As Xiang Kang guessed, Xiang Yu's unpleasant agitation plan was indeed destroyed by Liu Laosan himself, but Liu Laosan did not directly use any persuasion to block it, but first tried to let Xiang Yu pass the fire, and then let Xiang Yu, who had a bear temper, understand that Xiang Kang was deliberately provoking him to go to the decisive battle in Yexian County, which was beneficial to the Han army.

At that time, Xiang Yu was indeed angry, and almost without any consideration, he decided to come down from Xiangcheng south to find a scum cousin desperately, Liu Laosan knew that it was a plan but did not stop it, on the contrary, he also vigorously agreed with Xiang Yu's move to the south, and after gaining Xiang Yu's favor, he proposed to use his own way to do it again, and strongly persuaded Xiang Yu to give Xiang Kang a set of women's clothes to humiliate Xiang Kang in the past, and also crossed his behalf, forcing the Han army envoy who came to deliver the letter to wear women's clothes for Xiang Yu to appreciate, and as a result, the Han army envoy was forced to wear women's clothes. The ugliness immediately made Xiang Yu laugh, and his anger disappeared, and he no longer shouted and killed at every turn.

Still seeing that Xiang Yu was too hot, Liu Laosan pretended to wake up, and pointed out to Xiang Yu that Xiang Kang's mocking letter was just a deliberate provocation to lure the Western Chu army to let go of the hinterland of Yingchuan, and to attack the important land of Yexian County, which was destined to be difficult to take, and also pointed out that only by continuing to storm the hinterland of Yingchuan could Xiang Kang really be helpless, and Xiang Yu, who was not completely brainless, gradually came back to his senses, adopted Liu Laosan's suggestion, replied to scold Xiang Kang for a tooth for a tooth, and personally gave Xiang Kang a set of little girl's clothes. to show his disdain for the scum cousin.

Next, of course, it is the most comfortable period of time for Xiang Yu since the start of the Chu-Han War, even if he deliberately left only a small army to garrison Xiangcheng, specifically responsible for cutting off the direct contact between Xiang Kang and the rear of the Han army, subject to the main force of the Western Chu army in Yingyang, the main force of the Han army did not dare to make any moves, and could only hide in Yexian County like a turtle with a shrunken head and did not dare to show his head, and the Western Chu army led by Xiang Sheng and Ding Gu attacked the city and plundered the land everywhere in the hinterland of Yingchuan, invincible, and beat Han Xin, who stayed in Yingchuan, to the point that he was holding his head and running away, and the ghost cried wolf. The autumn grain just harvested by the people of Yingchuan was also continuously sent to Yingyang, and then sent to the rear of Western Chu through the Yingshui channel, which made up for the weakening of the rear of Western Chu due to the Peng Feng Rebellion to a large extent.

In this regard, Xiang Yu, who has basically been in a state of grievance since he was hit by the arrow in Aocang, is of course very happy, and he is very angry, Liu Laosan, Kuai Che and Han Xin and other Western Chu troops understand but they dare not take it lightly, and they never dare to remind Xiang Yu to pay close attention to the situation of the various armies of the Han army, and for nothing else, it is afraid that Xiang Kang will really transfer troops from the middle and northern lines back to Yingchuan, and drown the last main force of the Western Chu army with the gradually accumulated strength advantage - if that is the case, Liu Laosan and Han Xin will really have no bright future.

Fortunately, the scouts of the Western Chu army were quite effective, and the situation that the Han army's Zheng Bu had just returned to the territory of Sanchuan was soon reported to Xiang Yu, Xiang Kang transferred troops from the Hanshui battlefield to the north to strengthen the Yexian troops, and also failed to escape the eyes of the Western Chu army, and relying on the advantages of distance and road connections, the Western Chu army also received the situation that the main force of the Han army's Zhou Shu's corps returned to Puyang almost at the same time as Xiang Kang.

