If the main force of the young marshal army wants to go south from the bank of the Yellow River all the way south to the territory of Nanyang, bypass the Kuohan Road heavily guarded by the Qin army, and go around in a big circle from Wuguan to the hinterland of the Qin army's Guanzhong, it is definitely not an easy thing to do. As long as one of these objective problems is not properly resolved, it may lead to unforeseen consequences.

In addition, the main force of the young marshal army, which currently has only more than 33,000 people, is also obviously insufficient in terms of troops, and the battles along the way will definitely lose troops, so the young marshal army must constantly replenish troops and expand the army on the way to the war, which in turn involves the raising of weapons and equipment, all kinds of necessary military supplies and non-commissioned officer training, and so on.

No matter how difficult it is, it must be done, Xiang Kang, who has long had no way back, in order to survive in this troubled era, still resolutely chose to face the difficulties, to complete the historical mission of entering the customs and destroying Qin for Liu Laosan, and just withdrew from the Yellow River with the main force of the young marshal army, Xiang Kang immediately gathered the army, took the grain and grass that was only enough for one month to march westward along the gallop road, returned to the small city of Yangwu that he had captured before, and prepared to go south directly from Yangwu to Yingchuan.

Xiang Kang was both annoyed and surprised, he was generous enough to give Xiang Yu Puyang, Baima Ercheng and the remaining grain and grass in the city, and the road to Yangwu was only halfway through, Xiang Yu actually sent someone to send a letter, in the name of the anti-Qin alliance leader, ordered Xiang Kang to abandon the tactical plan of marching into Yingchuan and Nanyang, and led the main force of the young marshal army to directly enter the hinterland of Sanchuan County, trying to cut off the direct connection between the main force of the Qin army and the rear of Guanzhong. As a result, Xiang Kang was furious when he heard this, and blurted out: "Dream! I didn't participate in the Julu Alliance, so why should you call the shots to me? ”

"Ahem!" "Ahem!"

Zhou Zeng and Chen Ping next to him coughed almost at the same time, and at the same time glanced at Xiang Kang, reminding Xiang Kang not to forget that the messenger sent by Xiang Yu was in front of him. Didn't I go to fight Yingchuan and Nanyang just to lure the snake out of the hole and lure the violent Qin army in Sanchuan to the southern front to annihilate it, and then find a way to enter Sanchuan? ”

Seeing that Xiang Kang changed his words in time, Zhou Zeng and Chen Ping were also busy helping beside him, explaining Xiang Kang's hardships to the messenger sent by Xiang Yu, and offering a generous gift to ask the messenger to go back and speak a lot for Xiang Kang, and then Chen Ping wrote for Xiang Kang and wrote a sincere letter to Xiang Yu, explaining that the Qin army had deployed heavy guards in Sanchuan County, and the young marshal's army was weak, and there was almost no possibility of forcibly attacking it. To put it mildly, it was not easy to send the messenger sent by Xiang Yu away.

After this incident, Xiang Kang of course had to regret his impulsive gaffe, but the water that was spilled out could not be recovered, and Xiang Kang could only hope that Chen Ping's bribery would take effect, so that Xiang Yu's envoy would go back and not talk nonsense, and then he didn't dare to waste any more time, so he hurriedly took the main force of the young marshal's army to quickly march westward, and returned to Yangwu City in less than three days.

Yangwu County, which was previously abandoned by the young marshal's army, has now been reoccupied by the Qin army, but the granary in the city has long been emptied by the young marshal's army, and the grain that could not be taken away has also been distributed by Xiang Kang to the people in the city to buy people's hearts, and the main force of the young marshal's army has no need to forcibly attack the city, so Xiang Kang did not waste time, and took the army to bypass Yangwu and went south directly, and successfully arrived at the bank of the chasm that night, preparing to cross the chasm and go south directly.

