, on the same day that the young marshal's army relied on shameless means to win Wuguan, Xiang Yu's fierce generals Yingbu and Chai Wu relied on a surprise attack to successfully cross the Jinshan area upstream of the flood, breaking through the flood defense line that Zhang Han painstakingly maintained, and also defeated the reinforcements sent by Zhang Han, and successfully gained a foothold on the west bank of the flood.

When the news came back to Xiang Yu, who led the anti-Qin coalition army to confront Zhang Han's main force, Xiang Yu was naturally overjoyed, and immediately sent the Qi army to reinforce Yingbu Chaiwu to help Yingbu and Chai Wu continue to attack the flank of the Qin army, and at the same time once again organized the main force of the coalition army to launch a forced crossing and attack the Chaoge Ferry where Zhang Han's main force was defending.

This time, Zhang Han finally couldn't support it, his army had been out of the customs for nearly two years, the soldiers were exhausted, homesickness and war weariness were very common, and they failed to get any benefits in the war, morale fell sharply, plus Zhang Han was suspicious of the Qin court, the soldiers have not been replenished, and the military power has been divided a lot by Wang Li, including Zhang Han himself is very depressed, and the top and bottom have no intention of fighting to the death, so the army of Yingbu and Chai Wu has just appeared on the flank of Zhang Han's army, and the beachhead of the Qin army was quickly lost, The anti-Qin coalition army took the opportunity to rush through the flood, completely smashed the flood defense line of Zhang Han's army, and slaughtered into the hinterland of Hanoi County.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhang Han could only quickly flee for his life, and at the same time sent people to Wang Li, who was stationed in Zhihuai County, Hanoi County, for help, and planned to withdraw directly to the west of Shaoshui to continue to confront the anti-Qin coalition army, in order not to be surrounded by the anti-Qin coalition army, Zhang Han also decisively gave up Chaoge County, which had hoarded a large amount of grain and grass military supplies, and would rather use grain and grass to fund the enemy, but also to protect the only remaining 1230,000 troops in his hands.

When the west retreated to the vicinity of Jidi, Zhang Han's main force was caught up by the main force of the Chu army that was lightly pursued, and was forced to turn back and fight with the main force of the Chu army, but unfortunately even if it had a military advantage on the local battlefield, the main force of Zhang Han, who was tired of the veteran soldiers, was still not the opponent of the tiger and wolf division of the Chu army, and was defeated by the Chu army, and left thousands of corpses before reluctantly escaping to Xiuwu, fortunately, the main force of the Chu army in light pursuit was afraid that Wang Li would send troops to meet Zhang Han, and did not dare to go too far alone.

Although he could take a breath, but after escaping to Xiuwu, Wang Li's response made Zhang Han so angry that his chest almost didn't explode - Wang Li, who was hiding in the rear, not only categorically refused to send troops to meet Zhang Han under the pretext of protecting Huaixian and Ao Cang, but also asked Zhang Han to defend the place in Chaoge and continue to protect the hinterland of Hanoi County.

This is not counted, because it was Zhang Han who met in Xiuwu, and Wang Li's envoy asked Zhang Han very unceremoniously: "General, where is Chaoge?" The grain and grass we sent to the front line of the flood from the rear are all hoarded in Chaoge City, you don't garrison Chaoge, why did you withdraw directly to Xiuwu? ”

"What kind of thing are you, and you dare to talk to General Ben like this?" Zhang Han couldn't bear it anymore, kicked the table in front of him, and roared angrily: "General Ben is a general of Great Qin, and his official position is higher than Wang Li, he doesn't dare to talk to General Ben like this, and you dare to be presumptuous in front of General Ben?" ”

Seeing that Zhang Han was really angry, Wang Li's envoy didn't dare to say anything, so he hurriedly fell to the ground and pleaded guilty, and Zhang Han roared angrily: "Go back and tell Wang Li, just say that since he is unwilling to send troops to meet my army, hurry up and prepare a boat pontoon bridge for me at the Huaixian ferry, don't waste Lao Tzu's time to cross the river!" ”

