Uncle Zhou, Xiang Kang and others accurately foresaw that Xiang Yu would inevitably personally lead his troops to reinforce the battlefield on the northern front, and Li Zuoche, the chief of staff of Zheng Bu's corps of the Han army, of course, also expected this early, and also made suggestions in advance, so that Zheng Bu made some preparations in advance on the way back to the division to protect the Han army's family.

Guarding the plain ferry to block the westward advance of the reinforcements led by Xiang Yu himself, of course, don't even think about it, the plain ferry is too far away from the Julu battlefield, the grain and grass are difficult to transport, it is difficult to hold for a long time, not to mention, the servant army of the Western Chu army Jibei Army's fleet is still unharmed, as long as the reinforcements of the Western Chu army arrive, they can immediately transport the Western Chu army to launch a rush to cross, and the Han army guarding the ferry is isolated and helpless, and there is a river blocking the road behind it, so it is strange not to be killed by the Western Chu army. Therefore, Li Zuoche had no choice but to make a fuss in the two county towns of Dongwu City and Cuo County, which are located next to Chidao.

After thinking about it, Li Zuoche's suggestion to Zheng Bu was to divide 10,000 troops and hand them over to the rising star of the Han army, Ni Ji, to let him be responsible for taking Cuo County and Dongwu City, and then transfer all the grain and grass troops in Cuo County to Dongwu City, concentrate his forces to defend only one city of Dongwu, and establish a peripheral barrier for the Julu battlefield.

In this way, after the arrival of the reinforcements of the Western Chu army, if you want to fight Dongwu City, you will definitely have to waste a lot of time, which can create an opportunity for the Han army on the Julu battlefield to calmly adjust and respond, and at the same time, Dongwu City is located on the open plain, if necessary, it is more convenient to send reinforcements or abandon the city to break through. And if the Western Chu reinforcements do not attack Dongwu City and advance directly to the west, then the vast space of 400 miles from the plain to Julu will naturally give the Eastern Wuhan Army a chance to show its strength, and it can threaten the grain supply of the Western Chu army at any time, which is extremely conducive to the decisive battle between the Han army and the Western Chu army on the Julu battlefield.

Listening to Li Zuoche's analysis is reasonable, Zheng Bu did not hesitate to adopt his suggestion, Ni Ji, who had long been looking forward to being alone, also happily accepted this order, just arrived in Dongwu City and divided the troops with the main force, and stayed alone to lead the troops to attack Dongwu City, Zheng Bu led the main force of his corps to protect the Han army's family and continue to advance westward, and it took more than eight days to withdraw from the west of the plain to the city of Julu, and the Han army Zhou Shu's corps was in one place.

Or after returning to the Julu battlefield, Zheng Bu and Li Zuoche and others knew that what they were most worried about had finally happened, and the only Qi army that had been withdrawn from the Dongyuan battlefield intact and unharmed really established the camp on the high ground in the northeast corner of Julu City (that is, the current site of the Shang Dynasty in Zhangjiatun, Pingxiang County), and then the remnants of the Western Chu army who rushed from Xindu also set up camp on the high ground outside this Julu City, of which the camp of the Western Chu army was located in the west of the highland, protecting the flank of the north gate of Julu City, The camp of the Qi army was located in the south of the high ground, protecting the flank of the east gate of Julu City, while the Zhao army entered the city and stationed it, forming a strong angle with the Qi and Chu army, which was very conducive to covering each other's rescue.

That's not all, after meeting with Uncle Zhou, Uncle Zhou also smiled bitterly and said to Zheng Bu and Li Zuoche: "General Zheng, Guangwujun, two bad news, first, our scouts have confirmed that the Zhao State thief army in Julu City has completely blocked the southwest two gates of Julu, leaving only the northeast two gates in and out of traffic. Second, during this period, the Zhao thief army also transported a large amount of grain to the high ground outside the city, and it seemed that they were prepared with both hands, planning to retreat to the dangerous high ground if they could not hold the city, and continue to hold on to the reinforcements. ”

"Completely blocked the two southwest gates?" Zheng Bu and Li Zuoche were surprised at the same time, and said, "Who gave Zhao Guo's thief army a bad idea?" This is clearly for our counterweight trebuchet. ”

"I don't know." Uncle Zhou shook his head helplessly, and said: "In addition, our scouts secretly measured the distance and found that our counterweight trebuchet could not hit the camp of the Qi Chu thief army at the bottom of the mountain no matter what, so now it is not only difficult to fight in Julu City, but also the camp of the Qi Chu thief army. ”