"We can't delay any longer, we must withdraw from the hinterland of Yingchuan as soon as possible, otherwise, as long as Uncle Zhou's puppet goes south to the east of Yingchuan, we will be in danger of being surrounded by Han thieves!"

This is the unanimous conclusion reached by Liu Laosan, Kuaiche and Han Xin and other people who understand the Western Chu army, but Liu Laosan, who has already settled with Kuaicher, did not directly persuade Xiang Yu to withdraw his troops immediately, but first found Master Xiang Boxiang, who can influence Xiang Yu's decision-making, first coaxed Master Xiang Boxiang's sycophancy, and then made this suggestion to Xiang Yu.

Needless to say, it was not easy to live a comfortable life for a while, and he had honey confidence in his own force, Xiang Yu of course did not want to retreat first, and he also had the idea of breaking the main forces of the Han army, Liu Laosan laughed when he heard it, and said: "If the king decides to break the thieves from all walks of life, of course the subordinates will fully support it, but the king, do you think we will fight the thieves all the way first?" Zheng Bu, a thief in the north? Xiang Kang traitor to the south? Or Uncle Zhou's jumping clown in the northeast? ”

"It's ......."

Xiang Yu was asked by Liu Laosan, and then remembered that the Han army in the north Zheng Bu had the danger of a mountain range, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Xiang Kang in the south had already been in the deep ditch and high base in Yexian County, hiding in the turtle shell and refusing to come out.

"King, why don't you hit Uncle Zhou first?" Liu Laosan really has a way to deal with Xiang Yu, and takes the initiative to solve Xiang Yu's worries: "Xiang Kang and Zheng Bu have natural dangers and strong bases to defend, and they are eager to go down, but Uncle Zhou's husband came from afar, not only are the soldiers tired, but they don't have time to build a camp to protect themselves, first go to him to settle accounts, we are the most sure to succeed." ”

"Brilliant plan!" When Xiang Yu heard the great joy, he quickly nodded and said: "Yes, first hit Uncle Zhou's husband, and immediately go north to the captain's clan and take the initiative to meet Uncle Zhou's husband!" ”

"King, I'm afraid it's hard to get the chance to fight Uncle Zhou's husband in this way." Liu Laosan hurriedly said: "If we take the initiative to go north, with the treachery of Uncle Zhou, instead of retreating to the chasm or the north bank of Jishui, we will definitely hurry west to Sanchuan and let our army work in vain." ”

"What then?" Xiang Yu asked helplessly.

"King, why don't you go back to Chen County from Xu County?" Liu Laosan said with a heartfelt speech: "Xiang Kang traitors vainly try to defeat us with the advantage of troops, and do not hesitate to transfer troops from the Hanshui battlefield and the Qidi battlefield to return to Yingchuan, it stands to reason that they will definitely not give up easily, seeing that we return to Chen County from Xu County, Xiang Kang traitors will definitely let his thief army pursue us in a big way in order not to mobilize the army in vain, and then the nearest Zhou Shupifu will definitely have to change the route from Dangjun directly south to Chen County, we will wait for the opportunity to act, and it will be easy to annihilate his thief army!" ”

Xiang Yu was a little hesitant, and Kui Che next to him hurriedly persuaded him, and Master Xiang Boxiang also stood up to persuade him, but Xiang Yu, who had extremely soft ears, was really moved, and quickly nodded and said, "Okay, then do it." ”

Liu Laosan and Kui Che were overjoyed when they heard this, and hurriedly persuaded Xiang Yu to act according to the plan quickly, so that the Han army's hurried hands were more likely to show flaws, Xiang Yu also nodded in approval, and ordered the army to prepare to retreat east on the spot, and seize the time to send the looted food and materials to the rear through the Yingshui route as much as possible, and sent someone to send an order for Xiang Sheng, who was attacking Yangzhai, to return to Yingyang to join the main force, and also let the Western Chu army, which is currently operating in the northeast of Yingchuan, rush to Xu County, preparing to withdraw to Chen County with the main force.

