"Damn thief! As expected, it came! ”

When he received the urgent report that the Han army's partial division was crossing the southern line north of Baimajin, Zhang Er, the minister of Zhao Guoquan, who had already stood on the side of the Western Chu army, did not have any surprises, because as early as when he knew that the Western Chu army in Hanoi was annihilated by the Han army, Zhang Er was already sure that as long as the main force of the Han army on the Xingyang battlefield could free up his hands a little, he would definitely send troops to Handan and stab himself in the back to avenge his betrayal of the Han army several times before.

Later, I learned that Xiang Yu personally led the army back to the hinterland of Western Chu to quell the rebellion, and the main force under his command had been fighting with the Han army Zhou Shusuo's headquarters in Hengshan County, Zhang Er was also more 100% sure that the Han army would definitely divide its troops to the north in the near future, not only to seek revenge for themselves, but also to share the pressure on the northern division of the Han army, which was currently at a disadvantage, so after receiving the report of the emergency on the southern front, Zhang Er not only did not feel a little strange or unexpected, but on the contrary, he felt a lot more relaxed - anyway, he couldn't hide, and he came early to save himself from worrying every day.

The same is true of Zhang Er's staff headed by Wei Wuzhi, a descendant of Xinling Jun, who also did not feel any accidents, Wei Wuzhi also said to Zhang Er: "Enxiang, the Han thieves divided their troops to attack the southern line of our army, and they must try to fight a quick battle, and deceive the main force of our army in Hengshan, it is very likely to advance lightly and quickly, and strive to kill our army by surprise. ”

"It makes sense." Zhang Er very much agreed with Wei Wuzhi's proposal, and said: "Although we urgently recruited a group of troops to deploy on the front line of Zhangshui, it is difficult for the Han thieves to break through, but after all, the newly recruited army is not strong enough to pin all our hopes on them, and we must also send an army from the northern front south as soon as possible to deal with the situation." ”

After that, Zhang Er, who had already carefully considered the contingency plan, immediately issued an order, and let his favorite generals Zhang Xiao and Chen Ze immediately lead their own troops south, and rushed to Julu to maneuver, Wei Wuzhi was a little worried when he heard this, and hurriedly asked: "Enxiang, there are 70,000 Han thieves in the north, but the army under the command of the two generals Zhang Chen is only more than 30,000 people, and they are only transferred to the south, is there a shortage of troops?" ”

"You can't draw too many troops from the northern front at once." Zhang Er shook his head and said: "First, too many troops have been transferred south, and the thieves on the northern front will definitely understand that their reinforcements are already moving north, and they will be more determined to stick to the need for help, and second, without our main force on the northern front, the second army of Chuqi may be selfish and unwilling to fight hard." Only if only part of our army is sent south, will the Han thieves on the northern front not be able to figure out our reality clearly, and our allies will also think that our southern front is not a big problem, and they will rest assured that they will go all out to attack the Han thieves on the northern front. ”

After finishing speaking, Zhang Er smiled again and said: "Besides, there is no need for us to send so many troops south, the 400,000 troops of the Tyrannical Qin couldn't defeat the giant deer back then, and of course the 70,000 Han thieves didn't want to threaten the security of our national capital." Also, although the rear of the King of Western Chu has changed, but with his strong soldiers and horses, it is just a gesture to extinguish the rebellion in the rear, and he will definitely return to the Central Plains battlefield soon, and when the main force of the Han thieves is tight, they will definitely have to recall their northward division, and we don't have to worry about anything. ”

Seeing that Zhang Er was so confident, Wei Wuzhi couldn't insist, so he could only change his mouth and ask how to deal with the enemy on the southern front, and Zhang Er replied very easily: "The Han thieves are going north, and of course Anyang and Ye County will definitely be difficult to defend, but fortunately, those two county towns are not very important, even if they are lost, they will not have much impact." Therefore, ignore Anyang and Ye County, and ask Fan Biao to guard the Zhangshui defense line with all his might, prevent the Han thieves from taking Julu lightly, and wait for Zhang Wei and Chen Ze's army to go south to Julu, and then we will redeploy the southern line defense. ”

Zhang Er's decision allowed the people of Anyang and Ye County to avoid a disaster of war, and after the Han army's northern aid army arrived at these two counties, even the counterweight trebuchet did not waste its strength to rush to build, and directly used the simple siege weapons to build temporarily, easily took the two Zhao county seats, and then marched to the bank of the Zhangshui River. Zhang Er didn't care about this, and at the same time after receiving his order, Zhang Wei and Chen Ze's second general also led about 35,000 Zhao troops south to Julu Houming.

"The two generals have worked hard, but the military situation is like fire, and the two generals can't rest yet, so they must immediately continue to go south and go to Handan to prepare to meet the enemy."