As soon as Wang Li's envoy left, Sima Xin next to him immediately said to Zhang Han: "General, the situation is not good, if nothing happens, we take the initiative to give up the matter of hoarding grain in the court, and Wang Li will definitely report to the court immediately." ”

"Tell the story." Zhang Hantie blushed and said: "I don't believe it, the court will punish me for such a trivial matter." ”

"General, it's better to be careful." Sima Xin reminded: "The imperial court previously handed over all the new expeditionary troops in Hanoi and Sanchuan to Wang Li, and later asked Wang Li to no longer accept your orders and command, and became an army of his own, responsible for the battlefields of the north and south wings of Sanchuan County. ”

Zhang Han lowered his head, sighed for a while, and said, "Withdraw to the west bank of Shaoshui first, keep our army, and then talk slowly." ”

More than a day later, the main force of Zhang Han, who retreated lightly, retreated west to the shore of Shaoshui, and when he saw the Huaixian city on the west bank of Shaoshui from a distance, Zhang Han also breathed a long sigh of relief, glad that he had escaped death again and successfully led the army to get rid of the pursuit of the anti-Qin coalition army. But at this time, Nei Shibao, who commanded the former army, suddenly sent someone to report, saying that not only was there no pontoon bridge on the Shaoshui River, but there was no boat or boat coming and going, and the soldiers of the Qin army had no way to cross the river.

"No pontoons? Don't even have a boat? Zhang Han was taken aback and shouted, "What is Wang Li doing?" I told him to prepare the boat pontoon, why didn't he prepare it for me? ”

"I'm afraid he deliberately didn't want us to cross the river." Sima Xin said with a gloomy face: "You want to force us to continue to stand in front of him and continue to be a shield for him." ”

The situation was expected by Sima Xin, after Zhang Han personally led the army to the Huaixian ferry, Wang Li really sent a messenger to cross the river to contact Zhang Han, on behalf of Wang Li asked Zhang Han to lead the army to move to the downstream Wude County, and said with a heartfelt speech: "General, our General Wang asked you to move the army to Wude in order to defend the Shaoshui defense line, if you lead the army to cross the Shaoshui, then the initiative of the Shaoshui battlefield will be grasped by the thief army, and we will also fall into complete passivity, and sooner or later we will repeat the mistake of the flood." Only if you move to Wude, can our Great Qin army win the situation of both offense and defense, so that the thief army will not dare to rush across easily. ”

"Wang Li is ordering General Ben?" Zhang Han smiled and said word by word: "If I don't listen, I must have too little water?" ”

"The general misunderstood, our General Wang is discussing with you." The envoy of Wang Lijun replied tremblingly: "If the general must cross the Shaoshui, of course our General Wang will not object, but for the sake of prudence, the general, if you cross the Shaoshui, our General Wang may have to consider moving to the south bank of the Yellow River, otherwise once the Shaoshui defense line is broken through by the thief army, the two main forces of our Great Qin army may have no way out." ”

After that, Wang Li's envoy added another sentence and said: "However, our General Wang still hopes that General Wang will focus on the overall situation and choose to move to Wude, otherwise, our Great Qin army will be too passive." ”

From a tactical point of view, Wang Li's words are actually very reasonable, if you want to hold the Shaoshui defense line, Zhang Han's army must lay a nail on the east bank of Shaoshui, so that the anti-Qin coalition forces do not dare to cross the river with all their strength, so that it is possible to hold the Shaoshui defense line for a long time, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past, a river defense position is broken, and the entire defense line is completely scrapped. And if Zhang Han insisted on too little water, Wang Li could only move his army to the south bank of the Yellow River as soon as possible, so as to form a defensive depth, so as not to cause Zhang Han and Wang Li, the two main forces of the Qin army, to fall into the danger of annihilation after the anti-Qin coalition army succeeded.

After all, the Yellow River is much more difficult to cross than a lack of water and floods, even if there are enough pontoon bridges for boats, more than 200,000 Qin troops will not be able to cross the Yellow River overnight.

