The cold wind is like a knife, the more painful it is, the deeper the night, the colder the temperature, even if it is only early winter, it is already like a scene of midwinter.

In such a cold weather, Xingyang City is still brightly lit, with three steps and one post, five steps and one sentry, and there are still guards patrolling with torches everywhere, which is extremely hard.

Everywhere, you can see the cold and shivering Han army soldiers complaining in a low voice about the unkindness of the commander, and in such a cold winter night, they have to force themselves to be on strict guard, not allowing themselves to hide in the warm city tower to sleep well, and even hate the Western Chu cavalry that crosses the river during the day, instead of attacking Aocang or Guangwu City in the northeast, they have to run to the city of Xingyang to prepare for the siege, so that they must walk on the city wall at night in winter, and be careful to guard against the sudden attack of the Western Chu army.

The soldiers of the Han army were actually not qualified to complain, because no matter how cold the weather was, there were bonfires on the city walls to help them keep warm, and no matter how bad they were, they could stomp their feet to regain consciousness after being numb from the cold, and they didn't have to worry about making any noise to attract the attention of others.

The soldiers of the Western Chu army lurking in the darkness under Xingyang City were far from being so lucky, the sky was just completely dark, they followed the order of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, and quietly sneaked to Xingyang City to ambush, waiting for Xingyang County, who took the initiative to send a letter to ask for surrender, Li Yao fulfilled his promise and opened the gate of Xingyang City to welcome them into the city, in order not to be discovered by the defenders of the city, they didn't say that they were making a fire to keep warm, they just wanted to stomp their feet, and they had to be afraid of being discovered by the defenders of the city. You also have to cover your mouth to dare to sneeze, and the hard work is naturally far above the Han soldiers in the city.

Xiang Yu and the main force of the Western Chu cavalry who were responsible for receiving it were in a better situation, and they could justifiably sit around the bonfire far away from the city wall to warm up, but there was no military tent to help keep out the cold, no matter how strong the bonfire was, it would be useless in the face of the night wind, and most of the Western Chu soldiers were still frozen to the point that their lips were white, including Xiang Yu, they had to be close to their war horses, and use the body temperature of the war horses to resist the cold wind.

"Ahh

After a very rare sneeze, Xiang Yu asked about the current time again, and when he learned that it was already more than half of the third watch, Xiang Yu couldn't help but be even more angry in his chest, and scolded in a low voice: "Li Yao, it's almost the fourth watch, why don't you do it yet?" If you don't do it again, it'll be dawn! ”

"King, wait patiently." Xiang Zhuang next to him said in a low voice: "The Han thieves are too tightly guarded, and there are soldiers patrolling the city all the time, so it is difficult for him to have a chance to do it." ”

Sighing helplessly, Xiang Yu could only secretly decide to reduce the reward for Li Yao by half, while gritting his teeth and continuing to wait patiently, but although time has been passing slowly, the fire in the city that Li Yao had said in advance never appeared, on the contrary, the sound of the rooster announcing the dawn gradually came from Xingyang City, announcing that the night was about to pass.

In the end, the soldiers of the Western Chu Army, who were constantly sneezing from the cold, lurked until the sky was dusk, and there was no movement in Xingyang City, let alone someone quietly and secretly opened the city gate to welcome the poor Western Chu soldiers into the city.

When the sky was completely bright, Xiang Yu personally picked up Li Yao's messenger who crossed the river yesterday to deliver the letter, and asked with a blue face and roared angrily, asking Li Yao why the Western Chu cavalry did not open the city all night? Li Yao's poor messenger kowtowed again and again and begged for mercy, insisting that he didn't know the reason, and had the courage to beg Xiang Yu to promise to let him go back to the city, and asked Li Yao face to face why he didn't believe his words?

Xiang Yu did not hesitate to cut off the head of the unlucky messenger with a sword, in addition to ordering the soldiers to hurry up to make a weapon to attack the fortification, and swore loudly with a blue face, saying that after the city was broken, Xingyang County Ling Li Yao would be executed, and Yixue was humiliated by him last night! Avenge the hundreds of Xichu soldiers who were frozen alive and cold!

