Xiang Liang did not get another chance to fight the main force of the Qin army, because the day after the end of the Battle of Fanyang, the main force of the Qin army decisively abandoned the camp and the city and strode westward, taking the county road to retreat to Zhencheng.

Xiang Kang also tasted the taste of isolation for the first time in the Chu military camp, considering that the main force of the Chu army has been too far away from the Huaisi foundation, and the road to transport grain is long, Xiang Kang, who has always liked to be cautious in the use of soldiers, strongly suggested that Xiang Liang accept it when he sees it, stop at the front line of Fanyang, give priority to seizing the cities around Fanyang that are still controlled by the county soldiers of the Qin army, consolidate the foundation for victory, wait and see what happens, and wait for the main force of the Qin army to make new moves before making a preemptive attack.

Only the good brother Feng Zhong did not speak against Xiang Kang's suggestion, and the other Chu generals, including Liu Laosan, who had been very close to Xiang Yu recently, did not think that Xiang Kang's suggestion was too conservative and passive, and all of them thought that they should seize the opportunity to chase and fight fiercely and completely annihilate the main force of the Qin army, which had been defeated in successive battles. And Xiang Liang was originally determined to pursue, and after listening to the opinions of the generals, he did not hesitate, and did not give Xiang Kang any face, and immediately decided that Ji Bu and Xiang Zhuang would be the vanguard, and pursued the main force of the Qin army that retreated in a hurry.

Xiang Kang, who was rejected for his suggestion, was depressed, but he had no choice but to obediently follow the generals of the Chu army to clasp his fists and sing promises, and what made Xiang Kang even more depressed was that because he was the only one who opposed the all-out pursuit, Xiang Liang rewarded and punished him, and even let Xiang Kangjun, who had the strongest single army strength in the Chu army, be responsible for escorting the grain and grass baggage, and followed behind the main force of the Chu army.

The dissatisfaction also quietly spread among Xiang Kang's army, and he didn't say anything on the surface, but when he went to the back, Zheng Bu, Ding Ji and Zhu Jishi all complained that Xiang Liang was useless, and none of them felt that it was not worth it for Xiang Kang, who had worked hard for him behind his back, and Xiang Kang had also heard about it, but there was no way, he could only force a smile, while trying to appease these young marshals and old men who had been with him for a long time, while dutifully taking on the task of transporting grain, he did not dare to reveal the frustration in his heart, let alone bear the infamy of disloyalty and filial piety.

At the same time that Xiang Kang, who was neglected, was honestly transporting grain, the main force of the Chu army was majestic in the pursuit battle, from Fanyang to Zhencheng three times to catch up with the rear team of the Qin army, and achieved a good record of two wins and one draw, although the gains were not much, but the morale was higher and higher, and even forced the main force of the Qin army not to dare to stop and rest in Zhencheng, bypassing Zhencheng and fleeing directly to Puyang, the main force of the Chu army took advantage of the situation to seize Zhencheng, and continued to chase the main force of the Qin army to chase and fight, and soon pursued to the suburbs of Puyang, the county of Dongjun.

Or when chasing to the outskirts of Puyang, the Chu army vaguely found that the situation was not right, the Qin army that stayed in Puyang had forced the local people to build a deep and wide moat, and attracted the Yellow River water to fill the trench, forming an artificial river, when the road blocked the road under the Chu army to enter Puyang City (historical facts), the first pursuit of the Chu army Ji Bu, Xiang Zhuang two troops are relatively thin, failed to seize the opportunity to follow the Qin army to rush across the artificial river, was successfully blocked by the Qin army on the other side of the river, forced to stop and stop, The Qin army took the opportunity to repair various fortifications on the other side of the artificial river, so as to have a long-term confrontation with the main force of the Chu army on the Puyang battlefield.

Zhang Han's tactical intentions were thus very clear, from Puyang to Aocang, the number one granary of the Qin Dynasty, there was a waterway of the Yellow River that could be passed, and the main force of the Qin army was stationed in Puyang, and the grain and grass and military supplies could be transported to the front line through the Yellow River, which was enough to last for a long time. If the main force of the Chu army wants to fight in Puyang for a long time, it must divide its troops to dredge the grain road and open up the Chi Road connection from Puyang to Zou County, and then send the grain from the rear to the Puyang front line through the Chi Road, which is not only a long way, but also has the danger of being threatened and harassed by other Qin troops.

