In terms of distance and time, I haven't been able to know how beautiful and excellent Mr. Uncle Sun did in Linzi, so when he received the scout report and heard that the Chujiqi coalition army had actually divided his troops from the Licheng battlefield in advance, Uncle Zhou, the commander of the northern front corps of the Han army, of course thought that his ears had heard it wrong, and said in a very rare surprise: "Are you guys joking?" We are about to arrive at the north bank of Jishui, and the Licheng thief army will even divide their troops to the south? What are they doing when they divide their troops south? ”

The Han army scouts who came to report the enemy's situation hurriedly answered honestly, saying that they would never dare to make such a joke with Uncle Zhou, and swore that the scout sentry team they were in definitely did not make a mistake in detecting the enemy's situation, and the Qi army and a part of the Western Chu army had indeed sent troops south in advance, and there were only 60,000 Chuji coalition troops left on the battlefield in Licheng. After hearing this, Uncle Zhou was of course even more dumbfounded, and he didn't understand that the enemy in Licheng would choose to divide his troops in battle, and the divided army would still go south and leave the Jishui defense line.

"Could it be that the Chuqi thief army plans to abandon Licheng and retreat to Boyang?"

Zhou Shu, an old man from Shangshan with the same name as Uncle Zhou, put forward such a possibility, but without Uncle Zhou opening his mouth, Li Shiqi, who was quite familiar with military affairs, sat on a stretcher and coughed and said: "Impossible, Licheng is the transportation center of the hinterland of Jibei, in addition to the road leading directly to the cities of Jibei, it is also the key point for the Jibei thief army to connect with the Qi thief army, once it is lost, the entire hinterland of Jibei will be in no danger to defend, and the road to contact the Qi thief army will also be cut off by us, even if the Chu Qi thief army can take the initiative to give up Boyang, will never take the initiative to give up Licheng. ”

"Could the thieves be playing tricks? Setting traps to lure us into falling for it? ”

Cui Guang, another old man from Shangshan, proposed another possibility, but Uncle Zhou and Li Shiqi were also quite skeptical on this point, but they didn't understand how the enemy was going to set up traps. Puzzled, Uncle Zhou could only say this: "No matter how much, let's rush to the north bank of Jishui first, we just need to act cautiously when we get there, no matter what tricks the Chuji thief army plays, don't be afraid." ”

In this way, in the case of full of incomprehension, on the afternoon of the third day when the Qi army left the battlefield of Licheng, the main force of the northern line corps of the Han army still arrived at the north bank of Jishui in the continuous spring rain, and then for the sake of prudence, Uncle Zhou of course chose a high ground to set up camp to prevent the flood season from continuing to rise and threatening the safety of the Han army camp.

On the morning of the next day, when the letter of Uncle Sun and Tian Fake was finally sent to Uncle Zhou by the envoy of Qi on the north bank of Jishui, the truth was finally revealed, and when he learned that Qi had surrendered the whole country, Uncle Zhou immediately understood the reason why the Qi army went south and left the Licheng battlefield, and cheered with even more rare excitement, "God help me!" With the help of the Qi army, we just can't break through Jishui and take Jibei, it's difficult! ”

"Mr. Uncle Sun has made a great contribution to us this time!" Li Shiqi, whose condition has not yet recovered, is also so excited that he dances, and said repeatedly: "Actually, even if it is an old man, I am not sure that I will be able to persuade the Qi country to surrender, I can't imagine that Mr. Shusun will get things done so quickly, it's a miracle!" What a miracle! ”

"The overall situation is decided!" The other Han army civil and military forces are all overjoyed, thunderous with joy, excited to raise their hands and cheer abound, and many people ask Uncle Zhou to give wine, and must drink three glasses to vent the excitement and joy in their hearts.

