The main force of the Qin army in Surabaya County was defeated in the first battle, and the main camp of the Qin army in Surabaya County was located outside Fuli City, so that the Qin army was directly defeated and fled back to the city. However, after the preliminary results of the next day came out, Xiang Kang and the young marshal army were surprised and disappointed to find that the real results of the self-army were not as great as estimated and hoped - in addition to the capture of many military supplies, baggage, weapons and armor, the number of beheadings of the young marshal's army was less than 900, and the captured Qin army was only more than 700 prisoners.

The key is that the battlefield is located in the North China Plain, the terrain is too open, and it is easier for the defeated side to break and escape, and the young marshal army is based on the infantry as the main force, and if you want to effectively annihilate the enemy, the difficulty is naturally more than ordinary.

Previously, Zhao Zhuang directly commanded the main force of the Qin army stationed outside Fuli City is close to 5,000 people, and there are more than 1,200 local defenders in Fuli, with a total strength of more than 6,000, and the young marshal army even beheaded and taken prisoners after a battle, and the total is only to eliminate more than 1,600 enemies, even if some of the Qin army is still missing on the battlefield and taking the opportunity to be deserters, the total strength of the remaining Qin army should still be more than 4,000, not only have enough troops to hold Fuli City, but also still have the power of a battle, if the operation is done properly, Even the possibility of turning defeat into victory cannot be ruled out.

After all, the young marshal army has only barely accumulated some experience in actual combat and cutting people, and it is still a group of rabble in its bones, and anything can happen once it is at a disadvantage. At the same time, yesterday's battle in the formation also clearly showed that the young marshal's army is indeed very serious at present, lacking experience in formation battles, and its ability to break through formations is not strong, and it is difficult to say that it is difficult to grasp when it comes to a head-on encounter.

The only thing that made Xiang Kang feel at ease was morale and fighting spirit, after the big victory, the morale of the young marshal army was high, the fighting spirit was high, and he was full of confidence in defeating the enemy again from top to bottom; After the fiasco, the morale of the Qin army was depressed, the army was panicked, and it was difficult to recover its combat effectiveness and combat courage in a short period of time.

Summarizing these circumstances, Xiang Kang once again strengthened the decision he had made before, and also said directly at the military meeting to discuss the next battle plan: "It is absolutely impossible to launch a siege head-on, there is not much certainty, and it is easy for the violent Qin army to gradually regain confidence by relying on the defense of the city, so that our future battles will be more difficult to fight." ”

"So what should we do?" Xiang Zhuang asked, "Retire here?" Or do you want to find a way to win by surprise? Kill the tyrannical Qin army again by surprise? ”

Xiang Kang didn't answer, just silently calculated whether he should withdraw from the army, but after carefully weighing the pros and cons, Xiang Kang found that it was indeed a good choice to retreat, the enemy's morale was depressed, and after the main force of the young marshal's army retreated, Zhao Zhuang had almost no chance to take the opportunity to launch a pursuit, even if he retreated, there was not much danger. At the same time, after retreating from the army, even if the Qin army in Surabaya and the Qin army in the East China Sea continue to launch a joint attack, with yesterday's big victory at the bottom, it will be much easier for the young marshal's army to break the enemy in the field battle.

Having said that, Xiang Kang's sanity reminded himself that he could learn from anyone, and he must not learn from his cousin Xiang Yu, who was selling his reputation, and was extremely worried that if he didn't chase and fight to the end, he would probably give the enemy a chance to breathe and make a comeback, and it would be too late to regret it when the time came. Therefore, Xiang Kang also quickly made up his mind and said: "We can't retreat, the enemy's vitality is still there, if we can't seize the current opportunity to completely break the enemy and give Zhao Zhuang a chance to breathe, we will only have endless troubles." ”

"What then?" Xiang Zhuang asked again: "If you can't attack head-on, how about letting me take the army to the city to fight?" See if you can lure the enemy out? ”

Although he had a small grasp, Xiang Kang wanted to give it a try, and wanted to make up some vicious curses to provoke and anger the enemy, but when the words came to his lips, Xiang Kang suddenly moved in his heart, and hurriedly shook his head and said: "There is no need to go to the war, from now on, make every effort to strengthen the camp fortifications, dig a trench to protect the camp, and build a sheep and horse wall." Also, don't send soldiers around to cut wood, and don't rush to make any siege weapons. ”

