Han Xin's angry revenge succeeded in disgusting Xiang Kang, and after receiving a scout report, he learned that the main force of nearly 100,000 Western Chu troops led by Xiang Yu suddenly advanced westward from Yuncheng, traced up along the Rushui River, and killed in the direction of Xiangcheng......

"How is that possible? It stands to reason that in this situation, if my brother does not withdraw to Chen County, he should directly kill Laiye County, or directly kill Nanyang County? Why did it go northwest into the hinterland of Yingchuan? Isn't this my brother's style of soldiering?! ”

This hand is indeed not Xiang Yu's tactical style, Xiang Yu has always liked to stare at the enemy's main force with soldiers, and almost never uses any shameless tricks to avoid the real and attack the false, even if the front is really strong, at most it is only to send partial divisions to intersperse and rush to break through the enemy's defense line, and never use the main army to take shortcuts, so before this, Xiang Kang had already concluded that Xiang Yu only had three choices this time, one was to retreat to avoid running out of food, and the other was to kill Ye County to find himself desperately, The third is to directly enter Nanyang to open up contact with several divisions of the Western Chu Army, and he has long been prepared to deal with it, and now Xiang Yu suddenly made a fourth choice that is completely different from usual, Xiang Kang is of course difficult not to be shocked and surprised.

Chen Ping, Zhang Liang and Lou Jing and other Han army strategists were also surprised, after calming down, Zhang Liang hurriedly suggested to Xiang Kang: "King, Xiangcheng is tightly choking the water and land throat in the hinterland of Yingchuan, once lost, although we cannot completely cut off our rear contact with Sanchuan and Guanzhong, but it also makes it much more difficult for us to contact the rear, the position is very critical, Your Majesty suggested, we had better immediately divide our troops to the north and rush to Xiangcheng to help defend the city." ”

Xiang Kang didn't think much about it, and immediately decided to send Zeng Ji to lead 10,000 troops to the north, and rushed to Xiangcheng at full speed to help defend the city, but after Xiang Kang's guard captain Xu Ji sang the promise, before he could send the guards to give Zeng Ji an order, Xiang Kang had already changed his mind and said: "Slow, there is no need to pass the order, it's too late, my brother has already sent troops from Yuncheng to the west the day before yesterday, and when Zeng Ji arrived in Xiangcheng with the army, my brother must have arrived." ”

"King, don't you try to fight for it?" Zhang Liang said unrelentingly: "Let General Zeng's army go day and night, maybe there is hope." ”

"There's no hope." Xiang Kang shook his head helplessly, and said: "My brother has always used troops to invade like fire, and after identifying the target, he marched extremely fast, and he never hesitated to waver. Moreover, Xiangcheng is still located on the north bank of Rushui, no matter how much Zeng Ji's army reinforces at full speed, it is impossible to rush to Xiangcheng in advance, and it will only give my brother the opportunity to take the opportunity to fight in the field. ”

Knowing that Xiang Yu was invincible in the field, once the reinforcements sent urgently could not be stationed in the city in advance, they would only be doomed to be beaten by the Western Chu army all over the ground, Zhang Liang could only reluctantly change his words and asked: "What about Xiangcheng?" There are only less than 2,000 local troops in Xiangcheng City, and it is absolutely impossible to stop the 100,000 army of the King of Western Chu. ”

"It's not a big problem, we don't have to care too much about the gains and losses of one city and one place." Xiang Kang, who is getting more and more expensive, is very free and easy in this regard, and said: "And although the location of Xiangcheng is important, even if we lose it, we can also take the road of Yingting to contact the rear, it is a little trouble, and it will not have any particularly significant impact." ”

After Dadu finished saying this, Xiang Kang frowned again and said, "But what makes me strange is why did my brother enter the hinterland of Yingchuan?" Our main force is in Yexian County, even if he is invincible in the hinterland of Yingchuan, he will definitely not dare to directly enter our hinterland of Sanchuan regardless of his back? If he has been entrenched in Yingchuan for a long time, his rear will be empty again, and he will not be afraid that we will take the opportunity to enter his rear hinterland in a big way? ”

In terms of strategy, Zhang Liang has always been the best, but after a little calculation, Zhang Liang said: "The purpose of the King of Western Chu to do this should be three, one is to lure our main force north to rescue the hinterland of Yingchuan and take the opportunity to fight a decisive battle with us." The second is to lure us to send troops from other battlefields back to Yingchuan, to give him a chance to breathe from the middle battlefield and the Qidi battlefield, and also to create an opportunity for Liji to take the opportunity to gain a foothold in Nanjun. The third is to force us to transfer troops from the northern front battlefield with the largest number of mobile troops to attack his rear hinterland, which will not only share the pressure on the Qi army and the Jibei army that have submitted to him, but also create an opportunity for him to return to the rear of the division to find our partial division. ”