It is no wonder that the Han army is so excited, mainly after the surrender of the Qi State, the form on the battlefield of Qi is too favorable to the Han army, and in the case of a large advantage in troops, there is suddenly a strong Qi army as a helper, and in terms of strength, it has formed a crushing advantage over the Western Chu army and the Jibei army. At the same time, with the help of the Qi army, the Han army can not only quickly get the help of the Qi army's boats and boats to solve the problem of boats to cross the water, but also the Qi army can also directly send troops to attack the back of the Chuji coalition army, and then the Han army and the Yan army rush to the south, and then if the Han, Qi, and Yan coalition forces with a total strength of more than 200,000 can't destroy the Chuji coalition army with only 60,000 troops left, Uncle Zhou and others will have no face to live in this world anymore!

Because of this, even if it is still strange that the Chuji coalition army will react so quickly, and so smoothly transfer away the Licheng Qi army that could directly help the army, the Han army is still full of joy, all of them are full of absolute confidence in winning the decisive battle of Licheng, not to mention that the morale is extremely high, and the confidence has also swelled to the extreme, and even Uncle Zhou, who has always disliked drinking, couldn't help but drink two more glasses when celebrating with the Han army.

This is not counting, on the afternoon of the same day, the 30,000 foot cavalry of the Yan State army that went south from the Nanpi battlefield, after successfully eliminating the Nanpi Jibei Army, rushed to the north bank of Jishui one day earlier than Uncle Zhou's request, and joined the Han Army's Northern Front Corps, so that the available troops under Uncle Zhou's command reached a terrifying number of more than 160,000, and once again boosted the morale of the Han army officers and soldiers, so that countless Han soldiers did not take the 60,000 enemies on the south bank of Jishui in their eyes. - After all, since the start of the Chu-Han War, it was the first time that the Han army had such a huge strength advantage on a battlefield.

The sincerity of the Yan army's surrender to the Han army is also obvious, in addition to following Uncle Zhou's order to set up a camp on another high ground, without Uncle Zhou's orders, Zang Yan, the precious son of the Yan army commander Yan Wang Zang Di, took the initiative to come to the Han army camp to meet Uncle Zhou, and personally presented the head of Tian Yan, the chief general of the Nanpiji Northern Army, who was cut down by the Yan army soldiers on the pursuit road, and also insisted on claiming to be a junior in front of Uncle Zhou.

Not only that, after knowing that the Qi State had surrendered, Zang Yan not only praised the Han army's unwavering efforts, but also couldn't wait to ask the order to be the pioneer of the crossing, and took the lead in crossing the river to attack the Chuji coalition army, Uncle Zhou laughed and agreed, and said: "But don't worry, your army is coming from afar, and it takes some time to rest, and it will take some time for the Qi State to collect ships and send us fleets, so we will talk about this later." Come on, hurry up and serve wine and food, General Ben will personally pick up the wind and wash the dust for General Zang Yan today. ”

According to Uncle Zhou's request, the banquet for Zang Yan and several Yan army civil and military personnel was quickly sent to the Chinese army's big tent, and Uncle Zhou, who had already drunk once in the morning, also drank for the second time in one day for the first time, and talked very happily with Zang Yan, who deliberately flattered himself. But even so, Uncle Zhou was still able to maintain a certain calmness, and after it was dark, Uncle Zhou still had to leave the table to personally quickly camp for the night defense, and did not dare to be too careless about the enemy.

Uncle Zhou can still maintain a certain calm, but the Han army civil and military forces involuntarily began to carelessly underestimate the enemy, including the old men of Shangshan Zhou Shu and Cui Guang all persuaded Uncle Zhou not to be so troublesome, just hand over the mission to inspect the camp to other Han army generals, there is no need to snub Zang Yan and his party who came to help the Han army with full sincerity in order to inspect the camp, and finally Uncle Zhou hesitated for a while, and also made concessions in this regard for the first time, so that the cautious Han army general Lu Kuang patrolled the camp instead of him, and he stayed to continue to accompany Zang Yan and others to drink, And because he is not good at drinking, it is rare to drink so much that his face is red and his neck is thick, and his tongue and teeth fight when he speaks.

