"Don't worry about Zuo Sima, General Ji Bu robbed the camp and was ambushed, but it was just a small setback, which could not affect the overall situation, and then our army only needed to continue to deep ditches and high bases, stick to the Jinjiling camp, and wait until the Han thieves could not attack for a long time, and they would definitely be able to wait for a turnaround."

This is the original words of Han Xin to comfort Xiang Zhuang after the defeat of Ji Bu's robbery battalion. But it's a pity that Han Xin was full of confidence when he said this, but Xiang Zhuang went in and out of his left ear and out of his right ear, and he was still worried, so he nodded reluctantly for a while, and said: "It's just like this, I hope to be able to guard our Jinji Ridge for a long time." ”

"Zuo Sima rest assured, on the terrain of Jinji Ridge, even if the Han thieves attack day and night, they can't even think of taking it." Han Xin replied more confidently, and said with a smile: "And what I hope most now is that Uncle Zhou's puppet wants to fight a quick battle and dispatch troops to attack our Jinjiling camp as soon as possible, and the larger the scale and the more times, the better." ”

Soldier Immortal Han Xin is of course not such an arrogant person, he dares to guarantee that the morale of the Han army will not be able to take the Jinjiling camp of the Chuji Coalition Army no matter what, of course, because he does have this self-confidence, and there are two of the most critical reasons, one is that although the Chuji Coalition Army was frustrated in the decisive battle, the night attack was ambushed, and the main force of the Chuji Coalition Army on Jinji Ridge still has more than 90,000 people, which is definitely more than enough to guard the camp, and the second is that the terrain of Jinji Ridge is too suitable to be defended.

The terrain of Jinji Ridge is probably like this, only the terrain facing the northwest is relatively gentle, suitable for marching up and down, the other directions are all steep cliffs as high as dozens of zhang, extremely difficult to climb, although there are also several paths that can climb to the top of the mountain, but all of them are narrow and rugged, only a small number of troops can be easily defended, at the same time, this gentle slope in the northwest also hides a killing machine, in addition to the drop is very large and suitable for the power of rolling stone and wood and convenient to go down the mountain to assault, and the length is enough, None of the counterweight trebuchets of the Han army could smash stones into the camp of the Chuji coalition army at the bottom of the mountain.

In the end, coupled with the fact that the Chuji coalition army had built the camp extremely strong early, established countless guard fortifications, and dug as many as three trenches to protect the camp, even if the Han army had an absolute superiority in strength, and the strength was almost three times that of the Chuji coalition army, it was difficult to say that it was sure that it would be able to storm and take the camp of the Chuji coalition army.

Knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent, a hundred battles can be won, through the continuous exploration of scouts, of course, the commander of the Han army, Uncle Zhou, has long been aware of the enemy's camp situation and the terrain of Jinjiling, so after successfully taking Licheng, Uncle Zhou did not rush to send troops to attack the camp of the Chuji coalition army, and chose to convene the main civil and military officials of the Han army and arrange for his long-brewing tactics to break the enemy.

After the meeting began, Uncle Zhou did not arrange how the Han army departments would attack, but instead assigned the army to let the Han army dig trenches around Jinji Ridge, build walls and fences, surround Jinji Ridge on all sides and arrange multiple lines of defense to prevent the enemy on Jinji Ridge from abandoning the camp and breaking through, and sacrificed the tactics of trapping the Chuji coalition army to death.

Or after Uncle Zhou finished assigning the work tasks of the mountain fortifications, Zhu Jishi, who was the oldest among the people present, asked: "General, depending on your arrangement, do you want to trap the Chuji thief army on Jinji Ridge to death, and wait until their grain and grass are exhausted and they will destroy themselves without a fight?" ”

"That's the purpose, of course." Uncle Zhou replied quietly: "But as far as I can estimate, the Chuji thief army on the mountain will definitely not sit still, and will definitely try to fight back, or find a way to break through and escape for their lives, so our tactics will definitely change in the process of besieging the mountain." ”

