When the main force of the Western Chu army, which had a strength of up to 200,000, drove to the west bank of the chasm, standing on Guangwu Mountain and looking eastward, the huge army of the Western Chu army could not see the end at a glance, the forward had already drunk the horse gap, and the rear team was still pouring out from the horizon in an endless stream, swords and guns were like forests, flags were like seas, and there were countless war horses and vehicles, just like a tide rushing, unstoppably flowing westward, the momentum was amazing and abnormal, and it was also huge and abnormal.

Although the main force of the Han army and the Hanoi division together are also a huge army with more than 100,000 people, but in the face of such a large scale of the Western Chu army, the main force of the Han army is still completely inferior in momentum, so that many inexperienced Han soldiers can't help but feel timid before they officially start fighting.

Fortunately, the decision-making level of the Han army and the core backbone of the Han army, the young marshal army and the old man, are already accustomed to seeing big scenes, although the momentum of the Western Chu army is huge, it is at most only roughly equivalent to the main force of Zhang Han back then, and the main force of Zhang Han at that time has not yet scared the young marshal army, let alone the Han army whose strength has increased greatly. Looking at the huge team of the Western Chu army, Xiang Kang also said with a smile: "Brother still looks down on me, he didn't go out to pull all the troops he left behind behind in Huaisi to the chasm battlefield, and only brought him the main force to attack Qidi, isn't this giving me the opportunity to break him through?" ”

"If the king must annihilate the main force of the Western Chu thief army on the chasm battlefield, it is not without this opportunity." Chen Ping said with a smile: "The consumption of grain and grass for more than 200,000 troops is huge, and it is definitely not enough to collect it on the spot in Dongjun and Dangjun, or it won't be long before the king of Western Chu will definitely let his army stay in the rear escort grain and grass to the front line for use, and then we will have the opportunity to wait for work and completely annihilate the main force of the Western Chu thief army on the chasm battlefield." ”

Xiang Kangda nodded, his face was full of deep disapproval, and he smiled at the Han generals present and said, "Did you hear it?" This battle must be fought slowly, first lure all the troops of the Western Chu thief army to the chasm battlefield, we can break the enemy with all our might, if anyone can't hold their breath and beat the main force of the Western Chu thief army away in advance, or whoever first captures my brother and sacrifices prisoners to me, and the eastern crusade against the remaining Western Chu thief army consumes more money and food, I will deduct it from who's money! This point must be explained clearly, so that every one of our soldiers knows, do you understand? ”

Ding Ji, Zhong Liwu, Zhang Zhong and other Han army generals laughed wildly, and scrambled to say: "Don't worry, the king, we will definitely not dare to be breathless!" Good fellow, all the money and grain for the Eastern Crusade will be deducted from our money, and we will not give the king a hundred years of errands for nothing? ”

In addition to letting the soldiers of the Han army go deep into the ditch and strictly guard the military places such as Xingyang, Aocang and Guangwu, he also adopted Chen Ping's suggestion to build a dam at the inlet of the chasm, forcing more water from the Yellow River into the chasm, expanding the amount of water in the chasm, and increasing the difficulty of the Western Chu army to cross the river, so that the Western Chu army could no longer cross the river like before, forcing the Western Chu army to temporarily set up camp on the east bank of the chasm.

Xiang Kang's shameless methods did succeed, and when he arrived at the bank of the chasm in person, Xiang Yu found that the chasm suddenly became much wider, and the river suddenly deepened a lot, and the section of the river that could flow through before became impassable. Seeing this scene, Xiang Yu, who didn't know anything about water conservancy, was taken aback, and blurted out: "It's strange, how can the water in the chasm suddenly be so big?" Wasn't that the case before? ”

"It must have been the thief who did something at the entrance to the chasm."

Kui Che guessed the reason, and suggested that Xiang Yu send people who were familiar with water conservancy to check the situation upstream, and soon confirmed that the Han army had indeed built a dam at the mouth of the chasm, forcing more of the Yellow River into the chasm. Xiang Yu was furious when he heard the report, but he had no choice but to adopt the suggestions of Old Man Fan and others, let the Western Chu army temporarily set up camp on the north bank of the chasm, and at the same time send people to the inlet of the chasm to destroy the embankment, let the water flow back to the Yellow River, and reduce the difficulty of the Western Chu army crossing the river.

Therefore, the battle first started at the mouth of the chasm, and the soldiers of the Han army who camped on the west bank of the estuary shot with strong bows and crossbows, covering the soldiers of the Western Chu army who tried to dig the embankment, and shot the poor soldiers of the Western Chu army to scream continuously, and the casualties were repeated, and the Western Chu army was forced to send out a long shield and set up temporary fortifications on the east bank of the chasm, covering the crossbowmen to shoot back with arrows, and then the sinister and vicious Han soldiers suddenly dispatched trebuchets and smashed the long shield and crossbowmen of the Western Chu army with boulders, and the tendons were broken and fractured, which made the Western Chu army pay a lot of price. None of them were able to dig up the embankment that the Han soldiers had built before.