"In addition, the money and food in the hinterland of Yingchuan may also be an important target for him." Zhang Liang added: "Although Yingchuan has been repeatedly warned, there is still some foundation, and now the autumn harvest has just ended, and there is a lot of grain stored in various places, as long as the Western Chu army sweeps the hinterland of Yingchuan, it will definitely be able to reap a lot of benefits." ”

"Ruthless!" Xiang Kang woke up and had to praise: "Gao Zhao, you can not only get a lot of benefits, but also force us to respond, and no matter what kind of response we make, it will only do more good to him than harmful, my brother has advanced a lot." ”

Speaking of which, Xiang Kangcai suddenly remembered another big thing, and hurriedly said: "This trick must be Liu Ji or Han Xin's bad idea, only these two traitors can come up with such a trick to disgust us, my brother definitely doesn't have such a mind, and even if someone under my brother's account can come up with such an idea, it will be difficult to convince my brother to do so, only Liu Ji has the ability to lead my brother by the nose!" ”

"How should we deal with it, my lord?" Chen Ping asked.

Xiang Kang was calculating, and it was rare that he couldn't make up his mind for a long time, so he could only change his words and ask Zhang Liang: "Mr. Zifang, you are good at strategy, how do you think you should deal with it?" ”

Zhang Liang didn't answer in a hurry, and only replied after a while: "Returning to the king, there are three strategies for the upper, middle and lower routes, the best strategy is to recall our main force on the northern front and the army on the middle route, and then transfer the army on the southern front back, concentrate the troops and fight a decisive battle with the king of Western Chu in Yingchuan, and drown the Western Chu thief army with our superiority in strength." ”

"I'm afraid it's not that easy." Xiang Kang said without thinking about it: "The terrain east of Yingchuan is open, it is easy to retreat, and my brother is not a fool, I'm afraid he has already run away before our army can complete the assembly." At that time, our various armies will not talk about it in vain, and they will definitely give Tian Da and Tian Bao in Qi a chance to take a breather, and that Liji puppet is also likely to take the opportunity to gain a foothold in Nanjun. ”

"The middle strategy is to ignore it, shrink the forces in the middle to defend the Sanchuan important land, continue to maintain the offensive on the north and south fronts, and sacrifice Yingchuan to create opportunities for us on the north and south fronts." Zhang Liang continued: "The next strategy is to gather troops in the middle road, attack the rear hinterland of the Western Chu army on a large scale, encircle Wei to rescue Zhao and force the Western Chu army to return to the division to rescue their rear. ”

"The next strategy is absolutely impossible, it will not only waste time and opportunities on the northern front, but also may give my brother the opportunity to take the opportunity to find our middle army for a decisive battle." Xiang Kang vetoed the next policy without thinking about it, and said hesitantly: "The middle strategy, sacrifice the hinterland of Yingchuan ......." ”

After just hesitating for a moment, Xiang Kang made up his mind and said: "With the middle strategy, we can afford to sacrifice in the hinterland of Yingchuan, with Nanyang, Hanzhong, and Guanzhong to supply grain and grass, and we can also afford to consume the thief army in Yexian and Western Chu, so we will give priority to taking down Qidi and Nanjun!" Let's see who can't hold their breath first! ”

When Zhang Liang was about to nod, Lou Jing opened his mouth and reminded: "King, the middle strategy is probably not the best choice, the stalemate lasts for a long time, and the rear of Western Chu, which is the greatest threat to us, will be able to get the opportunity to reorganize order and restore people's livelihood, and at that time, if Yafu Fan Zeng recruits and organizes enough troops in the rear of Western Chu to reinforce the king of Western Chu, we will have a chance to be defeated by the Western Chu thief army!" ”

Xiang Kang was stunned, and then he remembered another fatal problem - Yingchuan, which has been repeatedly warned, still has a foundation and potential to dig up, of course, not to mention the vast rear of Western Chu, and it won't take too much at that time, as long as the old man Fan, who doesn't agree with him, will get Xiang Yu another 100,000 rear army, Xiang Yu will be sure to go north to take the important land of Sanchuan, and go south to find himself desperately in Ye County!

