In the battle of the Northern Front Corps of the Han Army to pursue the remnants of the Chuji Coalition Army, it was Li Shiqi and Mr. Shusun's fellow Confucian students who helped the Han Army a lot, pitted the poor remnants of the Chuji Coalition Army, and also pitted the more pitiful main force of the Western Chu Army.

In fact, long before Uncle Zhou decided to launch a large-scale southern expedition without Xiang Kang's order, because he knew that Li Shiqi and Mr. Shusun, who were born in Confucianism, were both reused by the Han army, the Confucian students in Xue County Ludi, the Confucian stronghold, had already rushed to the north to join the Han army, not only sending many civilian talents to the northern line of the Han army, but also bringing countless information about the hinterland of Xue County to the Han army, so that Zhou Shu and others knew all about the various situations in the hinterland of Xue County early on. It also helped the Northern Front Corps of the Han Army to make direct contact with many local officials in Xue County, which greatly facilitated the Han Army's recruitment of cities in Xue County, which was about to be strategically abandoned by the Western Chu Army.

It was also relying on the important information provided by these Confucian scholars, even if he didn't know that Peng Yuejun was going to help according to Xiang Kang's orders, Zhou Shu had already formulated a tactical plan to annihilate the Chuji coalition army alone, and decided to let Li Shang lead 40,000 former troops to rush lightly, bypass the interception of the Chuji coalition army, and directly attack the city of Zou County, which had been razed to the ground by Peng Yue's army before, and chase the Chuji coalition army in the hinterland of Xue County.

As a result, this plan went more smoothly than Zhou Shu and others expected, because Peng Yuejun suddenly inserted a bar, forcing the Chuji coalition army to divide its troops to meet and weaken its own troops, Li Shang led the Han army front team to catch up with the Chuji coalition army lightly, the Chuji coalition army did not dare to engage at all, and immediately chose to form a formation, and the Han army's front team, which knew more about the hinterland of Xue County than the Chuji coalition army, took the opportunity to boldly intersperse, bypassing the interception position of the Chuji coalition army, and directly attacked Zou County with only a small amount of dry food. All of a sudden, he directly rushed to the front of the Chuji coalition army.

At the same time, under the instigation of the Confucian students, the Zou County Order of the Western Chu Army not only did not make any resistance, but also did not even carry out Xiang Zhuang's order to burn the grain and military supplies, and immediately surrendered to the Han army with the defenders of Xue County and the grain and grass military supplies, so that the front team of the Han army that was lightly armed and rushed to get supplies on the spot, and had the material base to intercept the rest of the Chuji coalition army head-on.

Not only that, after rushing to Zou County to rush first, the front team of the Han army also inadvertently intercepted the messenger sent by Xiang Yu to contact Xiang Zhuang after setting off from Chengwu and marching eastward, knowing the important situation of Xiang Yu leading the main force of the Western Chu Army eastward to Huling to meet the Chuji coalition army, and also made the Chuji coalition army ignorant of this situation. Then, in order to completely cut off the connection between the rest of the Chuji coalition army and Xiang Yu, Li Shang adopted the suggestion of Ludi Confucian and sent two Confucian scholars who took the initiative to invite Ying to go south to Tengxian County first, and rebelled against Wang Long, the county commander of Tengxian County, who was also from Confucianism, and asked him to help block the news and intercept the messengers of the Western Chu army, so that Xiang Yu and the Chuji coalition army would not know the specific situation of the other party.

Immediately afterwards, Xiang Zhuang, who was caught off guard because of the sudden rebellion in Zou County, although he adopted Han Xin's suggestion, abandoned most of the military supplies and broke through at any cost, and finally fled south to the small city of Suyi after paying a heavy price, and finally knew that Xiang Yu was in Huling, but in the blink of an eye, he was caught up and surrounded by Li Shang, and at the same time, Wang Long, the county commander of Tengxian County of the Western Chu Army, was also as good at hugging his thighs as his fellow brothers and brothers, and not only decisively accepted the Han army's rebellion and persuasion. He also killed the messenger sent to ask for help before Xiang Zhuang was surrounded, blocked the news of the situation in the hinterland of Xue County from the main force of the Western Chu army, and secretly cut off the connection between Xiang Yu and Xiang Zhuang.

This is not counting, according to the requirements of the Han army, Wang Long also sent someone to contact Xiang Zhuang, pretending that Xiang Yu asked the Chuji coalition army to hold on to help, and successfully deceived Xiang Zhuang into giving up the plan to break through on his own, and stupidly stayed in Wuyi and waited for Xiang Yu to personally lead the army north to rescue, which bought precious time for the main force of the Han army's northern line corps to go south to surround the Chuji coalition army.

