did not let a man with a sword who was scolded as a child under the crotch look down on, although he took Xu County bordering Huaiyin in one fell swoop, but Xiang Kang did not have any plans to continue to launch an offensive to expand his territory, there are three reasons, the first is that the soldiers of the young marshal army who have been marching for days and have not been very good in terms of comprehensive quality have been quite tired and urgently need rest and recuperation; The second is that the young marshal's army has quickly captured three county towns in a short period of time, and has gradually exposed various signs of indigestion, Xiang Kang needs time to consolidate his control over the new territory, train soldiers to replenish the army, and further expand the army, so he must temporarily stop the pace of expansion.

The third reason is the most critical, the young marshal army successively won the three cities of Xiaxiang, Yu County and Xu County bordering Donghai County, but the Qin army of Donghai County next to it has not made any moves, the specific reason is not clear Xiang Kang, but Xiang Kang can be sure that the reason why the Qin army of Donghai County did not move must be related to the fact that he has never attacked Donghai County, giving the Qin army of Donghai County a chance to beggar-thy-neighbor, and Donghai County, who is unwilling to ask for trouble, will not save the Qin army of Surabaya County when he sees death, and also gives the young marshal army a chance to fish in troubled waters.

But if Xiang Kang is not greedy enough, and at this time he reaches out to Donghai County, then the situation must be completely different, in order to protect himself and explain to the above, the Qin army of Donghai County, which has made certain preparations for war, will definitely fight to the death, and the main force of the county soldiers of Donghai County may also come to find trouble with the young marshal army, and if the county soldiers of Surabaya County also take the opportunity to send troops to quell the chaos, Xiang Kang will be too late to cry. Therefore, Xiang Kang could only choose to continue to non-aggression with the Qin army of Donghai County and do his best to avoid fighting on two fronts, and of course it was impossible to attack Huaiyin County, which was subordinate to Donghai County in terms of administrative establishment.

However, in order to let the army rest and strengthen the control of Donghai County, Xiang Kang still brought the main force of the young marshal's army to the city of Xuxian County, and then Xiang Kang in addition to playing his innate wonderful acting skills to desperately soothe the people, and with the help of Zhou Zeng, he made a series of adjustments to the personnel and political affairs of Xu County, and promoted the county magistrate who persuaded the county to surrender to the county magistrate, appointed the original county magistrate to the military official position, and brought it to the army for appointment, and abolished the complicated Qin law that made the people of the six countries complain, simplified the decree, and pardoned many prisoners for minor crimes, It also reduced taxes and forced labor, encouraged the people to devote themselves to the autumn harvest, exempted several people who had been ravaged by the war from paying taxes and grain this year, and introduced many new policies that were welcomed by the people.

In terms of military affairs, in addition to desperately recruiting troops and horses to expand the army, Xiang Kang also rewarded meritorious deeds, and gave Xiang Zhuang, who had contributed the most during this time, a miscellaneous general, Xiang Guan, Xiang Sheng, Xiang Han and Feng Zhong were all awarded the title of captain, and the Qin army's twenty-rank lord system was improved and perfected, so as to encourage the young marshal soldiers to fight bravely. In addition, taking advantage of the slight gap, Xiang Kang especially strengthened the array training of the army, which also achieved a little effect, making up for the weakness of some young marshals who were not good at fighting in formations.

At the same time, under the explicit requirements of Xiang Kang, the three counties of Xia Xiang, Yu County and the three counties have also been expanding the army as much as possible, as of the tenth day of August, the total strength of the young marshal army in the four counties officially exceeded 9,000 people, more than 700 war horses, nearly 200 chariots, the strength not only formed an absolute advantage over the Qin army in the surrounding counties, but also had the confidence and capital to compete head-on with the soldiers of Surabaya County. - Of course, whether the head-on decisive battle can defeat the soldiers of Surabaya County is still a question worth discussing.

