In order to recruit Chen Ping, a good friend with the same smell, Xiang Kang, who has always been cautious in his use of troops, made a rare risk, allowing the young marshal Feng Zhong's army, which was not very good in combat effectiveness, to advance alone, bypassing the two cities of Xiangyi and Yongqiu, which were still controlled by the Qin army of Dangjun, and directly attacking Chen Liu, who was favored by Chen Ping. However, when Xiang Kang led the main force of the young marshal's army to the west under the city of Xiangyi, he said that he did not dare to let the main force do the same, so he could only honestly garrison the city and rush to build siege weapons to attack the city.

Joke! If the main force does not take the cities along the way and advance directly to the west, the connection between Xiang Kang and the rear of Huaisi must not be cut off by the Qin army at any time? Not to mention Xiang Kang, who is notoriously timid as a mouse, as long as he is a commander with a slightly normal mind, he will never dare to take such a risk.

The defenders of the Qin army in Xiangyi City are not tenacious, and the main force of the young marshal army has made great progress in combat effectiveness and combat experience after a long period of actual combat training, plus the newly recruited Lishan prisoners of the young marshal army in order to be loyal to the new master, Yingbu and Lu Chen, the two cannon fodder armies, fought very hard in order to have the face to ask Xiang Kang for money and food, so they only launched an ant-attached attack, and the young marshal army successfully took Xiangyi County.

After the siege was successful, Xiang Kang, who had always paid attention to his hypocrisy, fulfilled his promise and gave half of the captured grain to the Yingbu and Luchen armies.

The morale can not be discouraged, Xiang Kang agreed, but after Yingbu Luchen left happily, Chen Ping, who is still the envoy of Wei, admonished Xiang Kang: "Young marshal, the little envoy thinks that your main force should also speed up, and you can't let the two generals Yingbu and Lu Chen take Yongqiu alone, otherwise, when you drive them to fight with the main force of the tyrannical Qin, you will fall into passivity." Only if we also participate in the siege of Yongqiu and take Yongqiu with them, they will have no excuse to bargain with you in the future. ”

Xiang Kang accepted Chen Ping's suggestion without hesitation, and in the case of Yingbu and Lü Chen volunteering to serve as cannon fodder, he still urged the main force to speed up the westward advance, and sure enough, he arrived at Yongqiu before Yingbu and Lü Chen broke the city, and the Lishan prisoners who were driven as the vanguard also attacked the city earlier than the Yinglu coalition army in the siege battle, completely blocking the mouths of Yingbu and Lü Chen, and also making Yingbu and Lü Chen's excuse to temporarily rest in Yongqiu failed, so they could only obediently continue to move west with Xiang Kang. Worried, he followed Xiang Kang to reinforce Linji, which was surrounded by the main force of the Qin army.

Dangjun is already a densely populated place, but the population in this area of Yongqiu is even denser, so even if it enters the busy season of spring farming, there are still many local people who take the initiative to join the army, Zhou Zeng also took advantage of the situation to advise, persuading Xiang Kang to send more eloquent people to the surrounding townships and pavilions to persuade the local people to join the army, and further expand the strength of the young marshal army, Xiang Kang nodded in agreement, and then when arranging this work, Xiang Kang inadvertently noticed that the largest township in Yongqiu County was called Gaoyang, and said casually: " It turns out that Gaoyang is in Yongqiu, I heard that the wine in this place is particularly famous, Uncle Ya, when you are purchasing military supplies, pay attention to buying more wine in Gaoyang, and when you treat the army in the future, let our soldiers have good wine to drink. ”

"Gaoyang's wine is particularly famous?" Zhou Zeng heard it for a while, and hurriedly said: "Young marshal, when I checked the Yongqiu County Dictionary before, the county dictionary didn't mention that Gaoyang produces good wine?" ”

"Am I mistaken?" Xiang Kang was also a little surprised, and said: "I seem to have heard of the term Gaoyang drunkard, which means that Gaoyang produces good wine, and the locals are often drunk, and there are many alcoholics." ”

"Gaoyang drunkard? How come I haven't heard of this term? The more Zhou Zeng listened, the more confused he became, and Chen Ping next to him was also inexplicable, saying that although his hometown Yangwu was not far from Gaoyang, Yongqiu, he had never heard of the term Gaoyang drunkard, and Xiang Kang, who had a sparse history, also said that he confused the dynasty, so he casually found an excuse to prevaricate the past, and did not dwell on this matter anymore, and quickly forgot about this matter.

