As Xiang Kang was worried, Xiang Guan had really been secretly keeping an eye on Zhou Yin, the commander of the Northern Front Corps of the Western Chu Army, for no other reason, one was that Xiang Kang and the Han Army had a bad reputation in persuading surrender and rebellion, which could be described as having a bad track record and a lot of criminal records, so that Xiang Guan had to guard against it, and the other was that Xiang Guan had indeed become suspicious of Zhou Yin, suspecting that Zhou Yin had begun to waver.

Xiang Guan's suspicion of Zhou Yin was actually much earlier than Xiang Kang's estimate, long before the start of the Julu War, Xiang Kang tried to send an envoy to send a letter to explain the stakes to Zhou Yin, and Xiang Guan, who also saw most of the content of the letter, was already vigilant, worried that Zhou Yin was afraid that he would not be able to explain to Xiang Yu in the future, and he would really have a different heart.

Immediately afterwards, during the Battle of Julu, Xiang Kang took the opportunity of the tough Xiang Guan to lead the troops out of the camp, sent a messenger to contact Zhou Yin again, and wrote a handwritten letter promising to persuade Zhou Yin to lead the army to surrender, and afterwards not only someone made a small report to Xiang Guan, Xiang Guan also obtained Xiang Kang's handwritten letter from Zhou Yin to check the content, and because Zhou Yin did not take the initiative to tell him about this situation, his suspicion of Zhou Yin increased, and he doubted Zhou Yin's true attitude and position.

Under such background conditions, when Cui Guang, the old man of Shangshan, went to the camp of the Western Chu Army to persuade him to surrender, Zhou Yin's wavering expression was certainly not able to hide from Xiang Guan's eyes, which made Xiang Guan's heart more and more affirmative, "Zhou Yin, I'm afraid that this puppet is really shaken, if I am careful to guard against it and let the Han thief avoid me and get in touch with Zhou Yin's puppet directly, I am afraid the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Because of this, after brutally driving away Cui Guang, the old man of Shangshan, Xiang Guan not only prescribed the right medicine and clearly told Zhou Yin that he would be guilty with him after seeing Xiang Yu in the future, but also secretly stepped up his secret surveillance of Zhou Yin, and at the same time used his influence in the Western Chu army to plant eyeliner among the guards of the Western Chu army camp, and explained that as long as he found a suspicious person entering the camp, or trying to get in touch with Zhou Yin, he must report to himself as soon as possible.

Perhaps in order to prove that Xiang Guan's worries were not in vain, Cui Guangcai was driven away for a day, and when it was close to the early morning of the third day, when Xiang Guan was still sleeping in his bedroom, the soldiers suddenly woke him up, and said in an anxious tone: "General Xiang, wake up quickly, the south gate is urgent, someone entered our camp just now, and was directly led to the Chinese army camp to meet Da Sima." ”

The words of the pro-soldier made Xiang Guan suddenly sober up, and after quickly lifting his bedclothes and sitting up, Xiang Guan immediately asked, "Do you know the identity of the person who came?" Did you say why you want to see Da Sima? ”

"Returning to General Xiang, I heard that it was a messenger sent by our king who brought our king's order to Da Sima, so he was immediately led to meet Da Sima."

Xiang Guan's answer made Xiang Guan extremely surprised at first, and then overjoyed, and immediately jumped up from the couch with cheers, "Finally get in touch with my brother, quick, help me change my clothes immediately, I want to see what the situation is right away." Are our reinforcements coming? ”

With the help of his own soldiers, he hurriedly changed his clothes, Xiang Guan didn't even have time to wash his face, and immediately rushed to the Chinese army camp of the Western Chu Army to check the situation, and rushed directly into Zhou Yin's Chinese army marshal's tent without being reported. After seeing Xiang Guan come in, the man immediately bowed to Xiang Guan, and said respectfully in an authentic Pengcheng accent: "Tan Shuang, the halberd under the tent of the King of Western Chu, has seen General Xiang Guan. ”

After a cursory glance at Tan Shuang, who claimed to be Xiang Yu's subordinate to Langzhong, although he felt very naïve and seemed to have never seen it, Xiang Guan didn't care about such details at all, just waved his hand and said quickly: "No need to be polite, hurry up, where are our reinforcements?" When can I get to Julu? ”

"Back to General Xiang, the reinforcements under the personal command of the king are still being assembled, and the date of arrival in Julu cannot be confirmed for the time being." Tan Shuang replied honestly, and hurriedly added: "But please rest assured, general, the estimated date, just in this day or two, our main army from Pengcheng to the north will be able to rush to Lu County to meet our king." In addition, our grain and grass and military supplies have also been requisitioned on the spot in Jibei and Xue County, and the king of Jibei has also prepared enough ferries for us in Pingyuanjin, so as long as our reinforcements are assembled, at most ten days, our king can rush to Julu with reinforcements. ”

"In that case, we'll have to hold out for at least ten days or so."

