The melee in the Central Plains became more and more intense, and it became more and more chaotic, the day after Xiang Kang and Yu Miaoge officially got married, before Xiang Kang recovered from the joy of the newlywed Yan'er, the following was reported to be hearsay, saying that after the military minister who broke away from Chen Sheng and established himself as the king of Zhao sent his subordinate general Han Guang to the north of Yandi, his subordinate Han Guang also learned from him, broke away from his control and established himself as the king of Yan, and said that the military minister was furious about this matter, and had personally led his troops to the north to crusade against the traitor Han Guang who betrayed his traitor.

Xiang Kang told the news to Fan Zeng, who lived in the guest house of the temple in Pengcheng County, but Old Man Fan was no longer as proud as yesterday, taking advantage of the situation to boast of his foresight, on the contrary, he sighed and said: "The snipe and the clam are fighting, the fisherman is profitable, and the two horsemen of Wuchen and Han Guang are really the relatives and the enemies are happy, and the tyrannical Qin army is cheapened in vain." ”

"I'm afraid there will be more and more such situations in the future." Xiang Kang also sighed and said, "I just hope that Chen Sheng can last a little longer, don't lose too fast, and buy us a little more time." ”

"Never put your hope entirely in someone else, let alone in the mistakes of your enemies." Old man Fan put up the elder shelf again and taught: "Only by constantly striving for self-improvement, never forgetting that you are born in adversity and die in peace, can you control your own destiny." ”

Xiang Kang hurriedly said that he kept Old Man Fan's instructions in mind, and Old Man Fan nodded with satisfaction, and asked very unceremoniously: "Young Marshal, how do you plan to arrange for me, a bad old man?" The old man is old and frail, he can't go into battle, he can't ride a horse, you can't let the old man go into battle for you to kill the enemy, right? ”

"Fan Gong rest assured, the kid has already made arrangements." Xiang Kang said very respectfully: "The kid originally wanted to directly ask Fan Gong to take up the post of military advisor, but when Fan Gong first arrived, he directly served as a military advisor, but he was afraid that the boy's subordinates would not accept it, so the kid took the liberty and wanted to ask Fan Gong to temporarily take up the post of Zuo Shi (senior staff officer), and then ask Fan Gong to serve as a military advisor in the future, and ask Fan Gong not to feel wronged." ”

The arrogant old man Fan laughed when he heard this, and said: "I can't see that you are young, and you still have such courage, the old man has just arrived, and he actually dares to let the old man directly participate in your military affairs." Perhaps, for the sake of your sincerity, the old man will help you. ”

Xiang Kang was overjoyed, quickly thanked Old Man Fan, and respectfully presented the Zuo Shiyin letter that he had asked people to rush to make overnight, Old Man Fan unceremoniously took it, and then immediately stood up with his cane and said: "Don't waste time, go, lead the old man to your study, the old man should immediately read your military Chinese book and know the situation in your army." ”

The top strategist at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Old Man Fan, was indeed not in vain, he only stayed in Xiang Kang's study for half a day, and he had already memorized the military situation of the young marshal army in detail, and when he had dinner with Xiang Kang and Zhou Zeng, he made three suggestions to Xiang Kang, one was to suggest that Xiang Kang take Xiangxian and Zhuyi as soon as possible and establish an advance base for entering Dangjun; the second is to let Feng Zhong's corps, a young marshal who has successfully taken Guangling and Tangyi, enter Jiujiang to expand its territory and strength; The third is to suggest that Xiang Kang strengthen the city defense of Fuli and hoard a large amount of military grain and grass in Fuli for future use.

