For the sake of prudence, on the night of the recapture of Hangu Pass, Xiang Kang still held a meeting to tell the news that the army of Zhao was about to attack Guanzhong to the main young marshal army civil and military, so that they could also have a bottom in their hearts and be mentally prepared to face the bitter battle.

Just recaptured Hangu Pass, the blood stains in the city have not dried, the soldiers have not had time to reward, and the harvest has not had time to count, and immediately heard such bad news, of course, the young marshal army and the civil and military forces were stunned, and then most of them were very puzzled, Ding Ji also asked directly: "General Right, wasn't the former general seriously injured?" Why did you send so many Zhao troops to attack us? The army of Zhao State is also innocent of us, how can it go out to fight with us? ”

"Nine out of nine should be the ghosts of the gang around my brother, while blocking the news that my brother was seriously injured, while pretending to be my brother's banner, promising countless benefits to encourage the Zhao army to crusade against us, not only not giving us time and opportunity to gain a firm foothold in Guanzhong, but also giving my brother time to recuperate."

Xiang Kang analyzed the reasons for the dispatch of the Zhao army, and said: "As for the Zhao army, first, it must covet the various benefits and benefits promised by my brother, and second, we have only the fertile soil of Guanzhong and the hundreds of years of treasure of the Qin State, and we want to enter the Guanzhong to grab a handful, so even if we know that my brother's gang is using them, I am willing to be used by them. ”

I have seen the coveting and greed of the Qi army for Guanzhong, and the young marshal army also nodded one after another, no longer wondering why the Zhao army would kill on a large scale, and then Zhu Jishi said quite happily: "Fortunately, we have taken back Hangu Pass first, otherwise this battle will be big, 130,000 troops, the strength is three times ours, and it is by no means ordinary difficult to kill them in the field." ”

"If the Zhao army comes directly to attack Hangu Pass, then we don't have to worry about anything, even if it is difficult to win in a head-on battle, we are sure to consume them back." Uncle Zhou said worriedly: "I'm afraid that they will divide their troops to Hedong, cross the Yellow River from Puban or Xiayang, and directly enter the hinterland of Guanzhong, then our situation will be dangerous." ”

"That's what worries me the most." Xiang Kang was also worried, and said: "After seizing the letter from Chen Yu, the general of Zhao State, to Tian An today, I immediately sent an order to Uncle Ya and Chao Zhi, asking them to speed up the march and gather at least 20,000 recruits for me within five days, and go to Puban and Xiayang to establish a defense line on the Yellow River, but even if Uncle Ya and them can successfully do this, I am not sure whether they can rely on these recruits to block the Zhao army." ”

"General Right doesn't have to worry." Shusun Tong, who rarely spoke at military meetings, rarely spoke, and said: "Among the six countries outside the Guanzhong, the hatred between Zhao and the Qin people in Guanzhong is the deepest, and the right general only needs to send someone to spread the news in Guanzhong, just say that Zhao Guo's entry into Guanzhong this time is to avenge the hatred of Changping and the hatred of destroying the country, and swear to slaughter the Qin people in Guanzhong, and the Qin people in Guanzhong will be extremely frightened after hearing about it, and they will definitely resist the Zhao army entering Guanzhong, even if it is an urgently recruited recruit, they will definitely be willing to fight to the death, and you only need to send a good general to command, You can use Guanzhong recruits as elite pawns. ”

Xiang Kang smiled and said: "I didn't expect Mr. Shusun to have unique insights in the military, yes, I have already arranged for people to do this, I hope that as Mr. Shusun said, the recruits we urgently recruited will be of great use." ”

"General Right has already arranged for people to do this?" Shusun Tong's face was full of surprise and joy, and he immediately gushed out: "Xiaguan is really stupid, he only wants to share the worries of the right general, but he completely forgets that the right general is far-sighted and far-sighted, how can he forget the bitter tooth feud between the Qin people in Guanzhong and the soldiers and people of Zhao State?" Don't go to the Guanzhong Qin manpower to resist the unrighteous soldiers of the Zhao State? With the right general's strategy and clever calculation, why are we afraid of the clown of the Zhao State thief army? Grasshoppers shake trees? The right general is a talented man and a ...... both civil and military. ”