After finishing his request straight to the point, Zhang Er told again: "After the two generals arrive in Handan, they are only allowed to guard the camp and the city, and they must not risk a decisive battle. The army of the Han thieves is notoriously not good at attacking fortifications, you only need to build a strong wall without fighting, they will definitely be difficult to do to you, and then you only need to hold on for a period of time, so that the Han thief army is impetuous, eager to fight, the prime minister has its own way to lure the Han thieves to divide their troops to the north, directly to fight the giant deer, and then you will see the opportunity to act, or take the opportunity to launch a counterattack, or try to cut off the Han thief's grain route, our army will break through the Han thief from the south, it will be as easy as a hand! ”

Zhang Wei and Chen Ze agreed together, and then Zhang Wei asked with some worry: "Enxiang, even if you travel lightly and quickly from Julu to Handan, it will take at least two days, if the Han thieves break through our Zhangshui defense line first and arrive in Handan in advance, what will the last general do?" ”

Zhang Er laughed loudly and said: "Two generals, you have to trust General Fan Biao, who is guarding our Zhangshui defense line, the prime minister has already explained to him clearly, let him guard the ferry with all his strength and prevent the Han thief army from crossing the river to the north, even if he is not the opponent of the Han thief division in the end, it will definitely not be a big problem to buy you enough time." Unless the thieves are divided into troops and run lightly, there is absolutely no certainty that they will reach the thieves before you, if the thieves really do this, with the ability of your two generals, it is not a matter of breaking through the lightly armed soldiers of the thieves? ”

Two days later, when Zhang Wei and Chen Ze led the army to Handan City, not only did they not see a single soldier of the Han army, but also received the accurate news sent by Fan Wei, the general of the Zhao army, from the Zhangshui ferry, saying that the Han army's partial division was still collecting ships on the south bank of Zhangshui, and even a rush to the ferry had not yet had time to launch.

After easily taking the small town of Ye County on the bank of the Zhangshui River, the Han Army's partial division prepared for six days on the south bank of Zhangshui, collected enough ferries, and also incorporated the captured and surrendered Ye County defenders by the way, and then launched a rush to cross the river very calmly, and because it was summer, the river rose, and did not risk crossing the river from the section of the river with the rapid current, but chose to cross the river in the slowest section of the river, and attacked the ferry position that the Zhao army held with all its might.

This is also the first hard battle fought by the Han army after the division went north, the Han army soldiers just began to board the ship, the Zhao army bow and arrow on the north bank of Zhangshui was like a storm and rain, the Han army soldiers were pressed to the point that it was difficult to raise their heads, they could only use the shield to protect the oars and paddle, hit the north shore wharf, and then the Han soldiers paid a lot of price, just approached the north bank, and the Zhao soldiers immediately charged vigorously, in a vain attempt to drive the Han soldiers back to the south bank of Zhangshui.

Fortunately, the soldiers of the Han army who served as the pioneer of the road were all carefully selected elite and strong soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was quite reliable, even if they were in a hurry, the front army of the Han army still held the riverbank position, protected the landing road of the rear army, and no matter how the soldiers of the Zhao army attacked and attacked, they still did not move, and successively repelled the attack of the Zhao army many times, and successfully persisted until the second and third rounds of the Han army's river-crossing army landed on the north bank of Zhangshui.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Fan Biao, who was ordered to guard the Zhangshui Ferry, could only let the army beat the war drums and personally led more than 10,000 Zhao troops to launch a general attack, in a vain attempt to annihilate the Han army's army crossing the river by virtue of the superiority of troops.

Then, the Han army did not rush to attack the Zhao army camp, but first built a pontoon bridge to protect the main force of the Han army's partial division to fully cross the Zhangshui camp, and then still did not rush to attack the fortification, and chose to divide the troops to cut wood, intending to first rush to create enough offensive weapons, and then attack the Zhao army's camp.

However, this battle did not start, because the Zhao army Fan Biao's department had bought enough time for the reinforcements on the northern front, in order to preserve the strength, not to let the Han army break through the Zhao army on the southern front, the second night after the Zhangshui defense line was broken through by the Han army, Fan Biao, who had been explained by Zhang Er in advance, took the initiative to abandon the camp on the north bank of Zhangshui, and withdrew to Handan overnight with less than 20,000 new troops under his command. The Han pursuers only caught up with and severely damaged the Zhao army's palace, but did not hurt the main force of Fan Fu's army.