Because of this, after forcing himself to calm down, Zhang Han repeatedly thought about it for a long time with a blushing face, out of duty, and his loyalty to the Great Qin Imperial Court, Zhang Han gritted his teeth and ordered: "Order the whole army, go down the river, and move to Wude to set up camp." ”

"General, our soldiers are tired and need time to rest." Nei Shibao and Zhao Ben and other generals all said sadly and angrily: "We move to Wude, the thief army must fight Wude first, how can we fight with the thief army in our current situation?" ”

"Don't say more, the big picture is important." Zhang Han shook his head bitterly and said: "Withdraw to Wude first, keep the Shaoshui defense line, I will go to the imperial court, and ask the imperial court to allow us to move to the south bank of the Yellow River, and then we can rest in peace." ”

Seeing that Zhang Han's determination had been decided, the generals of the Qin army did not dare to object, so they could only swallow their anger and Zhang Han led the army down the Shaoshui River and drove to the downstream Wude County, and after arriving in the small city of Wude, he immediately started to build a deep ditch and high fortress to establish a strong camp, and at the same time Zhang Han also wrote the chapter in his own handwriting, and sent people to Xianyang in a hurry, asking the Qin court to agree to cross the Yellow River directly, so that Wang Li's army could temporarily stand in front and give the army time to recuperate.

When the anti-Qin coalition army reported the movements of Zhang Han's army to Xiang Yu, the anti-Qin coalition army had easily taken Chaoge County, which had hoarded a large amount of military grain and grass, and entered the west under Xiuwu City, forcing the Xiuwu defenders to abandon the city and flee, so as soon as they learned that Zhang Han had moved the army to Wude, Xiang Yu immediately gathered the leaders of the anti-Qin coalition forces from all walks of life, and announced that it was decided to let the anti-Qin coalition army directly enter Wude, first completely annihilate Zhang Han's department, and then break through Shaoshui and clean up Wang Li, who was hiding behind Zhang Han.

"What the former general said is extremely true, but now we should advance the military virtues, annihilate Zhang Handpifu, and then break through Shaoshui."

The princes nodded yes one after another, scrambling to agree with Xiang Yu's decision, but behind Chen Yu, the general of Zhao State, a scribe suddenly stood up, and said to Xiang Yu: "Former general, we should directly enter the army and martial arts, but we may not necessarily blindly attack. ”

Xiang Yu turned his head to look at the scribe, and saw that although he was not wearing an official uniform and did not know the level of his official position, his bearing was very extraordinary. ”

Xiang Yu and Xiang Bo were very strange, before the scribe could answer, Chen Yu, the general of Zhao State in front of him, had already stood up and said to Xiang Bo: "Master Xiang is angry, let me introduce you, this Mr. Li Zuoche Li is not only the Guangwu Jun of our Zhao Wang, but also the grandson of our Zhao Gao's famous general Wu Anjun Li Mu, and the prestige of our Zhao State is grand, he was only yesterday on the order of our king, and came to our Zhao State Army on business, so you don't know the master." ”

Xiang Bo quickly closed his mouth - although Xiang Bo's father Xiang Yan is famous, his fame is more than a little bit worse than that of Li Mu, one of the four famous generals of the Warring States Period.

Xiang Yu was the same, for the sake of Li Mu's face, Xiang Yu not only immediately got up and returned the salute, but also asked Li Zuoche to set up a seat, and then asked Li Zuoche: "Dare to ask Guangwujun, how should I use both soft and hard, and use both grace and power?" ”

"It's very simple, while marching into the martial arts, he sent someone to secretly recruit Zhang Han, and promised to persuade him to surrender with a high-ranking official, and help the six countries outside the Guanhai to destroy the tyrannical Qin." Li Zuoche replied.

