It was Zhang Liang's idea to send someone to contact Chen Ying, the leader of the Dongyang Righteous Army, as early as when he and Qin Jia finalized the joint southern expedition, Zhang Liang suggested that Xiang Bo strike first, and immediately send someone to send a letter to contact Chen Ying, to persuade Chen Ying, who had not taken expansion actions after the army, to join the young marshal army, and join forces with the young marshal army led by Xiang Bo and his son to take the southern cities of Donghai County.

Xiang Bo never thought that this move would become his own life-saving straw later, when he led his son and the young marshal's army to the south as the main general, Xiang Bo called that high-spirited, not as shabby as Xiang Kang's horseback riding, and directly asked his son to prepare a gorgeous vermilion lacquer cart for himself, pulled by four horses, sitting on the car is triumphant, the scenery is unbeatable, and the leader directly compares the unfilial nephew who commands the main force of the young marshal's army.

The early war also made Xiang Bo very directional, and Qin Jiajun went south, as long as the pavilion along the way saw the banner of the young marshal army, no pavilion chief did not immediately obediently open the door and surrender, leading the pavilion guards to kneel on the side of the road to welcome Xiang Bo's arrival, Xiang Bo, who was in a very good mood, ordered not to hurt Zhun and surrender, and those pavilion chiefs and pavilion guards immediately kowtowed like chickens pecking rice, grateful to Xiang Bo for his great kindness. At the same time, the villagers who were unwilling to continue to endure the brutal rule of the Qin court also enthusiastically joined the army, so that the strength of the young marshal's partial division quickly exceeded 2,000 people, and Xiang Bo was also overjoyed, and he believed that he would definitely be able to pull up a strong army this time, and he was only lucky to come to this day.

However, after hearing about the expansion speed of Qin Jiajun, Xiang Bo gradually became a little breathless, and every time Qin Jiajun, who went south from another road, went to a place, in addition to plundering all the people's money, food and materials, he also forced the local young and strong people to enlist in the army, and even the half-grown children who were not adults did not let go, and the speed of army expansion far exceeded that of the young marshal's army, and before the road was halfway, Qin Jia collected nearly 2,000 troops in one go. Of course, Xiang Bo was very envious when he heard the report, and he wanted to follow suit for a while, but fortunately Zhang Liang and Xiang You stopped him, and Xiang Bo gave up stupidly.

After arriving at the northern suburbs of Huaiyin all the way, although the young marshal's army had a meeting with Qin Jiajun as scheduled, because the Qin army had confiscated all the nearby ships, the young marshal's army and Qin Jiajun wanted to cross the river and attack the city, they had to rely on rafts to cross the Huai River and build a pontoon bridge to allow the army to cross the river. As a result, when discussing which army should take on the heavy task of rushing the crossing, Xiang Bo and Qin Jia, who had very similar personalities, had their first fierce dispute.

The reason for the dispute is, of course, that neither Xiang Bo nor Qin Jia wants to suffer, they both just want to take advantage of each other, and they both hope that the other party will take this risk, and neither of them will give in, and they will not discuss any result even if they are blushing and their necks are thick. In the end, he had to decide who would be responsible for the ferry by lot, but Xiang Bo's luck was not bad, and he finally got a bargain, Qin Jia was depressed, but there was no way, so he had to be willing to gamble and lose, and obediently accepted the task.

Facts have proved that Qin Jiajun can't afford to carry this heavy burden, when the low-quality Qin Jiajun drove the raft to the opposite bank, the general of the Qin army who fled here in the south led the Huaiyin Qin army just a few rounds of arrow rain, Qin Jiajun's raft team immediately became a mess, and then quickly fell into chaos, the soldiers fled, the water fell into the water, and it was repeated several times, the soldiers of the Qin army laughed on the south bank of the Huai River, Qin Jia scolded on the north bank, but Xiang Bo was gloating and secretly laughing.

After Qin Jiajun's rush failed, it stands to reason that it should be the turn of the young marshal's army to launch the crossing, but in order to preserve his strength, Xiang Bo used the excuse that Qin Jiajun had won the lot, and Qin Jiajun had to continue to launch the crossing, and even Zhang Liang's persuasion had no effect. Qin Jia was so angry that he directly said the words of parting ways, Xiang Bo did not have the confidence to take Huaiyin City alone, so he had to get off the donkey after Zhang Liang's continuation and agreed to let the young marshal's army launch a rush.