"Your Majesty's humble opinion, Mr. Zifang's best policy is the best choice." Lou Jing said again: "We shrink our forces to surround the Western Chu thief army, although it will give the enemies of Qidi and Nanjun a chance to breathe and gain a foothold, but correspondingly, we have the hope of getting the opportunity to completely annihilate the main force of the Western Chu thief army in the hinterland of Yingchuan." ”

"Taking a step back, even if the Western Chu thief army escapes, after they withdraw to the rear, we only need to deploy an army with sufficient strength in the middle of the road, and we can firmly contain the main force of the Western Chu thief army, so that they can't go north to rescue Qidi, and go south to reinforce Nanjun, we are great Just spend a little more time and take Qidi and Nanjun, we can form a favorable advantage of encirclement on three sides of the Western Chu army, and then expand the army over time, and then we can concentrate our forces to attack Xichu, and it will be easy to destroy Xichu and dominate the world."

Xiang Kang fell into deep thought, and it was also rare to be unable to make up his mind, and Lou Jing said again: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty knows that you don't want our army to work back and forth, miss the opportunity of the north and south lines, and you may not be sure that you can surround the main force of the Western Chu thief army, but there is no way, our army is too scattered, and if we don't drive the Western Chu army away from the hinterland of Yingchuan for a day, we won't have a chance to redeploy and adjust our strategy for a day, and we won't concentrate our forces to form an advantage over the Western Chu thief army, which is greatly injured, only to drive the Western Chu thief army away first, Only then can we regain the strategic initiative on the battlefield under heaven. ”

Xiang Kang is actually a despicable villain who is suspected of being very selfish, considering that if his army is allowed to be too scattered and out of his control for a long time, then among the generals of the Han army, as long as one of them has a different heart, it may lead to a chain reaction and cause his own total collapse - especially now that Xiang Yu has the help of Liu Laosan, a despicable villain, he will definitely not miss the opportunity to take the opportunity to rebel or encourage the generals of the Han army to rebel and stand on their own.

So after thinking about it, Xiang Kang still nodded and said: "Lou Shilang is reasonable, Tian Jiao, Tian Da and Li are three clowns who jump off the beam, it doesn't matter if they live a few more days!" ”

After finally making up his mind, Xiang Kang didn't even blink an eyelid, and immediately issued a series of orders, first of all, to give an order to Ding Ji on the southern front, asking him to temporarily give up the strategic opportunity to help Li Shang and Yingbu cross the Han River and enter Nanjun, and lead the army back to Shiye County to join the main force, strengthen Ye County's troops, and let Li Shang and Yingbu temporarily take on the task of containing and preventing the Liji Division. He also sent an order to Zheng Bu and Li Zuoche in the middle of the road, asking them to give up attacking Dingtao, return to Sanchuan to join the armies of Qi Gill and Fu Kuan, and prepare to go south from the Wu clan.

Xiang Kang's third order was, of course, to Uncle Zhou, who had a heavy army, to let Uncle Zhou lead the main force of the Han army's northern front to withdraw to the middle battlefield along the Chi Road, return to Yangwu and go south from Quyu, attack the last main force of Xiang Yu on three sides of the Wei family, and make every effort to fight on the Yingchuan battlefield to end the Chu-Han war that had lasted for many years.

After promulgating these three important orders, Xiang Kang personally took up the pen and wrote a letter mocking Xiang Yu for not daring to come directly to fight with him, and handed it to Chen Ping and instructed: "Arrange a messenger who is not afraid of death, let him take this letter to contact my brother, and strive to provoke my brother to come to Ye County to fight a decisive battle with us." ”

"King, I'm afraid it's hard to find." Chen Ping said with a wry smile: "The envoys we sent out are easier to die than the soldiers sent out during the siege of the city. ”

"Tell them plainly, come back alive this time, and give a threefold reward." Xiang Kang didn't even blink his eyelids and said: "If you can't come back, the pension will be tripled, and if you have a son's official position of 200 stones, you don't have to use a scribe, even if it is a sergeant in our army, as long as you dare to send this letter." ”

Not to mention, there must be brave men under the heavy reward, and there is really such a brave and fat enough Han army official who covets Xiang Kang's heavy reward, and then this almost destined messenger went north to Xiangcheng with Xiang Kang's letter, and sent Xiang Kang's provocative letter to the Western Chu army that arrived in Xiangcheng first. But what made Xiang Kang, Zhang Liang, and Chen Ping break through the glasses was that the Han army official who was not afraid of death not only returned to Yexian County with a smile on his face to receive the reward, but also brought Xiang Kang a set of children's clothes worn by a little girl, as well as a reply letter written by Xiang Yu to Xiang Kang - needless to say, Xiang Yu naturally scolded the scum cousin in the letter, and in turn ridiculed Xiang Kang's courage was inferior to that of a little girl.