After coaxing Xiang Yu to make the right decision like a child, Liu Laosan and Kui Che quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and said together in their hearts: "As long as you are willing to withdraw to Chen County, Xiang Kang, that traitor, is not ready to fully attack our homeland, and basically will not risk pursuing to the hinterland of Chen County, even if he really pursues with all his strength and retreats to the mainland, it will be much easier to coax you to continue to retreat to our rear hinterland." ”

In order to wait for Xiang Sheng to return to Yingyang, the main force of the Western Chu army was stationed in Yingyang for two more days, fortunately, Xiang Kang also had to wait for Zhou Shu to enter Yingchuan, and he was not in a hurry to send troops north in these two days, giving the Western Chu army the opportunity to calmly assemble the army, and when Xiang Sheng successfully withdrew to Yingyang, under the skillful persuasion of Liu Laosan, Xiang Yu also nodded and agreed to set off in the early morning of the next day, and retreated to the mainland through Xu County.

Liu Laosan must regret that the Western Chu Army did not return to Yingyang one day in advance, because it was close to the evening of the same day, an uninvited guest suddenly came to the West Chu military camp, smiling and claiming that he was the Western Chu Army General Han Xin's personal soldier Liu Er when he was a general in Nanyang, because the Han army entered Nanyang and Han Xin was separated, I heard that Han Xin defected to the Western Chu Army, so he came to Han Xin again, presented his previous Nanyang Army token to prove his identity, and bribed money to ask the West Chu military camp gate soldiers to report.

For the sake of the money and property bribed by Liu Er, Han Xin's old personal soldier, the gate soldiers of the Western Chu military camp reported the situation to Han Xin, and because Liu Er was indeed Han Xin's former personal soldier, Han Xin, who was not unsympathetic to the extreme, also agreed to meet his old subordinates, and also sent two of his current subordinates to the camp gate to take Liu Er into Liu Laosan's camp, and after meeting, he recognized the old soldiers who were separated from him on the battlefield in Yexian at a glance.

In addition to repeatedly saluting Han Xin, he also truthfully explained the situation after the separation of himself and Han Xin, saying that he first escaped to his hometown of Xiling Pavilion in Xiaohengshan, in the north of Yangcheng, but because his family was poor and could not support himself, he was loyal to Liu Laosan and Han Xin and was unwilling to surrender to the Han army.

An inconsequential pawn, and there is no flaw in listening to Liu Er's words, of course Han Xin didn't bother to spend the effort to carefully screen it, but said lightly: "Since you are loyal to your old master and have worked so hard to come here, then there is no problem in re-admitting you, but I am no longer a big general, just a small general, and there are not so many people in the personal army, so I can only integrate you into the army, are you willing?" ”

"It's ......." Of course, Liu Er was reluctant to leave the pro-soldier team with better treatment, and with a face full of embarrassment, Liu Er also gave Han Xin a look, and said cautiously: "General, can you temporarily hold back your left and right?" The villain has something very important to say to you. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Han Xin immediately became vigilant, and subconsciously looked at his own soldiers on the left and right - after following Liu Laosan to escape from Wancheng by boat, the personal soldiers around Han Xin had all changed, including both the old soldiers of the Nanyang Army and the soldiers of Western Chu who were later added to Liu Laosan's team.

"General, you'll understand in a moment." Liu Er hurriedly gave Han Xin another look, and replied with a smile on his face.

