After successfully defeating the Qi coalition army, it was just confirmed that Tian Wang was killed in battle, and the Tian Heng rebels were completely defeated, and it was impossible to make a comeback within a certain period of time, Zhu Jishi, the chief general of the Han army's partial division, hurriedly sent a fast horse to send the good news and Tian Wang's head back to Licheng and handed it over to Zhou Shu, and at the same time immediately prepared to retreat, planning to retreat to Licheng in two days, strengthen the Han army's encirclement of the Jinjiling battlefield, and try not to give the Chuji coalition army the opportunity to temporarily weaken the all-out breakthrough by taking advantage of the Han army's blockade force.

From the battlefield to Licheng the whole process has gallop passable, the traffic is relatively convenient, Zhu Jishi sent the fast horse to rush to the road, at noon was ordered to set off, before midnight to send the good news back to the camp of the main force of the Han army on the northern front, and then needless to say, the overjoyed Uncle Zhou ignored the late night, immediately convened the main civil and military forces of the main camp of the Han army, and told them the good news, Li Shiqi and Worm Da and other Han army civil and military forces were also overjoyed when they heard the news, and said that this time they could finally encircle and annihilate the remaining Chuji coalition army without distraction, completely laying the victory of the Han army on the battlefield of Qidi.

While rejoicing, the main civil and military forces of the Han army could still remain calm, and after thinking about the situation a little, Li Shiqi said to Uncle Zhou: "General, according to the old man's opinion, it is best for us to continue to calm down for the time being, and not to announce this news to our whole army for the time being, and wait for General Zhu Jishi to bring our army back." Otherwise, once the Chuji thief army on Jinji Ridge hears the rumor, they are likely to take advantage of the opportunity that General Zhu has not returned for the time being to break through with all their might, increasing the difficulty for us to completely annihilate the Chuji thief army. ”

"Of course." Uncle Zhou replied casually: "General Zhu's side is also very aware of this situation, so he has clearly told me in the letter that he will withdraw at the speed of a rapid march, and if it goes well, he will be able to return with the army before the afternoon of the day after tomorrow...... huh?" ”

Speaking of this by the way, Uncle Zhou's heart suddenly moved, and he immediately stopped by himself, and his expression also showed a calculation, and Zhou Shu, the old man of Shangshan next to him, saw that something was wrong, and hurriedly asked, "General, what's wrong?" Is there something wrong? ”

Uncle Zhou rarely didn't give face to his elders with the same surname, waved his hand to signal Zhou Shu not to disturb his train of thought, of course, Zhou Shu, who was quite open-minded, didn't care, just closed his mouth and let Uncle Zhou figure it out on his own, and Li Shiqi and Worm Da and others on the other side didn't say much, they all waited patiently for Uncle Zhou to think about the problem. And after a long time, Uncle Zhou said to himself: "I'm not very sure, but it's worth a try, if it succeeds, the initiative is in our hands, how is it better than letting the Chuji thief army take the initiative, and break through when you want." ”

After muttering this passage, Uncle Zhou quickly sat down next to the bookcase to write a letter in person, Zhou Shu, Li Shiqi and others curiously stepped forward to watch, but saw that Uncle Zhou wrote a reply to Zhu Jishi, asking Zhu Jishi to give up the plan to withdraw directly to the Jinjiling battlefield, and give Zhu Jishi two days to withdraw to the Jishui River, thirty miles northeast of Jinjiling, where he would rest for a night, and then set off south in the middle of the morning to withdraw to the Jinjiling battlefield at the speed of a rapid march.

In addition, Uncle Zhou also gave a clear explanation to Zhu Jishi, asking Zhu Jishi's department to prepare enough dry food in advance on the way back to the division, not to light a fire and smoke when camping on the bank of the Jishui River, to hide the traces as much as possible, and not to expose the location of the camp.

Then, after Uncle Zhou sent a fast horse to send the letter away overnight, Li Shiqi, Zhou Shu and others next to him asked suspiciously: "General, can you give me some advice, why do you arrange it like this?" ”

"I want to lure the Chuji thief army to break through on the night of Zhu Jishi's return to Jinjiling." Uncle Zhou replied very directly: "On the mountain of the Chuji thief army, it is difficult for our scouts to find out whether they are secretly preparing to abandon the camp and retreat, so we can only wait for the Chuji thief army to start breaking through and reacting, leaving us too short time to respond." Rather than being so passive, we might as well take advantage of General Zhu's return to the division to make a full effort to lure the Chuji thief army to launch a breakthrough on the night of his return, and if we succeed, we can take the opportunity to annihilate the Chuji thief army with a much greater certainty. ”

"Brilliant plan!" Li Shiqi woke up and immediately opened his mouth to praise: "Let General Zhu's army secretly retain its physical strength, and pretend to return to the division in a hurry on the surface, the Chuji thief army is afraid that our partial division will slow down and trap them to death completely, so we will definitely seize the time to break through that night, and then as long as we prepare well in advance, the battle will be much easier." ”