"Why don't you consider a frontal assault?" Zhu Jishi asked: "The camp of the Chuji thief army is very strong, and the terrain of Jinjiling is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but if we resolutely attack, it is not impossible to take it directly?" ”

"I've weighed the pros and cons carefully." Uncle Zhou replied: "We really don't hope for a frontal attack, but even if we can succeed in the attack, our losses will definitely not be small, and once the attack is not smooth, our army will lose its spirit and morale will decline, and it will be possible to give the Chuji thief army a chance to counterattack, so instead of attacking at any cost, it is better to resolutely surround the mountain and consume the thief army on the mountain alive." ”

"General, two questions." Li Shang took over the conversation and said, "First, how to solve our grain and grass problem? Our army and the Yan army together, the strength of more than 250,000 troops, the daily consumption of grain and grass is very huge, there is civil strife on the side of Qi State, there is no way to supply us with grain and grass, only with Zhao Di and the new land occupied by Jibei we take, it must be difficult to ensure our front-line grain and grass supply? ”

"I have already written to the king a few days ago to explain the situation." Uncle Zhou replied: "I ask the king to send us the grain from Guanzhong and Aocang through the waterway of the Yellow River, directly to the plains, and then to the front line through the Chidao Road. ”

"Don't worry that the Western Chu Thief Army will intercept our grain ships on the water." Uncle Zhou smiled again and said: "First, before this, almost all the ships in Dongjun were already controlled by us, and even if the Western Chu Thief Army wanted to temporarily form a sailor to intercept our grain ships, they would not be able to find so many ships. Second, I will let Shen Ke lead our sailors to protect the grain fleet, and try not to give the Western Chu thief army a chance to intercept our grain fleet. Third, we have a solid foundation and a lot of capital, even if there are some losses in the grain ships, the rear of Sanchuan and Guanzhong will still send us an endless stream of ships and grain, and we don't have to be afraid of any consumption. ”

Li Shang smiled bitterly when he heard this, and said with a smile: "General, believe it or not, Zhou Xiangguo will definitely want to chew you alive!" ”

Han Jun Wenwu laughed, and Uncle Zhou said with a smile: "It's okay, I have already prepared for this, Zhou Xiangguo is famous for his gluttony, I just need to send him more delicious things from Qi Di and Zhao Di, and invite him to eat two Tai Prison banquets after I go back, he shouldn't want to chew me alive." ”

The Han army laughed again, and Li Shang smiled again and said, "Okay, how do you solve the problem of enemy reinforcements, general?" Don't blame the last general for speaking unlucky, the battlefield of Qidi is so important, and it may not be impossible for Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu, to personally lead the army to save Qidi. ”

"The Qidi battlefield is very important, this truth is understood by the king of Western Chu, and our king understands it even better." Uncle Zhou replied: "So I can be sure that with the wisdom and wisdom of our king, no matter what method he thinks, he will definitely entangle Xiang Yu to the death, and will not give Xiang Yu the opportunity to lead the army to save Qi Land." ”

"As for the other Western Chu thief army reinforcements." Uncle Zhou dragged out his voice a little and said: "At this point, we can only gamble, and the bet is that before the grain and grass of the Chuji thief army are exhausted, there is no way for the rear of the Western Chu thief army to send reinforcements to Licheng that can pose a threat to us. Fortunately, the Western Chu thief army has been fighting for many years, and the national strength has been very empty, and we have a great chance of winning this bet. ”

"General, then I will say another unlucky word, what if we lose the bet?" Li Shang asked.

