On Xiang Kang's side, as the Han army's partial division Zhou Shubu made a decisive breakthrough in the crucial Jingcheng battlefield, and because the Yingbu army suddenly abandoned Chu and returned to Han, helping the Han army survive the crisis on the southern front, the pressure on the main force of the Han army led by Xiang Kang on the main battlefield of Xingyang was quickly reduced a lot, and the once dangerous situation quickly stabilized, and the balance of victory, which was originally extremely inclined to the side of the Western Chu army, was also quietly corrected, although it had not yet fallen to the side of the Han army, but it basically maintained the balance.

This also has a huge relationship with the reversal of the situation in the Hanoi battlefield that is only a river away from the main battlefield of Xingyang, before that, the main force of the Han army was overwhelmed by the main force of the Western Chu army on the main battlefield of Xingyang, and the strategic reserve of the Han army led by Zheng Bu was also firmly contained by Liu Xiang's coalition army in the Songshan battlefield, and only Zhu Jishi and a Han army on the Hanoi battlefield were struggling to support, alone against the main force of the Zhao army and the remnants of the Western Chu army led by Xiang You and Xue Gong, and the situation was at an absolute disadvantage, in order to drag the enemy, was even forced to take the initiative to abandon the small Xiuwu military fortress and fully retreat to the isolated city of the major Xiuwu, and the difficulty was even higher than the main force of the Han army and the partial division of the southern front.

This is not counting, after the collapse of Liu Xiang's coalition army, in order to relieve the more important main battlefield of Xingyang, Xiang Kang was not in a hurry to send reinforcements to the Hanoi battlefield, and designed to lure Xiang Yu to the Songshan battlefield to continue the confrontation, so that Zhu Jishi's lone army continued to struggle on the battlefield in Hanoi for nearly a month, if it weren't for the fact that the Western Chu army led by Xiang You and Xue Gong had been beaten by the Han army before, the Zhao army was also somewhat preserving its strength, and did not want to be cannon fodder for the Western Chu army in vain. Zhu Jishi's department may have been unable to support it for a long time, and even the whole army has been wiped out.

Even so, during this period, the Zhao army still divided the army to attack Wude, Shanyang and Huaixian behind Xiuwu, successively broke through the two cities of Wude and Shanyang, slaughtered the soldiers and civilians in the city, looted public and private property, robbed many Han army food, grass and military supplies, and once threatened the security of Zhihuai County, Hanoi County, causing huge property and population losses to the Han army.

Fortunately, the Han army's strategic mobile team Zheng Bu's department finally freed up his hands, after Cheng Gao crossed the Yellow River to reinforce the Hanoi battlefield, the Han army's passive situation in the Hanoi battlefield was finally reversed, and the Zhao army no longer dared to rampantly divide its troops to the west, not to mention, Zheng Bujun's army quickly opened up contact with Zhu Jishi, and helped Zhu Jishi, who had been fighting alone for nearly three months, to survive the difficulties, and the Hanoi battlefield also entered a stalemate stage.

No one thought that the stalemate in the Hanoi battlefield would soon change, Uncle Zhou had just broken Zhang Ao in Jingcheng, directly threatening the hinterland of Zhao, and Zhao was forced to transfer the Hanoi army back to the mainland, Xiang You and Xue Gong led the Western Chu army division also quickly retreated to the flood line, turned to defend and did not dare to go further west, the Hanoi battlefield of the Han army also completely turned the crisis into safety, not only the situation was completely reversed, but there was still spare strength to reinforce the main battlefield of Xingyang, to help the main force of the Han army resist the main force of the Western Chu army, As a result, the overall situation of the Han army on the battlefield in the Central Plains has also greatly improved, and it is more certain that it will have a long-term confrontation with the main force of the Western Chu army.

However, not only that, sometimes luck can't stop it, just when Xiang Kang began to think about whether he should transfer the Hanoi army to strengthen the troops on the Xingyang battlefield, there was another unexpected news on the Hanoi battlefield......

"King Qiqi, General Zheng Bu sent a messenger across the river to meet you, saying that he had brought an important urgent report from General Zheng Bu, and asked to see you immediately."

