After escorting the prisoner of war of the Qin army who was released by Xiang Kang back to his camp, Gu Xianling immediately interrogated the unlucky prisoner of war at the first time, and asked him how many gifts he brought to Chao Zhi for Xiang Kang. And although the unlucky prisoner of war did not climb indiscriminately, he did not say anything for Chao Zhi, but just said truthfully: "Yu Xianzun, Xiang Kang, that traitor just asked the villain to bring a package of gifts to Chao Zuowei, and the villain didn't know what was in it at first, or after Chao Zuowei opened the package in front of the villain, the villain knew that it was a bag of gold." ”

"Is it really just a bag of gold?" Gu Xianling was full of suspicion and asked, "Is there anything else in the package besides gold?" ”

"It should just be a bag of gold." The unfortunate prisoner of war continued to answer truthfully, and said: "When Captain Chao opened the package, the little one saw only gold, and nothing else. ”

"Is there really nothing else?" Gu Xianling didn't dare to be reassured, and asked again: "Have you seen it clearly?" Did you see anything other than gold, jewelry, jade, or anything like that? ”

"The villain sees nothing but gold, nothing else." Unlucky prisoners of war or tell the truth.

"How do you see that? See it on your knees? Or do you see it standing up? How far were you and Captain Chao at that time? Gu Xianling continued to ask while deducing what he saw at that time in his heart.

"The villain saw it on his knees." The hapless prisoner continued to answer honestly, saying, "If the distance is concerned, it is about five or six paces away. ”

After carefully deducing in his heart, he found that it should be impossible for this unlucky prisoner of war to see all the items in the package at that time, Gu Xianling inevitably became more vigilant in his heart, and hurriedly asked Chao Zhi if he had any actions to hide things or temporarily leave the big tent, and after all of them got a negative answer, Gu Xianling still refused to be completely relieved, and still suspected that Chao Zhi might have secretly embezzled the precious gifts that Xiang Kang gave him, so he simply asked the unlucky prisoner of war: "You were in Chao Zhi's big tent just now, Have you ever seen him scribble letters? ”

Fortunately for Chao Zhi, this unlucky prisoner of war was still angry, and immediately shook his head and said that he didn't see it, and he refused to change his words no matter how Gu County's order asked. However, Gu Xianling refused to believe it, and even couldn't help but start to suspect that this unlucky prisoner of war was also with Chao Zhi, and it was even possible that he had defected after being captured, and he was furious and shouted: "If you don't confess truthfully, you will be punished." ”

"Wronged, county honor, the villain is really wronged!" The unlucky prisoner of war shouted loudly: "The villain didn't dare to lie to you, what the villain said is all the truth!" ”

"Execution!" Gu Xianling, who had a somewhat noisy temper, couldn't bear to give an order, and then when he personally ripped off the clothes of the unlucky prisoner of war and beat him on the back of the bamboo board in the tent, Gu Xianling suddenly remembered that he had promised Chao Zhi not to torture this prisoner of war. But the board has been beaten and can't be recovered, and Gu County's order can only be wrong, and shouted loudly: "Keep fighting, hit twenty boards first, and then ask!" ”

After receiving twenty bamboo boards, the unlucky prisoner of war finally became smarter, although he didn't dare to frame Chao Zhi indiscriminately, but he also changed his words and said that he knelt on the ground, and didn't dare to look up to see Chao Zhi's movements, so he was not sure whether Chao Zhi had the action of smearing letters. Gu Xian Ling also hummed and gave up temporarily, and was even more suspicious of Chao Zhi in his heart, and said secretly: "You have to be careful to guard against this puppet, he lost so badly in the battle yesterday, and he will definitely be punished when he goes back, although he may not be very big because of this, but he also has to prevent him from jumping off the wall in a real hurry." ”

In the early morning of the next day, according to the river crossing plan drawn up by Gu Xianling on the first day, the 3,000 Qin army once again set up camp, carrying grain and grass and military supplies to the downstream ten miles of Shajidu to prepare to cross the river, and the young marshal army on the opposite bank also divided 500 infantry to the south, and hurried to the Qin army's river crossing to prepare to intercept, block and delay the Qin army's river crossing operation.

