In fact, Li Zuoche underestimated some of Xiang Yu's self-confidence, if Xiang Kang sent Ding Ji to lead the army first, and ordered Ding Ji to set up camp elsewhere, then Xiang Yu would probably ignore it and let the front team of the Han army set up a camp nearby, and let Xiang Kang lead the main force to send it to the door to create a decisive battle opportunity for the army.

Only the Han army can not set up camp in Laoqi, Laoqi is not only the only highland between Huling and Yutai Pavilion, the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the south is also close to the Surabaya River, Surabaya happens to be in this position The water flow is relatively gentle, can be used as a temporary ferry, once the Han army has a firm foothold in Laoqi, then the Western Chu army is not only difficult to capture the camp of the Han army, the Han army can also release a fire raft at any time, raid the Western Chu army pontoon bridge in the lower reaches of Surabaya, in addition, if necessary, the Han army can also build a pontoon bridge in Laoqi on the spot, Cross Surabaya to launch a surprise attack or pursuit, and grasp the initiative on the battlefield.

Because of this, when the day was close to evening, Ding Ji led 30,000 Han troops to Laoqi and began to build a camp, after the situation was reported to Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu immediately decided to personally lead the army to attack Laoqi early the next morning, not to give the Han army a chance to gain a foothold in Laoqi, Liu Laosan and Kuaiche and other wise men of the Western Chu army for the safety of the main force of the Western Chu army, also all supported Xiang Yu's decision.

The decisive battle between the main force of the Han army in the middle and the main force of the Western Chu army was officially started, the next morning, Xiang Yu had just led 60,000 Western Chu troops to Laoqi, and immediately launched an attack like the Han army that was still rushing to build a camp, and the front team of 30,000 Han troops led by Ding Ji was also forced to face the battle, relying on the advantage of higher terrain and the newly formed camp fortifications to resist the attack of the Western Chu army, and the Western Chu army fought in the Laoqi Heights in the dark, the sun and the moon were dark.

Xiang Yu, who likes field battles, finally fought a happy battle, under his personal command, 60,000 Western Chu troops went into battle in turn, like undulating waves, stormed the Han army's position more than once, and killed the Han army that had not completed the camp only to parry, without the power to fight back, and in the middle of the excitement, Xiang Yu also personally put on the battle, wearing heavy armor to kill the Han army's position, and personally slashed more than 20 enemies on the battlefield, inspiring the soldiers of the Western Chu army to compete for the first, all of them bravely, and tear a gap in the defensive position of the Han army. Then he rushed into the interior of the Han army camp and rushed left and right, as if entering no man's land.

Seeing that the situation was extreme, Ding Ji, who knew that he was not Xiang Yu's opponent, was helpless, so he could only quickly abandon the old camp that had not yet been built and fled to Yutai Pavilion, and the Western Chu army took advantage of the situation to chase and kill, killing the Han army to a complete rout, and directly pursued and killed near Yutai Pavilion with a fierce momentum, or after seeing the defeated army of the Han army fleeing back to the relatively solid Yutai Pavilion camp in embarrassment, Xiang Yu ordered to collect the troops, and laughed wildly and led the Western Chu army, which lacked offensive weapons, to retreat to Huling to rest.

After fleeing back to the camp in embarrassment, Ding Ji of course ran to Xiang Kang in disgrace to ask for guilt, but fortunately, Xiang Kang did not pursue Ding Ji's ineffective operation, but just waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter, victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, my brother is invincible in the field, you don't have time to build a camp, it's normal to be unable to beat him, it's not too late to take revenge when our main force on the northern front arrives." Go and regroup your team, count your losses, and rest for your life. ”

After comforting Ding Ji, Xiang Kang turned to Zheng Bu, another Han army general next to him, and ordered: "General Zheng Bu, you go and prepare immediately, and then lead 30,000 troops to Laoqi again, rush to build a camp overnight, and make every effort to build our new camp in Laoqi, so that our main brigade can rest assured that it will march east and set up camp close to Huling." ”

"It's ......." Zheng Bu's expression was obviously a little embarrassed, and he hesitated for a moment before he arched his hand and said: "King, it's not that your subordinates are greedy for life and afraid of death, it's just one night, your subordinates are really not sure to build a strong camp in Laoqi, if the Western Chu thief army continues to send troops to attack Laoqi tomorrow, my subordinates may not be sure to defend it." ”

