On the side of the main force of the Chu army, it is a pity that the main force of the Chu army and the anti-Qin coalition army failed to seize the opportunity to catch up with the enemy before the main force of the Qin army crossed the Huanshui River in the south, and missed the opportunity to severely damage the main force of the Qin army again, not to mention, it was temporarily blocked by the main force of the Qin army on the north bank of Huanshui, unable to form a direct threat to the main force of the Qin army.

After paying a heavy price to withdraw from Zhangshui, Zhang Han learned a lesson, and decisively let the main force of the Qin army abandon most of the unnecessary military supplies and retreat with light equipment, and let the Great Wall Corps, which suffered heavy losses in Zhangshui, go first, and personally lead the people and horses of the headquarters as the queen of the whole army, which greatly stabilized the morale of the main force of the Qin army. It only took a little more than a day to retreat from Zhangshui all the way south to Huanshui.

Contrary to the main force of the Qin army that fled decisively, the main force of the Chu army carried forward Xiang Yu's noble style of liking to cut the grass without eradicating the roots, first allied with the princes on the Zhangshui battlefield, wasted a lot of time, and then launched a pursuit, and when the vanguard of the Chu army led by Yingbu and Chai Wu caught up with the Qin army, the Qin army led by Zhang Han himself had basically withdrawn from Huanshui, and Yingbu and Chai Wubing did not dare to risk crossing the river, so they could only watch the main force of the Qin army calmly destroy the Huanshui bridge. With the help of the Huanshui natural danger, the main force of the Chu army was temporarily blocked from crossing the river.

However, the main force of the Qin army has only temporarily escaped a catastrophe, and it is still unknown whether it can get rid of the pursuit of the princes' coalition forces, for no other reason, the Yellow River Caoyun has been cut off by the main force of Xiang Kang and the young marshal's army, once the time is delayed for a long time, and when the grain and grass hoarded in the Thorn Plains are used up, the main force of the Qin army will definitely be consumed alive, so if the main force of the Qin army wants to escape, it must retreat to a safe position west of Puyang as soon as possible to get food, so as to truly turn the crisis into safety.

The situation is more severe than Zhang Han and Wang Li's estimates, or after retreating to the Thorn Plain, Zhang Han and Wang Li found through statistics that the main force of the Qin army lost nearly 50,000 troops in the battle of Zhangshui, and the losses were extremely heavy, and at the same time, the upper reaches of the Yellow River also came one after another bad news, the mobile force Dong Kansuo was defeated by the young marshal's army, and the Su Tuo department who ventured to take the road on the south bank to save Puyang was also Xiang Kangyin, not only completely lost the hope of counterattacking Puyang, but also even temporarily contained the opportunity to temporarily contain the hungry wolf of the young marshal's army. The main force of the Qin army retreated to the west, and it was also likely to be blocked and intercepted by the young marshal's army.

In addition, the main force of the Chu army and the great threat of the princes' coalition army can not get rid of it, the second day after the main force of the Qin army withdrew to the Thorn Plain, the main force of the Chu army and the princes' coalition army successively pursued to the north bank of Huanshui, and the result was that the preliminary exploration statistics of the scouts alone made Zhang Han's heart tremble, not only more than 50,000 main forces of the Chu army chased after them, but the other anti-Qin divisions on the Julu battlefield were almost out, and the soldiers and horses of all roads were added together with 160,000 people, and the total strength directly broke through the 200,000 mark, and the strength was enough to compete with the Qin army head-on.