"Then we will start all over again, gather our troops, and fight a decisive battle with the Chuji thief army in a dignified manner." Uncle Zhou's tone became as confident as Han Xin's, and said: "Don't worry, it will only be us who will win at that time, the national strength of the Western Chu thief army is empty, even if the army is urgently requisitioned from Huainan Jiangdong to the north, the combat effectiveness of those newly formed armies is not very strong, and we still have the certainty of victory." ”

Of course, Li Shang was still a little worried, but seeing that Uncle Zhou's mind had been decided, and his eldest brother Li Shiqi did not speak, obviously supporting Uncle Zhou's decision, he also closed his mouth, and Uncle Zhou glanced around at everyone again, and then said: "If there are no other problems, then let's start to act, build the fortifications around the mountain as soon as possible, and then act at the opportunity, and see if we can force the Chuji thief army on the mountain to take the initiative to go down the mountain and send them to death." ”

After the generals of the Han army clasped their fists and sang a promise, they soon began to take action, digging deep trenches in their own defense areas, building walls and fences, completely blocking the road down the mountain of the Chuji coalition army, and according to the terrain, building barracks at several critical intersections in the rear, garrisoning to prevent the Chuji coalition army from breaking through, and soon turning the surrounding areas of Jinjiling into a huge construction site.

Of course, these situations were quickly reported to Xiang Zhuang and others, and as a result, not only Xiang Zhuang, Liu Laosan, Tian Da and others, but even Han Xin couldn't help but change his face, and hurriedly climbed to the top of Jinjiling Mountain to condescendingly check the construction of the Han army's fortifications. Then after basically seeing the arrangement of the Han army, Xiang Zhuang was so angry that he drew his sword and slashed the stone, and roared angrily: "Shameless thief!" Here we go again! Don't dare to storm our camp head-on, they want to surround us to death! ”

"I'm kind of obedient to Uncle Zhou." Liu Laosan also said very helplessly: "Obviously, the strength of the army is almost three times that of us, but he actually built fortifications to surround the mountain without fighting, and he can stabilize his level with soldiers, I have never seen it before." ”

"Zuo Sima, we have to find a way to solve this problem as soon as possible." Ji Bu said with a gloomy face: "Otherwise, if we really let the Han thieves trap us on the mountain with a trench wall, our grain and grass will not last long." ”

Of course, there is no way to solve this problem, that is, to quickly send troops down the mountain and destroy the mountain fortifications that the Han army is building, but this must be in the hands of the Han army, which has many soldiers, so Xiang Zhuang has no choice but to turn his gaze to Han Xin next to him, Han Xin frowned and calculated, and said after a while: "There is another way, but I don't know if it will work, I can only try my luck." ”

"What's the solution?" Xiang Zhuang hurriedly asked.

"Tonight, send a messenger south to Boyang to contact Tianliu, the minister of Jibei who guards Boyang." Han Xin replied: "Let him arrange an unwitting death room, carry the letter written by Tian Liu to the king of Jibei to the north, and say in the letter that we have sent a support army to the rear of Western Chu, please ask the king of Jibei to stay at ease in Jinjiling to wait for help, and then when our dead go north, the Han thief's siege fortifications must have been almost built, and it will almost certainly be caught by the Han thief on the road, and the letter will fall into the hands of the Han thief, and Uncle Zhou's puppet may change his strategy and send troops to attack our camp in a hurry." ”

"Great idea!" Tian Da applauded when he heard this, and said: "If the Han thieves believe that we are really about to have reinforcements arriving, they will definitely send troops to attack the mountain in a hurry, as long as they give up the siege of the mountain, our affairs will be much easier." ”

Considering that the cost of doing this is very small, and once it succeeds, the harvest is huge, Xiang Zhuang also immediately nodded and agreed with Han Xin's strategy, but Han Xin didn't have much joy, but just turned his eyes to the direction of Qi in the northeast, and said secretly: "It's easy to hide this plan from others, but if you want to hide it from Uncle Zhou's puppet, you may not have this certainty." I hope that the Qi country can go smoothly, our biggest hope is actually Tian Heng and Tian Wang of the Qi country. ”

The messenger sent to contact Boyang left that night, and then, Xiang Zhuang, Liu Laosan and others, who had nothing to do, could of course only wait for the strategy to take effect, and let Uncle Zhou give up the siege tactics that made them helpless. However, to the great surprise of Xiang Zhuang, Tian Da and others, a few days later, when the Han army's siege of the mountain had been basically completed, the Han army actually sent people to raise white flags and sent them a man who claimed to be the messenger of Tian Liu, the prime minister of Jibei, and a letter written by Tian Liu to Tian Da about the arrival of the so-called reinforcements.

