"Dadada!"

"Xichu dog thief, where to run? Come on! ”

The sound of dense horse hooves and arrogant shouts and scolding came from behind again, and in the rolling dust and smoke, thousands of Han army iron horsemen fought hard to raise their horses, and directly killed the retreating Western Chu army rear team from north to south, and a small number of Western Chu army scouts who were responsible for reconnaissance and patrol in the rear did not dare to fight the enemy, so they could only whip their horses again and again, racing against time to meet with the self-army brigade to seek protection.

Seeing this scene, even if he knew that there was little hope, Xiang Yu, who personally led the army, still roared angrily, and ordered a thousand cavalry of the Western Chu army to rush up to meet the enemy, and then maybe it was a miracle, or maybe it was not seen that Xiang Yu personally led the army to meet the battle, and the number of cavalry sent by the Western Chu army to meet it was basically the same as that of the own army.

People shouted and neighed, flesh and blood flew sideways, the snowy sabers kept chopping down, spears and swords also continued to stab, the seriously wounded and dying cavalry fell off their horses one after another, and the war horses that lost their masters rushed out of the dust, shaking their messy sideburns, and fled miserably and everywhere, and the ground was soon full of corpses of men and horses, and the scene was tragic and abnormal.

Xiang Yu was angry, although the 1,000 cavalry he sent out to meet were all the elite of the Western Chu army, but because the sabers uniformly equipped with the Han cavalry were more suitable for cavalry warfare, the elite cavalry under his command did not have any upper hand on the battlefield, and they were just inseparable from the Han cavalry that he had disdained before, and they did not show their defeat.

Annoyed with the incompetence of the cavalry of the army, and unable to endure the repeated provocations of the Han cavalry, Xiang Yu once again rushed with enthusiasm, regardless of the kind reminders of his subordinates, insisted on clamping a black horse with four hooves and stepping on the snow, and personally led the cavalry brigade to the north to help in the battle.

The cavalry of the Han army is still shameless, just saw Xiang Yu personally lead the army to kill, the fierce battle of the Han cavalry immediately sounded the sound of the retreating gong, all the Han cavalry who could fight on horseback also immediately withdrew from the battlefield, fast horses and whips to the north to flee, Xiang Yu was furious, insisted on leading the army to chase, and quickly took the cavalry away from the rear army of the Western Chu army.

Seeing this scene, the infantry in the rear of the Western Chu Army had no choice but to quickly stop and take precautions, and at the same time, after the situation was reported to the front, the front team led by Zhou Lan, the general of the Western Chu Army, and the Central Army Brigade of the Western Chu Army led by Huan Chu and Xiang Bo, could only stop advancing successively to avoid disconnection between the front and back.

In the end, relying on the divine horse of the black horse, Xiang Yu successfully stabbed to death a fallen Han cavalry with a spear with his own hands, and somewhat breathed a sigh of anger, but most of the Han cavalry still managed to escape, and after running for more than 30 miles, they finally got rid of Xiang Yu's personal pursuit.

Xiang Yu was also forced to stop the pursuit, because he knew very well that his scum cousin Xiang Kang was personally leading the main force of the Han army to the south, if he continued to chase, he could encounter the infantry brigade of the Han army at any time, and at the same time, the Han cavalry brigade, which was always following but did not know the location for the time being, would definitely be killed at the first time, and although Xiang Yu himself was not afraid, the cavalry of the Western Chu Army under his command would definitely suffer a big loss, so there was no way, Xiang Yu could only roar and order the cavalry of the Western Chu Army to stop advancing, reorganize the team and go back to join the brigade of the Western Chu Army.

In this world, there is no second person who understands Xiang Yu's bear temper better than Xiang Kang, he likes to act brutally and never uses his brain, and his temper is like a powder keg that will explode as long as there is a little spark, in order to promote Xiang Yu's excellent character, and in order to delay the retreat of the main force of the Western Chu army as much as possible, and buy time for Uncle Zhou's side, after officially starting the pursuit south, Xiang Kang decisively divided the cavalry first, and let the Han cavalry take turns to step forward at any cost, harassing and provoking the rear team of the Western Chu army led by Xiang Yu himself, In addition to delaying the retreat speed of the main force of the Western Chu army, the purpose was to make Xiang Yu's muscular brain continue to congest, squeeze the activity space of brain cells even more, and make it easier for Xiang Yu to make decisions favorable to the Han army.