In the end, Xiang Yu was forced to dispatch 20,000 troops to dig the embankment, and finally completely destroyed the water-forcing embankment built by the Han army, reducing the water volume of the chasm, but in order to do this, the Western Chu army not only paid a very heavy price, but also wasted more than two days before and after, and the spirit was frustrated.

The matter is not over, after the hard work of destroying the damn embankment, before the Western Chu army launched the crossing of the river, that night, Xiang Kang took the opportunity of the water level of the chasm, took the initiative to send the army to cross the river, and attacked the Western Chu military camp at night, fortunately, the Western Chu army was tightly guarded, and the night watchman issued an alarm in time, and the shameless sneak attack of the Han army failed to succeed, so he could only retreat hurriedly from the original road.

Where might the Western Chu Overlord be willing to miss such an opportunity? After an order, tens of thousands of Western Chu soldiers immediately launched a pursuit, flowing across the chasm from the shallow water, chasing and killing the Han soldiers who dared to disturb their rest with red eyes, but the Western Chu army had just crossed the river and did not go far, in the dark, Guan Ying led the Han cavalry to suddenly kill, brandishing a saber and directly impacting the waist of the Western Chu army, and the Han army pursuers who had been running for their lives before also decisively turned around and killed back, the Western Chu army could not echo before and after, and was immediately defeated, and was killed by the Han army on their backs, and the corpses were piled up, and countless people drowned in the water. And when Xiang Yu, who was thunderous, sent troops over to reinforce him, the Han army had already fled back to the Guangwu camp, and took advantage of it and no longer entangled with the Western Chu army.

The continuous setbacks made the Western Chu army lose its spirit, and also made Xiang Yu more angry to the extreme, just the next morning, Xiang Yu couldn't wait to urge the army to launch a rush to cross, Xiang Kang had long expected this point Xiang Kang also let the Han army soldiers on the west bank of the chasm, with the fortifications built in advance to attack the Western Chu army, the battle was extremely fierce.

In the end, relying on the absolute superiority in terms of troops, the Western Chu army finally succeeded in breaking through the damned chasm and gaining a firm foothold on the west bank of the chasm, but in order to do this, the Western Chu army paid the price of more than 3,000 soldiers, and the Han army's losses were only 1,000 people, and once again suffered a lot of losses. Therefore, Xiang Yu's face was still extremely ugly, and he shouted with a blue face: "Grab the pontoon bridge, the more the better, within tomorrow, we must let all our troops cross the chasm!" ”

"King, I'm afraid this is also expected by Xiang Kang's traitor." Kui Che said: "If nothing else, Xiang Kang's rebels are likely to make a move tonight, taking advantage of the opportunity that our main force has not had time to cross the river, and attack the army that we have already crossed. ”

Xiang Yu nodded and immediately ordered Gong Ao, the general of Western Chu, who first led the army across the river, to rush to build fortifications on the west bank of the chasm, and strictly protect the pontoon bridge ferry, and also clearly explained that if the Han army attacked at night, the Chu army on the west bank could only retreat from the enemy with random arrows, and could not risk the pursuit.

There was an accident, Xiang Kang seemed to have changed his temperament this time, a whole night passed, the Han army actually did not take any action, so that the soldiers of the Western Chu army who crossed the river first worked hard for a night in vain, but when the sky was light, just when the soldiers of the Western Chu army breathed a sigh of relief, the Han army suddenly released hundreds of rafts full of firewood and grass from the bottom of Guangwu Mountain, the raft was burning, and forced to the Chu army pontoon bridge under the impetus of the current, the West Chu army was caught off guard, so they could only quickly send people to rush to the pontoon bridge to block the fire raft, It was not easy to protect and build more than 20 pontoon bridges.

After all, the fire is not something that can be stopped by manpower, and it is not easy to survive until hundreds of fire rafts are burned by themselves, and most of the pontoon bridges of the Western Chu army have been burned, but before the Western Chu army can breathe a sigh of relief, Xiang Kang has personally led the main force of the Han army from the Guangwu camp to kill, and the queue came to the front of the Gongao army to fight, Gongao hurriedly ordered the self-army to take a defensive position, and Xiang Yu also hurriedly sent Xiang Zhuang to lead the army across the river to reinforce Gongao.

The results of the battle surprised Xiang Yu and the Western Chu army, relying on the good scare of the original grenade, the Han army only used a charge, and even used the primitive grenade to blow up the front team of the communist Ao army, and successfully tore a gap in the position of the communist Ao army, the rear team of the Han army took the opportunity to kill, and simply killed the Chinese army of the communist Ao, broke through the interception of the communist Ao army and smashed the pontoon bridge ferry, Xiang Zhuang hurriedly led the army to defend the pontoon bridge, and the Han army was inseparable.