After paying a certain price, and because the Huaiyin Qin army was unwilling to fight for strength in the field, the officers and men of the young marshal army, who were relatively high-quality, finally rushed across the Huai River and built a pontoon bridge across the river. But new troubles are coming soon, and which army should take on the siege?

This time there was no lot, each with their own small abacus discussed for a long time, Xiang Bo and Qin Jia each took a step to get the result, and decided that the relatively weak young marshal army was responsible for attacking the west gate of Huaiyin, and the strong Qin Jiajun was responsible for attacking the south gate and east gate of Huaiyin, and then that army entered Huaiyin City first, and whoever got sixty percent of the money and food in the city.

The army commanded by Xiang Bo and Qin Jia only rushed to the city symbolically shouted a few times every time, and then soon fled under the counterattack of the Qin army, not only did not one of them really work hard to attack the city, but also kept staring at each other, constantly accusing the other party of being lazy and slack, just wanting to take advantage of the situation and not wanting to suffer, the contradiction arose, and it also made the general of the Qin army who commanded the city to guard the city inexplicable, scratched his head and said strangely: "Xiang Kang, this traitor, How did it get so much weaker? When they beat Ling County, if they were like this, how could this official throw Ling County away? ”

If such a siege can really take the historical city of Huaiyin, then only ghosts will believe it. During this period, although Zhang Liang also helped Xiang Bo plan a few siege tactics, and also advised Xiang Bo to focus on the overall situation and not to be too greedy for preserving strength, but it was useless, the young marshal army under the command of Xiang Kang was like a change of army, coupled with Xiang Bo's selfishness and Qin Jia's unwillingness to fully cooperate, no matter how correct and reasonable Zhang Liang's tactics were, it was in vain if the implementation was not in place, and he could not take Huaiyin City, not to mention, the morale of the army was also greatly affected. Zhang Liang was helpless, and he had to admit that Xiang Kang's push to the southern front was indeed a masterful move, and it was destined to be nothing decent for Xiang Bo and Qin Jia to join forces with equally obvious character flaws.

When they were at a loss, the messenger who had been sent to contact Chen Ying's righteous army suddenly brought good news, saying that they had been warmly welcomed in Chen Ying's righteous army, and Chen Ying not only personally came forward to meet them, but also directly revealed his yearning for and admiration for the young marshal army, and did not object to joining forces with the young marshal army to overthrow the tyrannical Qin, but also said that he could consider leading the army to join the young marshal army. Xiang Bo, who was disgraced in the siege battle, also grasped a life-saving straw, and immediately proposed to give up Huaiyin, turn around and go to Xuantai, and then strive to incorporate Chen Yingyi's army, which had directly taken Dongyang County.

Xutai was sandwiched by the Xu County Young Marshal Army and Chen Yingyi's army led by Feng Zhong, the situation was critical, and it should be easier to fight compared to Huaiyin, Zhang Liang of course did not object, and Qin Jia in the rear was not worried about the food problem, of course, he also raised his hands in agreement, and the coalition forces immediately lifted the siege of Huaiyin, turned around and went west to fight Xuantai.

At the same time, the battle for Chen Ying's righteous army was also in full swing, and Xiang Bo of course immediately sent a well-spoken envoy to Dongyang to persuade Chen Ying to lead the army to join the young marshal's army, accept his own command, and join forces with his own army to take the southern cities of the East China Sea. Qin Jia, who was not stupid, also made a move almost at the same time, sending a messenger with gifts to meet Chen Ying, persuading Chen Ying to join the army and join forces with him to open up a new world. And Feng Zhong followed Xiang Kang's previous orders, and had been trying to persuade Chen Ying to change his banner and directly accept Xiang Kang's command.

Three days later, Xiang Bo and Qin Jia's coalition army successfully arrived at the outskirts of Xutai, and when they were ecstatic, the coalition army had just begun to set up camp, and Chen Ying, who was not far away, personally came to Xutai with more than 3,000 troops, and directly sent an envoy to express his attitude, saying that the army was here to help Xiang Qin's coalition army attack Xutai, Xiang Bo and Qin Jia were overjoyed and couldn't wait, and hurriedly sent someone to visit Chen Ying and invite Chen Ying to meet in the camp. However, Qin Jia was very careful, and excused himself that there were many affairs in the army, and he refused to meet in the camp, and in turn Xiang Bo and Qin Jia went to meet in his army.