Reinforcements have been obtained from the fleet, and under the condition of ensuring the mobility of the ships, the Qin army fleet is also sure to send five or six hundred people to the other side of Surabaya at one time, Gu Xianling of course does not have to worry about the rabble of the young marshal army on the opposite side can really pose any mortal threat to his river-crossing fleet, but for the sake of prudence, Gu Xianling still follows the original plan, and let his cronie Hao Ce lead five hundred elite soldiers to serve as the vanguard of the river crossing, and ensure the control of the ferry like a knife.

Seeing the Qin army fleet approaching the shoals on the east coast, the soldiers of the young marshal army lined up a dense horizontal formation under the command of Xiang Sheng, the leading general, and fired at the Qin army fleet with bows and crossbows, and also achieved some results. However, as some of the Qin army's clippers took the lead in rushing to the shoals, and after the deathless close-quarters began hand-to-hand combat, the young marshal's army, which seriously lacked actual combat experience, gradually began to panic, and the threat of crossbow arrows to the Qin army's fleet was greatly reduced, and the main force of the Qin army's troop transport fleet also took the opportunity to rush to the beach and land, and put more combat troops on the opposite bank.

However, the young marshal army under Xiang Sheng's command did not give up, and after retreating for several miles, Xiang Sheng first tried to gather his soldiers and rearrange them into a team, and then quickly made a comeback, boarding a high ground near the ferry to line up in a charging formation, and posing in a posture ready to storm the Qin army's ferry at any time. In this regard, although the elite of the Qin army, which had successfully seized the beachhead, was not afraid, in order to ensure the safety of the ferry, they still lined up to be highly vigilant, and at the same time, Gu County's order on the other side did not dare to let the troop transport fleet cross the river with a full load unscrupulously, and still let the troop convoy only transport 500 soldiers across the river at a time, carefully not revealing the slightest flaw.

After carrying half of the army across the river, Gu Xian ordered the fourth round of soldiers to start repairing the simple wharf so that they could carry chariots, horses, and grain and grass across the river. At the same time, the young marshal army led by Xiang Sheng did not dare to confront the enemy several times stronger than himself for a long time, and the Qin army had just crossed the river, Xiang Sheng immediately retreated slowly with the young marshal army, although he did not directly withdraw to the city of Xia Xiang, but he also tried to stay away from the Qin army ferry, ready to flee for his life at any time.

No one knew Xiang Kang's real intention of sending troops to intercept but not letting the young marshal's army go all out to prevent the Qin army from crossing the river, and Gu Xianling, who had quite a lot of battlefield experience, did not understand what medicine Xiang Kang sold in the gourd, for the sake of prudence, Gu Xianling could only choose to cross the river carefully step by step, and did not dare to rush the time to rush to the crossing, and then at noon, after the fourth Qin army that crossed the river temporarily set up a few rudimentary docks, Gu Xianling ordered the troop transport fleet to load the chariots and some horses to prepare to cross the river.

As a result, it was only at this time that there was a sudden new move on the side of the young marshal's army - the west gate of the lower prime minister next to Surabaya suddenly opened, and some Xiang Kang soldiers rushed out of the city with a dozen or so small boats, quickly put the small boats into the fire, and then quickly piled firewood and grass on the boat. And after the scout Kuaima reported the news to Gu County's order, Gu County's order immediately understood that the young marshal's army was planning to attack his transport fleet from the water. For the sake of prudence, Gu Xian Ling made a quick decision, quickly ordered the transport fleet to suspend the crossing of the river, and took out twenty small boats to transport troops north to destroy the fire attack fleet of the young marshal's army.

The cunning of the young marshal's arms attack fleet exceeded Gu Xianling's expectations, and just after seeing the Qin army's fleet divided into troops to intercept it, the weak young marshal army fleet immediately docked and joined the young marshal's army Xiang Sheng's troops who had withdrawn before, and the infantry of the young marshal's army under Xiang Sheng's command also immediately used bows and crossbows to cover the self-army attack fleet, not giving the Qin army fleet a chance to get close to the self-army fleet. But fortunately, the Qin army infantry has also crossed the river with 2,000 people, Gu County's order is just an order, and a thousand Qin troops immediately strode north, killing Xiang Sheng's army, Xiang Sheng's young marshal army was attacked on both sides and the strength was weak, so he had to quickly abandon the fleet and move to the city, and the young marshal army sailors who operated the fireboats also abandoned the ships and fled north, allowing the Qin army to easily destroy more than a dozen fireboats of the own army.

