The famous Qin Chi Road is in the open plain, the width of the road has reached an astonishing sixty-nine meters, and it is also rammed extremely flat and strong, many sections of the road that have not been damaged by man, even after more than 2,000 years, it is still not an inch of grass, it is not one of the most important traffic arteries in the Qin and Han dynasties, it is extremely convenient for the army to march and transport materials.

This kind of road is also more convenient for cavalry to travel at high speed and long-distance running, just received the news that Sima Wei sent from Puyang with a fast horse, knowing that his cousin Xiang Kang, who had stolen his limelight, led the army eastward, and had already made all preparations and had secretly withdrawn to Linzi, Xiang Yu, who did not hesitate, immediately set off from Linzi with 30,000 Western Chu cavalry, and rushed all the way along the gallop road, passing through Boyang, Xue County and Zou County, all the way to Puyang.

If it weren't for Peng Yue inadvertently helping Xiang Kang, the Western Chu cavalry was likely to be able to arrive at Puyang in only seven days, during which the sky was also blindless, helping the evil and suppressing the good, when the Western Chu cavalry went south to the vicinity of Boyang, it happened to meet the sudden rise of Peng Yue to drive the field back to Jibei County to govern Boyang to defend the city, seeing the sudden arrival of the Western Chu cavalry, Peng Yue also said that Xiang Yu came to rescue Tiandu, and quickly led the army to fight Xiang Yu in person, or dispatched his main force to help Xiang Kang block Xiang Yu's rushing footsteps.

Fortunately, the relationship is not big, Peng Yue still did this to ask Huazi to carry the bowl into the pit - looking for death! Xiang Yu, who was anxious to find trouble with his cousin, saw that Peng Yue dared to cause trouble for himself, and immediately roared and personally led the army to charge into battle, and the 30,000 Western Chu cavalry he led were all elite and strong soldiers, but in a moment, Peng Yue's army was scattered and collapsed, and then he entered Peng Yue's camp with red eyes, and killed Peng Yue's troops who had defeated the main force of Tiandu not long ago. What kind of army did Lao Tzu encounter? How can it be so strong? How can it be so powerful? ”

In the end, Peng Yue only bought Xiang Kangduo a day, and only let the Western Chu cavalry pay the price of just over a thousand casualties, eight days later, the Western Chu cavalry still rushed to Puyang at a gallop, and retreated from Handan to Puyang Sima Wei to join the division, and then the Western Chu cavalry hurriedly replenished the food and horse material that Sima Wei had prepared for them a long time ago, and immediately waved westward, still along the Qin Chi Road to Ao Cang. Sima Wei, who had been bullied by the Han army and the Zhao army to the point of crying without tears, was also dancing, and couldn't wait to lead the remnants of his army to follow the westward march to provide logistical support and auxiliary tasks for the Western Chu cavalry.

On the side of the Han army, when the Western Chu cavalry galloped to the outskirts of Yan County, Zhao Han, Zhong Lifu's deputy stationed in Yan County, received a scout report, saying that Xiang Yu had personally led the Western Chu cavalry to the front, and the news was so sudden that Zhao Han couldn't help but shout in disbelief, "How is it possible?" Isn't Xiang Yu Pifu far away? How could you come to Yan County? Am I dreaming, or are you mistaken? ”

In addition to quickly sending people to Zhong Liwu stationed in Sujube and Uncle Zhou stationed in Aocang, in order to buy time for the friendly army, Zhao Han also mustered up the courage to lead the four thousand troops under his command out of the camp to form a formation, intercepting the way of the Western Chu army, in a vain attempt to block the Western Chu army for a period of time, so that Zhong Liwu and Uncle Zhou had more time to prepare for the enemy.

It's a pity that although Zhao Han's courage is commendable, the iron cavalry of the Western Chu cavalry is still unstoppable, only one charge, the Western Chu cavalry tore a big hole in the battle formation of Zhao Han's army, and then directly tore Zhao Han's army in half, and completely drowned the chaotic Han soldiers like a tide. In the end, poor Zhao Han was stabbed to death by Xiang Yu with a spear, and the four thousand Han soldiers were almost slaughtered by the Western Chu cavalry, and less than 100 people escaped!

The corpses of the soldiers of the Han army were covered with yellow earth, the hooves of the Western Chu cavalry were stained with blood, leaving countless blood spots on the road, the red Han army flags were lying everywhere, and the dark red Western Chu army flags were fluttering in the wind, hunting sounds.

Zhao Han and his 4,000 subordinates did not sacrifice in vain, at least they made Zhong Liwu, who was stationed in Suojube, understand that going out of battle was equivalent to death, so when the Western Chu cavalry killed under the city of Suozao, Zhong Liwu, who had learned a lesson, decisively chose to close the camp and hold on, in a vain attempt to lure the Western Chu cavalry to storm his strong camp and buy time for Uncle Zhou behind him to prepare for war.

