When Xiang Yu's messenger found Li Zuoche, Li Zuoche was discussing the military situation with Chen Yu, the general of Zhao State, analyzing the possible price to be paid for taking the camp of Zhang Han's army by force, and there was a dispute over the main attack on the camp of Zhang Han's army from which direction, but after hearing that Zhang Han actually sent someone to contact Xiang Yu, Li Zuoche immediately waved his hand and said: "General, there is no need to argue, this battle is no longer necessary, Zhang Han will surrender!" ”

After speaking confidently, Li Zuoche rushed out of the Chinese army tent of the Zhao army, beat his horse and went straight to the Qin army camp, but after coming to the Chu army camp, Li Zuoche did not ask the Chu soldiers to report to Xiang Yu for him, but directly asked the camp gate officer who came to greet him: "May I ask the general, who is the general on duty in the Chinese army camp of your army today?" ”

"Hui Guangwujun, it is General Xiang Zhuangxiang." The camp officer replied truthfully.

"Okay." Li Zuoche, who knew Xiang Zhuang, was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly ordered: "Please ask the general to send someone to guide me and lead me to General Xiang Zhuang, I have 100,000 urgent things to see him." ”

Knowing that Li Zuoche's identity was extraordinary, and even Xiang Yu had to get a little more face than him, the door official of the Chu military camp did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly arranged for people to lead Li Zuoche to see Xiang Zhuang, and as a result, he entered the Chinese army camp of the Chu army, and when he met Xiang Zhuang, who was responsible for the daily affairs of the Chinese army camp of the Chu army, Li Zuoche still did not ask Xiang Zhuang to lead him to see Xiang Yu and the envoy of the Qin army, and after a few polite words, he also asked Xiang Zhuang directly: "Dare to ask General Xiang, is the envoy of the violent Qin army who is meeting with the former general come alone?" Do you have an entourage? ”

"Guangwujun, how do you know that my elder brother is meeting with the envoy of the Tyrannical Qin army?" Xiang Zhuang was taken aback.

"Don't ask, general, I'll tell you the reason later." Li Zuoche shook his head, and hurriedly said: "Time is precious, please General Xiang quickly tell the envoy of the tyrannical Qin army if he has an entourage?" ”

"Bring it, bring two retinues." Xiang Zhuang replied truthfully and said, "But they didn't enter our big tent, and they were arranged to wait in the guest tent for a while. ”

"Great, it's a lot easier." Li Zuoche was so excited that he directly smashed his left palm with his right fist, and hurriedly said: "General Xiang, the matter is urgent, please immediately send someone to take me to the two entourages of the Tyrant Qin envoy." ”

"Guangwu-kun, how can you be interested in two servants and other subordinates? Do you want to meet them in person? Xiang Zhuang was confused, but Li Zuoche insisted on seeing the two entourages, and said that this matter was very important, Xiang Zhuang had no choice but to quickly send someone to lead the way, and led Li Zuoche, who had a high status in Zhao State, to meet the two entourages brought by Shi Cheng, the envoy of the Qin army.

When they arrived at the guest account, the two entourages brought by Qin Jun Shicheng were eating at the guest tent, and when they saw Li Zuoche, who was dressed luxuriously and extraordinarily, came in, the two entourages were busy getting up and saluting, and Li Zuoche smiled and waved his hand, and said: "You don't have to be polite, I am just ordered to ask you a few questions, and I hope you must answer questions truthfully." ”

"Shangguan, please ask, the little ones must answer truthfully." The two attendants replied respectfully.

"What are the identities of the two of you?" Li Zuoche asked.

"Back to Shangguan, we are the personal soldiers of General Shicheng, the captain under the command of the general." The two attendants replied truthfully.

"Shicheng." Li Zuoche had heard of this name, and knew that Shi Cheng was Zhang Han's absolute confidant, and he was very trusted and respected by Zhang Han, so he nodded and asked again: "Then do you know what your general Shi Cheng is doing when he comes to our camp this time?" ”

"I don't know if I'm a little one." The two attendants replied in unison, and then one of the attendants said: "General Shi, he just said that he had been ordered by the general Jun to negotiate some affairs with your army, but General Shi did not tell us what specific affairs to negotiate. ”

Li Zuoche observed his words and looks, and saw that their expressions were normal, not as if they were lying, so he smiled slightly and said, "Okay, you have answered, you can continue to eat, I will go back to my life." ”