Hurriedly took the man up the mountain to ask carefully, and proved that he was indeed a messenger sent by Tian Liu, Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da of course hurriedly asked about the details of the matter, and the messenger Tian Liu replied truthfully, saying that he was ordered to send a letter to the north, and was unfortunately caught by the Han army scouts on the way, and found Tian Liu's letter from him, and then he was escorted into the Han army camp, and also met the Han army commander Uncle Zhou. Tian Da was extremely impatient when he heard this, and hurriedly shouted: "Don't talk about these useless things, let's talk quickly, what kind of reaction did Uncle Zhou have after seeing Tian Xiangguo's letter?" ”

"Laugh." Tian Liu's messenger's answer made Tian Da stunned, and said: "Back to the king, after Uncle Zhou read Tian Xiangguo's letter, he immediately laughed out loud, as if he was laughing out of tears. Then Uncle Zhou not only returned the letter to the villain, but also asked the villain to bring a message to the king and Zuo Sima of the Western Chu Army. ”

"What?" Tian Da and Xiang Zhuang asked in unison.

"Uncle Zhou said that even if this letter is true, he will accompany him to the end, and he will not be afraid of how many reinforcements we come." Tian Liu's messenger said: "Also, Uncle Zhou also said that if you and Zuo Sima want to send someone to Boyang Xichu to ask for help, you don't have to secretly send someone down the mountain overnight, as long as your messenger is going to ask for reinforcements under the white flag, he will not only let the way immediately, but also send our messenger dry food on the road." ”

With a bang, Xiang Zhuang smashed his fist on the table in front of him, and said through gritted teeth: "This puppet, it seems that he has calculated that it is impossible for us to have reinforcements in a short period of time, so he is so fearless." ”

"Zuo Sima, it seems that there is really no way." Tian Da also said in despair: "If you make up your mind to break through, Xiao Wang will not object this time, let's escape first." ”

"Can't rush!" Han Xin hurriedly dissuaded and said to Xiang Zhuang: "Zuo Sima, we must not be in a hurry to break through, the reason is that the siege of the mountain has not been long ago, and the guard of the Han thieves is still very tight, so we are not sure of breaking through, and second, we still have hope." ”

"What hope can we have?" Xiang Zhuang groaned in pain.

"Qi country." Han Xin replied: "Don't forget, Tian Heng has already taken Linzi, the rest of Tian Heng's group of dragons are leaderless, and some of them may fall to us, as long as we are patient and persist for a while, as long as there is a change on the Qi side, Tian Heng and his allies, who have no way out, will definitely go all out to rescue us." ”

"Is it that easy?" Xiang Zhuang smiled bitterly.

"It's better to have hope than no hope." Han Xin said: "Especially since it is not time for us to break through now, we can only wait for this hope." ”

In fact, Han Xin had already waited for this hope, because at the same time, an envoy of Qi who hurriedly arrived from Linzi had come to the Han army camp to ask to see Uncle Zhou, not only brought Uncle Zhou the news that Tian Zhi, the minister of Qi canonized by the Han army, had been defeated and died, but also brought Tian Guang, who was the self-proclaimed king of Qi, and Tian Wang, who was the self-proclaimed king of Jiaodong, wrote a joint letter to Uncle Zhou.

Of course, Uncle Zhou met with the envoy of Qi at the first time, and when he asked him about the sudden defeat of Tian Private, the envoy of Qi was not obscure, and honestly admitted that Tian Wang, the general of Qi State, was at odds with Tian Private, and took advantage of the opportunity of joining forces with Tian Private to attack Linzi, and suddenly stabbed Tian Private in the back, and Tian Heng and Tian Guang's uncle and nephew also took the opportunity to send troops to respond.

