Xiang Kang did not personally lead the army to attack Ling County, and arranged for Xiang Zhuang, the most powerful general under his command, to lead five teams of 500 people to undertake this task, supplemented by Xiang You and a general with a different surname who was promoted to 2,500 in actual combat, Zheng Bu, at the same time, Xiang Kang also gave Xiang Zhuang a lot of autonomy, and did not forcibly arrange any siege or siege tactics for Xiang Zhuang to send reinforcements, but also clearly told Xiang Zhuang: "Brother, although you can fight this battle with confidence, even if you can't take Ling County for a while, it doesn't matter, you can take it slowly, Lingxian is not far from Xiaxiang, it is easy to supply grain and grass and military supplies, and what we have is time. ”

Knowing that Xiang Kang was giving himself the opportunity to exercise his ability to be independent, Xiang Zhuang, the most reasonable among the children of the Xiang family, didn't say much, just arched his hand to Xiang Kang, said that his brother was relieved, and then set off in the direction of Lingxian with the elite troops of the young marshal army, including three hundred cavalry and fifty chariots. As a result, the team of the young marshal's army had just disappeared into the distance of the road, and Xiang Bo immediately took Zhang Liang to Xiang Kang angrily, and roared as soon as they met: "Young Marshal Xiang, when did you decide to send troops?" Are you going to send troops there again? Why don't I, the master of the Chu State, know anything about it? ”

Knowing that Xiang Bo was angry that he was hiding from him for being arbitrary, Xiang Kang didn't panic, but just said to Uncle Xiang with a smile on his face: "Uncle, don't blame, the military situation is like fire, and the fighter plane is too rare, the little nephew really doesn't have time to discuss with you, so he can only send the army out first, and he is about to go back to the city to report to you, but I didn't expect you to come first." ”

After the ghost talked about the excuse that he didn't tell Xiang Bo in advance, Xiang Kang tried his best to tell Xiang Bo the reason for sending troops, saying that he received the news that the Qin army sent troops to pursue Qin Jiajun's empty Ling County, and felt that the fighter plane was rare, so he temporarily decided to send troops to attack Ling County, so he didn't have time to inform Xiang Bo in advance. At the same time, Xiang Kang said to Uncle Xiang with a smile: "Uncle, there is also good news for you, in order to give Brother Xiang You the opportunity to be rewarded for his meritorious service, the little nephew also let Brother Xiang You also go on the expedition, if it goes well, Brother Xiang You can establish miracles again this time." ”

"No matter how rushed you are, you have to tell me." Xiang Bo didn't take Xiang Kang's stubble, but just roared with an angry face: "Hide everything from me, do you still take me as an uncle in your eyes?" If you think that the old man is not qualified to participate in your military aircraft, then the old man, the master of the Chu State, is not appropriate, and I will return it to you now! ”

"Why doesn't this old thing know what advance and retreat is?" Xiang Kang was annoyed in his heart, and he hated Xiang Bo, the scum of the Xiang family, but in front of everyone, Xiang Kang couldn't openly turn his face with his elders, so he could only politely apologize to Xiang Bo again and again, and endure Xiang Bo's monstrous anger with patience.

Fortunately, Zhang Liang next to him probably felt that it was too embarrassing to have such a unforgiving friend, so he stood up and persuaded him, and it took a lot of words to temporarily appease Xiang Bo, and then Zhang Liang said to Xiang Kang: "Young marshal, you divide your troops to attack Ling County, although Ling County is far away from Xiapi, and it is impossible for Gongsun Qing to send troops to rescue in time, but after you divide your troops, you must not rule out the possibility that Gongsun Qing will directly enter the army. ”

"Uncle Han rest assured, the little nephew has already arranged for Xizuo to go up and down to listen to the news, and has arranged scouts to closely monitor the Maling Mountain Road, and will not give Gongsun Qingpifu any opportunity to take advantage of." Xiang Kang replied confidently, and said with a smile: "Also, the little nephew is only worried that Gongsun Qingpifu will not come now." ”

"The young marshal wants to fight the idea of Maling Mountain Road?" Zhang Liang was such a person, of course, he immediately understood that Xiang Kang had set his sights on the narrow mountain road in Maling Mountain, and immediately issued a warning to Xiang Kang: "Young marshal, with all due respect, if you want to follow Sun Bin and set up an ambush in the mountain road of Maling Mountain, I am afraid it will be difficult to succeed." After all, the fame of the Battle of Maling is too great, it is impossible for Gongsun Qing not to know about it, and it is impossible not to prevent you from ambushing him with this trick. ”