"Okay, okay, Mr. Uncle Sun, let's talk about these words when I have time." Xiang Kang hurriedly interrupted Shusun Tong's opening of his mouth, and then turned to everyone and said: "Urgently recruiting new soldiers to form the Yellow River defense line is just a way to save the emergency, for the sake of prudence, we had better come up with a way to let the Zhao army not go to Hedong and threaten our Guanzhong rear, what do you have any opinions on this?" ”

After discussing it in a low voice, Ding Jidu, a fierce general who has never been good at scheming, said: "General Right, don't use the old way, send someone to surrender, pretend to dedicate Hangu Pass to the Zhao army, so that Chen Yu Pifu feels that he can easily take Hangu Pass, so that he should not waste time dividing his troops." ”

"I've considered this as well." Xiang Kang smiled bitterly and said: "But we have used this trick too much, as long as Chen Yu pays a little attention to inquiring, he must know that sending people to surrender has always been my forte, basically every time I encounter a strong enemy, what traitors and scum will appear in our army, while saying that I want to surrender and prepare to surrender and surrender, while taking advantage of the enemy's inattention, I will immediately stab the knife in the back, if Chen Yu Pifu does not want to repeat the mistakes of the past, he will definitely not believe that there are really traitors in my army." ”

Before Xiang Kang finished speaking, the young marshal army present had already burst into laughter, and only then did he realize that the self-army had indeed used too much, and as long as Chen Yu knew how to learn a lesson, he would definitely not believe the nonsense that someone in the young marshal army would surrender the city. And after laughing, Uncle Zhou pondered and proposed: "General You, can you think of any way to arrange the Hedong battlefield as an illusion of our trap, so that the Zhao State thief army does not dare to risk dividing troops in Hedong?" ”

Uncle Zhou's proposal belongs to the category of thirty-six strategies, using virtual soldiers to create something out of nothing, intimidating the enemy not to take advantage of the false army, which is quite common on the battlefields of ancient and modern China and foreign countries, and Xiang Kang immediately began to ponder the feasibility of this plan. Unexpectedly, Zhang Liang, who took the initiative to ask to stay by Xiang Kang's side temporarily, suddenly opened his mouth and said: "General Right, with all due respect, there is no need for us to deliberately mislead Chen Yu not to divide the troops in Hedong, not only is it not very certain, but even if he succeeds temporarily, after Chen Yu comes to his senses, he will more firmly divide his troops in Hedong and attack the hinterland of Guanzhong." ”

Xiang Kang looked at Zhang Liang, Zhang Liang understood, and then carefully explained: "Please think about it, if Chen Yu is determined to enter the pass, even if he is temporarily deceived by the illusion we arranged, and does not decisively divide the troops in Hedong, after attacking Hangu Pass for a long time, and relying on the scouts to figure out the reality of the Hedong battlefield, Chen Yu found out that he was deceived, and he will definitely decisively divide the troops and force us into the dilemma of two-line, or even three-line combat." And take 10,000 steps back and say, even if Chen Yu has never divided his troops to Hedong, as long as the Zhao army does not withdraw from the Hanguguan battlefield for a day, our main force will not dare to leave Hanguguan for a day, and you can't free up your hands to rectify internal affairs and really eat the territory of Guanzhong. ”

"Therefore, the foreign minister believes that there is no need for General Right to waste time and energy to consider whether the Zhao army will divide the troops to Hedong, and should go straight to the east with a single sword, giving priority to how to drive out the Zhao army as soon as possible, so that even if the Zhao army divides the troops to Hedong, as long as there is no frontal threat from the main force of Zhao to Hangu Pass, the partial division of the Zhao army is not something to fear for us. At the same time, the right general, you can also free up your hands to integrate Guanzhong Bashu and completely gain a firm foothold in the old land of Qin. ”

