Fighting away from home, without the support of intelligence, materials and civilian power, even if the distance was much closer, the Han army Zhong Liwu was actually only a day earlier than the Nanyang army. ——During this period, if it weren't for Xiang Kang to adopt Zhang Liang's suggestion and let Han Xin, who is familiar with the road conditions in Yingchuan, lead the way, which reduced countless troubles for the Han army, the Han army might not have won this long-distance marathon race with Nanyang Han Xin.

Fortunately, the Han army not only won this large-scale extended version of the marathon, but also encountered quite good luck, all the way without attacking the city or grabbing the land, a vigorous rush to Xiangcheng, the Han army first took advantage of the Yingchuan local defenders did not have time to react, successfully seized the ferry bridge of Weishui and Yingshui, directly crossed the two medium and large rivers that are most likely to delay the southward speed of the Han army, and successfully rushed to the target Xiangcheng before the enemy reacted, rushed to the city of Xiangcheng, and completely killed the Nanyang Army Xiangcheng defenders by surprise.

This is not counted, when the sudden killing to the city of Xiangcheng, the Han army also happened to catch up with a Nanyang army grain team also happened to come to the city of Xiangcheng, seeing the Han army suddenly killed, the Nanyang soldiers who were transporting grain into the city hurriedly fled back to the city, disrupting the defenders of Xiangcheng, not to mention, but also caused a large number of grain trucks to be crowded under the west gate of Xiangcheng, so that the defenders of Xiangcheng could not immediately close the city gate, and took the lead to kill the Han cavalry to see the opportunity, so they decisively dismounted and charged on foot, and successfully seized control of the west gate of Xiangcheng in the chaos, and then immediately after, When the Han infantry brigade came, the defenders of Xiangcheng had no hope of recapturing the city gate.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Chip, the general of the Nanyang Army who was ordered to guard Xiangcheng, plucked up the courage and led the Xiangcheng defenders and the Han army to start a street battle, but it is a pity that the Xiangcheng defenders under Wang Chip's command are only the second-line army of the Nanyang Army, and the equipment is mediocre and the combat effectiveness is also mediocre, but the lightly armed Han army is the elite many, not only the well-equipped battlefield experience is also the eight streets of the Xiangcheng defenders, there is not much time for street fighting, Wang Chip was killed by the Han army in the streets of the city, and the remaining Xiangcheng defenders scattered in a hurry, and some of them laid down their arms and surrendered to the Han army. The other part fled for their lives from the east gate, where there was no enemy, and most of them fled to the open east where there was no Han army, and fled to the lower reaches of Rushui to cross the river to the south.

During this period, of course, there were some defeated soldiers of the Nanyang Army who fled west to Jiaxian, but the sesame fell into the eye of the needle, because Xiangcheng was the first to break the West Gate, not only the reserve of the Han Army was lined up in the western suburbs of Xiangcheng, and the Han cavalry who withdrew from the battlefield after the successful capture of the city gate was also lined up in the western suburbs of Xiangcheng. As a result, Han Xinleng, who arrived in Jiaxian County that night, failed to know that Xiangcheng had actually been lost.

Zhong Liwu also did not expect this, never thought that the Nanyang army would never know that Xiangcheng had been lost, when receiving the scout report that the Nanyang army was rushing to Xiangcheng at full speed, Zhong Liwu also thought that the Nanyang army received the news of Xiangcheng's urgency and rushed to reinforcements, in order to lure the Nanyang army to send them to death, only to let the Han army soldiers plant the banner of the Nanyang army in the city, and sure enough, the Nanyang army successfully lured the Nanyang army to the vicinity of Xiangcheng, and won the advantage of waiting for work.

By the way, the main reason is that the time is too rushed, there is no time to make more preparations, and there are no city defense facilities such as Wengcheng in the small city of Xiangcheng, otherwise Zhong Liwu really wants to trick a part of the Nanyang army into the city and then launch an ambush to give the Nanyang army a bigger surprise. But then again, with Han Xin's cleverness and calmness, if he really got to the vicinity of the city, there was no need for anything else, just a glance at the empty Xiangcheng dock and the traces left by yesterday's battle, Han Xin would immediately understand that the situation was wrong, and the Han army would not want to catch turtles in the urn.

But this is enough, seeing that the Nanyang army on Xiangcheng City suddenly disappeared, replaced by the crimson Han army flag, up to Han Xin himself, down to the ordinary soldiers of the Nanyang army, none of them were not like falling into the abyss, as if falling from heaven to hell, the military heart suddenly was in an uproar, and the morale immediately fell to the bottom, almost everyone's face was full of disbelief and despair, and the exclamations came one after another, "What's the matter?" How is it the banner of the thief? What about our Xiangcheng defenders? Where did our Xiangcheng defenders go?! ”

This is not counting, in the sound of war drums, the west gate of Xiangcheng was suddenly opened, and three thousand Han soldiers who had been prepared for a long time suddenly shouted and killed, like a tiger going down the mountain to kill the front army of the Nanyang Army, although Kong Neng, who commanded the front team of the Nanyang Army, immediately organized the army to meet the battle, but the morale of the Nanyang Army had fallen, and it had just rushed to attack, and it had not yet been able to breathe and rest, but it was quickly killed by the Han army, and it quickly showed defeat.