After that, Zhang Liang hurriedly added a sentence and said: "And there is another point, if I guess correctly, for the sake of prudence, Gongsun Qingpifu will take the path on the east bank of Yishui to enter the army, although this road is also relatively narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of troops, but the west is Yishui, the east is a swampy depression (now it has been flooded by Luoma Lake), even there are not many woods, it is difficult to arrange ambushes, and it is safer to take this road than to go to Maling Mountain Road, so Gongsun Qingpifu is most likely to take this road. ”

"It's rare that this guy is exactly the same as my analysis." Xiang Kang was a little surprised, and once again looked at Zhang Liang, who was known as Han Liang, and then Xiang Kang smiled again and said: "It's okay, Gongsun Qing Pifu takes the same road, as long as he sends troops, whether he takes the official road of Maling Mountain or the path on the east bank of Yishui, it will definitely be defeated for him." ”

"Huangkou child, don't be ashamed to speak." Xiang Bo said angrily: "Then tell me, how are you going to fight?" ”

"Uncle forgiveness, because it is not clear which path Gongsun Qing will take, and it is not certain whether Gongsun Qing will take the opportunity to send troops to the prime minister, so the little nephew has not thought about it yet." Xiang Kang replied with a smile: "When the little nephew has an idea, he must report it to his uncle immediately." Confess to my uncle again, after Brother Xiang Zhuang and the army left, the camp was already a little empty, and the little nephew wanted to go back to adjust the camp defense, so he left first. ”

After speaking, Xiang Kang arched his hand to Xiang Bo and Zhang Liang, turned around and left in a dashing manner, including Xiang Guan, Xiang Yang and Xiang It and other children of the Xiang family, including Xiang Guan, Xiang Yang and Xiang It, there was no one who was not disgusted with Xiang Bo who would only lose his temper and put on a show, so he hurriedly followed Xiang Kang into the camp together. Leaving Xiang Bo in place, his face was pale, and he gritted his teeth, but Zhang Liang snorted coldly in his heart, and said secretly: "Little guy, since you are so confident, then I want to see what method you use to deal with Gongsun Qingpifu." ”

…………

The distance is not far, the news that the young marshal's army sent troops to attack Ling County, of course, the next morning was reported to Gongsun Qing by the Qin army, Gongsun Qing was shocked when he heard the report, and subconsciously wanted to immediately send troops to rescue Ling County, but when the words came to his mouth, Gongsun Qing changed his mind, because the border line in the southwest of Donghai County is relatively special, it is a half-moon shape with an arc to the northeast, Xiapi and Lingxian are located at both ends of the half-moon, but Xiaxiang is located in the middle of the half-moon, so the journey from Xiapi to Lingxian is relatively long, Even if it was a rapid march, it would take more than two days to arrive, and no one dared to guarantee whether Ling County would be able to be rescued by then, so Gongsun Qing must not seriously consider the plan of directly sending troops to rescue Ling County.

And then, the plan to directly send troops to surround Wei to save Zhao and even directly kill the main force of the young marshal army naturally surfaced in Gongsun Qing's mind, and there were two reasons for Gongsun Qing's birth plan, one is that the main force of the young marshal army of the lower minister has been divided to fight Ling County, and the remaining young marshal army has no upper hand, and in the case of having to stay to defend the city, the strength on the local battlefield is still at a disadvantage, and the second reason is that Gongsun Qing has exchanged information about the young marshal army with Zhao Zhuang, the commander of Surabaya County, and knows that the young marshal army is not good at battle. In a head-to-head confrontation, the well-equipped Tokai soldiers will definitely have a good chance of winning.

It is precisely because of these two reasons that Gongsun Qing quickly made up his mind to send troops directly to Xiapi, but when choosing the road to send troops, Gongsun Qing was once again a little embarrassed, take the Maling Mountain Road, the road is narrow, the mountains on both sides are high and dense, it is very easy to repeat the mistake of Pang Juan was ambushed by the young marshal's army, it is safer to take the Yishui path, but the road is rugged and difficult, and the physical strength of the soldiers is too great, and then it will definitely affect the combat effectiveness of the army to a certain extent, which is not an ideal choice.

The lesser of two evils, for the sake of the safety of the army, and at the same time quite confident in the combat effectiveness of the army, Gongsun Qing still chose to take the Yishui Trail to the south, and at the same time, in order to replenish the physical strength of the soldiers, Gongsun Qing also decided to bring more meat on the road early, so that the soldiers could eat meat to replenish their physical strength. Then after hurriedly preparing for departure, in the afternoon of the same day, Gongsun Qing couldn't wait to lead the main force of the Qin army of more than 4,000 Donghai Counties to set off, and came to find Xiang Kang, who had divided his forces, to settle accounts.