Zheng Bu and Li Zuoche were silent, and after a while, Li Zuoche said: "It seems that Zhang Er must have sent someone to carefully investigate the situation of the Handan War, and initially understood the basic situation of our counterweight trebuchet, so he improvised and made adequate preparations in advance." ”

After that, Li Zuoche said with admiration: "But it is indeed high to be able to come up with the trick of blocking the two southwest gates of Julu, so that even if we use a trebuchet to smash a gap in the city wall, and rush into the city, there is no way to open the city gate and let the main force enter the city, we can only fight with them with little certainty, and we must have huge casualties in the ant attachment war, it seems that we have little hope of quickly taking Julu City." ”

"It's fine." Zheng Bu was more optimistic and said: "It's difficult to solve it, it's difficult, and it's not unsure?" The Western Chu Thief Army and the Zhao State Thief Army are now seriously injured, although the Qi State Thief Army is intact, but the combat effectiveness is average, we are very good at spending a little more hands and feet, and we are still sure that we can kill the Qi Chu Zhao Thief Army on the Julu battlefield. ”

"Although it makes sense, I'm afraid I don't have that much time."

Uncle Zhou and Li Zuoche did not dare to be as optimistic as Zheng Bu, because Uncle Zhou and Li Zuoche knew very well in their hearts that the current strength of the Han army was already better than that of the anti-Han coalition army on the Julu battlefield, if there was enough time and logistics were also effective, it would definitely only be a matter of time before they won the final victory, but the problem was that in the current situation, Xiang Yu would definitely not sit idly by and watch his northern front battlefield collapse completely, and he would definitely raise troops to rescue him soon, if the Han army could not break the deadlock before Xiang Yu's reinforcements arrived and win the Julu battlefield, it would not only be the Julu battlefield, Even the entire battlefield of Zhao State has the possibility of being overturned by the Western Chu army. - After all, in a head-on decisive battle, the plug-in of the overlord of Western Chu is too powerful.

It's useless to worry, no matter how great Uncle Zhou, Li Zuoche and others are, there is no way to ask the Zhao army to re-dredge the southwest two gates of Julu City for the Han army to fight, let alone ask the Qi Chu army to move to the bottom of the mountain for the Han army to fight, so Uncle Zhou and Zheng Bu and others can only hurriedly discuss the affairs of the camp, and decided to let Zheng Bujun set up camp next to Zhou Shujun, and stand side by side with Zhou Shujun, and then Uncle Zhou hurriedly led his subordinate Wenwu to visit Xiang Kang's wife and children, and did courtier etiquette and catch up with Feng Zhong and others.

…………

On the side of the anti-Han coalition army, it had just been confirmed that Zheng Bu's army was camped near the east of the Zhou Shujun camp, and the general of the Qi army, Yu Ling, once again came to the front of Tian Bu, the commander of the Qi army, and said to Tian Bu: "General, the Han thief Zheng Buxi conquered the plains, and successfully rescued the family of the Han thief's important ministers. ”

Tabe was a little tempted when he heard this, but just a thought, Tabe immediately shook his head and said: "It's not that easy, it stands to reason that the Zheng Bu thief army will be a little light now, but you also said before that the Han thieves are the best at night combat sneak attacks, they have just arrived, and the camp is unstable, how can they not prevent us from sending troops to sneak attack?" Don't fail to sneak up and compensate our raiding army. ”

"General, please finish speaking." Yu Ling arched his hand and said: "The Han thieves are good at night battles, and it is really difficult to rob the camp, so the tactic suggested by the last general is that we will send three armies to fight tonight, two of which are ambushed on both sides of the road, and one army will come forward to pretend to rob the camp, and deliberately threaten to capture the son of Xiang Kang's rebel thief alive, so as to completely anger the Han thief, and when the Han thief reacts, our robbery army will be defeated and leave, the Han thief is angry that we dare to sneak attack, and at present, we are arrogant, and will definitely send troops to pursue, and then we can only lure the Han thief into the trap, the ambush soldiers came out in two ways, and the army that robbed the camp also turned around and killed back, and they were attacked on three sides, and they were sure to win. ”

Tian Bu was finally moved, but he still had a little scruples, so he didn't adopt it immediately, Yu Ling saw his thoughts, and hurriedly said: "General, it may be a little risky to do this, but in the current situation, we must also take a little risk." Prior to this, the Western Chu army was defeated in Huanshui, and the elite of Zhao State was lost in the north of Julu City, all of them were depressed and demoralized, and even our military morale was also greatly affected. ”

Listening to Yu Ling's analysis is reasonable, and considering that even if this is not successful, the loss will definitely be very small, and the anti-Han coalition army does need a victory now to boost the morale of the army, Tian still nodded and said: "Okay, then give it a try, we need a victory too much now." ”

After making up his mind, Tian Bu no longer hesitated, and immediately called two more capable generals, let them and Yu Ling each lead an army, and quietly went out of the camp after it was dark, the two armies were ambushed on the road pursued by the Han army, and the other army pretended to rob the camp and went to the camp of the Han army Zheng Bu to act according to the plan. In addition, in order to avoid misunderstandings, Tabe naturally had to send people to inform the Zhao army and the Western Chu army, telling them that the self-army would have an operation tonight, so that they did not have to worry even if they found an accident.