Leaving Zheng Bu to lead the army to guard Yongqiu, presiding over the work of recruiting and expanding the army for himself, a day later, Xiang Kang led the main force of the young marshal army to the city of Chen Liucheng not far away, and the result was that Xiang Kang was very satisfied that Feng Zhong, who was ordered to be restrained by the police here, completed the work very well, and directly arranged the camp on the south bank of the valley in the northeast of Chen Liucheng, and built a number of temporary bridges on the river, showing the posture behind the Qin army that could cross the river to the north at any time, forcing the main force of the Qin army led by Zhang Han to deploy heavy troops on the southern front. It was impossible to deal with the Wei army retreating from the city of Linji, as well as the Qi army that was rapidly approaching Linji.

Next is the main event, when the young marshal army was summoned to discuss how to rescue Linji with Yingbu and Lu Chen, according to Xiang Kang's prior arrangement, Wu She, a famous scholar from Xutai who was used by Xiang Kang as a scribe, stood up and admonished, and proposed: "Young marshal, in my opinion, although our army has the help of the Wei Qi army, the overall strength is still at a disadvantage in the face of the main force of the violent Qin, and it is still difficult to lift the siege of Linji. Therefore, in the next opinion, in addition to sending troops directly from Chenliu to the north to reinforce Linji, our army should send another army to attack Yangwu with a small road, cut off the galloping connection between the main force of the tyrannical Qin and Aocang, and make the tyrannical Qin army difficult to take care of. In this way, our army will be more certain to rescue Linji. ”

Pretending to study it in front of the map sand table, Xiang Kang nodded and said: "Yes, this plan is feasible, with us and the Qi army attacking from the north and south, frontal containment, and the Wei army acting as an internal response, threatening the main force of the tyrannical Qin from behind, Zhang Handpifu will never dare to divide his troops back to aid Yangwu, our army will not have much resistance to attack Yangwu, and the certainty of success must be great." ”

After that, Xiang Kang turned to Yingbu and Lü Chen again, and said: "General Yingbu, General Lü Chen, otherwise, bother the two of you to continue to serve as the vanguard, go north directly from Chen Liu to Linji, attack the main force of the southern front of the tyrannical Qin army head-on, and cooperate with Wei Qi's friendly army to contain them, and our army's Feng Zhong department will act as a backup for you, and our army will also attack Yangwu, what do you think?" ”

Before Xiang Kang's words were finished, Yingbu and Lu Chen's faces couldn't help but turn a little pale, and then Xiang Kang had just finished speaking, and Lu Chen immediately said: "Young marshal, it's not that we shirk it, it's that we may not be able to shoulder this heavy burden, with our little strength, how sure can we compete head-on with the main force of the Tyrannical Qin army?" ”

"Young marshal, we are not afraid of losing the battle, but we are afraid of missing the big event of your attack on Yangwu." Yingbu, a famous general at the end of Qin, also rarely took the initiative to be a turtle with a shrunken head, and like Lu Chen, he hurriedly found an excuse to prevaricate.

"Why are the two generals so modest?" Xiang Kang deliberately pretended to be a little unhappy, and said: "General Yingbu, you have more than 7,000 troops, and General Lu, your strength is directly more than 10,000 people, with a total strength of more than 18,000, why do General Feng Zhong's 12,000 troops dare to directly attack Chen Liu, and confront the main force of the Tyrannical Qin, your army is more numerous, and our army is used as a backup, and you don't dare to go north to attack the southern line of the Tyrannical Qin army?" (Note: Feng Zhong's general, Chen Ying, led an army to sweep other remote cities in Dangjun, so Feng Zhong's forces declined.) ）

Yingbu and Lu Chen were speechless, but they still didn't dare to open their mouths to agree to accept this extremely dangerous mission, but fortunately, Xiang Kang's right-hand man Zhou Zeng spoke in time and said with a pleasant face: "Young Marshal, since General Yingbu and General Lu Chen don't have this confidence, why don't you change it and let them take charge of the attack on Yangwu?" ”

"No, it's more dangerous to attack Yangwu, and this heavy task can only be undertaken by our elite army." Xiang Kang refused, completely forgetting that he had just said that it was not difficult to attack Yangwu.

"Young Marshal, let's let General Yingbu and General Lu Chen go." Probably because he was not used to seeing Xiang Kang's bullying and oppression of friendly troops, Zhou Zeng said: "Since the beginning of our army, we have always been fighting steadily and steadily under the condition of relying on the rear, and we are not used to long-distance attacks on enemy cities. ”

Zhou Zeng said that at this point, Yingbu and Lu Chen, who didn't dare to go to Zhang Han's front, of course got off the donkey, and hurriedly bowed their hands together and said: "Young marshal, what Zhou Saijiu said is extremely true, what we are best at is to break away from the rear and attack the enemy city for a long time, so please leave the task of fighting Yangwu to cut off the grain route of the tyrannical Qin army." ”