Chen Ying is of course understandable to do this, Xiang Bo and Qin Jia joined forces, it is clear that they want to grab land and money, Chen Ying, as the leader of the Dongyang Righteous Army, of course has to prevent Xiang Bo or Qin Jia from hiding a knife in his smile, taking the opportunity to directly detain himself and forcibly annex his army and territory. And Xiang Bo and Qin Jia are also two greedy for life and afraid of death, after joining forces, they usually discuss things in the open place with their own guards to meet, of course, they don't dare to venture into other people's camps, but they both chose to send their cronies to represent themselves in the camp, and persuaded Chen Ying to join his army directly under the banner of visiting.

Of course, it was Zhang Liang who came forward on behalf of Xiang Bo, but after seeing Chen Ying, Zhang Liang soon found that Chen Ying was actually quite elegant, and he didn't have much ambition, he just wanted to find a thick thigh to hug him, follow the boss to eat and drink spicy food, and it was easy to escape after defeat (Chen Ying's real person in history). However, when Zhang Liang persuaded Chen Ying to join on behalf of Xiang Bo, Chen Ying made it clear that "Mr. Han, this matter is too important, and I must discuss it with Master Xiang in person, otherwise, I don't dare to make up my mind." ”

Knowing that Chen Ying wanted to see in person whether Xiang Bo was worth following, after returning to the camp, Zhang Liang of course strongly persuaded Xiang Bo to go to the camp in person and personally persuade Chen Ying to join the young marshal's army. However, Xiang Bo shook his head and said: "You can't take this risk, people's hearts are separated from their stomachs, who dares to guarantee Chen Ying's heart." I can't pass the camp, so tomorrow you can go again and tell Chen Ying that if he joins us, I will immediately make him a lieutenant with a reward of 1,000. ”

"It's really a big thing to spare my life, and I see Xiaoli die." Zhang Liang sighed secretly, and persuaded again: "Uncle, I can go again, but if you don't come forward in person to show your sincerity in solicitation, Chen Ying will definitely not make up this decision in person, so even if I go again, I'm afraid I will have to go back empty-handed." Also, I can see that Chen Ying doesn't have much ambition, and he is also full of kindness to us, and there will definitely be no danger if you go to the camp to meet him in person. ”

Of course, Uncle Xiang didn't dare to believe Zhang Liang's assurances easily, he just continued to shake his head, and said with a whim: "Otherwise, like Qin Jia, I also asked Chen Ying to meet in an open place outside the camp, and each brought a team of guards, so that he can always rest assured, right?" ”

"Uncle, this is to reassure Chen Ying, but he will also know that you are not at ease with him." Zhang Liang said helplessly: "If you do this, he will only understand that you are suspicious and guard against him, so even if you meet him, I am afraid it will be difficult to persuade him to lead the army to join you." ”

After thinking about it for a long time with a gloomy face, Xiang Bo said: "Just do this, see the previous side first, and then say, if you find that this Chen Ying is really reliable, I will immediately visit his camp in person and persuade him to lead the army to join us." ”

Zhang Liang reluctantly agreed, but it was not early, and Xiang Bo could only prepare to send someone to contact Chen Ying the next day to make an appointment to meet, but the next morning, the scout suddenly sent an urgent report, saying that Chen Ying and Qin Jia had each led a guard and ran to an open field in the southeast of Xutai to meet. Xiang Bo was shocked when he heard the report, and hurriedly scolded Qin Jia for his quick move, and hurriedly led a team of guards and Zhang Liang, and hurriedly ran to meet Qin Jia and Chen Ying.