At noon the next day, Xiang Kang received the report, and immediately arranged for Xiang Sui, who had already made certain preparations, to lead more than 1,000 soldiers to set off, and hurriedly went to the Yishui Road to act according to the plan, and at the same time allocated troops and horses, and led the troops to the west to set up a camp at the exit of the road, preparing to meet the challenge of the main force of the Qin army in the East China Sea. - But it was very disappointing, Xiang Bo pulled Zhang Liang to join the team of the young marshal army, and came to the front line to observe the battle of the young marshal army for the first time.

The Yishui trail is desolate and difficult to walk, fortunately it is not suitable for ambush on both sides, the Qin army of the East China Sea marched very quickly, and on the day of departure, it traveled about ten miles in the Yishui path, and when it continued to set off the next day, the Qin army of the East China Sea only took half a day to travel nearly thirty miles, and it was less than twenty miles away from the exit of the path, and it was very promising to finish this rugged path on the same day, stepping into the open place of the plain in the south. However, at this time, the scout of the Qin army who was scouting in front suddenly reported that he had found that a young marshal army had also entered the path and was rushing towards the Qin army.

Although it was clear that there were no more than 1,000 enemies, considering the difficulty of the march and the decline in the physical strength of the soldiers, Gongsun Qing still carefully ordered the army to slow down and maintain physical strength to move forward slowly, and at the same time sent many scouts to closely monitor the enemy's every move. However, what made Gongsun Qing a little confused was that after a while, the scout sent accurate news, saying that the young marshal's army had only walked six or seven miles after entering the path and would not advance, and he had seized the time to set up a camp, as if he was going to garrison it for a long time.

"What is Xiang Kang doing when he sends a lone army to set up camp in the path? Want to choke the danger and block the advance of our army with a small number of troops? However, although the swampy depression in the east is difficult to walk, it is not completely impossible to walk, so Xiang Kang is not afraid that the official will send an army to bypass his camp and attack his lone army in front and back? ”

With a full stomach full of confusion, Gongsun Qing continued to carefully lead the troops south, and finally arrived at a position less than five miles away from the camp of the young marshal's army before dark. Then take a closer look at the location of the young marshal's camp, combined with the news that the scouts found that the main force of the young marshal's army had set up camp at the exit of the path, Gongsun Qing immediately understood Xiang Kang's true plan, and immediately scolded: "The treacherous thief actually wants to consume our army!" ”

"Junzun, how does Xiang Kang's rebel plan to kill us?" A general asked puzzled.

"Idiot, I can't even see that!" Gongsun Qing scolded angrily, and then explained: "The camp of the traitors is Yishui to the west and a swamp to the east, if we want to go over, we can only attack the fortification head-on, once the attack is unfavorable, we will immediately be dragged into a war of attrition by them." If we divide our troops in a roundabout way and bypass the camp of the thieves in front and behind the swamp, Xiang Kang, the traitor, will definitely send troops immediately and stab us in the back, and our troops will be attacked by the enemy, of course, there is not much certainty of victory! ”

The general hurriedly nodded, and also hurriedly complimented Gongsun Qing's subtle knowledge, and saw at a glance the despicable intentions of the young marshal's army. And after Gongsun Qing thought about it with a calm face, he quickly made up his mind and shouted: "Immediately make a fire to rebel, cut down wood to prepare torches, and after dark, launch an attack on the camp of the thieves overnight, and don't give them the opportunity to further strengthen the camp fortifications!" The official doesn't believe it, a group of rabble can also stop the elite of the official's Great Qin! ”

According to Gongsun Qing's instructions, the Qin army immediately lit a fire on the spot to make food, and at the same time cut down the trees on the side of the road to make torches.

After all, it was still a little tender, and Xiang Sui, the son of Xiang Bo, who was more oriented to Xiang Kang, did not deduce from the fact that the Qin army did not set up camp that the Qin army was about to launch an overnight attack, and was somewhat caught off guard by the Qin army. But fortunately, after seeing the Qin army suddenly lighting a large number of torches, Xiang You immediately understood that the big battle was imminent, and he also bought a little warning time for the young marshal army.

After a while, the battle officially began, the rain of arrows on both sides was intertwined, three hundred Qin troops each with weapons, howling and roaring head-on attack the camp of the young marshal's army, and the young marshal soldiers who had accumulated a lot of actual combat experience were calmly facing the battle under the command of Xiang Sui, first with crossbow arrows to meet the Qin army clan that charged and killed, and then with thin fences and trenches to resist the attack of the Qin army, the arrows were endless, the swords and spears kept colliding, and the blood was constantly splashing in front of the battle, and the battle was extremely fierce.