"Zheng Bu's important urgent report? What else can there be in Hanoi? Bring him in. ”

Knowing that Zheng Bu had an important urgent report to present to himself, Xiang Kang was inevitably a little surprised, and he didn't understand what military situation was so important on the current battlefield in Hanoi, but in order to find out the reason for the matter, Xiang Kang still ordered to summon Zheng Bu's messenger at the first time, and as a result, after Zheng Bu's messenger came to Xiang Kang to salute, he immediately presented Zheng Bu's letter, and took the initiative to ask Zheng Bu for his guilt: "King, the fighter plane is rare, General Zheng asked his subordinates to ask you for the guilt in person, without asking for your opinion, We, General Zheng, have personally led the main force of our headquarters to the east and launched an attack on the Hanoi division of the Western Chu Thief Army. ”

"What?" Xiang Kang was a little surprised, and said suspiciously: "Zheng Bu personally led the army eastward and took the initiative to attack the Hanoi division of the Western Chu Thief Army?" Is he sure that he will break through the flood defense line of the Western Chu Thief Army? ”

"King Qiqi, we don't need to cross the flood, we can directly fight a decisive battle with the partial division of the Western Chu thief army." The messenger Zheng Bu replied with a smile: "Our meticulous work and scouts have found accurate information, the partial division of the Western Chu thief army has adjusted its defensive deployment, abandoned the previous strategy of relying on the flood river to deploy defenses, and concentrated the main force on the defense under Chaoge City, so our army does not need to launch a rush to cross, and can directly fight a decisive battle with the partial division of the Western Chu thief army under Chaoge City." ”

"The Western Chu thief army did not rely on the flood river to deploy defenses? Concentrate your forces on the battlefield of Chaoge? Xiang Kang's joy was not trivial, he jumped up directly with joy, and asked happily: "Really? The partial division of the Western Chu Thief Army is so good to us and gives us such a good chance for a decisive battle? ”

"Are you kidding?" Chen Ping, who was next to him, couldn't believe his ears and said: "The Hanoi partial division of the Western Chu Thief Army has only about 10,000 troops, and they dare to ignore the flood and concentrate the army in Chaoge City, ten miles away on the east bank of the flood?" ”

"My lord, it's true." The messenger Zheng Bu smiled even more happily, and said with a grin: "This is something that our scouts have repeatedly confirmed, so General Zheng Bu didn't have time to ask the king for instructions, and decided to march into Chaoge and fight a decisive battle with the partial division of the Western Chu thief army." General Zhu Jishi Zhu also agreed to do this, and also agreed to take on the task of transporting grain, grass and military supplies to help General Zheng break the enemy. ”

Xiang Kang and Chen Ping looked at each other in surprise, still unable to believe that the self-army could take such a dog luck and encounter such a stupid trick when the enemy encountered it. Zhang Liang on the other side was not as optimistic as Xiang Kang and Chen Ping, picked up the water in front of him and drank and said: "I'm afraid it's not so easy, the Western Chu thief army does not have many troops, and it is easy to transfer, even if we try all kinds of ways to attack Chaoge, until the last moment, we are not discovered by the partial division of the Western Chu thief army, and the Western Chu thief army can quickly withdraw from the flood and let us work in vain." ”

"Zhang Situ rest assured, the Western Chu thief army can't escape." Zheng Bu's messenger smiled and said: "Because our scouts and meticulous work also found that the partial division of the Western Chu thief army hoarded all their grain and grass military supplies in Chaoge City, and even the latest batch of grain and grass military supplies were directly transported to Chaoge City to hoard, so even if the Western Chu thief army threw down the city and ran away, there was no grain and grass to guard the defense line or Baimajin Ferry." ”

With a "poof", the water in Zhang Liang's mouth sprayed all over the table in front of him, and he coughed and said in disbelief: "What? Even the grain and grass and military quarters are ......, cough, even the grain and grass are hoarded in the Chaoge City on the west bank of the flood? Whoever came up with a genius idea, this person should be rewarded heavily! ”

"It's definitely my genius idea from Brother Xiang You!" Xiang Kang came to an arbitrary conclusion and said excitedly: "Only my brother Xiang You has the ability to make such a wise decision against public opinion!" I bet that he definitely didn't report this to my overlord brother, otherwise, even my well-developed and simple-minded overlord brother would never agree to him doing this! Good brother, you've helped me a lot again! ”

After shouting excitedly, Xiang Kang hurriedly opened Zheng Bu's letter to watch, the content of Zheng Bu's letter was basically the same as the messenger's introduction, Xiang Kang was inevitably overjoyed, and said to Zheng Bu's messenger after a little calculation: "Go back and tell Zheng Bu, just say that he did the right thing, he will be outside, the king's order is not affected, and when he sees the fighter plane appear, he will decisively send troops, this is the talent of a general!" Let him rest assured to attack Chaoge, be sure to seize this opportunity, annihilate the partial division of the Western Chu thief army, and help us create a better situation, the main force of the Western Chu thief army, I will find a way to help him drag him as much as possible, so that he can attack Chaoge without distraction! ”