"Why?" Xiang Zhuang said confusedly: "If you don't cut down trees to build siege weapons, why do you need to strengthen the fortifications and take a defensive position?" ”

Xiang Kang smiled and said with a very relaxed smile: "Of course there is a reason, because in yesterday's melee, I was injured by the stray arrows of the Tyrannical Qin army, and the injury was quite light. ”

…………

On the Qin army's side, of course, the situation is the opposite of the young marshal's army, counting yesterday's battlefield data, it was found that the losses of the self-commissioned soldiers were much less than he estimated, Zhao Zhuang of course breathed a long sigh of relief, and somewhat regained a little confidence, and immediately investigated the culprit who led to yesterday's fiasco, and cut down a Qin army with two or five hundred generals who were not able to govern the army and caused chaos among the soldiers, and two five hundred generals, and at the same time beat the Qin army generals who took the initiative to abandon the camp with fifty army sticks, and rightly put all the responsibility for the fiasco on his subordinates, I lost my temper.

Knowing Zhao Zhuang's bear temper, no one dared to stand up and ask for a favor for those unlucky people, or after Zhao Zhuang finally finished scolding people and venting enough, the adjutant who had advised Zhao Zhuang to choose to be on the defensive stood up and cautiously persuaded him: "Junzun, please take a break from the wrath of thunder, victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, yesterday we were just unlucky, and the soldiers sought chaos in order to rob the property, which gave Xiang Kang the opportunity to turn defeat into victory." Fortunately, our army's losses are smaller than estimated, and its vitality is still there, so as long as the strategy is appropriate, it is not impossible to turn things around again. ”

"I regret that I didn't listen to your advice, and I was too light on the enemy to fight, which is why I had yesterday's fiasco." With a somewhat critical sigh, Zhao Zhuang asked, "In your opinion, what should we do next?" ”

"Junzun, the subordinates feel that they should stick to the city and wait and see what happens." The official suggested: "The current situation of our army is that it is not enterprising enough and has more than enough self-preservation, so the subordinates think that our army only needs to stick to the Fu to leave the city, so that the thieves can not move an inch under the city. In addition, if you don't visit the East China Sea, inform the Donghai County Guard of the truth about our army, and ask him to send troops south as soon as possible to attack the back of the thieves, then the thieves will have to withdraw if they don't want to, and then our army can act at the opportunity, or take the opportunity to launch a pursuit, or gather troops and horses to advance slowly, and cooperate with the East China Sea soldiers to attack the thieves on both sides, and the thieves can be broken. ”

Zhao Zhuang, who had lost the courage to go out of the city to fight, immediately nodded and accepted, and while reinforcing the city defense and preparing to defend the city, he sent fast horses out of the city and rushed to the East China Sea to ask for help from the Qin army in Donghai County. At the same time, many scouts were sent out of the city to investigate the specific movements of the young marshal's army, and they did not dare to repeat the mistakes of the light enemy.

Under such circumstances, the strange actions of the young marshal army, who won a big victory yesterday, desperately strengthened the camp fortifications, of course, were quickly reported to Zhao Zhuang, and learned that the young marshal army did not try to seize the opportunity to launch an attack quickly, but took a defensive position like himself, Zhao Zhuang of course felt a little strange, and subconsciously strengthened the reconnaissance and monitoring of the young marshal army. Then inevitably, Zhao Zhuang, who had received a military education in the school, quickly discovered a detail - the young marshal army never sent people out of the camp to cut wood, which clearly indicates that the young marshal army did not start to make weapons, and it did not look like they were preparing to launch a siege war.

"What's strange, what the hell is the thief trying to do? If they don't cut down trees to make weapons, or dig trenches and build walls, do they want to confront our army for a long time? Their grain and grass can last for a few days, so they are not afraid that our friendly forces in the East China Sea will suddenly go south and stab them in the back? ”

Spent a day with full of doubts, the next day, Zhao Zhuang still sent more scouts to investigate, and the results were slightly different from yesterday, although the young marshal army who had dug the trench and built the wall did not build the fortifications of the camp, but always only closed the camp for self-protection, did not send an army out of the camp, and still did not send people to cut timber nearby, Zhao Zhuang became more and more puzzled in his heart, but he didn't understand what medicine was sold in the gourd of the young marshal's army.