"Take it!" Han Xin immediately changed his face and shouted, "Give me a careful body search!" ”

The new soldiers around Han Xin acted according to the order, and immediately stepped forward to hold Liu Er down, and really quickly found a white silk with words written on it and a seal on Liu Er, who was struggling to beg for mercy, and when the white silk was presented to Han Xin, Han Xin just glanced at the white silk, and immediately froze, and said in his heart: "What do you mean by this?" ”

Han Xin is Han Xin after all, but after a little stunned, Han Xin immediately understood the malicious intention of this secret letter, and suddenly had a feeling of horror all over his body, and said secretly: "Xiang Kang traitor, you are too despicable!" He used such shameless means to frame General Ben! Where did General Ben offend you, and deserve to be framed so deliberately? ”

After quickly understanding Xiang Kang's despicable purpose, Han Xin's next reaction was, of course, to throw the white silk into the stove in the sleeping tent and burn this letter that would definitely make him indistinguishable, but as soon as his fingers moved, Han Xin forced himself to calm down and said secretly: "You can't burn it!" If it is burned, General Ben will not be able to say it clearly! ”

Thinking of this, in addition to immediately sending someone to ask Liu Laosan to pass the account to meet him, Han Xin said to the pro-soldiers present: "You are all witnesses, Pei Gong will come in a while, please be sure to tell Pei Gong the truth about what happened just now!" ”

In a moment, Liu Laosan led Fan Xu, who could pinch two Han Xin to death with his empty hands, and came to the tent, and after seeing Liu Er who was tied aside, Liu Laosan immediately understood that the situation was not good, and hurriedly asked Han Xin: "What's wrong?" Why do this to your former pro-soldiers? ”

"My former pro-soldier?"

Han Xin's heart moved slightly, and he suddenly guessed that Liu Laosan had already known about his meeting with outsiders, but when things came to this point, Han Xin didn't have any extra choice, so he could only quickly tell what had just happened, and let his own soldiers present testify to prove that he didn't say a word of lie, Liu Laosan nodded after hearing it, and hurriedly asked, "Where is the letter?" Who wrote it? ”

Han Xin didn't answer, but handed the secret letter in his hand to Liu Laosan, Liu Laosan took it and read it, and after quickly coming back to his senses, Liu Laosan couldn't help but ask Han Xin with a surprised face: "Brother Han, haven't you heard that you have bullied Xiang Kang's traitor's daughter-in-law?" Why did he use such shameless means and such shameless methods to harm you? ”

"The last general doesn't know that he offended Xiang Kang's traitor there, and he would use such insidious means to frame the last general." Han Xin replied helplessly, and said, "Pei Gong, what should I do about this matter?" Do you want to report to the king of Western Chu? ”

"Who else has seen this epistle but you?" Liu Laosan asked thoughtfully.

Han Xin didn't answer, just snuggled at a few of his own soldiers, Liu Laosan saw that some of them looked unfamiliar, so he could only smile bitterly, and said: "Can't hide it, this kind of thing is getting darker and darker, bring the messenger sent by this thief and a few witnesses, and follow me to meet the king of Western Chu, fortunately, you are alert, take the initiative to take down this puppet, or the letter found from him, otherwise, this matter will definitely be more unclear." ”

Han Xin smiled bitterly and replied, "The last general swears to heaven that in the future, if there are any old troops who were separated during the war with the Han thieves to vote, they will definitely not meet again." ”

No matter how wry the smile is, it is useless, in order not to make it more troublesome in the future, Liu Laosan and Han Xin can only take advantage of the fact that no one has made a small report to Xiang Yu, and quickly escort Liu Er, take a few witnesses to the Chinese army marshal's tent to meet Xiang Yu, take the initiative to confess everything to Xiang Yu, and honestly take the initiative to hand over the damn letter to Xiang Yu for review.

After learning what happened, and quickly read the secret letter written by Xiang Kang to Han Xin, Xiang Yu was of course furious, and immediately ordered someone to take down Han Xin's old relatives and torture them, and then after being burned by the guards of the Western Chu Army to blister his feet, Liu Er also told the truth, honestly admitting that he was captured by the Han army on the battlefield of Yexian, just because he was rewarded by the Han army, and his parents and family were in his hometown of Xilingting in Yangcheng, which was controlled by the Han army, and ventured north to contact Han Xin, who had actually surrendered to the Han army a long time ago. Help Han Shin establish secret liaison with the Han army.

