No matter how much the young marshal army hates Liu Laosan, there is no way, Liu Laosan, the ancestor of Uncle Liu Huang, the master of battlefield life, has too good and outstanding genes in escaping, Xiang Kang personally led the army to chase and kill Hu Ting, but still failed to catch up with Liu Laosan with billowing dust behind his buttocks, and there was still the Qi army left behind in Hangu Pass to respond, Xiang Kang was unwilling to take risks with the tired division, so he had to roar and stop, hatefully and resentfully collected the army, withdrew to Ning Qin to reorganize the army and preside over the overall situation. Liu Laosan took the opportunity to flee back to Hangu Pass with the remnants of his defeated army, saving his precious life.

In the first battle of Ningqin, although it is very regrettable that they failed to kill Liu Laosan, the results of the young marshal's army in other aspects were very gratifying, and they beheaded a total of nearly 6,000 in the night attack and pursuit battle of Taolinsai, and defeated Liu Laosan's partial division outside Ningqin City, beheading nearly 1,000, and wiped out nearly seventy percent of Liu Laosan's troops in one go, so that Liu Laosan no longer had any power to fight back in front of the young marshal army. At the same time, the young marshal's army also basically annihilated the Qi army on the bank of the Weishui River, captured more than 5,000 Qi soldiers, and captured Tian An, the general of the Qi army, and recaptured Ningqin City, and captured the Xiang Yu envoys headed by Zheng Chang, and the total casualties of the young marshal's army were only more than 1,000 people, which can definitely be said to have achieved a complete victory.

It is precisely because of this that after the young marshal generals led the army back to the camp, all of them shouted happily, and completely let out a bad breath, Xiang Kang ordered the reward of the three armies at the same time, and immediately announced in public that he would take the opportunity to enter Hangu Pass, recapture Hangu Pass and grasp the strategic initiative.

Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, who had already inadvertently become partners, were calmer, and stood up together and said to Xiang Kang: "General Right, taking advantage of this opportunity, we should enter Hangu Pass as soon as possible, but before entering Hangu Pass, we must solve an important problem, that is, under what pretext to enter the army to attack Hangu Pass and start a war against the Qi army currently guarding Hangu Pass. ”

"What excuses do you have?" Zheng Bu hurriedly said: "Xiang Yu listened to the slander, slandered our right general for claiming the king in Guanzhong without authorization, and insisted on attacking us with the princes' coalition army, and we were forced to fight back, isn't this an excuse for war?" ”

"It's an excuse that can be used." Zhang Liang said: "But General Zheng should not forget that the former general has already sent Zheng Chang as an envoy and took the initiative to settle the dispute with us through negotiations. Give someone a handle? ”

Zheng Bu thought about it carefully and found that it was also, and he was a little stunned, and Chen Ping also said: "I also think that we can't use this excuse to declare war on the former general, in addition to the unknown division, it is also equivalent to forcing the alliance of the princes who promised to join forces with the former general to crusade against us to the opposite side, so that we will become the public enemy of the world, and the target of the public will be difficult to divide the princes outside the pass through the combination of vertical and horizontal lines, reduce our enemies, and strengthen our strength. ”

"So what kind of excuse should we use?" Zheng Bu asked hesitantly.

"It's better to have a pretext for war that can divide the princes outside the Guanwai." Zhang Liang replied: "It is the best policy to only target a part of the enemy and give another part of the enemy room to maneuver." ”

Zhang Liang's answer was too general, Zheng Bu, who was not good at strategy, of course heard the clouds, mountains and fog, fortunately, Xiang Kang himself was a master in this area, and he only thought for a moment before saying: "Master Xiang Boxiang is a big rebel, openly disobeying the order of the king of Chu to enter the customs first to be the king, concealing the news that my brother is seriously injured and dying, pretending to be my brother's reputation, sending envoys to falsely claim peace, preparing to deceive Guanzhong to claim the king, and trying to let his henchman Liu Ji secretly harm me, I was forced by Xiang Bo, forced to fight back, and decided to send troops to crusade against Xiang Bo, the rebel minister of Chu State, Maintain the dignity of the decree of the king of Chu. The princes outside the Guanwai who helped Xiang Bo were guilty of the same crime as Xiang Bo, and helped our army to crusade against Xiang Bo, a rebel minister of Chu State, and rewarded him with money, grain and land. ”

Before Xiang Kang finished speaking, the young marshal Jun Wenwu who was present had already burst into laughter, and Zhang Liang, who had a close relationship with Uncle Xiang, was also dumbfounded, and said: "General Right, it turns out that you also hate Master Xiang so much, if you deduct from Master Xiang like this, you are not afraid that people in the world will say that you are not filial?" ”