Still has no effect, Xiang Yu's primary target this time is Ao Cang instead of sour dates, naturally it is impossible to waste his precious time for sour dates, so he decisively chose to go around the camp and continue to rush straight to Ao Cang, Zhong Li, who only has more than 10,000 troops left in his hands, can neither beat Xiang Yu, let alone catch up with Xiang Yu, and can only watch the Western Chu cavalry bypass the sour dates and advance westward, while silently saying: "General Zhou, I'm sorry, now it depends on whether you can hold Ao Cang." ”

It was a blessing in misfortune for the Han army, although Zhou Shu, the general of the Han army who stayed in Aocang, like Xiang Kang, in order to meet the eagerness of the main civil and military forces of the Han army to welcome back his relatives, he was forced to agree with the tactical plan of the main force of the Han army to attack Pengcheng, but he did not dare to ignore the threat from the east, as early as when Xiang Kang led the army to set off, Uncle Zhou had already begun to arrange the defense plan of Aocang, and made a lot of defensive preparations in advance.

So although Xiang Yu came very suddenly, and the speed was unbelievably fast, Uncle Zhou didn't panic at all, on the contrary, when he received the news that Xiang Yu personally led the army to attack, Uncle Zhou also sneered and said: "Sure enough, it is said that the overlord of Western Chu is fighting like lightning, and the attack is like fire, I think it's average." At the very least, it was a day later than I expected! ”

With a sneer of great confidence, Uncle Zhou said that in addition to immediately asking the 26,000 Han army soldiers under his command to prepare for war according to the original plan, Uncle Zhou just sent a letter to Zhong Liwu, and asked in the letter: "Xiang Yu is coming west, and he must use Sima Wei to escort the grain and grass and military supplies. If Xiang Yu bypasses the sour jujube and goes west directly, please take the initiative to march east to meet Sima Wei, and burn the military baggage he escorted at all costs, which is related to the life and death of Ao Cang and our army, I hope the general will do it! ”

After bypassing the sour jujube, it took less than a day, and just after noon the next day, the Western Chu cavalry led by Xiang Yu successfully arrived at the chasm ferry near Aocang, and the result was that Xiang Yu and the Western Chu cavalry were overjoyed, because they came too fast, the Han soldiers guarding the ferry did not have time to destroy all the two pontoon bridges on the chasm ferry, just cut the rope of one pontoon bridge, and were scattered by the Western Chu cavalry from another pontoon bridge across the chasm, and fled back to the Han army camp established on Guangwu Mountain.

"Okay, send someone to fix the pontoon!"

I never thought that I would have such good luck, I was able to rush across the chasm before the Han army smashed the pontoon bridge, Xiang Yu, who originally thought that it would take a lot of effort to cross the river, was of course overjoyed, first ordered the soldiers to immediately repair and restore another pontoon bridge that was just cut by the Han soldiers, and then personally led the army to cross the river first, but never thought that Xiang Zhuang next to him stopped and said: "Brother, you are the commander of the whole army, you can't take risks easily, the pontoon bridge of the Han thieves is not very wide, and the speed of our crossing of the river is not as fast as there, If you cross the river first, and the army of Han thieves suddenly crosses the river, we can't respond to each other, for fear that we will suffer a big loss. ”

"It's all this time, if this king doesn't cross the river first, who would dare to sacrifice his life to step forward?"

Xiang Yu didn't want to listen, but still insisted on crossing the river first, Xiang Zhuang tried to dissuade him, and next to Xiang Yu's cavalry general Zhou Lan also stood up and said: "King, you are a body of gold, you can't take risks easily, let's let the last general lead the people and horses across the river first." ”

Knowing that Zhou Lan and Xiang Zhuang were both well-intentioned, Xiang Yu nodded reluctantly, agreed to let Zhou Lan take the lead in crossing the river, and advised: "After crossing the river, if the Han thief army suddenly kills, you must not risk the battle, just hold the pontoon crossing, and wait for the main force led by this king to cross the river and then find the Han thief army to settle accounts." ”

Zhou Lan hugged his fists and sang a promise, and then led the five thousand cavalry under his command to lead the horse across the river, and methodically drove to the other side of the chasm, during which the Han army camp was silent, as if he had been completely afraid of the Western Chu cavalry, watching Zhou Lan's troops cross the river and form a formation, not daring to make any moves, Xiang Zhuang was inevitably more proud, and said with a smile: "It is said that Uncle Zhou's husband uses soldiers like ghosts, even my traitor brother admires it very much, and this king looks at it in general, except for being able to close the camp and defend it, I really don't know what else he can do!" ”

"Knock knock knock!"