After most of the Fan Biao army successfully withdrew to the Handan battlefield, the Zhao army on the Handan battlefield also reached about 50,000, although it was still at a disadvantage in terms of overall strength, but it was more than enough to defend the strong city of Handan. After this situation was reported to Zhang Er, Zhang Er was of course very happy, in addition to ordering Zhang Wei and Chen Ze and other generals to let them guard Handan with all their might, he couldn't wait to call Liu Jian, one of the guards of the giant deer, Zhao General Liu Jian, and ordered him to come out to surrender to the Han army's partial division, pretending to dedicate the giant deer city to the Han army's partial division, luring the Han army to divide their troops to fight the giant deer, and even bypassing Handan to fight the giant deer directly.

In order to win the trust of the Han army, Zhang Er also very generously asked Liu Jian to present the Zhao army's Julu military situation and city defense map to the Han army. As a result, Wei Wuzhi next to him reminded: "Enxiang, are you too anxious?" The army of Han thieves has not yet arrived at the city of Handan, so there is no need to send people to surrender so quickly, right? ”

"There's no rush at all." Zhang Er sneered confidently and said: "The Han thief is cunning, and he will definitely not easily believe that our generals will take the initiative to surrender, even if they are greedy, they must be repeatedly tempted before they can swallow the bait, so the best way is to send someone to come forward as soon as possible to deceive the thief, first let the Han thief see hope, and then arrange an illusion, so that we can hope to lure the Han thief to divide his troops or bypass Handan, and take the risk to fight the giant deer." ”

When the messenger sent by Zhao General Liu Jian went south to get in touch with the Han army, the slow-moving Han army had just arrived at the city of Handan, and heard that there was an enemy general who took the initiative to send an envoy to ask for surrender, Zheng Bu and Li Zuoche and others of course immediately met with the envoy sent by Zhao General Liu Jian at the first time, but after reading Liu Jian's letter requesting surrender, Li Zuoche did not make a decision lightly, but first carefully asked Liu Jian's envoy about the enemy situation of Julu, and then asked the guards to take Liu Jian's envoy away temporarily, and discussed the matter carefully with Zheng Bu.

"Guangwu-kun, how is it? Is it true or false? Zheng Bu couldn't wait to ask.

"The intelligence is insufficient, and it is not possible to distinguish the real from the fake for the time being." Li Zuoche shook his head and said: "It's just that the possibility of deception is very great, because the current situation of the giant deer is clearly a trap arranged by Zhang Er, if we divide our troops to take the giant deer, or bypass Handan to fight the giant deer, we will only fall into the hands of the treacherous minister." ”

"The giant deer is a trap set by the treacherous minister?" Zheng Bu asked in some surprise.

"Not bad." Li Zuoche nodded and said: "The purpose of Zhang Er's traitor is very clear, that is, to guard Handan with heavy troops, choke our grain road, and at the same time lure us to divide our troops to fight the giant deer, and even lure us to bypass Handan and take the giant deer, if we are in the scheme, Zhang Er will definitely defend the city with all his might, while drawing heavy troops from the northern line to the south to reinforce, and then the enemy in Handan will also send troops to the north, and their northern line reinforcements will attack us before and after, plus there are giant deer defenders inside and outside, Zhang Er will not only have a great chance of defeating us, There is even hope for the annihilation of our army. ”

"Think beautifully!" Zheng Bu said with a cruel smile: "If it weren't for the fact that he wanted to wait for him to send the northern line thief army south to die, we would have taken Handan a long time ago, and would we give him so much time to arrange calmly?" ”

"But we'd better not underestimate the enemy." Li Zuoche replied with a smile: "If there are too many ants, you can bite the elephant to death, now we had better plan and take advantage of the opportunity of Zhang Er's rape to set up a giant deer trap, break the army he deliberately scattered and arranged, and force him to send the northern army south as soon as possible to die, so as to share the pressure for our northern army." ”

Zheng Bu nodded, very much in agreement with Li Zuoche's suggestion, and asked again: "What should I do with the envoy from the giant deer?" ”

"Just be false and wrong." Li Zuoche replied: "Whether it's true or not, first agree to that Zhao Jian's request to surrender, and then let him prepare for the giant deer, and then respond when we go north to the giant deer, so if that Zhao Jian really asks for surrender, when we take Handan and go north to the giant deer, of course he can play a huge role." If he surrendered by fraud, he could also make Zhang Erpifu happy for a few days, and then even more surprised and panicked. ”

As soon as Zheng Bu heard the applause, he immediately sent a messenger sent by Liu Jian to ask for surrender, and promised Zhao to take the initiative to surrender to Liu Jian, and gave Liu Jian the messenger some rewards, and sent him back to Julu to report the news, and then let the Han soldiers step up the camp, while organizing people to cut timber, and make all kinds of offensive weapons, including counterweight trebuchets, sharpen knives and prepare to start the Handan War.