"Go for it." Xiang Kang instructed: "No matter what way you think of or how much it costs, you will try your best to do it for me." ”

Seeing Xiang Kang's resolute attitude, Zheng Bu didn't dare to say anything, but immediately hugged his fists and sang a promise, and then hurried down to prepare to lead the army to take over from Ding Ji and then go to Lao Qi to build a camp. Then after Zheng Bu left, Li Zuoche, who was good at tactics, said cautiously: "King, although the arrogant military strategy is definitely useful to Xiang Yu, it may not be able to hide it from the rest of the Western Chu thief army, if anyone among them can point this out to Xiang Yu, it is recommended that Xiang Yu take advantage of a little bit and run, we are afraid that many soldiers will be killed and injured in vain." ”

"I can't help but use this kind of arrogant tactic with huge losses." Xiang Kang replied very helplessly: "We have no chance of winning the decisive battle in the field, and my brother knows very well that we are waiting for General Zhou's reinforcements, and it is possible to cross Surabaya at any time and withdraw to Pengcheng first, so there is no way, I have to deliberately fight a few defeats, so that he feels that victory is in sight, and he is reluctant to withdraw his troops, and try to buy time for Uncle Zhou." ”

Li Zuoche also nodded helplessly, and said: "Wang Yingming, in this situation, we can really only delay one more day." ”

That night, in the evening, the Han army Zheng Bu's headquarters rushed to Laoqi, and immediately began to continue to build the camp that Ding Ji did not have time to build, this situation was soon reported to Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu really applauded, and immediately decided to lead the army to attack again the next day, continue to attack the Han army to try to gain a foothold in Laoqi tactical place, and then give the Han army a little color to see.

Xiang Yu also did this as he wished, the next day under his leadership, when the Western Chu army stormed Lao Qi again, although the Han army soldiers led by Zheng Bu were extremely tenacious and still had no time to build the Lao Qi camp, but still could not stop the Western Chu army like the crazy offensive of the angry sea, just held until noon, and was once again led by Xiang Yu personally into the camp, after paying a considerable price, he was still forced to flee west, Xiang Yu once again led the army to chase fiercely, killing and capturing countless Han soldiers and soldiers.

Liu Laosan also participated in this battle, as Xiang Yu chased to the Han army's Yutaiting camp outside the door, Xiang Yu and many of the Western Chu army's arrogant generals laughed and insulted outside the Han army camp, arrogant, Liu Laosan was gloomy, not a little happy, after quickly reorganizing the army under his command, seeing that Xiang Yu still did not order to retreat, Liu Laosan couldn't help but say to a few subordinates next to him: "Trouble, our king fell for Xiang Kang's traitorous strategy, now I want to persuade him to quickly withdraw from Surabaya and withdraw to Pengcheng as soon as possible, It's only going to get harder. ”

Zhou Bo and Cao Shen, who can fight with their brains, nodded together, and also understood that the defeat of the Han army in the past two days was likely to be deliberately done by Xiang Kang. ”

casually glanced at the subordinate who was questioning, and saw that he was Cao Wuxian, the same clan of Cao Shen, and the same old man of Pei County, who had followed him for many years, Liu Laosan had no scruples, and scolded: "You know a fart? Xiang Kang's traitors made it clear that they deliberately defeated the battle to make our king careless and underestimate the enemy, so that our king was reluctant to retreat to Pengcheng as soon as possible, and bought time for Uncle Zhou's side as much as possible. As long as the king is fooled, we will be in great trouble. ”

"Pei Gong, then I will ask one more question, where has Uncle Zhou's army arrived? When will we be able to get to Huling? Cao Wuxian asked curiously.

"You ask me, who do I ask?" Liu Laosan replied angrily: "The messenger we sent to contact Zuo Sima has not returned yet, and Zuo Sima has not sent anyone to contact us, how do I know where Uncle Zhou is now?" ”

"What?" Cao Wuxian's surprise was not trivial, and he hurriedly said: "Pei Gong, this means that we actually don't even know where Zuo Sima is?" ”

Liu Laosan nodded with a gloomy face, lowered his voice a little, and said: "Don't spread the word, in fact, I suspect that the reason why we lost contact with Zuo Sima and them is probably that Zuo Sima and they have been surrounded by Han thieves, if they can't support it, Uncle Zhou's puppet may suddenly rush to Huling at any time." ”

