Pengcheng is the largest city in Surabaya County, the city is high and deep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the city has a large population, the number of county soldiers alone has nearly two thousand, the manpower that can be used to defend the city is very sufficient, and at the same time there is a lot of food in the city, and there is no need to worry about the problem of food and grass for a year and a half, so if the defenders of Pengcheng are determined to defend the city, the young marshal's army will attack head-on, not only is it destined to suffer heavy casualties in the battle, but whether it can take Pengcheng is actually two words.

But there is no way, there are traitors and scum everywhere in that generation, among the large and small local officials in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, traitors and scum are even more famous, Pengcheng County Ling Wang Yong is still a typical representative of it, refused to open the city gate at a critical moment, and helped the young marshal army to drive away Zhao Zhuang, the county guard of Surabaya who was loyal to the Great Qin Court, and forced away the boss, Wang Yong secretly contacted Xiang Kang at the first time to discuss the details of the surrender, and after obtaining Xiang Kang's promise to give him a bounty of 10,000 and ten sides of the jade wall, Wang Yong did not hesitate to open the city gate and rewarded Pengcheng with money and grain to the young marshal. During this period, some subordinates refused to comply, and were directly killed by Wang Yong with an army loyal to him.

I don't like Wang Yong's personality very much, but for the sake of the future, after taking Pengcheng, Xiang Kang still fulfilled his promise, in addition to the bounty, Xiang Kang generously let Wang Yong continue to serve as the commander of Pengcheng County, and was promoted to the first level, in exchange for Wang Yong's gratitude, and swore to be loyal to Xiang Kang until death - of course, Wang Yong's oath, except for himself, basically no one believes it.

Xiang Kang soon found that his reward for Wang Yong was actually worth the money, because it was still after entering Pengcheng, Xiang Kang, who came to Pengcheng for the first time, found that it was also a county of money and grain, Pengcheng and Donghai County's number one money and grain heavy underground Pi, it was too much stronger, the size of the city was more than twice as large as Xiapi, not to mention, the population of the city was almost twice that of Xiapi, merchants gathered, trade was developed, and the money and grain economy not only far exceeded Xiapi, but also threw off the current base of the young marshal army.

At the same time, the city of Pengcheng is still located on the high ground, without the fatal defect of the low-lying terrain of Xiapi, which is suitable for long-term garrison. And more importantly, the traffic of Pengcheng is still very developed, there are both Qin Chi Road can be connected to Tancheng, another important town of the young marshal army, and there are countless county-level roads directly to all parts of Surabaya, water transportation also has obvious advantages, to the east can be connected to most of the cities currently controlled by the young marshal army through major rivers, to the west can reach the hinterland of the Central Plains, to the north is straight into Qilu, it is very convenient to enter the army, and it is far more suitable than the next minister to become the current temporary capital of the young marshal army, so after carefully understanding the various situations in Pengcheng, Xiang Kang inevitably had the idea of staying in Pengcheng for a long time, and wanted to relocate the general headquarters of the Young Marshal Army to Pengcheng and remotely command all the battlefields of the Young Marshal Army.

On the fourth day after entering Pengcheng, Wang Yong, who had just surrendered for a few days, suddenly came to Xiang Kang in a panic, and couldn't wait to say as soon as they met: "Young marshal, bad news, the officers under the subordinates have just heard a rumor on the Gushui Wharf, saying that the army of Zhang Chu Wang Chen Sheng's western expedition was about to reach Xianyang, but suddenly suffered a big defeat in Xishui and was forced to retreat. ”

"Sure enough, it came." Xiang Kang's heart froze, and he hurriedly asked, "How is it exactly?" Is there a more detailed situation? ”

"The young marshal forgives the sin, and the subordinates have just heard it, but the details are not very clear." Wang Yong replied truthfully: "The servant of the subordinate just said that he heard that the tyrant of Huhai pardoned the prisoners of Lishan and let the prisoners form an army, which defeated the army of King Zhang Chu's western expedition. ”

"Zhang Han really made a move!" Xiang Kang came to a conclusion in his heart, and then after a little thought, Xiang Kang said to Wang Yong again: "It's okay, let's not say whether the news is true or not, it's not sure if it's true, it doesn't matter, it's so far away, Zhang Chu's army won't affect us if it suffers defeat." Haosheng went to handle your official business, sent more people to inquire about the news of the Central Plains and Guanzhong, and sorted out the information collected and reported it to me. ”