Xiang Yu smiled and said with a smile: "Guangwujun, it's not that I haven't tried this, I won't tell you, before you, the general of your country, Chen Yu, once persuaded me to recruit Zhang Handan Pifu, and I also sent someone to go, but it was useless, that Pifu was stubborn and stubborn, and he was determined to give a martyrdom to the tyrannical Qin court, so he didn't listen at all." ”

"Former general, at this time, at that time." Li Zuoche replied calmly: "The former general failed to recruit Zhang Han before, because the time was not ripe enough, so he failed to succeed. But now that the time is ripe, the former general, if you send someone to surrender, even if you don't dare to guarantee that you will succeed, at least you have seventy or eighty percent certainty. ”

"Please tell Guangwujun the reason." Xiang Yu said suspiciously.

"Former general, didn't you notice that Zhang Handpifu's marching route this time was very strange?" Li Zuoche asked rhetorically, and said with a smile: "If Zhang Handpifu is determined to retreat directly to Wude, so that we don't dare to directly rush to Shaoshui, he should directly enter Wude from this martial arts city, but why should he go to Huaixian Ferry first, and then go east to Wude along Shaoshui?" ”

"Why?" Xiang Yu asked strangely.

Li Zuoche smiled but did not answer, and said: "Also, the details of the work sent by our Zhao Gao army to Huaixian to inquire about the enemy's situation also reported a very important detail, that is, before Zhang Handip's army arrived at the Huaixian ferry, Wang Li, the tyrannical Qin general stationed in Huai County, suddenly sent men to confiscate all the ferries on both sides of Shaoshui, and did not leave a boat or boat to Zhang Handipfu, what does this mean?" ”

"What does that mean?" Xiang Yu really can't do it in this regard, so he couldn't help but ask again.

"It shows that Zhang Handpifu didn't want to move to Wude at all before, and he was forced by Wang Li to garrison Wude." Liu Laosan stood up and said loudly: "Otherwise, Zhang Handip's marching route would not be so strange, and Wang Li would not take away the Shaoshui ferry and deliberately prevent Zhang Handan from crossing the river!" ”

When Xiang Yu finally woke up, Li Zuoche also said: "So, now the time is ripe for the former general to recruit Zhang Handipfu, the tyrannical Qin court first took away Zhang Handpuff's military power, revealing the attitude of no longer trusting Zhang Han, and now Wang Li deliberately did not let Zhang Handan cross the Shaoshui, forcing Zhang Handan to continue to resist our offensive in front, Zhang Han is struggling, there is no way out, the former general, you took the opportunity to lure him with high-ranking officials, and I am afraid that he will not waver?" As long as he is shaken, we can try to add fuel to the fire, and there is great hope for him to be defeated. ”

After thinking about it carefully, seeing that Li Zuoche's suggestion was reasonable, and the absolute henchmen such as Old Man Fan and Cao Ji also advocated giving it a try, Xiang Yu nodded and said: "Okay, then try again, anyway, even if we can't succeed, we have nothing to lose, but if we succeed, we will gain a lot." ”

"If the former general does not give up, I am willing to write a letter for the former general and write a letter to persuade Zhang Han to surrender."

Li Zuoche volunteered, Xiang Yu also agreed, at the moment Li Zuoche immediately put pen to paper, with Xiang Yu's reputation to write a letter of persuasion to Zhang Han, clearly pointed out that Zhang Han has lost the trust of the Qin court, Wang Li is determined to force Zhang Han to be a substitute for the dead in front, and at the same time, Zhang Han has no possibility of defeating the anti-Qin coalition army, the battle is death, escape is death, and it will definitely affect Zhang Han's wife and children, only Yi Zhi surrendered, helping the anti-Qin coalition army to enter the pass, is Zhang Han's only way to live. Then he made a promise for Xiang Yu, saying that as long as Zhang Han surrendered and helped the anti-Qin coalition to destroy Qin, Xiang Yu not only no longer pursued Zhang Han's previous grudge against Xiang Liang, but also split the soil and sealed the king of Zhang Han after the destruction of Qin, so that Zhang Han and the princes outside the Guanwai would be on an equal footing, and the south would be lonely.

