Xiang Kang personally turned his words back to the topic and said to Tang Bing and Wu Shi who refuted him: "What Dongyuan Gong and Mr. Qili Ji said is extremely true, Xiao Wang is indeed inconsiderate, and we really can't blindly rely on force to contend with the princes outside the Guanwai, no matter how small the grasp is, we must try our best to win over allies and weaken the enemy through diplomatic means, so it is the best policy." ”

"King, if you accuse you arrogantly, you must not be arrogant." Wu Shi rarely patted Xiang Kang's sycophants and said: "If you are willing to hold high the banner of righteousness and openly fight against your cousin King Xichu, the certainty is not very small, but very large. ”

"It's very simple." Tang Bing took over the conversation and said: "The king of Western Chu is brutal, and the king has a magnanimous personality; The king of Western Chu is greedy for profit and light on righteousness, and never likes to consider others, but you are light on profit and righteousness, and you can understand the hardships of others; The king of Western Chu is brave and unstrategic, he only knows how to use strength in everything, the king is wise and brave, and he likes to think twice when he encounters things; The king of Xichu acts impulsively and likes to rely on the strong to bully the weak, you are cautious and sympathetic to the weak. In contrast, the princes outside the Guanwai will only be more willing to ally with you in their hearts than to be driven as cattle and horses by the king of Western Chu. ”

"So on the issue of vertical and horizontal affairs, the king, you just have to rest assured to contact the princes outside the Guanwai." Wu Shi said again: "The princes outside the Guanwai are not fools, now that they have seen the strength of the Han army with their own eyes, they will definitely understand that Chu and Han are fighting, and the king of Western Chu may not have the certainty of victory, and then the idea of riding on the wall to watch the wind was born. ”

Xiang Kang smiled and said, "I hope that the situation can be as Dongyuan Gong and Mr. Qiliji said, win a few more allies for me and reduce a few enemies." Oh, by the way, as far as the current situation is concerned, Dong Yuan Gong and Mr. Qi Li Ji, as well as Mr. Zifang and Mr. Chen Ping, what else do you think? ”

"The king, the old man thinks that he should make every effort to stabilize Shenyang and fight for Zhao State." Wu Shi immediately replied: "Shen Yang and Sima Wei are both from the Zhao army, often fight hand in hand, and they must have a good friendship with each other, and it is very difficult to win him over, so for Shen Yang, we had better find a way to keep him neutral, and don't go north to Sanchuan to make trouble for us, so that we are most sure of success." ”

"Zhao Guo can go all out." Tang Bing immediately said: "The king of Western Chu divided the world, and the biggest loss was the Zhao State, not only the army was divided into three by the king of Western Chu, but most of the land was lost, and it was divided by the king of Western Chu to Wei Bao, Sima Xin, Zhang Han and Sima Wei and others, Zhao Xie must have hated the king of Western Chu in his heart, but he was afraid that the king of Western Chu was powerful, so he had to bow to the king of Western Chu. Now that our army has shown enough strength to fight head-on with the king of Western Chu, Zhao Xie will not fail to think repeatedly, the king only has the right means, and the benefits promised are enough to make Zhao Xie tempted, and Zhao is likely to change course again and conclude an alliance with our army again. ”

Xiang Kang nodded again, and then asked, "Then how exactly should we act?" ”

When he asked this, Xiang Kang's eyes were on Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, because Xiang Kang had already seen that Shangshan Sihao was far-sighted and comprehensive in terms of strategic theory, but when it came to specific operations, he still couldn't catch up with Zhang Liang and Chen Ping.

Zhang Liang and Chen Ping were not in a hurry to answer Xiang Kang's question, but first discussed a few words in a low voice, and then Chen Ping arched his hand and said: "King, for Zhao State, as long as we make three promises, we should have hope to win them back." ”

"Those three promises?" Xiang Kang hurriedly asked again.

