When the good news of the great victory in Hedong was transmitted back to Xianyang, the newly built Han army arsenal in the northwest of Xianyang and on the bank of the Jingshui River also produced the first batch of gunpowder on a large scale hundreds of years in advance.

Thanks to Xiang Kang's chemical failure, the first batch of gunpowder of the Han army used the most primitive formula of one nitrate, two sulfur and three charcoal, the explosion power was very small, even if the original grenade put into the pottery bottle to make talent was exploded next to the pig and dog used in the experiment, it could not kill the experimental animal on the spot, just the injury, not so much an explosive weapon, but more like the primitive throwing incendiary bomb, the arson effect and intimidation effect are far greater than the actual effect.

However, even so, in the process of producing gunpowder, the seriously inexperienced Han army craftsmen still paid a heavy price of two deaths and five injuries, and finally a clever craftsman came up with a trick of producing gunpowder with wooden tools, and crushed saltpeter and sulfur separately, which solved the safety problem of gunpowder production, Xiang Kang also rewarded the craftsman on the spot, encouraging him and other craftsmen to work hard to find faster and safer gunpowder production technology, as well as improve the formula of gunpowder, and explore better gunpowder weapons.

The craftsmen of the Han army did not sacrifice in vain, after seeing the explosion effect of the first batch of gunpowder with their own eyes, none of the Han army civil and military forces who accompanied Xiang Kang to visit the secret experiment were not happy, Chao Zhi, Zheng Bu and Long He and other generals were so excited that they yelled, saying that they would never have to worry about breaking the formation in the future, with such a weapon in hand, no matter how solid and tight the enemy's military formation was, it would be easy for the Han army to break the formation.

Double happiness is coming, just at this time, Uncle Zhou's good news was also sent to Xiang Kang, Xiang Kang saw the great joy, and was busy making the good news public, the Han army and the civil and military forces were all happy when they heard it, and hurriedly said hello to Xiang Kang, flattering Xiang Kang to use people properly, and Uncle Zhou's troops, who were mostly recruits, easily destroyed the Wei State, Xiang Kang laughed and said: "No need to pat yourself on the back, this battle is the credit of General Zhou and the front-line soldiers, I haven't gotten together for a long time to have a good drink, hurry up and serve the wine, Let's toast to General Zhou's great victory in Hedong, and by the way, we will also reward the craftsmen who produced gunpowder for us. ”

It is true that the crowd of people who have not let go of the wreckage have drunk for a long time, and after the wine and food came up, almost all of them were young marshals and generals from civilian backgrounds drank and had fun, shouting, and some people sang loudly, which soon brought the atmosphere of the banquet into play, Xiang Kang also put down the frame of the King of Han, and accompanied these accomplices and lackeys who gave birth to death to mess around, and soon drank so much that his face was red and his neck was thick, and he gradually revealed his sense of alcohol.

As the so-called happiness is sad, when Xiang Kang, who is a villain, was drinking happily, Xu Ji, the captain of the pro-army, suddenly came to Xiang Kang with a military emergency report that he had just received, and said that it was a military emergency report that had just been transmitted from Xianyang Palace, with 100,000 chicken feathers on it, Xiang Kang took it and opened it, but only a cursory glance, Xiang Kang's face changed, and he blurted out: "Ye County was defeated, our defenders were wiped out, the guard general Ren Kai was killed, and King Han was captured alive by Liu Ji's army!" ”

"What?" Zhang Liang, who was present, jumped up directly and said in shock: "Our king of South Korea was captured by Liu Jisheng? So how is he doing now? ”

Xiang Kang hurriedly looked at the next content of the military intelligence report, and then he was shocked again, and said, "Liu Ji actually let King Han go?" This man is not small. ”

Zhang Liang opened his mouth and stammered, and hurriedly asked for a military emergency report from Xiang Kang's hand to take a closer look, and saw that the military emergency report sent by Nanyang Taishou Lu Qi was indeed clearly written, saying that although the South Korean army led by Han Cheng suffered a crushing defeat in Ye County and was almost wiped out, Han Ben himself was also captured alive by Liu Laosan's army, but only one day later, Liu Laosan took the initiative to send someone back Han Cheng, and also made it clear that he was unwilling to be the enemy of the innocent Han Cheng and the South Korean army, and hoped that Han Cheng and the South Korean army would remain neutral in the future. Don't meddle in the war between him and the Han army anymore. Zhang Liang also immediately came to the same conclusion as Xiang Kang in his heart, and said secretly: "This Liu Ji is indeed not small, he is a character. ”

At this time, the generals of the Han army had already stood up and volunteered, expressing their willingness to lead the army south to reinforce Nanyang and avenge the Han army defenders in Ye County, but Xiang Kang only thought about it for a while, and immediately said: "Don't worry, of course Ye County's revenge has to be avenged, but there is no need to be in a hurry, with our current strength, we don't have to mind the gains and losses of one city and one place for a long time." Come, continue to drink, and discuss how to take revenge another day. ”