Cao Wuxian nodded hurriedly, and Liu Laosan looked at Xiang Yu, who was still arrogantly shouting in the distance, and suddenly said to himself: "No, I must persuade our king tonight, no matter how small the hope is, we must persuade him to hurry up and pass Surabaya first." ”

The speaker was unintentional, the listener was intentional, hearing Liu Laosan's words, Cao Wushuang also kept this matter in his heart, so he finally waited until Xiang Yu shouted and vented enough, and returned to Huling with the Western Chu Army to rest, Cao Wushuang left a heart, secretly stared at Liu Laosan's every move, and soon saw Liu Laosan went to the direction of the Chinese army camp, and Cao Wuxian, who was familiar with Liu Laosan's temperament, immediately guessed that Liu Laosan was likely to persuade Xiang Yu to withdraw his troops and return to Pengcheng as soon as possible.

Because of this, when it was completely dark, it was estimated that Liu Laosan had returned to the camp, so Cao Wushuang found an excuse to come to Liu Laosan's camp to ask for a meeting, but what made Cao Wushuang secretly worried was that when they met, Liu Laosan was not only full of alcohol, but also obviously accompanied Xiang Yu to drink a meal, and his eyebrows were full of joy, and he looked very excited and proud.

It was quite a coincidence that when Cao Wuxian was about to leave, his clan brother Cao Shen also happened to come to meet Liu Laosan, and as soon as he entered the tent, he said: "Pei Gong, the scout sent to Yutai Pavilion to investigate the enemy's situation has returned, and as of sunset, the Han thieves have not sent any troops. If nothing else, the thief shouldn't be making any moves tonight. ”

"Of course." Liu Laosan said proudly: "Xiang Kang traitor also has to consider his losses, in today's battle, we have more than four thousand heads just by beheading, Xiang Kang traitors are no matter how much it costs, and they don't dare to send tens of thousands of troops to Lao Qi every day to give us heads." ”

"Then what if the thieves deliberately wait a day and send troops to Laoqi to build a camp tomorrow night?" Cao Shen asked curiously.

Liu Laosan was indeed a little drunk, and said casually: "Don't worry, I have already persuaded the king to agree just now, tomorrow we will start secretly preparing to retreat, and cross Surabaya at dawn the day after tomorrow, as long as we cross Surabaya, our affairs will be much easier." ”

When Cao Shen heard the great joy, he hurriedly asked Liu Laosan for details, and Liu Laosan also introduced the general situation in passing, saying that he pulled Master Xiang Boxiang to point out Xiang Kang's arrogant tactics to Xiang Yu, and also persuaded Xiang Yu to take advantage of the situation and run, and made up his mind to withdraw from Surabaya first. Cao Wuxian listened to it and didn't say much, but retired with Cao Shen, but after returning to his camp, Cao Wuxian tossed and turned and didn't sleep well all night, and when it was close to dawn, Cao Wuxian got up in his clothes and wrote a letter himself......

…………

Like Liu Laosan's analysis, Xiang Kang really couldn't bear the losses of the army, so he didn't send troops to Laoqi for the third day in a row after Ding Ji and Zheng Bu were defeated in a row - after two days of fighting, the Han army was killed and missing, the soldiers were already approaching the 10,000 mark, and the number of light and serious wounded exceeded 3,000, and the losses were far more heavy than Xiang Kang estimated in advance, so although Xiang Kang's capital was thick, but in the case of no news about the reinforcements for the time being, Xiang Kang did not dare to continue to send troops to Laoqi to deliberately suffer defeat.

But at noon on the second day of Zheng Bu's defeat, in order to continue to entangle the main force of the Western Chu army, Xiang Kang had to consider sending troops to Lao Qi again, striving to entangle Xiang Yu for a few more days, and even planned to personally lead the army to Lao Qi, hooking his overlord cousin to make him reluctant to retreat in a hurry.

Zhang Liang, Chen Ping, Li Zuoche and others all strongly opposed Xiang Kang personally leading the army to Laoqi, the reason is also very simple, the time is too hasty, the Han army has absolutely no possibility to quickly build a camp that can be defended, as long as the Western Chu army marches into Laoqi in a big way, the Han army will basically be defeated, if Xiang Kang personally leads the army to Laoqi to fight this defeated battle, once there is any mistake in the battle, the consequences will definitely be unimaginable!

