The main force of the northern front was completely annihilated by the Han army, and he was once again forced to take the initiative to retreat in front of his cousin, and the depression and grievance in the heart of the arrogant Xiang Yu can naturally be imagined, so even if he successfully rescued more than 10,000 defeated soldiers of the Qi State, he also rescued nearly 10,000 people from the Western Chu army, and successfully crossed the Yellow River and withdrew to the plain where he could sit back and relax, but after stepping on the land on the east bank of the Yellow River, Xiang Yu suddenly roared at the civil and military forces of the Jibei Army who came up and nodded and greeted him......

"Roll ——!"

Under extreme anger, the volume of Xiang Yu's roar definitely directly surpassed the famous roar made by Zhang Fei and Zhang Yide at the head of the Changsaka Bridge in the later generations, which shocked the eardrums of everyone in the Jibei Army in front of them, and the buzzing sound did not stop for a long time, almost piercing and bleeding on the spot, and roared so that Liu Hua, a relatively weak Tiandu strategist, was beating wildly, and sat on the ground directly on his butt when he stood unsteadily, but Xiang Yu didn't even bother to look at them, strode through the crowd, and rushed to the distance with a blue face to continue sulking.

All know that Xiang Yu will be furious to the extreme, of course, the people of the Jibei Army and the Western Chu Army present do not dare to touch the head again, just honestly act separately, the generals of the Western Chu Army command the army to go ashore and set up camp, Tian Du and others are obediently offering wine, meat, grain and grass, providing heavy military accounts, and temporarily taking on the burden of supporting the defeated soldiers of the Western Chu Army and the Qi Army under the very tight financial situation, during which they did not even dare to take a breath of the atmosphere, for fear of angering Xiang Yu, so that Xiang Yu took the opportunity to vent his monstrous anger on himself.

The boats and boats in the plains were all in the hands of the Jibei army, and the Han army could not beat Xiang Yu even if they sent troops to pursue, and the soldiers of the Western Chu army were tired after the continuous rapid march, and the defeated army of Qi and Chu who fled back from Julu needed to rest and recuperate, and in the next few days, Xiang Yu and others were of course temporarily stationed in the plains to rest. During this period, Xiang Zhuang also cautiously asked Xiang Yu for instructions, asking Xiang Yu to decide whether to contact the Western Chu Army Brigade behind, so that the Western Chu Army Infantry Brigade would stop advancing, and stop wasting strength to rush to the plain to join the front army, and wait to withdraw to the hinterland of Western Chu.

"There's no need for that." Xiang Yu made a sullen decision and said: "Anyway, there is not much distance, let them come, one is to prevent the Han thieves from taking advantage of the situation to advance eastward, and the other is that there is still a part of the Jibei army isolated in Zhaodi, with sufficient troops, if necessary, we can also send troops to bring the Jibei army back." ”

Not daring to disobey Xiang Yu's decision, Xiang Zhuang could only dispel this idea, and then just after more than three days, Ji Bu, Xiang Bo and others also led the rear team of the Western Chu army with more than 80,000 people to rush to the plain, and joined the former army led by Xiang Yu, so that Xiang Yu regained the strength to fight head-on with the main force of the Han army.

But it's also a pity that after the rendezvous, the Western Chu army not only did not have the joy and cheers that should be there when the division was meeting, on the contrary, both the front army and the rear army were lifeless, and most of the people were gloomy. Immediately afterwards, Xiang Bo even encouraged Xiang Yu to launch a counterattack as soon as possible, taking advantage of the Han army's unstable foothold in Zhao to recapture the land and cities of Zhao and turn the tide of the battle on the northern front again.

Of course, Xiang Bo's proposal almost scared Tian Du out of the pee, because Tian Du knew very well that Zhao had been forced to surrender to the Han army, and would no longer provide grain and grass to the Western Chu army, and the rear of the Western Chu army was in chaos, and it was very difficult to raise money and food.