Entering Xiangxian and Zhuyi was already in Xiang Kang's plan, of course Xiang Kang would not object, let the idle Feng Zhong Corps go west to Jiujiang to seize the city land, Xiang Kang also nodded immediately, but Fan Old Man's third suggestion, Xiang Kang was a little incomprehensible, and Zhou Zeng next to him couldn't help but ask: "Fan Gong, after our army took Xiangxian and Zhuyi, Fu Li was already in the rear, why did he still rush to repair the city defense there, hoard grain and grass and military supplies, what's the point of doing this?" ”

"If the enemy comes from the west, don't you see that Fuli will become the biggest weakness of our army's defenses?" Old man Fan asked rhetorically, and said: "You gather troops in Pengcheng, the Jianghuai center, and you can indeed win you the opportunity to wait for work after Chen Sheng's defeat." But if the enemy doesn't come to attack Pengcheng, or if the troops divide into two routes, go all the way to Pengcheng to confront you, and continue to march eastward to attack your rear in the East China Sea, what city do you still have to protect the rear? ”

"Only Fu Li can carry this burden." Old man Fan asked and answered himself, and said: "Fuli tightly chokes the Suishui channel, and there is a gallop road connecting Pengcheng and Jiujiang, if the enemy from the west wants to take your rear directly without passing through Pengcheng, you must go through Fuli, you have strengthened the city defense here, hoarded enough food and grass and military supplies, you can station heavy troops in Fuli at any time to protect your rear in the East China Sea, and you can also protect your direct contact with the southern front army, if it is really necessary, your southern line army can also quickly go north along the Chi Road to reinforce the battlefield on the western front, Do you think we need to pay attention to the defense of Fuli? ”

Xiang Kang woke up, hurriedly thanked Old Man Fan, and then issued orders on the spot according to Old Man Fan's suggestion, so that Zheng Bu and Ding Jier would send troops from Xiao County to attack Xiangxian, and let Xiang Han march into Zhuyi while organizing people to strengthen the defense of Fuli City, hoard grain and grass and military supplies in Fuli as much as possible, and at the same time go to the southern line to let Feng Zhong send troops from Tangyi to the west to seize Jiujiang County, which has been isolated. Zhou Zeng next to him knew very well that he was not good at military affairs, although he was a little jealous of Xiang Kang's respect for the old man Fan who had just arrived, but he did not speak indiscriminately and interfered with the decisions that Xiang Kang had already accepted.

…………

Two flowers bloom, one branch each, let's take a look at the situation on Feng Zhong's side, it is also a coincidence, after Xiang Kang sent Feng Zhong's order to enter Jiujiang to the southern front, it happened that Xiang Liang, the boss of the young marshal army Yaozun, also sent news from Huiji, telling the young marshal army that he had accepted Chen Sheng's canonization and officially assumed Zhang Chu's official position as Shangzhu State and marshal, so that all departments of the young marshal army symbolically played the Zhang Chu banner from now on, knowing that Xiang Kang respected Xiang Liang's uncle very much, Feng Zhong did not dare to slack off, and immediately asked people to quickly sew a Zhang Chu banner and put it, Then he sat down and discussed with his most powerful soldier surnamed Han about entering Jiujiang County.

"It's not difficult." The soldier surnamed Han said directly: "Although Jiujiang County has a wide area, it is sparsely populated, and the violent Qin troops in various places will not have too many troops to compete with us, and it is not difficult to attack." However, the road is long and difficult to walk, and the grain transport is even more difficult, and it will definitely take a long time for us to capture the cities one by one, and the army will be very tired, and it will be difficult for us to immediately return to the division for reinforcements once something happens on the northern front. ”

"Therefore, we must not go west directly from Guangling, we can only return to Huaiyin first, and then go west along Huaishui, take the benefits of Huaishui to transport grain, first go down to Zhongli Quyang, and then take Shouchun, and then issue an order with the seal of the Jiujiang County Shou, so that the cities in the south of Jiujiang will surrender, and the county magistrates of those cities are afraid of our military might, afraid that we will send troops to fight, and many people will definitely choose to surrender. Even if there are a few recalcitrant ones, we only need to send a partial division to easily take it. ”

