“…… There are 60,000 soldiers, 30,000 soldiers, 1,000 chariots, thousands of horses, good bows and crossbows, and countless others. Xiongbei Huaibei, Jingqi south to the Yangtze River, east view of the sea, north to Yimeng, west of Zhuolu (Pengcheng alias), the territory is vast, Li Shu million, and the ancestors of the shade of virtue, the old Chu of Yu Wei, the head of the Qian, Shi Nong's heart, political communication and people, soldiers with their lives, enough food and clothing, invincible, exterminate the violent Qin, Kuang Fu mountains and rivers, but such as raising the hand to move the palm, probing the finger to pick up mustard, counting the days and waiting! ”

“…… Birds have no wings, people don't have heads, Pei Gong Xing soldiers to attack Qin, although there are many military exploits, but Peifeng City is small, the people are scarce, the money is thin, the soldiers are not finished, the city is not solid, the army is not trained, the food is not the day, Xiang Mou Guanzhi, it is really Pei Gong's heart. Today's coincidence, your two armies are close at hand, Xiang is willing to set up a feast in Pengcheng, cattle and sheep wine, sincerely invite Pei Gong to go south to Pengcheng, and discuss the plan of joining forces to discuss Qin, work together, break the tyrannical Qin, Wan Wangpei is fair and obey, after seeing the book, he went south on the same day, and met Xiang face to face. Be sure to. ”

After reading Xiang Kang's letter ghostwritten by Zhou Zeng, Liu Laosan couldn't help but shout to Cao Shen, Zhou Bo and Fan Hao and others present as if he had discovered a new continent, and said: "Others still say that I am Liu Ji a scoundrel, compared with Xiang Kang, a scoundrel, I Liu Ji is simply a righteous gentleman!" ”

"60,000 soldiers, 30,000 soldiers? Thousands of cars and thousands of war horses? The territory is vast, and Li Shu is millions? Xiang Kang, this little vertical man, really bullied me Liu Ji casually as a farming mud leg who didn't know anything? With a full fight, he only has a dozen cities in his hands at most, how can he afford to support so many elite armorers? So many war horses and chariots? And from where so many people came out? Blowing the cow so big, Xiang Kang's little vertical son is not afraid of his tongue being flashed? ”

Cao Shen, Zhou Bo and others burst into laughter, and ridiculed Xiang Kang for being unashamed, blowing nonsense, and saying so much that he was unconscious. However, after laughing happily, Cao Shen, who was very politically minded, hurriedly reminded: "Pei Gong, Xiang Kang Xiao'er is showing off his military strength again, and he is inviting you to Pengcheng to meet, it is obvious that he has evil thoughts, and wants to bully the weak and forcibly annex our army, and also take advantage of the situation to annex the three counties of Pei, Feng and Huling controlled by our army, which we must be careful to beware of." ”

"Of course." Liu Laosan sneered: "But it's easy to deal with, as long as you find an excuse to prevaricate in the past, don't go to Pengcheng to take risks." Lao Tzu didn't believe it, Xiang Kang Xiao'er dared to risk the world's greatness, and openly annexed our anti-Qin army by force, so that the people of the world would point fingers at him. ”

"It's better to be careful." Cao Shen said again: "The excuse of not going to Pengcheng should be sufficient, so that Xiang Kang Xiaozhuzi has nothing to say, and in addition, he has to send people to keep an eye on Pengcheng's side to prevent Xiang Kang's little Zhuzi from coming recklessly." After all, his strength is indeed much stronger than ours, and if he really wants to attack us, he will also want to add to the crime, and he will not suffer from it. ”

Liu Laosan nodded, and after thinking for a while, Liu Laosan made up his mind and said: "Cao Shen, I can't write well, you reply a letter to Xiang Kang Xiaozhuzi for me, praise him for his good life, try to say some good things, and then say that Lao Tzu is willing to join the rest of the rebels and respect him as the leader of the anti-Qin alliance, but now Lao Tzu doesn't know the attitude of other anti-Qin rebels, and there are still violent Qin troops in the north of Surabaya that have not been completely eradicated, and Li Shu Qianshou also needs to be appeased, so he really can't take the time to come to Pengcheng to meet him, I can only talk about it when I have the opportunity later. ”