"It's definitely Liu Ji's puppet who did it." Xiang Kang said very helplessly: "Only he can come up with a way to appease my brother's bear temper, and the idea of sending me little girl's clothes is definitely his idea, even if he knows that he can't provoke me, he doesn't forget to disgust me once." ”

"With the help of Liu Ji's traitor, the king of Western Chu is really like a tiger." Chen Ping smiled and said: "The king just wants to think of a way to drive a wedge between the relationship between the king of Western Chu and Liu Ji's traitors?" Otherwise, if we continue like this, I am afraid that it will pose a big threat to us. ”

"The time is not ripe." Xiang Kang shook his head even more helplessly and said: "Now Liu Ji Pifu has just given my brother the land of the city that he is destined to not keep, and my brother is in love with each other, and the relationship is so good that the relationship is so good. ”

Helplessly, Xiang Kang said in his heart: "Liu Laosan is too treacherous, it's not easy to make a fuss about him, but in Han Xin, I can hurry up and make some fuss, this guy's temper can't get along with anyone, and he even looks down on anyone, as long as he cleans him up, even if Liu Laosan helps Xiang Yu, it won't pose too much threat to me." ”

How to frame Han Xin was not able to come up with a way quickly, on the contrary, the news that Xiangcheng was broken by the Western Chu army was sent to Ye County first, and the contact between Xiang Kang and the rear of the Han army was also greatly affected, and the messenger could only take the remote road on the side of Yingting to go north to Jiaxian, and then return to the hinterland of Sanchuan to pass the order and deliver the news for Xiang Kang, the efficiency was greatly reduced, but fortunately, it was not completely cut off, and Xiang Kang did not need to worry too much.

This is just the beginning, and then the real disgusting Xiang Kang, easily took Xiangcheng and captured a lot of military grain and grass, and by the way, after forcibly recruiting many soldiers, Xiang Yu deliberately left only a small army to guard Xiangcheng, specifically responsible for cutting off the direct contact between Xiang Kang and the rear of the Han army, and took the main force north to take Yingyang, and then divided two partial divisions to the east and west, constantly attacking the city and plundering the land in the hinterland of Yingchuan, looting money and grain to recruit soldiers, and brutally killing the local officials and generals of Yingchuan who had just changed the banner of the Han army, He also beat Xiang Kangfeng's Korean lieutenant Han Xin to the point that he lost his armor, cried wolf, and was forced to flee back to Yangzhai and constantly asked Xiang Kang for help.

This is also Xiang Kang's most cowardly period, even if Ding Ji returned to Ye County with the army, the main force of the Han army, which lost a lot during the southern expedition, was still not the opponent of the main force of the Western Chu Army, and he couldn't fight Xiang Yu with fighting strength, and he couldn't beat Liu Laosan and Han Xin with his wit, Xiang Kang could only swallow his anger and stick to the important place of Ye County, and let the Western Chu Army kill people and set fire to the hinterland of Yingchuan that he had just won, and rape and plunder, not only the loss of manpower and material resources was huge, but the people of Yingchuan were also disappointed in Xiang Kang. The county magistrate of Xuxian County, who felt that he had been abandoned, simply abandoned the city and fled alone, so that a few thousand Western Chu troops could easily take the county seat of Xuxian County, which had hoarded a large amount of autumn grain.

Fortunately, such a nest is destined not to last long, after the winter, first Zheng Bu took the main force of the Han army to return to Sanchuan, and completed the strategic deployment of the main force of the Western Chu army in the north and south, and then Uncle Zhou finally sent the news in the cold wind of winter, saying that he had successfully returned to Puyang and was marching to Wei's according to Xiang Kang's requirements, and the strategic encirclement of the Han army against the main force of the Western Chu army was about to be completed.

After confirming this, he estimated that Uncle Zhou was about to enter Yingchuan County, and Xiang Kang, who was very relieved of Uncle Zhou, did not hesitate, first went to order Zheng Bu and Fu Kuan and other departments, so that Zheng Bu led the main force of the Han army in the middle to go south from the Wu clan, and marched to Yangzhai to rescue Han Xin, who had been besieged by the Western Chu army for a long time, and personally led the main force of the Han army north to Xiangcheng to find the main force of the Western Chu army stationed in Yingyang for a decisive battle, and shouted shamelessly: "Brother, don't you like to fight with me?" This time, if any of us dare not fight to the death in an upright manner, who is not worthy of being the descendants of the Xiang family! Only worthy of changing the surname to the turtle king bastard! ”

I have to explain that although Xiang Kang's current army of less than 80,000 is still not the opponent of the main force of the Western Chu Army, as long as the main force of the Western Chu Army is entangled, the retreat of the main force of the Western Chu Army is delayed, and the troops of Zheng Bu and Uncle Zhou arrive, then needless to say, it must be the historical drama of the Battle of Qixia staged in advance! There is not much time left for Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu!