After suddenly seeing the huge counterweight trebuchet appear on the north bank of Jishui, Sima Huan Chu, the current great Sima Huan Chu of the Western Chu Army, immediately understood that the Jishui defense line that he had once pinned high hopes on was the death of a widow and an only child—there was no hope at all.

Prior to this, Huan Chu had great expectations for the Jishui defense line, and even if there was no way to hold this natural defense line for a long time, it would definitely not be a big problem to hold it for more than ten days, and then he only needed to learn the lessons of the Puyang War, so that his soldiers could be mentally prepared for the boulders and incendiary bombs thrown by the Han army, plus the time that the Han army had to prepare for the siege of the city, it was certainly not hopeless to hold the Dingtao with a stronger city defense for a month.

Therefore, as early as when the main force of the Western Chu army had not left the Dingtao battlefield, Huan Chu couldn't wait to start the deployment of river defense, and built fortifications in several river sections around the surrounding area suitable for launching a rush to cross, set up barracks to meet each other for reinforcements, and at the same time established a beacon tower at intervals on the south bank of Jishui, closely monitoring every move of the Han army on the opposite bank, always preventing the Han army from launching smuggling, and spent great efforts to guard this river defense line that can buy valuable time for itself.

Although the main force of the Western Chu army had not left Dingtao, the Han soldiers had rushed to the upstream and downstream of Dingtao to collect river-crossing boats, but because the Western Chu army had already collected all the boats on the Jishui River, and the upstream Wanqu, Jiyang and other places were also temporarily controlled by the local army of the Western Chu army, so until the evening of the fifth day after the main force of the Western Chu army left Dingtao, the Han army only collected more than 60 civilian boats of different sizes. It was able to carry more than 800 soldiers across the river at one time, but there was still not enough carrying force to launch a rush to cross.

Huan Chu was also overjoyed in his heart, and decided that with Xiang Kang's usual cautious character in using soldiers, he would inevitably spend more time preparing the raft before it was possible to launch a rush to cross.

However, what Huan Chu never dreamed of was that in the early morning of the sixth day, the main force of the Han army in the middle of the road was personally led by Xiang Kang to make a big move, and violently killed the Dingtao wharf ferry, which was the most suitable for crossing the river to build a pontoon bridge in the lower reaches of Dingtao, and was also the most important port of the Western Chu army, and also lined up a full fifty counterweight trebuchets that repeatedly woke Huan Chu from nightmares on the south bank of Jishui, aiming at the fortifications built by the Western Chu army on the south bank of Jishui.

Seeing this scene, most of the officers and soldiers of the Western Chu Army were not too surprised, on the contrary, they also discussed what the purpose of the Han army was doing this, Huan Chu himself and some of the officers and soldiers of the Western Chu Army who had participated in the Battle of Puyang were as pale as earth, and immediately understood that the Han army wanted to use big stones to smash their fortifications, and also smashed and scattered the Western Chu army team that was preparing to defend the beachhead, covering the Han army commandos to cross the river and occupy the beachhead to build a pontoon bridge.

Dingtao is located in the upper reaches of Jishui, there is no Wenshui, Heshui these two medium-sized rivers and other small rivers to replenish the amount of water, the width of the river in the upper reaches of Jishui is only more than 30 Qinzhang, the Han army trebuchet smashed out of the boulder can easily cross the river, covering the entire beachhead, as well as the fortification defense line that the Western Chu army had worked hard to build, with such a strong firepower cover, the Han army can easily grab the ferry even if it only relies on more than 60 civilian boats, occupy the ferry and establish a pontoon bridge, so that the follow-up reinforcements can cross the river endlessly to participate in the battle.