"That's not enough." Uncle Zhou pondered and said: "The Chuji thief army is cunning and abnormal, if we want them to break through according to the time we arranged, we have to do some other articles, so that we can be sure of success." ”

Of course, opportunities and risks coexist, the next two consecutive nights, Uncle Zhou and the main civil and military forces of the Han army did not have a solid sleep, what I was afraid of was that the Chuji coalition army found the clues, and rushed to break through the siege and flee south, and then it was in the early morning of the day when the Han army was preparing to return to the Jinjiling battlefield, and saw the dawn of the sky outside the tent in a daze, and Uncle Zhou, who had boiled into panda eyes, quietly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he had passed the most difficult level, and then even if he could not lure the enemy to succeed, he didn't need to worry about sleeping at night.

Immediately afterward, Uncle Zhou didn't even have time to get up early to wash up, so he immediately ordered: "Immediately send orders to all battalions to announce the news that General Zhu Jishi has defeated the thief army of Qi to all the officers and soldiers of our army, and make sure that every one of our soldiers knows the good news." ”

After the order was conveyed, soon, cheers sounded in the camps of the Han army who were having breakfast, and then, naturally, this important situation was soon reported to Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da and others by the scouts of the Chuji coalition army who closely monitored the movements of the Han army camp, and it also immediately aroused the vigilance of Xiang Zhuang and others.

Immediately afterwards, because the Han army deliberately hyped it up, the scouts of the Chuji coalition army quickly learned about the situation from the shouting of the Han soldiers, and quickly reported the news to Xiang Zhuang and others, who were shocked and suspicious when they heard the news, and hurriedly held a meeting to discuss the truth of the matter. Then, just when the decision-making level of the Chuji coalition army was suspicious of this, there was an urgent report from the guards of the Western Chu army outside the tent, saying that the Han army had sent an envoy to the mountain, and there was an important matter about the Qi country that should take the initiative to inform the Chuji coalition army.

Of course, the envoy of the Han army was quickly escorted to Xiang Zhuang and others, and what surprised Xiang Zhuang and others was that in addition to taking the initiative to introduce them to the various changes that had happened in Qi recently, the envoy of the Han army also presented them with the head of Tian Wang, and proved with ironclad facts that the Han army's partial division had defeated the rebels of Qi State, completely shattering the hope of the rebels of Qi State to meet the Chuji coalition army to break through. Then there is the letter of persuasion written by Uncle Zhou to Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da, persuading the Chuji coalition army to take the initiative to lay down their arms and break through.

At the beginning, of course, Xiang Zhuang would not believe the words of the Han army envoy, and he was extremely suspicious that the so-called Tian Wang's head was nothing but the Han army's fraud and intimidation methods, but when he saw Tian Da's desperate look after carefully identifying Tian Wang's head, Xiang Zhuang immediately knew that the situation was not good, and quickly sent the whimsical Han army envoy away in a few words, and then immediately asked Tian Da: "King Jibei, is it really Tian Wang's head?" ”

Tian Da nodded very reluctantly, and then said with a pale face: "It is indeed Tian Wang's head that will not be wrong, I have not made five suits with him, and I have met more than once or twice before, and I will not admit my mistake." ”

After Tian Da finished saying this, the big tent of the Chinese army immediately became silent, and then it was only after a long time that Xiang Zhuang smashed his fist on the table in front of him, and said with a dark face: "It seems that the Qi side really can't count on it, unless my brother can still send us reinforcements, otherwise we can only find a way to break through by ourselves." ”

"And what are we doing with it?" Ji Bu hurriedly said: "What is the situation in our rear now, Zuo Sima, don't you know that it is possible to send us reinforcements there in a short period of time?" If we delay any longer, let our soldiers know the situation on the Qi side, and the morale of the army will be shaken and their morale will decline, and there will be no way to fight this battle! Taking advantage of the fact that the thief's division has not yet returned, we quickly prepare for a breakthrough, and break through to Boyang tonight. ”

"Can't take any chances!" Han Xin immediately objected, saying, "Uncle Zhou is so treacherous, how could he not have guessed that we would use this opportunity to break through?" He deliberately sent an envoy to bring us Tian Wang's head, it is likely that he deliberately forced us to launch a breakthrough tonight, and then as long as he let the Han thief army prepare in advance, he can not only take this opportunity to inflict heavy damage on us, but also hope to completely annihilate us! ”

"What if the thief comes back first?" Ji Bu said sharply: "At that time, the Han thieves not only had more available troops, but they would definitely block Jinjiling more tightly, wouldn't it be even more uncertain for us to launch a breakthrough again?" ”

"General, don't worry, we still have time." Han Xin replied: "It is impossible for the thieves to be on strict guard every day, and our grain and grass can still support more than a month, as long as we wait patiently for a while, there will definitely be a chance to break through, and it is better than risking a breakthrough tonight." ”

Ji Bu, who had long seen Han Xin's displeasure, was furious, and immediately scolded Han Xin for being just a boastful crotch child, and the bamboo talk would only harm nearly 100,000 soldiers of the Chuji Coalition Army, but fortunately, Xiang Zhuang always kept in mind Old Man Fan's advice, and trusted Han Xin more, and finally did not adopt Ji Bu's suggestion to break through to the south that night, and decided to continue to wait and see the situation for a period of time, and then make a final decision, Ji Bu was of course very dissatisfied with this, but he was helpless.