When he arrived at the chasm, it was late, and he took pity on the hard work of the soldiers, Xiang Kang did not let the army rush to build the pontoon bridge overnight, and planned to build a bridge to cross the river the next day, but what surprised Xiang Kang again was that his decision turned out to be a big mistake - after the sky was bright the next day, it didn't take long for the young marshal to start building the bridge, and the scout sent an urgent report, saying that an unknown number of Qin troops suddenly came from the north, and it was only less than twenty miles away from the main force of the young marshal's army.

"There is a tyrannical Qin army coming from the north? How can it be? Hearing this, Xiang Kang almost couldn't believe his ears, and hurriedly asked the scout, "Where is the enemy from the army?" Who will the Lord be? Did you get it? ”

"The right general forgives the guilt, the time is in a hurry, and I haven't had time to find out these circumstances yet." The scout replied truthfully.

"Keep exploring." Xiang Kang instructed: "You must find out the situation of the enemy as soon as possible, and if possible, try to catch a tongue and come back." ”

The scout took the order and left, and Xiang Kang ordered the young marshal to continue to build the pontoon bridge, and at the same time let the army prepare for battle to avoid being attacked by the enemy, but what surprised Xiang Kang again was that it didn't take much time for the scout of the young marshal army to report again, saying that the enemy from the north had stopped advancing about ten miles away from the main force of the young marshal's army, and also seized the high ground on the side of the road, and immediately began to build fortifications. It was clear that he wanted to pester us and take advantage of the fire to rob us when we crossed the river. ”

"General Right, the enemy situation is unknown, we had better be cautious." Uncle Zhou next to him suggested: "The last general thinks that our army can't cross the river in a hurry, and it is best to build some fortifications to prevent emergencies, and make a decision after finding out the specific situation of the enemy." ”

Xiang Kang, who has always liked to seek stability, immediately nodded in agreement, and immediately ordered the soldiers of the young marshal army to build fortifications, and at the same time ordered Guan Ying, who succeeded Xiang Guan to lead the cavalry of the young marshal's army, to send rangers to arrest the Qin army scouts as soon as possible and come over for questioning.

When it was almost noon, the scout of the young marshal army finally sent accurate information, helping Xiang Kang confirm that the strength of the Qin army that suddenly appeared was about 17,800 people, and the establishment belonged to the county soldiers of Sanchuan County.

It turned out that this Qin army was still an old acquaintance of the young marshal army, and it was Li You's remnants of the remnants of the army who fled back to Sanchuan County after the defeat of the remnants of the army, and supplemented a large number of new recruits to re-form the Sanchuan County soldiers, the main commander was Yang Xiong, a veteran general of Guanzhong sent directly by the Qin court, and the reason why he suddenly appeared in the north of the young marshal army was that Yang Xiong had received the news that the young marshal army had entered Yangwu again, and mistakenly thought that Xiang Kang wanted to directly enter the hinterland of Sanchuan, and hurriedly advanced west from Xingyang to reinforce Yangwu. Yang Xiong led the army south to chase after him, which caught Xiang Kang off guard.

After the magic unraveled the mystery, it was no longer so magical, and after finally figuring out the origin and identity of the enemy, none of the young marshals and generals who had bullied the soldiers of Sanchuan County many times did not laugh, and then couldn't wait to speak: "General Right, the tyrannical Qin army in Sanchuan County is not enough to fear, please give an order immediately, take us north to fight to the death with the tyrannical Qin army, and then give the tyrannical Qin army in Sanchuan County a little color." ”

"Don't worry, the tyrannical Qin army has already seized the high ground and set up camp, and it will not easily send troops to fight a decisive battle with us." Xiang Kang shook his head very cautiously, and asked the captured Qin army scouts: "Since you came south to pursue us, why did you stop advancing when you got closer, and didn't dare to come over and fight us?" ”

"The general spares his life, this villain really doesn't know." The captured Qin army scout cringed and said, "But I heard from above, as soon as you cross the river, general, we will immediately start hitting you in the back." ”

"Did you say above that what if we go back and fight you?" Xiang Kang asked again.