It was easy to say, but after the Han army and the generals dispersed happily, just after returning to Xianyang, Xiang Kang immediately called Zhou Zeng, Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others into Xianyang Palace, and asked straight to the point: "Liu Ji captured King Han but did not kill him, and deliberately sent King Han out of the camp, why did he do this?" What is the purpose and intent? ”

"Say a few unkind words, Mr. Zifang must not mind." Chen Ping replied: "Killing the King of Han will not gain anything for Liu Ji, on the contrary, it may also attract the hatred of the remnants of the Han land, and only by letting the King of Han go is the most beneficial to Liu Ji." The first reason is that Han Wang's soldiers are few and small, and he is almost no threat to Liu Ji, so it doesn't make much difference whether he lets it go or not; Second, after releasing King Han, it can show his Liu Ji's generosity, and also let the officials, soldiers and people of Nanyang surrender to him with confidence, which is conducive to him recruiting Nanyang officials and defenders, and will win the hearts of the people of Nanyang in the future. ”

"As for the third." Chen Ping said again: "Liu Ji is also meeting the King of Han, if someone else is in the position of the King of Han, seeing that King Han can come back smoothly after being captured, and receiving Liu Ji's courtesy, it is likely that he will be suspicious of King Han, and if King Han is wronged in the future, it will be easy to be bought by Liu Ji." ”

"Mr. Chen Ping really hit the nail on the head, and the foreign minister thinks so too." Zhang Liang nodded, and said to Xiang Kang: "King Han, although the foreign minister knows very well that there is no need for this, the foreign minister still has to say a word, please believe in our King Han, he will never surrender to Liu Ji because he is greedy for life and fear of death, and he will not act as an internal response for Liu Ji, betraying and betraying you." ”

"Mr. Ofan, don't worry." Xiang Kang smiled and waved his hand, and said: "Liu Ji used a discordant trick on me, that was to show off in front of Confucius, and Lu Ban played a big axe in front of the door, and it was a pipe dream if he wanted to have an effect. ”

After comforting Zhang Liang, Xiang Kang frowned and said: "But this incident also reminds us that we still underestimated the coalition of Liu Ji, Yingbu and Chai Wu before. As you all know, Yexian County is not only terrainous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the three thousand troops stationed there are still formed with the veterans in our army as the core backbone, and the combat effectiveness is not weak, and later King Han withdrew from Yingchuan with more than 3,000 troops to help defend the city, with a total strength of more than six thousand, it stands to reason that there is already the strength of a battle, and there should be hope to hold on until the reinforcements led by Zhong Liwu arrive. ”

"But the final result, Ye County was directly broken after only five days of defense, the Ye County defenders and the South Korean army were wiped out together, Ren Kai died in battle, and the king of Han was also captured alive by the thief army on the battlefield, Liu Ji, Yingbu and Chai Wu, how strong the three thief armies were, we can imagine. It seems that the established strategy that we want to completely destroy Nanyang first and then give up calmly will not be so easy to complete smoothly. ”

Zhou Zeng, Chen Ping and Zhang Liang nodded together, agreeing with Xiang Kang's analysis, Chen Ping also said: "We do have some underestimate of the enemy, according to the information we have gathered, when we were in the Central Plains battlefield before, many of the vicious battles of the princes' coalition were fought by Yingbu and Chai Wu, and they were basically won, but we all ignored this before, thinking that even if we couldn't hold Nanyang in the end, it would definitely not be a big problem to drag these thief armies into a war of attrition, so it caused the fiasco of Yexian." ”

"King Han, we have to find a way to remedy it as soon as possible." Zhou Zeng reminded: "Among the cities of Nanyang, except for Wancheng, the defenders of Shuye County are the strongest, but now even with the help of King Han's army, our defenders of Ye County will still be wiped out, once the news spreads, the defenders of Nanyang Zhucheng will definitely be panicked, and they will no longer firmly implement the order of King Han to stick to the city and destroy our strategic plan." ”

Xiang Kang calculated, and quickly shook his head and said: "I'm afraid it's too late to remedy, first, it's too wasteful of time to mobilize the army to the south for reinforcements, and second, we are still expanding the army, and continuing to increase the southern front will disrupt our established plan. ”

After giving up the southern line of troops very helplessly, Xiang Kang did not intend to swallow his anger, and let Liu Laosan, who suffered himself in Hangu Pass, be powerful and prosperous in Nanyang, and be rampant, combined with the various situations he had mastered so far, Xiang Kang quickly took it into account and said: "But we can't just let go of Liu Ji and Yingbu, take this opportunity, we have to go back and sow discord, so that Liu Ji, Yingbu and Chai Wu are suspicious of each other, and have different hearts, so that we can not only be easier on the battlefield, Maybe there will be a chance for them to turn against each other, fight among themselves, and minimize the pressure on our southern front. ”