After a preliminary understanding of the enemy's military situation, Zhang Han convened a meeting of the generals of the Qin army to discuss the next tactical plan, and the result was quite surprising to Zhang Han that although many Qin generals agreed to withdraw west as soon as possible to obtain food, there were still some Qin generals who advocated launching a head-on decisive battle with the anti-Qin coalition forces, first striving to temporarily retreat the anti-Qin coalition forces, and then calmly retreat to the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

Wang Li's two important deputies, Su Jiao and Shejian, both agreed with the decisive battle, in which Su Jiao also pointed out to Zhang Han: "General, the reason why our army suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Zhangshui was entirely because the army was in a hurry to retreat and the army was flustered, and there was no firm determination to fight the thief army head-on, which gave the thief army the opportunity to attack us halfway. Only by exerting all our strength to boost morale and morale of the army, and defeat the thief army head-on, will we be able to retreat safely. ”

"That's right, we still have a total strength of 300,000 people, and we still have an advantage in strength!" Shima also shouted: "As long as we unite as one, motivate the soldiers to fight bravely, and fight the thief army head-on, we may not have a chance to turn defeat into victory and defeat the main force of the thief army head-on." ”

Zhang Han pondered and remained silent, and only after a while turned his gaze to Wang Li, who also did not speak, and asked, "Marquis Wucheng, what do you think?" ”

Wang Li's attitude was obviously very hesitant, and he said after a while: "General, Su Jiao and Shijian's words are somewhat reasonable, but how to decide, you still have to ask the general to take the idea." ”

Zhang Han was waiting for this sentence, and immediately said: "Okay, then General Ben will take the idea, General Su and General She, although your ambitions are commendable, but your suggestions must not be adopted by General Ben." Fighting a war is not a simple competition of strength, our strength is still superior, but if the decisive battle is unfavorable, even if it is a draw with the main force of the thief army, our consequences will be unimaginable, because the thief army and we can afford it, we can't afford it, and the risk of a decisive battle is to take the lives of our 300,000 soldiers as a child's play, only to withdraw west as soon as possible, first withdraw to a safe position west of Puyang to get food, and be invincible, and then we can try to counterattack and take revenge! ”

After categorically rejecting the proposal of Su Jiao, Shima and others, Zhang Han continued: "It's so decided, tomorrow the camp will be pulled out and withdrawn westward, and I will escort the grain and grass and military quarters first, General Wang Li, you will lead the army to the rear, and be responsible for arranging the cover of the army behind the palace, marching thirty miles every day, step by step, retreating in the direction of Hanoi!" ”

Seeing that Zhang Han directly made the decision, Wang Li, who was actually in favor of the adventurous decisive battle in his heart, had no choice but to hug his fists and sing a promise with the generals, although Su Jiao and Shima and others were not convinced, but they did not dare to openly disobey the military order, so they had to swallow their anger and obediently accept the order.

In this way, under Zhang Han's arrangement, the main force of the Qin army, which had already been ready to retreat, pulled out the camp early the next morning, and retreated to the west in an orderly manner. Xiang Yu also knew that his morale could not be discouraged, so he immediately nodded and agreed, and immediately sent Yingbu, Shenyang, and Sima Wei to each lead the men and horses of their headquarters to attack, and the troops were divided into three ways to rush across at the same time.

In fact, the Qin army had a good chance to win this battle, relying on the fortifications and river blockades built in advance, the Qin soldiers who were responsible for guarding the ferry shot the anti-Qin coalition soldiers who were driving boats to cross the ferry with heavy casualties with their strong bows and crossbows, and once repelled the enemy who rushed across the river at the beachhead.

Zhang Han sent someone to stop Wang Li, and asked the envoy to tell Wang Li clearly, saying that no matter how beautiful the battle of the ferry was, the Qin army would only temporarily stop the anti-Qin coalition army at most, and there was absolutely no possibility of killing the enemy. In the end, Zhang Han also explicitly ordered Wang Li not to reinforce the ferry, and let the ferry defenders, who only numbered more than 8,000 people, fight on their own, and hold out as long as they could.

As mentioned above, thanks to Li Si's blessing, Qin II Hu Hai has let Zhang Han lead the Qin army's troops and horses outside the pass, and the Great Wall Corps under Wang Li's command is also among them, so although he is extremely dissatisfied in his heart, Wang Li still has no choice but to retract the decision to increase the number of troops at the ferry, and slowly retreats with the Great Wall Corps, allowing the ferry defenders under his command to fight alone on the south bank of Huanshui, and he missed a chance to win the battle.

