In fact, the officers and soldiers of the Western Chu Army are also resisting bravely, even if the officers and soldiers of the Han Army have fully broken through the South Three Gates of the Western Chu Army camp, rushed into the West Chu Army camp and killed people everywhere and set fires, the Western Chu Army is the lightest and the outer camp is not guaranteed, but Huan Chu, Zhong Gong and Xiang Han and other Western Chu Army generals still did not give up, and still led the army to defend their respective camps, not even if a general of more than 1,000 people escaped or surrendered, and proved their loyalty to Xiang Yu with practical actions.

It's a pity that although the generals are effective, but the soldiers under their command are not competitive enough, several super-large-scale recruits have been recruited, the number of recruits in the ranks of the Western Chu army has long exceeded the experienced veterans, and the combat effectiveness has long been inferior to the Western Chu army when the conquest of Qidi, many people's only combat experience is to meet the Han army in Xingyang, and they have not gained much real experience.

In the fierce battle, the soldiers of the Han army, which accounted for a much higher proportion of veterans, followed the banners of their respective teams and always maintained a relatively complete organization of group operations, but the soldiers of the Western Chu army were in a mess, and many soldiers were so panicked that they could not even find their respective armies there, just like headless flies running around in the barracks, and were scattered by the officers and soldiers of the Han army, and were easily eliminated.

In the chaos, countless overly timid soldiers of the Western Chu Army pushed and shoved, shouted and screamed, or ran there when there were many people in their own homes, or fled there when they saw that it was darker and there were fewer people, and many people fled directly from the camp camp under the cover of night, seized the road and fled into the camp fire, overturned the baggage vehicles, tore down the camp tent, and even threw the torches indiscriminately, set fire to their own military tents, trampled on each other and killed countless people, and began to lay down their arms and kneel to surrender.

What's worse is that more defeated soldiers of the Western Chu army also tried to flee directly into the camp of the Chinese army to escape for their lives, in order to enter the camp of the Chinese army, which is still relatively safe, many defeated soldiers of the Western Chu army directly climbed over the fence, and even tried to directly knock down the fence, regardless of the front and back, only surging into their own camp of the Chinese army, forcing Cao Zhi's direct army to release arrows and knives at their own soldiers, and expelling the panicked own soldiers by force.

The Han army is still rushing into the camp of the Western Chu army in an endless stream, Long He has just led the army into the camp, and another fierce general of the Han army, Ding Ji, also immediately followed with tens of thousands of Han soldiers, with his own banner as the command, and led the Han soldiers straight to the left camp of the Western Chu army, and then, the Han army generals Chong Jun and Zeng Ji, who were born as old men of the young marshal army, each led an army into the camp and joined hands to attack the right camp of the Western Chu army, which further expanded the scale of the battle in the Western Chu military camp and also created more chaos in the Western Chu military camp.

The key offensive target of the Han army, of course, is still the headquarters of the Western Chu Army and the camp of the Chinese army where the grain is located, the Han army's infantry ace heavy armor took the lead, directly impacting the door of the Chinese army camp of the Western Chu army, Cao Qi's direct army resisted desperately, Cao Qi himself also came to the front line to command and supervise the battle, relying on the fence and the defensive line composed of heavy vehicles to resist stubbornly, and also temporarily blocked the fierce impact of the Han army.

But it was useless, the thin wooden fence defense line was destined to be not as strong as the barracks, and the cunning Han army team continued to expel the defeated soldiers of the Western Chu Army as free vanguards, forcing the defeated soldiers of the Western Chu Army to impact their own defense lines, and the defeated soldiers of the Western Chu Army in a panic In order to survive, they also kept pushing the fence of the Chinese army camp, and also broke out of a gap in the fence defense line, as a result, many of the defeated soldiers of the Western Chu Army successfully escaped into the Chinese army camp, and the Han soldiers also took the opportunity to follow into the camp, and successfully shattered Cao's dream of defending the Chinese army camp.

Things have come to this point, Cao Ji, who is still a man, still has not wavered at all, and is still resisting desperately with his own soldiers, but it is doomed to be useless, the gap that has been broken through has been expanding, and there are more and more Han soldiers who rushed into the Chinese army camp, beating his direct army to the point of defeat and retreat, killing heavy casualties, and finally having to take the initiative to abandon the fence defense line and retreat into the street battle in the Chinese army camp.

After seizing more space in the camp, another Han army general, Zhong Liwu, also personally led the army into the camp, and still followed the front army to directly attack the Chinese army camp of the Western Chu army, and the pressure on Cao Qi's direct army was also increasing, and finally it was simply compressed to the vicinity of the Chinese army's big tent, and was soon attacked by the Han army soldiers on three sides, and there was a danger of being completely surrounded at any time.