The two entourages agreed, saluted and sent Li Zuoche away, Li Zuoche was fast, and immediately found Xiang Zhuang again, and said to Xiang Zhuang: "General Xiang, please go to your Chinese army tent immediately and personally for me, and invite General Cao Cao to come out to meet with me for me, and say that I have important matters to discuss with him alone." But please remember that this matter can only be told to General Cao alone, and no one else can know about it. ”

"Guangwujun, this is not easy to do." Xiang Zhuang's face was full of embarrassment, and he said, "General Cao, he is accompanying my elder brother to meet guests and discuss important ...... important matters. ”

"General Xiang, please." Li Zuoche pleaded: "This matter is too important, it is related to whether we can force Zhang Handpifu to surrender and completely reverse the situation on the battlefield in the Central Plains. ”

Seeing that Li Zuoche said solemnly, and respected Li Zuoche's family background, Xiang Zhuang hesitated, but still entered the big tent of the Chinese army in person, walked to the side of Cao Ji, a heavy general of the Chu army who was accompanying Xiang Yu to meet the envoy of the Qin army, and whispered in his ear: "General Cao, Li Zuoche, the Guangwu Jun of Zhao State, is here, saying that there is something very important and please go out to interview him immediately, and also said that you should not let others know about this matter. ”

It is good to have a grandfather who is famous all over the world, although I don't understand what medicine is sold in Li Zuoche's gourd, but for the sake of Li Mu's face, Cao Ji also stood up after hesitating for a while, under the pretext that he had something to deal with, he confessed to Xiang Yu and Shi Cheng, and then immediately came out of the account to meet Li Zuoche, and because Cao Ji's status in the Chu army was higher than that of Old Man Fan, including Xiang Bo, who liked to pick bones in eggs, he didn't dare to say anything.

After meeting with Li Zuoche, Cao Zhi greeted Li Zuoche and asked Li Zuoche what was urgent, but Li Zuoche refused to answer, and asked rhetorically: "Dare to ask General Cao, how is the talk?" Is Zhang Handpifu sincere in asking for surrender? ”

"It doesn't look like it's sincere." Cao Ji shook his head and said: "His envoy just asked us what kind of surrender conditions we could give Zhang Handan Pifu, and also put forward a lot of unrealistic requirements, what after surrender, let Zhang Han continue to lead the army he brought over, ensure the supply of grain and grass and military supplies, and give his subordinates the title of marquis, and we also want us to promise that after overthrowing the tyrannical Qin, Zhang Han will be crowned the king of Qin, and the original land and city of Qin will be allocated to Zhang Handip. If I'm not mistaken, Zhang Handpifu should have asked him to test our attitude, but in fact, he didn't make up his mind to surrender. ”

"It's pretty much what I expected." Li Zuoche smiled and hurriedly said: "General Cao, the opportunity is rare, as long as you act according to the plan of the subordinate today, then the subordinate can guarantee that within three days, Zhang Handpifu will definitely be forced to surrender, and he does not dare to put forward any excessive conditions." ”

"Guangwujun has such a clever plan? Tell me, how? ”

Cao Zhi asked in surprise, Li Zuoche smiled more relaxedly, and then told Cao Ji and Xiang Zhuang his plan in a low voice, Cao Ji was overjoyed after hearing it, and hurriedly patted his leg and said: "Clever plan, just do it, we will do it immediately." ”

Xiang Zhuang, who had a steady personality, hesitated a little, and didn't dare to act without asking Xiang Yu to act on his own, but fortunately, Cao Zhuang patted his chest to ensure that all the consequences were borne by him, Xiang Zhuang was a little relieved, and quickly sent someone to tie up the entourage brought by Shi Cheng, the envoy of the Qin army, and brought him to the tent of the Chinese army's big tent, and handed it over to Cao Ji and Li Zuoche.

was eating in the enemy's camp, was suddenly taken down, and was tied up and gagged by the five flowers, Shicheng's two entourages were of course frightened, and after seeing Cao Zhi and Li Zuoche, they whimpered, struggling to kneel down and beg for mercy, Cao Zhi stopped them and whispered: "Don't be afraid, I let people bring you here, not what do I want you to do, as long as you do what I tell me, I will not only promise not to hurt you, but also give you a reward, do you understand?" ”

The two entourages hurriedly nodded their heads again and again, indicating that they understood, and then Cao Zhi ordered: "Put your ears to the tent, your general Shi Cheng is inside and talk to our former general, listen carefully to what your general Shi Cheng is saying, quickly." ”

In order to survive, the two entourages had no choice but to honestly follow Cao Yao's instructions, put their ears on the military tent, and carefully listened to the conversation between Shi Cheng and Xiang Yu, the envoy of the Qin army, and then naturally, listen and listen, when they understood that Shi Cheng was negotiating the surrender conditions with Xiang Yu on behalf of Zhang Han, the two Shi Cheng entourages who didn't know the inside story before of course their faces changed greatly, and one of them was more timid and scared so much that his body trembled a little.