Fortunately, Xiang Yu was quite calm, just thought about it for a while and said: "The matter of the counteroffensive is slowly discussed, now we have no army to respond on the Julu battlefield, and the grain and grass and military supplies cannot be raised on the spot, so we launched a counteroffensive in a hurry, and the Han thieves only need to come to hold on without fighting, and they can consume us." Let's wait until we find out the next move of the thief before making a decision. ”

Tian Du quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and Ji Bu, another general of the Western Chu Army who did not agree with Xiang Kang, suggested: "King, can you think of a way to lure the Han thieves to the plains for a decisive battle?" If the Han thieves are tricked and fight a decisive battle in this area of the plains, the situation will be too favorable for us. ”

"You regard this king as a thief to Xiang Kang, and when you encounter a problem, you will only steal and deceive?" Xiang Yu, who never liked to use tricks, was angry and scolded, and asked Tian Du again: "King Jibei, has the envoy who contacted your army sent out?" When will your army in Zhao be able to withdraw? ”

"The king has been sent out." Tian Du replied respectfully: "Please rest assured, General Tian Xin, who commanded the army for Xiao Wang, is quite strategic, once he knows the situation on the Julu battlefield, even if he does not get in touch with Xiao Wang, he will definitely withdraw to Jibei immediately, and will not stay in Zhao Di and die in vain." ”

"Humph! When it comes to escaping, you Qi people are more powerful than the other! Xiang Yu snorted very unhappily, and ordered: "Hurry up and raise grain, grass and military supplies, send more scouts to work carefully, carefully inquire about the movements of the Han thieves to this king, and report to this king immediately if there is a situation." ”

Tian Du agreed with a sad face, and at this time, Tian Du's guards suddenly entered the account outside the tent and said: "King of Western Chu, King, we sent to Julu to inquire about the enemy's situation and sent the news, Xiang Kang rebel thief in Julu to reorganize troops and horses, raise grain, grass and military supplies, and announced that he would personally lead the main force of the Han thieves to the east to crusade against the King of Western Chu and our Jibei army. ”

"What?!" Xiang Yu and Tian both thought that they had heard it wrong, and then Xiang Yu asked in surprise: "Is the news reliable?" Does Xiang Kang really want to take the initiative to come in and fight to the death with this king? ”

"Returning to the king of Western Chu, we have heard it carefully in Julu, and it should be reliable. In addition, our meticulous work also heard that Xiang Kang's rebels had gone to order Puyang, and mobilized the fleet from Puyang to the plain battlefield to listen to it. Tiandu's guards answered truthfully, took out two more white silks, and said: "Also, the traitor Xiang Kang also issued two edicts in the honor of the King of Han, all of which are related to your relatives and relatives of the King of Western Chu. ”

The secretly copied Xiang Kang Ming edict was soon presented to Xiang Yu, and saw Xiang Kang announcing in an edict that the Xianyang Chu Palace would be renamed Tongzong Palace, and the pavilions and houses would be given to the children of the Xiang family, and seeing that Xiang Kang was so generous as to pardon Xiang Bo, and also promised Xiang Bo a heavy reward for surrender, Xiang Yu couldn't help but be furious again, and said with a cruel smile: "Okay, you Xiang Kang is a traitor, in order to separate our Xiang clan, you really do everything!" ”

On the contrary to Xiang Yu, seeing the heavy reward that Xiang Kang promised to him in the edict, Master Xiang Boxiang was ecstatic in his heart, and quickly lowered his head, for fear that Xiang Yu would see his true reaction, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief in his heart, and whispered: "There is nothing to worry about anymore, that little evil animal is not filial piety, and it is still a matter of words, this edict is bright in the world, it is even more impossible for him to break his word, and the old man can have a way out in the future." ”

On Xiang Yu's side, after sneering, after just a little calculation, Xiang Yu made up his mind and shouted: "Order the whole army to immediately build a strong camp at the crossing of the plains, and prepare for a long-term battle with the Han thieves!" Tiandu, the matter of money, food and military supplies will be handed over to you, no matter what you think, you must ensure that this king is not short of military food on the front line! ”

"The King." Tian Du almost didn't cry, and said tremblingly: "Xiao Wang's granary has already bottomed out." ”

"That's your business!" Xiang Yu roared: "It's almost the autumn harvest, can't you think of a way to this bit of grain and grass?" Also, you don't need to cry poor for this king, this king fought a decisive battle with the Han thieves in the plains, and it was also for your Jibei country, without this king sitting in Jibei, with your little soldiers and horses, you can block the attack of the Han thieves? ”

Tian Du thought about it, but he could only reluctantly agree, racking his brains to calculate that he could transfer money and grain from there to support the uncles of the Western Chu Army before the autumn harvest?

