Although if the young marshal's army immediately returned to Yangzhai, taking advantage of the Qin army's unstable foothold, there may not be no hope of quickly recapturing Yangzhai again, but the decision-making level of the young marshal's army only discussed it a little, and still felt that there was no need to turn back and waste time, and agreed that they should continue to go south to lure the Qin army of Sanchuan County, which was inferior to their own army, to stay away from Jiancheng, and then try to annihilate the enemy who dared to pursue from the territory of Sanchuan County and eliminate the hidden dangers behind it.

Of course, what Xiang Kang and the young marshal army didn't know was that Yang Xiong, a veteran of the Qin army who commanded the Sanchuan County soldiers, was actually unwilling to go south and fight with the young marshal army at all, but couldn't resist Zhang Han's order and persecution, so he had to chase the young marshal army head-on, and had to do it.

Two days later, the main force of the young marshal's army, carrying a large number of grain and grass and military supplies, successfully arrived on the outskirts of Yingyang, and there was an urgent report from the rear, saying that Yang Xiong and Xu Wei joined forces to lead the army to chase after him, Xiang Kangguo Duan ordered the army to stop advancing and set up camp on the west bank of Yingshui, preparing to solve the rear pursuit first, and then decide whether to spend time attacking Yingyang County on the east bank of Yingshui. However, to Xiang Kang's surprise, after the young marshal's army stopped advancing, the Qin army's pursuers, who had already chased within twenty miles, immediately turned around and took the initiative to retreat five or six miles away, occupying the dangerous high ground to set up a camp.

"Yang Xiong is very cautious." Xiang Kang smiled and said: "Knowing that the frontal hard fight is not our opponent, we just come to the camp step by step, not seeking merit, but only seeking no fault." ”

"The Tyrannical Qin army may want to seize the opportunity of our river crossing to launch a surprise attack." Li Shiqi, who is quite familiar with military affairs, analyzed: "If we want to attack Yingyang, we must first cross Yingshui before we can launch a siege. ”

Xiang Kang nodded, this was also the suspicion, and after a little calculation, Xiang Kang asked the young marshal and the military again: "Everyone, do you think it is necessary to attack Yingyang City?" ”

"General Right, the subordinate officer thinks that there is no need for this." Yu Que, the commander of Yuanling County, who surrendered, hurriedly replied: "When King Zhang Chu got up, Yingyang was captured by his army once, and almost all young men were conscripted into the army, and then when the violent Qin army recaptured Yingyang, the defeated Zhang Chu army set a fire in the city and burned most of the houses and streets in the city. After several battles, Yingyang City has long been dilapidated and withered, and even if it is attacked and won, it will definitely outweigh the losses. ”

Looking at Yingyang County, which obviously had traces of war, Xiang Kang nodded again, dispelled the idea of crossing the river and attacking Yingyang on the spot, and then instructed Uncle Zhou, who he trusted the most in military affairs: "General Zhou, take some cavalry to see the situation of the Tyrannical Qin army in the north, and see if we can turn around and storm the camp of the Tyrannical Qin army." ”

Uncle Zhou agreed, and immediately led a team of cavalry out of the camp, and rode north to investigate the situation of the Qin army's camp, but when he arrived at the scene and took a closer look, Uncle Zhou couldn't help frowning, it turned out that although the Qin army veteran Yang Xiong did not have much courage, he had never dared to fight hard with the young marshal army, but his military experience was very rich, and the location of the camp he chose was very dangerous, and it was extremely difficult to attack. Even Uncle Zhou didn't dare to say that he was sure that he would be able to storm and take the camp of the Qin army.

After coming to this conclusion, when he returned to Xiang Kang's face, Uncle Zhou could only state truthfully, and suggested that Xiang Kang continue to go south and lure Yang Xiong's troops to a battlefield that was favorable to the young marshal's army to start a decisive battle. However, at this time, a personal soldier suddenly came from outside the tent, saying that Yang Xiong had sent an envoy to the camp to visit Xiang Kang, and wanted to present Yang Xiong's handwritten letter to Xiang Kang in person.