The sudden sound of war drums made Xiang Yu flurry, and then, in the shouting, behind Aocang Mountain in the west, and behind Guangwu Mountain in the east, at the same time, a Han army infantry came out, one left and one right quickly killed the ferry that was sandwiched by Guangwu Mountain and Ao Cang Mountain, Xiang Yu also came back to his senses, and said with a slightly surprised smile: "Is there really an ambush?" Uncle Zhou's courage is not small, he dares to ambush the king's army? ”

It was so easy to fall into an ambush, of course Xiang Yu was not nervous, but because at this moment, Zhou Lan's five thousand Western Chu cavalry had basically crossed the river, and a defensive phalanx combining infantry and cavalry had been arranged at the pontoon crossing, plus the Western Chu cavalry were all carefully selected elite and strong soldiers, even if Uncle Zhou attacked with all his nest, Zhou Lan's army would never be quickly killed by the Han army.

The result was just as Xiang Yu expected, seeing that the Han army suddenly killed left and right, the Western Chu cavalry on the opposite bank Zhou Lan's department was only a little surprised, and then immediately took a firm position to prepare for the battle, Xiang Yu also ordered Xiang Zhuang to lead the second Western Chu cavalry to attack, cross the chasm and reinforce Zhou Lan's department. But as soon as he finished giving the order, Xiang Yu's face changed, because in the upper reaches of the chasm, suddenly thick smoke rushed into the sky, and dozens of fire rafts full of thatched firewood bundles flowed downstream, burning and forcing towards the two pontoon bridges on the surface of the chasm!

"Piff! What a guts! I even want to eat the king's river crossing cavalry in one bite! ”

In addition to being furious, Xiang Yu could only send cavalry to release arrows and try to prevent the Han soldiers from manipulating the raft to burn the pontoon bridge, while ordering Xiang Zhuang to step up crossing the river to reinforce Zhou Lan, and at the same time sending people to order Zhou Lan on the other bank to form a formation and wait for the rear army to cross the river for reinforcements! In addition, Xiang Yu hurriedly sent people to find the shallow section of the chasm, so that the self-army could cross the river to reinforce.

At this time, the soldiers of the Han army who were killed left and right had also rushed to the vicinity of the phalanx of the Western Chu army, and what made the Western Chu army sneer again was that the Han army ambush soldiers did not even adjust the queue, shouting just raising their shields and continuing to charge, so bold that they tried to kill the solid phalanx of the Western Chu army directly by charging. Zhou Lan was not polite, and hurriedly shouted: "Release the arrows and give the thief a little color to see!" ”

The dense rain of arrows soon caused a lot of casualties to the soldiers of the Han army, but the soldiers of the Han army still continued to move forward desperately with red eyes as if they had taken the wrong medicine, and after paying a certain amount of casualties, they quickly rushed to the close position in front of the Western Chu army.

"Boom! Bang! Bang! Bang! ”

The primordial grenades that exploded one after another caught the officers and soldiers of the Western Chu Army off guard, all of them were shocked in their hearts, and they didn't know what happened, but the worse was still behind, and they were attacked by the primitive grenades, and the horses of the Western Chu Army were suddenly in chaos, and countless war horses were frightened and galloped, neighing and rampage inside the phalanx of the Western Chu Army, knocking over countless Western Chu soldiers and soldiers, and also trampling on countless soldiers of the Western Chu Army.

"Kill!"

Of course, the soldiers of the Han army will not miss such a good opportunity, shouting wildly, the soldiers of the Han army rushed up like a tide, slashing and stabbing desperately to kill the soldiers of the Western Chu who were rushed by the herd of horses, and in the blink of an eye, countless soldiers of the Western Chu army were killed with blood, and they fell to the ground. At the same time, Uncle Zhou also personally led the main force of the Han army to rush out of the camp of Guangwu Mountain, and rushed to the ferry battlefield with a sneering smile to reinforce it.

If there is no threat of the Han army's raft and the chasm blocking the way, then needless to say, Xiang Yu only needs to give an order, and he can immediately lead the rest of the Western Chu cavalry to charge collectively, and kill the Han soldiers who are at a disadvantage in the overall strength, leaving no armor behind! But the problem is that the chasm blocks the way for the cavalry of the Western Chu army to charge, and the burning raft is constantly approaching the pontoon bridge, and the Western Chu army has no way to immediately invest its troops, and must worry about retreating after crossing the river, even Xiang Yu does not have the courage to order the army to charge collectively through the two narrow pontoon bridges to reinforce the opposite bank.

If it weren't for those damn primitive grenades, the Western Chu Army Zhou Lan's department might not have no hope of repelling the attack of the Han army, but the problem was that the Han soldiers played tricks and used grenades to open the way when they encountered difficulties.