After dictating the general content of the reply, Liu Laosan ordered again: "Prepare more gifts, send them together with the letter, and give more benefits to the messenger of Xiang Kang Xiaozhuzi, so that he can go back and say more good things for Lao Tzu." ”

Cao Shen, who had been the president of the Pei County Court (Prison Peng), agreed, and soon wrote the letter, Liu Bang took it and saw Cao Shen in the letter with humble words, touting Xiang Kang to the fullest, should be able to satisfy Xiang Kang's vanity, then nodded with satisfaction, signed and used the seal to arrange for the messenger to go south to Pengcheng, to shoot Xiang Kang's sycophants and strive to temporarily stabilize Xiang Kang. Then, of course, Liu Laosan urged his subordinates to step up the construction of siege equipment, and prepare to launch a strong attack on Liuxian County the next day, and take this county seat that has been completely isolated and helpless as soon as possible.

The preparations for the siege battle were very smooth, before it was dark, three towering ladder trucks and five crashing cars had been completed, and at the same time, with the hard work of the sergeants and soldiers, the moat of Liuxian County was also filled in more than 20 zhang, opening the road for Liu Laosan's army to reach Liuxian County. And what makes Liu Laosan even happier is that the defenders in the city are still obviously unstable, and during the period of preventing Liu Jun's filling of the river, the arrows are messy, and the orders are disorderly, it is obvious that they are already in despair, and they no longer have any confidence in victory, so Liu Laosan, who has accumulated a lot of siege experience, can basically be sure that tomorrow's siege will be stable!

There was an accident, just when the officers and men of Liu Jun were full of confidence in victory, and when the officers and men of Liu Jun were actively making the final pre-war preparations under the command of generals at all levels, that night, a fast horse suddenly came from the south, foaming at the mouth and rushed to the door of Liu Jun's camp to ask for the camp, the guards at the gate of Liu's military camp asked about the identity and origin of the comer, and the knight who galloped on the horse replied loudly: "I am the envoy entourage sent to Pengcheng by Pei Gong today, and we met the army of Young Marshal Xiang Kangxiang on the way south and suddenly went north, Coming directly to Liuxian, the official was afraid that Pei Gong would suffer if he was not prepared, so he asked me to come back and report the news quickly! ”

After carefully checking the waist card of the envoy's entourage, this envoy's entourage was quickly led to Liu Laosan, who was about to sleep, and heard that Xiang Kang suddenly sent troops to the north, and was worried about whether Xiang Kang would forcibly annex his Liu Laosan, of course, was taken aback, and hurriedly asked: "How many soldiers and horses are coming?" Who is leading the team? Did you ask them why they came here? ”

"Back to Peigong, there are four thousand-person banner troops, and there is also a team of cavalry of unknown number, with more than 4,000 people, led by the captain of the young marshal army, Chao Zhi." The envoy's entourage reported truthfully, and said: "The envoy stepped forward to inquire, and Chao Zhi said that he was ordered by Young Marshal Xiang to lead the army north to welcome Pei Gong and you go south to Pengcheng for a banquet, and also said that we should not misunderstand, they have no malicious intent, they just want to take Pei Gong you to Pengcheng." ”

Things have come to this point, of course, Liu Laosan is difficult not to misunderstand, and hurriedly asked the young marshal army Chao Zhi's department to come to stay in the county at the speed of a rapid march, Liu Laosan no longer dared to have any delay, and hurriedly convened Cao Shen, Zhou Bo, Fan Xu, Xiahou Ying and other cronies overnight to discuss countermeasures. As a result, when they heard the news, Cao Shen, Zhou Bo and others were of course taken aback, and they all exclaimed: "What does Xiang Kang Xiao'er want to do? Does he really want to swallow up our army by force? ”

"That's basically the only way to do it." Liu Laosan took his own life and concluded: "Xiao Zhuzi sent someone to invite me to Pengcheng to meet him, and at the same time, he suddenly sent troops to stay in the county without any greeting, and came directly at us, he must have wanted to force Lao Tzu to agree to meet him, and then forced Lao Tzu to merge the army into his bullshit young marshal army, and eat Lao Tzu's army and territory in one bite." ”