At this time, the sudden killing of the Han army's heavy armor soldiers of course became the nightmare of the Western Chu army, Zhang Zhong led the Han army's heavy armor soldiers like five hundred human-shaped tanks, rampage on the battlefield, invincible, soon helped the Han army's infantry brigade cut off all the pontoon bridges of the Western Chu army, the West Chu soldiers fell into the water countless times, the communist Ao army was also isolated on the west bank of the chasm, Xiang Kang took the opportunity to launch a general attack, the communist Ao army was quickly defeated, forced to flee downstream.

Xiang Kang did not take advantage of the victory to launch a pursuit, because the Han army scouts had already sent an urgent report, saying that the angry Xiang Yu had led the Western Chu cavalry to detour back downstream to cross the river, and Xiang Kang, who knew very well how powerful his cousin was on the battlefield, also decisively accepted it when he saw it, and immediately rang the golden cymbal to collect the troops, and withdrew the army to the Guangwu camp before the Western Chu cavalry arrived at the battlefield.

The results of this battle of the Han army are not very large, just more than 2,000 beheadings, but the morale blow to the Western Chu army is extremely huge, in broad daylight I saw the rout of the friendly army on the west bank of the chasm, and I have long been accustomed to the Western Chu soldiers who have won a hundred battles under the command of Xiang Yu are all at a loss, I don't know how to fight the next battle, how much price will the Han army's chasm defense line have to pay to really break through? There are also strong Han army camps, and the more solid Aocang Cangcheng, Xingyang County and Guangwu Mountain City, how can they be taken?

Of course, the Han army is diametrically opposed, seeing that Xiang Kang is just using some tricks, he continuously beat the Western Chu army all over the ground to find teeth, and the pain is unspeakable, of course, the Han army officers and soldiers are greatly increased in confidence, morale is improved, many grassroots soldiers also joked with each other, and said: "Remember the king's will, if anyone first captures the king of Western Chu and sacrifices the prisoners, or is in a hurry to beat the Western Chu thief army away, when we crusade against the rear army of the Western Chu thief army in the future, the money and grain will be deducted from our rations." ”

In the end, under the bitter pleading of Kui Che and Li Zuoche, as well as the strong persuasion of Cao Qi and Old Man Fan, Xiang Yu reluctantly changed the location of the river crossing, moved to the shallow place of the chasm twenty miles downstream to cross the river, and then first nailed countless wooden stakes in the chasm to protect the pontoon bridge, and then built thirty pontoon bridges, allowing the main force of the Western Chu army to cross the damned chasm and move the camp to the west bank of the chasm.

Not to mention, a series of setbacks always calmed Xiang Yu down a lot, did not act impulsively, and as soon as he crossed the river, he couldn't wait to attack the Han army camp, but first gathered the army Chinese to discuss the next tactical plan and study which Han army should attack first. However, during the meeting, Cao Zhi and Old Man Fan had a serious dispute with Li Zuoche and Kui Che.

The focus of the dispute was whether the Western Chu army should first attack the Han army's Guangwu camp or Aocang? Among them, Cao Ji and Old Man Fan resolutely advocated attacking the Guangwu camp of the Han army first, and pointed out: "King, you can only follow your last attack plan, attack the Guangwu camp first, so that Xiang Kang can't spare his hands to steal chickens and dogs, destroy the main force of the Han thieves, and then think about how to take Aocang and Xingyang." ”

"King, you can't stay the same." Li Zuoche objected: "Last time, the foreign minister agreed to attack the Guangwu camp first, because the total strength of the Han thieves was at an absolute disadvantage, and the soldiers were not as good at fighting as our elite, and we were absolutely sure that we could take the Guangwu camp of the Han thieves." But now the situation is different, the strength of the Han thieves has increased greatly, although our troops still have an absolute advantage, but the soldiers and soldiers are mixed, the combat effectiveness does not rise but falls, and if we continue to attack the main camp of the Han thieves as we did last time, we will only fall into a hard battle. Only by cutting off the wings of Xiang Kang's rebel thieves first, seizing Aocang and supplying the army, can he annihilate the main force of the Han thieves without distraction. ”

"Your Majesty also agrees to fight Ao Cang first." Kuaicher also said: "Our main army is as many as 200,000, and we have to eat the grain mountains and rice seas every day. Otherwise, we will soon be in danger of running out of food by relying only on supplies from the rear. ”

"That's nice, Ao Cang is so easy to take?" Cao Ji sneered and said: "Ao Cang is only ten miles away from the Han thief's Guangwu camp, and it can be reached in an instant, when we attack Ao Cang, what should we do if Xiang Kang suddenly sends an army to sneak attack our back?" ”