After waking up the people in his dream, he still listened to Zhang Liang's reminder, and Xiang Kang realized that he had indeed drilled the horns of the bull in this matter, and blindly only worried about the division of the Zhao army to Hedong and threaten his rear and grain routes, but completely forgot how to defeat the Zhao army, so that he could free up his hands to digest the fruits of victory. So after nodding, Xiang Kang immediately said: "What Uncle Zhang said is extremely true, yes, our priority is indeed how to kill the Zhao army as soon as possible, and we can't waste too much time and energy on whether the Zhao army will divide the army in Hedong." ”

"You don't have to be killed." Zhang Liang once again went straight to the point and said: "If we have the right means, maybe we don't need to fight any hard battles, and we can let the Zhao army take the initiative to retreat." ”

"Uncle, please give me some advice on how to retreat from the enemy, and the little nephew will listen to you." Xiang Kang hurriedly replied.

"The right general forgives his sins, the foreign minister is stupid, and he has no way to retreat from the enemy, so he can only give the right general a direction." Zhang Liang first confessed his guilt, and then said: "General Right said before that the Zhao army entered the Guanzhong this time, it must be because of the greed for all kinds of benefits promised to them by the former general and the people around him, and you have the fertile soil in Guanzhong alone, and you want to make a fortune by entering the pass, so you are willing to be used by the former generals." In this case, why don't we start at this point and find a way to let the Zhao army take the initiative to retreat, and don't fight to the end for the sake of the former general and us? ”

Xiang Kang and the young marshal's army all made up their minds to calculate, but this time it was very unexpected, it was actually Mr. Shusun Tong who first came up with a way, and said: "General Right, since the army of Zhao State is greedy for the benefits promised by the former general and wants to grab a handful, then why don't we come to fight poison with poison?" Send people to contact the Zhao army, as long as they take the initiative to retreat, no matter what benefits the former general promised them, we will double them, they want to kill in the pass to grab a handful, we don't have to do it, they just open their mouths for what they want, we want to give what we want! Anyway, there are mountains of rare treasures in the Tyranny Qin Palace City, as long as it can buy us time, it is worth sacrificing some jade jewelry. ”

Not to mention, after listening to Mr. Shusun's suggestion, Xiang Kang was really a little moved, but Zhang Liang immediately objected: "This is very certain, if I am not bad as expected, in order to drive the Zhao army into the pass, the former generals must have promised Chen Yu the throne, and it is even possible that Shen Yang and Sima Wei, the two generals of Zhao who formed their own army, may promise the throne." The former general is the commander of the alliance of the princes, and the king of Chu, the leader of the anti-Qin alliance, is firmly controlled by the former general, and Chen Yu is sure that he can get the throne he promised. But General Right, you are not the commander of the alliance of princes, and you have not been able to hold the king of Chu in your hands, even if you promise Chen Yu that their throne is only an empty title, Chen Yu and they will never turn against the former general for an empty throne that they can't get their hands on. ”

Xiang Kang nodded slowly, and he knew very well that unless he agreed to give out the land in Guanzhong to Chen Yu as king, Chen Yu would never offend Xiang Yu to death for an empty throne. Mr. Shusun refused to give up, and said: "We can buy it with money, I don't believe that the gold of such a high mountain is placed in front of Chen Yupifu, will he not be moved?" ”

"It's still almost impossible to succeed." Zhang Liang continued to shake his head and said, "Chen Yu will not easily ruin his reputation for money, and if he collects money and retires from the army, the former general will definitely not spare him, and he will not ignore the consequences." ”

Mr. Shusun still refused to give up, and said: "Mr. Zifang, I'm afraid not necessarily, don't forget that the former general has been seriously injured, and no one dares to guarantee whether he can survive it, and Chen Yupifu still has to weigh this ......." ”

Before Mr. Shusun finished speaking, Chen Ping, who had been thinking with his head down, suddenly raised his head and hurriedly said, "Mr. Shusun, what did you just say?" Can you say that again? ”