Seeing that the envoy of Qi State was frowning, Uncle Zhou couldn't help sneering and said: "It's very beautiful, such a shameless thing, you can still say it so easily, the cheekiness of the envoy makes this general have to admire." ”

"The Great General forgives the sins." The envoy of Qi hurriedly asked for the guilt, and said with a strong smile: "But the little envoy is also acting on orders, and our King Qi and King Jiaodong have instructed that the villain must know everything in front of the general, and he must not hide anything, so the little envoy explained so truthfully." ”

After speaking, the envoy of Qi took out the joint letter written by Tian Guang and Tian Wang to Uncle Zhou, held it in both hands and said with a smile: "General, this is a joint letter written to you by King Qi and King Jiaodong, please take a look at it." ”

Uncle Zhou's guards were about to step forward to receive the letter, but Uncle Zhou stopped it categorically, and then said: "Don't look at it, if I'm not mistaken, Tian Guang and Tian Wang, the two horsemen, must want this general to recognize them as the king of Qi and the king of Jiaodong, right?" If General Ben doesn't agree, they will join forces to save the Chuji thief army surrounded on Jinji Ridge, right? ”

The envoy of Qi smiled dryly and said: "The general is clear, the content is indeed like this, but please rest assured, if you can admit that we are the king of Qi and the king of Jiaodong, not only will we not save the Chuji thief army, but we will definitely send troops to help you attack the Chuqi thief army." ”

"Dreaming!" Uncle Zhou categorically refused, and said angrily: "Tian Hengtian Guang Pifu betrayed our Han State, and killed Qi Wang Tian to establish himself as the king, Tian Wang Pifu defected to the battle, and killed the Qi Xiang Tian private who was personally canonized by the general, if the general does not cut them in half, severely punish the traitors, and recognize them as kings, the princes of the world follow the example, how can our Han king still order the world and prohibit it?" Come on, push this puppet out and cut it off! ”

The guard in the tent sang a promise, and immediately rushed up to take down the envoy of the Qi State, the envoy of the Qi State hurriedly kowtowed and begged for mercy, but Uncle Zhou, who was extremely angry, did not listen at all, and insisted that the guards push him out and behead him, and then after his head was presented to Uncle Zhou, Uncle Zhou instructed the guards again: "Take down his entourage, close his mouth, and escort him to the distance of the gallop road to the Qi State to release, and let his entourage take the head back and hand it over to Tian Heng Pifu and them!" Besides, issue a ban order and keep this news tightly sealed, and the thieves on the mountain must not know about it. ”

The guard sang the promise and left, and Li Shiqi next to him said cautiously: "General, are you a little too impulsive?" In fact, we can completely settle them with Tian Hengtian Wang, and wait for us to kill the Chuji thief army on Jinji Ridge, and then it's not too late to clean them up? ”

"Doctor Li, you must not set this precedent." Uncle Zhou replied: "Once this precedent is opened, there will be endless troubles immediately, not only Zhao Xie, the king of Zhao behind us, will have different intentions, but Yingbu, Han Xin, Peng Yue and Wu Rui may also follow suit, our king will definitely not want to see such a situation." ”

Li Shiqi nodded silently, and then said, "But what next?" We killed Tian Heng and Tian Wang's envoys, these two horsemen have no way out, and they will definitely go all out to save the Chuji thief army? ”

"I wish they did." Uncle Zhou sneered and said: "When the time comes, let Zhu Jishi deal with them, Zhu Jishi is the best at fighting evil battles and tough battles, and when he was in Hanoi, he used the strength of an army to carry the Zhao Chu coalition army and did not fall behind, let alone deal with these two shameless horsemen who were unconvinced by stealing the hearts of the countrymen?" I only need to send that army to Zhu Jishi again, and it will be easy to clean them up! Moreover, from Linzi to Licheng for two hundred and seventy miles, the space is vast, and we are completely sure that we will intercept and kill their thief army in the middle of the road, so that they will not have a chance to get close to the Jinjiling battlefield. ”

"But if we suddenly divide our troops and go to Qi State, the thief army on the mountain will definitely know that something has happened to Qi Country immediately." Li Shiqi said again.

"Don't worry about this, Doctor Li." Uncle Zhou replied confidently: "Dividing troops under the nose of the Chuji thief army can still make the Chuji thief army undetectable, I still have this ability." ”