"Fight with them!" Fan Hao patted the case and shouted: "The little vertical man is too deceitful, this time I can't swallow my anger and fight with them to the end!" ”

Liu Laosan kept a straight face and didn't say a word, just quickly calculated the consequences of the merger with the young marshal's army, but Cao Shen was very calm, and said: "Don't mess around, the enemy is strong and I am weak, not to mention our current strength, we may not be able to fight Xiang Kang Xiaoer's partial division, even if we win, it will be useless, Xiang Kang'er is strong and strong, and he can immediately send troops to us to take revenge, if he personally leads the main force to attack us, how can we resist?" ”

Liu Laosan, who had not yet received the help of Zhang Liang and Han Xin, closed his eyes in pain, and knew very well that it was indeed a dead end to turn his face with Xiang Kang at present, but the ambition of being unwilling to be made was destined to Liu Laosan to never choose to give in to Xiang Kang, and after hesitating for a long time, Liu Laosan asked Cao Shen: "Then what should we do now?" ”

"It can only be a temporary siege and prepare for both." Cao Shen replied: "While being careful of the embankment, Xiang Kang'er's partial division suddenly made a move, and on the other hand, he showed weakness to Xiang Kang'er, trying to persuade Xiang Kang'er to stop with false surrender and give up the plan to forcibly annex us. ”

Liu Laosan was silent again, and only after a while did he grit his teeth and say: "It's good to give Lao Tzu one more day!" Within one day, Lao Tzu is at least ninety percent sure that he can take Liuxian County, and safely hide in the city to talk to Xiang Kang Xiao'er, so is it necessary to be as passive as now? ”

No matter how hard you cut your teeth, there is a city blocking the road in front of you, and the young marshal's army division that came all the way in a hurry will definitely arrive at the outskirts of Liuxian County the next day, Liu Laosan of course does not dare to risk attacking the city, showing his back to stab the young marshal's army division. So after gritting his teeth, Liu Laosan still shouted helplessly: "Just do it, temporarily stabilize the siege, and give priority to preventing Xiang Kang'er's partial division!" ”

After the roar, Liu Laosan also kicked on the table in front of him, kicking the case table into the air, and the pen and ink bamboo slips were suddenly sprinkled all over the ground.

In this way, in the case that the defenders of Liuxian County have been completely desperate, Liu Laosan's army can only be forced to temporarily give up the siege, and at the same time, in the surprised eyes of the defenders of Liuxian County, before the dawn of the next day, more than 300 young marshal cavalry rushed to Liuxian County, and stopped at the high post in the southern suburbs of Liuxian.

At noon, Chao Zhi and the main force of the young marshal's army led by Zhu Jishi arrived at the outskirts of Liuxian County, and then Chao Zhi, who was good at military training, did not send people to contact Liu Laosan, and directly led the army to Liu Laosan's military camp to line up the formation, and then sent someone to ask Liu Laosan to come out of the camp to answer. Liu Laosan was helpless, so he had to lead a team of people out of the camp and go to the front to talk to Chao Zhi.

This is also the first time Liu Laosan saw the military appearance of the young marshal army with his own eyes, and the result made Liu Laosan ashamed that he was also an anti-Qin rebel army, and it was just an ordinary partial division all the way, after a long journey, the military formation of the young marshal army was still extremely tight, the military flag was like a forest, not moving like a mountain, and the weapons and equipment dwarfed Liu Laosan's soldiers, the front row of armor and swords were bright, strong as an ox, the back row of crossbowmen was neatly lined up, the equipment was unified, and there were chariots and soldiers mixed in the middle, the horses were tall, the body was solid, and the military might was far beyond the ordinary Qin army county soldiers, chasing the elite of the Qin army.