The current morale of the anti-Han coalition army is indeed low, and after the messenger of Tabe informed Zhou Yin and Gan Gong, who commanded the Zhao army, Zhou Yin and Gan Gong promised to control the army and avoid accidents with the Qi army, and they all congratulated the Qi army on its victory and success. However, after the envoy of the Qi army said goodbye and left, Zhou Yin and Gan Gong both sneered and said: "Lu Ban plays a big axe in front of the gate, the Han thief is famous for being good at night battles, who among the princes in the world has not suffered the loss of their night battles?" Your Qi army still dares to fight the idea of night fighting, looking for death! ”

Sneering and sneering, since Tianbe did not ask the Zhao army and the Western Chu army to send troops to help, Zhou Yin and Gan Gong are of course happy to see it, and everyone's military morale can be encouraged if they win the battle, which is beneficial to the next war, and suffer losses, the Zhao army and the Western Chu army are unscathed, Zhou Yin and Gan Gong will certainly not oppose such a good thing.

In this way, in the case that the friendly forces were generally not optimistic, with the attitude of giving it a try, the Qi army still launched an operation, quickly went out of the camp after it was dark and arranged an ambush, and then the front army pretended to rob the camp, quietly sneaked outside Zheng Bujun's camp, and suddenly launched an attack on Zheng Bujun's camp.

Not to mention, the situation was really expected by the Qi general Yu Ling, Zheng Bujun, who had just returned triumphantly, because of the fatigue of the journey, coupled with the carelessness of the enemy, was indeed not strict enough, and even after the Qi soldiers took off the latch of the camp, the Han soldiers who were napping were awakened by the sound, and quickly rang the gong to warn, and the Qi army because the door of the Han army camp had been opened, and also decisively launched an impact on the Han army camp, and successively cut down a number of Han soldiers who were caught off guard, and rushed into the Han army camp to kill people and set fire, Ignited the military tents of some Han troops.

Not only that, while killing people and setting fires, the Qi soldiers kept shouting slogans, "Capture Xiang Kang's son alive!" Capture Xiang Kang's son alive! Capture Xiang Kang's son back! ”

Fortunately, no matter how I didn't think that the enemy dared to take the initiative to attack, Zheng Bu did not forget to arrange a mobile army without disarming when arranging night defense, seeing that the front camp was attacked, the Han army general Tao Xi immediately led the night army to kill, and met the camp robbery army of the Qi army head-on, which did not make the losses of the Han army further expand rapidly, and at the same time, the Han soldiers who were good at night battles also got up and put on armor, rushed out of the tent to assemble and wait, Zheng Bu's direct army also immediately held the Chinese army camp, so as not to prevent the enemy from rushing into the Chinese army to attack the Han army's family.

After fighting for a while, seeing that there were more and more Han soldiers who came out of the tent to counterattack, the Qi army, which had taken a lot of advantage, immediately turned around and left, and quickly fled out of the camp to the way they came.

At this time, not far from the west, the Han army Uncle Zhou's department, of course, the night vigil army has also been prepared for prevention, Uncle Zhou also hurriedly got up and came to the Chinese army's tent located at the height of the camp to look east, to understand the current situation of Zheng Bujun, and when he saw that there was a Han army in Zheng Bu's camp chasing out of the camp with torches, Uncle Zhou, who was the best at night fighting to break the enemy, shouted even louder, and hurriedly ordered his own soldiers: "Quick, go and chase our camp army, tell them to return to the camp immediately and don't chase anymore, the night is too dark, the enemy situation is unknown, Defend against the enemy's ambush! ”

It was only after the soldiers left in a hurry that Uncle Zhou suddenly remembered a major event - Zheng Bujun was not under his command, and Zheng Bujun, who went out of the camp to pursue, might not listen to his orders! After patting his head with remorse, Uncle Zhou could only hurry up and contact Zheng Bu in person, asking him to come forward to recall the pursuers.