In fact, the situation of the soldiers of the Western Chu army who dismounted and fought was better, the most unlucky thing was the Western Chu cavalry who were still riding on horses, as long as the primitive grenade smashed into their crowd and exploded, their war horses would inevitably run wildly uncontrollably, and there was no high bridge saddle and stirrup to help them fix their bodies in this era, and countless Western Chu cavalry with slightly worse riding skills were injured and even directly killed, and more Western Chu cavalry were carried by war horses on the battlefield and ran around, becoming the bow and arrow prey of the Han army soldiers, The number of casualties quickly caught up with the dismounted infantry.

More trouble is still behind, the fierce battle is only a moment, the first raft hit the pontoon bridge first, although the Xichu soldiers on the bridge desperately used spears to push the block, but after more rafts collided, the first pontoon bridge was quickly burned off, the soldiers on the bridge screamed and fell into the water, drowning countless people, the Han army's raft continued to move forward under the impetus of the current, and quickly forced to the second pontoon, the second pontoon bridge is also difficult to protect in a blink of an eye.

Seeing this scene, in addition to scolding Uncle Zhou's shameless cunning, Xiang Yu was also completely helpless, and in the end there was no way, Xiang Yu could only adopt the advice of his subordinates, and hurriedly rang the retreating golden cymbal, so that Zhou Lan led the defeated troops to withdraw from the battlefield, and found another ferry to cross the river to escape, so as to reduce the loss of soldiers of his own army. At the same time, Xiang Zhuang saw that the situation was not right, so he could only reluctantly order to abandon the pontoon bridge and withdraw the soldiers who had crossed the river to prevent them from dying in vain.

The matter is not over, hearing the voice of Jin Zheng, Zhou Lan's cavalry, who had already been killed, rushed to the pontoon bridge to flee for their lives, wanting to take advantage of the opportunity that the pontoon bridge had not been burned down and fled directly back to the other side.

In the end, after the Han army raft burned the second pontoon bridge, Zhou Lan's department, which was isolated on the south bank, fled and retreated downstream, and the Han soldiers pursued and killed countless Western Chu defeated soldiers without war horses, and there were quite a few prisoners, and the five thousand Western Chu cavalry who took the lead in crossing the chasm were only more than 1,000 horsemen who escaped back to the north bank of the chasm from the shallow water downstream, and ate the first defeat since the Western Expedition, or a big defeat!

After the great victory, the Han army was full of cheers, and the excited Han soldiers were cheering everywhere, and generals such as Lu Kuang, Li Bi and Worm Da also rushed to Uncle Zhou, scrambling to praise Uncle Zhou's use of troops like a god, and it was extremely regrettable that he could not induce Xiang Yu to personally lead the army to cross the river first, and missed the precious opportunity to capture the thief and capture the king first. However, Uncle Zhou was not happy, and said: "This is just the beginning, after all, the chasm is dug by manpower, the water flow is gentle, and now it is the early winter season, the water flow is less, and there are river sections that can be directly flowed through, and the Western Chu thief army will soon make a comeback, and our tough battle is still ahead." ”

"General, what do we do next?" Li Bi asked.

"The next step is not in our hands." Uncle Zhou replied: "In the hands of General Zhong Li, if he can help us burn the military baggage escorted by Sima Weifu, then we will have to fight this battle, but if General Zhongli can't do this, even I can't be sure to hold Aocang." ”

"Why?" Li Bi asked very strangely: "There are still two county towns of Juan County and Yangwu to the east of the chasm, even if General Zhong Liwu burns the grain and grass and military supplies escorted by Sima Weipifu, as long as the Western Chu thief army takes a county town casually, they can also capture enough grain and grass for them to eat for a long time, and it will not affect the Western Chu thief army at all?" ”

"Little shaft, you must break the casserole and ask if it is it?" Uncle Zhou scolded with a smile and said, "The thief army can seize the people's food supplies, but what about the military tents? Xiang Yu's husband came lightly, and the military baggage was all escorted by Sima Wei, it was already early winter, and it could snow at any time, there was no military tent to keep out the cold, in the snowy weather, would you give me a try for a night in the wilderness? ”

Li Bi suddenly realized, and hurriedly said: "No wonder General, you just emptied the military baggage of Juan County and Yangwu before, and ignored the food in the city, it turns out that you are waiting here for the Western Chu thief army!" ”

Li Bi didn't ask in vain, after a little calculation, Li Bi thought of a little more on his own, and hurriedly said: "General, if we want to count on General Zhongli to help us break the enemy, the best way is to quickly find a way to lure the Western Chu thief army across the chasm, otherwise, the Western Chu thief army is all cavalry, and at most it only takes one day at most, to return from the other side of the chasm to the thief army that responds to Sima Wei." ”

Uncle Zhou's heart sank, and only then did he realize that he had forgotten to consider this important issue, nodded hurriedly, and said: "Yes, we have to lure the Xichu thief army across the chasm immediately, otherwise, let them return to the army to receive Sima Wei to come for reinforcements, then we will be in big trouble." ”