The messenger of Zheng Bu happily agreed, and Xiang Kang hurriedly added, saying: "Also, if it is possible, you must leave a way for my brother Xiang You to live, so that he can run for his life and go back, such a good brother as him, not let him escape back and continue to plague the Western Chu thief army, I am really sorry for our Han army soldiers." ”

Everyone burst into laughter, and they all echoed it, and they all felt that Xiang Kang's words were too right, like General Xiang You, a general of the Western Chu Army who thought about the Han army in everything and everything, really couldn't be killed in a hurry, it was better to let him go back and let him lurk in the camp of the Western Chu Army to continue to serve the Han army.

Before the matter was over, after the messenger Zheng Bu said goodbye and left, Xiang Kang was so excited that he rubbed his hands together, and said in a loud voice: "If we take this opportunity to successfully kill the Western Chu thief army in Hanoi, then the situation will be too favorable for us, our Hanoi army will completely free up our hands, and we can rest assured that we can reinforce the Xingyang battlefield to the south, and we can help Uncle Zhou to attack the Zhao thief army in the north and south, and even march to Puyang to the east to cut off the grain road of the main force of the Western Chu thief army, and all the initiative is in our hands." ”

"King, don't blame the ministers for pouring cold water on you, I'm afraid this matter is not so easy." Zhang Liang reminded: "More than 200,000 Western Chu thief army cantonment gap, mobile troops are sufficient, once you receive the news of Chaoge's urgency, you can divide your troops to the north at any time and reinforce Chaoge at Baima River, once the Western Chu thief army really does this, then I'm afraid it will not be so easy for us to take Chaoge." ”

Xiang Kang nodded, and also admitted that Xiang Yu had enough spare strength to rescue Chaoge, and after thinking for a while, Xiang Kang instructed: "Quickly estimate the time, and see when my brother will receive the news of Chaoge's emergency, and when the time comes, I will learn Deng Ai to play Jiang Wei, and strive to temporarily contain my brother in the Xingyang battlefield, and don't divide troops to save Hanoi." ”

"Who is Deng Ai? Who is Jiang Wei? What does Deng Ai mean by playing Jiang Wei? Zhang Liang and Chen Ping looked at each other, and were once again puzzled by the names and allusions of later generations that Xiang Kang casually said.

…………

On Xiang Yu's side, in fact, as early as when the Zhao army was forced to retreat north to save the mainland, Old Man Fan, Kui Che and others were worried that the Hanoi partial division of the Western Chu Army was too weak and might encounter danger, and they all suggested that Xiang Yu divide his troops to strengthen the Hanoi battlefield as soon as possible, firstly, to prevent changes in Hanoi, and secondly, to continue to contain the Hanoi partial division of the Han army, but after Xiang Yu calculated, he categorically rejected the suggestion of Old Man Fan and Kui Che.

Of course, Xiang Yu's refusal to increase troops in Hanoi also had his own considerations, first, Xiang Yu was unwilling to weaken the Western Chu army's strength advantage on the main battlefield; Second, even if the Han army increases its troops in Hanoi on a large scale, the Han army's partial divisions only need to be as shameless as their main force, and if they can't come out of a stubborn camp, they can still turn the increase of the Western Chu army into useless work, and at the same time, it will also increase the difficulty of the Western Chu army's grain and grass supply; The third is that Xiang Yu wants to use the partial division of the Western Chu army in Hanoi to lure the main force of the Han army's partial division to the east, and then reinforce the Hanoi battlefield in a big way, win the opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the partial division of the Han army, and break the current stalemate of the main force of Chu and Han from the battlefield in Hanoi.

Seeing that Xiang Yu had such a plan, and considering that the Western Chu army's partial division had retreated to the flood natural danger, it was relatively easy to defend, even if the flood natural danger was broken through by the Han army, he could calmly retreat to Baimajin to hold on to help, Fan Old Man and Kui Che did not insist on their own opinions, and let Xiang Yu contain the Han army in Hanoi with Xiang You's lone army. In the following period of time, because Peng Yue successively caused trouble in the hinterland of the Western Chu Army, the decision-making level of the Western Chu Army, which was unstable in the rear, almost forgot the existence of Xiang You's partial division, and focused on how to confront the main force of the Han army and exterminate Peng Yue's army.