After glaring at Zhou Zeng fiercely, Xiang Kang still didn't want to agree to Yingbu and Lu Chen's volunteering, but he couldn't resist Yingbu and Lu Chen's repeated requests, as well as Zhou Zeng's roundabout reminder to focus on unity, Xiang Kang reluctantly agreed to let the Yinglu coalition army attack Yangwu, and then Xiang Kang said: "Since the two generals insist on attacking Yangwu, then I am not reluctant, but please remember that this attack on Yangwu is very important, and only success is allowed, not failure." Also, in addition to taking Yangwu, the two generals also want to destroy the Chidao of the Tyrannical Qin army as much as possible, and it is best to dig up the Jishui Dam and divert water to flood the Chidao, so that the Tyrannical Qin army cannot transport grain through the Chidao. ”

Seeing that Xiang Kang finally changed his words, and no longer forced his army to go north to fight hard with Zhang Han, Yingbu and Lu Chen, who just wanted to take advantage and didn't want to suffer a big loss, of course they were relieved, and immediately hugged their fists to take the order, and then under Xiang Kang's urging, they took their army to cross the chasm westward on the same day, and took the winding road to attack Yangwu County, which was tightly choking the grain road of the Qin army.

The surprise soldiers to attack Yangwu was actually Chen Ping's idea to Xiang Kang, and the reason why Chen Ping made this suggestion, in addition to being loyal to his duty and doing his best to share the pressure for the old lord Wei, another important factor is that this plan is indeed feasible, Yangwu had been occupied by the Wei army before, and almost all the adult males were taken away by the Wei army, Zhang Han used soldiers and liked to concentrate superior forces to fight, there were not many troops left behind in Yangwu, and it was indeed very sure to attack Yangwu, plus the main force of the Qi army arrived in time, together with the main force of the young marshal army, Joining forces distracted most of Zhang Han's energy. Therefore, when Yingbu and Lu Chen took a small road to attack Yangwu, they were not hindered by any decent obstacles along the way, and it only took more than a day to rush to the bottom of Yangwu City, forcing the Yangwu defenders to quickly close the city to protect themselves, and at the same time hurriedly told Zhang Han and Li You, the county guard of Sanchuan County of the Qin army.

Uncle can bear it, and aunt can't bear it either! Originally, because he was deceived and misled by the long-distance attack of the young marshal's partial division, Zhang Han missed the opportunity to break Wei Qi, Xiang Kang and Tian Dan, Zhang Han was already full of fire, and now Yingbu and Lu Chen, the two defeated generals, dared to attack Yangwu and cut off the grain route of the Qin army, Zhang Han is temper is no matter how good his temper is, he will inevitably be angry, and he roared angrily at the case: "Yingbu Pifu, Lu Chen's dog thief, you are so bold!" Didn't you beat you up last time in Chen County, and now you dare to attack the general's grain road, I don't know how to write dead words?! ”

"General, you must save Yang Wu first." Sima Xin also said: "If Yangwu is lost, our army's food and grass will be cut off, and Wei Qi, Tian Dan and Xiang Kang, these rebels, will take the opportunity to attack again, we will inevitably have big trouble, only by saving Yangwu first and protecting our grain road, can we calmly deal with other thief armies." ”

Zhang Han was silent, and after thinking about it for a long time, Zhang Han made up his mind and shouted: "Dong Peng, I will give you 30,000 troops, and immediately return to the division to rescue Yangwu!" Then give Li You an order, let him also lead the 30,000 horses of his headquarters from Xingyang to the west, and join forces with you to flank the thief army of Yingbu and Lu Chen, and be sure to win! ”

Deputy Dong Fei agreed loudly, but Zhang Han added: "Also, after defeating the Yinglu thief army, your army will immediately return to Linji, and Li You will be responsible for chasing and killing the Yinglu thief army!" Tell Li You that after the defeat of the Yinglu thief army, he will inevitably flee back to Chenliu to join Xiang Kang's rebels, and tell Li You to chase and kill Chenliu, confront Xiang Kang's rebels across the chasm, and contain the main force of Xiang Kang's rebels for me, and buy me time to break Tian Dan and Wei Blame's rebels! ”

"General, is it too much pressure for him to let Li Junshou be in charge of containing the main force of Xiang Kang's rebels?" Sima Xin raised an objection and said: "Xiang Kang is a traitor and treacherous, scheming, especially good at winning by surprise, Chen Liu is too far away from Linji, if he has any mistakes, it will be difficult for us to rescue in time." ”

"Don't worry, Li You is a cautious person, and he can resist Xiang Kang's traitor." Zhang Han was very confident in Li You, and said: "In the order given to him, I will also remind him to be careful with his troops, not to take risks to win, as long as he temporarily restrains the main force of Xiang Kang's rebels for me, and when I clean up the two traitors Tian Dan and Wei Qi, I will immediately go south to help him clean up Xiang Kang's rebels!" ”