What no one expected was that there was an unexpected change on this night!

But fortunately, this night's unexpected change was beneficial to the Han army, close to the third watch, gathered in the northeast of the Jishui River bend of the Jibei army fleet, in the absence of any signs in advance, there was a sudden rebellion, a Jibei army called Lu Yi 500 long, led a part of the Jibei soldiers to sneak attack his boss's camp, although he was not able to cut off the boss's head, but also forced his boss to escape from the camp in embarrassment, and then Lu Yi and others rushed before the other Jibei army teams reacted, Armed forced some boatmen and sailors to cross the river in boats, fled north to the north bank of Jishui and surrendered to the Han army, bringing more than 90 ferries of various sizes to the Han army, which was in dire need of ships.

When it was light, Lu Yi was brought to Uncle Zhou, and he quickly explained to Uncle Zhou the reason for his rebellion - he had always been at odds with his superiors, and seeing that the defeat of the Chuji coalition army was decided, he simply defected and sent a ferry to the Han army to ask for credit. Uncle Zhou asked carefully and found no flaws, and saw that Lu Yi and others had sent him a much-needed ferry, so he was overjoyed not only to give Lu Yi and others a heavy reward, but also to make Lu Yi the five hundred captains of the Han army, let him serve in the Han army, and ordered the Han soldiers to carefully guard the boats so that they could be used in emergencies.

In addition to these, Lu Yi also reported a very important piece of information to Uncle Zhou, saying that he heard that the top of the Chuji coalition army is currently very divided, and many generals of the Western Chu army believe that the Chuji coalition army should retreat south to Boyang as soon as possible and wait for the follow-up reinforcements of the Western Chu army, and do not stay in the Licheng battlefield and wait for death to be attacked by the Han army and the Qi army, but Tianda, the king of Jibei, resolutely opposed the retreat to the south, insisted on defending Licheng to the death, and kept his Jibei hinterland.

Of course, Lu Yi's report is very reasonable, the Western Chu army is unwilling to stay in Licheng and wait for death, of course he hopes to withdraw to Boyang, which is closest to Chu, to fight, Tian Da wants to keep the territory of the city, of course, he hopes to use the strength of the Western Chu army to defend Licheng, so Uncle Zhou did not have any accidents after listening to it, and he also left a certain impression on this information.

To Uncle Zhou's surprise, before the afternoon was about to pass, the scout who was in charge of monitoring the movements of the enemy's camp suddenly came to report, saying that the camps of the Western Chu Army and the Jibei Army had been cooking smoke since just after noon, and it had not stopped until now. Uncle Zhou was surprised when he heard this, and said secretly: "What's the matter?" Do this to make a fire and make food? What does the Chuji thief army want to do? ”

Strangely, Uncle Zhou simply got on the horse and went out of the camp in person, and came to the shore of Jishui, where the water surface had risen greatly, to personally investigate the enemy's situation, fortunately, on this day, the continuous rain on the ground was temporarily stopped, and the sun was still rare to drill out of the clouds after a few days, and generously spread the sun towards the wet land of Qilu, and his vision was extremely cheerful, so Uncle Zhou also quickly saw that there were indeed curling smoke wafting in the Chuji coalition army camps on the south bank of Jishui.

After carefully observing the movements of the enemy camp, Uncle Zhou came to a conclusion in his heart and ordered: "Order all battalions of our army, just say that the Chuji thief army may make a move tonight, and let each battalion prepare enough dry food and torches to prevent accidents." Also, tonight, our night troops, sentry posts, and rangers have all doubled. ”

According to Uncle Zhou's order, the battalions of the Han army hurried up and quickly made corresponding preparations for the night battle, as well as the Yan army with a single independent battalion. Then, as Uncle Zhou expected, when the night was close to the second watch, the Han army stationed on the dock really sent someone to send an urgent report, saying that it was found that the Jibei army stationed at the ferry port on the south bank was assembled at night, and Uncle Zhou did not dare to slack off when he heard the report, in addition to ordering the Han army on duty to prepare for battle, and let the Han soldiers on the shore strengthen surveillance.

