After successfully basically annihilating the main force of Liu Laosan's Nanyang Army, even if it had not had time to take Nanjun and the remaining cities of Nanyang, the Han army had actually added an important weight to the victory balance of the Chu-Han War, and also made the strategic situation of the Chu-Han War more favorable to the Han army.

On the northern front, the coalition army of the three kings of Dai Jin and Zhai, which had firmly stood on the side of the Western Chu army, had already been swept out by the Han army, and the Zhao State, which was riding the wall to watch the wind and the Han army, had also dug up the ancestral grave by the two major corps of the Han army, and the northern line corps of the Western Chu army was wiped out.

Immediately afterwards, when the Han army's important minister Li Shiqi successfully persuaded Yan to abandon Chu and join the Han army, the Western Chu army had no power to return to heaven on the northern front, not to mention the counterattack on Zhao Di to kill the Han army's northern line corps, that is, whether it could keep the two client states of Qi and Jibei, which had become a big problem difficult to solve.

The same is true in the middle road, Xiang Yu and others definitely never dreamed in advance that the Cao Zhi Corps of the Western Chu Army, which they had placed great hopes on, would be defeated and severely damaged by the Han army so quickly, and Puyang Jiancheng, which was helpless even Xiang Liang back then, would also be taken by the Han army so quickly and easily, resulting in the Western Chu army being forced to retreat to the line of Dingtao and Jishui in the middle road, and if it were not for the Han army that had no plan for a strategic counteroffensive for the time being, the hinterland of Western Chu would have been open and in an emergency.

Xiang Yu really should definitely regret his strategy of first north and then south, and resented Liu Laosan for fleeing south privately on the Cheyuanting battlefield, giving priority to his own interests, and not giving Liu Laosan the greatest help, resulting in his most promising southern front battlefield not being able to establish a decisive advantage as soon as possible, giving the Han army the opportunity to quickly reverse the passive situation on the southern front, and also causing the Nanyang army, which was originally the most promising to form a huge threat to the Han army, to be quickly defeated, and the main army was almost wiped out.

Just imagine, if Xiang Yu had been able to send some more reinforcements to Liu Laosan, help Liu Laosan kill Yingbu as soon as possible, take Nanjun and Changsha County, and defend the main attack on the southern front on the northern front, then how beneficial would the development of the situation be to the Western Chu army? After quickly annexing the territory of Yingbu, Liu Laosan will definitely turn back immediately, both public and private, and go all out to attack the Han army's Sanchuan key place, and the Han army will definitely have to shrink its forces in the middle to create a counterattack opportunity for the Western Chu army in the middle, and even if Xiang Yu loses the Zhao State, as long as the Northern Front Corps of the Western Chu Army and the Qiji Allied Army can stabilize their positions and contain the Northern Front Corps of the Han Army, the strategic situation will still only be beneficial to the Western Chu Army, and it will definitely not be so passive.

Xiang Yu's wrong choice gave the Han army the opportunity to completely reverse the strategic situation, taking advantage of the opportunity that the Western Chu Army seriously did not pay enough attention to the southern front, and also taking advantage of the opportunity that Liu Laosan was forced to let the Nanyang Army fight on two fronts for the sake of the overall situation. Then there is no longer any question of whether the Western Chu army will come to fight the Han army, only the question of how the Han army will fight the Western Chu army to the death.

Without the ability of an unpredictable prophet, Xiang Yu certainly didn't know whether he had taken a bad move in choosing the strategy of first north and then south, and at the same time, limited by the road traffic and information transmission technology of this era, or when he took the main force of the Western Chu Army westward to the vicinity of Zhaoling, which bordered Chen County and Yingchuan, Xiang Yu received accurate news, knowing that not only Yexian County, which the Nanyang Army had decided to defend with all its might, had already been taken by the Han army, but even Wancheng, the capital of Nanyang State, had been taken by the Han army!