However, behind the gratifying situation there are also countless terrible worries, first of all, the base of the young marshal army is located in the plain, there is no danger to defend and the enemy is surrounded by the enemy, once the surrounding Qin army joins forces to attack, the young marshal army will immediately fall into the dilemma of taking care of one and losing the other. The second is that the expansion of the young marshal's army is too fast, the people's hearts are not aligned, and the internal hidden dangers are serious, and once the war is unfavorable, internal troubles may break out collectively at any time. The third is that the young marshal's army started too early, isolated, no matter whether it expands or protects itself, it can only fight alone, unable to get the cooperation and help of friendly troops, and the situation is actually quite difficult, whether it can survive to the period when the rebellion and the nobles of the six countries rebelled together at the end of Qin, that is, Xiang Kang himself did not dare to fight this guarantee.

No, before Xu County had a few days of stable life, Xiang Kang received unconfirmed news from Xiang Sheng, saying that the county soldiers of Surabaya County had recovered the Xuan County captured by Chen Sheng's general Ge Ying, and were besieging Qi County, which had fallen before, and at the same time, the main force of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang had also left Surabaya County and entered the territory of Chen County in the west. And if this news is true, as long as the soldiers of Surabaya County take Qi County, then there is no doubt that the next target of the soldiers of Surabaya County will be the Young Marshal Army!

The distance was far away, Xiang Kang didn't say superfluous nonsense, and asked if Xiang Sheng's messenger's news was reliable, but he waved his hand to let the messenger go down to rest, and then said to Zhou Zeng: "Uncle Ya, whether this news is true or not, I think we should all be ready to face the battle quickly, Zhao Zhuang, the county guard of Surabaya County, will definitely not watch us occupy the four cities southeast of Surabaya for a long time, sooner or later it will come, the sooner we prepare, the better it will be for us in the future." ”

"How does the young marshal plan to prepare?" Zhou Zeng asked.

"I'm going to focus our main forces on the battle." Xiang Kang replied: "In order to facilitate the transportation of grain, Zhao Zhuang sent troops to attack us, and it is very likely that we will fight first, and if we hold the worry, it is equivalent to holding the other three counties." ”

"But what if Donghai County takes the opportunity to send troops and attack our back?" Zhou Zeng asked worriedly, and reminded: "Zhao Zhuang sent troops to attack us, and the tyrannical Qin army in Donghai County saw that there was a advantage to take advantage of, and it is likely that they would not miss this opportunity to take credit for nothing." Moreover, in order to increase his chances of victory, Zhao Zhuang is likely to take the initiative to ask for help from the tyrannical Qin army in Donghai County. ”

Xiang Kang frowned, and he was also extremely worried that he would be attacked by the enemy of Surabaya County and Donghai County from both sides, but the disaster was not a one-way street, and it happened that at this time, there were relatives outside the door who hurriedly came to report, saying that Xiang Guan, who was staying behind in the prime minister, sent a fast horse to deliver an urgent letter, saying that there were 100,000 urgent things to report. When Xiang Kang hurriedly ordered a summons, Xiang Guan's messenger had just saluted when he entered the door, and immediately said: "Young Marshal, you and Xiang Guan's third uncle suddenly came to the prime minister the day before yesterday, and you lost your temper with Xiang Duwei, and asked the young marshal to go back to the prime minister immediately." Xiang Duwei didn't dare to disobey, so he sent a villain to bring the book here and ask the young marshal to take a look. ”

"It's finally time to come." first sighed helplessly, and then Xiang Kang took the letter forwarded by his own soldiers, but when he opened it, Xiang Guan really shouted for help in the book, saying that Xiang Bo didn't do anything after he arrived at the prime minister, except for desperately losing his temper, he kept pointing fingers at the young marshal army of the prime minister, and asked Xiang Kang to go back and kowtow to him immediately, Xiang Guan was a junior who didn't dare to disobey, so he could only send a letter to kick the ball to Xiang Kang, and ask Xiang Kang to take the idea to deal with this troublesome third uncle.