Xiang Kang's hand also received a satisfactory effect, under the harassment of the Han cavalry in turn, the main force of the Western Chu army, which carried a large number of grain and grass and military supplies, could not even be fast, and even the speed of forty miles a day could not be maintained, from Puyang to Dingtao three hundred miles away, the main force of the Western Chu army walked for ten days. When the main force of the Western Chu army arrived at the Dingtao ferry in Jishui, the main force of the Han army in the middle was only fifty miles away from Dingtao.

Fortunately, Dingtao has prepared a sufficient number of wide pontoon bridges for Xiang Yu, and it is very easy for the grain and grass of the Western Chu army to transfer across the river, and at the same time, there is an invincible Xiang Yu in the field to personally lead the army to the palace, and the Western Chu army does not need to worry too much that the Han army will launch a surprise attack when they cross the river, and finally successfully crossed the Jishui River that may cause them trouble, and all of them were transferred to the south bank of Jishui, and never gave the Han army any chance to cross the river.

At this time, the important question of whether to leave troops to guard the important town of Dingtao was finally put in front of Xiang Yu, Dingtao has always been the hinterland town of the Western Chu Army, and it was already the enclave of Qin during the Warring States Period and as early as the reign of King Qin Zhao, and it was not damaged by the war when Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, and the scale of the city and the people's livelihood economy are far above the Dongjun County Governance Puyang, and it is of course a pity to give up directly. At the same time, if the Western Chu Army stays in Dingtao, with the strong fortifications left by the Western Chu Army before, as well as the natural danger of Jishui, there will definitely be no problem in blocking the main force of the Han Army in the middle for a long time, and it can buy enough time for the main force of the Western Chu Army to smoothly withdraw to Pengcheng, and there is no need to worry about being attacked and assaulted by the Han Army on the way to retreat.

Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages, if the Western Chu army chooses to leave an army to garrison Dingtao, it will definitely not play any role if it stays less, and if it stays too much, it may be broken by the Han army, and once again weaken the overall strength of the Western Chu army, which is already at a disadvantage. So Xiang Yu hesitated again and again, and couldn't make up his mind.

Coincidentally, at this time, Master Xiang Boxiang suddenly came to Xiang Yu with a piece of writing, and shouted loudly as soon as he met: "King, Xiang Kang's traitor is too arrogant, the army of the Han thief has not yet arrived in Dingtao, and his meticulous work has already pasted the surrender notice on the gate of Dingtao, saying that you should take the initiative to give up Dingtao, and encourage Dingtao to take the initiative to open the city and surrender." ”

"Is there such a thing?" Xiang Yu was furious, snatched the text and took a closer look, and saw that the scum cousin really declared on the text that he was going to take the initiative to give up Dingtao, Xiang Yu was even more angry and stabbed red with one eye, and tore the text to pieces with three strokes and two blows, and roared angrily: "Shaft, you are dreaming!" This king prefers to stay in the army to garrison Dingtao, see what you can do?! ”

"Your Majesty, your majesty also thinks that you must leave an army to garrison Dingtao."

Without the old man Fan adding chaos to the side, the ambitious master Xiang Boxiang finally got his military talent, and said with a heartfelt voice: "Let's not say that the Dingtao city is strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it can definitely be defended for a long time, that is, just by virtue of the natural danger of Jishui outside Dingtao City, we must not give up easily, as long as we leave an army to hold on, we can not only win enough time for our main force to retreat, maybe there is also hope to rely on Dingtao Jiancheng to block the Han thieves, so that the Han thieves can not enter our hinterland." ”

Kuai Che, another important strategist of the Western Chu Army, did not dare to say anything beside him, but Xiang Yu nodded again and again, and decisively pointed to Huan Chu on the other side, and said loudly: "Huan Chu, Dingtao has always been guarded by you, familiar with the situation, and now it is still handed over to you to guard, no matter what, we must hold Dingtao for this king and buy time for our main force to withdraw to Pengcheng." ”