Feng Zhong of course did not hesitate to adopt his suggestion immediately, regardless of Xiang Bo's deliberate opposition to picking bones in the egg, he took the southern line corps of the young marshal's army, which had grown to more than 8,000 people, to the north along the Qinchi Road on the same day, and easily returned to Huaiyin in only two days, and then loaded the grain and grass into the ship and transported it by water, and the army traveled lightly and strode westward on the road on the south bank of Huaishui. However, at this time, news suddenly came from the side of Xutai, saying that Qin Jiajun, who had parted ways with the young marshal's army, had successfully taken Zhongli City in Jiujiang County, blocking the westward advance of the young marshal's army.

Hearing this news, Xiang Bo, who had opposed this route choice before, of course wanted to be more proud, and he opened his teeth and claws in Feng Zhong's tent, shouting, and only accusing Feng Zhong of making mistakes in decision-making, and shouted with an arrogant face: "How is it? The old man is not wrong, right? Since you want to enter Jiujiang County, don't go near and far, directly enter Dongcheng from Guangling, take Dongcheng first, and then capture Yinling and Quyang, and march to Shouchun. I just don't listen, I want to covet the easy road to walk, the convenience of transporting grain, the near and far, and take Shouchun directly along the Huaishui, now it's okay, Zhongli has been taken down by Qin Jia's dog thieves, and it is also an anti-Qin Yi army, you can't fight, and you can't borrow the road, what should you do? ! ”

Feng Zhong, who didn't expect this accident, looked depressed, so he could only peek at the soldiers surnamed Han, but the soldiers surnamed Han didn't think about it, and said: "General, the villain thinks that there is no need to have any worries, just bypass Zhong Licheng and continue to march into the army, Qin Jia doesn't send troops to intercept it, it's okay to say, if he Qin Jia dares to intercept, just start fighting, anyway, they are the first to do the injustice, even if we destroy him, the people of the world will not have anything to say." ”

"Fart! You, a little soldier with a halberd, dare to talk nonsense here? Xiang Bo, who had long seen that the soldiers surnamed Han were not pleasing to the eye, scolded and said: "They are all anti-Qin rebels, forcibly borrowing the road and starting a war, and spreading the word that our Xiang family must not be scolded by the world?" In the future, our Marshal Xiang asked, who will take care of it? ”

Feng Zhong's character is indeed a little weak, although this shortcoming has also improved after the battle of commanding the army, but he does not dare to be such a big master without authorization, and after hesitating for a moment, he said: "It's better to ask for an order, I will send a letter to Young Marshal Xiang, explain the reason to him, and ask him to decide." ”

"I have to ask the marshal for orders!" Xiang Bo said viciously: "Such a big matter, only the marshal can decide, otherwise no one can be the master!" ”

Feng Zhong, who chose to seek the near and far, did not dare to distinguish with Xiang Bo this time, so he immediately nodded and agreed, wrote a letter to Xiang Liang on the spot, explained the situation, asked Xiang Liang to decide how to deal with it, and sent a fast horse to send it out immediately. After sending away Xiang Bo and the others, Feng Zhong quietly wrote to Xiang Kang to report the situation and naturally did not mention it, and then Feng Zhong adopted the advice of the soldiers surnamed Han, and led the soldiers and horses to slowly march westward, preparing to wait for Xiang Liang and Xiang Kang's reply while walking.

Xiang Bo should definitely regret forcing Feng Zhong to ask for his brother's opinion, six days later, Xiang Kang sent a reply, asking Feng Zhong to act cautiously, send an envoy to try to borrow the road, and never do it first until the last resort, and give someone a handle to attract infamy, if it is really not possible, you can bypass Zhongli far away, and go directly to the Yin Tomb in the southwest of Zhongli. However, before Xiang Bo could be happy, Xiang Liang sent someone to send a reply, not only asking Feng Zhong to go west directly to Zhongli, but also sending Zhang Chuwu Pingjun Li Pan, who Chen Sheng had previously sent to appease Xiang Liang, to Feng Zhong's army, and asked Feng Zhong to send Li Pan as an envoy to bring Xiang Liang's handwritten letter to appease Qin Jia.