"How is that possible? What do Liu Jipifu and Li Ji eat? When they sent people to this king, didn't they say that they would wait for rescue in Ye County? It's only been a few days, and even Wancheng has been lost? How did Liu Jipifu and Liji fight this battle?! ”

Hearing this news, Xiang Yu, whose temper has never changed, of course yelled, so angry that he almost tore up the Western Chu army that came to report the news, and then, Xiang Yu also ignored the persuasion of the military strategist Kuaiche who escaped from the Puyang battlefield by luck, and categorically refused to find out the situation before making a decision, insisting on rushing to Zhaoling with the army, directly crossing the border of Chen County, and entering the territory of Yingchuan County, which had changed hands several times.

In order to vent his anger, even in this era, Yuncheng Xiaoyi, which is not even a county seat, immediately opened the city and surrendered, Xiang Yu still issued a thunderous order to slaughter the city, and the soldiers of the Western Chu army happily rushed into the city to kill and rob, and soon turned the Yuncheng Xiaoyi into a hell on earth, and none of the men, women and children in the city escaped for their lives, and the Yuncheng soldiers who were forced to change the banner of the Han army were also buried alive by the Western Chu army. - Don't exaggerate, Xiang Yu has always done this.

No matter how much you vent your bestiality, it was useless, and soon, Xiang Yu received accurate news again, knowing that the scum cousin Xiang Kang had returned to Ye County with the main force of the Han army, Xiang Yu was furious and didn't think about it, and immediately decided to continue to lead the army westward and go to Ye County to find his scum cousin to fight to the death!

This time, don't say it's Kui Che, even Master Xiang Boxiang and Xiang Zhuang, Ji Bu and others stopped doing it, they all pulled Xiang Yu to death, and said: "King, calm down, please calm down!" We don't have much food and grass with the army, and the road from Chen County to Ye County is too long and remote, so it is very inconvenient to transport grain, after arriving in Ye County, Xiang Kang's traitor doesn't have to fight with us, as long as he can't defend the camp and can't get out, he can easily consume us to death! Now that we have suffered heavy losses and suffered a great loss of vitality, the last main force, no matter what, can no longer have any mistakes! ”

Xiang Yu didn't want to listen to it at first, but Xiang Zhuang, Kuaiche and Ji Bu and others didn't give an inch, in order to make Xiang Yu change his mind, they didn't hesitate to kneel in front of Xiang Yu and beg bitterly, plus Xiang Boxiang Master Xiang also objected to going to Ye County again to take risks in vain this time, Xiang Yu also calmed down for the first time and reconsidered the consequences of sending troops to Ye County.

Xiang Yu's military mind has never been bad, after calming down, he naturally found that he was angry and continued to march into Ye County, which would definitely not play any role, on the contrary, there would be the danger of cutting off food and grass - the scum cousin would definitely not fight with himself, he would defend the camp and the city, and the terrain of Ye County was easy to defend and difficult to attack, so it would definitely be difficult for him to take Ye County, and the degree of development along the way from Chen County to Ye County was not high, the population was sparse, the food was even less pitiful, and the road was narrow and difficult to walk. It is destined to be difficult to organize a large number of grain teams to transport grain, grass and military supplies to the front line, and even if he insists on reaching Ye County, he will almost certainly have to run in vain.

Considering these objective situations that were extremely unfavorable to him, Xiang Yu could only vent his anger on the case table in front of him, and after kicking the case table into the air, he reluctantly withdrew the order to continue marching, and then scolded Liu Laosan and Li Ji for their incompetence, and they were able to lose so quickly and escape so far. Kui Che suggested again: "King, no matter how fast the Han thieves progress, they will never be able to take the whole county of Nanyang and the south of Nanjun so quickly, if nothing else, General Liji and the king of Nanyang should still hold on to somewhere in the south, we had better send more details to the area of Yexian to inquire about the news, and it is not too late to make a decision after figuring out the situation of our army." ”

Xiang Yu reluctantly agreed to Kui Che's suggestion, and then relying on the careful efforts of the Western Chu army, the Western Chu army also quickly found out the more reliable news, knowing that the southern line of the Western Chu army fled to Nanjun with little losses, and also found out the amazing news that Liu Laosan dedicated all the land and cities to the Western Chu army.