Seeing that the fire had arrived, Cao Qi hurriedly asked the two entourages to be pulled into the distance, ordered the soldiers to tie them up, and took out the cloth in the mouth, and then asked, "You all understand, right?" Your General Shi Cheng, this time I came to our camp to negotiate surrender on behalf of your General Zhang Han, do you know it? ”

"The little one is clear." The two attendants nodded hurriedly and replied, and then the more timid attendant immediately said: "General rest assured, as long as our general decides to surrender, the small one will definitely receive the order and will never resist." ”

"If only you were clear." Cao Ji smiled and said: "But General Ben is worried about you, your General Zhang Han, and your General Shicheng, if you know that you have heard such a confidential matter, and you can't make up your mind to surrender to us, you will definitely kill you and make you die in vain, are you afraid of this?" ”

Before Cao Ji finished speaking, the two Shicheng entourages had already knelt down and said with a blank face: "The general spares his life, the general spares his life, please don't let us General Shicheng know that we overheard what he said just now." ”

"Of course I can spare your lives." Cao Ji smiled and said: "As long as the two of you are willing to surrender to our Chu army now, and do as I instruct, I will not only guarantee that you can live, but also give each of you a reward of twenty gold now." ”

can live, there is still gold to take, the two Shicheng entourage of course immediately paused, expressing their willingness to surrender to the Chu army now, Cao Ji fulfilled his promise, first gave each of them a reward of twenty gold, and then gave them an explanation, and finally led the two entourages to go straight to the Chu army's Chinese army tent, and came to meet Shi Cheng again, Li Zuoche was very low-key, and continued to hide outside the tent and refused to show up.

When Cao Ji returned to the Chinese army's big tent, the negotiations between Xiang Yu and Shi Cheng were still deadlocked, because Shi Cheng insisted on opening his mouth for Zhang Han's lion, Xiang Yu was still a little angry, and shouted at the case: "Do you have the sincerity to surrender?" Not only do you want Zhang Handpifu to continue to lead the people of the headquarters, but also assign all the old land of Tyranny Qin to him, how can there be such a good thing in the world? ”

"The former general is angry, if our general is not sincere, he will not send the last general to visit ...... here."

Before Shi Cheng's words were finished, the two entourages who were personally led into the tent by Cao Ji had already rushed up, bowed down to him together, and scrambled to say: "General, surrender, it is absolutely impossible for us to defeat the Great Chu army, let's surrender quickly, the former general of Great Chu is magnanimous, he will definitely let us live, and he will definitely treat us well." ”

"General, surrender quickly, Wang Li's puppet forced us to set up camp in Wude, and it was clear that he wanted to force us to die in vain, and none of our hundreds of thousands of soldiers would be able to escape, so let's surrender quickly."

The incident happened suddenly, not to mention Shi Cheng, even Xiang Yu was taken aback, and when he saw clearly that it was his own soldiers who persuaded him to surrender, Shi Cheng jumped up in shock and asked, "Why are you here?" What do you want to do? ”

"General Shicheng, here's the thing." Cao Ji smiled and said: "Just now these two of your entourages were outside the tent, accidentally overheard the conversation between you and our former general, knowing that you are negotiating surrender on behalf of General Zhang Han, they have long wanted to surrender to our Chu army, so they directly asked us to surrender, and I hope to come in to persuade you to surrender as soon as possible, I saw that their attitude was sincere, so I accepted their request for surrender, and brought them in. ”

"What?" Shi Cheng's face turned pale, and he blurted out, "Did you hear that?" ”

"Yes, the little ones heard it." The two attendants replied with a wince.

"You guys?!"