"King, will the thieves really take the initiative to march east to fight us?" Some people also questioned it, at least the treacherous old general Ding Guding expressed his worries, saying: "With Xiang Kang's treachery of the traitor, he will not fail to understand that he will take the initiative to send troops east and fight a decisive battle with us on the plains, and the situation will only ...... him." ”

"What do you want to say?" Xiang Yu interrupted rudely and said, "Do you want this king to take the initiative to withdraw his troops and empty Jibei for the Han thieves to fight?" ”

Ding Gu hurriedly closed his mouth, and scolded himself in his heart: "What are you doing with so much nonsense? We are stockpiling food in the plains, preparing for a decisive battle with the Han thieves, is it that the money and food are for the old man and me to pay for themselves? Don't talk nonsense, let's let Tian Du go to this worry. ”

In this way, because of a detailed investigation, Xiang Yu, who was still undecided, immediately made up his mind, and decided to stay in the plain battlefield that was beneficial to his army for a long time, waiting for his scum cousin to take the initiative to send him to death, and no longer consider whether to withdraw or take the initiative to attack. - Of course, this is not wrong, the two major corps of the Han army are currently stationed on the Julu battlefield four hundred miles away, if Xiang Yu chooses to take the initiative to retreat, among the two major corps of the Han army, as long as one corps is randomly transferred out, he can easily kill the Jibei Army, which has long been a big loss of vitality and a small profit.

It's just that this is of course bitter to the poor Jibei Wang Tiandu, before that, in order to supply the Northern Line Corps of the Western Chu Army to enter Zhao Di, Tian Du has been forced to pay a lot of tribute to pay a lot of money and grain, and later in the battle of the plains, and Xiang Yu personally led the army to rescue Zhao Di, and forced Tian Du to let blood twice, this will Xiang Yu decided to stay in the plain for a long time, Tian Du was of course even more overwhelmed, so in the next few days, Tian Du was so worried that he couldn't sleep every night, and finally fell asleep, also usually dreams that he can't satisfy Xiang Yu's bottomless pit appetite, and is cut down by the hot-tempered Xiang Yu himself.

A few days later, in the afternoon, the Jibei soldiers who were patrolling on the west bank of the Yellow River suddenly sent an urgent report, saying that Tian Xin, the general of the Jibei Army, had sent his guard Zhao Peng as an envoy to sneak into the plain ferry disguised as an ordinary person.

It didn't take long for Tian Xin's guard Zhao Peng to be led in front of Tian Du, and then because he had seen Zhao Peng more than once by Tian Xin's side, Tian Du was even exempted from the procedure of verifying his identity, and asked Zhao Peng: "Tell me, how is the situation of our army?" ”

"Rest assured, our army is doing well now."

Zhao Peng replied very honestly, and then he gave a general account of the situation of the Jibei Army currently isolated in the territory of Zhao State, saying that after the Jibei Army was defeated in Huanshui, because of the blessing of the Han Army's Zhou Shu's corps rushing south, it was able to regroup and gather the remnants of the army, and regathered about 24,000 troops, and then with the help of the remnants of the Zhao army, they recaptured the draft county and temporarily solved the problem of grain and grass, and did not completely collapse because of lack of food.

"The king knows all these things." Tian said impatiently: "Now, how is the situation of our army now?" ”

"The king can rest assured, after receiving the news from the Julu battlefield, our army quickly took the initiative to abandon Manuscript County, and is currently on the way to withdraw to Jibei County." Zhao Peng continued to answer truthfully, and said in a hesitant manner: "However, however, when retreating, the general made a very important decision, a decision that is vital to the life and death of our Jibei Kingdom, so he sent the villain to come back first to deliver the letter, so that the king will know about this matter." ”

"What important decision?" Tian Du had a sense of foreboding in his heart.

Zhao Peng didn't dare to say anything, just took out a letter from his arms, raised his hands above his head, and the guard immediately stepped forward to take it and forwarded it to Tian Du......

I can't help Tian Bu so frightened, in the letter to Tian Du, Tian Xin, who has won Tian Du's trust, actually told Tian Du clearly, saying that he had secretly accepted the persuasion of the Han army to surrender, and planned to pretend to lead the army to break through and withdraw to Jibei, and then take advantage of the opportunity of the decisive battle between the Han army and the Western Chu army on the border of Zhao Qi, and suddenly stabbed the Western Chu army in the back and helped Xiang Kang kill Xiang Yu, but he was worried that he was weak and his prestige was insufficient, and he couldn't succeed, so he wanted to ask Tian Du's consent first, and asked Tian Du to promise to lead the Jibei army anyway, Then he dared to come back with the Jibei Army to act.

In addition, Tian Xin naturally had to explain the benefits and disadvantages to Tian Du in the letter, saying that Xiang Yu was tyrannical and unreasonable, and the people's hearts were lost, but Xiang Kang was generous and benevolent, and the world was in his heart, the Western Chu army was already defeated, and the Han army was already victorious, so he persuaded Tian Du to change the court in time, and made up his mind to abandon Chu and return to Han, surrender Xiang Kang and continue to be the king of Jibei.