Xiang Guan's brows were slightly furrowed, quite worried that the reinforcements of the Western Chu Army would arrive too late, and then hurriedly asked Tan Shuang if he had brought Xiang Yu's letter, and then Zhou Yin, who was in the handsome position, just showed Xiang Yu's letter that he was still watching, Xiang Guan rushed up very unceremoniously and took it and took a closer look, and immediately recognized that the signature on the letter was indeed written by Xiang Yu himself, and the seal was also Xiang Yu's seal of the King of Western Chu.

The content of Xiang Yu's letter is not complicated, that is, it roughly introduces the current situation of the Western Chu army, saying that because of the disturbance of Peng Yue's army and the rebellion of most of the Western Chu civil and military forces, the hinterland situation of the Western Chu army is currently very chaotic, and he has no way to quickly gather reinforcements and immediately rush to Julu for reinforcements, so he can only let Zhou Yin lead the Western Chu army and Zhao Qi's army to hold on with all their might, and wait patiently for his reinforcements to arrive. At the same time, Xiang Yu habitually shouted arrogantly, saying that as long as the elite main force of the Western Chu Army led by him arrived, he could definitely kill all the two major corps of the Han Army immediately, so that the Northern Front Corps of the Western Chu Army did not have to worry about anything, just wait patiently for him to clean up the Han thieves.

It was only after carefully re-reading Xiang Yu's letter that Xiang Guan handed the letter back to Zhou Yin, and then pretended to be relaxed and said, "Da Sima, can you rest assured now?" Ten days at most, we only need to hold on for another ten days at most, and our king's reinforcements can arrive. ”

"The question is, the Han thief's offensive is so fierce, it only took one day to take Julu City, are we sure that we will survive these ten days? Also, the Han thieves have already divided their troops to garrison Tobu Castle in advance, choking the grain route of our reinforcements, how can this fatal problem be solved? ”

Zhou Yin muttered in his heart, but forced a smile on his face: "Do you still need to ask?" Of course, you can rest assured, as long as the king's reinforcements arrive, we can not only turn the crisis into safety immediately, but also have a chance to turn defeat into victory, what else is there to worry about? ”

"Exactly." Xiang Guan nodded with satisfaction, and then proposed: "Da Sima, according to the opinion of the last general, it is best for us to immediately make this good news public, tell all the soldiers in our camp, and also tell the Qi army this good news by the way, so that our soldiers and the Qi army will have more confidence to hold on." ”

Zhou Yin agreed, and in front of Xiang Guan, he immediately arranged for the guards in his tent to rush to the battalions to spread the news, claiming that Xiang Yu's rescue troops would inevitably arrive within ten days, and at the same time sent someone to contact the Qi army and tell Tian Bu and others about the situation. Xiang Guan wanted Tan Shuang to ask about Xiang Yu's recent situation, and Tan Shuang replied fluently, saying that Xiang Yu has been in good health recently, just because the war was not very smooth, and his temper was not very good, and it was not surprising that Xiang Guan, who was familiar with Xiang Yu's character.

Then, when the guards delivered breakfast to Zhou Yin, Xiang Guan remembered that he hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so he simply had breakfast with Zhou Yin in the big tent of the Chinese army, and Tan Shuang, who had made great contributions, was led by Zhou Yin's guards to eat and rest in other military tents.

Although he was somewhat disappointed that the arrival of reinforcements was too late, it was a good thing to be able to get in touch with Xiang Yu's envoy after all, so when he said goodbye and left Zhou Yin's side, Xiang Guan's face was still full of long-lost smiles, and he also saw some hope of turning defeat into victory. However, to Xiang Guan's surprise, not long after he returned to his camp, his own soldiers entered the tent and reported: "General Qiyu, the halberd Lang Zhong Tan Shuang, who delivered a letter for our king, is here, saying that there is an important confidential matter, and he wants to report it to the general in person." ”

"Important confidential business?" Xiang Guan's heart sank, and he hurriedly shouted: "Quick, bring him in." ”

According to Xiang Guan's order, after a while, Xiang Yu's guard Tan Shuang, who had just met Xiang Guan, was once again led in front of Xiang Guan, and after saluting respectfully, Xiang Guan asked him if he had any confidential matters to report to him, Tan Shuang also looked at Xiang Guan's left and right first, and asked very carefully: "Dare to ask General Xiang, is it convenient to speak here?" ”

Xiang Guan understood what Tan Shuang meant, and hurriedly said: "Don't worry, these are all the henchmen of this general, if you have anything to say, just say it." ”

Tan Shuang agreed, and then said to ask the general for forgiveness, then he took off his coat, tore open the mezzanine at the back, took out two white silks with the smell of sweat and horse-fishy from the mezzanine, presented his hands in front of Xiang Guan, and said in a deep voice: "General Xiang, this is a letter from the king to you, please take a look." ”