There is no warlord who is not greedy for land and cities, this news of course also surprised Xiang Yu, and what surprised Xiang Yu even more was that the next day, the remnants of Liu Laosan, who went north from the central part of Chen County, also rushed to the vicinity of Yuncheng to meet the main force of the Western Chu army, and at the same time, Liu Laosan also sent Sui He as a messenger to come to Xiang Yu first, explain the situation to Xiang Yu and present a letter written by Li Ji to Xiang Yu.

figured out what happened, and learned that Liu Laosan really dedicated the remaining land and city of the Nanyang Army to the army, and under the mixture of joy and anger, Xiang Yu did not blame Liu Laosan too much, but just promised to meet Liu Laosan first before talking about other things, but what Xiang Yu didn't know was that Sui He did not immediately go back to inform Liu Laosan to come to see Xiang Yu immediately, but first ran to the military tent of Master Xiang Boxiang, an important minister of the Western Chu Army, and then went back to inform Liu Laosan that he could come to meet Xiang Yu.

Then of course, it was the moment when Liu Laosan played his acting skills, after meeting Xiang Yu, before Xiang Yu, who was in a complicated mood, opened his mouth to scold, Liu Laosan had already taken the initiative to bow down in front of Xiang Yu, who was twenty years younger than him, and cried with a handful of snot and tears. also accept the remnants of his own defeated army.

Xiang Bo, who had already met with Sui He secretly, of course, tried his best to say good things to Liu Laosan, and repeatedly pointed out that Liu Laosan's inability to defeat the Han army was not because the Nanyang army was incompetent, but because the disparity in strength was too far, and there was no way to block the Han army's secret weapon, the new trebuchet, so it led to the current situation. At the same time, Master Xiang also vigorously praised the benevolence and righteousness of the Nanyang Army in Yexian and Wancheng twice for the Western Chu Army, as well as Liu Laosan's initiative to donate the land and the city, and urged Xiang Yu to treat Liu Laosan well and set a glorious example for the princes of the world, so that Xiang Yu could dominate the world in the future and establish a foundation that was not easy for all generations.

Stick tiger chicken, Liu Laosan has a way to deal with Master Xiang Boxiang, Master Xiang also has a way to deal with Xiang Yu, during the Hongmen banquet in history, Master Xiang Boxiang was able to withstand the pressure of Old Man Fan, and persuaded Xiang Yu to let Liu Laosan live, not to mention the current situation. So after thinking about it, Xiang Yu not only agreed to take in Liu Laosan, re-named Liu Laosan as Pei Gong, the right Sima of the Western Chu Army, but also supplemented Liu Laosan with 4,000 troops, and let Liu Laosan follow him to fight.

It must be explained that in this era, it is very common for the princes to replenish the army to the warlords who defected to themselves, and in history, Xiang Liang gave Liu Laosan 5,000 troops to help Liu Laosan recapture Fengyi, and later Liu Laosan also sent troops to Yingbu, Peng Yue and Han Wangxin and others, in addition to using the influence of these warlords, and then there is to encourage other warlords to surrender to themselves and accept their own commands.

Although he was not very happy, but for the sake of Liu Laosan taking the initiative to give him so much territory, Xiang Yu still asked people to set up a banquet and entertain Liu Laosan and several of his henchmen, but when he saw that Han Xin also came to the banquet under the leadership of Liu Laosan, Xiang Yu, who was very impressed by Han Xin, couldn't help but sneer: "Huh? Isn't this the king's original halberd? That's right, I heard that after you broke away from this king, you were worshiped as a general by the king of Nanyang, what a scenery! ”

Hearing this, Han Xin, who was not good at communicating, was of course embarrassed and embarrassed, but Liu Laosan, who was next to him, immediately smiled and said: "King, this is also a matter of course, the Langzhong guard under your command, which one is not a general?" Your Majesty has forgotten to thank you, if it wasn't for Kai's grace to give General Han Xin to Your Subordinates, where would Your Majesty have an arm to rely on? Your Majesty is brave, and I want to ask the king to pick a few more from the guards and send them to your subordinates, so as to help your subordinates better lead the army, charge into battle for you, and kill the enemy for meritorious service. ”

Thinking that Liu Laosan's sycophants slapped himself very comfortably, Xiang Yu laughed, still waved his hand to let Han Xin sit down, and did not mention the past again, Liu Laosan, who was good at communication, was a lotus with a bright tongue, desperately touting Xiang Yu and the Xichu Wenwu present, and soon coaxed Xiang Yu and most of the Xichu Wenwu to be happy, and had a good impression of Liu Laosan.