Zhang Han's decision to stop Wang Li from reinforcing the ferry of course pitted the ferry defenders, and they couldn't wait for reinforcements, and they couldn't withstand the fierce offensive of the anti-Qin coalition army. As a result, after escaping back to the team with injuries, the generals of the Qin army who commanded the defenders of the ferry still ran to Wang Li with tears in their eyes to shout grievances, asking Wang Li why he didn't send him reinforcements?

"It's not that I won't send you reinforcements, it's that the general won't allow me to send them."

When answering this sentence, Wang Li's confidence was obviously insufficient, and after the generals of the Qin army who had hoped to hold the ferry were so aggrieved that they cried, Wang Li couldn't help but lower his head, and his heart was dissatisfied and dissatisfied with Zhang Han, and said secretly: "What else will you do except pat Li Si's sycophants and run for your life?" ”

Zhang Han's decision was actually quite correct, at least after quickly crossing the Huanshui, he found that the main force of the Qin army had only withdrawn thirty miles before setting up camp and going down, Xiang Yu and Old Man Fan were immediately taken aback, and immediately understood that Zhang Han was planning to retreat to Hanoi step by step, and it would be difficult for the self-army to have a chance to break the enemy like the Battle of Zhangshui, and the possibility of defeating the Qin army on the road was pitiful.

However, of course, Xiang Yu did not give up, early the next morning, Xiang Yu decisively led the main force of the anti-Qin coalition army to stride westward, lightly pursuing the main force of the Qin army in the west, and just after noon, he successfully caught up with Wang Li's rear team, and Wang Li's rear team resolutely stopped and fought in formation in order to buy time for the main force to retreat, ready to hold on for a period of time and then turn back to chase the main force.

Seeing this scene, Xiang Yu, who was eager to catch up with the main force of the Qin army, of course, immediately ordered to attack, but Master Xiang Boxiang, who had never thought that his illness had recovered quickly, suddenly jumped out and said to Xiang Yu: "Virtuous nephew, and attack slowly, since the rear of the Tyrannical Qin army is fighting in formation, and the terrain here is very open, which is suitable for the army to quickly intersperse, why don't we rely on the advantage of strength to surround them on all sides and lure the Tyrannical Qin army back to rescue?" ”

"Master Xiang, please talk and think about it with your brain, okay?" Old man Fan next to him said angrily: "The Tyrannical Qin army in front of us is only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, how can the main force of Tyranny Qin give up the westward retreat for such a small army, turn back to save them, and delay the retreat of their main force?" ”

"Fan Zuoshi, please listen to the old man's words, okay?" Xiang Bo retorted angrily and said, "If the Tyrant Qin army leaves their rear team alone, we will attack from all sides and slaughter all the Tyrant Qin troops surrounded by us!" Seeing the fate of their companions, you said that in the future, there will still be that one of the Tyrannical Qin generals who dare to walk behind with the army, and dare to turn around and fight when we catch up, wouldn't it be much easier for us to catch up with the main force of the Tyrannical Qin army? ”

Not to mention, what Master Xiang Boxiang, who has always been unreliable, really has a little truth in what he said this time, even Old Man Fan couldn't find anything to refute for a while, and Xiang Yu After thinking about it for a while, he also said with the intention of giving it a try: "Okay, anyway, the Tyrannical Qin army is going to retreat step by step and retreat slowly, we still have time, let's give it a try." ”

After saying that, Xiang Yu really adopted Xiang Bo's suggestion for the first time, first withdrew the attack order, and then commanded the anti-Qin coalition army to step forward in turn, and the rear team of the Qin army that was surrounded and fought on all sides, and because the anti-Qin coalition army moved very fast, it was still when Shen Yang, the general of Zhao State, led the army back to the back of the Qin army, and at the same time, when two anti-Qin divisions rushed to the left and right fortifications of the Qin army, the rear team of the Qin army understood the intention of the anti-Qin coalition army, and quickly launched a charge to break through and flee for their lives.

