Although he has not been in charge for a long time, Xiang Zhuang, the main general of the Western Chu Army, still maintains the steady style that he has experienced in the young marshal army, and he is not arrogant or discouraged when he wins, and he is not as irritable as his overlord cousin, and likes to act rashly, so even on the way north, he has received the news that the Han army's Zhou Shu's corps has broken through the Yellow River, Xiang Zhuang did not have the slightest impulsive gaffe, on the contrary, he immediately found Liu Laosan and Fan Laotou to tell him to pay attention to Han Xin, and discussed with them how to deal with it.

However, Liu Laosan, who has always been strong in psychological quality, is rarely a little anxious, for fear that the Han army will beat rabbits with grass, which not only broke through the natural danger of the Yellow River but also hit the main force of the Qiji coalition army with his hand, completely crushing his dream of making a comeback in Qidi, or after confirming that the vitality of the Qiji coalition army was still alive through the messenger sent by Tian Da and others, Liu Laosan quietly breathed a sigh of relief and said secretly: "As long as there is hope." ”

It is said that it is a way to discuss the countermeasures, in fact, Xiang Zhuang and Liu Laosan and others have no extra choice, after the Yellow River is broken through, the Western Chu army and the Qiji coalition army have only one way to join forces to hold the important town of Licheng located in the key part of the road and wait for reinforcements, so after a hurried discussion, Xiang Zhuang and Liu Laosan in addition to urging the Western Chu army to speed up the north to Licheng, and then there is to ask Tian Da and Tianbu to quickly retreat to Licheng, do not expect to keep the city land north of Jishui, giving the Han army the opportunity to break the Chuqiji coalition army.

Fortunately, Tian Da and Tian Bu also thought so, and brought all the remaining troops back to the Licheng battlefield early to avoid the edge of the Han army, and also collected all the large and small ships on the Jishui River, plus the Han army spent a lot of time attacking the plain and advancing into Luoyin, so the Western Chu army finally rushed to Licheng and the Qiji coalition army to join the division, and regained the strength of the battle in front of the Han army Zhou Shu's corps.

After the meeting, Xiang Zhuang of course summoned Tian Da, Tian Ji and Tian Bu and others at the first time, and discussed with them how to meet the fierce attack of the Han army, but to Xiang Zhuang's surprise, all the participants had already arrived, and Han Xin, who had repeatedly asked him to pay attention to the second person in the Western Chu Army, did not appear, and under the puzzle, Xiang Zhuang hurriedly asked Liu Laosan: "Pei Gong, where is General Han Xin?" Why didn't you bring him here? ”

"Return to Zuo Sima." Liu Laosan said with a helpless expression: "As soon as he arrived in Licheng, Han Xin led a few cavalry out, saying that he was going to the Jishui River to check the situation carefully, but he hadn't come back yet, and the last general couldn't find him in a hurry, so he didn't bring him." ”

"How wide is Jishui, and how do you use it carefully? Forget it, let's talk about it first. ”

Xiang Zhuang was also quite helpless, so he could only ignore Han Xin for the time being and announce the start of the meeting, but the result of the discussion made Xiang Zhuang even more helpless, everyone at the meeting thought that they should stick to Licheng and wait for the follow-up reinforcements of the Western Chu Army to arrive, and there was also to let Qi Wang Tian Jiao hurry up to dispatch the main force of Qi to help Licheng, but how to defend it, how to make Tian Jiao, who is currently on fire in the backyard, quickly send the main force, but everyone has no particularly clever opinions.

Some people think that we should defend Jishui at all costs to block the attack of the Han army, and some people think that we should follow the example of the Chuqiji coalition army on the Julu battlefield and build a strong camp in Jinjiling and other places in the south of Licheng.

There was also a matter of causing chaos to Xiangzhuang, and the dispute was endless, and the Jibei Army camp suddenly sent someone to report, saying that there was a person who claimed to be Han Xin, the general of the Western Chu Army, who wanted to go deep into the Jibei military camp to understand the military situation, and asked the officers and soldiers of the Jibei Army to fully cooperate, but they did not show the orders of Xiang Zhuang or Tian Da, so the generals of the Jibei Army who stayed in the camp did not dare to make decisions without authorization, so they could only send someone to ask Tian Da for instructions on whether they agreed.