Many loyal soldiers are begging Cao Ji to order a retreat with tears, the defenders in Puyang City saw that the situation was not good, and they were ready to open the city gate to receive their own defeated troops into the city, and the guard general Cheng Qi also sent someone to contact Cao Qi, asking Cao Qi to withdraw to the city as soon as possible to preside over the overall situation, but Cao Qi also gritted his teeth and shook his head resolutely, and said loudly: "King, leave the army to Ben Shuai, if Ben Shuai leaves the army and returns to the city alone, there will be face to see our king in the future?" ”

"Da Sima, that can't let our army stay outside the city and die in vain!" Kui Che said: "Taking advantage of the opportunity now, we should withdraw our army to Puyang City as much as possible, leaving enough troops to defend the city, so that we can hope to continue to contain the Han thief army and hold out until our king returns to the division to save us!" ”

After hesitating for a moment, he quickly looked at the situation in the self-military camp, and saw that the front camp and the east and west battalions of the self-army were all murderous, and there were torches everywhere, only the rear camp was barely peaceful, Cao Zhi pursed his lips and instructed Kui Che: "Then you go to the rear camp and give an order to Xiao Gongjiao, who is guarding the rear camp, and tell him to immediately withdraw into Puyang City with the army, and you will also go back to the city with him." ”

Kui Che's nose was sour, and he bowed heartily to Cao Ji for the first time, while Sima Wei on the other side was in a hurry, and hurriedly asked, "Da Sima, what about Xiao Wang?" ”

"You go too." Cao Ji replied without twisting his head, and shouted again: "Everyone, move closer to the handsome banner of the commander, and stick to the banner of the commander, so that our soldiers know that the commander is still in the camp now, and buy time for the transfer of our rear army." ”

Kuaiche left in tears, Sima Wei couldn't wait to pull Li Zuoche to follow, and Cao Qi's personal soldiers quickly moved closer to Cao Qi who was guarding under the banner of the Chinese army commander in accordance with the order, and also built an infantry circle formation in the fierce battle, protecting Cao Qi and his handsome banner on all sides, and the Han army immediately covered it, and soon surrounded Cao Qi and his personal soldiers, attacking from all sides.

Seeing that his handsome flag has been fluttering in the camp of the Chinese army, Xiang Han, Huan Chu and Zhong Gong will be encouraged, and they will also take the army that they can still control, stick to their respective camps and not retreat, while the Han army suffers in the inability to fully invest its troops, and can only watch the Western Chu army in the rear camp with torches, quickly retreat to Puyang City to continue to defend the city, no matter how eager they are, there is no chance to block the road for the Western Chu army to withdraw to the city.

In order to completely destroy the will to resist of the Western Chu army as soon as possible, the heavy armored soldiers of the Han army have seriously declined despite their physical strength, and they are only constantly impacting Cao Qi's handsome banner, and Cao Qi's personal soldiers are stubbornly defending, and they are hard to resist the almost invulnerable Han army heavy armor soldiers with flesh and blood. It is like peeling bamboo shoots to eliminate Cao's own soldiers layer by layer.

It's only a matter of time, in the second half of the night, when the main force of the Han army of nearly 70,000 was fully slaughtered into the Western Chu military camp, the stubborn Western Chu army still collapsed one after another, the general of the Western Chu army was the first to die, and the body was wounded in dozens of places, and his army also completely collapsed, and then Huan Chu saw that the situation was not good, so he could only quickly retreat to Puyang City with the rest of the army, although the Han soldiers pursued with all their might, but they were not able to kill Huan Chu outside the city, so that Huan Chu successfully escaped into Puyang City.

Xiang Han was captured alive by the soldiers of the Han army, because he had a word Xiang written on his banner, and after dragging him off the war horse with a war song, the soldiers of the Han army did not mercilessly greet him with a chaotic sword and a sword, and chose to rush up, press him to the ground, and capture him alive with his hands and feet. For this reason, the soldiers of the Han army also sacrificed more than ten companions in vain.

After the main generals were either killed or captured, the Western Chu army in the outer camp soon collapsed completely, countless people fled out of the camp, and there were countless people who surrendered on their knees in order to survive.

At this time, there were only a few hundred people left around Cao Qi's personal soldiers, most of them were wounded, and there was no hope of breaking out of the encirclement at all, and many of Cao Qi's personal soldiers who were not tenacious enough had already laid down their weapons and knelt down to surrender, and the crowd of Han soldiers was also full of slogans of surrender and not killing. Seeing that the general trend had gone, and that if he continued to fight, he would only let his loyal and brave soldiers die in vain, Cao Ji could only smile miserably, and ordered his personal soldier captain: "Call our people to surrender, don't let them die in vain." ”

After that, Cao Zhi quickly raised the sword at his waist and wiped it his neck, when the relatives were shocked and stopped, Cao Qi's neck artery had already been severed, and blood was sprayed everywhere, and the left and right soldiers cried loudly, but Cao Ji looked blank, and muttered in his mouth: "King, the last general is incompetent, but at least the last general is not greedy for life, and he is afraid ......of death." ”

After Cao Qi's death, more than 20 of his personal soldiers followed him, and the rest of his personal soldiers all cried loudly, and in the end, they could only lay down their weapons and surrender to the Han army in accordance with Cao Qi's final order. And after Cao's self-murder was reported to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang also cried bitterly on the spot, beating his chest and shouting: "Uncle Cao, why are you so confused? I obviously asked Mr. Kiri Ji to tell you that no matter when you surrender, I will never hurt you, and I will never treat you badly, why don't you listen? Why just don't you listen? ”

Seeing Xiang Kang crying sadly and emotionally, Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others could only comfort one after another: "Dawang's Day mourning, this is Cao Sima's own choice, and it has nothing to do with you." Moreover, Cao Sima was loyal to the king of Western Chu and died for the king of Western Chu, which must be his heart's wish, and if he died willingly, you should not be too sad for him. ”

"Uncle Cao has a great kindness to our Xiang family! We, the children of the Xiang family, were all raised by my second uncle, and we are the same as my biological father, and if he saved my second uncle, it is equivalent to saving my father! I'm sorry for him! ”

The more Xiang Kang cried, the more sad he became, and he frankly admitted that he was very sorry for Cao Yao, who had a great favor to the Xiang family. But Xiang Kang still refused to give up, and choked up and ordered: "Kind to my Uncle Cao, set up a spiritual sacrifice in our camp, I will personally wear linen and filial piety for Uncle Cao, and then send someone to send his coffin back to his hometown in Qi County for burial." ”

The Han army civil and military agreed, and the current Han army lieutenant commander Xu Ji also seized the opportunity and hurriedly said to Xiang Kang: "Dawang Jie, there is good news for you, General Chong Jun has just sent someone to report that our soldiers have captured your brother General Xiang Han, and when he is caught, although he is injured, he is definitely not in danger of life." ”

"Captured my brother Xiang Han alive?" Xiang Kang was a little surprised, and said, "With my brother Xiang Han's violent temper, how could he be captured alive by us so easily?" How did they get caught? ”

"I heard that it was Ge who hooked his armor and pulled him off his horse and grabbed him." Xu Ji replied: "In order to arrest him, more than a dozen of our soldiers were killed by his own soldiers, and they paid a considerable price. ”

Xiang Kang's expression was very complicated, and he said after a while: "Go and bring my brother, I have something to say to him." ”

According to Xiang Kang's order, when the sky was about to dawn, Xiang Han, who was tied up with five flowers, was escorted to Xiang Kang, after a full two years, after Xiang Kang and Xiang Han finally reunited as brothers, both of them were silent for a long time, or after a long time, Xiang Han spat heavily and scolded: "Traitor!" ”

"Traitor?" Xiang Kang smiled miserably and asked, "Brother, you scolded me for being a traitor, then I have to ask you, who am I rebelling against?" Rebelled against the king of Western Chu that you followed? Is he my king? ”

Xiang Han was speechless, and only after a while did he roar: "You rebelled against the King of Chu that our Xiang family originally supported!" The king of Chu issued an edict, let the princes of the world rise up to crusade against you! ”

"Brother, are you still a three-year-old child?" Xiang Kang asked very strangely: "How did the edict issued by the King of Chu to denounce me come about, others don't know, you don't know?" If it weren't for the fact that our brother Xiang Yu was jealous of my anti-Qin exploits, and insisted on framing me for claiming the title of king in Guanzhong without authorization, and forcing the king of Chu Xiong Xin, who was supported by our Xiang family, to issue an edict, would there be that edict? ”

"You talk nonsense!" Xiang Han's face turned red and roared: "If you don't want to claim the title of king in Guanzhong, why did you go to war with our brother's army when you were in Hangu Pass?" Why do you want to kill our brother's soldiers? ”