Shi Cheng was shocked and angry, and subconsciously pulled out the sword on his waist, but unfortunately Xiang Yu's guards immediately stepped forward and pointed at Shi Cheng with a spear, not giving Shi Cheng a chance to act rashly, Cao Zhi smiled and said: "General don't worry, they won't leak the news, I have promised just now, I will leave them in our barracks, I will not let them talk nonsense, let alone embarrass you and General Zhang Han." ”

Glaring at his two entourages with great resentment, Shi Cheng said with a blushing face: "They like to stay, so stay by yourself, and I'll go back by myself." ”

After that, Shi Cheng bowed his hand to Xiang Yu and said, "Former general, in view of the fact that your army's methods are too bad, I don't think there is any need to talk about it, so I will leave." ”

"General, slow." Cao Ji stopped Shi Cheng and said with a smile: "General Shi Cheng, if you refuse to continue to negotiate, then it seems that there is no need for us to continue to keep it secret for you. ”

Shi Cheng's face began to turn blue, and he said gloomily after a while: "Do you think that our soldiers of Great Qin will believe the shouts of these two nobodies. ”

"It is indeed possible that the soldiers of your army will not believe it." Cao Ji's smile began to be hideous, and he said: "But General Wang Li behind your army, as well as the tyrannical Qin court, may not believe it. ”

Shi Cheng's face began to turn from blue to black, and Cao Ji said again: "General Shi Cheng, in my opinion, you'd better not be in a hurry to leave, it's not early, stay with us for one night, calm down, think about it carefully, and we'll discuss it again tomorrow morning." ”

After that, Cao Ji ordered in an irrefutable tone: "Come on, please ask General Shicheng to go down and rest, so that you can be entertained, and there must be no slackness." ”

In the Chu camp is high and powerful, after Cao Zhi ordered, the guards in the tent did not ask Xiang Yu, and immediately came up to invite Shi Cheng to go to the guest tent to rest, Shi Cheng was alone and his thin arms could not twist his thick thighs, so he had to swallow his anger and obey Cao Ji's arrangement, and Cao Zhi ordered someone to bring the two entourages brought by Shi Cheng to take them down to entertain him, and then he told the ins and outs of the matter carefully to Xiang Yu, Xiang Bo and Old Man Fan who were present.

Finally figured out the truth of the matter, Xiang Yu was of course overjoyed, and said without Cao Cao's guidance: "Clever plan!" Deliberately let the two entourages of Shi Cheng Pifu know the truth, and we can use the two retinues of Shi Cheng Pifu at any time to shake this matter out, and completely force Zhang Han to have no way out, we can only give in and surrender! If he still refuses to surrender, we can also directly hand over the retinue of Shicheng Pifu to Wang Lipifu, and let Wang Lipifu and the Tyrannical Qin Court find Zhang Han Pifu to settle accounts! ”

"How can this Li Zuoche's methods be as ruthless as our right general?" Old man Fan also sighed, and said: "But sometimes this kind of ruthless method is quite effective, if the old man is Zhang Handpifu, after knowing that we are doing this, he will definitely be so worried that he can't sleep for a few nights." ”

"Despicable means." Xiang Bo pursed his lips and said, "You can't get on the table." ”

At this time, Cao Ji suddenly had an idea, slapped his forehead, and said, "How did you forget such an important person?" At this point, it's time for me to use my relationship with that person. ”

"Who is Uncle Cao talking about?" Xiang Yu hurriedly asked.

"Zhang Han's long history, Sima Xin." Cao Ji replied word by word: "At this time, I only need to use my relationship with his friends to tell him about this matter in advance, and then threaten and lure him, and when Shicheng Pifu goes back to meet Zhang Han, he will definitely help us desperately persuade Zhang Handan to surrender, and urge Zhang Handpifu to make up this decision as soon as possible!" ”

"Brilliant plan!" Xiang Yu slapped his thigh again, and hurriedly ordered: "Quick, Uncle Cao, please pick up the pen and write a letter to Sima Xin, and I will immediately arrange for someone to deliver the letter for you." ”

Cao Zhi agreed, and immediately wrote a letter to his former friend and current enemy Sima Xin, telling Sima Xin about the Chu army's design to force Zhang Han into a desperate situation, threatening that if Zhang Han did not surrender as soon as possible, the Chu army would make the matter public, and then the Qin court would investigate it, and Zhang Han's henchman Sima Xin must be in a catastrophe, and then used rhetoric to lure Sima Xin, promising Xiang Yu that after the Qin army surrendered, Sima Xin would be allowed to take over Zhang Han's command of the Qin army, and give a heavy reward, and Sima Xin would also be crowned king after destroying Qin. After the letter was written, Xiang Yu sent someone to pretend to be Sima Xin's fellow villager as soon as possible, and went to the Qin army camp with the letter to secretly contact Sima Xin.

