Now it's time to take a look at the situation of the middle battlefield of the Chu-Han War, which is different from the treacherous and twisting battlefield of the northern front, the middle road battle that is almost unfolding at the same time is only a little tug-of-war in the early stage, and then it has been in a stalemate, and neither side has any chance to really defeat the opponent, and there is no hope of a decisive victory from beginning to end.

As with the battlefield of the northern front, the first to move in the middle of the battle was also the Han army that had gradually gained the strategic upper hand, and had just received the news that Uncle Zhou's side was about to start, Zheng Bu, the general of the Han army guarding Puyang, immediately led 40,000 Han troops south with the assistance of Li Zuoche and launched an attack on the Western Chu army to calm Tao, and at the same time Xiang Kang also personally led the newly formed Guanzhong Bashu Rear Army to the east to send a letter to Guguan, and joined the Han army stationed in Sanchuan Long and Zhong Liwu and other units, and continued to enter Puyang to reinforce Zheng Bu.

Then it was the same as Xiang Kang, Zhou Shu and others expected, although he knew that the Han army was marching into Dingtao in order to share the pressure on the battlefield on the northern front and force the main force of the Western Chu army to enter the middle to defend the hinterland, Xiang Yu still decisively chose to personally lead the army to meet the scum cousin, and entrusted the important task of the northern front to the obedient cousin Xiang Zhuang, and did not dare to ask the big north to let others confront the scum cousin Xiang Kang.

By the way, even if Xiang Yu plucked up the courage to let his subordinates face Xiang Kang and risk going north to reinforce Qidi, this choice would be useless, because the Han army that was advancing eastward from the middle and northern lines at the same time could adjust its strategy at any time, so that Zhou Shu's corps could take on the task of entanglement Xiang Yu's main force, and Xiang Kang would personally lead the army to serve as the main attack. In addition, Xiang Kang had not yet increased troops on the northern front at that time, and the Han army's strength advantage in the middle was obvious, so even Old Man Fan did not dare to oppose Xiang Yu's decision, so he could only let Xiang Yu passively face the battle.

After the invincible Xiang Yu led the main force of more than 130,000 to approach Dingtao, the Han army Zheng Busuo, who was fighting with Huan Chu, of course, slipped faster than a rabbit, and quickly withdrew from the Dingtao battlefield after paying a certain price, and fled back to Puyang to meet Xiang Kang, who had arrived here. Then, because the strength of the Han army in the middle battlefield was too strong, Xiang Yu did not rush north to Puyang to seek a decisive battle, and it was very rare to take a defensive position in front of the scum cousin, and gathered troops in the Dingtao area to confront the main force of the Han army in the middle of the road.

During this period, the distant southern front battlefield has also undergone great changes, after the Han army's southern army successfully broke through the Hanshui defense line of the Western Chu army, the general of the Western Chu army, whose ambition and strength are inversely proportional, have been doomed, only with many Yingbu and his father-in-law Wu Rui in the rest of Nanjun and Changsha, they can easily clean up the remnants of Liji, and the Han army's Li Shang and Ding Ji and other departments were also able to pull out to go north to help the middle battlefield, prompting Xiang Kang to make the decision to give priority to increasing troops on the northern front, which is why Uncle Zhou even if he did not ask Xiang Kang for help, Xiang Kang also took the initiative to send reinforcements to Uncle Zhou.

Xiang Kang's decision not only expanded the strength advantage of the Han army on the northern front, but also successfully angered the grumpy Xiang Yu, seeing that the scum cousin dared to despise himself so much, and took the initiative to weaken the troops in the middle and not treat himself as a dish, Xiang Yu, who felt that he had been greatly insulted, immediately raised troops to the north, and took the 160,000 Western Chu army, including Huan Chu's department, to attack the scum cousin who had weakened his strength to about 120,000.

Then, of course, it was a cruel and bloody and doomed useless camp offensive and defensive war, imitating Zhang Han and later Cao Blame, Xiang Kang was very shameless in opening trenches and draining, using the Yellow River water that was not yet an above-ground river in this era to fill the deep trenches, and with the fortifications, a strong camp was built under Puyang City.

The camp was originally built very strong, and the main army defending the camp was the elite troops under the command of the Han generals such as Long Ji, Zhong Liwu, Ding Ji and Zheng Bu, and the onslaught of the Western Chu army of course hit the copper wall again and again, and when Xiang Yu rubbed the many swollen bags on his head and finally came back to his senses, it was already too late, his 160,000 main force had already fallen into the mud on the Puyang battlefield, and the losses were not small and at the same time it was completely contained by the main force of the Han army in the middle, even if he received a letter from Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da asking for help, It will also be difficult to free up any more hands to reinforce the northern front.