Facts have proved that this is indeed the case, when fifty Han army trebuchets fired and threw together, and the huge stone bullets flew over Jishui with a roar, and directly fell on the river defense fortifications of the Western Chu army, the antlers and arrow towers that the Western Chu army had worked hard to build before were really smashed like paper paste, and smashed the sheep and horse walls of the Western Chu army everywhere, and also smashed the Western Chu soldiers hiding behind the fortifications to the point that the ghosts cried wolf, and the casualties were heavy, and it was difficult to gain a foothold.

Seeing this scene, the officers and soldiers of the Western Chu Army, who had not seen the counterweight trebuchet of the Han army before, of course exclaimed again and again, and their morale declined, but Huan Chu smiled helplessly, and said to himself: "I thought that the Jishui defense line could block it for at least ten days, but now it seems that it is a miracle to be able to survive today." ”

Huan Chu was anxious in his heart, but he didn't know that Xiang Kang on the north bank of Jishui didn't have much joy on his face, and he still had a hesitation in his heart, because as early as yesterday when it was close to evening, Xiang Kang had already received a detailed report and knew the latest movements of the main force of the Western Chu army that left the Dingtao battlefield five days ago - instead of continuing to retreat to the southeast, he actually chose to continue to advance eastward, and walked towards the road of Chengwu to Fanghe.

When they received this news, Xiang Kang, Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others were all puzzled, and they all didn't understand that after Xiang Yu finally got rid of the entanglement of the main force in the middle of the Han army, how could he not take the shortcut road of Shan Father and Fengyi and directly retreat to Pengcheng, and gain time to prepare for the two-way attack of the Han army? Why don't you give up the near and far, go to the south of Xue County to go around in a circle and then go back to Pengcheng? At one time, he thought that Xiang Yu was disgusted that the township-level road from Fengyi to Pengcheng was relatively difficult to walk, so he wanted to take the county-level road south with Fanghe and Huling.

Li Zuoche, who was good at tactics, saw through Xiang Yu's purpose at a glance, and decided that Xiang Yu was preparing to go to the south of Xue County to meet the rest of the Chuji coalition army first, and then withdraw to Pengcheng together, and also proposed a rather risky tactic, a tactic that would make Xiang Yu and the main force of the Western Chu army have no hope of withdrawing to Pengcheng as long as it succeeds.

Xiang Kang, who has always acted decisively, also hesitated a little, and was once extremely inclined to adopt Li Zuoche's risky tactics, but considering the danger of doing so, it was too late to confirm whether the Western Chu army was really preparing to cross the salient in the northeast of Dangjun and go directly to Fanghe, so he finally rejected Li Zuoche's tactics and chose to continue to implement the original various breakthrough tactics.

But Li Zuoche's proposal also took root in Xiang Kang's heart, making Xiang Kang regret more than once whether he made a wrong choice and missed a rare opportunity to eliminate the main force of the Western Chu Army as soon as possible, so although the Han army's rush to cross the river went smoothly, Xiang Kang couldn't be happy, and still vaguely felt that he shouldn't continue to rush to cross the water.

"King, the Western Chu thief army can't hold on, and has taken the initiative to give up the river defense fortifications, can we launch a robbery?"

Zhang Liang's reminder brought Xiang Kang back to his senses, and when he looked up to see the situation on the south bank of Jishui, he saw that the Western Chu army, which had suffered heavy casualties, had indeed temporarily abandoned the smashed river fortifications and retreated to reorganize beyond the range of the Han army's trebuchets, Xiang Kang nodded and ordered: "Give the trebuchet team an order to suspend the throwing of boulders, modify the sheep's head stone, and prepare to cover our assault team to rush to the crossing." Also, call the commandos on board. ”

The guard next to him sang a promise, and immediately raised a flag to let the trebuchet temporarily stop throwing stones, and let the Han army commando get on the boat to prepare to launch a rush to cross, but Li Zuoche next to him hurriedly said: "King, this is our last chance, have you made up your mind?" ”