However, the topic quickly turned to the topic, after carefully learning about the actual situation in southern Nanyang and Nanjun from Liu Laosan, Xiang Yu quickly reborn the idea of continuing to march into the army, and said: "In this way, even if Liji withdraws from Hanshui, it will definitely be difficult to keep the city land in the south of Nanyang, should this king continue to march into Nanyang and completely recapture the whole county of Nanyang?" ”

"King, the road is long, and it is difficult to guarantee food and grass." Kui Che cautiously reminded: "Also, the main force of Xiang Kang's traitors is close at hand, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to do this." ”

"This king still needs to be afraid of him Xiang Kang traitor?" Xiang Yu said proudly: "As long as he dares to leave the camp and fight a decisive battle, within one day, this king will kill his thief army cleanly!" As for the grain and grass, Nanyang has just been harvested in autumn, as long as we take down a random city, the looted grain and grass is enough for us to use for more than a month! ”

"But what about our rear, Great King?" Kuaiche reluctantly continued to remind: "The hinterland of Nanyang is far away from our Western Chu territory, if our main force penetrates deep into the hinterland of Nanyang, and the Han thieves take the opportunity to march into our Western Chu hinterland, then won't we lose a big loss because of a small one?" ”

Xiang Yu closed his mouth helplessly, because now Xiang Yu really can't take out a mobile army to defend his rear hinterland, desperate to enter Nanyang, even if he can rely on looting to supplement grain and grass, the Han army took the opportunity to enter the hinterland of the Western Chu Army, and in the end, the Western Chu Army still outweighed the losses - exchanging a Nanyang County for the rear of the Western Chu Army, such a cost-effective deal Xiang Kang would of course never refuse.

Seeing that Xiang Yu had been moved, Kuai Che hurriedly said: "King, the only way to do this is to let General Liji rely on the Han Water to contain the Han thieves' southern expeditionary army, and the main force will withdraw and return to the mainland as soon as possible, establish a defensive line to prevent the Han thieves from taking the opportunity to enter our hinterland, appease the head of Qian, reorganize the internal affairs, accumulate grass and grain to expand the army, and then find the Han thieves to take revenge." ”

Kui Che's words are actually Old Man Fan's idea, long before Xiang Yu led the army to the west, Old Man Fan had already reminded Xiang Yu, saying that if you really can't keep Nanyang, don't be reluctant, it's best to retreat and return to the mainland as soon as possible, and then restore the people's livelihood and reorganize the internal affairs, and after re-expanding the army, it is the best policy to find revenge from the Han army. Although Xiang Yu was full of confidence in his rescue of Nanyang, he also remembered this reminder from Old Man Fan to some extent, so now when Kui Che also persuaded him, Xiang Yu was inevitably a little shaken.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty thinks you can't withdraw!"

The voice of opposition suddenly sounded, and Han Xin, who was sitting below Liu Laosan, suddenly spoke, and said to Xiang Yu: "Great King, retreat to the hinterland of Western Chu now, although it can win us time to reorganize the army and stabilize the rear, but in this way, not only will General Liji not be able to hold the Hanshui Heavenly Danger, but the Qidi battlefield will also be in jeopardy. ”

Kuaiche looked at Han Xin in surprise, but Han Xin remained silent, and said to Xiang Yu: "The reason is also very simple, if our army retreats now and turns from attack to defense now, then the Han thieves only need to arrange a main force in the middle of Puyang, which is enough to make it difficult for our main force to move. King, you will be in danger of being surrounded by thieves on three sides. ”