"First, return Handan County to Zhao State, and recognize Shangdang County as the territory of Zhao State." Chen Ping replied: "Second, when the State of Zhao had the strength to counterattack Taiyuan County, it sent troops to help the State of Zhao recapture Taiyuan County. Thirdly, we swore an oath of blood with Zhao and concluded an alliance of mutual assistance, but in the future, if other princes attack Zhao, we will definitely send troops to attack the enemies of Zhao, and vice versa, if other princes attack us, Zhao is also obliged to send troops to attack our enemies. ”

"Does Zhao Guoguo believe our promise?" Xiang Kang said with some worry: "The reason why Zhao Guo broke off the alliance with us is because we are unwilling to send troops to help them keep Taiyuan and Daijun, will they doubt that we will not be trustworthy now?" ”

"The king can let our envoy clearly tell King Zhao that we didn't save Taiyuan and Daijun before because our strength is insufficient, and the grain, grass, and soldiers and horses are not enough." Zhang Liang said: "Another point is that the alliance we signed with Zhao before was just an ordinary good alliance, and there was no explicit provision that troops must be sent to rescue the other party. Now we directly swear with Zhao Guo in blood, and clearly agree to send troops to help each other, with your credit, the king, Zhao Guo will not not move this heart. ”

"And one more important point." Chen Ping added: "Our army sent troops to Sanchuan, and the border with Western Chu is imminent, and the king of Western Chu will send troops to counterattack, and he will definitely attack us first, not Zhao first, and give us the opportunity to attack Pengcheng directly." As long as Zhao Xie and Zhang Er understand this, they must understand that they have the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunistic situation, and they are more likely to choose to repair relations with us and re-conclude an alliance. ”

Xiang Kang has always acted decisively, and when he heard what Chen Ping and Zhang Liang said favorably, he immediately nodded and said, "Okay, just do it, still let Chen Hui contact Zhao Guo, and make every effort to bring Zhao Guo back to us." ”

After making up his mind, Xiang Kang smiled again and said: "The most important thing is Shenyang, he sent troops from Yangzhai, and it won't take ten days to rush to Luoyang for reinforcements, how to stabilize him temporarily and strive to make him neutral?" ”

"Shenyang's affairs are very difficult." Chen Ping replied: "Sima Wei not only has a lot of friendship with him, but also has a cold relationship with him, now Sima Wei's situation is critical, and he must have promised heavy profits to lure him to send troops north, if we just lure Shen Yang to benefit, I'm afraid it will be difficult to succeed." The only way can only be to explain the benefits and disadvantages to Shen Yang, let him understand that going north to rescue Sima Wei is just sending him to death in vain, suggesting that he will not move, sit back and watch the success or failure, and then make another plan when the king of Western Chu returns to counterattack Sanchuan. ”

"You can give it a try." Xiang Kang nodded uncertainly, and said: "As long as we can temporarily stabilize him, so that we can quickly take Luoyang without distraction, how can the next thing be much easier, seeing that Shen Yang did not move, gave us the opportunity to quickly break through Sima Wei, and took the important Ao Cang important land for the princes outside the Guan, with my brother's temper, I will definitely spread the anger on Shen Yang's head, and we will have the opportunity to sow discord and win over Shen Yang." But....... ”

"But who to send to lobby Shen Yang?" Xiang Kang frowned, and said hesitantly: "This person has to be eloquent, let Shen Yang know that we are powerful, and sending troops north will definitely be sent to death in vain, and he must be cautious in his words, so as not to anger Shen Yang, which is counterproductive, under my account, there are not many people with this kind of ability." ”

It was also a coincidence that at this time, Mr. Uncle Sun, who was convenient to go out, cautiously poked a head into the tent and peeked at the situation in the tent. ”

"Wouldn't it? Such a coincidence? Mr. Shusun complained bitterly in his heart, and said secretly: "But don't be an errand to the enemy camp, it's no problem to ask the old man to do anything, but the matter of sending the enemy camp, the old man is definitely not willing to do it!" ”