During this period, Xiang Yu, Old Man Fan and others in addition to desperately urging the rear army of Jiangdong and Huainan to go north, of course, they also considered the plan of risking the division of troops to save the Chuji coalition army, but thinking of the previous lesson of Cao Zhi staying in Puyang, Xiang Yu did not dare to act impulsively - it is definitely useless to draw fewer troops from the middle road, it will only be destined to give the Han army on the northern front a chance to encircle and send reinforcements.

Therefore, after hesitating again and again, Xiang Yu, Old Man Fan and others were forced to give up the plan to draw troops from the middle road to save Qi Land, and chose to let Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da hold on to themselves, waiting for the distant water in Huainan Jiangdong to save the near fire, and also hoped that the Qi State battlefield, which was still hopeful at that time, could reverse the situation and provide direct help to the Chuji coalition army.

Because later, the Han army quickly surrounded the Chuji coalition army and cut off Xiang Zhuang and others from the rear of the Western Chu army, and then there was nothing to upset Xiang Yu, on the contrary, the news sent by Tian Heng and Tian Wang, the two Qi rebels, also made Xiang Yu and Fan Laotou and others quietly breathe a sigh of relief, looking for even if the Qi rebels were not the opponent of the Han army, they would definitely be able to share the huge pressure on the Chuji coalition army and buy the necessary time for the follow-up reinforcements of the Western Chu army.

The cruel truth quickly shattered the dreams of Xiang Yu and others, and within a few days, Xiang Zhuang's letter of guilt sent from Boyang was sent to Xiang Yu by a fast horse, and it also brought Xiang Yu the bad news that the rebels of Qi and the Chuji coalition army were defeated together, but this time, Xiang Yu not only did not kick the case in front of him into the air as before, but on the contrary, he sat still like a fool, and after a long time said with a face full of disbelief: "Lost so soon?" Still losing so badly? How can it be? If that's the case, then, then ....... ”

"Then the thieves take advantage of the situation to go south, what hope do we have?"

The voice of despair appeared in Xiang Yu's mouth for the first time in his life, and the old man Fan, Kuai Che, Huan Chu and others present were also like ashes, their lips trembled, and they didn't dare to imagine what kind of situation the Western Chu army would face in the future. On the contrary, Master Xiang Boxiang was not as desperate and helpless as them, he just began to pale for a moment, and then quickly lowered his head, blinking his old eyes that were not cloudy and quickly calculating, and his expression was still thoughtful.

It was only after a long time that Xiang Yu asked, "Father, what should we do next?" ”

Old man Fan also rarely didn't answer Xiang Yu's question immediately, and only said after a while: "There are only two choices, one is to withdraw the troops as soon as possible, take advantage of the opportunity that the northern front has not had time to go south from Qidi to our hinterland, slowly withdraw to Pengcheng, and then concentrate on preparing to resist the attack of the Han thieves." ”

"What about Dangjun and Chenjun?" Xiang Yu hurriedly asked: "There are also Dingtao and Xue Jun, what about these places?" ”

"Do you think we have any hope of keeping these places, my lord?" Old man Fan smiled bitterly and said: "After retreating to Pengcheng, if the situation is unfavorable, we still have to consider taking the initiative to retreat to Huainan and Jiangdong, of course, not to mention these places." ”

Xiang Yu twisted his face away helplessly, and then asked, "What about the second way?" ”

"Summation."

The two words spoken by Old Man Fan made Master Xiang Boxiang, who was nervously calculating, his eyes light up, and he subconsciously raised his head to look at Xiang Yu, but unfortunately Xiang Yu was furious when he heard these two words, and roared angrily: "What? Let me bow my head to Xiang Kang's rebel rat and beg for peace? ”

"The old minister just told the king that we still have this choice." Old man Fan said expressionlessly: "Please rest assured, with Xiang Kang's traitor's hypocrisy and hypocrisy, as well as your flesh and blood affection, he will definitely not want your life, but he will definitely ask the king to abdicate, and he will take the opportunity to annex our Xichu." ”

"He's dreaming!" Xiang Yu roared: "This king would rather die on the battlefield than bow his head and surrender to that shameless rat!" ”

"Then we have only one choice." Old man Fan replied helplessly: "Take advantage of the fact that the Han thieves have not had time to go south to surround us, withdraw to Pengcheng as soon as possible, and then figure out how to deal with the attack of the Han thieves." ”

"Let this king think again." Xiang Yu was still reluctant to take the initiative to give up the large area of land in the northwest of Pengcheng, and said through gritted teeth: "This king thinks about it again and sees if there are other ways to solve the current problem." ”

Old man Fan sighed, and didn't urge Xiang Yu to make a decision in a hurry, just nodded, and let Xiang Yu use his muscular brain to calculate countermeasures on his own, and Huan Chu and Kuaiche next to him were also frowning, helpless against the current critical situation. And Master Xiang Boxiang over there saw that he was in a cold spot, so he casually found an excuse to say goodbye and leave, and returned to his camp to implement the major decision he had just made.