After saying that, Han Xin also turned to Kui Che again and said, "Doctor Kuai, do you say this is the truth? We retreat at this time, the thieves only need to station a main force in the middle of Puyang, which can make it difficult for our main force to move, and then the thieves take the opportunity to march into the land in a big way, do we save or not, and how to save it? ”

Kuaicher was silent, nodded for a while, and said, "What General Han said is extremely true, this is the truth. In General Han's opinion, what should we do? ”

"Replace defense with offense, and force the Han thieves to shrink their forces." Han Xin said in a deep voice: "Buy time for the king's Qidi army to recover, buy time for General Liji in Nanjun, and buy time for the expansion of the army in the rear of the king to restore the people's livelihood." ”

"How do you replace defense with offense?" Kui Che hurriedly asked.

"Go northwest and enter the hinterland of Yingchuan!" Han Xin pointed to the northwest and said: "There are many cities in the hinterland of Yingchuan, densely populated, although there have been repeated wars, but the foundation of Yingchuan is placed there, there is still still room to dig, and now the autumn harvest has just ended, the cities of Yingchuan have enough grain and grass, and it is very easy to supply grain and grass, and we can not only get a large number of grain and grass and soldiers, but also threaten and even cut off the connection between Xiang Kang's traitors and his Guanzhong rear!" ”

"In this way, if Xiang Kang traitors want to keep Yingchuan, there are only two ways, one is to take the risk of a decisive battle with our main force, and the other is to shrink the strength of the troops, and transfer his troops from all over the country to aid Yingchuan, so as to win the advantage of troops with more battles and less, as long as he does this, our troops on the north and south lines can win a chance to breathe and gain a foothold, and in addition, our rear of Western Chu can also take the opportunity to restore the people's livelihood and expand the army."

Before Han Xin's words were finished, Xiang Yu, who liked to fight, had already clapped his hands and said loudly: "Good idea, this king likes this method, entering Yingchuan, not only can you get a lot of money, food and soldiers, but also force Xiang Kang, that traitor, to fight a decisive battle with this king, as long as he has the courage to dare to fight with this king, this king will keep him to know how to write dead words!" ”

Kui Che's eyes also lit up, and he hurriedly said, "Why didn't I think of this solution?" The king, this plan is very good, entering the hinterland of Yingchuan to attack instead of defending, it is indeed our current superior plan, not only can we get a large amount of money, food, and soldiers, but also force the Han thieves to shrink their forces, and win a respite for our other battlefields! And even if the Han thieves surround Wei to rescue Zhao and march into the hinterland of our rear in a big way, we don't have to worry, returning to our rear from Yingchuan is far faster than returning to our rear from Nanyang, even if there is a change in the rear, we can withdraw much more easily and quickly! ”

was originally the number one militant in the world at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, and after listening to the words of Han Xin and Kuaiche, he felt reasonable, and at the same time, this idea was extremely appetizing to himself, after hearing this, Xiang Yu of course did not hesitate, and immediately slapped the table in front of him, shaking the bowls, chopsticks and wine flying wildly, and roared: "Okay! That's it! Enter the hinterland of Yingchuan! You say, hit there first? ”

"Xiangcheng!" Han Xin coldly said the name of the city that once made him feel pain to the bone, and said: "Xiangcheng tightly chokes the water and land connection between Ye County and Sanchuan, as long as it is taken, the connection between the Han thieves and the rear will immediately become extremely difficult, Xiang Kang traitor is afraid that his contact with the Han thieves from all walks of life will be completely cut off by us, in addition to risking back to rescue Xiangcheng, he can only shrink his forces and concentrate the army to fight a decisive battle with us." ”

"Brilliant plan! Just hit Xiangcheng! Xiang Yu agreed without hesitation, and complained to Han Xin: "I said that you are a vertical son, why didn't you give such a good idea to this king when you were under the account of this king before?" If you had behaved like this earlier, how could this king have always let you serve as the halberd? ”

"Did I give you fewer good ideas back then? Have you heard of it once? Han Xin complained, and said in his heart: "Xiang Kang traitor, don't be too happy, I couldn't win you before, because our strength is too different from yours, and now the overlord of Western Chu that you can't beat is here, I think what else can you do?" ”