"Got it, you go down to eat and rest first." Xiang Kang was very helpless to instruct the messenger and said, "I will write a reply in a while, and you can bring it back and hand it to Xiang Duwei." ”

The messenger took the order and left, and then Zhou Zeng immediately said to Xiang Kang with a wry smile on his face: "Young marshal, it seems that you are in a lot of trouble this time, your uncle is your uncle, it is impossible for him to bow down to you, and you will never respect him as a handsome, how you get along is a big problem." ”

"It's more troublesome than you think, Uncle Ya." Xiang Kang smiled even more bitterly and sighed: "My third uncle, I don't know how to say him, alas, ......." ”

Shaking his head and putting his troubles aside for the time being, Xiang Kang thought about it again and said, "Pass the order, tomorrow we will prepare to go, and the day after tomorrow the main force will set off to return to worry." ”

"Concern?" Zhou Zeng was stunned and hurriedly reminded: "Young marshal, did your uncle ask you to go down to meet him?" ”

"I can't ask our soldiers to run more than 100 miles back and forth because of his request." Xiang Kang's face was expressionless, and he said: "He wants to see me, so he came to see me and asked me to go down to meet him, I don't have that time." ”

Although he didn't know very well about the grievances between Xiang Kang and Xiang Bo, just listening to Xiang Kang's tone and looking at Xiang Kang's expression, Zhou Zeng understood that the relationship between Xiang Kang and Xiang Bo was definitely not as simple as he imagined, and the young marshal's army would not be in danger of splitting this time. Therefore, Zhou Zeng, who had completely tied up Xiang Kang's thief ship, was inevitably worried in his heart, and said secretly: "It's troublesome, it's not easy to barely open up a little situation, if the army is really divided, how can we fight in the future?" ”

After quickly preparing to return to the division to take care of it, on the morning of August 13, Xiang Kang, Xiang Zhuang, Zhou Zeng and others led the main force of the young marshal's army to set off north, and Xu County was handed over by Xiang Kang to his most trusted general with a foreign surname, Feng Zhong, to lead the army to guard, which not only gave Feng Zhong a chance to exercise independently, but also left himself a way to retreat in case of emergency. In this regard, although the children of the Xiang family had some complaints, Xiang Kang blocked their mouths with only one sentence, "No matter how many brothers in our Xiang family there are, how can everyone be responsible for guarding a city?" Now that we have won fewer cities, it is better to say, in the future, we will win more and more cities, and where will our brothers be able to get a share? ”

Feng Zhong also lived up to Xiang Kang's expectations of himself and vigorously promoted, after the main force of the young marshal army left, Feng Zhong not only made every effort to supervise and obey his own orders in Xuxian County to collect autumn grain, but also trained the army diligently according to Xiang Kang's requirements, built a large number of weapons and equipment for military use, and conscientiously did his own work. In addition, the recruitment and expansion of the army did not slow down, as long as it was a man of appropriate age who came to join the army, Feng Zhong would use it and do his best to prepare the army for Xiang Kang.

However, on the third day after the main force of the young marshal army left Xu County, when Feng Zhong came to the recruitment office with his own soldiers to inspect, he encountered an accident - a tall man who brought a sword to join the army, and he didn't know why, when he was talking to the young marshal army officer in charge of recruitment, his body staggered, and he suddenly fell to the ground motionless, and he didn't know who was going to work, and he immediately caused a small sensation in the recruiting office.

In the event of such an accident, of course, Feng Zhong, who was doing his best, immediately stepped forward to inquire about the reason for the tall man's sudden coma, but fortunately, after some rescue by others, the tall man finally woke up leisurely, and then opened his mouth and moaned and said, "Is there anything to eat?" I haven't eaten in almost two days. ”

"I fainted from hunger."

Feng Zhong almost didn't laugh out loud, but out of kindness, and in order to buy people's hearts, Feng Zhong immediately asked someone to bring a little food, and the tall man didn't thank him, and snatched the rice ball handed by Feng Zhong's own soldiers to gobble it up, and he was choked when he ate in a hurry, and his embarrassed appearance caused everyone to laugh for a while. Feng Zhong was also angry and funny, and hurriedly handed the tall man a scoop of water, and then said: "Eat slowly, no one will rob you, what's it called, people there?" ”

The tall man only cared about drinking water, and didn't have time to talk to Feng Zhong, but there was a young man next to him who came to join the army and said with a smile: "General, this vertical man is called Han Xin, and he is a celebrity in our Huaiyin, who doesn't do anything all day long, only eats and drinks everywhere with a sword all day long. ”