In a moment, the envoy of the Qin army was led to Xiang Kang, in addition to presenting Yang Xiong's handwritten letter to Xiang Kang, he also offered a pair of jade walls with both hands, and said very respectfully: "General Right, after our General Yang drove away the Han thieves and recovered Yang Zhai, I heard that when you attacked Yang Zhai, not only stopped the Han thieves from killing innocents indiscriminately, but also pardoned all the soldiers who defended the city of Great Qin, and there were countless living people. ”

"General Yang is really polite." Xiang Kang smiled and said, "Since this is General Yang's hospitality, then General Ben is not polite, come and accept the gift." ”

The soldiers on the left and right agreed, and immediately accepted Yang Xiong's gift for Xiang Kang, and Xiang Kang also opened Yang Xiong's handwritten letter to read it carefully, and saw that Yang Xiong was just touting himself in the letter, saying all the good things, and thanking himself vigorously for stopping the Han army from killing innocents in Yangzhai, and there was nothing else important. Xiang Kang didn't move when he saw it, but he just handed Yang Xiong's letter to Chen Ping, Uncle Zhou and others to read, and chatted with the envoy of the Qin army for a few words, and inquired that Yang Xiong was over fifty years old this year, and the pursuit of the south was all because of Zhang Han's order to persecute.

Then, under the pretext that he needed to prepare a reply to Yang Xiong, Xiang Kang sent the envoy of the Qin army down to treat him with wine and meat, and then asked Chen Ping, Uncle Zhou and others, who had already read the letter, "What do you think?" ”

"It's like the right general, your usual style." Chen Ping said with a smile: "It's another show of favor and gifts, deceive the enemy to take it lightly, and then highlight the surprise soldier and kill the enemy by surprise." ”

Xiang Kang laughed, sneering at Yang Xiong's class axe, and then asked, "Then how should we deal with it?" ”

"Of course, it's going to be calculated." Uncle Zhou said: "Pretend to be fooled, and in turn paralyze Yang Xiong's puppet, lead him to send troops to raid our camp, and use ambush soldiers to clean him up." ”

Xiang Kang had already planned this, of course, he nodded immediately, but what made Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou a little embarrassed was that it was already dark at this time, and it was difficult for the Qin army envoy to return to the Qin army camp as soon as possible with Xiang Kang's reply, luring Yang Xiong to send troops to attack the camp of the army, and at the same time, Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou did not dare to guarantee that Yang Xiong would give up the envoy as an abandonment, and launched a sneak attack overnight without waiting for the envoy to return to the camp. Therefore, after a little discussion between Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou, they could only decide to be loose on the outside and tight on the inside, and guard the camp tonight, arrange an elite army to respond at any time, and then try to lure the enemy after this night.

Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou were tossing in vain, not to mention the Qin army team that came to sneak attack all night, not even a mouse was seen, but Xiang Kang did not give up, and asked the Qin army envoy to return to the Qin army camp with his reply letter early the next morning, and deliberately spoke in a proud tone on the letter, persuading Yang Xiong to lead the Qin army to surrender to him, pretending to look down on Yang Xiong completely. At the same time, while letting the army secretly prepare for a night battle, he built a pontoon bridge over the Yingshui River, pretending to cross the river to attack Yingyang.

That night, in order to ensure the complete annihilation of the incoming army, Xiang Kang spent a lot of effort to arrange an ambush trap, in addition to arranging an ambush in the camp, he also arranged two ambushes outside the camp. But what made Xiang Kang vomit blood was that another night passed, and there was still no shadow of half of the Qin army outside the camp, but some young marshals and soldiers were sneezing and sneezing because they were sleeping in the wild in winter, and they were frozen by the cold wind, and their noses were constant.

At this point, Xiang Kang of course did not want to go on with Yang Xiong like this, and soon decided to pull out the camp and go south, continue to drive towards Xiangcheng, and lure the Qin army to leave the favorable terrain to launch a decisive battle. But Xiang Kang still underestimated Yang Xiong's patience and caution, after the young marshal's army continued to move south, a whole day passed, Yang Xiong hid in the camp that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was still at noon the next day that Xiang Kang received a report that Yang Xiong finally led the army to chase after him.

Xiangcheng is not far from Yingyang, although the young marshal army carrying a large amount of grain and grass did not walk quickly, but still arrived at the city of Xiangcheng on the bank of the Rushui River in the evening of the same day, and then carefully understood the situation in Xiangcheng, Xiang Kang still decided to give up attacking the same dilapidated Xiangcheng Xiaoyi, and immediately started to build a pontoon bridge, preparing to cross Rushui when Yang Xiong's department caught up with his own army, so as not to be entangled by Yang Xiong again.