Huan Chu smiled sadly, and asked cautiously: "King, how many troops do you give to the last general?" And how much time will it take for the last general to hold the pottery? ”

"Give you 20,000 troops!" Xiang Yu shouted: "The longer you hold on, the better, until the last moment, you are absolutely not allowed to abandon the city and break through!" But at least not less than a month! ”

"Twenty thousand troops?" Huan Chu almost didn't cry, and hurriedly said: "King, if other thief armies come to Dingtao to stabilize the Tao, in order to determine the solidity of the Tao City, there will definitely be no problem with the last general leading 20,000 troops to hold it for a month." But the Han thief is different, the kind of trebuchet of the Han thief, you don't know, how can 20,000 troops block the Han thief for a month? ”

After hesitating for a moment, Xiang Yu replied: "Then give you 30,000 troops, no more!" But you must give this king a month, not a day less! Otherwise military law engages! ”

Considering that the city of Dingtao is stronger than Puyang, and there is Jishui outside the city to delay for a period of time, and the current situation is different from that of the Puyang War, the army left behind in Dingtao is not the rabble who fled into the city after the fiasco outside the city during the Puyang War. Kuai Che next to him still didn't say a word, and let Master Xiang Boxiang's eyebrows flutter and praise Xiang Yu for his wisdom and correct decision.

In this way, because of a Han army that extremely despised Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu decisively made a wise decision that Old Man Fan would never agree to, and decided to let the current Western Chu Army Grand Sima Huan Chu lead an army of 30,000 to stay in Dingtao, block the Han army's pursuit of time to buy a calm retreat for the main force of the Western Chu Army, and also demoted the main force of the Western Chu Army personally led by Xiang Yu to 120,000.

Although only 30,000 troops were left to guard the Dingtao and Jishui defense lines, but because the Western Chu Army had already confiscated the surrounding ships, the main force of the Western Chu Army took a short break and withdrew from the Dingtao battlefield, even if Xiang Kang immediately led the army south to the Jishui River, there was no way to immediately cross the Jishui River to continue the pursuit, and was temporarily blocked on the north bank of Jishui by the Huan Chu Department of the Western Chu Army, which was far inferior to its own army, and could no longer delay the retreat of the main force of the Western Chu Army.

The retreat speed of the main force of the Western Chu army was also greatly accelerated, and it was quickly increased to more than sixty miles a day, and it only took two days to withdraw from Dingtao South to Chengwu, but during this period, Xue County sent two urgent reports, the first was that after Zhou Shu, the general of the Han army, arranged for Zhu Jishi to lead the army to stay in Qidi, he personally led the main force of the Han army's northern front into the hinterland of Xue County, and put on a posture of taking advantage of the situation to take Xue County and annihilate the remnants of the Chuji coalition army. The second urgent report was that Peng Yue, a famous Xiaoqiang in the late Qin and early Han dynasties, left Juyeze again, and entered the hinterland of Xue County with more than 10,000 troops for the first time.

At this time, Master Xiang Boxiang finally came to a correct conclusion and said to Xiang Yu: "King, Peng Yue, this puppet went to the hinterland of Xue County and jumped off the beam, the purpose must be to contain Xiang Zhuangxian's nephew and their army, and gain time for Zhou Shu's puppet to create and annihilate our northern front army, we have to guard against this, we must find a way to rescue Xiang Zhuangxian's nephew and nephew, otherwise, if there is any accident in Xiang Zhuangxian's nephew's army, Our battles will definitely be more difficult in the future. ”

Xiang Yu nodded slowly, and then asked, "Then in Uncle Ji's opinion, what should we do?" ”

"Hurry up and divide an army to pick up Xiang Zhuangxian's nephew and their army back ......."