"What does the traitor mean by saying these things in the letter?" Xiang Yu asked angrily again.

"The villain doesn't know, the villain doesn't understand, Xiang Kang, that traitor, he just has a huge change in his plan, and he can no longer act according to the plan agreed with General Han, and he wants General Han to act according to the explanation in the letter, and the other villains don't know! The king spares his life, the king spares his life, the villain will never dare anymore, the villain really will never dare again! ”

Liu Er's begging for mercy only made Xiang Yu's anger even stronger, and he roared: "Push it out and bury this puppet alive!" ”

"The king spares his life!" Liu Er was completely distraught, and hurriedly cried frantically and said: "King, the villain is still useful, the villain still knows an important secret, as long as you villain lives, the villain will explain to you immediately!" ”

"Tell me, what's the important secret?" Xiang Yu suddenly became interested.

"Before the villain, there was also a messenger who ventured to contact General Han!" Liu Er hurriedly said: "It's just that your army has been in Yingyang all the time, and Xiang Kang's traitor is worried that the messenger did not deliver the letter, so he sent a villain to urge General Han to act according to the order!" ”

Before Liu Er's words were finished, Han Xin had already closed his eyes in pain, and he hated Xiang Kang to the extreme in his heart, and it was even more strange to the extreme-how did he provoke Xiang Kang, and let Xiang Kang personally take action and frame himself with this kind of immoral and smoking means?

Liu Laosan was also dumbfounded, and after coming back to his senses, Liu Laosan couldn't help but scream in his heart and said: "I have learned, this king has served Xiang Kang as a traitor, and there are still such vicious and despicable means of harming people in the world!" This king is an eye-opener today! ”

At this time, Xiang Yu's one-eyed eyes had of course already looked at Han Xin, and his expression was somewhat suspicious, Liu Laosan saw that the situation was not good, and quickly knelt down on Xiang Yu's knees, and said loudly: "King, Your Majesty is willing to vouch for your head, General Han Xin has never met any outsiders before this!" He advised you to withdraw from the hinterland of Yingchuan, completely out of loyalty to you! ”

Speaking loudly, Liu Laosan hurriedly pulled Han Xin next to him, Han Xin had no choice but to quickly bow down to Xiang Yu, and said loudly: "King, your subordinates can swear to the sky, if before this, your subordinates can contact any outsiders except our Western Chu army soldiers, you can let you fall as you want, even if you use a tripod to cook your subordinates to death, your subordinates will definitely not have any complaints!" ”

"King, this puppet is dead!" Kuai Che, who got along well with Han Xin, also hurriedly spoke, pointing to Liu Er, Han Xin's old personal soldier who was kneeling in front of Xiang Yu and said: "Those words he said were all deliberately made up by Xiang Kang's traitors to tell him and use him to confuse your judgment!" ”

Xiang Yu didn't say a word, just blinked his eyes and calculated, and couldn't help but say in his heart: "Is this really the case?" This king clearly remembers that it was this crotch boy who came up with the idea to let this king enter the hinterland of Yingchuan? Also, this crotch kid was strongly recommended to this king by Feng Zhong, the traitor. ”

Thinking about it, Xiang Yu couldn't help but pick up the letter again and read it carefully, and the content of the letter was very simple, just a few sentences......

"Han Xin, Marquis of Huaiyin, the plan to annihilate the Western Chu thief army in Yingchuan has changed, and it is difficult to succeed, try to persuade Xiang Yu to leave Yingchuan as soon as possible and withdraw to the Western Chu mainland, and this king will seal you with a thousand households. Han King Xiang Kang. This is the original letter written by Xiang Kang to Han Xin, and it is also stamped with Xiang Kang's seal of the King of Han.