There were no mobile forces available in his hands, and the northern front suddenly collapsed completely, Xiang Yu certainly did not come up with any way to solve the current crisis that day, and the same was true of the resourceful Old Man Fan and Kui Che and others, and the decision-making level of the Western Chu Army also spent a sleepless night. Then on the morning of the next day, the eyeliner sent by Old Man Fan to the army suddenly came to make a small report, and reported to Old Man Fan, who was dealing with military affairs: "Father, yesterday evening, there was a Master Xiang Boxiang who went out of the camp with him, spent the night outside the camp, and did not return to our camp until early this morning, and went directly to see Master Xiang. ”

The brush in Old Man Fan's hand stopped, his snow-white beard trembled, and his teeth bit out directly, but after breaking the brush in his hand, Old Man Fan suddenly sighed and said to himself: "Forget it, that's the Xiang family's business, why does the old man care so much?" Let him go, anyway, the Han thief can send the message by waterway, and he can quickly send the news to Xiang Kang's traitor, and it won't affect anything. ”

After a helpless sigh, Old Man Fan shook his head and put the matter aside, and continued to deal with the mountain of military affairs for Xiang Yu with an expressionless face, and suddenly remembered a sentence he had heard in his heart - when the ground movement (earthquake) came, the rat always slipped faster than anyone else.

To the surprise of Old Man Fan, in the afternoon, Xiang Yu suddenly sent someone to invite him to the Zhongjun Marshal's account to discuss matters, and when he hurried to the Zhongjun Marshal's account to see Xiang Yu, he saw Xiang Yu's face full of excitement and ecstasy, and couldn't wait to shout: "Father, come on, come and see the letter sent by my brother Xiangzhuang just sent a fast horse, he came up with a good way for us, if this matter is done, we not only don't have to worry anymore, but also can definitely turn defeat into victory!" ”

Needless to say, the letter that Xiang Zhuang had just sent was of course a letter asking Xiang Yu for permission to go all out against Uncle Zhou, an important minister of the Han army, but after reading this letter, Old Man Fan couldn't help but be full of ecstasy, and blurted out: "What a clever plan!" If we get this done, we can indeed turn the tide of the world right away! ”

Old man Fan reacted like this, so naturally it was needless to mention that Kuai Che, another important strategist of the Western Chu Army, and Huan Chu, the new general, just knew the situation, and said in unison: "King, this plan is feasible!" There are still many Han thief armies in the hands of Uncle Zhou's puppeteers, and there are still many Han thief armies under the command of Xiang Kang's traitors, as long as we can arouse his ambition and let him establish himself as the king in Qidi, we will be able to reverse all the situation immediately! ”

After that, Kui Che hurriedly added a sentence and said: "Even if it can't succeed directly, even if it makes Xiang Kang's traitor suspicious of Uncle Zhou's husband, as long as he suspects Uncle Zhou's ambition to rebel and stand on his own, he will definitely take action against Uncle Zhou's husband, and then we will add fuel to the fire, and there will definitely be great hope for continuing to plot against Uncle Zhou!" At the very least, it can also make the Han thief monarch and the minister lose harmony and be suspicious of each other, which is conducive to our next war! ”

"What are you doing then?" Xiang Yu couldn't wait to yell and said, "Hurry up, hurry up and discuss an idea, no matter what, this matter must be done!" ”

In accordance with Xiang Yu's request, the resourceful old man Fan and Kuai Che joined forces, and soon discussed and decided to cast a seal of the king of Qi and prepare a valuable gift, and sent an envoy to Qi to send it to Uncle Zhou, and persuaded Uncle Zhou to claim the king in Qi and stand up for himself with the Han army and the Western Chu army of the Han army. When Xiang Yu heard the great joy, he immediately nodded in agreement, and instructed the craftsmen in the army to immediately start casting the seal letter of the King of Qi, and couldn't wait to pick up the handwritten letter from Uncle Zhou sent by Xiang Zhuang, and said: "Brother also asked the messenger to bring us the letter of Uncle Zhou's husband by the way, the letter is not only the handwriting of Uncle Zhou's husband, but also the seal of Uncle Zhou's thief general, and said that this letter must be of great use to us, you say, what is the use?" ”