Seeing this scene, Xiang Guan, of course, understood that Xiang Yu's letter must be extraordinary, and hurriedly stepped forward to take it in person, and when he opened it to watch, he saw a letter written by Xiang Yu himself on a white silk, and then when he looked at the content carefully, Xiang Guan's face suddenly changed, and it turned out that Xiang Yu wrote in this handwriting on the letter:

"Brother Xiang Guan, I already know everything about Zhao Di, Zhou Yinpifu was cowardly and incompetent, and he lost his teacher and humiliated the country, causing countless of my Western Chu soldiers to die on the battlefield, and Xiang Sui's brother unfortunately died in battle, and his crime is unforgivable. I expect that this fang is afraid of the law of the Western Chu country, and will definitely give birth to dissent, and even give birth to the idea of surrendering to the Han and rebelling against Chu. If Brother Guan discovers the abnormality, he must not hesitate, he must immediately take the lead, kill Zhou Yinpifu and his henchmen, take over the military power, and hold on to the danger to wait for me to help! Brother, Xiang Yu. ”

In addition to this letter, Xiang Yu also attached a handwritten warrant of his own, asking Xiang Guan to take his warrant to kill Zhou Yin at the necessary moment, take over the Northern Front Corps of the Western Chu Army, and allow Xiang Guan to dispose of the civil and military soldiers of the Western Chu Army who refused to obey the order at will.

After reading Xiang Yu's letter and warrant repeatedly, Xiang Guan first carefully folded the letter and warrant and hid them in his arms, and then said to Tan Shuang: "You have done a good job, and when I see our king, I will ask the king for credit for you." Go back and rest, and remember, don't let anyone else know that you have brought me the King's letters. ”

Xiang Guan underestimated Zhou Yin's ability to control the army, in fact, when Tan Shuang had just delivered Xiang Yu's letter to Xiang Guan, Xiang Yu's guard Tan Shuang had already been reported to Zhou Yin when he came to meet Xiang Guan. As a result, Zhou Yin immediately became suspicious when he heard this, and said secretly: "The king's guard, Langzhong, has worked so hard to send the letter order to my camp, and he has not put his mind down to rest, why are you in such a hurry to see Xiang Guan?" ”

There is no need for complicated logic, just a little calculation, Zhou Yin guessed the biggest possibility of this matter, and said in his heart: "Could it be that he is carrying me behind my back to convey some secret order to Xiang Guan?" I secretly gave orders to Xiang Guan, but I didn't want me to know that the matter must have something to do with me, and it seems that I have to be more guarded against Xiang Guan's little shaft. ”

…………

When Zhou Yin was suspicious of Xiang Guan, another famous old man from Shangshan, Zhou Shu, also led a few servants to take a gorgeous float to the gate of the camp of the Qi army, and showed his identity to the Qi soldiers, and asked to enter the camp to talk to Tian Bu, the commander of the Qi army.

The prestige of the four old men of Shangshan among the scholars is indeed prominent, even if they are thousands of miles away, the commander of the Qi army, Tian Bu, has also heard of their names, plus since ancient times, there has been a rule that the two countries compete with each other, Tian Shu not only did not refuse to meet with Zhou Shu, but also personally came to the door of the Chinese army camp to greet Zhou Shu, and very politely invited Zhou Shu into the Chinese army tent to sit down.

Of course, Zhou Shu also praised Tianbe's virtue of respecting his elders, and praised Tianbe's ability to govern the army, using troops in a good way, leading the Qi army as a partial division Leng is playing the main performance, and finally suddenly changed the tone of words, and said: "General, the old man can't take up too much of your time, just say it, the old man is here, it is on the order of our Han king, to persuade your army and our Han army to turn the war into a jade silk, and take the initiative to evacuate the Julu battlefield and return to the Qi country." If the general can agree, our Han king will not only officially recognize your king of Qi as the lord of Qi, but also send a large army to help your country resist the attack of the Western Chu thief army. ”

"Doctor Zhou's forgiveness, such a major matter is not something that the younger generation can decide as a courtier." Tian replied politely: "We must ask Dr. Zhou to go to Linzi in person and discuss with our King Qi in person, and only after our King has made a decision can the younger generation act as ordered." ”

"The general is really straightforward, and his words are really direct." Zhou Shu praised again, then nodded and said, "Yes, it is a matter of your country's position, and such a matter really has to be decided by King Qi himself." But....... ”

After deliberately dragging out the end note, Zhou Shu suddenly changed his tone and said with a smile: "But General, if you can accept the canonization of our Han King and replace Tian Jiao as the lord of Qi, wouldn't you be able to make such a major decision as the King of Qi?" ”

Before Zhou Shu's words were finished, Tian Be's face had already changed, and he snorted coldly: "Mr. Luli, the younger generation respects you for your high age and reputation, so they treat you politely, but the younger generation really didn't expect that Mr. came here to persuade the younger generation to do disloyal, unfilial, unkind and unrighteous beast things!" ”