In addition, after the main force of the Han army's northern front rushed to Qiyi and completely surrounded the rest of the Chuji coalition army, Wang Long reported to the Han army at the first time that Xiang Kang had led the main force of the Han army to arrive at Yutai Pavilion in the middle of the road, which helped the Han army on the northern front to achieve one-way transparency to the enemy's information, and also prompted Zhou Shu to make the key decision to immediately launch an attack.

In the end, the Chuji coalition army, which had a huge disparity in strength with the enemy, was still unable to block the full attack of the Han army, and the hastily built camp only lasted for most of the day before the Han army broke through, Jibei Wang Tianda was killed, Xiang Kang's nephew Xiang It was wounded and captured, and Xiang Zhuang, who could not wait for the rescue, was forced to lead the remnants to break through and flee for his life. led the defenders of Tengxian County to make up for the remnants of the Chuji coalition army, almost captured Xiang Zhuang himself, and also caused Xiang Zhuang to finally lead the remnants of less than a thousand people to reluctantly flee to Huling, and successfully helped the northern line corps of the Han army to complete the established tactical plan of basically annihilating the rest of the Chuji coalition army, and used the blood of the soldiers of the Chuji coalition army to stain the Han army county guard uniform that Uncle Zhou was about to reward him.

After knowing the ins and outs of the matter outside the Yutai Pavilion camp of the Han army, and finally understanding why he couldn't contact the rest of the Chuji coalition army alive or dead, the hot-tempered Xiang Yu of course chewed the shameless traitor Wang Longsheng, and yelled that he wanted to immediately enter Tengxian County to kill the traitor, but Xiang Zhuang was in tears and calmed down with only one sentence......

"Brother, it's impossible for us to counterattack Tengxian again, Uncle Zhou's puppet took an army of 190,000 to the south this time, and recruited rebels on the road, and incorporated our surrendered troops, and now the strength must have reached more than 200,000! With our current strength, how can we still counterattack and take Tengxian? ”

"More than 200,000?!" Xiang Yu, who was injured and lost blood, turned pale again, and asked in disbelief, "Have you confirmed it?" Uncle Zhou's puppet really brought so many Han thief troops? ”

"I've confirmed it repeatedly, and I can't be wrong."

Xiang Zhuang's inability to answer made Xiang Yu's face even more ugly, and what was worse was that at this time, Master Xiang Boxiang, who stayed at the Huling Ferry, sent someone to send an urgent report, saying that the Han Army's Northern Front Corps had sent troops south from Tengxian County and approached the Huling battlefield, and asked Xiang Yu to return to the Huling Ferry immediately. Xiang Yu had no choice but to hurriedly shout: "Mingjin, collect the troops, clean up the battlefield as soon as possible and withdraw to the Huling Ferry." ”

According to Xiang Yu's order, the Western Chu army, which had just won a great victory in the field, no longer dared to waste time chasing and killing the remnants of the enemy, so it could only hurriedly clean up the battlefield and contain the wounded, and brutally execute the captured Han soldiers, and hurriedly retreated along the way to Huling Ferry. As a result, before retreating to Laoqi, the scouts of the Western Chu army behind hurriedly came to report, saying that the Han army Yutaiting battalion, which had just fought a big defeat, suddenly burst into laughter, and it was obvious that Uncle Zhou had already made contact with Xiang Kang, Xiang Yu's face was of course even more ugly when he heard the report, but he had no choice but to continue to retreat and return to the ferry at full speed to preside over the overall situation.

The Western Chu army made a wrong judgment this time, in fact, because there is only a small road in the forest between Tengxian and Yutai Pavilion to be connected, Xiang Kang's side has not yet had time to know the important situation of the arrival of the Han army on the northern front in Teng County, the reason why the Han army cheered in the camp was because the 40,000 Sanchuan Han army led by Qi Gill and Bao Kua and other generals got in touch with Xiang Kang, and reported that they were marching smoothly and would arrive at Yutai Pavilion the next day to reinforce Xiang Kang, and more than 10,000 Yingchuan troops led by Han Wangxin would also come to reinforce the day after tomorrow, Xiang Kang, who had just suffered a big defeat, immediately made these good news public in order to boost the morale of the army and boost their morale, which made cheers and celebrations erupt in the Han military camp.

