When the Qi Gill brothers were calculating Xiang Kang behind their backs, the main force of the young marshal army was also personally led by Xiang Kang, and took the initiative to abandon the county seat of Yexian and went south to the city of Yangcheng, but on the issue of whether to attack Yangcheng, there were two completely different voices within the young marshal army.

Including Uncle Zhou, who reassured Xiang Kang the most in the military aspect, all the important generals of the young marshal army advocated attacking Yangcheng, the reason is also very simple, Yangcheng has not been affected by the war, the city has sufficient money, food and materials, and the harvest will definitely be not small after taking it, and the Nanyang land in this era is sparsely populated, and it is difficult to raise grain and grass for supplies, and the precious food in Yangcheng City can certainly not be easily given up.

It stands to reason that since the important generals of the Young Marshal Army unanimously agreed to the storming of Yangcheng, even if Chen Ping opposed it, it would definitely not play any role, but there was one person who stood on the opposite side of the generals of the Young Marshal Army and resolutely opposed the storming of Yangcheng, and no one dared to ignore his opinion among the generals of the Young Marshal Army and Xiang Kang! Because this person is no one else, it happens to be Zhou Zeng, the oldest accomplice and lackey by Xiang Kang's side, and the old boss of the young marshal generals, so naturally no one will easily refute his words.

"General Right, Xia Guan doesn't know much about military affairs, it stands to reason that he shouldn't interject indiscriminately at this time and sweep everyone's interest, but Xia Guan still wants to say that we shouldn't storm Yangcheng, we should bypass Yangcheng and go south to Wancheng directly."

Zhou Zeng objected to this, and said: "Although Nanyang County used to be the land of Chu, but after being ruled by the violent Qin for nearly a hundred years, the people of Nanyang have all regarded themselves as Qin people, and they are full of hostility to the Chu people, so when we attacked Li County and Ye County, we were met with stubborn resistance from the soldiers and civilians in the city, although we finally won the city, but our casualties were also quite small, if we continue to storm Yang City, it will definitely only be this result, even if the city is broken, we have to pay a certain price." ”

"In this case, we should not waste troops and time to storm Yangcheng, we should go directly to Wancheng, because Wancheng is the county of Nanyang, and taking Wancheng is equivalent to controlling the command center of Nanyang County, and then we will give benevolent government in Wancheng, buy the hearts of the people, and then use the surrendered Wancheng officials to contact the counties of Nanyang, so that all parts of Nanyang know our strict military discipline, and there is no offense against the civilians of Lishu, so it will definitely reduce the hostility of the Nanyang military and civilians towards us, and it will not only help us seize the remaining Nanyang City, It is even possible to directly surrender and let some Nanyang cities take the initiative to open the city and surrender. ”

Speaking of this, Zhou Zeng added, "But if we forcibly use force to seize Nanyang City one by one, the situation will definitely be completely different, and the siege of the city one by one will definitely have heavy casualties, not to mention, after killing too many Nanyang soldiers and civilians in the battle, their parents, wives and children will definitely hate us to the core, which is extremely unfavorable for us to buy the hearts of the people, and may also affect our strategic plan to enter the Guanzhong from Wuguan, resulting in more stubborn resistance when we attack the cities in Guanzhong." ”

Zhou Zeng, who is good at civil affairs, rarely expressed his opinions in the military aspect, and it is quite reasonable, Xiang Kang naturally had to carefully consider his opinions, and after thinking for a long time, Xiang Kang said to the young marshal generals: "Generals, you have also heard what Uncle Ya said, I think his words are very right, shoot people to shoot horses first, capture thieves to capture the king first, although we have been strictly restraining soldiers along the way, strictly prohibiting burning, killing and looting, but the effect is not very good, the soldiers and civilians of Nanyang, who think they are Qin people, are still very resistant to us, As for the reason, I think it should be related to the fact that our benevolent government has not been known by enough Nanyang people, if we take Wancheng first, take advantage of Wancheng as the center of Nanyang county governance, and publicize our benevolent government to all parts of Nanyang, I think the situation will definitely change, what do you think? ”