The next thing is of course very simple, Xiang Kang just announced that he would entrust the important task of sending Shen Yang Army to Mr. Uncle Sun, Mr. Uncle Sun immediately collapsed directly on the ground, crying and shouting that he did not want to take the risk of killing his head, but unfortunately Xiang Kang first considered that Mr. Uncle Sun was eloquent and showed off the prestige of the Han army to intimidate Shen Yang will not completely anger Shen Yang, and the second is that Mr. Uncle Sun has made outstanding achievements in his previous several envoys, and has repeatedly created miracles, and he is most likely to complete this difficult task, so he will not change the envoy candidate. insisted on letting Mr. Uncle Sun do this errand, and because of Mr. Uncle Sun's repeated refusals, he rarely lost his temper.

In the end, Chen Ping fed Mr. Shusun a reassuring pill, saying that although Sima Wei's allies would be a little dangerous, the Han army and Shen Yang had no grievances, and they had only confronted each other across the river in the east of the river before, and in the end they did not fight, Shen Yang could never kill the Han army envoy, and Mr. Shusun's trip would not be dangerous.

The matter is not over, crying and thinking for a long time, Mr. Uncle Sun said again: "King, since you insist on letting the ministers go down to see Shenyang, the ministers dare not refuse, but the ministers have something to say, first, the ministers really don't have this certainty, if you really can't say that Shenyang can't be moved, I hope the king will not blame." The second is that the subordinates are courageous, and want to ask the king to give the subordinates a little autonomy, so that they can make the decision for the king and promise to give Shenyang a little benefit, so that the subordinates may still have a little confidence that Shenyang can be moved. ”

"Okay, no problem, as long as you try your best to do it, if you can't do it, of course the king won't blame you." Xiang Kang agreed, and then said: "As for the benefits promised to Shen Yang, you can watch it, as long as you don't promise to give Shen Yang the land and city we have already gotten." ”

Mr. Shusun agreed with a sad face, and according to Xiang Kang's arrangement with a sad face, he took a few entourages to the south early the next morning disguised as ordinary people, and went south to Yingchuan by means of the Wu clan, which was still controlled by the Henan army, and tied his head to the belt of his trousers to be a cow and a horse for Xiang Kang. At the same time, Xiang Kang sent another envoy into Henan County to persuade the defenders of Henan County, who were trapped in the lonely city, to surrender.

To Xiang Kang's surprise, he had obviously seen the main force of the Henan Army fleeing west in defeat, but the defenders of Henan County still categorically refused Xiang Kang's surrender, and also incorporated a part of the defeated Henan Army who fled into the city to take refuge, and defended the city with all their might, openly shouting the slogan of coexistence with Henan County. Xiang Kang was furious and immediately ordered the soldiers of the Han army to rush to build various siege weapons and forcibly attack the city by force.

In the end, the isolated and helpless small city of Henan was of course taken by the Han army, but the main force of the Han army wasted three days under the city of Henan, giving the remnants of the main force of the Henan army the opportunity to reorganize, and survived the dangerous period after the fiasco.

Seeing this scene, Xiang Kang was of course worried in his heart, and said secretly: "I don't know how much time it will take to fight this battle in Luoyang, now it's up to Shusun Tong, if he can't persuade Shen Yang to remain neutral, Shen Yang really led the army north to reinforce Sima Wei, Luoyang doesn't know when it will be taken, and Sima Wei insists on it until my brother returns to the division to counterattack, I'm afraid it may not be impossible." ”

…………

Xiang Kang may not have imagined that he can temporarily stabilize Sima Wei's close neighbor Shenyang, because on the same day, an unexpected messenger swaggered into Yangzhai City, the capital of Shenyang, surrounded by ten servants, and came directly to the palace gate of Shenyang to ask for a meeting.

When Xiang Yu led the princes outside the Guanxi to make a bloody alliance outside Luoyang City, in addition to Xiang Kang and Zhao Xie, the two unlucky guys, the princes of the whole world have formed an alliance, Shen Yang and Liu Laosan are of course no exception, after each of them established the country, Shen Yang has never had any conflict with Liu Laosan, Liu Laosan sent an envoy to see this time, and said that there was a big matter to discuss with Shen Yang, Shen Yang out of curiosity, he quickly summoned Liu Laosan's envoy Sui He, and asked him in person.