In the middle of the afternoon, a sudden change occurred, and the Qin army scouts who were patrolling outside the south gate of Fuli suddenly grabbed a strange man who tried to approach the city gate, and the man also said that he had a confidential letter to present to Zhao Zhuang in person, and the Qin army scouts did not dare to slack off, and quickly escorted the man into the city to hand over to Zhao Zhuang's personal soldiers. And when the soldiers escorted the strange man in front of Zhao Zhuang, Zhao Zhuang's first reaction was that he felt that this man was a little familiar, and then immediately remembered - this man was the last time he came to visit his Zhou Zeng family with a letter of invitation to surrender!

Thinking of the identity of the person, and always thought that the former subordinate county commander Zhou Zeng was in the thief camp and his heart was in Qin, Zhao Zhuang was of course overjoyed immediately, and hurriedly asked the Zhou Zeng family about the situation, and the Zhou Zeng family saluted with a smile and said: "Congratulations to the county honor, congratulations to the county honor, great news, although the day before yesterday, although your soldiers and horses were unfortunately frustrated, but the soldiers under your command established miraculous feats in the chaotic army, and an arrow hit Xiang Kang's right chest, and the child was seriously injured, and he couldn't hold on." ”

"What?!" Zhao Zhuang's joy was not trivial, and he quickly jumped up and asked, "Xiang Kang Xiao'er was injured by our stray arrow, is it really fake?" ”

"Returning to the county, it's true, I shot here." Zhou Zeng's family drew on his right chest, pointed out the location where Xiang Kang was shot by a stray arrow, and said happily: "The head of the family also told the villain that Xiang Kang's rebel thief kept vomiting blood after returning to the camp, and he was unconscious several times, and he couldn't support it, but he was worried about affecting the morale of the army, and he was even more afraid that you would take the opportunity to send troops, so the thief generals under him never dared to announce the news." ”

"No wonder the thieves want to strengthen the camp and are not in a hurry to build siege weapons, so that's the case!" Zhao Zhuang suddenly realized, and hurriedly urged: "Quick, quick, bring your master's letter." ”

According to Zhao Zhuang's order, Zhou Zeng's family quickly took out a sealed letter, and after the soldiers forwarded it to Zhao Zhuang, Zhao Zhuang couldn't wait to open it, and saw that Zhou Zeng's letter was indeed reported to himself that Xiang Kang was injured by a stray arrow, and also introduced that Xiang Kang was seriously injured and could die at any time. In addition, Zhou Zeng also reported an important news to Zhao Zhuang, that is, because Xiang Kang's injuries were serious, the young marshal's army had decided to retreat tomorrow and return to take care of it, and suggested that Zhao Zhuang launch a sneak attack overnight, killing the young marshal army by surprise, and it would definitely be able to win a big victory, and the Qin army would be defeated and humiliated the day before yesterday.

If there is no foreshadowing before, then Zhao Zhuang will definitely not easily believe the amazing news reported by Zhou Zeng, but there is no way, as early as when the next minister defended the war, Zhao Zhuang had already passed Gu Bi's report, knowing that Zhou Zeng was in the thief camp and his heart was in Qin, a few days ago Zhou Zeng directly and secretly contacted Zhao Zhuang, and took the initiative to ask to help Zhao Zhuang break through the young marshal's army, so this will see the good news that Zhou Zeng suddenly sent, of course Zhao Zhuang did not have any suspicions, and immediately applauded, and made up his mind to adopt Zhou Zeng's suggestion, Overnight, troops were sent to attack the camp of the young marshal's army.