Wang Yong hurriedly agreed, and hurriedly said goodbye and left, but as soon as Wang Yong left, Xiang Kang immediately said to Zhou Tong next to him: "Uncle Ya, we can't delay, we have to quickly discuss the adjustment of the army garrison, move our main city to Pengcheng, and then use Pengcheng as our strategic center to adjust our strategy and tactics." ”

"You don't have to be so fast, is it?" Zhou Zeng said a little strangely: "Although Pengcheng's population, money, food and road traffic are more suitable to serve as our main city than the prime minister, but we have only taken Pengcheng for a few days, our foothold is unstable, and it is directly adjacent to several Surabaya counties that are still occupied by the tyrannical Qin army, is it too eager to move the main city at this time?" ”

"You have to prepare for a rainy day." Xiang Kang replied: "Pengcheng is the transportation hub in the Huaisi area, not only convenient for us to enter the Central Plains, if our enemy attacks us, we must also take Pengcheng first, and then it is possible to threaten the other cities under our control, move our main city as soon as possible, and deploy heavy troops on the side of Pengcheng to strengthen the control, which can not only use us to further expand the territory, but also help us protect the rear and lay a solid foundation." ”

Xiang Kang did not tell Zhou Zeng another important reason why he made up his mind on the spot, Xiang Kang knew very well that with the current strength and influence of the young marshal's army, after Zhang Han broke through the main force of Chen Shengjun, he would probably immediately turn his attention to himself. The North China Plain has no danger to defend, and fighting in the face of Zhang Han's division of troops is tantamount to finding his own way, only by holding the center of Pengcheng can he force Zhang Han to fight Pengcheng and win a partial military advantage for himself and the opportunity to wait for work, so Xiang Kang made up his mind so happily, and before he saw Zhang Han's shadow, he had already begun to plan the battle situation of the decisive battle with Zhang Han in the future.

Fortunately, although Xiang Kang did not finish all the reasons, Zhou Zeng, who had always admired Xiang Kang's decision-making, still nodded, and no longer objected to moving the main city to Pengcheng so early. At that moment, Xiang Kang and Zhou Zeng hurriedly discussed, and decided to transfer the young marshals of various cities in Huaibei to gather in Pengcheng, and at the same time adjust the personnel, so that Xiang Guan and Xiang Sheng's capable generals could come to Pengcheng to listen to it, leaving only Xiang Han to continue to garrison Fuli, waiting for the opportunity to enter Zhuyi and Haoxian and other places. In addition, the northern line was also adjusted by Xiang Kang, and some of the newly recruited troops and Zhong Liwu and Long He were all transferred to Pengcheng by Xiang Kang, leaving only the self-protection army to let Xiang You guard the northern line, temporarily stopping the expansion to the north.

After discussing these things, Zhou Zeng made another suggestion and said to Xiang Kang: "Young Marshal, since we have decided to move the main city, then for the sake of safety, it is best for us to take a few surrounding cities and build a barrier to defend Pengcheng. In the next suggestion, during the relocation of the main city, we might as well send troops to the west, first take Xiao County, cut off the communication between Surabaya County and Liuxian County, and also force Zhao Zhuang back to Xiangxian County to defend the city, and then want to take Liuxian County in the north, isn't it easy? ”

Zhou Zeng's idea was not bad, but Xiang Kang did not adopt it immediately, and after thinking about it for a while, he said: "The idea is not bad, but Uncle Ya, you forgot, in the north of Liuxian, there is also the army of Liu Ji and Liu Laosan, let's attack Xiao County first, what if he takes the opportunity to attack Liuxian?" Sending troops to rob is against the righteousness of the anti-Qin righteous army, if we don't send troops to rob, won't we be cheap Liu Laosan for nothing? ”

"This is a problem, if he takes the opportunity to take Liuxian, we will no longer be able to rob him, we can only make him a hidden danger around us." Zhou Zeng frowned, and then said: "Why don't you send troops to Liuxian and Xiao County at the same time, anyway, after absorbing Zhao Zhuang's troops and Pengcheng's army, our troops have exceeded 14,000, and it is more than enough to send two troops at the same time." ”