Xiang Kang said this, of course, all the generals of the young marshal army nodded one after another, and Ding Ji, who had shouted to be the vanguard of the siege, also said: "General Right, since you and Uncle Ya both think that you should bypass Yangcheng and attack Wancheng first, then let's go and fight Wancheng first, anyway, the tyrannical Qin army in Nanyang has already retreated to Wancheng, first take Wancheng to annihilate the main force of the tyrannical Qin army, and then we can fight other cities much easier, at least don't worry about the threat of the tyrannical Qin army behind us." ”

Xiang Kang nodded with satisfaction, and immediately ordered the young marshal army, which had not yet set up camp, to continue to advance, bypassing Yangcheng and going south directly, and at the same time reiterating military discipline again, strictly prohibiting the young marshal soldiers from plundering the people's property and infringing on the people. Not to mention the result, seeing the young marshal's army passing around the city, without even touching the ordinary houses outside the city, the Yangcheng soldiers and civilians were not only relieved, but also amazed by the strict military discipline of the young marshal army, and were no longer just full of fear and hatred for the young marshal army.

On the way south, Qi Feng, the messenger sent by Qi Gill, also got in touch with the young marshal's army, for the sake of being the same anti-Qin righteous teacher, Xiang Kang also put down his identity and personally met with Qi Gill's brother Qi Feng, but when Qi Feng on behalf of Qi Gill cheekily proposed to join forces with the young marshal army to attack Nanyang City, Xiang Kang categorically rejected Qi Gill's request, and said directly: "This general led the army to Nanyang, in order to rescue the thousands of Nanyang Li Shu who were poisoned by the violent Qin, not to rob the house and loot the city, if your army is willing to join our Chu army, Accept our incorporation, we raise our hands to welcome, and General Ben can also guarantee that he will never treat Captain Qi Commander badly, but he will be spared by joining forces to attack the city, and General Ben is not the kind of rogue who shares the spoils with others. ”

"General Right is really benevolent and righteous, but brother, he wants to join forces with General Right to attack the city, and he doesn't want to poison the old folks in Nanyang, he really wants to help General Right to destroy the tyrannical Qin and rejuvenate the Chu State."

Qi Feng is quite good at talking, first following Xiang Kang's meaning with rhetoric, and then said eloquently: "General right, you are strong and strong, maybe you don't need the army of the little brother to help attack the city, but since ancient times, the Taoist people are more helpful, our Qi family is a big family in Nanyang, with deep roots in Nanyang, deep connections, and familiar with the customs and folklore of Nanyang, geographical roads, if the right general can agree to join forces with us, our army will be able to help you a lot, right general, you come from afar, Don't you want a local volunteer in Nanyang to act as a guide for you and help you persuade the soldiers and civilians from all over Nanyang to surrender voluntarily? ”

If he can get the support of a local big family like Qi Gill, it will be much easier for the young marshal army to buy the hearts of the people in Nanyang, but Xiang Kang has already suffered enough of joining forces with others, and he is even more unwilling to see the situation of two orders in his army again, so Xiang Kang still categorically rejected Qi Feng's persuasion, and once again emphasized that he was only willing to incorporate Qi Gill's department, and was unwilling to join forces with Qi Gill's army.

A few days later, the young marshal army carrying a large amount of grain and grass and military supplies successfully arrived at the city of Nanyang, but what made Xiang Kang frown was that Lu Qi, the commander of Nanyang County, learned the lessons of the previous field battle, and took the initiative to abandon the Baihe crossing, and withdrew all the troops to the city to station, and did not establish any camp outside the city, and used all his forces to defend the city. At the same time, the young marshal's army also sent a report, saying that the number of Qin troops in Wancheng City was at least 16,000 or more, and the strength was quite strong, and it was definitely more than enough to defend the city.

No matter how much you frown, it was useless, although the siege was extremely difficult, Xiang Kang still let the young marshal's army cross the Baihe River on the same day, and arranged the camp on the bank of the Baihe River eight miles outside the north gate of Wancheng.