Xiang Kang looked even more hesitant and didn't answer in a hurry, while Chen Ping on the other side said: "Guangwujun, although your analysis is very reasonable, we can't prove that the main force of the Western Chu thief army is advancing eastward and preparing to meet the retreat of the Chuji thief army to the south. ”

"Lieutenant Chen, rest assured, the Western Chu Thief Army will definitely not be diverted for the convenience of the march!" Li Zuoche replied categorically, and said: "Xiaguan has made it very clear yesterday evening, although the road from Fengyi to Pengcheng is relatively difficult to walk, but the situation of Chengwu to Fang and this road is similar, which is enough to prove that the Western Chu thief army is not rerouted to Fang He for the convenience of the road!" Since this is the case, then the thief army of the Western Chu army crossed the northeast of Dangjun and went straight to Fanghe, it must be to meet the rest of the Chuji thief army to go south! ”

"King, it's a rare opportunity." Li Zuoche continued: "Now give up rushing to cross the Jishui, divert the route to cross the river by Qiu, take advantage of the convenience of the galloping road, and directly attack the south of Dangjun, we can take it by surprise and suddenly bite the main force of the Western Chu thief army, and then wait for General Zhou's army to arrive, with the strength of our two armies, it is easy to annihilate the main force of the Western Chu thief army in the north of Pengcheng!" In this way, even if Xiang Yu escapes, he will no longer have the opportunity to resist stubbornly in Pengcheng, and he will flee to Huainan and Jiangdong to survive, and he will no longer have the strength to pose a threat to us. ”

"We run two dangers in doing so." Lou Jing said: "First, he made a mistake in judgment and missed the fighter plane that broke the Western Chu thief army, giving the Dingtao thief army a chance to escape calmly. Second, if General Zhou's army cannot arrive in time, we will not only have to deal with the crazy counterattack of the main force of the Western Chu thief army alone without a strong camp, but also may be attacked by the Chuji thief army withdrawn from the hinterland of Xue County from the north and south. ”

"In addition, the transportation connection with General Zhou is also a big problem." Lou Jing frowned again and added: "We ventured deep into the southern part of Xue County, and we didn't know that General Zhou had already fought there, once the messenger could not get in touch with General Zhou in time, it would definitely be difficult for his army to arrive for reinforcements in time, and we would definitely fight alone for a longer time." ”

"War is a gamble." Li Zuoche replied very directly, and said: "Such a risk, if we lose, we will certainly be defeated in the middle, and the time to destroy Chu must be postponed." But if we win, the time to destroy Chu can be greatly advanced, and Xiang Yu will no longer have the opportunity to retreat to Huainan and Jiangdong with the main force of the Western Chu thief army to regroup. ”

Xiang Kang didn't speak with a gloomy face, still couldn't make up his mind, but the soldiers of the Han army didn't give Xiang Kang time to think about it, just a little hesitation, the Han commando team had already boarded the ship, just waiting for Xiang Kang's order, he immediately launched a rush attack, Zhang Liang hurriedly reminded again, and said: "King, our soldiers have all boarded the ship." ”

Xiang Kang was still silent, and in a complicated mood, Xiang Kang simply stood up and walked to the high place on the north bank where the Han army's flag array was located, and he was still anxious in his heart, "Do you want to take risks?" What happens if you don't take the risk? ”

At this moment, a sudden gust of cold river wind suddenly made Xiang Kang, who had a sparse history, suddenly remembered a famous story - Wujiang killed himself. Then after a little calculation, Xiang Kang turned around again and asked Li Zuoche and Zhang Liang and others a clueless question, "Where is Wujiang?" If I'm not mistaken, it seems to be called Wujiang Pavilion now. ”

"Where is Wujiang?"