Even Xiang Zhuang, who was connected by blood, did not dare to disobey Xiang Yu, who was angry, and just made a suggestion to Xiang Yu, saying: "King, for the sake of prudence, we had better divide an army to the east to meet the king of Henan, and let him send the military supplies to the front line as soon as possible to set up camp for us, otherwise, if we continue to sleep in the open like this, our soldiers will probably be frostbitten even more." ”

Xiang Yu did not reject Xiang Zhuang's kind words and persuasion this time, and immediately ordered Ding Gu to lead an army to return from the way they came, and go east at full speed to meet Sima Wei's army that escorted the military supplies, and at the same time urged the soldiers to hurry up and build a flying ladder, intending to wait for Sima Wei's army to arrive and immediately attack the Han army. During this period, the main force of the Han army Zhou Shusuo, whose strength and combat effectiveness were inferior to those of the Western Chu cavalry, did not dare to make any moves, and honestly hid in the Guangwu camp to confront the Western Chu army.

To Xiang Yu's surprise, it was just in the afternoon, Ding Gu sent a messenger to hurriedly return to Xingyang City to contact Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu was anxious, and after meeting, he hurriedly asked, "How is it?" Where is the military baggage escorted by the king of Henan? ”

Ding Gu's messenger looked depressed, and replied with a sad face: "King, don't be angry when you hear this, yesterday evening, the army of the King of Henan and the Han thief Zhong Liwu fought in the western suburbs of Suojube, and as a result, the army of the King of Henan was defeated and fled eastward, and the grain, grass, military supplies and baggage he escorted were all captured by the Han thief army, and there was no way to send them to us again." ”

"What?!" Xiang Yu jumped up directly, grabbed the messenger sent back by Ding Gu, his eyes were full of anger, and he roared wildly: "What is Sima Wei doing to eat?" His army was more than twice as large as Zhongli's, so why did he still suffer defeat? How is this possible?! ”

Xiang Yu really couldn't believe that Sima Wei would suffer such a big defeat, when he met briefly with Sima Wei in Puyang, Li Zuoche once clearly told Xiang Yu that it was the same as the Henan Army of the Han Army, and it was also a patchwork army, because of the fact that almost all the main forces were lost in Nanyang before, Zhong Liwu had a large number of recruits in the Guanzhong Army, and also incorporated many Henan Army soldiers, and the overall combat effectiveness was not as good as other Han troops, Sima Wei also said that he was sure to deal with Zhong Liwu, Therefore, Xiang Yu dared to rest assured to bypass the sour jujube and advance westward, and let Sima Wei deal with the Han army Zhong Liwu alone, which would make Sima Wei suddenly suffer a big defeat, and also lost a fine light to the military baggage, of course Xiang Yu couldn't believe it.

"Zhong Liwu, that puppet is too cunning." Ding Gu's messenger introduced with a sad face: "Before he attacked, he burned down all his camp, leaving no way to retreat, forcing the thief soldiers to attack desperately, and the thief soldiers were all one to ten, and the king of Henan couldn't parry, so he was defeated." ”

After that, the Ding Gu messenger hurriedly added: "But don't worry, the king can rest assured, Zhongli and the puppet are only a miserable victory, his army is almost half of the fight before barely winning, although he snatched and burned all our military supplies, but there is no way to fight anymore, and now he has taken the initiative to hide in the sour jujube defense city." ”

Throwing Ding Gu's messenger out several feet away, Xiang Yu just roared with red eyes, "What's the use of killing more thieves and soldiers?" This king now wants the military baggage, as long as the military baggage! Without the military baggage, how can this king fight this battle? How to fight?! ”

"Brother don't worry." Xiang Zhuang hurriedly said: "There are still two cities in Juan County and Yangwu in the east of Aocang, where there are few thieves and soldiers, as long as we take these two cities first, we can immediately seize enough grain and grass and military supplies, and we don't have to worry about the danger of running out of food!" ”

Xiang Yu didn't bother to pay attention to Xiang Zhuang, just yelled loudly, asking the generals of Western Chu to immediately report how many siege weapons had been made now, and after learning that more than two hundred simple flying ladders had been built, Xiang Yu also immediately turned to the Xingyang City Wall, thinking about whether he could directly take Xingyang City with the existing siege weapons?