"I can't tell the world that I took the opportunity to monopolize Guanzhong because I knew that my brother was seriously injured and might die, right?" Xiang Kang smiled and said: "But I didn't completely wronged my Uncle Ji, I bet that if I was deceived into handing over the affairs of Guanzhong, he must have also intervened, and it was justified to send troops to fight him." Also, in order to save Sheji, King Chu Mu of our Chu State, he met his father King Chu Cheng with swords, and I killed my cousin in righteousness, and I also emulated the sages of our Chu State. ”

Knowing the grievances between Xiang Kang and Xiang Bo, as well as Xiang Bo's various bad behaviors towards Xiang Kang, seeing that Xiang Kang took the opportunity to take revenge and insisted on detaining the basin on Xiang Bo, Zhang Liang had no way to object, just nodded and said: "It's a good way, not only to give the princes outside the Guanwai an excuse to preserve their strength and sit back and watch the success or failure, but also to announce the news that the former general was seriously injured and will die, which will make it more convenient for us to divide and divide the enemy, and strengthen the enemy and ourselves." And it also leaves room for maneuver, even if the former general survives and regains control of the army, we still have the opportunity to negotiate peace with him, so as not to make it endless, and become a dead end that cannot be resolved. ”

"General Right, in order to seize the moral upper hand, it is best for us to have someone write a letter and send it to the world, so that everyone in the world knows General Right Why do you want to turn your face and start a war with the army outside the Guanwai." Chen Ping suggested: "And the King of Chu's side, General You, you'd better immediately send someone to send a stamp, explaining the reason why we are fighting with the army outside Guanwai, and by the way, ask the King of Chu to fulfill his promise and officially canonize you as the King of Guanzhong." ”

Xiang Kang nodded, and immediately ordered his uncle and grandson, who had the best writing under his command, to write a book, to write his ghostly excuse for going to war as a civilization to spread all over the world, and forcibly set up Master Xiang Boxiang as the culprit of the anti-Qin alliance arms, and also announced the news that Xiang Yu was seriously injured and about to die, so as to shake and hit the morale of the princes' coalition army. Then he wrote a seal to the so-called King of Chu, Xiong Xin, explaining the reason for the war, and at the same time, he also asked Xiong Xin to fulfill his promise and officially canonize himself as the king of Guanzhong as the leader of the anti-Qin alliance.

The matter was not over yet, and after thinking about it for a while, Xiang Kang quickly ordered: "Send Zheng Chang and Tian An to me together, I have something to say to them." Don't just interject, just give me a help. ”

After finishing speaking, Xiang Kang beckoned Chen Ping to the front again, and whispered in his ear, Chen Ping quickly agreed with a wicked smile on his face, and said: "The right general's clever plan, I admire it, please rest assured that the right general will definitely act according to your orders." ”

According to Xiang Kang's instructions, in a short time, Tian An and Zheng Chang, two unlucky people, were escorted to Xiang Kang, and then naturally, Tian An and Zheng Chang of course scolded Xiang Kang, condemning Xiang Kang for ignoring morality and plotting against the anti-Qin friendly forces, shameless and despicable to the extreme. Xiang Kang was silent, first drank the scolding of the two, and then said to Zheng Chang: "Zheng Chang, you don't reverse black and white for this general, I only ask you now, how is the injury of my brother's former general Xiang Yu now?" Is he still alive? ”

Zheng Chang was stunned, Tian An was even more surprised, and blurted out, "What did you say?" How is the injury of the former general Xiang Yu? Still alive? What does this mean? ”

Xiang Kang glanced at Tian An and said: "General Tian, it seems that you are really innocently implicated, Zheng Chang and Liu Ji, the two traitors, must not have told you yet, my elder brother's former general Xiang Yu, when attacking Ao Cang, was unfortunately shot in the neck by a stray arrow, and his life was in danger, and now whether he is still alive, even I don't know." ”

Although Xiang Kang deliberately said the wrong location of Xiang Yu's injury, Zheng Chang's face still changed greatly when he heard it, and Tian An's face was even more pale to the extreme, and he hurriedly asked, "The former general was so seriously injured, how did you know?" ”

"I placed it next to Liu Ji to find out the accurate information I heard." Xiang Kang continued to blush, wantonly planted slander, and said: "General Tian An, didn't you find out that the situation was wrong? After you and Liu Ji joined forces to come to Ningqin yesterday, why did Liu Ji's puppet insist on being stationed in Taolinsai, which could retreat at any time? Also, why did your camp break through as soon as I attacked it when I sent troops to rob the camp, but Liu Ji's camp lasted for a long time before it was breached by me? What does this mean? ”

"What does that mean?" Tian An hurriedly asked.