Halfway through the second watch, the news that surprised Uncle Zhou even more came that the soldiers of the Han army actually came to report, saying that the enemy on the other side had abandoned the camp and retreated south with few torches. Uncle Zhou was taken aback when he heard this, and hurriedly shouted: "Send someone to cross the river to investigate immediately to see if the enemy has abandoned the camp and run away." Again, we gathered all our ships at the wharf to listen to them, and immediately sent the ropes and planks we had prepared in advance to the wharf, and sent three thousand troops to the wharf to wait for orders. ”

After making these arrangements, of course, Uncle Zhou didn't have the heart to sleep, so he hurriedly got up in his clothes, put on armor and went to the Chinese army's tent to wait for news, and also summoned the Han army's night generals to the Chinese army's tent to wait. As a result, what made Uncle Zhou smile bitterly was that not long after he was in the big tent of the Chinese army, an urgent report came from outside the tent, saying that the Yan army had been urgently dispatched at night, rushed to Jishui Wharf to prepare for battle, and dispatched more than 10,000 troops in one go.

Immediately afterwards, Zang Yan also hurriedly came to Uncle Zhou, and as soon as they met, he said with excitement on his face: "Uncle, you should have received the news here, right?" The Chuji thief army has abandoned the camp and run south! ”

Uncle Zhou nodded, and then said: "But it hasn't been confirmed yet, I have already sent someone to cross the river by boat to investigate, if the Chuji thief army really ran away overnight, I will immediately let the soldiers grab the pontoon bridge overnight." ”

"Uncle, the little nephew has the courage to plead with you for something." Zang Yan couldn't wait to say: "If it is confirmed that the Chuji thief army has really run away, after the pontoon bridge is built, please let the little nephew lead the army across the river to pursue first." ”

After speaking, Zang Yan hurriedly added: "Please rest assured, uncle, the little nephew's army has prepared enough torches and dry food, and can go into battle at any time." ”

Uncle Zhou smiled, thinking that Zang Yan was in a hurry to make meritorious service, and nodded very happily, and the result was also a coincidence, just at this time, a scout suddenly rushed in outside the tent to report, and said with a face full of ecstasy: "General Zhou, great news, our scouts crossing the river have confirmed that the Chuji thief army camp on the south bank is empty, and the thief army has run south!" ”

"Go to the Ling Pier immediately!" Uncle Zhou shouted decisively: "Build a pontoon bridge immediately, the sooner the better, but the pontoon bridge must be strong!" ”

The guards in the tent were ordered to rush out to give orders, but Zang Yan was even more impatient and said, "Uncle, ......what did you promise your little nephew just now?" ”

"Go ahead." Uncle Zhou smiled and said: "After the pontoon bridge is built, there is no need to ask for orders, you can cross the river immediately, but you must be careful when pursuing, if there is any accident, immediately withdraw to the ferry to meet the rear army, and you must not be greedy." ”

Zang Yan thanked him happily, and then hurriedly rushed out to the ferry to prepare to lead the army across the river in pursuit, and Uncle Zhou ordered Ling Jing to command 20,000 troops out of the camp and go to the ferry to serve as Zang Yan's rear team, and ordered the Han army battalions to immediately make fires and make food, and the fourth watch got up to prepare to attack.

If it weren't for the traitor Lu Yi of the Jibei Army, who happened to send more than 90 large and small boats to the Han army, it would be difficult for the Han soldiers who only had ropes, planks and some floating bases to immediately build a pontoon bridge to cross the river, and thanks to the help of these more than 90 accidentally obtained boats, it was just the fourth watch, and the Han soldiers urgently built two pontoon bridges on the Jishui River where the water level was rising, and then just checked that the pontoon bridge was firm and reliable, Zang Yan couldn't wait to lead 10,000 Yan soldiers to cross the river and go south to the south bank of Jishui to assemble urgently. During this period, the officers and men of the Han army naturally had to seize the time to build more pontoon bridges so that the soldiers of the Han army could cross the river.