It's okay, Xiang Yu can't do anything else, but he is a genius in the war, and after waiting for a long time in fear, Xiang Yu still yelled and said, "Take the flying ladder up, cross the chasm, and take down Juan County and Yangwu first." ”

Xiang Zhuang, who was afraid that Xiang Yu would order a forcible siege of the city, breathed a sigh of relief together with the generals of Western Chu, and then Xiang Zhuang couldn't help but say: "Brother, you scared me to death, and the younger brother was really afraid that you would ignore it and directly order an attack on Xingyang City." ”

"I'm not stupid!" Xiang Yu scolded with a dark face: "Xingyang is so strong, and the city must have sufficient materials to defend the city, how can it be taken down with just two hundred flying ladders and no other siege weapons?" Also, who said I had to fight Xingyang first? ”

After that, Xiang Yu roared again: "What are you still doing? Go immediately, first take Juan County and Yangwu, capture the military baggage in the city, and then come back to settle accounts with the Han thieves! ”

According to Xiang Yu's order, the Western Chu cavalry first crossed the chasm again, and then joined forces with Ding Gu, who had returned in vain, in the evening, and then couldn't wait to launch an attack on the small town of Juan County on the east side of the chasm that night, and then not to mention, the Western Chu army really easily took the small town of Juan County guarded by only two or three hundred county soldiers without much effort, but what made Xiang Yu angry again was that although there was still a little food in Juan County, military tents, clothes, vehicles, linen and ordnance and other necessary things for the army, But it has long been transferred by the Han army, and once the officers and soldiers of the Western Chu Army go out of the city, they still have to sleep in the wilderness, and there is still no military tent to keep warm.

vaguely guessed that the situation on Yangwu's side must be the same, but Xiang Yu still refused to give up, and sent Xiang Zhuang to lead an army to fight Yangwu, but although Yangwu was as easy to take as Luxian County, Yangwu still couldn't find a military tent that could be set up camp by Western Chu soldiers, and other military supplies were also transferred by the Han army. Xiang Yu was furious when he heard the report, so he could only adopt Ding Gu's suggestion, let the soldiers collect all the equipment and food available to the people, and forced all the men, women, and children in the two cities of Juan County and Yangwu to follow the army, cross the chasm for the third time, and kill the Han army Zhou Shusuo who defended Xingyang in Aocang.

When the three crossings of the chasm, the people of Sanchuan who were expelled across the river by the soldiers of the Western Chu army were of course crying to the sky, the frail old people and young children dragged each other, and countless people fell into the water and died, during which there were also soldiers of the Western Chu army who raped and adultered the people's daughters, killing innocents, the scene was unbearable, but Xiang Yu, who had killed countless people in Qidi, turned a blind eye, and only urged the soldiers to force the people to cross the river as soon as possible, and set up a camp in the west of Xingyang City, and forced the people to rush to build a camp overnight, so that the soldiers of the Western Chu army could rest and rest overnight.

It was the third watch of the night, Uncle Zhou suddenly sent an army to sneak outside the Western Chu military camp, in a vain attempt to sneak attack the Western Chu army camp by night, fortunately the Western Chu army soldiers who supervised the people to build the fortress found it in time, and immediately rang the gong to call the police, Xiang Yu immediately personally led the army out of the camp to counterattack, the Han army quickly withdrew and fled to the Guangwu camp, and the angry Xiang Yu led the army to chase after him, and directly pursued the Han army's Guangwu camp gate. Unexpectedly, the war drums suddenly sounded in the Guangwu camp of the Han army, and at the same time, the sound of explosions soon came from the camp of the Western Chu army in the distance, Xiang Yu knew that he had fallen into Uncle Zhou's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, so he could only hurry back to the camp with the main force of the Chu army, and the soldiers of the Han army who pretended to rob the camp also took the opportunity to escape most of them back to their own camp.