Before Master Xiang Boxiang's words were completely finished, Kui Che on the other side was completely unbearable, and hurriedly said: "King, we must not divide the troops anymore, the strength of Uncle Zhou's husband is still above the strength of Xiang Kang's traitors, if we divide the troops to Xue County again, there will definitely be a danger of being broken by the Han thieves." ”

Xiang Yu finally didn't listen to Master Xiang's nonsense this time, nodded and said: "What Doctor Kuai said is extremely true, our total strength is already at a disadvantage, and repeatedly dividing our troops will definitely only give the thieves a chance to defeat us." ”

Glaring at Kui Che with great resentment, he quietly recorded the account in his little black account book, and Master Xiang changed his words and said, "Then what should I do?" We can't just watch our army annihilated by the Han thieves, can we? ”

After rubbing his fingers in his heart and thinking for a long time, Xiang Yu made up his mind and said: "This can only be the case, let Xiang Zhuang and the others go south at full speed with the army, and don't give Uncle Zhou the opportunity to surround them, and go to Huling to meet our main force." Our main force diverted to the east, first to Huling to meet Adi's army, and then south to Pengcheng together. ”

Seeing that Xiang Yu had listened to his own persuasion just now, Kuaiche plucked up his courage and said: "King, the military situation is like fire, time is precious, it is better for our main force to withdraw to Pengcheng as soon as possible." Only by quickly retreating to the deep ditch and high fortress of Pengcheng and establishing a strong defense can we hope to block the two-way attack of the Han thieves. ”

"And what about our army on the Northern Front? Do you want to see them all wiped out? Master Xiang immediately found an opportunity for revenge, and shouted angrily: "Besides, how much time can it take to go west to Huling to meet our army on the northern front?" What can be delayed? ”

With the experience of Old Man Fan, Kuaiche, whose identity and status are a big difference from Old Man Fan, of course he didn't dare to stand up to Master Xiang's mouth anymore, so he could only turn his gaze to Xiang Yu, hoping that a miracle would happen and let Xiang Yu make the right decision again. However, it was a pity that Xiang Yu only thought about it for a while and said: "Uncle Ji is right, it is not far from here to Huling, and they will not waste much time to pick up their brother." Besides, it is much easier to take the road from Huling to the south in Peixian than it is for us to take the road of Fengyi and withdraw to Pengcheng, strictly speaking, it is not a waste of time. ”

"The king......."

Kui Che's voice trembled a little, but when Xiang Yu turned his head to look at Kui Che, Master Xiang Boxiang's cruel gaze also turned to Kui Che, and Kui Che was timid, so he could only change his words with a somewhat sad expression: "Wang Yingming, the road in Pei County is indeed much easier to walk." ”

After complimenting him against his will, Kui Cheqiang smiled and turned his head, his eyes were full of pain, and he said helplessly: "I hope that Xiang Kang's traitor can't think of that trick, or that he is cautious, even if he thinks of that trick, he is not willing to take the risk of implementing it, otherwise, I am afraid that we will not even have the opportunity to withdraw to Pengcheng." ”

Helplessly said it in his heart, and a nameless anger suddenly burned in Kui Che's heart, and he couldn't help but say in his heart again: "What are you doing with so many hearts?" Even if Xiang Kang and the traitor thought of that trick, what would he do? There is no place to stay here, there is a place to stay here, there is no place to stay everywhere, Weng goes to the Han thief! It's a big deal to surrender to King Han! ”

In this way, without the dissuasion and restraint of Old Man Fan, Xiang Yu completely turned into a wild horse that had escaped from the reins, running wild with his hooves on the out-of-control field, and in addition, Master Xiang Boxiang turned into a hornet with wings, and from time to time stared at Xiang Yu's ass of the wild horse, Xiang Yu naturally couldn't contain his hooves, regardless of the preciousness of time, he actually gave up the original plan to quickly withdraw to Pengcheng, and chose to divert to the east, rushing to Huling in the south of Xue County to meet the remnants of the Chuji coalition army that had been greatly injured.

But then again, Xiang Yu made this decision on his own, and it was not without his reason, with the current situation of the Western Chu Army, he really could no longer accept the loss of the rest of the Chuji Coalition Army by the Han Army's Zhou Shu's Corps and Peng Yue's Army, and at the same time, if he could rescue the few people who were currently in the Chuji Coalition Army, and also listen to their correct opinions, there are still two Western Chu armies in Huainan and Jiangdong, and it is not completely hopeless that there is no hope of a comeback.