At the end of the letter, Xiang Liang also clearly told Feng Zhong that although Qin Jia was also an anti-Qin rebel army, he had already reneged on the alliance to attack the camp of the young marshal's army, which was already unjust, which would block the way for the young marshal's army to advance. So Feng Zhong doesn't have to have any worries, what are the consequences of responsibility in the future, Xiang Liang will bear it alone!

Of course, his brother's reply made Xiang Bo's face look extremely difficult again, but Feng Zhong, who was looking forward and backward, seemed to have taken a reassuring pill, and without any worries, he immediately ordered the army that was already approaching the border of Jiujiang County to continue to advance, and directly took Zhongli at the normal marching speed. At the same time, he informed Xiang Kang of Xiang Liang's decision in writing, so that Xiang Kang knew the reason.

After crossing the border of Jiujiang County and marching westward for just over a day, Zhongli City was already in sight, and Qin Jia, who received the news, was already waiting under Zhongli City, and at the same time sent an envoy to ask the young marshal's intentions. Feng Zhong followed Xiang Liang's instructions and sent Chen Sheng's direct courtier Li Pan as an envoy to carry a sealed letter from Xiang Liang to borrow the road from Qin Jia, and at the same time adopted the advice of the soldiers surnamed Han to let the army line up early and prepare for battle.

Qin Jia's reply made Feng Zhong and Xiang Bo and the others dumbfounded together - after Li Pan entered Qin Jiajun's formation with Xiang Liang's letter, it didn't take long for Qin Jiajun to run out of the formation, throwing Li Pan's head in front of the young marshal's army, and scolded: "The Xiang family's dog thief, shameless and despicable, has no faith in Xutai City, and now he even wants our General Qin to surrender to you!" Dream! If you want to fight, you can fight, and today I just want to find your new account and old account together! ”

After that, Qin Jiajun's envoy galloped back to the battle, but Feng Zhong, Xiang Bo, Chen Ying and the others looked at each other, and they all couldn't believe that this was true-Qin Jia was so crazy that he dared to slaughter Chen Sheng's direct courtiers directly? Only the soldiers surnamed Han behind Feng Zhong and Zhang Liang behind Xiang Bo sighed together, and said, "It is worthy of our Xiang Zhu Kingdom, high!" I didn't expect that a deliberately arrogant letter could provoke Qin Jiapifu like this. ”

After sighing, the soldier surnamed Han leaned down to Feng Zhong's ear and whispered, "General, what are you still doing?" Such a good opportunity, if you don't start fighting, when will you wait for it to fight again? ”

Feng Zhong came to his senses, quickly stood up, scolded Qin Jia in public for daring to kill Li Pan, the courtier of King Zhang Chu, for his unforgivable crime, and ordered the army to immediately launch an attack and hit Qin Jia's army formation head-on.

The reason why Qin Jia dared to be the enemy of the young marshal army was that Qin Jia's personality was a little crazy and he didn't like to think about the consequences, and the second was that when he was outside Xutai City before, Qin Jia had broken through the camp of the young marshal's army Xiang You, and he retreated calmly afterwards, coupled with Xiang Bo's messing around under Huaiyin City, the strength of the young marshal army could not be brought into play, so Qin Jia also looked down on the combat effectiveness of the young marshal army from the bottom of his heart, and felt that his army had the strength to compete head-on with the young marshal army after he had grown again. Only then was the decision made to go to war.