After looking at the military formation of the young marshal army with great envy, he quietly swallowed a mouthful of greedy saliva, and then Liu Laosan stepped forward and loudly identified himself. Please ask Pei to resign from official business, immediately raise troops to the south, my young marshal has prepared good wine for cattle and sheep in Pengcheng, reward Pei Gong for your soldiers! ”

"Captain Chao, Young Marshal Xiang's kindness is appreciated in my heart." Liu Laosan said loudly very helplessly: "But Captain Chao, you have also seen that the county is not broken, and he is entangled in military affairs, so he really can't take the time to go to Pengcheng to meet Young Marshal Xiang." He also asked Captain Chao to return to Major Marshal Xiang, saying that after this period of time, he would definitely go to Pengcheng in person to thank him and ask for his guilt in person. ”

"Pei Gong, you don't have to worry about staying in the county, after you leave, you will attack in the next generation." Chao Zhi said majestically and loudly: "I only ask Pei Gong to go south immediately and go to Pengcheng to meet with our young marshal to discuss the anti-Qin matter!" ”

"It's over, it seems that this puppet is determined to force Lao Tzu to go to Pengcheng." Liu Laosan complained bitterly in his heart, but he continued to prevaricate: "Captain Chao, not only is there an attack on Liuxian County, but also in the Fengpei Huling and other places in the rear, and there are countless military affairs that need to be handled in person, so I really can't get out." ”

"Then there is no way, I came here by order, if I can't invite Pei Gong to go south, I can't explain to Young Marshal Xiang when I go back." Chao Zhi pretended to be helpless and said, "If you don't think about it again, Pei Gong will temporarily set up camp here and wait for Pei Gong's reply." ”

After that, Chao Zhi turned around and left, led the army to retreat in an orderly manner, and slowly retreated to a place less than five miles away from Liu Laosan's military camp to set up camp. The result is also human nature, seeing Chao Zhi showing off his military might like this, and at the same time forcing Liu Laosan to go to Pengcheng to meet Xiang Kang, Cao Shen and others all suspected that Chao Zhi wanted to let the soldiers rest temporarily, and then suddenly move after recuperating enough physical strength to forcibly annex Liu Laosan's army and territory.

"Pei Gong, you can't wait for them to do it first, you have to strike first!" Fan Xu's reaction was the most intense, and he shouted: "Take advantage of their exhaustion from afar, and the camp is not stable, immediately send troops to kill them by surprise!" ”

"Fan Xu, don't say stupid things, okay?" Cao Shen said angrily: "The first strike? Let's not talk about whether you can succeed, even if you can succeed, what if you can succeed? is also an anti-Qin rebel army, and Xiang Kang'er's partial division came under the banner of welcoming Pei Gong to Pengcheng, we suddenly turned our faces against them, how can we explain to the world? When the time comes, Xiang Kang Xiao'er personally raised the main force to take revenge, and the other anti-Qin rebels also attacked us en masse, wouldn't we have to die without a place to be buried?! ”

Fan Xue was speechless, and could only say unconvinced: "Then what should we do?" A thousand days to prevent thieves, can you prevent it? What if Chao Zhipifu suddenly turns his face and kills us by surprise? ”

Cao Shen's face was gloomy, and he said to Liu Laosan after a while: "Pei Gong, there are only two choices, one is to go for the best plan, and quickly return to Pei County to protect yourself." The second is to bet on a big one, betting that Xiang Kang Xiaoer will not dare to bear the infamy, and dare not suddenly attack us without giving any reason, attack the city with all his might, and take down Liuxian County to enter the city first! ”

Liu Laosan's face was far more gloomy than Cao Shen's, and he thought about it for a long time before he said slowly: "I can't bear it anymore, staying in the county is just around the corner, it's a pity to give up now, and if I give in again and again, Xiang Kang Xiao'er may further kick his nose in the face, and there will be a bigger problem forcing us to join his bullshit young marshal army!" Take a gamble! ”

Liu Laosan made up his mind and said viciously: "Bet! Lao Tzu didn't believe it, Xiang Kang really didn't care about anything, and even the anti-Qin rebels could do it! Send troops immediately and attack Liuxian! ”

"Pei Gong, you can think about it carefully!" Cao Shen warned: "If this bet is lost, and Chao Zhipifu really stabs us in the back when we send troops to attack the city, then we are not only doomed to a fiasco, but all the hard work in the past few months may be in vain." ”

Considering that he was attacked by the young marshal's army during the siege of the city, there was indeed a danger of annihilation of the whole army, Liu Laosan inevitably had some hesitation, but at this time, a scout suddenly came from outside the tent to report, saying: "Yu Peigong, the young marshal army from the south sent a messenger to Liuxian County with a white flag in his hand to shout. ”

"What did you shout?" Liu Laosan hurriedly asked.