"Then what is the King of Han going to do?" Chen Ping asked, and reminded: "But King Han, his subordinates think that they can't use a divisive trick on Liu Ji, this puppet is cunning and abnormal, and his bearing is not ordinary, and it will not only be difficult to use a divisive trick against him, but it will also backfire if he doesn't do it well." ”

"Of course I won't directly attack Liu Ji." Xiang Kang shook his head and said: "By the way, I will also explain to you, don't despise Liu Ji because his strength is relatively weak, among the princes of the world, only this Liu Ji can compete with me in terms of wisdom, military strategy and winning the hearts of the people, even my brother Xichu Overlord is not his opponent, so when he is an enemy, there must not be any negligence, otherwise he will suffer a big loss." ”

I didn't expect Xiang Kang to look up to Liu Laosan so much, Zhou Zeng, Chen Ping and Zhang Liang inevitably had some accidents, but they still nodded and remembered Xiang Kang's advice. Then Zhou Zengcai asked again: "King Han, then you plan to use the divisive plan against the thief army along the way." ”

"Chai Wu, of course." Xiang Kang replied without thinking about it: "My brother gave Nanyang to Liu Ji, Nanjun, Changsha and Qianzhong to Yingbu, and Bashu and Hanzhong to Chai Wu, among the three thieves, Chai Wu's fief is the most remote and the most difficult to really take, Chai Wu's heart will not be without opinions, and he will not be jealous of Liu Ji and Yingbu, whose fiefdom is easier to get, as long as we attack him on this point, we are most sure of it." ”

"So how?" Zhou Zeng asked.

"Write a letter to Chai Wu for me." Xiang Kang instructed: "Tell him clearly, just say that Liu Ji put King Han back and handed it over to us, the purpose is not only to show his hypocrisy, he quietly asked King Han to bring me a letter, I want to ask me to take the initiative to give up the whole county of Nanyang, so that he can get his fief smoothly, in exchange for signing a non-aggression pact with us, never help my brother to fight me in the future, and when Chai Wu marches into Xunguan to attack Hanzhong, help us Yin Chai Wu behind our backs, so that Chai Wu will be wiped out in the narrow mountain road, Let us no longer have to worry about the safety of Hanzhong and Bashu in the future. ”

"Then tell Chai Wu clearly, just say that I don't like Liu Ji's despicable behavior, and I don't want to make this shameless deal with Liu Ji." Xiang Kang continued: "Persuade Chai Wu to join forces with us to kill Liu Ji instead, and after the matter is completed, I will give him Nanyang to build a country, conclude an alliance with him, and help him resist the attacks of other princes." But if he doesn't agree, for the sake of my own interests, I can only choose to accept Liu Ji's conditions, join forces with Liu Ji to destroy him, or either, and let him choose by himself. ”

"What about Liu Ji's letter?" Chen Ping asked quietly: "Although we have his old documents in our hands, it is not difficult to imitate the handwriting and forge a letter from him, but he has now been named the king of Nanyang, and we don't have his new seal to forge it?" ”

"Let Lu Qi figure out a way to solve this problem." Xiang Kang said casually: "Of course, it is best to get Liu Ji's current seal forgery, but if you can't get it, we will directly send our forged letter to Chai Wu, and the absence of a seal shows that Liu Ji is cautious, which can also make Chai Wu suspicious." ”

Chen Ping nodded, immediately got up to write a book for Xiang Kang, and wrote a letter to Chai Wu according to Xiang Kang's instructions, but Zhang Liang was quite worried and said: "King Han, I'm afraid Chai Wu won't be so easily fooled, right?" handed over the forged letter to him so directly, and whoever it was changed would probably be suspicious. ”

"Mr. Zifang, rest assured, this is only the first step in the plan." Xiang Kang replied: "After sending the letter to Chai Wu, I will also let Lu Qi add fuel to the fire, pretend to be the honor of King Han to contact Liu Ji, and then ......." ”

After listening to Xiang Kang's shameless tricks, Zhang Liang only had a wry smile left, and then said: "King Han, please don't let our King Han know about this matter, otherwise, he will never agree to you use his reputation to act like this." ”

Xiang Kang smiled, agreed, and said after a little calculation: "I almost forgot Yingbu, and by the way, I also sent him a letter of state, in the honor of our Han court, congratulated him on being named the king of Linjiang, recognized his throne and territorial territory, and asked to negotiate with him to discuss the establishment of border cities and exchanges, and also send envoys to each other's national capitals to establish stable communication channels." In addition, I would like to ask Yingbu to choose a woman of my age from among his relatives to marry me as a concubine, and in return, I will also marry one of my daughters to his son, and marry him and become a relative. ”

After that, Xiang Kang said lazily: "After the national book is completed, send an envoy to Yingbu openly, and the more noisy the better." ”

Zhang Liang smiled and said: "King Han's magic tricks are really endless, while secretly framing Liu Ji, while openly wooing Yingbu, Chai Wu just doesn't think it is difficult for him to be isolated and bullied." ”