Zhang Han is not a reckless Wang Li, of course, he will not easily take risks and fight head-on with the anti-Qin coalition army, Xiang Yu with the main force of the anti-Qin coalition army just caught up with the main force of the Qin army in the afternoon, Zhang Han immediately let the main force of the Qin army put down a circle formation, with the strongest defensive formation to resist the attack of the anti-Qin coalition army.

Xiang Yu also failed to create a miracle this time, under his command, the anti-Qin coalition army of all walks of life like a tide, respectively from all directions violently attacked the Qin army's round formation, but the Qin army has always been unchanged to respond to all changes, stubbornly defending the position not an inch, no matter how the anti-Qin coalition army changed formation, assault or even deliberately deceived and lured, they all stood firm and motionless, not only did not give the anti-Qin coalition army any chance to break the formation, but also used the bow and crossbow to shoot the anti-Qin coalition army to death and injury.

In the end, there was no hope of breaking the formation until it was dark, and seeing that the Qin army had just finished dark, countless torches were played, obviously there were sufficient preparations, and at the same time, the soldiers of the anti-Qin coalition army also had a serious decline in physical strength, Xiang Yu had no choice but to withdraw his troops and take the initiative to retreat and rest with the anti-Qin coalition army, and Zhang Han immediately ordered the soldiers of the Qin army to set up camp on the spot and rest carefully for the night.

After dawn the next day, Zhang Han continued to retreat slowly with the main force of the Qin army, trying to restrain the army, so that the first pursuer was not anxious, and the latter did not panic, and never gave the anti-Qin coalition army any chance to attack, and retreated unhurriedly in the direction of Dangyin. On the morning of the same day, the Qin army's Shijian Division, which had broken away from the main force and acted alone the previous day, also successfully arrived at Dangyin, and quickly established fortifications to protect the westward advance and retreat of the main force of the Qin army, especially focusing on guarding against the main force of the young marshal's army that might be killed from the south.

Of course, Xiang Kang also sent scouts to investigate the movements of the main force of the Qin army, but the loss was that the road was not smooth enough, the scout rangers of the Qin army were tightly sealed on the periphery, and it was difficult to transmit the news from a long distance.

Because it was not clear whether Xiang Yu had divided his troops to attack Dangyin in advance, Xiang Kang also asked the main force of the young marshal's army to prepare to go north to reinforce Dangyin overnight, but before the young marshal's generals ordered him to prepare, the spies of the young marshal's army who went to the direction of Dangyin to investigate the enemy's situation sent a message, reporting that the Qin army had rushed to Dangyin to fortify in advance and protected the retreat of the main force of the Qin army. As a result, the young marshal generals who were already gearing up were of course all disappointed, and Xiang Kang kicked over the case in front of him for the first time, and roared angrily: "The eyes of the rats are inch! The mud can't hold up the wall! ”

"What do you mean by this, General Right?" Except for Chen Ping, none of the young marshals present were not confused, and Long Yan, who was outspoken and fast-talking, also asked directly: "General Right, who are you talking about?" The Tyrannical Qin army rushed to the Dangyin fortification in advance, it should be a rainy day, how can you say that they are short-sighted? ”

Xiang Kang's face turned pale, and he said after a while: "When the messenger we sent to contact the main force comes back, you carefully ask him about the situation of our proposal to divide the main force to attack Dangyin, and everything will be understood." ”

Of course, Long Ji was not a stupid person, he woke up after only a little calculation, and said in surprise: "General Right, do you suspect that our main force deliberately did not listen to our kind advice, and deliberately let the Tyrannical Qin army rush to the Dangyin fortification first to protect their retreat?" How could our workhorses do that? ”

"General Long, what's so strange about this?" Chen Ping took over the conversation and asked, and said: "Have you forgotten that our King of Chu has made a promise that whoever can capture and kill Zhang Handpifu between the former general and the right general will inherit the position of general left by Wu Xinjun." If the former general helps us block the retreat of the tyrannical Qin army, wouldn't we have a good chance of capturing Zhang Han before him? ”

After that, Chen Ping hurriedly added, "Of course, the former general is straightforward, but he may not have such a villain's heart, but those juniors around him may not have the gentlemanly demeanor of the former general, and they must not sow discord in front of the former general, spread rumors and slander, and oppose the former general to accept our kind suggestions, so we gave the tyrannical Qin army the opportunity to occupy the Yin in advance to protect the retreat." ”