At this time, of course, Zhou Shu and Cui Guang and other Han army staff officers have been awakened, and they all ran to the big tent of the Chinese army to understand the situation, even Li Shiqi, who has not recovered from his illness, is the same, after learning the general situation, Zhou Shu and Li Shiqi and others are of course overjoyed, and they all said: "Okay, we don't want to be greedy if we have more, as long as we can bite the tail of the Chuji thief army and kill some of them on the way to pursuit, we can fight much better in Boyang next." ”

Uncle Zhou nodded, and then said, "Let's go, go outside and see how we cross the river." ”

Everyone sang a promise, and hurriedly followed Uncle Zhou out of the tent, and went to the high place outside the tent to condescendingly check the crossing of the Han army and the Yan army, and at this moment, the soldiers of the Yan army had also completed the emergency crossing, and they couldn't wait to chase south with torches, and the Han army led by Ling Jing crossed the river and assembled. As a result, seeing this situation, of course, the Han army and the civil and military were all overjoyed, and Li Shiqi also said with a smile: "Fortunately, the weather is good tonight, if it is as rainy as a few days ago, it will be really difficult for us to find out that the Chuji thief army has run away so quickly." ”

Li Shiqi's casual words made Uncle Zhou immediately pause, and after careful calculation, Uncle Zhou's face suddenly changed greatly, and he hurriedly shouted: "Quick, immediately send someone to give Zang Yan an order, telling him to withdraw immediately!" Again, tell Ling Jing to stop crossing the river and go all out to protect the ferry and the pontoon! ”

"General Zhou, what's wrong?" Zhou Shu, Cui Guang and the others next to him asked in surprise.

"I've been fooled, tonight is a trap carefully arranged by the Chuji thief army." Uncle Zhou replied with a painful expression: "If the Chuji thief army really wants to retreat overnight, it can wait for another day or two, and then abandon the camp and retreat when the wind and rain are heavy at night." However, the Chuji thief army chose to retreat when the weather was good tonight, obviously deliberately luring us to cross the river overnight to pursue, and I carelessly underestimated the enemy and fell for the enemy's tricks. ”

After listening to Uncle Zhou's analysis, of course, the Han army's civil and military forces all changed color, but when the Han army reacted according to Uncle Zhou's order, it was already too late, under the dark night sky, the southeast of Licheng City suddenly rose a raging fire, and sent a signal to move, and then immediately after, on the top of Jinjiling Mountain, the highest point on the south bank, a sky-high fire also quickly ignited.

"Kill!"

The sound of shouting and killing also suddenly sounded in various parts of the battlefield in Licheng, in the dense mountains and forests under the Jinji Ridge, countless Chuji coalition troops shouted out with torches, facing the Yan army that was caught off guard, and at the same time, the four gates of Licheng were wide open, and there were also countless Chuji coalition troops rushing out with torches, and after quickly completing the assembly, they directly killed to the Jishui Ferry, and what was even worse was that in the depths of the reeds in the upper reaches of Jishui, hundreds of boats full of firewood and grass and splashed with fire oil also rushed out, rocking and rowing, rushing to the Jishui Ferry downstream at the fastest speed, rushed to the two pontoon bridges built by the Han army overnight......

Seeing such a scene on the high ground on the north bank, the Han army's civil and military forces were of course as earth-colored, and they all understood that they would definitely have to suffer a defeat tonight, or a rather small defeat. Uncle Zhou shook his head and sighed, and said helplessly: "It's still the king who is thousands of miles away, it's true, that Han Xin in the Western Chu thief army is indeed my most terrible opponent." In front of him, I must not have any carelessness and underestimation of the enemy. ”

That night, Uncle Zhou, the Han army general whom Xiang Kang trusted most in military affairs, suffered his biggest defeat after joining the Han army.