"Let's fight Guangwu first, aren't the Han thieves in Xingyang and Aocang behind us who are likely to suddenly send troops to sneak attack? In that case, should we just be careful? Kui Che retorted unceremoniously, and said: "The most important thing now is food, as long as we take Ao Cang first at any cost, we can be invincible immediately, the Guangwu battalion of the Han thieves doesn't even have to attack with their hands, just by consuming food, we are sure that we can consume the main force of the dead Han thieves!" ”

"Scholars are pedantic, and they dare to show off here?" Old man Fan became angry and said, "Just take precautions?" Do you know how treacherous and cunning Xiang Kang's traitor is? As long as we show a little flaw, we may immediately be caught in the stitches by him, and suddenly plot, if we don't destroy his main force first, we won't even dare to close our eyes when we sleep! ”

When the dispute was raging, and Xiang Yu gradually showed displeasure, a soldier outside the tent suddenly led a scout to report the military situation, and said to Xiang Yu: "King Qiqi, the Aocang Han thieves suddenly sent an army to escort many vehicles full of grain to the Guangwu camp of the Han thieves. ”

Hearing this, the big tent of the Chinese army, which was still noisy just now, suddenly fell silent, and Xiang Yu also raised his head in surprise and said, "The Han thief transported grain from Aocang to the Guangwu camp? Have you confirmed, the car is full of food? ”

"Back to the king, it should be all food." The Xichu scout replied truthfully: "The villain and the others can see very clearly, the thieves' military vehicles are all loaded with grain bags with the seal of the Tyrannical Qin Mansion, and the rut marks are also very deep, so it is basically certain that the grain carts. ”

"Something strange." Xiang Yu said suspiciously: "Before this, didn't my traitor brother have hoarded enough food in the Guangwu camp, and he still needs to rush to transport it urgently at this time?" ”

After thinking about it for a while, Old Man Fan quickly laughed and said, "King, Xiang Kang is just throwing bricks and attracting jade. With his treacherous cunning, how could it be that before this, he hadn't hoarded enough food in the Guangwu Thieves' Camp, and there was still a need for urgent transportation? As long as we first take down Ao Cang and cut off his food and grass supply, it won't be long before he will break himself without a fight, and use this to lure us to attack Ao Cang first, so that the main force of his thief army can free up his hands to steal chickens and dogs, and suddenly stab us in the back. ”

"My lord, that's definitely right." Cao Ji hurriedly said: "This is also the usual method of Xiang Kang's traitors, deliberately exposing flaws, making us feel that his main force is short of food, and tricking us into beating Ao Cang to cut off his food first, and then he can take the opportunity to sneak attack us with despicable tricks." ”

As soon as Xiang Yu heard this, he immediately made up his mind, and immediately said: "Yes, we must not fall for that traitor again, we must first beat his Guangwu camp, so that he can't come out to steal chickens and dogs, and stir up the wind and rain!" It's so decided, first hit the Guangwu thief camp, annihilate the main force of the Han thieves, and then free up your hands to attack Aocang Xingyang with confidence! ”

Li Zuoche and Kui Che smiled bitterly together, and they were completely helpless, but they each said in their hearts: "I'm afraid that this is also the real purpose of Xiang Kang's traitor, right?" After calculating that we would not believe his Guangwu battalion, we decided that he deliberately rushed to transport grain and grass in order to lure us to attack Aocang first, and in order not to be fooled by him, we could only be led by his nose and fight Guangwu first so that he would have a greater certainty of dragging us into a war of attrition. ”

…………

At the same time, in the Guangwu camp of the Han army, watching the soldiers of the Han army carrying grain into the camp from the high place of the camp, Tang Bing, one of the old men of Shangshan, was quite worried, and couldn't help but ask Xiang Kang: "King, is this really useful?" Will it backfire, so that the Western Chu thief army thinks that our main force is really short of food, and goes to fight Aocang first, and does not come to the Guangwu camp to fight with us head-on? ”

"Don't worry." Chen Ping smiled and said: "Our king's reputation in terms of tactics is too great, even our king's grumpy brother Xichu Overlord will never believe that our Guangwu camp is really short of food, and will only think that our king is throwing bricks and luring him to fight Ao Cang first, so that our main force can hide behind his back and make a sudden plot." In order not to fall for our plan, the Western Chu thief army will definitely not let us get our wish, and will definitely only come to attack our Guangwu camp first, and will not risk going to attack Aocang first. ”

Tang Bing nodded suspiciously, while Xiang Kang smiled and said: "I can't be so sure, fortunately, I just hope that my brother will come to our Guangwu camp first, and strive to lead him, but it doesn't matter if I can't attract him, the big deal is that when my brother makes the right choice and goes to attack Ao Cang first, we will find a way to stab him in the back a few times." ”