Of course, Tianda, the king of Jibei, was a little dissatisfied with this matter, and couldn't help but say to Xiang Zhuang: "Zuo Sima, it's not that Xiao Wang disrespects the king of Western Chu, it's that this Han Xin under your command is a little too much, right?" Little general, without your orders, even want to enter Xiao Wang's camp to learn about the military situation, and ask the soldiers under Xiao Wang's command to cooperate, isn't it a little crazy? ”

Xiang Zhuang turned his gaze to Liu Laosan, Liu Laosan was helpless, so he could only quickly say with a smile on his face: "King Jibei, this is all because the foreign minister is not good, it is the foreign minister who has spoiled the arrogant temper of that Han Xin, but this Han Xin does have some ability, he must have his reasons for doing this, and please ask the king of Jibei to look at the thin face of the foreign minister and allow him to act like this." ”

After that, Liu Laosan also hurriedly glanced at Xiang Zhuang, Xiang Zhuang understood what Liu Laosan meant, and could only smile at Tian Da and said: "King Jibei, General Han Xin is resourceful and has a unique tactical vision, which even the father of our Western Chu Army is full of praise, and he must be doing this for the sake of our joint efforts to meet the enemy, and I also ask the King of Jibei to give General Ben a face and allow him to act arbitrarily in your camp." ”

Even the throne was bought by bribing Master Xiang Boxiang, and of course Tian Da didn't dare not give Xiang Zhuang and Liu Laosan this face, so he could only reluctantly nod his head and agree to let Han Xin enter his camp to learn about the military situation at will, and also ordered his soldiers to fully cooperate. And Liu Laosan was also afraid of Han Xin's arrogant temper, afraid that he would go to the camp of the Qi army and make such a fuss, so he hurriedly greeted Tian again, fortunately, Tian Xin's personality was far more magnanimous than Tian Da, and he smiled and promised to let Han Xin also run to his camp to mess around at will.

Because the tactical opinions were seriously opposite, the meeting presided over by Xiang Zhuang did not discuss any results, and finally Liu Laosan came up with an idea, suggesting that Xiang Zhuang personally go to Jinjiling and other places suitable for fortification and defense, and then make a decision, Xiang Zhuang then adopted Liu Laosan's opinion, and led everyone out of the camp to Jinjiling and other places more than ten miles away from Jishui to personally investigate on the spot, and study whether it can confront the Han army for a long time in this area.

Not to mention, Jinjiling and other places are really suitable for long-term holding, first of all, the mountain is high enough not to be afraid of the damn trebuchet of the Han army, secondly, there is a water source on the mountain without worrying about water cut-off, and then the terrain is steep and easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is definitely not difficult to confront the Han army for a long time, so Xiang Zhuang also quickly made up his mind, planning to let the army rest overnight, and move to this area of deep ditch and high base the next day.

When Xiang Zhuang and the others returned to the camp, it was already evening, but Han Xin still did not come back, fortunately, Xiang Zhuang did not pay attention to this, but just asked people to prepare a banquet and drink with Tian Da and others to contact their feelings, but just when everyone handed over cups and changed lamps, a report suddenly came from outside the tent that Han Xin asked to see him, Xiang Zhuang was overjoyed when he heard it, and hurriedly ordered Han Xin to be summoned into the account. Tian Da and Tian Ji and the others over there were angry in their hearts, and said secretly: "It's finally here, let's take a look, where is this little general?" ”

Of course, Han Xin, who was far more arrogant than Uncle Zhou, could not leave a good first impression on Tian Da and the others, and after entering the big tent, Han Xin only symbolically saluted Xiang Zhuang, and then looked around at everyone present with no one in his eyes and asked: "I take the liberty of it, may I ask which one is General Tian from Qi State?" ”

Fortunately, Tabe, who was named by Han Xin, happened to be a person with a relatively gentle personality, and he didn't pay too much attention to Han Xin's rude behavior, and immediately replied: "I am, what does General Han have to say?" ”

"There are a few questions, please be sure to answer them truthfully, and don't hide anything." Han Xin's attitude was still arrogant, and he asked: "May I ask the general, what is the current situation of the Tian Heng traitor in your country?" How many troops are there now? Is there any ability to threaten the security of your country's national capital, Linzi? ”

I didn't expect Han Xin to be so presumptuous Tian went to see Xiang Zhuang a little strangely, Xiang Zhuang, who was already very clear about Han Xin's temper, was helpless, so he could only quickly say: "General Tian, please be sure to answer, I am also very concerned about these situations." ”