Shi Cheng's vacillation was far faster than Xiang Yu and Cao Ji and others expected, and when it was completely dark, Shi Cheng took the initiative to ask to meet Xiang Yu again, and immediately made a large concession after meeting, promising to do his best to persuade Zhang Han to surrender after going back, and accept Xiang Yu's surrender conditions for Zhang Han. Xiang Yu saw that Shi Cheng's attitude was quite sincere, so he also nodded, promised to release Shi Cheng immediately and go back to deliver the letter, and threatened: "Go back and tell Zhang Han that before sunset tomorrow, if he doesn't send someone to promise to surrender, General Ben will immediately send your entourage to Huai County and hand it over to Wang Li's puppet!" ”

"Don't worry, the former general, I will definitely bring your original words to the next." Shi Cheng agreed with a bitter voice, knowing very well that if Xiang Yu really did this, then Qin Ting would definitely clean himself up with Zhang Han, and the end would definitely be worse than Zhang Han!

…………

It is conceivable that Xiang Yu's reaction had just heard Shi Cheng's report that Chu Jun had left two witnesses and could put himself to death at any time, Zhang Han immediately kicked the case table in front of him, and roared wildly: "Xiang Yu is a villain, shameless villain!" The means are so vicious, I don't share the sky with you! Implacable! ”

No matter how much you roar and roar, it is useless, after calming down, remembering the consequences of Xiang Yu deliberately handing over the human witness to Wang Li, Zhang Han still shuddered, covered in cold sweat, he had already lost the trust of the Qin court, and the backer Li Si had already been slaughtered by Zhao Gao, with the temper of Hu Hai and Zhao Gao, knowing that he had secretly negotiated the surrender conditions with the Chu army, he would definitely divide his five horses and kill them all over the house, there would be no ambiguity, and he would definitely not consider what to make himself guilty and make meritorious contributions. So in desperation, Zhang Han could only summon his two deputies Dong Fei and Sima Xin overnight, tell them what happened, and ask for their opinions.

Because he was afraid that Dong Fei and Sima Xin would oppose him, Zhang Han also let his own soldiers make certain preparations, but to Zhang Han's surprise, after knowing what had happened, Dong Peng was just silent, thinking that he would neither express support nor opposition, but his confidant Shi Sima Xin firmly advocated surrender, and said: "General, things have come to this point, we can't have the slightest hesitation, for our Xiang Shang, now we have no other way to go except surrender." Fortunately, the surrender conditions offered by the Chu army are not too harsh, and we can accept them, so it is better to make up our minds now. Otherwise, when the Chu army makes public the matter of your secret negotiation of surrender, general, I am afraid that you will not have this opportunity even if you want to surrender. ”

After all, he is an old man of Qin Ting, his feelings are still there, no matter how there is no way out, Zhang Han is still difficult to make up his mind, and in a sad mood, Zhang Han also turned his eyes to his deputy in military affairs, Dong Peng, and asked in a hoarse voice: "General Dong, what do you think?" ”

Dong Fei hesitated again and again, and replied: "The last general doesn't know how to decide, so it's better to ask the general to decide." ”

Zhang Han closed his eyes in pain, Sima Xin observed his words, and hurriedly said: "General, in the current situation, you really can't hesitate anymore. We have been surrounded in Wude, and the princes' coalition army has arranged a raft in the upper reaches of Shaoshui, which can cut off our retreat at any time, the battle is death, and the retreat is death, and the Chu army has also designed to take your handle, if the matter is announced, even if you are lucky enough to retreat from Shaoshui, the general, it will still be a dead end. Except for Yi Zhi's surrender, General, you really have no way out. ”

After saying that, Sima Xin turned to Dong Fei again and said: "General Dong, you are the same, even if you are lucky enough to escape Shaoshui, the court will definitely suspect that you are an accomplice of the general, and will definitely not spare you." ”

Dong Peng bit his lip and said: "General, Sima Changshi's words are very right, in the current situation, we really have no way to go except surrender, for our own sake, and for the sake of hundreds of thousands of soldiers who live and die with us, surrender." ”

Dong Peng and Sima Xin's words finally made Zhang Han make up his mind, and after a few heavy shots, Zhang Han pointed his finger at Shi Cheng and said loudly: "Shi Cheng, you will go to see Xiang Yu tomorrow morning and tell him that as long as he agrees to my two conditions, we will immediately lay down our arms and surrender!" ”

"General, those two conditions?" Shi Cheng asked busily.

"First, Xiang Yu wants to swear in public and swear not to kill our surrendered soldiers." Zhang Han replied: "Second, after the destruction of Qin, I and Dong Fei and Sima Xin will be crowned kings. As long as he promises, we will surrender tomorrow! ”