However, the cruel truth quickly swollen Qin Jia's face, under the command of Feng Zhong, the young marshal soldiers with weapons and equipment superior to the enemy marched in line, like a wave of turbulence, slapping on the head of Qin Jiajun's formation one after another, constantly splashing countless blood-colored waves, ferociously compressing Qin Jiajun's position space little by little. No matter how Qin Jia roared and roared, and no matter how much Qin Jiajun forced the team to force with a knife, it did not stop the momentum of the young marshal's army.

Seeing this scene, Qin Jia, who was furious like thunder, roared again and again, forcing the two wings of the army to step forward and attack the frontal attacking army of the young marshal army on three sides, Feng Zhong adopted the suggestion of the personal soldiers surnamed Han and always stood still, or after the soldiers and horses of the two wings of the Qin Jia army were already entangled with the attacking army of the young marshal's army, Feng Zhong calmly dispatched the two wings of the army to attack the back of the two wings of the Qin Jiajun army, and when the young marshal army of the two wings was killed in front of them, the two wings of the Qin Jiajun army who were attacked by the enemy on their backs were soon unable to parry, and the soldiers and generals fled one after another, The morale of the Chinese army was frustrated, and the already wavering position was even more shaky.

There is no suspense, as there are more and more Qin Jiajun's soldiers who flee out of the formation, Qin Jiajun's formation is becoming more and more shaken and chaotic, and after a burst of panic shouting suddenly broke out in the formation, Qin Jiajun's army also suddenly collapsed, and the generals scrambled to take the lead in fleeing for their lives, and the soldiers fled so much that they only hated their parents for giving birth to two legs, Feng Zhong took advantage of the situation to launch a general attack, and broke Qin Jia in the field battle, beheading nearly a thousand people, and the prisoners were countless.

After the defeat, Qin Jia fled directly back to the city with the defeated army, Feng Zhong wanted to drive the army to the city and set up camp, but the soldiers surnamed Han stopped him and said: "General, you can't go to the city to set up camp, after the enemy has no way out, we will definitely only defend ourselves, and if we want to attack the city and take Zhongli, it will only be more difficult." ”

"What then?" Feng Zhong asked.

"Ten miles from the city, go down to camp." The soldier surnamed Han replied: "Send someone to shoot the arrow book into the city, and say that Qin Jia's puppet killed the courtiers of the king of Zhang Chu, and the crime is unforgivable, and our army will inevitably kill Qin Jia, avenge Zhang Chu's Wu Pingjun, and let the defenders in the city take Qin Jia's head and ask for a reward in front of our army." In this way, it won't be long before Qin Jiapifu will definitely abandon the city and flee, and when the time comes, our army will send troops to pursue again, and it will definitely be able to win another big victory. ”

"Speak better than sing." Next to him, Xiang Bo said in a weird manner: "What if Qin Jia doesn't run?" ”

"Master Hui, Qin Jia has only one choice." The soldier surnamed Han smiled and said: "He had an enmity with us, and he killed the envoy of King Zhang Chu, he must be afraid that we will have no way out after besieging the city, in order to survive, his best choice is to quickly take the army and slip away, avoid our soldiers to wander elsewhere, otherwise, once we surround Zhongli, he will not be able to fly out even if he has wings." ”

Xiang Bo sneered, Zhang Liang behind Xiang Bo had already noticed the extraordinaryness of this soldier surnamed Han, and wanted to find a chance to talk to him alone, but Feng Zhong refused to let the soldier surnamed Han leave his side at any time, and Zhang Liang never found a chance.

Expected by the soldiers surnamed Han, after discovering that he had broken into a monstrous disaster through the arrow book, he was afraid that the young marshal's army would have no way out after besieging the city, Qin Jia, who liked to wander, really chose to abandon the city and flee south that night, but unfortunately the young marshal's army was already prepared, and immediately sent troops to launch a pursuit, Qin Jia's army was defeated again, losing countless money, grain, and baggage, and the army was also hit hard, and it could no longer become an obstacle for the young marshal's army to seize Jiujiang.