The results of the field exploration made Xiang Kang frown even more, as the county governor of Nanyang, the city wall of Wancheng is higher and thicker than the ordinary county town, not to mention, the moat also introduces the living water of the Bai River, which is extremely difficult to pass, in addition, the Qin army also rushed to repair a sheep and horse wall between the moat and the city wall, which can cover the nurses and soldiers to shoot arrows directly out of the city, so that the young marshal soldiers must pay a heavy price if they want to fill the moat and open the way to enter the army. Therefore, Xiang Kang also quickly came to a conclusion and said: "It must be difficult to go south to Wancheng by storming, we can only find a way to outwit it, at least we must first lure the violent Qin army out of the city and inflict heavy damage on them outside the city, and then we can hope to succeed in the storm." ”

Uncle Zhou and Chen Ping nodded together, and also racked their brains with Xiang Kang to figure out how to use despicable means to opportunistically take Wancheng, but at this time, as a guest, the Korean Situ Zhang Liang, who lived in the young marshal's barracks as a guest, also came to Nanyang City with two entourages to explore the enemy's situation, and after seeing that Xiang Kang was also outside the city, Zhang Liang also took the initiative to come over to salute and say hello, Xiang Kang waved his hand to stop, and said with a smile: "Uncle doesn't have to be polite, you are not my subordinate, and you and my third uncle are friends of life and death, so there is no need to make so many false courtesies." ”

"General Right really hasn't changed at all, and he still doesn't like red tape." Zhang Liang smiled gently and asked, "General Right came to the city in person, I don't know what flaws in the city defense can be found?" ”

"It would be nice if it was so easy to find a flaw in the city's defenses." Xiang Kang smiled and asked rhetorically: "Uncle, I don't know what you think about our army's attack on Wancheng?" ”

"The right general is like a god with soldiers, and his wit is outstanding, so dare the foreign minister to get an axe in front of you?" Zhang Liang was modest, and then said: "But for this battle, the foreign minister has a little immature and foolish opinion, that is, I don't know if General Right is willing to listen to it." ”

"Please ask my uncle for advice, and the little nephew will listen to you." Xiang Kang, who knew how powerful Zhang Liang was, said busily.

"In the battle of Wancheng, the foreign minister thinks that it should be the siege of the city and the attack of the heart." Zhang Liang, who finally got a chance to perform in front of Xiang Kang, was no longer polite, and said: "The violent Qin army has all withdrawn to the city to defend the city, if you blindly attack by force, General Right, it will definitely be very difficult to break the city, even if you barely succeed, General Right, your army will definitely have casualties that will not be small there." But since the tyrannical Qin army did not dare to set up camp outside the city, this shows that the tyrannical Qin army has been afraid of the tiger and wolf division under your command, the right general, and the courage is exhausted, and they dare not hope to defeat the right general and your army, and only dare to dream of closing the city to protect themselves. ”

"It's a good idea to focus on the heart, of course, but how do we do that?" Xiang Kang asked.

"Why don't you try to send an envoy to surrender?" Zhang Liang proposed: "The one who can make a decision to let the tyrannical Qin army give up the key points outside the city and retreat into the city to defend the city must be Nanyang County Shou Lu Qi, the reason why he made this decision also shows that he has completely feared your army General Right, in this case, General Right, why don't you try to directly recruit Lu Qi, know the benefits to him, and persuade him to take the initiative to open the city and surrender, if this move is successful, General Right, wouldn't you be able to take Wancheng without blood?" ”

"Directly recruit Lu Qi? Is that easy? Xiang Kang said with a wry smile: "If I remember correctly, it seems that since I and King Zhang Chu raised troops one after another, none of the tyrannical Qin county guards have taken the initiative to choose to surrender. I still remember that in Yangzhai No, Yingchuan County's defense of Gaojing has reached the end of the road, and it has not been shaken at all, not to mention that Lu Qi still has enough troops to defend the city. ”

"Since General Right and King Zhang Chu have raised troops one after another, it is true that none of the tyrannical Qin county guards have taken the initiative to surrender, but Lu Qi may not have been able to break the convention and become the first tyrannical Qin county guard to surrender on his own initiative."