Zhang Liang and Chen Ping were all dumbfounded, but fortunately, everyone present was also quite familiar with Xiang Kang's leaping thinking, and after coming back to his senses, Zhang Liang, who was familiar with geography, immediately replied: "Hui Wang, on the edge of the Yangtze River in the northeast of Jiujiang County, the king is not mistaken, it is indeed a small pavilion, which is under the jurisdiction of Liyang County." ”

"On the edge of the Yangtze River?" Xiang Kang's expression was obviously a little surprised, and he couldn't help but blurt out: "In this way, between Wujiang and Xiaxia, there is not only a Huaishui in the middle, but there are hundreds of miles away?" ”

Chen Ping was even more dumbfounded when he heard this, Zhang Liang was helpless, so he could only reply stubbornly: "Back to the king, I don't know the specific distance from the Wujiang River, but the rough estimate is at least more than four hundred miles." ”

Xiang Kang also closed his mouth at this time, and then said in his heart: "In history, Xiang Yu was defeated in the wall, only led a few cavalry to break through and escape, and fled for more than 400 miles to Wujiang to the end of the road, and finally felt that he had no shame to face Jiangdong's father, so he died by suicide, which means that he didn't want to die at all, at least when he broke through the siege, he still had the intention of running to Jiangdong Dongshan to make a comeback." ”

"Now Huainan and Jiangdong are still in the hands of Xiang Yu, if I miss this opportunity, even if I join forces with Uncle Zhou to go south to Pengcheng, Xiang Yu is very likely to continue to retreat to Huainan and Jiangdong in order to survive and make a comeback, by then my grain road has been stretched for an extremely long time, and the surrounding area is full of Western Chu cities that have not yet surrendered, there is definitely no way to chase down, I can only watch Xiang Yu regroup in Huainan and Jiangdong, at that time, not only do I not know when I will be able to completely eliminate him, Liu Laosan, that traitor, may also fish in the troubled waters of Jiangdong and Huainan and become a greater threat to me! ”

It was still when he was thinking about it that the hesitant look on Xiang Kang's face was completely swept away, and then he decisively shouted: "Mingjin, collect the troops and return to the camp!" ”

"King! We heard you right, right? Except for Li Zuoche, all the Han army civilians and soldiers present screamed in surprise, and they rushed to exclaim: "Mingjin to collect the troops? At this time, Mingjin withdrew his troops? ”

"You heard me right!" Xiang Kang said coldly: "Mingjin immediately, collect the troops and return to the camp!" That's an order! ”

It was rare to see Xiang Kang's expression so solemn, Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others immediately understood that Xiang Kang had made up his mind, and he didn't dare to say anything more, Xu Ji also hurriedly asked the guards to ring the golden cymbal to collect the troops, and ordered the Han soldiers who had already boarded the ship to immediately disembark and retreat. Needless to say, after the golden cymbal rang, the soldiers of the Han army commando who had already boarded the ship were of course inexplicable, and they all suspected that there was something wrong with their ears, and the Western Chu army on the south bank of Jishui was even more speechless, and they all exclaimed loudly in disbelief, "We heard it right, right?" The thief is singing gold? ”

"The thief is singing gold?" Sima Huan Chu, the great of the Western Chu Army, who was worried, of course screamed the loudest, shouting, "What's wrong? Why did the thief suddenly pay gold, there is no reason for this? ”

At the same time, in the banner array of the Han army, Xiang Kang called Guan Ying to the front again, and instructed him: "Bring the cavalry and the equipment to build the pontoon bridge, set off immediately, go to Chengqiu to build a pontoon bridge, and before dawn tomorrow, no matter what, you must build six pontoon bridges in Chengqiu, there must be no mistake." ”

After the baby said yes, Xiang Kang hurriedly added: "Go north first, and then turn to the direction of Chengqiu when you reach the Chidao Road." I'll pretend to be an evacuation boat in a moment, send you some boats, and help you build a pontoon bridge at Chengqiu. ”

Guan Ying understood that Xiang Kang's explanation must have a reason, so he hurriedly clasped his fists and sang a promise, and then returned to the camp to prepare to lead the cavalry to attack, Xiang Kang commanded again: "Let the army return to the camp immediately and prepare to leave, tightly seal the river bank, and try not to give the Western Chu army scouts the opportunity to cross the river to explore our movements." In addition, let the wind go to let the Western Chu thief army know, and say that Zhao Xie, the king of Zhao, colluded with Qi Guotianheng to rebel, and this king will personally lead the army back to Zhao to quell the rebellion. ”

"King, will this affect the morale of our army?" Chen Ping hurriedly asked.