If it is replaced by Xiang Kang in charge, needless to say in this case, Xiang Kang will definitely withdraw immediately, first take down the semi-blank area around Huaisi, and then consider how to kill Zhang Han after digesting the results of the victory. But there is no way, it is Xiang Liang who is in charge now, and Xiang Kang can only express his opinions at the Chu army meeting organized by Xiang Liang, take out his tactical plan for everyone to discuss, and ask Xiang Liang to decide whether to adopt it.

"Puyang is clearly a trap! As the county ruler of Dongjun, Puyang was originally a strong city, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and now Zhang Handpifu is transporting water to irrigate the trenches, and is making every effort to build the peripheral fortifications of Puyang, which clearly wants to confront us on the Puyang battlefield for a long time! If we are fooled and dragged into a confrontation war of attrition by Zhang Handip, then after a long time, we will not only lose morale, the army will be exhausted, but the grain and grass will also be in danger and fall into an extremely unfavorable situation! ”

"Today's plan, it is best for our army to accept it when it is good, quickly withdraw the army to the south of Jishui, first dredge the Chidao connection, and then use Jishui to transport grain, send partial divisions to develop westward along Jishui, seize the cities along Jishui, and slowly advance to Aocang! Once Ao Cang is in an emergency, Zhang Handpifu will not dare to send troops to rescue even if he has a hundred guts, if he moves, the opportunity for our main force will come! If he doesn't move, our partial division will go all out to take Aocang and completely cut off his food and grass supply! In this way, within a month, Zhang Handpifu will inevitably run out of food, and if our army wants to break through the main force of the tyrannical Qin, it will be as easy as a hand! ”

At the meeting, Xiang Kang made a generous statement, talked endlessly, repeatedly analyzed and compared the advantages of the enemy and us, and used his strength to persuade Xiang Liang to abandon the fight against Puyang and retreat to the front line of Jishui to slowly try to it. But Xiang Liang didn't say a word, and never showed any signs of being moved by Xiang Kang, and the generals of the Chu army also had different thoughts, and no one stood up to help Xiang Kang, and finally the old man Fan, who was less than a pot with Xiang Kang, stood up and said a fair word, saying: "General, General Right's opinion is actually quite good, and it should be feasible, but the effect is too slow." ”

Xiang Liang finally nodded and said, "What Fan Gong said is extremely true, if it weren't for the slow effect, the old man would definitely adopt Kang'er's proposition." ”

"Uncle, the little nephew's proposition is slow to take effect, but it is stable." Xiang Kang said almost complainingly: "Puyang is not easy to fight, the Tyrannical Qin army still has the strength to fight, and the Tyrannical Qin court may send reinforcements to Zhang Handpifu at any time, we want to take Puyang by storming, and the possibility of success is very small!" ”

"Kang'er, the tyrannical Qin court may send reinforcements to Zhang Han at any time, what you said is to the point." Xiang Liang took over the conversation and said: "It is precisely because the Tyrannical Qin Imperial Court may send reinforcements to Zhang Handipfu at any time, we must not give him any chance to breathe, otherwise, once Zhang Handipfu's military strength is restored, if we want to break him again, it will only be several times or even ten times more difficult than now." Therefore, we must seize the opportunity, take advantage of the fact that Zhang Handpifu has not yet received reinforcements, and quickly break him in one fell swoop, and then the tyrannical Qin court is to send more reinforcements, and we can also calmly break them all. ”

"Uncle, but are we sure that we can defeat Zhang Handpifu in one fell swoop?" Xiang Kang asked with a wry smile.

"General Right, what you say seems to be suspected of being a good enemy and terrorist, right?" Xiang Bo next to him finally seized the opportunity, stood up and said in a weird manner: "According to military law, you can directly kill your head." ”

"Brother, don't interject, Kang'er didn't say that our army will be defeated, but I'm just worried that we won't be able to take Puyang quickly, and count that Menmen's reputation as a terrorist?"