When they arrived at the scene, Chen Ying and Qin Jia were talking and laughing in the cold wind, Xiang Bo cheekily stepped forward to beg for wine, although Qin Jia, who arranged this open-air banquet, did not refuse, but while asking people to set up a seat for Xiang Bo, he introduced Xiang Bo with a smile: "Master Xiang, let me introduce you, this is Chen Ying Chen Brother, don't look at his appearance, but he is happier than us, and he has promised to take his army with me to join forces to overthrow the tyrannical Qin and rebuild the Chu State." ”

Xiang Bo's heart sank, and he hurriedly went to see Chen Ying's expression, which was similar in age to Zhou Zeng, but fortunately, Chen Ying was also very good at talking, and while saluting Xiang Bo, he smiled gently: "Brother Qin is in a hurry, I have to go back to discuss this matter with my subordinates, you also know that the people who killed Dongyang Tyrant Qin County were all my subordinates, and I was forced to this position by them after the fact, so for such a big matter, I have to discuss with them before making a decision." ”

Xiang Bo breathed a sigh of relief, but Qin Jia laughed and said, "Brother Chen Ying, what else do you need to discuss?" Look at how many soldiers and horses I have, and joining forces with me will make you suffer? It's so decided, I'll send someone to send you a few beautiful women over in a while, and when the platform is laid, we'll give you three cents of the money and food in the city, and you can get a share. ”

Chen Ying smiled and refused the woman sent by Qin Jia, but Qin Jia insisted on sending it, and during the dispute between them, Xiang Bo was also a little breathless, and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, since you are unwilling to join forces with Qin Zhuangshi, why can't you consider joining our young marshal army?" Don't you know, sir, that our young marshal army has now taken the land of six counties, and the soldiers are strong and strong, sir, you led the army to join us, how could we possibly let you suffer? ”

"Master Xiang, this is your mistake." Qin Jia was angry and said, "Brother Chen Ying now has a city and his own army of soldiers and horses, why do you want him to join you?" The cooperation between us should be to join forces to resist Qin, right? ”

"Then you're going to swallow Chen Ying's army with the belt and bones, right?" Xiang Bo was disdainful in his heart, but said with a smile on his face: "Togetherness is strong, division is weak, although it is not bad to join forces with soldiers, but after all, it is an army with many masters, and there are many ...... orders." ”

A cavalry of the young marshal's army that rushed towards interrupted Xiang Bo's persuasion, Qin Jia and Chen Ying's guards hurriedly guarded carefully, and Xiang Bo also turned back in confusion, not understanding what was happening. Fortunately, the cavalry did not have any malicious intent, rushed to the front and restrained his horse, and said to Xiang Bo on his horse: "Master Yu, twenty miles away from the north bank of Huaishui, we have found an army of ours, which is hurrying towards Xutai City. ”

"Our army?" Xiang Boleng paused, then quickly came to his senses and said, "It must be Feng Zhong's army, he is also here." But what did he do, I didn't ask him for help? ”

Qin Jia and Chen Ying's faces changed slightly, and then Qin Jia, who was the most cunning and suspicious, said to Chen Ying: "Brother Chen, didn't you say just now that you wanted to go back and discuss with your subordinates?" Why don't we get here today and meet another day? ”

Knowing that Qin Jia was worried that the reinforcements from the young marshal's army would not come well, Chen Ying, who was also a little suspicious of the young marshal's reinforcements, immediately nodded, and agreed to get off the donkey, and then both said goodbye to Xiang Bo, and hurried back to the camp with the guards with great care, and then immediately sent scouts to inquire about the specific situation of the reinforcements of the young marshal's army. Xiang Bo also hurriedly led his guards back to the camp, and at the same time sent messengers to hurriedly go north to contact the young marshal army of Xu County to inquire about their specific intentions.

After a while, the messenger who went to contact hurriedly came back and reported to Xiang Bo and Xiang You and his son that the commander of the Xu County Young Marshal Army who came south was Feng Zhong himself, and he was preparing to help Xiang Bo and his son attack Xutai City. ”

"What the hell is the Tyrant Qin army doing?" Xiang Bo was puzzled again and said, "Want to take the initiative and fight Feng Zhong?" Aren't they afraid that we will take the opportunity to launch a siege? ”

"Are you preparing to surrender?" Zhang Liang suddenly raised his head and said quickly: "Could it be the violent Qin army in Xutai City, ready to surrender to Feng Zhong's army?" ”

"What?" Xiang Bo was dumbfounded, and said in surprise: "How is it possible? If the tyrannical Qin army in Xutai wants to surrender, why don't they surrender to us? Instead surrendered to the newly arrived Feng Zhong? ”