Zhang Er's side, after Zheng Bu accepted the news of Liu Jian's request to surrender and was brought back to Julu, the confident Zhang Er was of course overjoyed, in addition to letting the Julu defenders step up preparations to defend the city, he also went to the Lingheng Mountain battlefield early, so that his number one cronie Gan Gong (the key person in history who decided whether Zhang Er would surrender to Han or Chu) was ready to lead the main force of the Zhao army back to Julu at any time, and at the same time, in order to ensure that there were enough troops to break the enemy, Zhang Er also sent people to send a generous gift to Tian Be, the general of Qi who commanded the Qi army, Ask him to lead the Qi army and Gan Gong to join forces in the south at that time.

In order to let the Han army launch an attack as soon as possible, Zhang Xiao, Chen Ze and other generals also sent small units several times, and took the initiative to run to the front of the Han army's camp to insult and fight, in a vain attempt to let the Han army directly launch a siege in the case of insufficient preparation, and use the advantage of city defense to give the Han army a dismount.

It's a pity that Zheng Bu, the commander of the Han army, has not learned anything about moral civilization such as etiquette, righteousness, honesty and shame since he followed Xiang Kang, but he has learned very thickly, so of course the provocation of the Zhao army did not have any effect, and then it took a full seven days to prepare enough siege weapons, and on the morning of the eighth day, Zheng Bu personally led the army out of the camp and launched an attack on Handan City, the former capital of Zhao State.

Of course, the Zhao army also closely monitored the movements of the Han army, the main force of the Han army had not yet been assembled, and the city of Handan was already a great gong for alarm, and the defenders on duty went to the city to prepare for battle, and the reserve soldiers in the city urgently returned to the team to wait for their orders, and the three generals Zhang Xiao, Chen Ze and Fan Biao also hurriedly boarded the south gate of Handan and condescended to check the movements of the Han army.

Before the halfway point, more than 60,000 people of the main force of the Han army, carrying a large number of siege weapons, smoothly advanced to the south gate of Handan to line up the formation, and after checking the situation of the Han army on the city wall, Zhang Xiao, who was appointed by Zhang Er as the chief general of the southern line of the Zhao army, sneered and said: "Waste of time, I thought that the Han thieves could play any new tricks, but now it seems that there is no difference between other thieves." ”

Chen Ze and Fan Biao nodded in agreement, all of them thought that the besieging Han army was not worth mentioning, and even believed that the Zhao army could withstand even 400,000 Qin troops back then, and the 60,000 Han troops outside the city were of course a piece of cake. In the end, after the soldiers of the Han army lined up the counterweight trebuchet outside Handan City, Zhang Xiao and Chen Ze, who had never seen this kind of weapon, were alert, judging from the huge throwing arm, after guessing that the weapon outside the city was likely to be a trebuchet, Zhang Ze also said to Zhang Wei: "Brother Zhang, the Han thief should use the trebuchet to smash stones, you are the boss, it is better not to stay on the city wall and take risks, go to the city to rest, here I am." ”

Knowing that this was a good intention from his friend, Zhang Wei still accepted Chen Ze's persuasion after a few words, and left the front line to return to the city headquarters to preside over the overall situation. ”

Chen Ze agreed, and Zhang Wei also led Fan Wei and his own soldiers down the city, got on the horse and returned to the Zhao army headquarters located in the county guard, but the horse did not go far, Zhang Wei suddenly heard a burst of exclamation from the city, and then before Zhang Wei looked back to check the situation, a huge whistling sound had already fallen into the sky......

"Boom!"

The strong wind blew, scraping the face like a knife, and still didn't have time to see what was happening, Zhang Wei, who was riding on the horse, had already fallen directly to the ground, and he was dizzy. ”

After screaming, Zhang Wei was still hot in the crotch of his pants, and a hot liquid suddenly soaked the straight manga on his waist......

Don't blame Zhang Wei for being timid, the main reason is that the scene is too scary, a boulder weighing more than 100 pounds to say the least, suddenly appeared in front of Zhang Wei, smashed Zhang Wei's war horse's head directly into meat sauce, and smashed a big pit a few feet deep on the ground! It's just a little bit, and it almost smashed Zhang Wei directly into meat sauce from head to toe!

Bang!

A bigger dull voice suddenly came, and Zhang Wei, who was lying on the ground, saw with his own eyes that the city tower of the South Gate of Handan above his head was as if it had been directly hit by a giant fist of ghosts and gods, and the roof was directly shattered and collapsed, turning into a piece of rubble surrounded by walls!

"What's wrong?" This was Zhang Wei's first reaction in his heart, and then, Zhang Wei immediately screamed like a pig, "Brother Chen Ze, don't really listen to my persuasion, you really entered the city tower!" ”