Xiang Liang was still not bad to Xiang Kang, and he didn't give Xiang Bo a chance to slander and frame Xiang Kang, but after drinking Xiang Bo, Xiang Liang said again: "But Kang'er, you don't have to say more, take advantage of the opportunity to completely defeat Zhang Handpifu, we can't miss it, we must also fight in this battle of Puyang, my uncle has made up his mind, you don't need to persuade him anymore." ”

Xiang Kang, who was arguing with reason, drove back to the train, and Xiang Liang immediately issued an order to let the main force of the Chu army start to make all kinds of offensive weapons from the next day, and prepare to launch a frontal attack on the Qin army's camp outside Puyang City, and then sent Lu Chen and Xiang Han to lead the troops south to seize Chengyang and Zhan Qi, and open up the Chi Road connection with Zou County, so as to transport grain and supply the front line, so that the main force of the Chu army could confront Zhang Han for a long time.

…………

It was also a coincidence that when Xiang Liang made this decision, in the camp of the Qin army, Sima Xin happened to bring a messenger of the Xuanzhao who had just arrived from Xianyang to Zhang Han, and as soon as they met, he congratulated Zhang Han and said: "Congratulations to the general, congratulations to the general, great joy, great joy!" ”

"What's the big deal?" Zhang Han asked curiously.

"The emperor sent an envoy to deliver the edict." Sima Xin pointed to the Xianyang envoy he had brought and said with a smile on his face: "The emperor's decree has decided to let you control all the Great Qin troops outside the pass, including the Great Wall Corps under General Wang Li, now we don't have to worry about running out of troops available." ”

"The emperor trusts me so much?!"

Zhang Han's joy is not trivial, and he hurriedly invited the edict envoy sent by Hu Hai to the top in accordance with etiquette, and listened to the decree on the ground, and when the edict envoy finished reading Hu Hai's edict and officially handed over all the Qin troops except the Guanzhong garrison to Zhang Han's temperance command, Zhang Han was of course even more overjoyed, and hurriedly paused his head again and again, repeatedly thanked Hu Hai for his trust, and then hurriedly offered a generous gift to thank the envoy, and let people set up a banquet in the back tent, and warmly entertained the edict messenger who sent him good news. However, after arranging these things, the first order issued by Zhang Han was......

"Give a ban order, don't publicize that the emperor has handed over all the troops outside the border to me to control and command, and those who dare to spread it will be beheaded immediately!"

"General, why is that?" Sima Xin was very surprised and said: "Such a good thing, we should make it public as soon as possible, so as to encourage the morale of the army?" Why do you still have to issue a gag order to keep this news tightly sealed? ”

"You must not let Xiang Liang, that old thief, know about this situation." Zhang Han sneered and said: "Otherwise, this old horseman will definitely prevent me from mobilizing all the troops that can be mobilized to reinforce Puyang, if we scare him away, our next battle will not be good." ”

Sima Xin woke up, and then quickly nodded yes, but Zhang Han still refused to rest assured, and asked about the current situation of the Chu army, and learned that the main force of the Chu army had not yet started cutting wood to make offensive weapons, Zhang Han was inevitably a little worried, frowned and said: "Xiang Liang, this old horseman, should not choose to retreat in the face of difficulties, right?" If he doesn't attack Puyang or even chooses to take it when he sees it, and retreats to a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, even if we gather enough troops, it will be difficult to completely defeat him. ”

Without God's perspective and not knowing what Xiang Liang was thinking, Sima Xin also didn't dare to play this guarantee, so he could only hesitate and said: "No one can guarantee this, after all, whether to fight Puyang or not, the initiative is in the hands of Xiang Liang's old thief, and we can't influence his decision." ”

Zhang Han was silent, and after thinking for a long time, he suddenly said: "If I am not mistaken, our detailed report this time seems to say that Xiang Liang's old thief pursued our army this time, and let Xiang Kang's traitor take the grain behind, right?" ”

"The Admiral remembers correctly." Sima Xin hurriedly replied: "The old thief Xiang Liang pursued us this time, and let the thief Ji Bu and Xiang Zhuang serve as the vanguard, he led the main force in the center, and Xiang Kang was responsible for escorting the grain and grass to the thief. ”

Zhang Han stopped talking, but quickly sat down next to the bookcase, took the brush and white silk, and personally picked up the pen on the white silk to make a book, Sima Xin curiously leaned up to take a look, and was immediately surprised to find that Zhang Han's letter was actually written to Xiang Kang, the old Chu Yu sin whose hands were stained with the blood of the Great Qin soldiers, and the content was that Zhang Han relied on Xiang Liang to arrange for Xiang Kang to escort grain and grass, and clearly pointed out that Xiang Liang was deliberately suppressing and squeezing out Xiang Kang, and held grievances for Xiang Kang, who had laid the foundation of Huaisi, saying that Xiang Kang had done his best to Xiang Liang, but Xiang Liang was not loyal and treacherous, and repaid virtue with resentment, ungrateful to the extreme, persuaded Xiang Kang to rein in the precipice, lost his way back, and found an opportunity to kill Xiang Liang and surrender to the Qin army, in exchange for the reward and glory of the Great Qin court.