After thinking about it repeatedly, Xiang Kang still accepted the kindness of Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, and decided to let Long He go to Laoqi to lure the enemy, but at this time, a guard suddenly came to report outside the tent, saying that the Han army scout caught a Western Chu soldier in the woods southeast of Yutai Pavilion, during which the Western Chu soldier not only did not escape, but also took the initiative to say that he had confidential matters to see Xiang Kang, hoping to get Xiang Kang's personal reception.

"Did he say who he was?" Xiang Kang asked casually.

"Returning to the king, I said, he claimed to be a confidant of Cao Wuxian, the 500th chief of the Western Chu thief army, and came to see you on Cao Wuxian's order."

Before the guard's answer was finished, Xiang Kang had already stood up and shouted: "Quick, bring that person in immediately, this king wants to see him immediately!" Besides, give a ban order, and don't leak the slightest rumor! ”

According to Xiang Kang's order, the messenger sent by Cao Wushu was quickly brought to Xiang Kang, first indicating his identity and saying that he was Cao Wuxian's subordinate, because he had been saved by Cao Wuxian on the battlefield, and Cao Wuxian's great favor was also close to Cao Wuxian, so he was sent by Cao Wuxian to contact Xiang Kang, and then presented Cao Wuxian's handwritten letter to Xiang Kang.

In the letter, Cao Wuxian of course told Xiang Kang that Xiang Yu had decided to take advantage of the situation and run, and led the main force of the Western Chu Army to cross Surabaya at dawn tomorrow, and also reported to Xiang Kang that the main force of the Western Chu Army had not actually been in contact with the remnants of the Chuji Allied Army. Xiang Kang was of course incredulous when he saw it, and blurted out directly: "How is it possible? The main force of the Western Chu Thief Army has never been in contact with the rest of the Chuji Thief Army? Like us, ignorant of the current situation in the hinterland of Xue County? ”

Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and others were also full of surprise, and hurried up to read the letter with Xiang Kang, and after hurriedly reading Cao Wuxian's handwritten letter, Zhang Liang also hurriedly whispered in Xiang Kang's ear and reminded: "King, beware of fraud, this may be a trick by the Western Chu thief army, let Cao Wuxian surrender to lure us into taking risks." ”

Xiang Kang was nervous, first carefully read Cao Wuxian's letter, then looked up at the messenger sent by Cao Wuxian, and asked for a while: "In addition to this letter, has General Cao asked you to bring anything to this king?" ”

"Back to the King of Han, General Cao also said, please rest assured to believe the content of his letters." Cao Wuxian's messenger hurriedly replied: "These situations were all heard by him personally from Liu Ji's mouth, and there can be no fake. In addition, General Cao also said that the villain can stay in your barracks and wait for him without risking back. ”

"It could be an unwitting death."

Xiang Kang, who was good at using death to deceive the enemy, came to a conclusion in his heart, but after careful consideration, Xiang Kang still ordered the guards to take Cao Wuxian's messenger down to live and settle down, and also give him a heavy reward. Then it was only after Cao Wuxian's messenger was taken away that Chen Ping, who was in charge of the intelligence work of the Han army, spoke: "King, it's best not to trust this Cao Wuxian. Your Majesty clearly remembers that the detailed work we sent to contact Cao Wushu said that when Cao Wushu promised to give us an inside line, he promised very happily, so refreshing that people couldn't believe it was true. ”

"The king, your subordinates also think that you can't be gullible." Li Zuoche also said: "Especially the fact that the main force of the Western Chu Thief Army has not yet made contact with the Chuji Thief Army, which is the most suspicious, logically speaking, unless the army under the command of General Zhou completely surrounds the Chuji Thief Army, it is possible to completely cut off the connection between the Chuji Thief Army and the main force of the Western Chu Thief Army, but the terrain of Xue County is open, and it is definitely not as easy for General Zhou to do this. ”

Xiang Kang didn't say a word, just repeatedly recalled the Hongmen Banquet movies and books he had watched, and stood in Cao Wuxian's position for a long time, and suddenly said: "Pass the order, the whole army will prepare for war secretly, and the second watch will send troops, and rush to Huling before dawn to block the Western Chu thief army from crossing the river!" ”

"The king......."

"Needless to say." Xiang Kang waved his hand to interrupt everyone's dissuasion, and said coldly: "I can trust Cao Wuxian!" Uncle Zhou's side must have created a miracle! As long as we hold back the main force of the Western Chu Thief Army for another day or two, there may be an even greater miracle! ”