Although he never liked to divide his troops too much, he thought about it again and again, considering that Pengcheng really needed to build a peripheral barrier, and the more time left for the enemy, it would be more difficult for the army to take the surrounding two cities, Xiang Kang also made up his mind, nodded and said: "Okay, let Chao Zhi lead Zhu Jishi to fight Liuxian, and let Zheng Bu lead three thousand troops to fight Xiaoxian." In addition, he gave Xiang Han another order, telling him to send troops to attack Zhuyi, so that Zhao Zhuang was embarrassed and didn't know where to defend it. ”

Zhou Zeng agreed, and hurriedly wrote an order for Xiang Kang, and Xiang Kang sent people to send Chao Zhi, Zhu Jishi and Zheng Bu to the three generals, so that they each led their troops to fight the second county of Liuxiao, and the three generals were reused, of course, they were all overjoyed, but when Xiang Kang issued a military talisman to the three generals, Xiang Yang, who was in charge of the sentry work, hurriedly came to Xiang Kang and said to Xiang Kang: "Brother, I just received the report of the detailed investigation, more than a day ago, Liu Jiyi's army suddenly sent troops south from Pei County and launched an attack on Liuxian County north of Pengcheng. The tyrannical Qin army in Liuxian County sent troops to fight, but was defeated by Liu Ji and was forced to retreat to the city. ”

"So fast?" Xiang Kang was stunned, and then stomped his feet again and shouted, "Old rascal! Sure enough, it's an old rascal! It must have been found that we had taken Pengcheng and defeated the main force of Zhao Zhuang's county soldiers, and the tyrannical Qin army was no longer able to reinforce Liuxian, so we hurriedly took the opportunity to attack Liuxian! ”

"Don't worry, young marshal." Chao Zhi couldn't wait to say: "The last general will go down to prepare, and tomorrow I will raise troops to the north, and I will definitely take down Liuxian for you!" ”

After thinking about it for a while, Xiang Kang replied: "You can't be in a hurry, at this time, if you send troops north, not only will you not be able to take Liuxian, but maybe it will backfire, and in turn help Liu Ji and Liu Laosan take Liuxian more easily." ”

"Why?" Chao Zhi, who finally got the opportunity to be alone, asked anxiously.

"Two reasons." Xiang Kang said: "The first is a moral issue, they are all anti-Qin rebels, although there is no agreement between them, but for the city of the violent Qin army, it must be who will fight first, you go to Liuxian, as long as Liu Ji does not retreat, you can only watch and can't do it." The second is the reaction of the violent Qin army in Liuxian, they are already in a critical situation, and they see that we are also sending troops to the north, in order to survive, maybe they will choose to surrender in Kaecheng, and then Liu Ji's advantage will be big? ”

"What then?" Chao Zhi almost had an urge to tear Liu Laosan alive, and said: "If we don't move, Liu Ji really takes Liuxian down, how can we do anything to Liuxian?" ”

It is related to the northern barrier and buffer of the main city in the future, of course, Xiang Kang must not tolerate Liu Laosan taking Liuxian County to pose a threat to himself, but how to take Liuxian before Liu Laosan, but it gives Xiang Kang a headache, of course it is not possible to directly start robbing, explain the reason to Liu Laosan, it is not okay to ask Liu Laosan to take the initiative to withdraw the army, last time Liu Laosan had already taken the initiative to retreat once in Xue County, and this time he went to ask him to quit, and anyone would have something to say.

But fortunately, after racking his brains, Xiang Kang suddenly considered another key issue - Liu Laosan has great ambitions and is unwilling to be subordinate, he is definitely unwilling to be a cow and a horse for himself, and obeys his own commands, but with his prudence and cunning, he will definitely prevent himself from annexing his team by force, and eat the three cities of Peixian, Fengxian and Huling that he currently controls in one go. 、

After discovering this key point and quickly thinking about it, Xiang Kang made up his mind and said: "According to the original plan, I will send troops tomorrow, Uncle Ya, immediately write a letter to Liu Ji and Liu Laosan for me, declare to him our military might, and ask him to come south to Pengcheng to meet with me in person to discuss the matter of joining forces with Qin, and his tone should be as arrogant as possible." ”

Zhou Zeng agreed, and hurriedly put pen to paper, Xiang Kang said again: "Uncle Ya, when announcing our military might, try to exaggerate our strength as much as possible, don't be afraid of being exposed by Liu Laosan, but don't tell Liu Laosan in the letter that we are going to send troops to stay in the county, and send it out with a fast horse as soon as it is written, and be sure to send the letter to Liu Laosan within tomorrow." ”