Xiang Kang smiled bitterly and said: "Brother, it seems that you are even more naïve than I imagined, the matter of Hangu Pass, even the other princes with different surnames know that it is Liu Ji's puppet who is making a ghost in the middle, and our brother obviously knows this, but he still deliberately believes Liu Ji's nonsense, so that he can have an excuse to start a war with me and snatch away the fertile soil of Guanzhong that I personally defeated, as well as the throne of Guanzhong that should have belonged to me." You are also a general, and you have a lot of power in your hands, why did you send someone to check it yourself? ”

"I don't need to look it up! I only believe the words of our overlord brother! Xiang Han roared angrily: "Also, our Uncle Ji also said that the matter of Hangu Pass is your ghost, and he also expelled you from the genealogy of our Xiang family with the honor of our Xiang family!" ”

"It's really someone who can never wake up and pretend to be asleep." Xiang Kang sneered and said, "What is Uncle Ji's attitude towards me, others don't know, haven't you seen it with your own eyes?" From the day we started the army under the prime minister, he has always wanted to reach out to pick peaches, forcing me to hand over the military power and territory to him, and because I refused to agree, he has been targeting me. He said that the matter of Hanguguan was a ghost by me, you must believe it, then I have nothing to say. ”

Xiang Han was silent for a while before he said: "Don't talk nonsense, since it has fallen into your hands, how can you execute me, do it." ”

"You are my brother, and you have the same blood as me, if I kill you now, I will have no way to explain to the whole world, let alone our two uncles."

Xiang Kang shook his head helplessly, and 8 said again: "But you remember, I will only spare you this time, do you know?" Today, in order to arrest you, my soldiers sacrificed more than a dozen people in vain, and if I want to do this in the future for the sake of family affection, I will not be able to explain to the parents, wives and children of my soldiers. So, there will be no next time, the next time we meet on the battlefield, I will give orders to my soldiers, telling them not to have to capture you alive, and to do what you want to do on the battlefield. ”

As a party, Xiang Han certainly knows very well that if it weren't for the mercy of the soldiers of the Han Army today, after he was dragged off the war horse, he would have already been cut into meat sauce with swords and swords, so Xiang Han could only keep his mouth shut. Xiang Kang instructed: "In a while, I will first treat my brother's wounds, and then send someone to send him thirty miles east, give him a horse and a sword, and some money and food, so that he can go there and go there." ”

Xu Ji hurriedly agreed, Xiang Kang waved his hand, escorted Xiang Han's personal soldiers, and immediately dragged Xiang Han away, Xiang Han didn't speak, turned around and strode away, Xiang Kang shouted again: "Slow, brother, if you go back to see our brother of the king of Western Chu, be sure to bring him a word for me, just say that he only knows how to use our Xiang family brothers a lot, and only knows that handing over the good errand with oil and water to our Xiang family brothers is not good for you, but actually harms you." Just like when we struck iron in Shiling Pavilion, only by tempering can our Xiang brothers truly become great weapons. ”

Xiang Han heard Xiang Kang's voice, and he didn't say anything, Xiang Kang said again: "Also, bring a hello to our Xiang family brothers, just say that I miss them very much, and apologize to them for me, our Xiang family brothers, I'm afraid it will be difficult to have the opportunity to visit and play together and enjoy together in the future." ”

Under Xiang Kang's reminder, remembering the days when he used to be happy with the next minister's brothers, Xiang Han's lips trembled slightly, but after just a pause, Xiang Han still left Xiang Kang with his head held high, and he never recognized Xiang Kang's brothers from beginning to end. Looking at the back of him leaving, Xiang Kang sighed and said: "My overlord brother really doesn't know how to use people, he is a good general, Leng asked him to train him like this." If my brother Xiang Han doesn't know how to repent, I'm afraid that this life will be wasted. ”

"Alright." Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others slandered in their hearts, and said secretly: "Your Xiang family has already caused chaos in the world when you and Xiang Yu are out, if all the children of your Xiang family become traitors like you, or become a brutal and brutal overlord of Western Chu like Xiang Yu, will the people of the world still be alive?" ”

After the slander, Zhang Liang said to Xiang Kang again: "King, what should we do next?" A large number of Western Chu thieves went directly to Puyang City, conservatively estimated that there were twenty or thirty thousand people, Puyang City is famous for its high moats and deep moats, easy to defend and difficult to attack, if we attack head-on, I am afraid that it will be difficult to take it with confidence. ”

"Mr. Zifang, don't worry, I have been mentally prepared for this." Xiang Kang comforted and said with a smile: "For us in the past, it was indeed difficult to take Puyang City by frontal attack, but fortunately, the situation is different now, and the rammed earth wall will no longer be an obstacle for us." ”