Seeing that Xiang Zhuang also opened his mouth, Tian Bu replied: "Because Tian Heng's rebel thief started after I led the troops to Jibei, so I don't know his situation very well, I only know that he seems to have raised more than 10,000 troops, and some scum clansmen of Qi State helped him to abuse, and it was quite rampant in the south of Jiaodong County in our Qi State. Fortunately, not long ago, General Tian Wang of our Qi State caught his main force in the Gaomi area, fought with him, and although he did not achieve any big victory, he also drove him back to the southeast of Jiaodong County. ”

"Then General Tian Wang of your country, how many troops did he lead to defeat Tian Heng's traitor?" Han Xin hurriedly asked again.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's a lot." Tian replied: "After Tian Heng's rebel thieves raised their troops, they were afraid of our army conquest, and they have been wandering at the junction of Jiaodong County and Langya County, and our king can only divide our main force into three ways to encircle and intercept, so the army under General Tian Wang's command should not be very many." ”

"Great!" Han Xin was overjoyed when he heard this, and said with a smile: "In this way, your country should only need to station 20,000 troops in the Weishui area, which is enough to prevent Tian Heng Pifu from advancing westward." Of the remaining troops, at least 40,000 troops can be drawn to Licheng for reinforcements, and we have hope for this battle. ”

Tabe was stunned, and then said with a smile: "General Han, this is something that only our king can decide, and I can't be the master." ”

"General Tabe, don't worry, this matter won't embarrass you, we have our own way." Han Xin's answer was still extremely arrogant, and then he turned to Xiang Zhuang and said: "Zuo Sima, how to meet the enemy, the last general has a way, as long as Zuo Sima acts according to the plan of the last general, not only can he ensure that he can hold Licheng and block the Han thieves, but he is even sure that he can directly defeat Uncle Zhou without us continuing to send reinforcements from the rear of Western Chu." ”

Hearing Han Xin's wild words, Tian Da, who had an extremely bad impression of him, of course laughed directly, but Xiang Zhuang, who already knew Han Xin's ability, was very calm and immediately asked, "What is General Han's plan?" ”

"First of all, the first point is to stick to the Jishui defense line with all our might, and we must not be conservative and passive, and take the initiative to retreat to the mountains and heights in the south of Licheng." Han Xin replied: "Only by holding the Jishui defense line can we take advantage of the opportunity of the Han thieves who are eager to cross the river for a decisive battle, gradually eat up the Han thieves' rushing army, weaken the Han thieves' troops, and at the same time take advantage of our advantage that boats and boats can cross the river at any time, constantly harass the guerrillas, so that the Han thieves cannot live in peace day and night, and when the veterans of the Han thief division are tired and lose their spirit, we can take the opportunity to counterattack and break the Han thieves." ”

"Haha!" Tian Da laughed directly again and said: "This General Han is easy to say, stick to the Jishui defense line with all his might, and drag it until the veterans of the Han Thief Division are tired?" Don't you know that even the surging river can't stop the thieves, let alone this small water? ”

"The reason why the thieves were able to cross the river smoothly was because they had transferred a huge fleet from Puyang to help them fight, could they find so many ships in Jishui?" Han Xin asked silently, and then said, "Also, this general ......." ”

"Han Xin, he is the king of Jibei." Liu Laosan hurriedly interrupted Han Xin and corrected him.

"It turned out to be the king of Jibei, and the foreign minister was rude." Han Xin symbolically arched his hand to apologize, and said: "King Jibei, since you are the Supreme of Jibei, then how can you forget that the rainy season in Qidi is coming, and the spring flood of Jishui is coming soon?" The sky has been gloomy for the past few days, which is a signal that the spring flood of Jishui is about to arrive? ”

Tian Da's mouth suddenly opened wide, and he suddenly yelled again, "How did I forget this?" That's right, if nothing else, in a few days, the spring flood of Jishui will come! At that time, not only will the amount of water increase greatly, but the flow of water will also speed up a lot, and it will last for a long time before it ends! ”

After exclaiming, Tian Da asked Han Xin with a surprised face: "Listen to your accent, isn't it our Qidi people?" How do you know so much about the climate and hydrology of our Jibei? ”

"Of course, I heard it from local fishermen." Han Xin replied quietly, and then asked rhetorically: "King Jibei, are you still willing to give up the imminent Jishui in the flood season, so that the Han thieves can easily cross the Jishui defense line that we are sure to hold for a long time?" ”