When Xiang Kang began to cross the river the next morning, in order to prevent the Qin army from taking the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, Xiang Kang not only deployed an elite army on the north bank of Rushui to protect the ferry, but also personally led the rear army as the main force of the palace. However, the Qin army led by Yang Xiong was still unhurried, cautiously pulling south, or when the young marshal's army had all crossed the Rushui, Yang Xiong urged the Qin army to speed up its advance, and rushed to the north bank of the Rushui in the evening of the same day, and immediately destroyed the pontoon bridge deliberately left by the young marshal's army, and then set up camp on the north bank of the Rushui to rest.

Seeing this scene, Xiang Kang didn't bother to waste time with Yang Xiong, and continued to go south with the army swaggering early the next morning, Yang Xiong still looked like a turtle with a shrunken head, first repeatedly confirmed that the young marshal army had gone far, and then slowly crossed the river to the south, and followed the young marshal army south, and still set up camp to take advantage of the danger, always guarding against the young marshal army turning around and killing, the so-called pursuit is completely like sending the young marshal army out of the country.

Four days later, when the main force of the young marshal's army arrived at the city of Kunyang, because there was no need to attack head-on, Xiang Kang still decided to go around the city and kill directly to Ye County, which belonged to Nanyang County, and Uncle Zhou did not object. However, just as the young marshal continued to move south, Zhang Liang suddenly came to Xiang Kang's face, and asked Xiang Kang with some fear: "General Right, the foreign minister dares to ask, have you never been to Ye County?" ”

"No, it's the first time, what's wrong?" Xiang Kang asked casually.

"Sure enough." Zhang Liang, who is not good at tactics, still has obvious lack of confidence, and said very carefully: "General Right, the foreign minister knows that you are like a god in your soldiers, and you are definitely the top general in the world." But the foreign minister still thinks that you bypassing Kunyang and attacking Ye County directly are a bit too careless. ”

"Why?" Xiang Kang asked suspiciously, and said: "Uncle has something to say, please speak up, you should know that I am a person who is happy when I hear it, not the kind of person who can't listen to the advice of the contrary." ”

"Then the foreign minister will be presumptuous." Zhang Liang straightened up a little and said: "General Right, you haven't been to Ye County, you don't know the geography there, the west of Ye County is the Qifeng Mountain with high mountains and dense forests, and the east is the old Jin Mountain and Zhiguo Mountain and other continuous mountains, the left and right are only more than ten miles apart, and the east of Ye County is full of lakes and swamps, which is very difficult to attack. (Ye County of the Qin Dynasty was located in what is now Baoan Town, Wu'an City.) ）

Speaking of this, Zhang Liang paused, and then continued: "At the moment, we don't know the specific situation in Ye County, if the violent Qin army in Nanyang had already prepared and deployed heavy guards in Ye County, blocking our way, and the violent Qin army led by Yang Xiong Pifu killed from behind, wouldn't our army be in danger if it was attacked on its back?" ”

Before Zhang Liang's words were finished, Xiang Kang, who was good at tactics, had already changed his face slightly, and when he hurried to see Uncle Zhou next to him, Uncle Zhou was also full of grimness, and said: "General Right, the last general has never been to Ye County, if the terrain of Ye County is really like what Zhang Situ introduced, it is a little too risky for us to bypass Kunyang and directly enter Ye County." ”

"Order the whole army to immediately stop advancing and set up camp to rest." Xiang Kang ordered smoothly, and then said: "Send more scouts to work carefully, and go south to carefully investigate the situation in Ye County for me." ”

According to Xiang Kang's order, the young marshal's army immediately stopped its advance, chose to set up a camp in the west of Kunyang City, and assigned troops to guard the remaining three gates of Kunyang to prevent the Qin army from entering the city to reinforce the defenders in the city. As a result, after the Qin army scouts reported the situation to Yang Xiong, who was following from afar with the army, Yang Xiong immediately shouted bitterly, saying, "Oh no! Did Xiang Kang Xiao'er already find out about the situation in Ye County, why did he go south around the city, and temporarily regretted it, and collected troops to set up camp outside Kunyang City? If they take Ye County, it will be difficult for us to cooperate with the Nanyang friendly army to flank his thief army before and after. ”

"General Yang, what should we do then?" Xu Wei of Yingchuan County next to him asked anxiously: "There are less than 1,000 guards in Kunyang City, and it is impossible to resist the attack of the thief army for a long time?" ”

Yang Xiong calculated, and only after a while did he order: "Order the whole army, speed up and advance, and rush to the Kunyang battlefield first." ”