Zhang Han's letter was very sincere, and it was quite confusing, but Sima Xin was confused when he saw it, and after Zhang Han put down the brush, he couldn't help but say: "General, this is impossible, right?" Xiang Kang is so treacherous and stubborn, how can he kill his uncle and surrender to us? ”

"This letter is not written for Xiang Kang to show the thief, but for Xiang Liang's old thief." Zhang Han sneered and said: "I bet that with Xiang Kang's treacherous thief's military habits, he will definitely not approve of the attack on Puyang, as long as I let Xiang Liang's old thief see this letter, even if Xiang Liang's old thief does not have suspicion and suspicion of Xiang Kang's thief, he will definitely have an estrangement, and he will no longer easily adopt Xiang Kang's suggestion that the thief abandon Puyang, and Xiang Kang's other suggestions and propositions, Xiang Liang's old thief will not easily obey, so we are equivalent to cutting off one of Xiang Liang's old man's right-hand men!" ”

"Admiral's clever plan." Sima Xin suddenly realized, and hurriedly complimented: "When I found an opportunity, I decisively took a decisive step to dissociate, and it didn't take a single soldier to separate the relationship between Xiang Liang and Xiang Kang, the two traitors. ”

After the compliment was over, Sima Xin asked with some concern: "But General, how can we let Xiang Liang's old thief see this letter?" ”

"Isn't it easy?" Zhang Han smiled and said: "Send someone casually and let him carry letters and gifts to pretend to be Xiang Kang's old thief to deliver the letter to the Chu thief camp, the Chu thief searched his body, the letter was found, and the old thief Xiang Liang could see it immediately." The Chu thief did not search his body, and when Xiang Kang saw the letter, in order to prove his innocence, he could only quickly hand over the letter to Xiang Liang, who could still see it, and would still have an estrangement against Xiang Kang in his heart. ”

"If Xiang Kang is a traitor, he hid this letter and didn't hand it in." Zhang Han smiled slightly again and said, "Then wouldn't it be more beneficial to us?" ”

…………

When it was dark, Zhang Han's messenger, disguised as an ordinary person, came to the door of the Chu army camp under the banner of Xiang Kang's old man to ask for a meeting, although he was directly led to Xiang Kang with a confused face without being searched, but after carefully reading Zhang Han's handwritten letter to himself, Xiang Kang immediately complained bitterly, and asked people to take down Zhang Han's messenger immediately without thinking about it, and then immediately took the messenger and letters to see Xiang Liang overnight. Zhou Zeng next to him saw the big hurry, and hurriedly reminded: "General Right, I'm afraid it's a little inappropriate to let the general read such a letter, right?" ”

"If it's not right, you have to hand it over immediately." Xiang Kang said with a sad face: "Otherwise, I can't speak with a hundred mouths, and I can't wash it by jumping into the Yellow River!" ”

In this way, as Zhang Han wished, Xiang Kang, in order to prove his innocence, submitted Zhang Han's letter to Xiang Liang overnight, and Xiang Liang, who was furious, immediately pushed Zhang Han's messenger out of the tent and beheaded him, and comforted Xiang Kang with kind words, repeatedly expressed his absolute trust in Xiang Kang, and said a lot of heart-wrenching words to Xiang Kang. But because Xiang Liang was indeed too sorry for Xiang Kang in many things, Xiang Liang's heart was inevitably a little uncomfortable, and he secretly pondered: "The old man treats Kang'er so badly, even if Kang'er is generous, I'm afraid there will be some thoughts in his heart, right?" Kang'er basically didn't show much performance on my expedition this time, could it have something to do with it? ”

In order to annihilate Zhang Han's department as soon as possible, and also to retaliate against Zhang Han's shameless provocation, after hurriedly preparing for the attack, Xiang Liang personally supervised the army to launch an attack on the Qin army's camp outside Puyang City, and also dispatched 50,000 troops in one breath to attack the frontal assault without any temptation.