At this time, a miracle appeared that the decision-makers of the Western Chu Army could not believe, Xiang Kang, who had been hiding in the Guangwu camp and could not get an inch, actually sent an envoy to contact the Western Chu army, saying that he was not interested in such a stalemate with Xiang Yu again, and took the initiative to invite Xiang Yu to send troops the next day to fight to the death in the wilderness outside the Guangwu camp! Needless to say, Xiang Yu did not hesitate to reply to the decisive battle in Japan without hesitation, and also sent the Han army envoy back to the Guangwu camp for the first time, for fear that the Han army envoy would encounter some accidents on the road and miss the great opportunity to fight to the death with the scum cousin.

"Good! Good! The traitor, the erector, finally can't hold his breath anymore, and is finally willing to fight to the death with this king! Since you have the guts, this king will fulfill you, and wait until tomorrow to see how this king captures you alive! ”

Howling excitedly, Xiang Yu couldn't wait to order a feast for the soldiers, so that the soldiers of the Western Chu Army could eat and drink enough so that they could fight a decisive battle in the coming day, and ordered to make food on the fifth watch in the coming day, send troops in Pingming, and go to Guangwu to fight to the death with the disgusting cousin. Old man Fan, Kuai Che and others, who were familiar with Xiang Kang's temperament, looked at each other, and they all couldn't believe that there could be such a good thing in the world - Xiang Kang, who was notoriously dislike to fight tough battles, could he have the courage to dare to fight to the death with the overlord of Western Chu?

Even Cao Ji, who was actually quite mediocre in terms of talent, suspected that there was fraud in it, and after thinking for a while, Cao Ji said with great suspicion: "Xiang Kang is a thief, don't play the same old trick again, right?" Talking about the decisive battle tomorrow, he deceived us into taking it lightly and concentrating on preparing for war, and then suddenly sent troops to attack us at night? ”

Xiang Kang's bad character was placed there, of course Old Man Fan and Kui Che nodded their heads, and they all suspected that Xiang Kang wanted to use this kind of shameless trick to deceive him, but Xiang Yu waved his hand and said loudly: "So what? As long as that traitor has the courage to fight, whether it is a dignified battle to the death or a sneaky night attack, this king will accompany him to the end! Double the sentry tonight, and set up a secret sentry outside the camp, it is enough to prevent just in case! ”

It was also a coincidence that when it was close to evening, Xiang You, who commanded the Hanoi partial division of the Western Chu Army, suddenly sent someone to send an urgent report from the Hanoi battlefield, saying that the Han army's partial division suddenly sent troops from the big and small Xiuwu and rushed to attack Chaoge, Xiang You was worried that he would not be able to resist the enemy, and asked Xiang Yu to send reinforcements to him as soon as possible. As a result, after hearing the news from Xiang Yu's mouth, Old Man Fan, Kui Che and others immediately became suspicious, suspecting that Xiang Kang's sudden sending of a letter to the battle was likely to distract the attention of the army and cover the Han army's partial division to attack Xiang You, and they all urged Xiang Yu to immediately dispatch troops and gallop to the battlefield in Hanoi under the stars.

It's a pity that at the critical moment, Xiang Yu made the mistake of being stubborn and self-serving, and shook his head and said: "Don't worry, there will be a decisive battle tomorrow, and when we defeat the main force of the Han thieves tomorrow, the Han thieves will definitely retreat without a fight, and there will be no danger if Chaoge doesn't need to send reinforcements." ”

"King, it's better to be careful." Kui Che persuaded: "General Xiang You's troops are weak, and once there is any mistake, the strategic initiative on the north bank of the Great River (Yellow River) will fall into the hands of Han thieves. We have sufficient troops on the left and right, and even if we immediately divide an army to save Hanoi, we will still have more than enough troops on the Xingyang battlefield and will not affect the overall situation. ”

Xiang Yu hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said: "There's no need for that, even if Brother Xiang You can't hold the song, he can quickly retreat to the flood danger, there will be no problems in a short time, and there is no need to rush to send reinforcements to him." We have left enough troops behind, and after we have broken the main force of the Han thieves, we can take advantage of the situation to attack their camp and Xingyang City, and completely eradicate the remnants of the Han thieves' army. ”

I couldn't persuade Xiang Yu, and I didn't know that Xiang You was so miraculous that he actually hoarded all the grain, grass and military supplies related to the survival of the teachers and students of the Western Chu Army in Chaoge City on the west bank of the flood, Old Man Fan and Kui Che and others had no choice but to keep their mouths shut, and instead persuaded Xiang Yu to be careful and not to give the shameless Xiang Kang the opportunity to sneak attack at night, but Xiang Yu listened to this, in addition to personally leading the team to patrol the sentry after nightfall, he also arranged an army to wait for him early, ready to send troops to meet him at night.