Therefore, in fact, the dangerous situation that the Western Chu army was about to face was actually worse than what Xiang Yu and others estimated. After a while, the messenger sent by Uncle Zhou finally got in touch with Xiang Kang and told Xiang Kang the current situation of the northern front corps of the Han army, Xiang Kang, in addition to being ecstatic, decisively ordered the remaining rafts to go out and rush to the south bank near Lao Qi to wait for his life, ready to go down the river at any time, and raid the pontoon bridge of the Western Chu army again, and at the same time grab the pontoon bridge on the Surabaya River downstream of Yutai Pavilion, and be ready to cross Surabaya at any time to pursue the Western Chu army, and then pretend to cry bitterly, shedding crocodile tears for Zhang Zhong and other Han soldiers who died.

Let's take a look at the situation on the side of the main force of the Western Chu army first, which is not bad for Xiang Yu, because the Han army on the northern front has just ended the pursuit battle, and the soldiers are quite tired, although the front team of the Han army led by Li Shang went south from Teng County to the vicinity of Huling on the same day, but did not rush to attack, and chose to set up a camp twenty miles north of Huling, waiting for the main force led by Zhou Shu to meet in the south, and did not directly start a battle with the rear team of the Western Chu army that stayed at the ferry.

But it was enough, after Xiang Yu returned to Huling Ferry with the army, not only did there be no cheering and laughter in the camp of the Western Chu Army, which had just won a big victory, on the contrary, there was a rumor everywhere, and the generals and soldiers looked panicked, and after Master Xiang Boxiang, who stayed at the ferry, saw Xiang Yu who was injured in the battle, it was very rare that he did not immediately shush Xiang Yu and ask for warmth, flattery, but shouted loudly with a pale face, "King, the Han thief from the north is only twenty miles away from us!" What are we going to do? Do you want to rush to Surabaya immediately? ”

"What are you panicking about?" Xiang Yu scolded angrily, jumped off the war horse, and hurriedly looked south, and saw that there were only four pontoon bridges left on the Surabaya ferry, Xiang Yu immediately became angry and roared: "What are you doing to eat?" How did the thieves burn it so that only four pontoon bridges remained? ”

"There are too many rafts of thieves, and we can't stop them." Master Xiang hurriedly explained: "As for these four pontoon bridges, we cut the ropes first and avoided the fire raft to save them. However, the king can rest assured that his subordinates are already letting people continue to grab it, and before the second watch, he will definitely be able to re-build ten pontoon bridges. ”

Before Xiang Yu nodded, another scout rushed to the north, and rushed to Xiang Yu with a panicked expression: "King Qiyu, the main force of the northern line of the Han thieves led by Uncle Zhou has rushed to the north twenty miles away, and the front team of the Han thieves is in one place, and it is too late to confirm the number of troops for the time being, but the number must be more than 100,000!" ”

Before the scout's words were finished, the civil and military forces of the Western Chu army present had all changed their faces again, and to add insult to injury, at this time, the scout who was responsible for probing the enemy situation in the west also rushed to report, saying that the Han army had dispatched a fleet of fire rafts again, and was killing towards the Huling ferry again, Xiang Yu's face was also completely blackened, and he said in great pain for a while: "I knew that this would be the case, I should have ignored the Han thieves and crossed Surabaya first." ”

"King, you can't cross the river in Huling." Kui Che next to him said: "It is summer, the water level of Surabaya is rising, and the fire raft of the Han thieves is watching upstream, and it may go down the river at any time and burn our pontoon bridge. Uncle Zhou's main force is only twenty miles away from us, as soon as we cross the river, his side will definitely start immediately, even if we barely cross Surabaya, we will definitely have heavy casualties, and we are not the opponent of the Han thieves. ”

"And." Kui Che hurriedly added: "If nothing else, with Xiang Kang's cunning of the traitor, as long as he gets in touch with Uncle Zhou, he will definitely be ready to cross the river and chase immediately, even if we force the crossing of Surabaya at any cost, we will soon be caught up by the thieves!" ”

Xiang Yu sat down on the ground with a pale face, stroked the injury in his lower abdomen and thought about it, and asked casually: "Then what do you think we should do now?" ”

"There is only one way, take the path on the north bank of Surabaya and go to Pengcheng to cross the river!"

The crowd heard voices that Liu Laosan and Xiang Yu were very familiar with, and immediately after, the tall Han Xin stood up and continued: "Although the road on the north bank of Surabaya is relatively difficult to walk, the terrain is more complicated, which is not conducive to the deployment of troops by the Han thieves, and it is easier for us to retreat than to take the main road on the south bank. In addition, if we really can't get rid of the chasing soldiers of the Han thieves, we still have the option of going east to Fuyang and retreating to Donghai County instead. ”

"Fart!" Master Xiang Boxiang immediately scolded and said, "Divert Fu Yang to Donghai County, what about our national capital Pengcheng?" Don't you know that all of Master Ben's ......, countless of our family members and children are in Pengcheng? ”