Zhang Liang replied quite confidently, and said: "In the battle of Lixian County, the tyrannical Qin army under the command of Lü Qi not only suffered a crushing defeat, but also almost lost all the Guanzhong reinforcements sent to him by the tyrannical Qin court, plus the right general, your army directly entered the hinterland of Nanyang, threatening the safety of Wuguan, if these situations are known by the tyrannical Qin court, the tyrannical Qin court will definitely not give up, even if you don't put Lü Qi in prison for questioning, you will definitely be reprimanded below, and order Lü Qi to make meritorious contributions, and you must not give the right general your army the opportunity to threaten the hinterland of Guanzhong." ”

"But the current situation is, not to mention that Lu Qi is obstructing the right general from entering the army, it is difficult to protect himself, there is absolutely no possibility of meritorious atonement, sooner or later he will be held accountable by the tyrannical Qin court, at least he will lose his official position and be dismissed, or at worst he will be killed and his family will be killed, and even executed by a car split, if the envoy you sent by you explains this truth to Lu Qi, and allows him to be a high-ranking official, or even a fief, it may not be impossible for Lu Qi to make a wise choice."

Xiang Kang calculated, and found that Zhang Liang's proposal could indeed be tried, even if it could not be successful, it would be a great loss of an envoy, and there were very few cases of killing envoys in this era, and he might not even have any loss to the envoy after the surrender failed, so Xiang Kang quickly made up his mind and said: "Then give it a try, I will arrange a messenger when I go back and go into the city to persuade Lu Qi to take the initiative to open the city and surrender." ”

With the attitude of giving it a try, after returning to the camp of the young marshal army that was still being established, Xiang Kang really began to arrange for the envoy to enter the city to recruit surrender, and as a result, Li Shiqi, who was the best at recruiting surrender in the history of the late Qin Dynasty, of course, immediately stood up and volunteered to go to the city for Xiang Kang to recruit Lu Qi. It's a pity that Xiang Kang was reluctant to take a risk with a talent like Li Shiqi, so he shook his head categorically and refused, saying: "Mr. Li's courage is commendable, but it is too dangerous to enter the city to surrender after all, and Lu Qi still has the strength to fight. ”

"The old man is not afraid." Li Shiqi still insisted and said: "The old man is willing to take the risk and use my three-inch tongue to persuade Lu Qi to surrender for the right general." ”

Xiang Kang, who didn't like to take risks, still refused, and during the dispute, Xiang Kang suddenly remembered the uncle and grandson tong who had established a miracle in Yangzhai last time, and was busy ignoring Li Shiqi's insistence, and sent someone to call Shusun Tong in front of him, ordering him to serve as his own messenger, and carrying letters into the city to persuade Lu Qi to lead the army to surrender.

is completely different from the old man Li who is full of courage, Uncle Sun Tong, who is famous for caring for his own life, listened to Xiang Kang's arrangement, of course, cold sweat flowed on his forehead, and he trembled for a long time and did not dare to say anything, but Xiang Kang couldn't help but say, he forced people to stuff the letter of surrender and the gift to Lu Qi over Shusun Tong, forcing him to go into the city immediately to contact Lu Qi, and said with a smile on his face: "Mr. Uncle Sun, whether our army can take Wancheng without blood depends on your superb eloquence." If you really can't persuade Lu Qi to surrender, it doesn't matter, if you can help me trick the violent Qin army out of the city to fight like last time, I will still give you a great credit. ”

"General Right, is that easy? Last time was just a coincidence, can Xia Guan have such good luck every time? ”

Uncle Sun Tong almost didn't cry, but he ate people softly, took Xiang Kang's money and food, and did not have the courage to abandon his post and flee for his life, so Mr. Uncle Sun had no choice but to take a carriage to Wancheng City to call the door under the 'escort' of the young marshal soldiers, and for the second time he tied his head to the belt of his trousers to serve as a surrender messenger for Xiang Kang.

In fact, Mr. Uncle Sun doesn't have to be so scared, because Nanyang County Shou Lu Qi is not only not as stubborn as Yingchuan County Shou Gaojing, but he hates Mr. Uncle Sun who betrayed Daqin, and on the first day when the young marshal army arrived in Wancheng, he received an urgent letter from Zhao Gao from Xianyang, forcing him to annihilate the young marshal army in Nanyang no matter what, and also threatened that if Lu Qi couldn't do this, he would settle the account together with the defeat of Li County, and kill Lu Qi and behead him! - Everyone knows that Lu Qi has absolutely no hope of accomplishing this absurd task.