"Ask the soldiers of the Tyrannical Qin army in the city to send them a letter." The scout replied truthfully: "It was also said that the letter was written to the Tyrannical Qin County Commander of Liuxian, and when the soldiers of the Tyrannical Qin army in the city heard it, they put down the basket with a rope and carried the letter to the city. ”

"An ordinary letter of surrender? Or is it some other epistle? Liu Laosan once again treated himself as his own, and immediately doubted the content of the young marshal's letter.

"If it's just an ordinary letter of surrender, it's fine, but if it's another letter, then we might be in big trouble." Cao Shen said with great concern: "If Chao Zhipifu is determined to attack us, maybe he will persuade the tyrannical Qin army in Liuxian County to join forces with us and attack us back and forth." ”

Liu Laosan's face was gloomy again, and he thought about it for a long time before he said: "Send someone to contact Chao Zhi, just say that Lao Tzu's northern line is urgent, and he must return to the north immediately, so he will not accompany him to play in Liuxian, and when there is a chance in the future, Lao Tzu will go to Pengcheng to meet Xiang Kang Xiao'er." ”

"Pei Gong, didn't you just say that you can't tolerate it anymore? Why did this change of mind again? Fan Xue was anxious when he heard this.

"You know!" Liu Laosan scolded angrily and said: "Lao Tzu is going to test, if Chao Zhipifu really has any hostility towards us, he will definitely not let us go!" Find out his attitude, and we don't have to worry about how to decide! ”

After Liu Laosan's envoy came to the camp of the young marshal's army, the ball was naturally kicked in front of Chao Zhi, in order to eat the county town alone, Chao Zhi of course wished that Liu Laosan would get out of the house quickly, and he almost wanted to open his mouth to agree. Fortunately, Chao Zhi is still a bit of a brain, and he knows the truth that if he wants to hurry, he will not answer, although he can't come up with any tricks to catch and indulge, but he also remembered that Xiang Kang wanted to make mysterious instructions when he set off, so he just nodded and said that he knew, and then sent Liu Laosan's envoy away without saying a word.

Chao Zhi's hand also happened to hit Liu Laosan's vital point, hearing that Chao Zhi did not make any reply, Liu Laosan, who was already extremely hesitant, was inevitably even more worried in his heart, after thinking about it again and again, in line with the iron law of singles that heroes do not suffer immediate losses, Liu Laosan, who is a hooligan, still gritted his teeth and made a decision, saying: "Tomorrow pull out the camp, the whole army will slowly retreat, and first withdraw to Peixian County to defend the city!" ”

In this way, in the case of the last kick left from the breakthrough of Liuxian, because of the fear that the young marshal's army would forcibly annex his own soldiers and horses by force, Liu Laosan's army still chose to retreat and protect itself, and the next morning pulled out the camp and went north, maintaining a strict vigilance and slowly retreating, Chao Zhi and Zhu Jishi led the young marshal's army was snickering in his heart, while always holding his troops still, watching Liu Laosan's army, who could not start now, leave, and then immediately took over the old site of the camp left by Liu Laosan, and will take over the siege weapons left by Liu Laosan, Attack directly on the city of Liuxian.

In the end, it was only after the young marshal's army used the siege weapons left by Liu Laosan to break through Liuxian, and after receiving the news that the young marshal's army had moved the main city to Pengcheng, Liu Laosan suddenly realized that he was so angry that he kicked the case and scolded, "Shameless traitor!" It can be so treacherous! Obviously, he just wanted to take Liuxian and establish the outer barrier of Pengcheng, but he actually pretended to want to annex Lao Tzu by force, forcing Lao Tzu to let the cooked duck fly away! It is said that Lao Tzu is a hooligan, compared with Xiang Kang Xiaoer, a big hooligan, Lao Tzu is simply a righteous gentleman who reads sage books! Moral role model! ”

After the scolding, Liu Laosan, who originally wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the young marshal's army to contain the Qin army in Surabaya, also completely dispelled this idea, and roared: "Go north!" I can only go north! Xiang Kang is more hooligan than Lao Tzu and shameless, he can't play him! Go north to expand our territory, strengthen our military strength, and wait until later to settle accounts with Xiang Kang Xiao'er! ”