…………

Of course, it is not for nothing that Zhang Han, the last famous general of the Great Qin Dynasty, trusts Li You, the commander of Sanchuan County, so much, because Li You is not only the eldest son of Li Si, the prime minister of the Great Qin Dynasty, but also definitely the most competitive second generation of officials in the Great Qin Dynasty! When Zhang Chu's army marched westward before, the Qin army along the way either fled or was quickly crushed by Zhang Chu's army because of lack of preparation, only Li You stepped forward and organized the army and people to defend Xingyang, blocking the hundreds of thousands of Zhang Chu's army led by Wu Guang himself, which won valuable time for the Qin court, and at the same time forced Zhang Chu's army to divide its troops to the west, creating an opportunity for Zhang Han to break Zhang Chu's army, and successfully persevered until Zhang Han's army arrived in Xingyang to relieve the siege of Xingyang. Basically, it can be said that if there is no Li You, Zhang Chu's army is likely to successfully take Guanzhong and destroy the Qin Dynasty before Zhang Han forms a prisoner army.

At the same time, Li You is still a very loyal person, just received the news that Yingbu and Lu Chen rushed to attack Yangwu, Li You immediately began to prepare for the affairs of the army, but with the heavy responsibility of guarding the two important places of Xingyang and Boiling, Li You did not dare to rashly launch a counterattack. After receiving Zhang Han's order to send troops, Li You did not hesitate, and personally led the army eastward on the same day, and killed Xiang Yangwu with Dong Fei on the left and right.

And then it was exactly the same as Chen Ping's expectations, although Yingbu and Lü Chen successfully rushed to the city of Yangwu, forcing Zhang Han to continue to delay the schedule of the strong attack on Linji, and was forced to return to the division to rescue Yangwu, but when the Qin army launched a counterattack from the east and west directions at the same time, Yingbu and Lü Chen immediately couldn't parry, first on the eastern front by Dong Fei to find teeth, and then on the western front was trampled on the ground by Li You, only supported for more than a day before the whole line collapsed, and was forced to flee back to Chenliu with the remnants of the defeated generals. Lose cleanly, thoroughly.

Then, according to Zhang Han's pre-war arrangement, Dong Peng, who successfully protected the grain road, immediately returned to Linji to help Zhang Han deal with Wei Qi and Tian Dan, while Zhang Han was responsible for leading the army to chase and kill, and also provoked the burden of temporarily containing the main force of the young marshal's army for Zhang Han. As a result, when they broke up, out of comradeship, even though they knew that Li You was cautious and never took risks, Dong Fei still kindly reminded: "Li Junshou, be careful, you just need to temporarily contain Xiang Kang's rebels for us, don't risk a decisive battle." Xiang Kang's traitor is really too treacherous, our 50,000 partial divisions were almost wiped out by his weak troops, and now the strength of his thief army has increased again, you are under a lot of pressure, and you must not take risks easily. ”

"General Dong, don't worry, I will definitely be careful." Li You's demeanor was as calm and calm as ever, and said: "Please return to General Zhang Han, so that he doesn't have to worry about me, no matter what conspiracy and tricks Xiang Kang's traitor uses, I will definitely not fall for him, and I will definitely be able to persist until you defeat Wei Qi and Tian Dan, and return to the division to fight Xiang Kang's traitor with me." ”

Li You's words were very confident, but if Li You knew what kind of person Xiang Kang was, he might not be so confident. As soon as he received the news that Li You led the army to kill Ben Chenliu, Xiang Kang not only immediately saw through Zhang Han's tactical intentions, but also knew that Zhang Han wanted to use Li You to temporarily entangle himself and give him priority to clean up Wei Qi and Tian Dan to buy time, but also immediately asked Chen Ping, who was the same as him: "Mr. Chen Ping, Li You is chasing after the defeated troops of Yingbu and Lu Chen, and it is likely that he wants to temporarily entangle our main force for Zhang Han, if this is the case, how should we deal with it?" ”

"Back to the young marshal, Zhang Han has no time to take care of the southern front for the time being, our troops are slightly better than Li You, and at the same time, Li You's soldiers and horses are ordinary county soldiers in Sanchuan County, and their combat effectiveness is not as good as Zhang Han's main force of tyrannical Qin, of course we should seize this opportunity to severely damage Li You, completely disrupt Zhang Han's deployment, and make it more difficult for him to break through Linji and repel Tian Dan." Chen Ping replied.

"But since Li You is here to contain us, he must adopt a steady strategy." Xiang Kang asked again: "If Li You insists on not fighting, what can we do?" ”

"Simple." Chen Ping smiled and replied with a relaxed expression: "Li You doesn't fight, we try to make him fight, isn't it?" ”