It is precisely because of the existence of such objective conditions that after Mr. Shusun entered the city with trembling all over his body, he was not immediately taken down like last time, and was politely invited into the Nanyang County Shoufu by the Qin soldiers, and met Lu Qi as a guest, as well as Lu Qi's absolute henchman Chen Hui. Then, Mr. Uncle Sun gradually gained courage, first frantically slapped Lu Qi's sycophants, and then according to Xiang Kang's instructions, after using very beautiful words to benefit Lu Qixiao, Lu Qi not only did not get angry, but also showed a little hesitation.

Since ancient times, people who have been good at patting sycophants are basically good at observing words and feelings, and Mr. Uncle Sun is one of the top players, and when he found that Lu Qi was actually a little shaken, Mr. Uncle Sun was inevitably surprised in his heart, and said secretly: "Is there really a door?" If he can really persuade him to open the city and surrender, the old man will not only be able to make great achievements, but also be famous all over the world immediately! ”

Hope was ignited in his heart, and Mr. Shusun hurriedly said: "Lu Junzun, forgive the little envoy for taking the liberty of saying it, at the moment you really have no other choice than to surrender in Kaicheng, how sharp the soldiers of our Chu army are, you have already seen with your own eyes, no matter how strong Wancheng is, there is absolutely no hope that it can stop the siege of our right general's army." Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if Lu Junzun is lucky enough to hold Wancheng, the tyrant Qin court and the tyrant Hu Hai will definitely not spare you. ”

Speaking of this, Mr. Shusun paused for a moment, and then said: "The little envoy is definitely not alarmist, the little envoy once served as a doctor of the edict in the tyrannical Qin court, how brutal Hu Hai is, the little envoy saw it with his own eyes, his sixteen brothers, twelve of them were beheaded by him on the streets of Xianyang, three of them were forced by him to kill themselves, and the remaining prince won high, and he was forced by him to take the initiative to ask for the burial of the first emperor, so he barely died a decent death, and his ten sisters, the princess of Daqin, who had no threat to his throne, were also executed by him in his disheveled car in Du County, He is so vicious and ruthless to his brothers and sisters, how can he forgive you for your mistake of defeating Li County and letting our Chu army enter the hinterland of Nanyang? ”

"Also, Li Youli Junzun is also an example." Mr. Shusun said again: "He was trapped in the lonely city of Xingyang, and he resisted Zhang Chu's army of tens of thousands alone, what a lot of hard work? But after he made a great contribution, the violent Qin court not only did not give him the slightest reward, but also sent Wang Ming and Chen Zongzheng to Sanchuan County to investigate his mistakes, Li Junzun's father, Prime Minister Li Si and his brothers and sisters, were also ordered by Hu Hai to be beheaded in Xianyang, Yin Jian is not far away, Lu Junzun, do you still want to repeat the mistakes of the past? ”

Mr. Shusun, who became serious, is indeed very capable, these words hit the heart of Lu Qi, thinking of the ruthlessness of Hu Hai, and Li You, who made great contributions to the Great Qin Court, was the tragic end of the whole family, Lu Qi, who was already a little shaken, was inevitably even more hesitant, and couldn't help but start thinking about the choice of surrendering to Xiang Kang. Mr. Shusun saw Lu Yan's thoughts, and his heart was inevitably overjoyed, and he hurriedly said: "Lu Junzun, don't hesitate anymore, no matter whether Wancheng can be defended or not, you are already a dead end, only ......." ”

"Lu Junzun, the last general Ma Daxiao asks to see!"

The sudden shouting interrupted Mr. Uncle Sun's tongue, and then, without waiting for Lu Qi to agree to the meeting, the tall Ma Daxiao strode up to the lobby of the Nanyang County Guard's Mansion, and as soon as he came to the hall, he pointed at Mr. Uncle Sun very unceremoniously and asked: "Lu Junzun, the last general heard that Xiang Kang's thief army sent a messenger, is this old horseman?" ”

"Bad dish, there is a stubborn idiot, there is little hope of surrendering, and the old man may be in danger." Mr. Uncle Sun complained in his heart, and the sweat that had disappeared immediately covered Mr. Uncle Sun's forehead again.