Seeing such a scene, Zhou Bo, the fierce general of the Nanyang Army, was of course furious, and immediately asked Han Xin for an order: "General, please let the last general lead the army forward to meet the attack, and the last general will guarantee that this group of thieves who dare to go out of the city to raid will be killed!" ”

At this time, Han Xin had gradually calmed down, looked at the Han army team that dared to launch an assault with weak forces, and looked up at the small city of Xiangcheng, which was not very large, Han Xin quickly made up his mind and said: "You can go, but after you go up, you are only allowed to lose, not to win, and you will be perfunctory with the Han thieves a little, and then immediately retreat in defeat!" ”

"Why?" Zhou Bo asked angrily: "The Han thieves don't have many troops out of the city, do we hope to kill them back?" ”

"Don't ask." Han Xin replied expressionlessly: "I'll tell you the reason later, in short, remember, if you lose, you can't win, you have to pretend that we are very unbeatable!" ”

Thinking of Liu Laosan's instructions when he went out on the expedition, Zhou Bo could only reluctantly agree, and then immediately led an army forward, pretending to help Kong Neng, and then as Han Xin expected, the morale of the Han army out of the city was really not afraid, and still maintained a fierce offensive, Zhou Bo took the opportunity to perfunctory with the Han army for a while, and then immediately pretended to be invincible and fled, Han Xin also decisively issued a retreat order, more than 13,000 Nanyang troops were completely defeated, and the pursuit was only 3,000 Han troops.

After escaping more than ten miles in one breath, the Han army out of the city was weak, and did not know the enemy's situation, afraid that there would be an enemy in front of him, so he did not dare to continue to pursue, so he could only take the initiative to retreat back to the city, and the Nanyang army stopped and reorganized the team, and gathered the scattered soldiers, and then it was also at this time that Zhou Bo rushed to Han Xin and asked: "General, now you can say it, right?" Why should we be cheated and suffer so many losses in vain? ”

"If I didn't let you defeat just now, even if you killed the Han thieves who left the city, are you sure to take advantage of the situation to recapture Xiangcheng?"

Han Xin didn't answer the rhetorical question, Zhou Bo had to keep his mouth shut, and reluctantly admitted that he would never be able to do this, Han Xin asked again: "Also, do you remember that the Xinzheng emergency report we received was 10,000 Han thieves rushing into our Yingchuan hinterland, Xiangcheng is a small city, and there are so many food and grass and military supplies hoarded, can all 10,000 Han thieves enter the city and station?" ”

Zhou Bo gradually understood what Han Xin meant, and said to his senses: "General, do you want to show the enemy to be false, so that the thieves think that we are vulnerable, and rest assured that we will divide our troops out of the city and set up camps?" ”

"This is also our only chance to retake Xiangcheng." Han Xin replied coldly: "As long as the Han thieves are fooled and send their troops out of the city to station, then as long as we manage to defeat the enemy outside the city, there is still hope to recapture Xiangcheng." But if the Han thieves see that our army is strong, then they will definitely grit their teeth and overcome the difficulties, insist on stationing all of them in the city, and wait for their follow-up reinforcements, then we will have no hope of retaking Xiangcheng. ”

Zhou Bo nodded silently, admitting that this was indeed the only hope for the army to recapture Xiangcheng, and asked, "Then what should we do next?" ”

"Let's camp on the spot." Han Xin replied: "Let's see the next move of the Han thief, and by the way, wait for the Western Chu army to come and join us, I hope that the dragon and that puppet do not directly chase here, otherwise, our hope of recapturing Xiangcheng will be completely gone." ”

After all, the god of war is the god of war, everything was expected by Han Xin, seeing that the strength of the Nanyang army is only such a little level, in the case of too small space in the city, Zhong Liwu, who originally wanted to divide the troops out of the city and set up camps, really had no worries, and on the same day, he divided the 10,000 troops under his command into two, and divided half of them to set up a camp outside the west gate of Xiangcheng, opening up the space so that the soldiers of the Han army could rest - fortunately, Zhong Liwu did not forget to explain the deep ditch and high base of the Han army out of the city, and set up a strong camp to prevent the enemy from counterattacking.