The breakthrough of the rear team of the Qin army failed to succeed, and several charges were forced back by the anti-Qin coalition forces fighting in formation, and they were forced to retreat to the same place to form a formation to protect themselves, and at the same time quickly sent people to Zhang Han and Wang Li for help. The result was the same as Old Man Fan expected, when he learned that the 10,000 rear team was surrounded by the anti-Qin coalition army, Wang Li sent someone to escort the messenger to see Zhang Han as soon as possible, but Zhang Han didn't even blink his eyelids, and immediately said: "Order the whole army, continue to advance, let our rear team break through on their own, and we can't tie our main force for the sake of 10,000 troops." ”

"General, our army is surrounded by thieves on all sides, and we can't rush out!" When the messenger heard this, he hurriedly pleaded: "If you don't send reinforcements back, our 10,000 troops will be finished, and no one will be able to escape!" Please, please, please, General! ”

"Shut up!" Zhang Han interrupted the messenger's plea for help with a straight face, and said: "As a Great Qin soldier, you should be ready to die for Great Qin at any time!" If you want to live, let me kill myself and rush over! ”

After that, in addition to ordering someone to take away the crying messenger for help, Zhang Han also sent someone to give Wang a departure order, asking Wang Li to follow his own actions with the Great Wall Corps, and not to send a single soldier back to the division to save the surrounded palace army.

It is conceivable that Wang Li was angry after learning of Zhang Han's decision, and the generals Shima and Su Jiao next to him were even more furious, and they all roared in front of Zhang Han's heralds, "Shouldn't we take our soldiers in the county?" 10,000 troops said no, don't want it, our surrounded soldiers are dead, what will happen to their wives and children? If we are surrounded and can't be saved, who else will dare to lead the army in the future? ”

"General Wang, General Wang." The messenger for help also howled and cried: "We had the opportunity to retreat immediately, we were trying to buy time for the main force, so we were surrounded by the thief army on all sides, we are loyal to Great Qin, we were surrounded for the main force!" ”

"Don't make any noise!" Wang Li suddenly roared, shocking the people next to him, and then said to the herald sent by Zhang Han: "Go back and tell the general, just say that my Wang Li is useless, his heart is too soft, and he can't bear to let my trapped soldiers die in vain, I want to go back to save them!" If he wants to pursue it, wait until I save my rear team, and then come back and ask him for guilt! ”

After that, Wang Li shouted orders one after another, ordering the retreating Great Wall Corps to turn around on the spot and return to the division to rescue the trapped Qin army, but when they heard this order, the Qin generals of the Great Wall Corps were like thunder, and immediately executed the order without saying a word. But Zhang Han was shocked when he heard the news, and shouted bitterly: "Wang Li, you want to kill our main force!" ”

In this way, of course, it was the turn of Master Xiang Boxiang to be triumphant and arrogant, when he saw the Great Wall Corps suddenly turn around and kill, Old Man Fan, who was not optimistic about this tactic, almost dropped his jaw and couldn't believe his eyes at all, but Master Xiang jumped three feet high, and even jumped and shouted loudly, "See? Do you see it? The old man is not wrong, as long as we surround the rear of the Tyrannical Qin army, the Tyrannical Qin army will definitely come back to save, and will definitely come back to save! Old man, I really know everything like a god! ”

"Uncle, there is yours!" Xiang Yu also rarely praised his third uncle, and then shouted: "Form a formation, prepare to fight!" ”

Xiang Yu is always reassuring in military terms, in the face of the fierce and high morale of the Qin Army Great Wall Corps, Xiang Yu is very rational to avoid the edge, did not immediately launch an attack to meet Wang Li head-on, on the contrary, he also ordered Shen Yang to deliberately get out of the way, so that the surrounded Qin army rear team can flee to meet the Great Wall Corps, and then let Yingbu lead the army to attack the front of the Qin army's rear team, forcing the Qin army rear team to flee westward, and the once desperate Qin army rear team also really hit the plan, and soon fled in a hurry under the expulsion of Yingbu, Gave the anti-Qin coalition army a free vanguard, causing the Qin army to be unable to use their best bow and crossbow tactics to defend against the enemy.