Old man Fan thought about it, but after a little pondering, he smiled bitterly and said: "King, I'm afraid this matter is not easy to do, it is not difficult to use this letter to forge a letter that can prove that Uncle Zhou has the intention of rebelling and self-reliance, but after the letter is forged, we have no way to put the letter in the hands of Xiang Kang's traitors?" ”

"Think of a way." Xiang Yu refused to give up and said: "That traitor forges other people's letters at every turn to sow discord, this time this king must teach him a lesson, think of a way, and see if there is a way to use the forged letters to separate Xiang Kang's traitor and Uncle Zhou!" ”

When Kuaiche was trying to calculate, Old Man Fan's heart suddenly moved, and he quickly thought about it, and then immediately turned to Master Xiang Boxiang, who was sitting next to him and didn't speak, and asked, "Master Xiang, how did you do with the matter of asking you to send someone to contact Xiang Kang's traitor secretly yesterday?" ”

"What?!"

Everyone present was taken aback, and Master Xiang Boxiang turned pale all of a sudden, and then Xiang Yu immediately exclaimed dumbfounded: "Father, you let my Uncle Ji secretly contact Xiang Kang's traitor?" Why are you doing this? ”

"The king forgives me, and I will explain this matter to you later." Old Man Fan shook his head and refused to answer, but said to Master Xiang Boxiang again: "Master Xiang, why don't you speak?" The old man's people saw with their own eyes that the secret envoy you sent to contact Xiang Kang's traitor had returned to the camp, but the old man was busy with official business just now and didn't have time to ask you about the result, so there is no need to hide it from our king now, let's talk quickly, what is the result? ”

Master Xiang Boxiang's face was blue and white, and he was so flustered that he didn't know how to answer, Old Man Fan understood his thoughts, got up and stepped forward, and pulled Master Xiang far away, and whispered in his ear: "To tell the truth, the old man played a round for you, and admitted that it was my arrangement for you to contact Xiang Kang's traitor, and the king will definitely not blame you." But if you don't tell the truth, don't blame the old man for not giving you face, and immediately send someone to send you to your personal entourage to be arrested and handed over to the king for interrogation, and when the time comes, the king will start a fire, and the old man will see if you can successfully accept the title of Heyonghou, live in the Tongzong Palace in Xianyang, and enjoy 3,000 households (see Chapter 402 of this book for details). ”

After thinking about it for a while, he couldn't resist Old Man Fan's repeated threats, and Master Xiang Boxiang still said in a low voice: "I just sent a letter to Xiang Kang's traitor, the letter was written by my sister-in-law Qiu (Xiang Liang's wife) and my wife, persuading him to make peace with our king as before, don't beat you to death anymore, the traitor thanked my messenger, brought me a good word, and brought a reply to my sister-in-law Qiu, nothing else." ”

"That's enough." Old Man Fan smiled lightly, and then said in a low voice, "Master Xiang, this time, you have really made a great contribution to our king." ”

After that, Old Man Fan really turned to Xiang Yu, who was full of puzzlement, and said with a smile: "King, the old man really has to ask you for guilt, although you refused to ask Xiang Kang for peace yesterday, but the old man refused to give up, and wanted to test whether Xiang Kang's traitor was willing to negotiate peace with us, so he secretly persuaded Master Xiang to agree, and asked him to come forward as Uncle Ji, and secretly contacted Xiang Kang's traitor once with the reputation of sending a letter to Xiang Kang's traitor on behalf of Mrs. Wu Anjun. This matter is all the old man's own decision, and it has nothing to do with Master Xiang, please don't punish him. ”

Master Xiang Boxiang quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly bowed his hand to Xiang Yu and said: "The king forgives the sin, the situation is indeed the case, Weichen contacted Xiang Kang's traitor without authorization behind your back, the crime deserves death, and I ask the king to forgive." ”

"You guys!" Xiang Yu was still a little angry, and said with a blue face: "You two are both elders of this king, is it too much to dare to do such a thing behind this king's back?" ”

Old Man Fan and Master Xiang hurriedly fell to the ground to plead guilty, and Kui Che next to him had already understood what Old Man Fan meant, and hurriedly bowed his hand to Xiang Yu and said: "Congratulations to the king, congratulations to the king, the king is blessed with all the heavens, the father and Master Xiang are fighting crookedly, this time, we finally have a way to reasonably separate Xiang Kang's traitor and Uncle Zhou's husband!" ”