Tian Da closed his mouth, but Xiang Zhuang and Liu Laosan were happy together, and said busily: "That's right, you must not give up the Jishui defense line, the Han thieves don't have enough boats, and if you want to cross the river, you can only rely on rafts and bamboo rafts, and the flood season of Jishui is coming soon, such a good opportunity to guard the river must not be missed!" ”

"Second, we must immediately ask the King of Qi for help, and ask him to immediately send 40,000 troops to the east along the Chi Road to reinforce us." Han Xin said again: "Not counting the thief army of the Yan Kingdom, Uncle Zhou still has at least 130,000 troops in his hands at present, but our total strength is less than 90,000, and we are too passive in the decisive battle, only if we ask the King of Qi to immediately send 40,000 troops to help us and make up for the disadvantage in the number of our troops, we can be sure to win this battle." ”

"I'm afraid it's not easy, right?" Xiang Zhuang said with some worry: "Tian Heng's rebel thief helped the Han thief to abuse, rebelled in Jiaodong, and the backyard of the King of Qi caught fire, I am afraid he will not send so many troops to help us." ”

"Zuo Sima, don't worry, this matter is not difficult to do." Han Xin replied: "Zuo Sima only needs to send Mr. Lu Jia under Pei Gong's account as an envoy, and rush to Linzi by light car to explain the benefits and disadvantages to the King of Qi, pointing out that Tian Heng Pifu is just an elbow and armpit, and the Han thief is the great enemy of destroying the country, so it will definitely not be difficult to persuade the King of Qi to give priority to reinforcing us." ”

"Zuo Sima, Lu Jia, the last general, will definitely be able to do this." Liu Laosan hurriedly gave Han Xin a help, and said: "Please Zuo Sima must make every effort to let the King of Qi send us reinforcements as soon as possible, and don't repeat the mistake of being consumed alive by the Han thieves with the advantage of troops in Nanyang." ”

Considering that he would definitely let Tian Jiao send reinforcements to help, Xiang Zhuang just thought about it for a while, and quickly nodded and said, "Okay, then do it." General Han, what else do you have in plan? ”

"Please ask Zuo Sima, King Jibei and General Tianbe to let people announce the news immediately, and say that we have received a good news from Qi State." Han Xin arched his hand and said: "The Qi army broke the Tian Heng rebel army in the Gaomi area, killing the Tian Heng thief army to almost the entire army, and the Tian Heng rebel thief himself may have died tragically in the chaos. Then we asked our soldiers to spread the good news widely, and be sure to let the Han thieves send to Licheng to inquire about the news. ”

"What is this for?" Xiang Zhuang asked in surprise.

"There are two purposes, the first is of course to boost the morale of our army, if our soldiers know that the rebellion of Qi has been quelled and reinforcements are coming, of course, they can't do it if they don't want to have high morale." Han Xin continued: "Second, force Uncle Zhou to order the Yan State thief army to divert to the east, attack Dixian and enter Linzi, so as to reduce the pressure on the frontal battlefield for us. ”

"How persecution?" Xiang Zhuang was even more dumbfounded.

"We deliberately spread the rumor that Tian Hengpifu has been defeated in Gaomi, and we have already persecuted it?" Han Xin said with a smile: "According to common sense, we should now try our best to temporarily stabilize the Han thief army and buy time, and we will definitely not deliberately lure the Han thief to speed up the march to Licheng and fight with us, so once Uncle Zhou's traitor hears the rumors we deliberately spread, he must think that this news is true, in order to prevent the Qi State from reinforcing the Licheng battlefield on a large scale, he has only the choice of letting the Yan State thief army directly enter the hinterland of the Qi State to contain the main force of the Qi State." ”

Xiang Zhuang suddenly realized, and suddenly his face was happy, but Liu Laosan next to him secretly screamed that it was not good, and then it was not what Liu Laosan expected, Tian Bu next to him really slapped the case in front of him, and roared: "Piff!" Do you want the life of our King of Qi? It is also to ask our Qi State to send the main force to reinforce the Licheng battlefield, and it is also deliberately designed to lure the Yan State army directly into the hinterland of our Qi State, if our King Qi really listens to you, what will we do with the Qi Country itself? ”