The matter was not over, and when the afternoon had just arrived, the officers and men of the Chuji coalition army, who had closely monitored the movements of the Han army's camp, sent another urgent report, saying that the Han army's partial division had returned to the Jinjiling battlefield from the direction of Qi in the east.

It's okay not to look at it, at a glance, Han Xin and the equally treacherous Liu Laosan immediately lit up their eyes, because the situation when the Han army returned to the camp was greatly beyond their expectations, not only rushed back at the speed of a rapid march, the flags and queues were obviously a little messy, and the team was also full of wounded soldiers lying on stretchers and being carried back by their companions, and many soldiers had just returned to the camp, and they were immediately lying all over the ground, and it was obvious that their physical strength had been seriously overdrawn.

Seeing this scene, not to mention that Han Xin and Liu Laosan's hearts were moved, even Xiang Zhuang, who was more kind, saw the opportunity, and hurriedly turned back to Liu Laosan and Han Xin and said: "Pei Gong, General Han, depending on the situation, although the Han thieves defeated our Qi friendly army, their own losses were not small, and they came back in such a hurry, if nothing else, these Han thieves who just came back, even if they barely went into battle tonight, they won't play much role?" ”

Liu Laosan nodded immediately, agreeing with Xiang Zhuang's analysis, but Han Xin remained silent, and said after a while: "If Zuo Sima is willing, he can secretly prepare to break through to the south, but whether or not to break through to the south tonight, we had better wait until the evening to make a decision." ”

After that, Han Xin added: "The reason is also very simple, the distance is so far away, we can't be sure whether these appearances of the Han thief are pretended, whether it will be a play that Uncle Zhou deliberately asked them to do, so we must calm down and pay attention to the clues of the Han thief camp, and then we can make a decision." ”

"Then I'll leave this matter to you." Xiang Zhuang really trusted Han Xin very much, and immediately said: "I'll go and get our army ready to retreat first, you stay here to observe, whether to retreat tonight, and then decide when we have dinner." ”

Han Xin immediately agreed, and stayed on the top of the mountain to continue to observe the various movements of the Han army's camp, in addition to paying careful attention to the Han army team that had just returned, he also kept thinking about the various methods that Uncle Zhou might take to lure the enemy, and he also said that he would not believe that these Han soldiers who had just returned had greatly reduced their combat effectiveness.

Not to mention, it really made Han Xin wait for the situation of the Han army camp to change, and when the time was about to pass, the Han army battalions rose a lot of cooking smoke one after another when it was still relatively early before the dinner time, and began to make fires and rice in advance, and in addition, in the main camp of the Han army directly under Uncle Zhou, an army was also dispatched, and in broad daylight, it rushed directly to the southwest of Jinjiling, where the Chuji coalition army had to break through.

Seeing this scene, Han Xinzhong finally came to a conclusion, and said secretly: "It won't be wrong, Uncle Zhou must be making amends, he was negligent for a while, and he got carried away and forgot to consider the physical strength of his partial division, or only found out that the situation was not good after his partial division came back, so he hurriedly bluffed, while making food in advance and pretending to prepare dry food for night battles, while pretending to divide his troops to the complex terrain in the southwest to arrange an ambush, trying to bluff us so that we would not dare to break through overnight, and buy time for his emergency retreat of the thieves who retreated." ”

Of course, after coming to this conclusion, Han Xin of course had to consider that Uncle Zhou's arrangements were also deliberately luring the Chuji coalition army to break through, but after repeated deductions, Han Xin quickly discovered that if this was also an illusion deliberately arranged by Uncle Zhou, then Uncle Zhou had to start setting this trap at least a few days in advance, so that it was possible to solve the physical strength problem of the Han army's retreat from the army's rapid march.

After careful consideration for a while, Han Xin hurried to the sentry of the Chuji Coalition Army who was standing guard at the top of the mountain last night, and asked, "Last night, you were on the top of the mountain, did you see any abnormal movement in the distance around you?" Like a firelight or something? ”

"Back to General Han, no." The sentry on duty last night immediately replied truthfully: "Last night, there was only the fire of the Han thief camp under the mountain, and the fire on Licheng City, and there was no abnormal movement found in other places. ”

Han Xin nodded slowly, and then gritted his teeth and whispered: "Uncle Zhou, I know you are treacherous, but I don't believe that you can be treacherous to this point, you can start to set this trap for me to drill several days in advance, and you can even take into account the details of the fire when you are camping!" It's tonight, and the certainty of breaking through is the greatest! ”