The Qin army scout shook his head, and just begged Xiang Kang to spare his life, and Xiang Kang didn't expect to ask anything from a pawn, but just waved his hand to let him be temporarily escorted down, and then turned to Uncle Zhou and asked, "General Zhou, didn't you find this thing a little strange?" Yang Xiong's soldiers and horses are either recruits or defeated under our command, and the strength is only more than half of ours, so it stands to reason that he should not have the courage to fight us head-on, how dare he risk chasing us close with the army? ”

"The last general also thinks this is strange." Uncle Zhou was also full of doubts, and said: "It stands to reason that Yang Xiong, who is responsible for guarding Sanchuan, should be unable to ask for it when he finds that we are heading south to Yingchuan, how can he dare to pursue us with weak forces, and he is still ready to attack us halfway?" Isn't he afraid of provoking us off, turning back and attacking him, killing him without leaving a single piece of armor behind? ”

Seeing that Uncle Zhou couldn't figure out Yang Xiong's intentions, Xiang Kang was inevitably even more puzzled, but Li Shiqi next to him suddenly said: "Could it be that Yang Xiong's husband misunderstood our intentions?" Do you suspect that we are crossing the chasm in the south of Quyu, and we are preparing to bypass the Bolangsha and Yanqing lines that they are guarding and rush from the south bank of the chasm into the hinterland of Sanchuan County? That's why he resolutely entangled us, lest our rush succeed and he would not be able to explain to the Tyrannical Qin Court. ”

Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou were stunned together, and then they glanced at each other, and said in unison: "Only this explanation!" Otherwise, the tyrannical Qin army of Sanchuan County would definitely not fight hard to protect Yingchuan and us! ”

"General Right, what should we do now?" Zhou Zeng asked: "Is it to immediately turn back to the decisive battle and drive away the tyrannical Qin army in Sanchuan County at any cost?" Or try to avoid pointless decisive battles and find another way to cross the chasm? ”

Xiang Kangyun thought very quickly, and quickly replied: "If we can come up with a way to quickly cross the chasm, we had better avoid a senseless decisive battle as much as possible, the road to Nanyang is still long, we still have a lot of battles to fight, Yang Xiong Pifu has already seized the high ground and set up camp, we are attacking head-on, he must only defend without fighting, even if we succeed in the strong attack, the casualties will definitely not be small there, if the luck is not good, there may be a waste of countless grains and grass and time, and the gains outweigh the losses." ”

"So what exactly should we do?" Zhou Zeng asked.

"Set up camp on the spot, let our soldiers rest during the day, and hurry up to prepare torches, dry food and other things for night fighting." Xiang Kang casually ordered: "Again, write a war book for me, ask Yang Xiong Pifu to fight to the death with us in a dignified duel tomorrow morning, and clearly tell him that if he does not agree to a decisive battle, tomorrow we will attack his camp head-on and annihilate the rabble under his command." Then arrange a messenger to send Yang Xiong over in the afternoon. ”

"General Right is planning to rob the camp at night again?" Zhou Zeng grinned.

"Of course." Xiang Kang smiled and showed more white teeth, and said: "This is my signature tactic, as long as Yang Xiong Pifu pays a little attention to collecting intelligence, he will definitely know that I have always made an appointment to fight as a fake, and the sneak attack is real." ”

…………

Let's take a look at the situation on the poor General Yang Xiong's side, as analyzed by Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou, poor General Yang Xiong actually knew that with more than 10,000 remnants of his own defeated generals and new soldiers, there was no possibility of fighting the main force of the 30,000 handsome army under Xiang Kang, and risking westward to reinforce Yangwu, it was completely because the newly appointed county guard of Sanchuan County personally ordered the persecution, and Yang Xiong did not dare to disobey the order to lead the army to the battle.

The more adventurous pursuit of the main force of the young marshal army is also the same as Li Shiqi's analysis, because General Yang Xiong misjudged the purpose of the young marshal's army to the south, thinking that the main force of the young marshal army was planning to spare the frontal defense line of the Qin army and enter the hinterland of Sanchuan County from the flank.