After carefully reading Li Zuoche's letter, he saw that the writing was beautiful, the pen and ink were like a knife, and every word was directly inserted into Zhang Han's heart, and he was three points into the bone, Xiang Yu no longer hesitated, and immediately signed the letter with a seal, and sent someone to Wude on the spot to hand it over to Zhang Han. Li Zuoche refused to give up, and said: "Former general, if the letter below can impress Zhang Han, Zhang Han will send someone to contact you to negotiate with the former general, and then ask the former general to inform him in the next voice, and there may be a way to help you make up your mind to surrender." ”

"Okay, I will definitely send someone to inform Guangwujun when the time comes." Xiang Yu agreed casually, and Li Zuoche also thanked him with a smile.

It's a pity that Li Zuoche's letter still failed to receive the desired effect, when the envoy of the Chu army sent the letter to Zhang Han, Zhang Han read it carefully, although his heart began to waver, but Zhang Han is an old minister of the Qin court after all, and he has a deep relationship with the Qin court, so he can't make this difficult decision no matter what. So after thinking about it again, Zhang Han still instructed the envoy of the Chu army: "Go back and tell your former general, just say that I understand his kindness, but I, Zhang Han, am not the kind of unrighteous person, so let's talk on the battlefield." ”

The envoy of the Chu army brought the news back to Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu shook his head helplessly, he could only urge the army to speed up the march and rush to Wude as soon as possible to prepare for the battle with the Qin army, Li Zuoche was not discouraged after learning about it, with the arrival of the Zhao army in Wude, Li Zuoche also took the first time to personally explore the terrain, and then ran to Xiang Yu and put forward two suggestions, one is to suggest that Xiang Yu divide an army, go to the upper reaches of Shaoshui to establish a camp, and build a fire raft for backup, so that the pontoon bridge built by the Qin army on the Shaoshui River can be set on fire at any time; The second is to organize the soldiers to shout outside the Qin army camp, claiming that Qin Ting and Wang Li have made up their minds to force Zhang Han's army to die in vain, and Zhang Han's army can no longer escape the end of the entire army, and persuade Qin soldiers to leave the camp and surrender, so as to shake and hit the morale of Zhang Han's army.

The prestige of Li Zuoche's grandfather Li Mu still exists, and Old Man Fan and Cao Ji once again stood on Li Zuoche's side, strongly advocating that Xiang Yu accept Li Zuoche's suggestion, Xiang Yu also nodded, agreed to implement Li Zuoche's tactics, and sent people to act according to the plan on the spot.

Li Zuoche finally did not embarrass his grandfather who was famous all over the world this time, first the anti-Qin coalition army continued to send people to shout outside the Qin army camp, declaring that Zhang Han's army had been abandoned, and sure enough, the hearts of Zhang Han's soldiers, who had made him homesick and war-weary, floated, and then the anti-Qin coalition army quickly built some fire rafts, and immediately released the fire rafts, and set fire to the Shaoshui pontoon bridge that Zhang Hanjun had worked hard to buildAs a result, the morale of the army was greatly panicked, and morale was seriously affected.

On the same day, too lazy to ask for Xiang Yu's opinion again, Li Zuoche persuaded Chen Yu to write a letter of persuasion to Zhang Han in the name of Chen Yu, and sent someone directly to the Qin military camp to hand it over to Zhang Han. And this time, because the army's heart had begun to panic, Zhang Han, who had no way out, was finally greatly shaken, and with the attitude of feeling the situation, he secretly sent his henchman Shi Cheng to Chu Ying to inquire what kind of surrender conditions Xiang Yu could give him.

Knowing that Zhang Han sent an envoy to the camp, Xiang Yu, who was overjoyed, of course, immediately ordered a meeting, and then Xiang Yu suddenly remembered that he had promised Li Zuoche, saying that if Zhang Han sent someone to contact him, he must inform Li Zuoche, in order to fulfill his promise, Xiang Yu said casually: "Send someone to the camp of the Zhao army, invite their Guangwujun, and say that Zhang Handan sent someone to contact us." ”