"General Tian, you are really a sincere person." Chen Ping said with a wry smile: "Liu Ji is prepared, which means that he has long been guarding against leakage, and we made a sudden move, but you have been kept in the dark and unprepared, so we easily killed you into your camp." ”

Tian An opened his mouth wide, and finally found that there was something wrong with the situation, and the location chosen by Liu Laosan yesterday was indeed very suspicious. Xiang Kang observed his words and saw that he had wavered, so he said again: "General Tian, if you still don't believe it, Zheng Chang is here, you can ask him now, is my elder brother seriously injured and may die at any time?" Is his so-called peace talks trying to trick me into handing over Guanzhong? ”

Tian An immediately turned his head to look at Zheng Chang, Zheng Chang's face was blue and white for a while, and he said after a while: "You are talking nonsense!" You, a rebel and thief, obviously want to monopolize Guanzhong and establish yourself as the king, so you fabricated these words to reverse black and white. ”

"Am I talking nonsense?" Xiang Kang sneered and said: "Okay, since you said that General Ben is talking nonsense, then you will send someone back to invite my brother now, if he is not seriously injured and will die, no one else will do it, I will immediately apologize to the people of the world!" But if you deliberately concealed the news that my elder brother was seriously injured and was about to die, and deceived me into handing over Guanzhong on behalf of our rebels of the Chu State, I would immediately execute your car, do you have the guts?! ”

Zheng Chang, who knew the inside story, didn't dare to say anything, Tian An also saw that something was wrong, and hurriedly asked: "Zheng Chang, you speak, is the former general really seriously injured?" Also, are you here to trick General Right into handing over Guanzhong? ”

It is very clear that Xiang Yu was seriously injured sooner or later, of course Zheng Chang did not dare to answer this question, no matter how Tian An asked, he gritted his teeth and said nothing, Tian An was not stupid, he quickly came to his senses, and said with a cruel smile: "Okay! Don't dare to speak, it seems that this matter can't be faked! Very good, the former general was seriously injured and dying, you know, Liu Ji also knows, but he is the only one who hides it from me! Very good, very good, in Jibei County, in order to help you crusade against the tyrannical Qin army, I did not hesitate to take my army to defect out of Qi State, and took the initiative to accept the command of the former general, so you repay me like this! ”

Zheng Chang still didn't dare to say anything, Xiang Kang saw that the fire had arrived, so he ordered: "Take Zheng Chang down for me, take care of him, he is a messenger, but he is not allowed to abuse at will, and he can't let others say that we are rude to the messenger." Again, loosen the ties to General Tian An and set up a seat. ”

According to Xiang Kang's orders, Zheng Chang was immediately escorted away, and Tian An was also loosened by Xiang Kang's personal soldiers, please sit down next to him, Xiang Kang also said to Tian An in a guilty tone: "General Tian, I'm really sorry, because I don't know if you are Liu Ji and Zheng Chang's accomplice, for the sake of prudence, I can only attack you last night, and I hope you don't blame you for the offense." ”

"Don't blame?" Tian An smiled bitterly and said helplessly: "The right general's light words are the lives of thousands of Qi soldiers." ”

"But if General Tian, you are Liu Ji and Zheng Chang's accomplice, and suddenly help them attack me, it will not be as simple as a few thousand lives." Xiang Kang's tone was even more helpless, and he said: "The entire Guanzhong has to be ruined, and the innocent people who died can only be tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands. ”

The small life is in Xiang Kang's hands, Tian An is 110,000 dissatisfied, of course he didn't dare to vent it, so he could only ask Xiang Kang: "General Right, what is the situation of the matter, can you tell me carefully, let me be a ghost even if I die." ”

"General Tian, don't say that, since you have been wronged and innocently implicated, how can I make mistakes again and again and continue to poison you?"

Xiang Kang hurriedly fed Tian An a reassuring pill, and then told Tian An the so-called facts, saying that he had planted an inside line beside Liu Ji to find out the news, Xiang Yu was seriously injured during the attack on Ao Cang, and was in danger of losing his life, Xiang Bo, a rebel minister of Chu State, was ambitious, deliberately blocked the news, and pretended to negotiate with himself, in a vain attempt to force himself to hand over Guanzhong, so that he could usurp himself as the king in Guanzhong, his henchman Liu Laosan not only helped to abuse, but also planned to find an opportunity to suddenly plot against himself, occupied the entire land of Guanzhong and Bashu in Hanzhong by force, and in order to protect himself, he had to take the lead against Liu Laosan, implicating the absolutely innocent Tian An and the Qi army.

Of course, Tian An didn't dare to believe Xiang Kang's words, but his fate hung in the balance, and Tian An didn't dare to raise any questions, so he could only ask thoughtfully: "General Right, what are you going to do next?" ”

"Of course, it is a righteous annihilation of relatives, and a crusade against my Uncle Ji Xiang who blatantly violated the decree of the King of Chu." Xiang Kang replied in a high-sounding manner, and said: "Also, I hope that General Tian can respond to the heavens and lead the Qi army to help me crusade against the rebel Xiang Bo." ”

"What if I don't say yes?" Tian An asked vigilantly.