"Eating and drinking around with a sword all day long?" Feng Zhong laughed dumbly, and couldn't help but think of a rogue who took his brother around to cheat and cheat all day long, and couldn't help but feel a little kind of affection for the tall man named Han Xin, and looked at his tall figure with big hands and feet, and felt quite satisfied, so he patted the tall man's shoulder and said, "Come to join the army?" Okay, take it, join my pro-soldier team, and you will definitely be full in the future. ”

"General, don't let this Han Xin into your personal soldiers." The person who introduced Han Xin's identity before was anxious when he heard it, and hurriedly said: "General, you are seen that this Han Xin is tall, in fact, his courage is smaller than that of a rabbit, when he was in Huaiyin, someone looked at him unpleasantly and asked him to crawl over from under his crotch, this vertical man was greedy for life and afraid of death, and he really climbed over!" How can such a vertical be worthy of you as a personal soldier? ”

"Is there such a thing? Crawling under someone else's crotch? Really? ”

The others laughed, Feng Zhong was also a little dumbfounded, and looked at the tall Han Xin in disbelief, Han Xin hung his head and did not speak, silently endured the insults of his fellow villagers and everyone, and only reluctantly opened his mouth for a long time, and said to Feng Zhong: "General, I am literate and understand the art of war." ”

"Just like you? Do you still know the art of war? ”

The others laughed again, and ridiculed Han Xin constantly, and although Feng Zhong regretted his easy promise just now - the treatment of pro-soldiers is of course much better than that of ordinary soldiers, but the words have already been spoken, and Feng Zhong himself has been frightened by the children of the Xiang family and begged for mercy, and he has a sense of sympathy, so Feng Zhong still nodded and said, "Okay, then join my pro-soldier team, register him, and let him go with me." ”

The others sighed regretfully, and they were very puzzled how Feng Zhong could let such a nest be his own soldier, but Han Xin hesitated again and again, and only after a while did he reluctantly say, "General Xie." ”

After that, Han Xin still said helplessly in his heart, "If you are a soldier, you will be a soldier, who called me unlucky, when Xiang Kang arrived here, he had already left with the army?" Whether you are a soldier or not, you can at least have the opportunity to give advice, and it is easier to get ahead than to be an ordinary soldier. ”

…………

He had already left Xu County with the army, of course Xiang Kang did not know that an extremely important person had been included in his army, and at the same time, Xiang Kang was not in a hurry to meet Xiang Bo at all, and led the main force to the north at a normal speed After arriving in Yu County, Xiang Kang also stopped to carefully understand the autumn grain collection situation in Yu County, as well as the governance of Yan Qi and Bao Wen and others, and brought some recruits from Yu County, and then set off to leave, and continued to slowly go north to worry, without giving Xiang Bo any face.

However, no matter how much I didn't want to meet with Xiang Bo, I had to see him, and after more than a day, the main force of the young marshal's army led by Xiang Kang finally arrived at the city, and Xiang Sheng, who stayed behind to take care, did not dare to slack off when he heard the news, and hurriedly led the officials of the city to meet him outside the city. As a result, in the crowd that greeted him, Xiang Kang finally saw his uncle again, the scum of the Xiang family, and the one who could be counted on his fingers in history - Uncle Xiang. There is also Han Liang standing next to Xiang Bo - of course, Xiang Kang still doesn't know Han Liang's true identity.

Forced to come to meet with his favorite nephew, of course Xiang Bo definitely didn't have any good color on his face, but when Xiang Kang came to his knees in front of him and bowed, Xiang Bo, who still knew a little bit of proportion, still tried to squeeze out a little smile, picked up Xiang Kang with his own hands, patted Xiang Kang's shoulder and said, "Okay! Disappointing! Your eldest father has knowledge, and he can look at it when he thinks about it. ”

"Thanks to the good teaching of the two uncles, the little nephew never dares to forget his identity as a Chu person." Xiang Kang was pretended to be modest, and asked curiously: "Uncle, when I was in the prime minister a while ago, the little nephew asked Han Li Han Zhuangshi to bring you a letter, please go south to meet the little nephew, Xiapi is only a day away from the next minister, why haven't you come for a long time?" ”

"This ......." Uncle Xiang was a little embarrassed no matter how thick-skinned he was, and only after a while did he say: "I'll tell you the details of this later, I was entangled in something at that time, and I didn't have time to go south immediately." ”