This also made Zhou Bo and others regain a little confidence in Han Xin, and Jiaxian County also hurriedly sent some urgently needed baggage ordnance to the main force of the Nanyang Army, which alleviated the urgent need of the Nanyang Army, but just when Han Xin was thinking about how to recapture Xiangcheng, when it was close to noon the next day, the bad news suddenly reached Han Xin's front - the Han Army's Longhe Department really gritted its teeth and chased it to the Jiaxian battlefield, and also defeated the palace army of the Western Chu Army on the way, which once again weakened the strength of the Western Chu Army.

"The thief can chase so far!" Han Xin smashed his fist on the desk, and said hatefully: "It's completely hopeless now, as long as Long Ji and Zhong Liwu meet up with the two puppets, even if we join forces with the Western Chu Army, we are not sure that we will be able to recapture our Xiangcheng before the main force of the Han thieves arrives!" ”

"General, what do we do next?" Lu Jia also panicked, and said: "If the Han thieves meet in one place, it will be difficult for us to even retreat, and the Han thieves have Xiangcheng's military grain and grass as supplies, and they will definitely continue to hunt us down." ”

Han Xin didn't speak with a dark face, just quickly calculated the countermeasures, and once considered taking the initiative to return to Jiaxian, join forces with the Western Chu army to break through Longji, and then rest assured that the south retreated back to safety to reorganize the team, but considering that the Han army is not a fool, he will definitely send a fine work to Jiaxian to contact the Long and the army, and the lightly armed Long and the army saw that Zhong Li's attack on Xiangcheng had been successful, and he would definitely come to Xiangcheng first to supply grain and grass and military supplies, and would not risk a decisive battle with Liu Xiang's coalition army, which had already joined the division, and there were mountains in the south of Jiaxian, and it was easy to waste time if it was difficult to retreat. Han Xin dispelled this idea again.

"Send someone to contact the Western Chu army and ask them to come and join us." Han Xin casually ordered, and then said: "Again, immediately build a pontoon bridge on the Rushui River and prepare to retreat south." ”

"General, let the Western Chu army come over and join us, and the dragon and the puppet will definitely chase after us." Lu Jia reminded: "When the time comes, seeing us cross the river and go south, and the Han thieves take the opportunity to launch an assault, I am afraid that it will be difficult for us not to suffer heavy losses." ”

"You'll know when the time comes, so do it." Han Xin has the same bad habit as the legendary Zhuge Liang, that is, he doesn't like to explain his intentions and intentions to his subordinates in advance, and Lu Jia and the others have no choice but to follow orders.

In the afternoon, when the Nanyang army was still urgently building a pontoon bridge, the Western Chu army had already relied on the Nanyang army's palace, and retreated to the west of Xiangcheng twenty miles away, and joined the main force of the Nanyang army led by Han Xin. Then, as expected, it didn't take long for the Han army to follow and chase nearby, like a hungry wolf that smelled blood.

Not to mention, because the Han army did attack Xiangcheng and had already succeeded, after meeting with Han Xin, Li Ji not only did not dare to blame Han Xin for not being in Jiaxian to wait for him to meet, but on the contrary, as soon as they met, they shouted at Han Xin: "General Han, why hasn't your pontoon bridge been built yet?" Xiangcheng has been lost, we have no food and no support, and we are seriously short of baggage and armaments, so why do we stay here if we don't retreat south quickly? ”

"Come on, before it gets dark, we'll be able to build a pontoon." Han Xin replied calmly: "However, we still have to discuss carefully how to cross the river and retreat to the south, how to get rid of the pursuit that the Han thieves may launch. ”

After that, Han Xin came to Liji's front and told Liji his plan in a low voice, Liji was shocked at first, but after listening to Han Xin's careful analysis of the pros and cons, Liji still nodded heavily, gritted his teeth and replied: "That's it!" ”

…………

Long Ji's side, after leading the army to pursue to the vicinity, in fact, with a little more effort, Long Ji's department was able to march east to the city of Xiangcheng and join the Han army's Zhong Liwu department, but there was no way, seeing that the Nanyang army had already built a pontoon bridge to prepare to cross the river and retreat south, Long Ji had the idea of being greedy for merit, and decisively decided: "Sleep on the spot!" The thief army is already building a pontoon bridge, it must be that the bridge will be built as soon as it is built, Xiangcheng is too far away from here, if we get to Xiangcheng, there will be no way to attack the thief army halfway! ”

In addition to letting the soldiers of the Han army sleep on the spot and rest, Long He also sent scouts to closely monitor the movements of the camp of the Liu Xiang coalition army, preparing to wait for the Liu Xiang coalition army to launch a crossing, and immediately send troops to assault to kill the Liu Xiang coalition army who was in a hurry to retreat south, and also reduce the resistance for the Han army to attack Wancheng next. During this period, Zhong Liwu sent a fast horse to get in touch with Long He, asked Long He to retreat to Xiangcheng to rest in peace, and also brought Xiang Kang a message to Long and be careful to beware of Han Xin, but Long He categorically refused - such a good opportunity for meritorious service, where is Uncle Long willing to miss it?