Because of this, after seizing the favorable terrain of the roadside highland, the first thing Yang Xiong did was to personally urge the soldiers of the Qin army to make every effort to repair the fortifications, so that when the main force of the young marshal army turned around to meet the battle, there was a battalion to defend, so that it would not be quickly defeated by the young marshal's army. The result was also okay, similar to what Yang Xiong had hoped, the main force of the young marshal army, who had always disliked fighting head-on, did not return to the division to attack the fortified position, giving the Sanchuan Qin army time to establish a strong camp.

However, when it was almost time to come to Shen, the young marshal's army suddenly sent a messenger with a book to the camp, inviting General Yang Xiong to fight to the death in a dignified manner on the morning of the next day, and also released wild words, saying that if Yang Xiong refused to agree, the main force of the young marshal's army would launch a frontal attack the next day. Fortunately, General Yang Xiong's cheekiness also caught up with Xiang Kang's one or two percent, and after reading the battle book, he immediately smiled and said: "Please ask your envoy to go back and report to General You, just say that General Ben is unwell and has no interest in fighting him head-on." If he is sure that he can capture the camp of this general, he can just let the horse come, and this general will definitely accompany him to the end. ”

Seeing that Yang Xiong's cheekiness had reached this point, the young marshal army envoy had no choice but to go back with Yang Xiong's reply to hand over the order, but as soon as the young marshal army envoy left with his front foot, Yang Xiong ordered with his back foot: "Order the whole army, immediately prepare torches, dry food and other things for night fighting, and everyone is not allowed to disarm and weapons when resting tonight, and always guard against thieves sneaking up on our army's camp at night!" ”

"General, do you suspect that the thief army will come to rob the camp tonight?" The generals next to him asked in surprise.

"It's not a doubt, it's an affirmation, this is also Xiang Kang'er's forte." Yang Xiong snorted coldly and said: "I have carefully listened to Xiang Kang'er's habits of using troops, in addition to never disliking to fight head-on with others, this traitor also likes to arrange illusions, highlight strange soldiers, and pretend to fight more than once, so that our Daqin officials and soldiers take it lightly, and then take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack at night." This time, he didn't come to attack the fortifications head-on, but instead sent a book to make an appointment, making it clear that he wanted to repeat his old tricks and kill us by surprise at night! ”

Several generals next to him suddenly realized, and quickly nodded yes, and then one of the generals had an idea, and hurriedly said: "General, since we can be sure that Xiang Kang Xiao'er will come to rob the camp tonight, then why don't we plan it, arrange an ambush in advance, and arrange a trap for Xiang Kang Xiao'er to drill?" ”

Poor General Yang Xiong smiled bitterly, and then said: "It would be nice if it was so easy, Xiang Kang'er is as treacherous as a fox, how could he blindly rob the camp without leaving a backhand?" If he plans to set up an ambush outside the camp, won't our soldiers out of the camp be in danger? ”

After sighing, Yang Xiong said again: "That's it, don't take risks, the enemy is strong and I am weak, the enemy is outnumbered, we can only be cautious, if the thief army comes to rob the camp tonight, we can only use random arrows to retreat the enemy, and we must not risk it, otherwise the consequences will definitely be unimaginable." ”

In this way, under Yang Xiong's arrangement, the soldiers of the Qin army were quickly ready to guard the camp at night, even when they rested at night, they did not dare to undress and relax, put their weapons within reach and put their clothes together, Yang Xiong, who was over fifty years old, did not care about his body and gradually weakened, in addition to personally inspecting the camp after nightfall, he was also undressed and unarmoured, and he was always ready to meet the night sneak attack of the young marshal's army.

Of course, the soldiers of the Qin army and General Yang Xiong did not work in vain, when it came to the second watch, the direction of the camp gate of the Qin army camp really rang the alarm gong, Yang Xiong immediately jumped up from the low bed, rushed to the outside of the tent to check the situation, and then immediately saw that the front of the army camp was already bright with torches, and countless Qin soldiers had rushed to the front of the camp to open their bows and arrows, and at the same time, there was a continuous sound of shouting and killing outside the camp.