No matter how strong the attack is, it is useless, although the Zhang Han army, which has been defeated in successive battles, is at a disadvantage in terms of psychology and morale, but after all, the Qin army has a camp to defend, and the camp is still quite strong and perfect, so no matter how Xiang Liang uses various tactics to attack one after another, and no matter how the soldiers of the Chu army fight bravely, the camp of the Qin army is standing still, and the Chu army has paid a considerable price, and has never been able to break through the camp defense line of the Qin army and break through the camp of the Qin army.

During this period, there were also things that made Xiang Kang depressed, the army under Xiang Kang, who never liked to fight tough battles, also performed quite poorly in this camp battle, and the impact on the Qin army's camp was not only not as strong as the other elite main forces of the Chu army, but even some could not catch up with the quasi-first-class army of the Chu army under Feng Zhong, which made Xiang Liang's face a little unsightly, Xiang Bo even took the opportunity to jump out and slander wantonly, and insisted that Xiang Kang was dissatisfied with Xiang Liang's decision to attack strongly, and deliberately slacked off the military, wanting to see Xiang Liang's jokes.

After the failure of the first attack on the camp, Xiang Liang, who refused to give up, quickly reorganized his army and launched two large-scale attacks on the Qin camp in five days, but the results were always to no avail. Xiang Kang was anxious, so he ignored the kind dissuasion of Zhou Zeng and Chen Ping, and once again proposed at the regular meeting of the army on the sixth day to abandon the attack on Puyang, retreat to the front line of Jishui to establish a defensive line, first hold the victory, and then slowly clean up Zhanghan.

Xiang Kang finally stopped fighting alone this time, because the camp of the Qin army was indeed too strong, Feng Zhong, Xiang Zhuang, Liu Laosan and others, who had suffered enough losses, all stood up to support Xiang Kang, and Xiang Liang was also somewhat shaken, but for the sake of face, Xiang Liang said that he would not immediately retract the decision he had made before, and after thinking for a long time, he said: "Let the old man think about it, and let our army rest first, and then we will discuss whether we should retreat." ”

"Okay." Xiang Kang breathed a sigh of relief and said secretly: "Uncle is shaken, he should only make up his mind for the sake of face, as long as I give him a step down, he should listen to my persuasion." ”

Seeing that the meeting was about to end, Shi Zhengdian, the secretary general of Xiang Liang, suddenly reported a news he had just received to Xiang Liang, and said: "General Yushang, our army's Waihuang Shou General urgently reported, and Li You, the commander of Sanchuan County of Qin, sent troops north from Yongqiu to attack the Waihuang County controlled by our army, and the number of troops was about 30,000. ”

"Li attacked Waihuang by 30,000 troops? What did he do with the main force of the violent Qin's Sanchuan to fight such a remote city? Xiang Liang was stunned for a moment, and then immediately came to his senses and scolded: "Dog thief, you must want to go north to Jiyang, and then either go north directly to reinforce Puyang, or advance east along Jishui, cut off our grain route, and encircle Wei to save Zhao to share the pressure for Zhang Handpifu." ”

"General, our army is too far away from the rear, and this matter cannot be guarded against." Old man Fan proposed: "We should divide an army as soon as possible and immediately go south to annihilate Li You, so as to protect the safety of our back and the grain route." ”

"What the Father said is reasonable!" Just seeing Xiang Liang nodding, Xiang Yu was the first to jump out, hugged his fists and asked: "The little nephew is willing to lead the soldiers and horses of the headquarters, and go south to get Li Youpifu's head for my uncle!" ”

Xiang Yu opened his mouth, and Yingbu, Ji Bu, Liu Laosan and others immediately jumped out to volunteer, scrambling to ask to deal with Li You. However, after Xiang Liang thought about it again, he suddenly pointed at Xiang Kang, who did not speak, and said: "Kang'er, Li Youpifu is your defeated general, it must be no problem to clean him up, you go." ”

"I'm going?" Xiang Kang Yileng, who was still thinking about how to make steps for Xiang Liang, didn't react for a while that this was a great opportunity for him to become the master of the house again.

"What? Don't want to go? Xiang Liang asked, and added in a rather unhappy tone, "You don't want to fight a tough battle, why don't you want to fight a field battle?" ”