The situation was unfortunately expected by Uncle Zhou, although his own soldiers caught up with Tao Xi with Ling Arrow first, and asked Tao Xi to collect his troops and return to the camp immediately, but Tao Xi only glanced at Ling Jian, and immediately shouted: "I am General Zheng's subordinate, not your General Zhou's subordinate, why did he order me?" Without General Zheng's order, I decide for myself how to fight! ”

Needless to say, before the herald sent by Zheng Bu caught up with Tao Xi, Tao Xi and the four thousand Han troops under his command had already rushed into the ambush circle of the Qi army, and then with the fierce beating of war drums, the Qi army ambushed on both sides of the road immediately killed left and right, and immediately cut the Han army into three sections, and the Qi army that lured the enemy in front also turned around and killed back. The Qi army pursued the victory, won a lot, and finally won a rather beautiful victory after successive defeats.

The disparity in strength was too great, and the Han army was already prepared, and the Qi army had just caught up near the Zheng Bujun camp and took the initiative to retreat, and quickly withdrew directly to the Qi army camp with the captured heads and captured banner weapons, and did not dare to pursue insatiably to the end. But this was enough, after retreating to the camp with the defeated soldiers, the disgraced Tao Xi could only come to Zheng Bu to plead guilty in front of him as soon as possible, and honestly admit that he had made the mistake of underestimating the enemy.

Just came back and ate the first defeat after going north, and even the camp was almost robbed by the enemy, Zheng Bu, who was thunderous, of course scolded Tao Xi for a bloody head, fortunately, Li Zuoche was beside him to persuade hard, saying that victory or defeat is not a common thing in soldiers, and persuaded Zheng Bu not to pursue it too much, Zheng Bu did not give Tao Xi further punishment. But before the remaining anger subsided, Zheng Bu shouted angrily at Tao Xi and asked, "Didn't General Zhou send someone to call you back?" Have you been contacted, how did you reply? ”

"Back to General Zheng, I've got in touch." Tao Xi replied cautiously: "The last general was impulsive at that time, and said that I am your subordinate, not General Zhou's subordinate, why should I listen to him?" ”

"Bastard thing! Did you talk like that? Zheng Bu was even more furious when he heard this, and roared: "Tomorrow at dawn, I will go to General Zhou to plead guilty, and admit that what you said is a fart!" If there is a contradiction within our Han army, see how Lao Tzu cleans you up! ”

Tao Xi hurriedly agreed, and then went back to appease the defeated soldiers and count the losses at Zheng Bu's request, but after Tao Xi left, Zheng Bu gradually calmed down, but said in his heart: "Actually, Tao Xi, this little vertical man, has not done anything wrong, if he listens to Uncle Zhou's order to retreat, I will definitely not feel good in my heart." This is also a troublesome matter, Uncle Zhou and I are not subordinate to each other, we are all one, and it is really very difficult to command, do you want to ask the king of Han for instructions ....... ”

Human nature is selfish, Zheng Bu is no exception, after considering this, Zheng Bu's heart suddenly hesitated, because Zheng Bu knew very well that with Uncle Zhou's usual performance and merits, if Xiang Kang wanted to choose a coach between himself and Uncle Zhou, Uncle Zhou's possibility of taking the position would definitely be far greater than himself. Zheng Bu is not a moral sage, he also has his own ambitions and self-esteem, of course, he is not very willing to accept the command of Uncle Zhou, who is less qualified than himself.

…………

At the same time, Yu Ling, the general of the Qi army who proposed to launch a night attack, also returned to his military camp with the Qi soldiers under his command in triumph, and then just dismounted, Yu Ling couldn't wait to hug one of his own personal soldiers, patted him on the shoulder and smiled, and whispered with a smile: "Good brother, with you, you really won the battle!" Don't worry, the reward that the general gave me at the meeting will definitely be half of you! Help me well in the future, and I will definitely not treat you badly! ”

"The general doesn't have to be polite, this is what the villain should do." The pro-soldier replied very sincerely: "The villain was separated from his companions with the defeat of the Jibei Army in Huanshui, if it weren't for the general you read to contain me for the sake of the fellow villagers in Lu County, and accepted me as a pro-soldier, I am afraid that I would have sent my life on the road a long time ago, and it is the duty of the villain to serve you a little bit of work for the general." ”

While he was talking, the other two generals of the Qi army who led the army to fight with Yu Ling had also come to Yu Ling's front together, and as soon as they met, they each gave Yu Ling a punch, and said with a smile: "Yu Xiao'er, there is you!" I really didn't see it before, you still have such a ability, first came up with the idea to let the Zhao army block the gate of Julu City, help us choose a camp, so that the general and the general Zhao couldn't help but clap their hands and praise you, and tonight came up with an idea, let us fight such a victory, almost kicked the camp of the Han thief, amazing! Let's go to the general to receive the reward, and then let's have a drink! ”