Xiang Yu did fall for Uncle Zhou's shameless trick again, just heard the war drums of the army camp, and hundreds of Han cavalry who had been ambushed in the darkness in the northwest immediately dispatched, brandishing a saber with a handguard, and opened the way with a primitive grenade, and directly entered the camp of the Western Chu army. Relying on his familiarity with the road, he quickly got rid of the pursuit of the Western Chu cavalry, and although the losses were some, they were not very large.

The biggest loss of the Western Chu army in this battle is the strength of the auxiliary operation, taking the opportunity of the Western Chu army being temporarily entangled by the cavalry of the Han army, more than 10,000 Sanchuan people who were forcibly coerced by the Western Chu army fled more than half, although the Western Chu army also tried their best to capture it afterwards, the people still fled by night for nearly half, which greatly weakened the available manpower of the Chu army, Xiang Yu jumped like thunder, but still helpless.

Xiang Yu quickly turned his anger into joy, and Uncle Zhou and the soldiers of the Han army were not happy for long, because it was just noon the next day, and Sima Wei rushed to the bank of the chasm with more than 10,000 soldiers of the Henan Army, and took the initiative to run to atone for Xiang Yu's meritorious service - although the military baggage was gone, it still provided a lot of auxiliary strength for Xiang Yu, didn't it? Therefore, the Han army scouts reported the news to Uncle Zhou, and Uncle Zhou, who had always been calm, also showed a worried face and said, "This battle is more difficult to fight. ”

"The general doesn't have to worry." Li Bi hurriedly comforted: "Although Sima Weipifu insisted on coming over to help Xiang Yupifu, our scouts have confirmed that he did not bring any military baggage, and the thief army still has to spend the night in the open air, and the situation is still favorable to us." ”

"Don't underestimate the Western Chu Thief Army." Uncle Zhou shook his head and said: "Sleeping overnight in winter, although it will definitely have a great impact on the physical strength of the soldiers of the Western Chu Thief Army, but the thief soldiers who can follow Xiang Yu for thousands of miles to attack Sanchuan must be elite and strong soldiers, unless it is snowing heavily, this kind of weather will still not be difficult for them, and they can still pose a fatal threat to us." ”

After shaking his head and finishing speaking, Uncle Zhou thought for a while, and suddenly asked Li Bi, the beloved general: "Li Bi, if you are Xiang Yu's puppet, our Xingyang, Aocang and Guangwu, which place will you fight first?" ”

"Of course, we will attack Xingyang first, and we will seize enough grain and grass to set up camp." Li Bi replied: "Then we will fight Aocang, which has the second largest number of troops, and finally beat Guangwu, which has the largest number of troops." ”

"I hope Xiang Yu will make the same choice as you." Uncle Zhou's answer surprised Li Bi very much, and then frowned and said, "Otherwise, we will be in big trouble." ”

At the same time, the remnants of the Henan Army led by Sima Wei, also under the response of the Western Chu cavalry, successfully crossed the chasm and joined Xiang Yu's division. Fortunately, Xiang Yu's anger had almost disappeared at this time, and he liked Sima Wei's insistence on coming over to help very much, and shouted after scolding: "Get up." When attacking the camp of the thieves next, take your army to sell more strength, otherwise, Hugh blames the king for the two crimes and punishes you directly, and directly takes your head! ”

Sima Wei hurriedly thanked him, and then got up tremblingly, Xiang Yu didn't bother to continue to pay attention to him, just turned to Li Zuoche, who had helped him a lot, and asked: "Guangwujun, at present, the Han thief army is divided to hold Xingyang, Aocang and Guangwu, do you think we should attack their army first?" ”

Li Zuoche didn't dare to answer immediately, but only cautiously peeked at Xiang Yu, and then asked: "King of Western Chu, ask one more question below, the garrison of the Han thief army has not changed, right?" Is it still the Guangwu garrison with the most, the Aocang with the fewest and the least Xingyang? ”