"How could it not be? If the tyrannical Qin army in Xutai was not ready to surrender to Feng Zhong, what was it doing when they sent ships to the north shore? Zhang Liang asked rhetorically, and said: "Feng Zhong has been stationed in Xu County for a period of time, and he must have some contacts with Xutai, so it is much more convenient than us to surrender." Moreover, you have also seen Qin Jia's gang, where they passed, it was like locusts crossing the border, refusing to leave anything, how could the tyrannical Qin army in Xutai not be afraid? If they intended to surrender, wouldn't it be safer to surrender to Feng Zhong, who was more familiar? ”

Xiang Bo woke up like a dream, and hurriedly yelled, ordering Xiang You to quickly send troops to take over the city of Xutai first, but Zhang Liang was very calm, and hurriedly shouted: "Uncle, we can't take over Xuantai, let Feng Zhong's army take over, it's more beneficial for us!" Don't forget, you promised Qin Jia before, you and he joined forces to take the Xuantai, and you want to give him this city to station, you go to take over, Qin Jia stretched out his hand to ask for the city, what should you do? ”

Xiang Bo opened his mouth and stammered, and only after a while did he say hatefully: "Isn't this too cheap Feng Zhong's puppet?" ”

"It's better than cheap Qin Jia." Zhang Liang said calmly: "Uncle, you have taken the Xuantai, and it is treacherous not to hand over the Xuantai to Qin Jia, which will be scolded by the world." If it is handed over to him, how can our soldiers be convinced? Where will the prestige and face of your army remain? ”

Xiang Bo collapsed on his son's handsome chair like a deflated ball, and between the contradictions and hesitations in his heart, Xiang Bo couldn't help but have such a thought, and said secretly: "I hope the ovary is wrong, the violent Qin army in Xutai crossed the river not to surrender, but to prepare to fight with Feng Zhong." ”

Unfortunately, the matter was expected by Zhang Liang, when Feng Zhong personally led the young marshal army of Xu County to arrive at the ferry on the north bank of Huaishui, the Qin army at the ferry immediately laid down their arms and surrendered to Feng Zhong, Feng Zhong quickly sent troops to cross the river by boat, and the Xutai County Commander led the officials of the whole city to kneel in front of the city gate to surrender, and the commander of the young marshal of Xu County drove into the city and quickly took over the control of Xutai City.

"It's really a competition between the snipe and the clam and the fisherman profits. We and Qin Jia and Chen Ying were all looking at Xutai City, but we didn't expect that we would force Xutai to our friends in Xu County, and we didn't expect that Feng Zhong, a nobody, would be able to come up with such a trick as taking advantage of the situation. ”

Receiving this news, Zhang Liang of course sighed for a long time, it was extremely strange that a mud-legged general under Xiang Kang's command could have such a ability? First of all, he also saw the only way out when the young marshal's army was attacked by the Qin army on two sides, and put forward a more clever tactical suggestion? Will this cleverly use the threat of the friendly forces of the three ways to force the platform to surrender to him directly? At the same time, Qin Jia's envoy had already gone to the camp of Xiang Bo's father and son to ask for the guilt, asking Xiang Bo to fulfill his promise and hand over Xutai City to them to station.

Finally sent Qin Jia's envoy away with a reply that he would wait for after discussing with Feng Zhong, of course, Xiang Bo's face was how ugly and ugly it was, no matter how much Zhang Liang and Xiang You comforted him and said that this was also a good thing, Xiang Bo couldn't be happy. In the end, it was only when the soldiers reported that Feng Zhong had sent an envoy to contact him, that Xiang Bo came back to his senses and roared, "Send an envoy to visit? Feng Zhongxiao'er, did he dare not come to see the old man in person? ”

After Feng Zhong's envoy was called in, Xiang Bo repeated the question again, and Feng Zhong's envoy played truthfully: "Master Newspaper, our Feng Duwei originally wanted to come to see you in person, but he was too busy to even enter Xutai City, and immediately took a few people to the Dongyang friendly camp in the south, so he really couldn't come and visit you immediately?" ”

"What is he doing in the camp of the friendly forces in Dongyang?" Uncle Xiang asked in surprise.

"Go and appease them." Messenger Feng Zhong replied honestly: "The young marshal had an order before, asking Captain Feng to come forward on his behalf to appease and integrate the friendly forces in Dongyang, this will be a rare opportunity, so we will go to Captain Feng." ”

Hearing this, Xiang Bo's face suddenly turned pale, and he didn't care about any danger or not, so he immediately shouted: "Prepare a horse for the old man, and go to Chen Ying's camp immediately!" ”