Then, although Wang Li sensed the danger and immediately sent troops from both flanks to attack, flanking Yingbu left and right to cover the retreat of the rear team of the self-army and prevent the rear team of the self-army from disrupting the front of his battle formation, but the soldiers on both wings of the Qin army had just engaged Yingbu, and the rear team of the anti-Qin coalition army immediately arrived and joined forces with Yingbu and melee with the soldiers of the two wings of the Qin army.

The battle situation was once the Qin army had the upper hand, and the morale of the Qin army who came back to save the friendly army was high, even if the troops were slightly weak, they also beat Yingbu and other troops for a long time only to parry, but Xiang Yu, who was taught by Xiang Liang more than Xiang Kang, was not anxious, sneered and just patiently waited for the Qin army's mentality to change, and the result was the same as Xiang Yu hoped, as the war continued, the physical strength and fighting spirit continued to be consumed, and the Qin army's soldiers really showed signs of gradual demoralization, and the offensive was no longer so fierce, Only then did Xiang Yu calmly send additional troops to reinforce the melee battlefield ahead.

Wang Li was also very decisive, seeing Xiang Yu increasing his troops to the front line, he immediately understood that Xiang Yu wanted to use the tactics of adding fuel to the army, gradually dragging himself into the melee, insisting on not being deceived, and seeing that the right wing of the anti-Qin coalition army was complicated, it was composed of different anti-Qin divisions, so he immediately dispatched an elite army to storm the right flank of the anti-Qin coalition army. Xiang Yu laughed when he saw it, and immediately ordered the cavalry of the Chu army to prepare for an attack, and then instructed Cao Ji, who he trusted the most in military affairs: "Uncle Cao, the army will be under your command for a while, except for the right wing, the central army and the left wing will temporarily take a defensive position, and then I will come back to command the whole army after I have broken the right wing of the violent Qin army." ”

"Virtuous nephew, you are the commander of the whole army, why do you have to go into battle and take risks in person?" Cao Ji asked with a wry smile.

"Itchy hands, if you don't kill dozens of violent Qin thieves, your whole body is uncomfortable!"

After answering Cao Qi's question very directly, the Qin army had just rushed to the right flank of the anti-Qin coalition army for a decisive battle, Xiang Yu shouted like a lion, and led five thousand Chu cavalry to kill from the middle army formation, holding high his handsome flag and killing the right flank battlefield. As a result, seeing Xiang Yu personally leading the cavalry of the Chu army into battle, the anti-Qin coalition army was of course cheering like thunder, and the morale was greatly boosted, and the right wing of the anti-Qin coalition army, which had a complex organization, was even more morale-boosting, and the elite army sent by Wang Li was blocked by the battle.

Diametrically opposed to the anti-Qin coalition army, seeing Xiang Yu personally leading the army into battle from a distance, of course there was a big uproar in the Qin army's array, and Wang Li's eyes almost didn't bare out of his sockets, and he shouted: "Crazy! Lunatic! The commander of the whole army, who commanded an army of more than 200,000 people, even dared to lead the army into battle in person, so you are not afraid that a stray arrow will shoot you to death?! ”

Xiang Yu's personal entry into battle also seriously disturbed the mind of the Qin army's attacking army, seeing the enemy's handsome banner rushing directly towards the own army, the Qin army officers and soldiers who were attacking the right flank of the anti-Qin coalition army In addition to a big uproar, there were countless Qin army soldiers who involuntarily turned around to meet Xiang Yu, shouting excitedly, "Kill!" Kill! Kill the thief commander directly! ”

The shouts of the soldiers of the Qin army clearly reached Xiang Yu's ears, and Xiang Yu, who was riding his horse at the front, also smiled slightly, and said: "Kill, you should kill a happy!" ”