Xiang Yu nodded, and Sima Wei next to him hurriedly said: "King of Western Chu, then we should first attack Xingyang, capture enough military baggage to set up camp, and then fight Aocang, cut off the wings of Uncle Zhou's husband, and finally fight Guangwu, and completely annihilate the main force of Uncle Zhou's husband!" ”

"Rubbish!" Xiang Yu's nose was almost crooked, and he scolded: "No wonder you can't even protect a little military baggage, and you can't even distinguish between priority and priority." ”

"Isn't that right? No distinction between priorities and priorities? Sima Wei was a little dumbfounded, and said, "Are we going to fight the Guangwu camp of the thief army first?" ”

"Yes, it's the Guangwu battalion that should fight the thief army first." Li Zuoche hurriedly said: "Uncle Zhou deliberately only arranged 3,000 troops to guard Xingyang, the purpose is to lure us to fight Xingyang first, first use Xingyang Jiancheng to consume our troops, and also to buy him the time to wait for Xiang Kang to lead the main force of the Han thieves back to Sanchuan." During our storming of Xingyang, he will definitely use his mobile forces to try to sneak up on our backs and delay the progress of our siege. ”

"It is worthy of being the grandson of Zhao Guowu Anjun (Li Mu), and you are the only one who deserves to discuss military aircraft matters with this king."

Xiang Yu rarely showed a little smile, but Xiang Zhuang next to him was also confused, and said in surprise: "King, do we really want to fight the Guangwu camp of the thief army first?" Uncle Zhou's main force is stationed in the Guangwu camp, so it stands to reason that it must be the most difficult to fight? Why do we still have to give up the easy and the difficult and fight Guangwu first? Also, the king, you also decided to fight Xingyang first, why did you change your hexagram now? ”

"Brother, after so many years of fighting, why haven't you grown at all? Previously, I decided to fight Xingyang first, because Li Yaopifu said that he was going to sacrifice the city, and we had a chance to take Xingyang quickly, so I gave it a try! ”

Xiang Yu scolded angrily, and said: "But now the situation is different, we have no hope of quickly taking Xingyang, if it remains unchanged, continue to fight Xingyang Jiancheng first, Uncle Zhou will inevitably send troops to attack our back, he has enough troops in his hands to maneuver, and he is cunning and abnormal, shameless and vicious is not under our traitorous brother, if we are not careful, we may be exploited by him, and suffer a big loss." ”

"But if we attack Guangwu first, since the Han thief army in Xingyang and Aocang doesn't have the guts and the strength to attack our backs, we can attack Guangwu with all our strength without distraction, and we can force Uncle Zhou to fight us head-on, so that he doesn't have a chance to take advantage of it, understand?"

"Not bad." Li Zuoche added: "As long as we take the Guangwu camp of the thief army and annihilate the main force of the Han thieves, the isolated Aocang and Xingyang can be easily taken without a strong attack, and it can be said that the battle can be decided." But if we fight Xingyang first and then Ao Cang, we waste time and give Xiang Kang the opportunity to return to the division to rescue, and Uncle Zhou, who is not injured, takes the opportunity to join forces with Xiang Kang's thief inside and outside, and attacks us back and forth, even if we take Xingyang and Ao Cang, we will be easily snatched back by Xiang Kang's thief. ”

Xiang Zhuang, Sima Wei and the others suddenly realized, and hurriedly praised Xiang Yu for his use of soldiers like a god and foresight, and Li Zuoche couldn't help muttering in his heart, "This overlord of Western Chu can't do it in other things, but in the matter of fighting, he is not ambiguous at all." ”

The next afternoon, when Xiang Yu couldn't wait to lead the army to the gate of the Han army's Guangwu camp, Uncle Zhou immediately understood that Xiang Yu had made the most correct choice, and he was completely out of options, and said with a wry smile: "It is worthy of being the overlord of Western Chu, and the main and secondary are really clearer than anyone else." There is no way, the next thing can only be a tough one, stubbornly defending the Guangwu camp and waiting for the reinforcements of the Han King. There are no more opportunities for shortcuts. ”