"Say it again?" Mr. Shusun froze, but still said: "I just said, don't forget that the former general has been seriously injured, and no one dares to guarantee whether he can survive it, Chen Yupifu will not ignore the consequences, and he will not consider accepting our bribe." ”

Before Mr. Uncle Sun's words were finished, Chen Ping had already applauded and laughed, and said: "Okay, I'm worried that I can't stabilize Chen Yupifu temporarily, but fortunately, Mr. Uncle Sun has thought about it more than us, and things will be easier to handle now." ”

Hearing this, Mr. Shusun was inevitably even more confused, but Xiang Kang immediately understood what Chen Ping meant, and hurriedly asked, "Mr. Chen Ping, so you already have a clever plan to retreat from the enemy?" ”

"Don't dare to be a clever plan, it's just a superficial discordant plan." Chen Ping was as modest as Zhang Liang, and said with a smile: "Actually, when Mr. Zifang said just now that the former general must have used the throne to buy Chen Yu to send troops, I have already thought of an important question, Chen Yu Pifu himself must be greedy for the throne, but Zhao Xie, the king of Zhao behind him, how could he tolerate the former generals and them canonizing Chen Yu Pifu and other Zhao generals as kings?" ”

"That being the case, if we send someone directly to contact King Zhao, explain the benefits and disadvantages to King Zhao, and warn that Chen Yu Pifu is about to lose his life, and he will definitely take away many Zhao troops, Zhao Xie may order the recall of Chen Yu and Zhao Guo's army, Chen Yu Pifu will receive the order, the Zhao State army will retreat without a fight, Chen Yu's army will not receive the order, the Zhao State army will definitely be divided, no matter how Chen Yu Pifu chooses, the result will only be beneficial to us."

Speaking of this, Chen Ping inevitably smiled more happily and said: "Of course, there are two problems with this, one is that it takes too much time, and the other is that Zhao Xie may not dare to easily recall the Zhao army because he is afraid of the former general, but fortunately, Mr. Shusun is more thoughtful than me, reminding me that the former general may not be able to be rescued if he is seriously injured, and these two problems can be solved." ”

Xiang Kang, who smelled like him as soon as he met Chen Ping, also smiled and said, "Mr. Chen Ping, I understand what you mean, let's talk about how to do it." ”

"Send two messengers at once." Chen Ping replied: "All the way to Zhao to visit the king of Zhao, the former general was seriously injured, and the former general in exchange for the canonization of the throne, instigating Chen Yu Pifu to take the Zhao army to attack us, all told the king of Zhao, telling him that even if the former general does not die, there is no way to lead the army to fight for a long time, Chen Yu Pifu insisted on fighting with us, but he took the army of the king of Zhao to lay down the throne for him, betrayed the state of Zhao and established himself as the king, regardless of success or failure, it will be harmful to the king of Zhao and not beneficial." In exchange for our friendship with Zhao and our alliances, we persuaded King Zhao to order the recall of Zhao's army and not to give Chen Yupifu a chance to commit treason and stand on his own. ”

"Of course, the other messenger went directly to see Chen Yu." Chen Ping said quickly: "Falsely claiming that we have received accurate information, it is said that the former general has been seriously injured and died, and the alliance of the princes will soon completely collapse, and then promise to buy Chen Yu's husband to withdraw from the army with huge profits." ”

"In this way, although Chen Yu will definitely not believe the news that the former general has been seriously injured and died, but in order to prevent accidents, Chen Yu will definitely use his troops cautiously, and dare not easily take risks and desperately attack the front, and at the same time send people back to Sanchuan County to inquire about the accurate news of the former general, so as not to let him get the promise made to him by the former general even if he takes Hangu Pass, and there may even be a danger that the grain and grass cannot be supplied."