After finishing speaking, Uncle Xiang hurriedly changed the topic and instructed the children of the Xiang family who stepped forward to salute him together: "Get up, quickly, come with me into the city, let's talk in the city." ”

"Wait." Xiang Kang opened his mouth to stop and instructed Xiang Zhuang, Xiang You and others: "Brothers, the army has not yet been settled, and you can't enter the city for the time being, first take the army to the camp, arrange the generals who stay behind, and then enter the city to salute your uncle." Also, prepare my camp tent in the middle army, and I still have to live with the army. ”

has been accustomed to obeying Xiang Kang's military orders, Xiang Zhuang, Xiang Yang and Xiang It and others of course immediately agreed, and they have always admired Xiang Sui and did not hesitate to agree, but Xiang You was a little hesitant, but after seeing Xiang Kang's majestic gaze, Xiang You still followed the other Xiang family children to sing a promise, and immediately went back to lead the army to camp on the school field outside the city. And Xiang Bo, who was blocked by Xiang Kang's order by the elders, had an ugly face, and he was dissatisfied and displeased with Xiang Kang.

Then, of course, Xiang Kang introduced Zhou Zeng, who was always on his side, for Xiang Bo, Zhou Zeng saluted respectfully, but Xiang Bo didn't give face at all, and asked Xiang Kang directly: "Kang'er, uncle has wanted to ask you for a long time, this Zhou Zeng was a tyrannical Qin official, if you don't investigate his previous crimes, forget it, why do you still lead our Xiang family children to respect him as an uncle?" ”

Hearing this, of course Zhou Zeng was embarrassed and embarrassed, but Xiang Kang sneered in his heart, knowing that with Xiang Bo's words alone, Zhou Zeng, his number one assistant in government affairs, would never be pulled over by Xiang Bo. Then Xiang Kangcai said respectfully: "Uncle, is there anything wrong with respecting Mr. Zhou as an uncle?" His age is above our little nephew, and respecting his uncle as a junior respects his elders, as if there is nothing wrong with it? ”

"He was a tyrannical Qin official before, and he helped the tyrannical Qin court to arrest me!" Xiang Bo said even more unceremoniously.

"It's true that Uncle Ya was a tyrannical Qin official before, but he has already broken off with the tyrannical Qin court." Xiang Kang defended: "The battle of the lower minister, as well as the battles of capturing Yu County, Qu Xian and Xu County, Uncle Ya has contributed a lot, uncle, do you still want to investigate his previous mistakes in serving the tyrannical Qin court?" As for Uncle Ya's previous arrest for the Tyrannical Qin Imperial Court, it was also his job, if your uncle wanted to pursue it, wouldn't the entire lower minister's officials have to be investigated? ”

Uncle Xiang was speechless, but his face gradually began to turn blue, and Xiang Kang smiled again: "Uncle, don't joke with Uncle Ya." Who of our Xiang brothers doesn't know that Uncle you are magnanimous and humorous, and you have already laughed at the previous grievances, how can you account for the trivial things that Uncle Ya once wanted for you in the Qin Imperial Court? Uncle, do you think so? ”

When he said this, Xiang Kang had a kind smile on his face, as if Xiang Bo was really not a despicable villain with a small belly, but Xiang Bo looked embarrassed and didn't know how to deal with it. But fortunately, Zhang Liang next to him stood up in time to resolve the scene, and while bowing to Xiang Kang, he smiled and said, "Xiang Gongzi, it's a blockbuster." I didn't have a chance last time, but this time I really want to ask you for advice, and I hope you will not hesitate to give advice. ”

"How dare the little nephew." I don't know Zhang Liang's real name and identity, of course Xiang Kang is not particularly affectionate to Zhang Liang, and because Zhang Liang came with the scourge of Uncle Xiang, he was full of vigilance against Zhang Liang, and said with a fake salute: "The little nephew is not more important, and he is only a shallow learner, so he should ask Uncle Han to give him advice." ”

Zhang Liang smiled modestly, but said in his heart: "Little guy, I am not pretending to be polite with you, this time I really want to test you to see if you have the ability to overthrow the tyrannical Qin and restore the Six Kingdoms, and whether it is worth it for me Zhang Liang and Zhang Zifang to follow and assist." ”