"You ......, you ......." Pointing at Zhao Peng in front of him, Tian Du was so angry that his whole body trembled, and it took a while to say a complete sentence, "You are so bold!" ”

"Your Majesty, the General is also out of loyalty to you, so he made this decision!"

Zhao Peng was obviously an insider, and immediately knelt down on Tian Xin's knees, and said with a heavy pause: "Also, the villain also came with the determination to die!" If the king refuses to allow and does not let the villain bring back an accurate answer to the general, then our general will immediately return to Han with the rest of the army, and will not return to Jibei to die! ”

Zhao Peng's words directly hit the key point of Tiandu, there was only a county in Jibei with a meager capital, of course Tiandu couldn't tolerate any mistakes in his remaining main army, and immediately dispelled the idea of immediately pushing Zhao Peng, a traitor, out of the tent and beheading, and changed to nervously calculating the pros and cons. Zhao Peng peeked at Tian Du's nervous expression, and immediately understood that he had successfully frightened Tian Du, so he took out another letter from his underwear and said cautiously: "King, the villain also brought a letter from the King of Han to you, please take a look." ”

"You also brought a letter from Xiang Kang's traitor?" When Tian Du heard this, he was furious again.

"King, if it weren't for the King of Han to send someone to escort him, how could the villain have sent the general's letter here so quickly?" Zhao Pengtian replied shamelessly.

Seeing that Xiang Kang was full of rhetoric on the letter, he tried his best to persuade himself to surrender to the Han army, and helped Tian Xin stab Xiang Yu in the back during the decisive battle between Chu and Han, in exchange for continuing to be the king in Jibei, and promised that in the future, after destroying Qi, Langya County would also be sealed to himself.

No matter how much he scolded, it was useless, Tian Xin, the general who commanded the main force of the Jibei Army, had already defected, and threatened that if Tian Du did not give an answer, he would take the remaining main force of the Jibei Army to surrender directly to the Han Army, of course Tian Du, who was small and thin, did not dare to take risks with his main army, so after thinking nervously for a while, Tian Du could only lower his voice and ask: "This matter, besides you and Tian Xin, who else knows?" ”

"Please rest assured, the king knows very little." Zhao Peng replied in a low voice: "In order to prevent leakage and extraneous branches, the general only let a few people know about this situation. ”

"Well, there's hope!" Tian Du was secretly happy in his heart, and immediately said in his heart: "First find a way to trick Tian Xin's puppet back, and then as long as he is killed, this king can still keep the army!" ”

After immediately making up his mind, Tian Du first forced himself to squeeze out some smiles, and then personally picked up Zhao Peng, patted Zhao Peng's shoulder and said with a smile: "Well done, in fact, this king has already had this plan, but he has never made up his mind, since you have made a decision for this king, it is the will of heaven to let this king act like this." ”

"King, so you've decided?" Zhao Peng asked happily.

Tian Du immediately nodded, lowered his voice and said, "Go back and tell the general to come back quickly, and then we will discuss how to act concretely." ”

Zhao Peng hurriedly sang a promise, and cautiously said to Tian Du: "King, King Han still has an explanation, please be sure to let the villain bring him a return book." ”

"Traitor! Sure enough, it's very treacherous! ”

Tian Du gritted his teeth, and immediately understood that Xiang Kang wanted to leave ironclad evidence of the letter himself, but in order to protect his army, Tian Du quickly made up his mind, returned to his seat and personally wrote a reply to Xiang Kang, leaving ink and silk to prove that he was indeed determined to rebel against Chu and return to Han, signed and handed it to Zhao Peng, and arranged the most reliable guards to escort Zhao Peng out of the camp, and asked him to cross the river and return to Zhao Di to hand over the letter to Xiang Kang.

"As soon as you leave, this king will immediately go and confess to the king of Western Chu! Explain the truth, so that even if Xiang Kang Xiaoer takes this letter, there is no way to blackmail this king! These are the words of Tian Du's heart.

As if he heard Tian Du's heart, when he said goodbye, Zhao Peng lowered his voice again, and whispered to Tian Du: "King, King Han also asked the villain to bring you a word, he has a lot of eyeliner in the tent of the King of Western Chu, if this matter is known by the King of Western Chu, King Han will soon know." At that time, the general will never venture back. ”

Tian Du's eyes flashed with murderous aura, and the murderous aura quickly disappeared, and then said with a smile: "Don't worry, this king knows what to do." ”