Fortunately, the well-guarded soldiers of the Qin army did not give the young marshal army a chance to rush directly into the camp, and firmly blocked the young marshal's army from robbing the camp with a dense rain of arrows, but Yang Xiong still refused to rest assured, in addition to letting the army strictly guard the fence of the camp, he also entered the big tent of the Chinese army overnight to gather the army as a reserve to prevent accidents.

Although he has not been able to rush into the Qin military camp, the young marshal army who came to sneak attack did not rush to withdraw, and wandered outside the Qin military camp for nearly an hour before retreating, and as a result, after the news of the young marshal's army being beaten away was reported to Yang Xiong, the Qin army generals around Yang Xiong were all happy, but Yang Xiong's face was still grim, and he ordered: "Pass the order, continue to guard our army camp closely, and no one is allowed to disarm, and the weapons are still not allowed to leave their hands, so as to prevent the thieves from sneaking up again!" ”

"Will there be another sneak attack?" The generals of the Qin army were even more surprised.

"This is also Xiang Kang'er's specialty!" Yang Xiong scolded angrily: "At the beginning of Suiyang, General Dong Peng, the deputy of General Zhang Han, suffered such a big loss, thinking that he could sleep with peace of mind after repelling the sneak attack of the thief army, but Xiang Kang Xiao'er launched a second sneak attack on the same night, killing countless of our Great Qin soldiers, we must not repeat such a mistake!" ”

Hearing that Xiang Kang still had such a vicious method, all the generals of the Qin army were terrified, and hurriedly clasped their fists and sang a promise, received orders together, and went down to urge the soldiers of the Qin army to continue to guard the camp closely. Then it was not as expected by Yang Xiong, when it came to the fourth watch, the fence of the Qin army's camp was indeed a gong and drum, and once again issued an enemy attack warning, Yang Xiong calmly responded, and immediately rushed into the big tent of the Chinese army again to organize the army to meet the battle, and once again blocked the shameless sneak attack of the villain of the young marshal's army.

There was still a stalemate for an hour, and seeing that there was still no chance to enter the camp of the Qin army, the young marshal army team that launched a sneak attack for the second time took the initiative to leave the battlefield and retreated to the direction of the ferry. As a result, just when the generals of the Qin army breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that they could finally sleep with peace of mind, Yang Xiong suddenly thought of a possibility, and hurriedly shouted: "Quick, immediately send scouts to the ferry to check the situation!" Let's see if the main force of the thief army is still at the chasm ferry? ”

According to Yang Xiong's order, the scouts of the Qin army soon ventured out of the camp and rushed to the chasm ferry overnight to investigate the movements of the main force of the young marshal's army, and then when the sky was light, the scouts who went out of the camp to investigate the enemy's situation stumbled back in front of Yang Xiong, and shouted loudly before they had time to salute: "General, it's not good!" The main force of the thief army was gone, and they had crossed the chasm overnight and reached the south bank of the chasm. ”

Before the scout's words were finished, General Yang Xiong was already slumped on the handsome chair, his eyes were still blackened one after another, and he kept screaming in his heart, "It's over!" The main force of the thief army has crossed the chasm right under my nose, and if they take the opportunity to enter the hinterland of Sanchuan County, I will not be able to explain it to the imperial court! ”

Fortunately, at noon, the scouts of the Qin army who crossed the river to investigate the enemy's situation sent another message, reporting that the young marshal's army did not advance westward, but went directly south in the direction of Yingchuan. As a result, when he heard the news, Yang Xiong's soul, which had been frightened away, immediately returned to his body, and he couldn't help but quietly clasp his palms together and pray, and said secretly: "Thank God! It turned out that the thief army was preparing to harm Yingchuan, but now I am not in much danger, and I have a way to explain to the imperial court. ”

After rejoicing, General Yang Xiong couldn't help but complain in his heart again: "Xiang Kang Xiao'er, if you had said earlier that you were going to harm Yingchuan, General Ben would definitely let go immediately, why do you need to be so blind?" Scare General Ben half to death, and make your thief sergeant work in vain. ”