"At the same time, I can also be sure that in order to stabilize the morale of the army, the people around the former general will definitely do everything possible to conceal the news, and will never easily let the people sent back by Chen Yupifu see the former general, and may even flatly deny that the former general has been seriously injured. In this way, Chen Yupifu naturally did not dare to take risks, and after a long delay, King Zhao sent someone to send an order to recall the Zhao army, and we could be invincible. ”

After listening to Chen Ping carefully explain the plan in detail, Xiang Kang didn't even blink his eyelids, and immediately said: "Just do it, immediately arrange two messengers, and act according to the plan." ”

It was easy to make up his mind, but the problem of arranging the envoy made Xiang Kang scratch his head, because the powerful Li Shiqi had been detained by Xiang Yu, and Xiang Kang, who had few diplomatic talents, thought about it for a long time, and only found that Chen Hui, who surrendered to himself in Nanyang, could be used as a messenger all the way, but there was no suitable candidate for another envoy who had to be sent at the same time. In desperation, Xiang Kang had no choice but to turn his gaze to Shusun Tong, and said with a smile: "Mr. Shusun, it seems that you have to work hard this time, you can choose yourself, are you willing to go to Zhao Kingdom to meet King Zhao?" Or would you rather go directly to see Chen Yu? ”

The moment he first discovered that Xiang Kang's triangular eyes saw him, Mr. Shusun had already found that the situation was not good, and then listened to Xiang Kang's direct request, and Mr. Shusun, who hated the profession of envoy in his heart, turned even pale, and said with a sad face: "General Right, can you arrange for someone else to go?" The lower officer, the lower official is cowardly, he really doesn't have the courage to send out the enemy camp. ”

"It doesn't matter, courage is practiced slowly, and no one is born to be as bold as a fight." Xiang Kang comforted, and said: "Since sir, you don't like to send envoys to the enemy camp, then you should send envoys to Zhao State, the current Zhao King Zhao Xie is an orthodox descendant of King Zhao, and he will definitely not surrender himself to embarrass the envoy, and you will definitely not have any danger when you go to Zhao State." ”

"But the road is dangerous!" Mr. Shusun almost didn't cry, and said: "It is so far from Hangu Pass to Zhao State, and there is chaos on the road. ”

In fact, Xiang Kang, who doesn't like Mr. Uncle Sun very much, was silent, and his expression began to be a little unkind, Mr. Uncle Sun observed his words and looks, and found that Xiang Kang had already moved angry, and hurriedly calculated with a sad face, and then said extremely helplessly: "General Right, then let the lower officials go to the Zhao army to contact Chen Yupifu." ”

"That's right." Xiang Kang smiled a little and encouraged: "Mr. Li was unfortunately detained by the traitorous villain beside my brother, and there is a lack of lobbyists around me who can speak well. ”

"Don't! When it comes to sending to the enemy camp, it's better never to look for me! Mr. Uncle Sun screamed in his heart, and prayed silently in his heart: "General Chen Yu, you are also a famous man in the world, but don't learn from those unproductive puppets who kill messengers, the old man has finally mixed up to this day, but I definitely don't want to die unjustly in your hands!" ”

Mr. Uncle Sun was not willing to send an envoy to the enemy camp, but Xiang Kang quickly regretted his arrangement, because after sending Mr. Uncle Sun and Chen Hui out separately, after a day, Xiang Kang suddenly thought of an important question, and said secretly: "Asking Uncle Sun Tong to contact Chen Yu, is it a bit risky to arrange such an arrangement?" This sycophant is not only an ordinary greedy for life and afraid of death, but also knows the reason and purpose for me to send him to the army of Zhao State, and also knows that I sent someone to Zhao State to sow discord, don't sell me because Chen Yu put a knife on his neck? ”

In regret, Xiang Kang simply sent someone to chase Mr. Shusun in order to make up for his loss, wanting to chase back this unreliable sycophant villain, and send others to contact Chen Yu, but unfortunately Xiang Kang did it too late, and the fast horse sent by Xiang Kang had not caught up with Mr. Shusun, and Mr. Shusun had already made contact with the front team of the Zhao army, and was immediately taken by the Zhao soldiers to meet with Chen Yu and other senior generals of Zhao State. Xiang Kang was helpless when he heard this, and he could only complain that he lacked consideration and was too risky in employing people.