"King Han, the foreign minister has something unclear and wants to ask for advice in person." Then why didn't he answer the rhetorical question, and said with a surprised expression: "Yang Zhai and Sanchuan are close at hand, and the news that Xiang Kang sent troops to attack the king of Henan, King Han should have known about it a long time ago, right?" With such a good opportunity in front of you, why hasn't your army set off to the north to accept the great gift that God has given you to King Han? ”

"A great gift from heaven to this king? What do you mean by that, sir? Shen Yang asked in confusion.

"Why does King Han knowingly ask?" Sui He said with a smile: "Xiang Kang is a traitor who seeks his own death, and he dares to take the initiative to send troops outside the Guan, which can just give the princes outside the Guanguan a chance to avoid the danger of the mountains and rivers in the Guanguan and annihilate him in one fell swoop." King Han, if you can capture and kill Xiang Kang's rebels in this battle, not only can you seize countless money, grain, and baggage, but in the future, the King of Western Chu will be rewarded for his meritorious deeds, and a fertile enclave in Guanzhong will definitely be indispensable to King Han! This is not a great gift from God to King Han, what else can it be? ”

Shen Yang laughed directly and said: "That's so easy, Mr. is far away, I shouldn't know yet, Xiang Kang Xiao'er fought a succession after going east, not only quickly won Xin'an, Mianchi and Shaanxi County, but also defeated the king of Henan several times in Hanoi and Sanchuan, and the soldiers were sharp and unstoppable." ”

"So powerful? No wonder our king must instigate Shen Yang to send troops to dispel Shen Yang's idea of preserving his strength, without Shen Yang sending troops to help, Sima Wei will definitely not be able to support it for long. ”

Sui He was vigilant in his heart, but his face was silent, and he immediately said: "I didn't expect Xiang Kang's rebels to be so rampant, King Han, the foreign ministers are foolish, the more Xiang Kang's rebels are like this, the more you should immediately send troops to help the king of Henan resist the attack of Xiang Kang's rebels, otherwise, once the king of Henan is captured by Xiang Kang's rebels, King Han, you will immediately have a big disaster." ”

"King Han must not think that the foreign minister is alarmist." Sui He continued: "The king of Han and the king of Henan depend on each other, and the truth that the lips are dead and the teeth are cold, presumably there is no need for the foreign minister to explain to you the king of Han." The foreign minister just wants to remind the king of Han two points, the first is that the king of Han and the king of Henan are close at hand, if the king of Han you stand still and sit back and watch the king of Henan be destroyed by Xiang Kang's rebels, then when the king of Western Chu returns to the division to counterattack in the future, he will inevitably be angry with the king of Han. ”

Shen Yang was silent, but he also knew very well in his heart that with Xiang Yu's bear temper, if he saw Sima Wei being destroyed by Xiang Kang, and he had been standing still, he would definitely not spare himself. Sui He looked at the words, and said: "There is a second point, King Han must not know yet, if Xiang Kang rebel is allowed to sit big, and has the strength to fight against the king of Western Chu, Xiang Kang rebel may be able to form an alliance with any prince outside the Guan, but for you, King Han, he must get rid of it quickly!" I wonder if King Han wants to know the reason for this? ”

"Please sir." Shen Yang was really hooked by Sui He's curiosity.

"The first is that King Han's territory is too important, send troops from Yangcheng to the north, King Han, your army can go straight to the hinterland of Sanchuan and cut off the connection between Xiang Kang's rebel front army and the rear of Guanzhong, such a big hidden danger, how can Xiang Kang's rebel thief sit idly by?"