Then, of course, Zhao Zhuang rewarded the Zhou Zeng family who took the risk to deliver the letter, and immediately summoned his subordinates to make public the amazing news that Xiang Kang was injured by the Qin army's arrows. But there are also more cautious people, and the assistant who persuaded Zhao Zhuang to act calmly several times before stood up and arched his hand and said: "Dare to ask Junzun, where did you receive the news, is it reliable?" Isn't it too much of a coincidence? Although knives and arrows have no eyes on the battlefield, and it is very common for stray arrows to hurt people, how can we have such good luck that a stray arrow happened to seriously injure Xiang Kang's rebels? ”

"Of course, the information received by this official is reliable." Zhao Zhuang smiled confidently, and asked the official rhetorically, "Why don't you want to think about it?" If our stray arrows didn't seriously injure Xiang Kang's rebels, then why did the thieves outside the city not move for the past two days, and they still closed their camps in the deep ditch and high fortress to protect themselves? Also, the thieves have not started to cut down trees and build siege equipment, doesn't this clearly show that the thieves did not dare to dream of attacking the city at all, and are still ready to withdraw their troops at any time? ”

After all, he was just a nobody, and he didn't study all kinds of military books that would only appear in later generations, there was no precedent to follow, and of course Zhao Zhuang's subordinate didn't know that Xiang Kang's previous hard work was to mislead Zhao Zhuang to make a wrong judgment, so he could only rely on his intuition and said: "Junzun, it's better to be careful, if Xiang Kang's traitor is really seriously injured and will die, then within a day or two, there will be actions on the thief's side, we still have to guard the city and wait and see what it will be." ”

"I can't wait any longer, this official has received reliable inside information, and the thieves will withdraw their troops tomorrow, and if they wait any longer, the opportunity will slip away." Zhao Zhuang didn't publish Zhou Tong's letter, but just ordered: "Order the whole army to prepare for a night battle immediately, and send troops on the second watch tonight, and this official will personally lead the army to sneak attack the thief camp, and the day before yesterday will be humiliated!" ”

Knowing Zhao Zhuang's stubborn and cautious temperament, the assistant wanted to open his mouth to dissuade him several times, but he didn't have the courage to sweep Zhao Zhuang's happiness, so he could only sigh in his heart: "I hope the news is true, otherwise, we will have to lose another battle if we don't do it." ”

The materials in the city of Fu Li are quite sufficient, the sky is not yet completely dark, the Qin army has been prepared for all kinds of corresponding preparations for the night battle, and has a full dinner, it is the second watch of the night, the Qin army quietly opened the east gate of Fu Li, the title of the person, the horse chewed, quietly and secretly out of the city to assemble, and directly dispatched a full 3,000 troops in one breath, under the leadership of Zhao Zhuang, quietly marched eastward, and touched the camp of the young marshal army ten miles away.

The cloudy night sky provided an ideal cover for the Qin army, and when he quietly touched the vicinity of the young marshal's barracks door with few lights, the young marshal's officers and soldiers on duty at the camp gate were still unaware, Zhao Zhuang was overjoyed, and hurriedly sent a team of veterans forward to sneak attack the camp gate of the young marshal's army. As a result, the young marshal soldiers guarding the camp gate were really killed by surprise, one was killed by the Qin army's crossbow arrows, and the other was cut by the Qin soldiers, and the remaining young marshal soldiers fled into the camp in a panic, shouting and screaming, while desperately ringing the gong to call the police. The veteran of the Qin army did not hesitate, and immediately quickly cut the latch with an axe, opening the gate of the camp of the young marshal's army.

"Kill!"

The excited shouting sounded, and under the urging of Zhao Zhuang, the soldiers of the Qin army rushed to the camp gate that had been opened by the young marshal army like a tide, and entered the camp of the young marshal army without much effort, and the footsteps did not stop, and went straight to the young marshal army's Chinese army marshal flag. Seeing that the self-army was progressing smoothly outside the camp, Zhao Zhuang was of course ecstatic, and couldn't help laughing: "I can finally take revenge!" ”

"Knock knock knock!"

The dense war drums that suddenly sounded in the young marshal's camp made Zhao Zhuang's wild laughing expression freeze on his face, and then it was very natural, before Zhao Zhuang came back to his senses, the camp of the young marshal army was suddenly filled with torches, and the two armies suddenly killed one left and one right, and rushed into the two wings of the camp Qin army, and at the same time, there was also an army in the rear camp of the young marshal army, and the Qin army was in chaos and had to quickly turn around and flee for his life. Zhao Zhuang complained bitterly, and scolded: "Shameless traitor, it will be a trick!" ”

It was even worse than the day before yesterday, it was ambushed in the dark, and the Qin army was far more chaotic than the day before yesterday when it was raided by the young marshal's army during the daytime. And Zhao Zhuang, who was hiding outside the camp, was the same as the day before yesterday, and when he found that the situation was not good, he immediately turned around and fled, and ran directly to Fuli City with the rear army.