"Sure enough, it's a rabble."

After laughing at the poor performance of the young marshal's army on the field battlefield again, Gu Xianling gave an order and continued to command the Qin army to cross Surabaya, but for the sake of prudence, Gu Xianling still did not dare to let the self-army fleet cross the river with a full load of soldiers and grain and grass, and still took a small number of methods to cross Surabaya when the number of boats was quite sufficient, so even if the young marshal's army did not come to make any trouble later, the Qin army fleet still did not carry all the soldiers and quartermasters, horses and chariots across the river until around Shen Shi in the afternoon, The lengthy river crossing was ended.

It was already not early, and it was of course unrealistic to want to launch an attack immediately, so Gu Xianling could only decide to set up a camp outside the south gate of the next prime minister first, and then start attacking the city the next day. However, when looking for a suitable high ground to set up a camp, Gu Xianling found that although there were several highlands on the east bank of Surabaya, the area was not too large, and it was difficult to station the coalition army on a high ground at the same time, so Gu Xianling had no choice but to find Chao Zhi, who was in charge of the Qin army, to discuss, to see if he could barely make do with it and squeeze on one high ground, or set up camp separately.

"Let's set up camp." Chao Zhi's tone was obviously a little stiff, and he said: "Huddle together, if there is any conflict between the soldiers below, things will not be easy to handle, so it is better to set up separate camps." ”

Knowing why Chao Zhi suddenly became separated from himself, Gu County's order did not break it, and considering that if the camp was too close, it would be difficult for Chao Zhi to guard against any dissent, so Gu County's order immediately nodded, agreed with Chao Zhi's suggestion, and pointed to a high ground in the southeast of the prime minister and said, "Captain Chao Zuo, how about you take your army to camp there?" ”

Looking at the high ground far away from the water point, Chao Zhi's heart became more and more angry, but he still nodded immediately and said, "Okay, the subordinate will bring the army over." ”

Gu County Ling nodded with a smile, and just wanted to remind Chao Zhi to try his best to strengthen the defense of the camp in order to make a long-term plan, but he didn't think that a few Qin army scouts suddenly escorted a thin man with a white flag in his hand to him and Chao Zhi, and reported: "Yu County Zun, this person came out of Xia Xiangcheng with a white flag, saying that there is a thief Xiang Kang's handwritten battle book to be presented to the county honor, and the person has been escorted, please send the county honorable." ”

"War letters? Xiang Kang, that traitor, dares to ask this official for war? Gu Xianling was a little surprised, and without thinking about it, he hurriedly ordered: "Quick, bring that thief messenger here." ”

The young marshal army envoy in the distance was quickly escorted to Gu County's order, and as soon as they met, he nodded and said with a smile on his face: "Little envoy Wei Shan, I have seen Gu County Zun of Yu County, and the county is blessed with ten thousand blessings and Jin'an, and I wish the county honor and blessing to be like the long flowing water of the East China Sea, and the longevity is better than the old pine of Nanshan." I wish the county a ....... ”

"Xiang Kang sent you by the traitor? What's the matter? Gu Xianling ignored Wei Shan's sycophants that he learned from Xiang Kang, and directly interrupted his arrogant question.