"I can't care about that much." Xiang Kang said with a stern expression: "The most important thing now is to buy us time, the later we let the Dingtao Thief Army know our true movements, the better." ”

Seeing that Xiang Kang's determination had been decided, the Han army did not dare to disobey it, so he hurriedly preserved the promise and sang the promise, and then deliberately sent people to the shore of Jishui to shout loudly, declaring that Zhao Xie, the king of Zhao, had colluded with the Qi State to rebel, and Xiang Kang would personally lead the army back to Zhao to quell the rebellion. Xiang Kang also said in his heart: "It's a big deal that the middle road is defeated, just withdraw and regroup." With Xiang Yu's temper, as long as he wins a battle, he will definitely try to fight back immediately, and my battle may be better at that time. ”

Not to mention, the Han army military law team under Chen Ping deliberately ran to the bank of Jishui and pretended to urge the Han soldiers to retreat quickly, and took the opportunity to shout loudly that Zhao Xie was in the Zhao State After the rebellion, the situation was really quickly heard by the scouts of the Western Chu army with sharp ears, and it was quickly reported to Huan Chu's face, but Huan Chu was of course ecstatic when he heard it, and he was so excited that he raised his hands and cheered loudly, "God bless!" Zhao suddenly rebelled, no wonder the Han thieves suddenly sang gold! Now we can finally sit back and relax, and we don't have to worry about being annihilated by the Han thieves in Dingtao City! ”

After the cheers, in view of Xiang Kang's treacherous behavior, for the sake of prudence, Huan Chu did not dare to immediately report this unconfirmed news to Xiang Yu, and hurriedly sent scouts across the river to investigate the movements of the Han army, and launched a number of small-scale scout battles with the Han army scouts who were tightly sealed on the river bank.

After returning to the camp, Xiang Kang immediately issued three orders, one was to let the main force of the Han army in the middle of the road immediately pull out the camp and prepare to retreat, the second was to let the reinforcement army led by Qi Gill and Han Xin rush to the south of Xue County along the Chi Road to meet him, and the third was to let Zhong Liwu lead 20,000 troops to continue to stay on the north bank of Jishui, pretending to be the main force of the Han army in the middle of the brigade, in fact, he was responsible for monitoring and containing the 30,000 Western Chu troops under the command of Huan Chu, and the other was responsible for launching a scout battle with the Dingtao Western Chu army, and tried to delay the time when Huan Chu's department knew that the main force of the Han army was moving.

In addition, Xiang Kang also took a lot of risks to ask Zhong Liwu to block the news of the 20,000 Han soldiers who stayed behind, and loudly claimed that he returned to the north to go to Zhao to quell the rebellion, and did not hesitate to affect the morale of the army, so as to continue to mislead Huan Chu's troops in judging the movements of their own army.

Fortunately, because he had already been preparing to cross the river to the south, although Xiang Kang's decision was extremely hasty, the main brigade of the Han army was still ready to set off just after Shen Shi in the afternoon of the same day, and then Xiang Kang did not hesitate, and immediately personally led the 100,000 Han army to set off north, preparing to go north to Chidao first and then turn around and go east, taking a gallop road dozens of meters wide to pursue the main force of the Western Chu army. In addition, Xiang Kang also clearly instructed: "Prepare more drums and gongs, march overnight, and before dawn tomorrow, we must rush to Chengqiu to cross Jishui!" Rush to the south of Xue County to surprise my brother! ”