He Zhenzhen said with words: "Second, King Han, you should also know that Han Cheng's Situ Zhang Liang has always served under the account of Xiang Kang's traitor, and he has won the love and trust of Xiang Kang's traitor, and he has never forgotten to revive the old country and let the Korean clan rebuild the old country, Xiang Kang rebel thief has also sent troops several times to help Han Cheng restore the country, in order to please the Korean clan, and to make the hinterland of Sanchuan safe and worry-free, how could he not send troops to Han Di to help the remaining Korean clan rebuild the old country, then King Han, what should you do?" ”

Shen Yang, who relied on Xiang Yu to become the king of Han, gradually began to be grim, and then He said: "King Han rest assured, you will never fight alone, and you dare not deceive King Han, the little envoy came at the behest of King Jun of Nanyang, and he came to inform King Han of an important event, our king has been assembling soldiers and horses, taking advantage of the opportunity of Xiang Kang's rebels to go east, and going north to attack Wuguan, not only besieging Wei to save Zhao for King Han and sharing the pressure between you and the king of Henan, but also making every effort to break through Wuguan, enter the pass, and take the rear of Xiang Kang's rebels. In addition, our king has also sent an envoy to contact the king of Linjiang, and asked the king of Linjiang to immediately enter the army and attack Xunguan, so that Xiang Kang's rebels will be difficult to take care of, so the king, you will enter Sanchuan this time to help the king of Henan resist Xiang Kang's rebels, it is definitely a sure victory, and there will be no danger. ”

Still after saying this, Sui He presented Liu Laosan's letter of state to Shen Yang, Shen Yang took a look, and saw that Liu Laosan did show his attitude on the letter of state, saying that he would go all out to attack Wuguan, so that Xiang Kang, who had done a lot of evil, could not help but be overjoyed, and soon nodded and said: "Okay, I didn't expect the king of Nanyang to attach so much importance to morality, Mr. rest assured, this king's soldiers and horses have already been ready to stop, and will soon send troops north to help the king of Henan resist Xiang Kang's thief army." ”

Shen Yang was secretly happy when he heard this, and he also understood that Shen Yang was not seeing the rabbit and not scattering the eagle, and he must have wanted to extort a sum of money and food from Sima Wei and then send troops to save Sima Wei, so he hurriedly submitted his resignation, and wanted to immediately go north to see Sima Wei on behalf of Liu Laosan, and persuade Sima Wei to pluck the feathers of the iron rooster and take more money and grain to buy Shen Yang to send troops as soon as possible. I never thought that at this time, there was a messenger outside the palace gate, saying that Sima Wei had sent the servant Cheng Lian to ask for a meeting, and he hurriedly closed his mouth, ready to help Sima Wei's messenger persuade Shen Yang to send troops immediately.

The next situation is relatively simple, after Sima Wei's envoy Cheng Lian went to the palace, of course, he immediately presented a letter of state to Shen Yang, promising to thank Shen Yang for sending troops with 30% of Aocang grain and 500,000 gold, and said that Sima Wei only suffered a small setback under Henan City, and took the initiative to retreat to Luoyang for the safety of the national capital, and also had the capital to continue to compete with Xiang Kang. In addition, Sui He continued to help beside him, desperately encouraging Shen Yang to immediately send troops north, and Shen Yang, who coveted Sima Wei's rich thanks, quickly made up his mind and ordered: "Pass the decree, let our army prepare to set off immediately, and this king will personally lead the army north tomorrow to rescue the king of Henan." ”

Sui He and Cheng Lian were overjoyed when they heard this, and hurriedly thanked Shen Yang together, but Sui He, who had followed Liu Laosan for many years, still didn't dare to rest assured, and hurriedly said: "King Han, if nothing else, Xiang Kang's rebel thief will definitely send an envoy to cheat and commit treachery when he sees you sending troops north, coax King Han to keep you neutral, and retreat southward. ”

"This king is such an easily deceived person?" Shen Yang snorted confidently, and said: "Xiang Kang Xiao'er doesn't send an envoy to deceive in front of this king, if his thief really dares to come, this king will definitely cook his thief to death in public!" To show the determination of this king and Xiang Kang Xiaoer not to share the sky! ”