"Return to the county and make an appointment." Wei Shan said tremblingly: "My young marshal Xiang said that since Gu Xianzun has already commanded the troops to cross the river, he is too lazy to stalemate with you, and wants to make an appointment with you for a time and place, and fight to the death in a dignified manner, so as not to continue the war, ruin the lives of the people, and affect the innocent people of the prime minister." ”

"Huh." Gu Xian Ling laughed directly, and said with a mockery: "Even your rabble, you dare to fight to the death with the army of this official, Xiang Kang, the thief head, don't you know how to write the word death?" ”

"Gu Xianzun, my young marshal Xiang is definitely not joking." According to Xiang Kang's prior instructions, Wei Shan said cautiously: "And my young marshal Xiang dares to guarantee that when it comes to the decisive battle, he will let you see the true strength of our young marshal army." My young marshal Xiang also said that in the past two days, Gu Xianzun has bullied the last army of our young marshal army, and when the real main force of our young marshal army makes a move, you will understand how powerful our young marshal army is. ”

"Really? That official really wants to see and understand. Gu Xian Ling sneered, and then casually ordered: "Where is the war book?" Take a look at it. ”

Wei Shan agreed, and quickly took out a piece of yellow silk from his arms and presented it to both hands, and after personally transferring the yellow silk to Gu County's order, Gu County's order took it and saw that what was written on the yellow silk was really the word about the war, and the content was also very simple, just one sentence - tomorrow afternoon, under the south of the city, fight to the death, can you have the guts?

With a contemptuous smile, Gu Xian ordered someone to take a brush and wrote a sentence on the yellow silk casually - fight to fight! Afraid you won't make it?

After writing, Gu Xianling casually threw the yellow silk to Wei Shan, Wei Shan took it and read the content of the reply, and immediately thanked him, and then asked extremely carefully: "Gu Xianzun, can the villain leave now?" ”

"Take it back and hand it over to Xiang Kang, that traitor." Gu Xian Ling waved his hand generously, and said with a sneer: "By the way, tell him, tell him to wash his neck clean, and wait for his neck to be killed." ”

Wei Shan agreed repeatedly, hurriedly surrendered his hand, wiped his sweat and rushed back to the direction of Xiaxiang County. Gu Xian Ling also said straightforwardly: "Captain Chao, do you see it?" At noon tomorrow, we will fight to the death with Xiang Kang's rebels in the south of Xiaxiang City, and we will quickly set up camp and prepare for tomorrow's decisive battle. ”

"Xiang Kang, that rebel soldier, how can he have the courage to fight us to the death?" Chao Zhi was a little suspicious.

"Didn't you hear that? They said that their main force had not yet been dispatched, and that tomorrow they would show us how powerful they were on the battlefield. Gu Xianling smiled and said: "Don't worry, it was the traitor who took the initiative to propose a decisive battle, if he doesn't dare to go out of the city tomorrow, it will hurt his morale, and we won't have any losses." ”

Although he was still a little worried, because he was dissatisfied with Gu County's unwarranted suspicion that he had accepted bribes from Xiang Kang, and even more dissatisfied with Gu County's order, he didn't believe in his words and tortured the captured soldiers of his own army, Chao Zhi still didn't say anything, and soon took his army to the southeast corner of the prime minister's camp. As soon as Chao Zhi left, Gu County ordered his county army to set up camp on the high ground near the river to facilitate water access, and at the same time made Xiang Kang's letter about the war public, so that the soldiers of the self-army could rest tonight and send troops to fight to the death with the young marshal's army tomorrow.

…………

Wei Shan's side, after returning to Xiaxiang City with Gu County's reply, it was still after entering the city, Wei Shan found that his whole body was soaked with sweat, and after entering the county temple to meet Xiang Kang, he immediately cried and said on his face: "Young marshal, can you send someone else to do this kind of thing in the future?" Don't always tell the little ones to take this risk, okay? Young marshal, do you know that as long as the surnamed Gu just now gives an order casually, the small one will have to fall to the ground. ”

"Okay, okay, if there is such an adventure in the future, I will arrange someone else." Xiang Kang smiled and made a promise that he never intended to keep, and couldn't wait to ask, "How is it?" The one surnamed Gu, did you agree to the decisive battle? ”

"Promised."