Everything was expected by Long He, first in the evening, the Nanyang army used the ordnance ferry sent by Jiaxian County urgently to build eight wide pontoon bridges on the Rushui River, and then when it was nearly half of the second, the scout really sent an urgent report, saying that Liu Xiang's coalition army had begun to cross the river overnight, Long He was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately led the army under his command that had fallen seriously to attack, and killed the temporary ferry of Liu Xiang's coalition army with great momentum.

The assault operation was far smoother than Long He expected, just to the vicinity of the temporary ferry, the Nanyang army that was crossing the river in a queue dispersed in a hurry, fled to the north bank of the no-man's land, the Han army soldiers happily rushed onto the pontoon bridge, chasing the enemy on the south bank who was also already fleeing in a panic, and the formation and formation were also chaotic. As a result, at this time, with the sudden beating of fierce war drums, the east and north sides of the ferry were killed together, and the Nanyang army and the Western Chu army rushed out separately and joined forces to kill the Han army, which had already confused its own organization.

There is not much suspense in the battle, the Long and the army has been chased all the way from the new city to here, up and down has already suffered a serious decline in physical strength, and the combat effectiveness has been greatly reduced, and although the Western Chu army is also tired, the main force of the Nanyang army under Han Xin has been rested for more than a day, and the physical strength has recovered quite a lot, plus the Han army suddenly ambushed the army in a panic, and the strength is at an absolute disadvantage, naturally it is not the opponent of Liu Xiang's coalition army, and was soon defeated by Liu Xiang's coalition army, and was forced to retreat to the east, and the loss is quite small.

During this period, the Han army stationed inside and outside Xiangcheng Zhong Liwu also found a change in the west, but before Zhong Liwu made a move, there was already an unknown number of enemies suddenly killed, outside the Han military camp stationed outside the city, shouting and releasing arrows, making a momentum to kill, the enemy situation was unknown in the night, and shouldered the heavy responsibility of defending Xiangcheng's grain and grass, Zhong Liwu of course did not dare to make any moves, but could only watch Long and his department was defeated by Liu Xiang's coalition army, and fled more than ten miles in embarrassment.

Then, taking advantage of the opportunity of the dragon and the hungry wolf being defeated, Liu Xiang's coalition army of course hurriedly launched a river crossing, and successfully crossed the Rushui River, which was very likely to cause them huge losses, before the Han army made a new response, and retreated lightly to the south, and then waited for the dragon to collect the defeated army, Zhong Liwu understood that the enemy outside the city was just a virtual army, everything was already too late, and the main force of Liu Xiang's coalition army, which was still alive, had already gone away, and the Han army had already missed the best opportunity to pursue and kill.

"If what happened last night was really Han Xin's trick of that dog thief, when he was caught, Lao Tzu must skin him with his own hands!"

This was the first thing Long Ji said when he met Zhong Liwu, Zhong Liwu smiled bitterly, pointed to Han Xin who was standing next to him and said: "Brother Long, the next time you scold someone, you must remember to explain that it is Han Xin, don't forget, there is also a Han Xin in our army." ”

He waved his hand to Han Xin with some embarrassment and confessed his guilt, and then Long He hurriedly said to Zhong Liwu: "Brother Zhongli, quickly prepare military baggage for me, and when my army rests a little, I will immediately lead the troops to chase after me, and I must take revenge for last night." ”

"Don't rush." Zhong Limo shook his head and said: "First, the total strength of the Nanyang Thief Army and the Western Chu Thief Army is above you, as long as they get the supply of military supplies and take a little rest to recover their military strength, you will not be sure to win them, and if you continue to chase them, it will only be too risky." ”

"Second, the king has explained to me before." Zhong Liwu continued: "If we can't block the Nanyang Thief Army and the Western Chu Thief Army in Xiangcheng, we don't have to risk pursuit, we must give priority to keeping the grain and grass in Xiangcheng, reduce our logistical burden, and sweep away the hidden dangers of the remnants of the enemy around us and in the hinterland of Yingchuan, and also create the next step for us." ”

"What is the next step for us?" Long asked curiously.

"The decisive battle of Ye County!" Zhong Liwu replied very succinctly, and said: "The king has concluded that if Han Xin's dog thief can escape Shengtian, he will definitely stop in Ye County, and the deep ditch and high fortress will prevent us from going south to the hinterland of Nanyang, as long as he does this, our next battle will be easy to fight." ”

"General Zhongli." Han Xin next to him was cautious and reminded: "Next time you scold that puppet, please remember to scold Han Xin who is the Nanyang Thief Army." ”