Fortunately, Xiang Yu didn't listen to Master Xiang's selfish advice this time, who wanted to protect the family property, just thought about it, and immediately said: "Pass the order, go south from the path on the north bank of Surabaya, the army participating in the battle today is in front, Uncle Ji, you and Xiang Xiang and Xiang You led the army that did not participate in the war!" ”

"My Highness?" Master Xiang almost suspected that his ears had heard it wrong, and his voice couldn't help but tremble, and said, "King, you let the old minister lead the army to the palace ......, the queen?" ”

"Who else but you?" Xiang Yu roared angrily: "I'm injured, the army under my command is tired, Brother Xiang Zhuang and they have just come back, they are more tired than us, and they haven't had time to get familiar with the army, besides you, who else can lead the army?" ”

Uncle Xiang's face, who cherished his life far above everyone else, turned even paler, and Liu Laosan was also very aware of Master Xiang's virtues, so he said stubbornly: "King, Master Xiang lacks the experience of leading troops alone, if you can trust Your Majesty, let Your Majesty lead the army." ”

Glancing at Liu Laosan, the real culprit of the full-scale outbreak of the Chu-Han War, Xiang Yu first said in his heart that it is strange that this king can trust you, and then said: "No need, Uncle Ji has followed this king in the southern and northern wars for many years, and I can trust him." Xiang Kang's traitors are far away, and they have just fought a big defeat, and Uncle Zhou's husband has just arrived near Huling, and the soldiers are tired, even if they send troops to pursue, Uncle Ji is sure to be able to stop them. ”

Knowing that Xiang Yu couldn't trust himself, Liu Laosan could only shut up obediently, and said in his heart that he hoped that your Uncle Ji would not leave the army and run alone, but Master Xiang Boxiang was worried, but he didn't dare to disobey Xiang Yu's decision, so he could only honestly clasp his fists and say: "The old minister obeys the order." ”

In this way, after several years, Master Xiang Boxiang, who once wanted to reach out and pick peaches to snatch the military power of the young marshal, finally got the first opportunity in his life to command the army alone, and the first time he commanded the army, he picked up a heavy burden - for the main force of the Western Chu Army! Cover the retreat of the soldiers of the Western Chu Army and the wounded Xiang Yu, whose physical strength has seriously decreased!

But it's also very good, the Western Chu army has long been ready to retreat, not only the dry food is quite sufficient, the grain and grass are all loaded and ready to set off at any time, and even the torches have been prepared last night, so after quickly reorganizing the team, it was just the second watch of the same night, Xiang Yu led the 70,000 main soldiers who participated in the battle during the day to set off first, and retreated in the direction of Pengcheng by the path on the north bank of Surabaya, and then because of a lot of blood loss, Xiang Yu quickly fell asleep in the car. Master Xiang Boxiang and his two nephews led an army of 46,000 to take on the important task of the palace, and only set off south after the main force went away.

No, although the Western Chu army retreated decisively at night, their choice was already expected by Uncle Zhou, the first person in the Han army's military circles, not only sent scouts early to closely monitor the situation at Huling Ferry, but also let Feng Zhong, the general of the Han army, who is known for his tenacity in battle, lead 30,000 troops to prepare for the pursuit in advance, and the torches, dry food and weapons and drinking water are all well prepared, so after receiving the scout report that the Western Chu army retreated south along the path on the north bank of Surabaya, Uncle Zhou sneered and ridiculed that the Western Chu army really did not dare to rush across Surabaya, He also decisively ordered Feng Zhong to immediately lead the army to attack and resolutely bite the Western Chu army.

However, for the sake of prudence, after personally explaining the pursuit order to Feng Zhong, Uncle Zhou told Feng Zhong with some unease: "General Feng, the Western Chu thief army retreated overnight, and it will definitely be strong with elite soldiers, so when you pursue, don't be greedy and careless, just bite the rear of the Western Chu thief army and drag them down." It's not until it's completely bright and well-lit, so it's best not to risk a surprise attack. ”

"Don't worry, general, of course I understand this truth." Feng Zhong replied solemnly, and then rushed down to lead the army to attack, and at the same time, Feng Zhong, who was very familiar with the situation of the Western Chu army, couldn't help but start thinking in his heart, "Who will the Western Chu thief army send to lead the army?" Don't be Xiang Yu himself, I don't have any confidence when I meet him, and there is a danger of winning or losing. It's better to be Ding Gu, that old puppet is both selfish and slippery, and he is most afraid of a tough fight, and I am sure that I can deal with him! ”

Thinking of this, Feng Zhong of course had no choice but to immediately send scout light cavalry to investigate the general situation of the army behind the palace of the Western Chu army after the commander attacked......