Wei Shan replied truthfully, and hurriedly took out the battle book approved by Gu County's order and handed it to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang immediately smiled when he took it, and praised: "The handwriting is strong and powerful, the pen is straight through the silk cloth, good calligraphy, and so resolute, it seems that he is really ready to fight to the death with us tomorrow." ”

"Young marshal, now you can tell me the answer, right?" Zhou Zeng next to him couldn't bear it anymore, and hurriedly asked, "Why are you letting our main army seize the time to rest today?" Why did he send Xiang Sheng with a team of 500 people to pretend to harass the enemy to cross the river, but he told Xiang Sheng that Gongzi should not really fight the enemy? Also, our strength is still very different from the enemy, why do you still send a book to make an appointment? ”

Xiang Kang smiled, did not answer Zhou Zeng's series of questions, and asked rhetorically: "Uncle Ya, if you were Gu County Ling, what would you do now?" ”

Zhou Zeng thought for a while and replied: "Of course, we should hurry up and set up camp, and then let the soldiers rest well, get up early tomorrow morning, and prepare for the decisive battle with all our might." ”

"Why hurry up and set up camp?" Xiang Kang asked again.

"Because it's getting late, of course." Zhou Zeng replied almost without any consideration: "Otherwise, how can the army rest tonight?" How can you get up tomorrow morning and prepare for the decisive battle? ”

Xiang Kang smiled, his smile gradually began to become treacherous, and said with a wicked smile: "Uncle Ya, what's the matter, you still haven't understood?" This is the answer to why I sent Xiang Sheng to lead the army to harass the tyrannical Qin army to cross the river today. ”

Zhou Zeng's eyes widened, and it took him a long time to come to his senses, and he exclaimed: "Young Marshal, you deliberately sent Xiang Sheng to harass the enemy to cross the river, do you want to slow down the enemy's crossing of the river, so that the enemy will only cross Surabaya in the afternoon, and there is not much time to set up camp?" ”

"Uncle Ya is really clever, and he can guess it." Xiang Kang applauded, and said with a smile: "There is not enough time to set up camp, and I know that we will go out of the city tomorrow to fight with them, Uncle Ya, you say, will the camp of the Tyrannical Qin army be built particularly strong?" ”

Zhou Zeng opened his mouth wide, and Xiang Kang smiled again: "Also, it is not without reason that I asked the surname Gu to fight a decisive battle at noon tomorrow, I just want to make him feel that he has enough time to prepare for the battle, so that he and the tyrannical Qin army under his command can rest and sleep with peace of mind tonight, and then, we will have a chance." ”

After receiving Xiang Kang's prompt, and suddenly thinking of Xiang Kang's decision to let the main force of the young marshal's army seize the time to rest during the day today, Zhou Zeng finally woke up completely and exclaimed again: "Young marshal, is it true that you asked Gu Bi to fight a dignified decisive battle in the south of the city at noon tomorrow, and it is true to send troops to attack his camp tonight?" ”

"I said I'd fight him to the death tomorrow afternoon, but I didn't say I'm not going to attack him tonight." Xiang Kang's rogue face was completely revealed, and he said with a wicked smile: "And it's not false that I asked him to fight a decisive battle, but I didn't say how many troops I want to send to fight him." So if tonight's sneak attack can't be successful, tomorrow I will send someone out and ask his surname Gu to fight one-on-one on the battlefield, if his surname Gu doesn't dare to accept the challenge, then he has broken his word and has nothing to do with me. ”

"Young marshal, this is what you call a dignified battle to the death?!"

When Zhou Zeng and Wei Shan and the others were speechless in disbelief, Xiang Kang said to himself: "But tonight's sneak attack, no matter what, I must go all out to succeed, I only have one city, and there is not much food in the city, if this battle becomes a stalemate, I will be in big trouble." ”

Before the matter was over, when Xiang Kang was talking to himself, there was a notice from outside the door that Feng Zhong wanted to see him, and after Xiang Kang ordered the meeting, Feng Zhong also quickly strode up to the hall, and as soon as they met, he couldn't wait to shout: "Brother Xiang......, oh no, young marshal, the matter is done, a hundred sets of soldiers of the Tyrant Qin army, as well as the flag of the Tyrant Qin's hundred-man team, are all ready." ”

Xiang Kang smiled and nodded with satisfaction, while Zhou Zeng, Wei Shan and the others in the hall looked at each other, although they didn't understand why Xiang Kang asked his confidant Feng Zhong to prepare the clothes and banners of the Qin soldiers, but he still had an ominous premonition, knowing that the Qin army outside the city would definitely not have a good time tonight.