"Then please ask General Tian to remain neutral and not help each other." Xiang Kang replied calmly, and said: "Also, General Tian, if you insist on helping my rebel Uncle Ji to fight with me, it doesn't matter, you were indeed wronged before, I misunderstood for a while, and killed many of your soldiers by mistake, in order to express my apologies, so no matter how you choose, I will send you back to Hangu Pass unconditionally, and let you go back to join your rest of the army." ”

Tian An quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly said: "General Right is benevolent and righteous, and it really deserves its name, okay, I promise you, after I return to Hangu Pass, I will immediately send someone to investigate this matter, if the truth of the matter is indeed the same as what General Right said, I will definitely help you crusade against Xiang Bo's rebels." ”

"Thank you, General Tian." Xiang Kang hurriedly thanked him, and said: "There is one more thing, General Tian, after you return to Hangu Pass, I will soon send troops to attack Hangu Pass and open the way to march into the army to defeat Xiang Bo's rebels." In order to avoid the further expansion of the conflict between your and our armies and reduce the innocent casualties of the non-commissioned soldiers, I also hope that General Tian will take the initiative to give up the letter to Guguan and not meet with our army by force again. In return, I will release all the more than 5,000 Qi soldiers captured last night, and let them return to serve under General Tian. ”

"Really?"

In troubled times, the army is the lifeline, hearing Xiang Kang's words, Tian An's eyes lit up immediately, and Xiang Kang replied with a smile: "General Tian, don't you know that the younger generation has always been a promise?" Not to mention the more than 5,000 captives, it is the foundation of Huaisi that I laid with my own hands, and it is not just handed over to my uncle, the general Xiang Lianggong, in a word? ”

Knowing that Xiang Kang was indeed very trustworthy, Tian Anxin was even more secretly happy, and hurriedly said: "Okay, I will discuss with my subordinates immediately after I go back, and I will definitely give General Right a satisfactory answer as soon as possible." ”

"Thank you, General Tian." Xiang Kang also hurriedly thanked him, and then said: "By the way, General Tian, in order to make your soldiers feel at ease and wait for their release, I also ask you to go to the prisoner of war camp in person, and tell those Qi soldiers who were captured by our army about my decision in public, so that they can have a bottom in their hearts." ”

Tian An hesitated a little, but Xiang Kang couldn't say anything, and immediately instructed Chen Ping: "Mr. Chen Ping, work hard, accompany General Tian to the prisoner of war camp, tell the Qi soldiers about the misunderstanding between us and General Tian, and also help General Tian tell all the Qi soldiers about my decision to release them all, so as not to make General Tian's subordinates unstable and do anything foolish." ”

Chen Ping, who had already received Xiang Kang's orders, smiled, and immediately came up to invite Tian Antong to go to the prisoner of war camp, Tian An was forced to be helpless, so he had to accompany Chen Ping to run to the prisoner of war camp, and told the so-called dance party that happened last night to the prisoners of war of the Qi State, and also clearly announced that Xiang Kang would unconditionally release all the prisoners of war of the Qi State.

Then, after entertaining Tian An with good wine and food, Xiang Kang really arranged manpower and sent Tian An back to Hanguguan with a gorgeous float, but it was also after Tian An left, the young marshal generals who were confused asked Xiang Kang: "General Right, what do you mean by this?" Finally caught Tian An, he should have used him to force the Qi army in Hangu Pass to open the city and surrender, why did he just let him go? ”

"Using him to force the Qi army to hand over Hanguguan is, of course, also a way." Xiang Kang replied: "But first, it is not easy to grasp it, and it is easy to give other careerists the opportunity to make waves. The second is too unjust, in order to help our Chu army rescue the Julu battlefield, Tian An resolutely betrayed the Qi State to join the princes' coalition army, and the righteous deeds shocked the world, if we take his life as a threat and force the Qi army to hand over Hangu Pass, it will definitely make us discredited, which is not conducive to us to win over and win other princes in the future. ”

"But what if he refuses to take the initiative to hand over the letter to Guguan?" Zhu Jishi asked worriedly: "He still has more than 10,000 troops in Hangu Pass, and he can fight with us, and we put him back, if the army is stable and insists on holding Hangu Pass, it will definitely be more difficult for us to take Hangu Pass." ”

Xiang Kang laughed and said, "If Tian An dares to do this, he will be the one who is discredited." And even if he insists on sticking to Hangu Pass regardless of his reputation, it will still be easy for us to take Hangu Pass. ”

After laughing, Xiang Kang said with a wicked smile: "I almost forgot, I let Tian An go back, and another purpose is to borrow his hand to clean up Liu Laosan, and when Tian An enters the Guancheng, we will have a good show." ”