After the order was conveyed, the pursuers of the Qin army, who had been crawling like a turtle, finally accelerated their speed, and rushed to Kunyang only more than 20 miles away from the day of Shenshi. Yang Xiong also called Xu Wei and said to Xu Wei: "Xu Juncheng, the defenders of Kunyang are too thin to hold for a long time, but if the thief army takes Kunyang, we only need to send an army to defend the city, and we can contain our army, so that we can't go south to cooperate with the friendly army in Nanyang." So there's no way, the old man just asks you to lead your headquarters into Kunyang, defend the city of Kunyang, and don't give the thief army a chance to break the city. ”

"The general doesn't have to be polite, this is the right thing for the lower officials." Xu Wei immediately gave up, and then said in great embarrassment: "But general, the thief army has arrived in Kunyang in advance, and directly blocked the four gates of Kunyang. ”

"It's okay, I have a way to cover your way into the city." Yang Xiong said: "Tonight, you first lead the troops to the northeast of Kunyang to ambush, be careful not to be discovered by the thief army." Then I will send another army, pretending to enter the city from the north gate of Kunyang, after being discovered by the north gate thief army, my army will be defeated and leave, luring the north gate thief army to pursue, and then you can easily break through the north gate position of the thief army and rush into Kunyang city for reinforcements. ”

As soon as Xu Wei heard the great joy, he hurriedly hugged his fists and received the order, and immediately went down to organize the men and horses of the headquarters to prepare for the night battle, and Yang Xiong called his confidant Yang Kang again, and asked him to lead 3,000 troops to carry out the plan to lure the enemy, and cover the Yingchuan soldiers to enter the city to reinforce the Kunyang defenders.

After everything was arranged, just over half of the first watch, Xu Wei quietly went out of the camp with more than 3,000 Yingchuan Qin troops under his command, with a number of people and horses, relying on his familiarity with the geography of the road, and quickly rushed to the predetermined position to ambush under the cover of night. Yang Kang sent troops in the second watch, carrying a small number of torches, and walked straight to the north gate of Kunyang.

Halfway through the third watch, the Sanchuan Qin army led by Yang Kang approached the north gate of Kunyang, and was immediately discovered by the strict guard of the young marshal's army sentry, sounded the gong alarm room, and led the headquarters of the people to block the north gate of Kunyang Zhu Jishi immediately got up to organize troops and horses to meet the battle, and led the army out of the camp to intercept the Qin army that tried to enter the city.

At the same time, Xiang Kang, who led the main force stationed outside the west gate of Kunyang, was awakened by the shouting and killing sound from the north gate, and had already put on his clothes and got up, in addition to ordering the soldiers of the army to strictly guard the main camp, he immediately sent people to order Zhu Jishi, so that Zhu Jishi was only allowed to guard the interception position, and he must not be greedy for merit to pursue, so as not to fall into the trap of the Qin army. - By the way, because at this time, he didn't have time to find out the situation on the battlefield in Yexian County, and he didn't know the importance of the Qin army's reinforcements in the city, Xiang Kang really didn't expect that the Qin army launched a sneak attack in order to prepare for the friendly army to enter the city.

At this time, the young marshal's generals also hurriedly came to Xiang Kang's face, reporting that the main army has been urgently assembled and preparing for war, and will soon be able to go out of the camp to reinforce the North Gate battlefield, Xiang Kang nodded, but when he listened carefully to the sound of shouting and killing from the North Gate, he found that the shouting and killing sound gradually disappeared, Xiang Kang's face couldn't help but change, and said: "Oh no, my order should be a step late, Zhu Jishi seems to have chased away." ”

"General Right doesn't have to worry." Uncle Zhou comforted: "Our main force can be assembled into an army immediately, and we can send out the camp to reinforce General Zhu Jishi at any time, even if there is any danger, we can immediately send troops to respond." ”

Xiang Kang nodded helplessly, but at this time, a new shouting and killing voice suddenly came from the north gate, Xiang Kang and Uncle Zhou were shocked together, and after glancing at each other, they immediately woke up together, and exclaimed in unison: "Tune the tiger away from the mountain!" The real purpose of the Tyrannical Qin army was not to ambush Zhu Jishi, but to deceive him temporarily and cover their other army to enter the city for reinforcements?! ”

It was too late to wake up, although it was not clear why the Qin army spent so much effort to increase the troops in the small city of Kunyang, but in order to make up for the loss, Xiang Kang still decisively ordered Zhong Liwu to immediately lead the army to reinforce the north gate, and try his best to prevent the Qin army from entering the city, and then Xiang Kang slammed his fist on the case, and said hatefully: "Fighting geese all day long, today I was finally pecked in the eye by the geese!" I can't imagine that Yang Xiong Pifu is so old and cunning, and even we can deceive us! ”