Xiang Kang, who likes to sneak attack while making an appointment to fight, was unusually unusual, and did not send a single soldier to attack the camp of the Western Chu army at night, so that the Western Chu army spent the night safely through the night before the decisive battle. Xiang Yu was also overjoyed by this, and said that his scum cousin had really changed his character, and he couldn't wait to lead the 150,000 army out of the camp as soon as he was bright, and he killed the scum cousin outside the Han military camp with a fierce fight!

It must be explained that considering that the Han army is likely to escape from the camp after winning the decisive battle, Xiang Yu has not taken precautions, and asked the officers and soldiers of the Western Chu Army to bring various offensive weapons that they had rushed to build, so as to take advantage of the situation to attack the Han army camp after winning the field battle.

At two moments, the main force of the Western Chu army calmly went north smoothly to the outside of the Han military camp, and quickly relied on the terrain to arrange an astonishing huge battle formation, in order to let his scum cousin rest assured to fight, Xiang Yu also deliberately let the Western Chu army leave enough space for the Han army to arrange the troops, and the extremely gentleman refused to take advantage of the scum cousin.

To Xiang Yu's surprise, until his army completely lined up in formation, there was a quiet movement in the Han army camp, and the nearby Han army Aocang camp and the Xingyang Han army behind the Western Chu army were also silent, and all of them closed the camp gate or city gate without a single soldier dispatching. After waiting for a long time, Xiang Yu was puzzled, so he simply sent a messenger to the Guangwu camp of the Han army to ask why his scum cousin didn't send troops yet?

After being respectfully invited into the camp by the soldiers of the Han army, it was still more than half an hour later, and the envoy of the Western Chu army returned to Xiang Yu with the smell of wine, reporting that Xiang Kang suddenly fell ill and could not lead the troops to fight, and asked Xiang Yu to temporarily lead the troops back, and when it came to tomorrow, Xiang Kang would personally lead the main force of the Han army south to the outside of the Western Chu military camp and fight Xiang Yu to the death outside the Western Chu military camp. Xiang Yu was furious when he heard this, and asked, "Is Xiang Kang's traitor really sick?" Really? ”

"Returning to the king, it's true." The envoy of the Western Chu Army, who had received Xiang Kang's benefits, replied respectfully: "Wei Chen saw with his own eyes that Xiang Kang was lying on the couch and was unable to move, and his face was also very ugly, and he was indeed sick. But Xiang Kang told Wei Chen in person, saying that he would personally lead the troops south tomorrow and fight to the death with us outside our barracks. ”

Gritted his teeth and pondered for a moment, if it weren't for the fact that the Han army had already repaired and strengthened the camp like an iron wall, Xiang Yu really had the urge to immediately order the attack on the camp, but because he was not sure that he could take the strong camp of the Han army, and considering that his scum cousin's credit was not bad, Xiang Yu still gritted his teeth and shouted: "Retire, and fight to the death with the Han thieves tomorrow!" ”

The generals of the Western Chu army on the left and right reluctantly agreed, and Kuai Che, who came with the army, was even more helpless, and couldn't help but whisper to Li Zuoche who came with him: "Guangwujun, do you dare to bet?" I bet that Xiang Kang's rebel thief will be ill tomorrow and miss the appointment again, if not, you can lose anything. ”

"Why does the old man gamble if he loses?" Li Zuoche replied confidently.

After returning to the camp, Old Man Fan also raised similar worries, and urged Xiang Yu not to hope for a head-on decisive battle that was difficult to obtain, and to divide his troops to save the Hanoi battlefield as soon as possible, but Xiang Yu didn't listen at all, and said: "Don't worry, there is a flood on my brother's side to defend, and if it is really not possible, you can retreat to Baimajin and wait for reinforcements. ”

is still the same sentence, because I don't know the miraculous deployment of Xiang Kanghao's cousin Xiang You on the flood battlefield, the Western Chu army even dared not abandon the city to the east, seeing Xiang Yu's stubbornness, even Old Man Fan had to close his mouth and said secretly: "Forget it, anyway, the terrain over there in the flood is favorable to us, and it will definitely not be a big problem to persist for a period of time, after two or three days, this vertical man should also calm down, and it will not be too late to persuade him to divide his troops to save Hanoi when the time comes." ”