"Where did General Tabe go? In the end, the general has the courage to deliberately design to harm your Qi country. Han Xin smiled and said: "Your country still has more than 80,000 troops on its own territory, and it is enough to send 40,000 troops to reinforce Licheng, the remaining 20,000 to guard against Tianheng Pifu, and the remaining 20,000 troops to defend the national capital and prevent Yan thieves." ”

"Fart!" Tian was furious and said: "There are 30,000 thieves in the Yan country, and our remaining 20,000 or so troops have to defend the national capital and guard against the Yan thieves, how can it be enough?" ”

Han Xin smiled, smiled extremely easily, and said, "General Tabe, why did you forget what you just said?" Isn't the imminent flood season the best line of defense for your Qi country? ”

Tian Yi Leng also remembered that the Jishui River, which was about to rise sharply and increase its flow, could not only protect the battlefield of Licheng, but also protect the hinterland of Qi and Linzi, the capital of the country. Han Xin saw that he woke up, so he said again: "General Tian, don't worry, Uncle Zhou let the Yan State thief army enter the hinterland of Qi State, and at most it is just a feint, and he will never really let the lone army of Yan State risk entering the hinterland of Qi State." ”

"And even if Uncle Zhou ordered so, Zang Yanpifu, who commanded the Yan State thief army, would definitely not dare to do so, because there was no way to guarantee his grain and grass. So I dare to expect that even if the Yan State thief army enters the Qi State, it will definitely take Di County first, and then consider whether to enter the hinterland of your Qi State, and you only need to hold Di County, so that the Yan thieves will not dare to send a soldier to cross the Jishui. ”

Tabe was silent, and only after a while did he say: "You have to explain this situation to our king in advance, if you don't say it, all the consequences will be borne by yourself." ”

"If General Tabe is not at ease, he can write a letter to the King of Qi to report this matter now." Han Xin replied lightly: "But please General Tian must remind the King of Qi that if we can't stop the Han thieves here in Licheng, even if he leaves more troops to defend the hinterland of the homeland, it will be useless, and he still can't stop the Han thieves from entering the Qi country in the future." When the time comes, you will have no reinforcements to count on, and there will be a rebellion of Tianheng rebels in the rear, and your situation will only become more difficult to save. ”

Tian was silent, but Han Xin rarely paid attention to him anymore, but turned to Xiang Zhuang again and said: "Zuo Sima, this is also our only way, the Han thieves are treacherous, and while marching into Qi Land in a big way, they will definitely attack in the middle and threaten our Xichu hinterland, so that our king will not be able to free up his hand to rescue Qi Di, whether we can still send reinforcements in the rear, how many reinforcements can be sent, and when the reinforcements will arrive, we can't guarantee!" ”

"So now we can only ask King Qi to take a little risk, give priority to reinforcing the Licheng battlefield, and help us win the battle of Licheng, so that we can completely reverse our passive situation!" Han Xin continued: "Fortunately, the King of Qi has always understood righteousness, knows what it means to have cold lips and teeth, and has a deep relationship with our Western Chu kings and ministers, so he should not refuse our request." ”

Xiang Zhuang weighed the pros and cons, nodded after a long time, and said: "The Han thieves have many generals, the advantage of troops is obvious, blindly passive insistence, we are easy to be broken by the Han thieves, it seems that we can only try to ask the King of Qi to take a risk, concentrate enough troops in Licheng, and strive to win this decisive battle." ”

"Zuo Sima rest assured, as long as the Qi State sends us 40,000 reinforcements, so that we can roughly equal the strength of the Han thieves, we will win this battle." Han Xin replied confidently: "Because we have water and natural dangers to defend, and we have enough boats and boats to cross the river and attack at any time, we can take the initiative on the battlefield, and it is difficult to win this battle!" ”

"So sure?" Xiang Zhuang obviously did not have absolute confidence in asking.

"I'm sure of that." Han Xin replied more confidently: "Today, the general has already gone to the Jibei Army and the Qi army camp to carefully understand the situation of the Han thieves, when the Han thieves were chasing and intercepting our Qixian army, in addition to the slight advantage in equipment, the individual combat effectiveness was only roughly equivalent to our Qiji army, and when the strength was at a disadvantage, it was almost directly defeated by our Qixian army. It can be seen from this that Uncle Zhou's puppet is just blindly greedy and desperately expanding the army, and the overall combat effectiveness of the army is not strong, so as long as we are roughly equal to his strength, we will definitely be able to win this decisive battle in Licheng! ”