Of course, the Qin army should no longer dream of the smooth escape like the day before yesterday, in the dark night, people and horses are galloping, either you knock me over, or I pull you down, the Qin soldiers who fell to the ground were constantly stepped on by their own defeated soldiers, and let out bursts of desperate screams, countless Qin soldiers panicked and fled in all directions, and the number of people who were left behind and separated was countless. The young marshal's army pursued with all its might, constantly cutting down the Qin soldiers who were falling behind, and successfully forced the Qin army to collapse even more chaotically, and no longer had any courage to turn back to face the battle. On the battlefield, the wolves rushed to the plate, the weapons and banners of the Qin army were discarded everywhere, the soldiers were even more panicked and confused like a group of lambs chased by tigers and wolves, and the young marshal soldiers were extremely competent to play the role of tigers and wolves, and the Qin army was slashed and killed all over the field, and the wreckage was dense.

Zhao Zhuang is also smart, knowing that it is inconvenient to ride in a car in a night battle, this time he is riding a horse to command the battle, of course, it is much more convenient to flee, and because of the timely retreat, he did not escape like the day before yesterday and was forced to lose the handsome flag, but he still had some long march with the handsome flag and part of the rear army fled back to Fuli City first. However, a new problem was immediately placed in front of Zhao Zhuang - should you close the city gate immediately and not give the young marshal a chance to enter the city by taking advantage of the chaos? “

"Don't rush to close the door! Try to get as many of our soldiers back as possible! Only by keeping the army can we hope to keep the city of Fuli! ”

Zhao Zhuang's decision to grit his teeth was a big mistake, when the defeated soldiers of the Qin army fled back to the city of Fu Li in a messy chaos, although the Qin soldiers guarding the gate were quite decisive, they decisively closed the city gate without waiting for all the defeated soldiers of the Qin army to return to the city, leaving dozens of defeated soldiers of the Qin army outside the city to be slaughtered by the pursuers of the young marshal's army. However, at this critical moment, dozens of people suddenly rushed out of the defeated soldiers of the Qin army, who had fled back to the city first, rushed to the city gate and slashed with their knives, cutting down the Qin soldiers who were struggling to latch, and opened the city gate again in the desperate shouts of the defeated soldiers of the Qin army.

Seeing this scene, the young marshal soldiers who had chased them outside the city were of course thunderous, and they couldn't wait to charge directly into the city, and continued to kill the defeated soldiers of the Qin army who were heartbroken, but Zhao Zhuang, who was urging the soldiers to defend the city in the city, was completely dumbfounded, and exclaimed: "How did the thieves come into the city?" Why didn't I notice anything at all? ”

As early as when the Qin army had not yet attacked the camp of the young marshal's army, a hundred selected soldiers of the young marshal army had already put on the clothes of the Qin soldiers who had been captured before, and wore the secret mark to distinguish between friend and foe, and under the leadership of Xiang You, they were ambushed in a secluded place outside the young marshal's barracks. After the defeat and retreat of the Qin army, this young marshal army immediately set out, holding a half-torn hundred-person flag, mixed into the defeated crowd of the Qin army, and fled to Fuli City with the broken hundred-person flag as the command. And in the darkness, it was already difficult to distinguish between the enemy and the enemy, and the Qin army had already been defeated and chaotic, of course, it was impossible to distinguish the true from the false, and the commando team of the young marshal's army naturally easily blended into Fuli City.

By the way, Xiang You was named by Xiang Kang as the captain of the commando team of the Young Marshal Army, although Xiang You was a little afraid to accept this dangerous task, but after being provoked by Xiang Kang in front of everyone, Xiang You, who loves face, still gritted his teeth and took over this extremely dangerous mission. But fortunately, Xiang You succeeded smoothly, and he was very lucky not to be killed by the Qin army, and took off the Qin army's clothes in time after opening the city, revealing the young marshal's military uniform worn inside, and fortunately was not accidentally injured by friendly troops.