After all, there are a few fortifications to follow, the young marshal army soldiers firmly held the camp defense line, and the fierce battle for a long time did not let the Qin army get their wish, Gongsun Qing was furious, roared and put three hundred troops into the front again, and the battle ahead became more and more cruel and bloody, and the roar of the fierce battle between the two sides resounded in the sky, and even the main camp of the young marshal army outside the exit of the path could be heard clearly.

There were also some people who didn't expect that the Qin army would decisively launch an overnight attack, for the sake of prudence, Xiang Kang at this moment had of course been promoted to gather generals and arrange reserves to prevent accidents. As a result, in the Chinese military tent of the young marshal's army, Xiang Bo, whose son was fighting in front of him, was of course furious, forcing Xiang Kang to hurry up to rescue Xiang Sui, but Xiang Kang was unhurried, just arranged for Chao Zhitong to lead a team of 1,000 people to garrison next to the exit of the road, in case Xiang Sui was defeated and retreated to the Qin army to chase and kill, and then there was no action.

"Xiang Kang, what do you mean by this?" Xiang Bo was furious and roared, "The Tyrannical Qin army is attacking my son's camp, why are you standing still? What if Yisui's camp was breached by the Tyrannical Qin army? ”

"Uncle is angry, there must be risks in fighting, you have to calm down." Xiang Kang comforted him lightly, and said: "Besides, don't look at Brother Xiang Sui is only less than a year older than me, but his personality is actually more stable than Brother Xiang You, and the camp location I chose for him in advance is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and he can defend it." ”

"What if I can't hold it?" Xiang Bo asked angrily.

"Of course it's a retreat." Xiang Kang replied easily, and said: "With Chao Zhi helping him intercept the Tyrannical Qin pursuers, Brother Xiang Sui will not be in any danger." ”

Zhang Liang promptly pressed Xiang Bo, who still wanted to get mad, and asked Xiang Kang: "Young marshal, in this way, are you determined to retreat the tyrannical Qin army?" ”

"Otherwise, how can you fight?" Xiang Kang asked rhetorically: "This is not Maling Mountain, you can arrange ambushes to win by surprise, the terrain of Yishui Road is placed here, what else can we do except for frontal hard consumption?" In a head-to-head battle, we are not sure that we can win. ”

It's just that Zhang Liang, who is good at strategy, said again: "Uncle Han, I know that you really want us to kill the main force of the violent Qin army in the East China Sea in a war, but the meal must be eaten one bite at a time, the battle must be fought one battle at a time, and the opportunity to break the enemy in a battle is not available in every war, and there is no chance of winning by surprise, so you can only fight honestly and hard, and it is unrealistic to blindly just want to be opportunistic." Also, third uncle, you can rest assured, as long as Brother Xiang Sui survives this strong attack of the Tyrant Qin army, when the morale of the Tyrant Qin army declines and retreats slightly, I will immediately arrange for an army to change the guard, and I will not always let Brother Xiang Sui be in front. ”

At the same time, on the battlefield of the small road, of course, the battle has become more tragic and bloody, the offensive of the Qin army is like a tide, and the camp fence of the young marshal army has been crumbling several times, and the casualties of the soldiers on both sides are quite large. Under the calm command of Xiang Sui, the officers and men of the young marshal army were divided into two teams, seizing the opportunity of the enemy's offensive to slow down a little and take turns to step forward, gritting their teeth and hardening their heads, and also repelled the crazy attacks of the Qin army again and again, and firmly held the last fence defense line. At the same time, Xiang Sui kept yelling, "If you have eggs, you will resist Lao Tzu!" Let the Tyrannical Qin army take a look, our young marshal army will not only use clever tactics to break the enemy, but also fight a tough battle! Bloody battles! ”

During the shouting, the stray arrow hit Xiang Sui's shoulder, and blood droplets splashed on Xiang Sui's face, painful to the bone, but Xiang Sui was silent, pulled out the arrow with a cold expression, and just yelled while holding the arrow stained with his own blood, "Hold!" Hold our camp no matter what! The soldiers of Great Chu, think about the blood feud of our Chu State, and think about the bullying and abuse of us by the tyrannical Qin! If you don't want to go to Lishan to be a prisoner, and if you don't want to be a cow and a horse for Tyrant Qin, just keep the camp for me! Fight off the tyrannical Qin! ”

Seized by Xiang Sui's momentum of holding up the blood arrow, the young marshal's soldiers were all excited, all brave, roaring and roaring just waving their weapons, head-on to the Qin soldiers who tried to break down the fence, even if they were wounded, they insisted on refusing to retreat, and killed the Qin army to the point that the ghosts were crying wolves, and the corpses were full of trenches, and once again blocked a wave of fierce attacks launched by the Qin army, forcing the Qin army to be forced to retreat, reorganize the team, and rotate the army to attack again.