Long He and the other young marshal generals suddenly realized, and they all immediately gritted their teeth, and said angrily: "We worked the southern front to go around, and it was not easy to cut off the grain route of the tyrannical Qin army, and beat away the two reinforcements of the tyrannical Qin army, and it seems that we can block the tyrannical Qin army in Handan County, and the main force will not thank us, but they are still afraid that we will rob the merit and give us a deliberate arsonance to the enemy, causing us to fall short!" With such a main force, what is the need to join forces?! ”

After trying to suppress the anger in his heart and forcing himself to calm down, Xiang Kang ordered: "There is no need to go north to Dangyin, the terrain on the side of Dangyin is complicated, easy to defend and difficult to attack, since the tyrannical Qin army has already seized Dangyin in advance, even if we go north, it will not play a role, on the contrary, we will only take our army to risk, continue to station in Baimajin, and wait for the enemy situation to have a new change, and then we will decide how to act next." ”

The young marshal's generals agreed, and indignantly gave up the tactical plan of going north to the yin, and it was getting late, Xiang Kang casually ordered to disperse the tents and let the generals go back to their camps to rest. As a result, most of the young marshal's civil and military forces resigned according to the order, Zhou Zeng, Chen Ping, Zhou Shu and Li Shiqi and other absolute henchmen did not leave in a hurry, Chen Ping also persuaded Xiang Kang after everyone left: "The right general is angry, this is also human nature, the former general was confused for a while, and he will only regret it in the future." ”

Xiang Kang nodded sullenly, sighed and said, "I'm not angry with my brother, I just think it's a pity to miss this opportunity." ”

"General Right, the last general thinks what you said is wrong." Uncle Zhou still likes to make people feel uncomfortable when he speaks, and said: "It's not us who missed a good opportunity this time, it should be the former general." If he listened to our persuasion and helped us stop the main force of Tyrant Qin, and we helped him annihilate the main force of Tyrant Qin, then he would immediately have a smooth road to enter the pass, and he only cared about his immediate interests and did not take this into account, and it would be difficult not to regret it in the future. ”

Xiang Kang thought about it carefully and found that it was the same, so he could only comfort himself like this. Uncle Zhou said again: "General Right, since the former general voluntarily missed the opportunity to enter the pass to destroy Qin, then we must not miss such a good opportunity, the last general thinks that we should take advantage of the opportunity that the main force of the Tyrannical Qin has been pinned down by the former generals, and go south to Yingchuan Nanyang as soon as possible, bypassing the Kuihan Road and Hangu Pass, which are heavily guarded by the Tyrannical Qin army, and enter the pass from Wuguan, and go straight to Xianyang to destroy Qin in one fell swoop, laying a hard-won feat!" ”

Zhou Zeng, Chen Ping, Li Shiqi and others did not question Uncle Zhou's suggestion this time for two reasons, first of all, Xiang Yu's selfish decision this time really broke the heart of the young marshal army, and they all knew that if they continued to cooperate with the main force of the Chu army, they would just stick a hot face to a cold ass, and there might be further contradictions; Secondly, the main force of the young marshal's army has probed the enemy's situation through various channels, and found that the Qin army is mainly concentrating its forces in strategic places such as Sanchuan County, Hanoi County, and Kunhan Road, and the troops of Yingchuan and Nanyang are relatively empty, and the main force of the young marshal's army detoured through Wuguan to kill Qin in the pass. So after Uncle Zhou put forward this suggestion again, Zhou Zeng and Chen Ping not only did not object, but also moved one after another.

Of course, Xiang Kang knew that this road was the correct path for Liu Laosan to destroy Qin in history, and he had long wanted to replace Liu Laosan and establish an immortal feat of attacking and destroying the violent Qin, but after carefully thinking about it for a long time, Xiang Kang chose to continue to wait and see, and said: "Don't worry, first, I want to think about it carefully, and second, I want to take a look at the development of the war situation in Hanoi County, and we will make a decision when the war situation stabilizes." ”

Uncle Zhou was unwilling to continue to persuade, but Xiang Kang was worried and insisted on waiting for a while to discuss this matter, Uncle Zhou had no choice but to give up temporarily, Xiang Kang quickly calculated, and arranged two tasks to Chen Ping, who was in charge of intelligence work, one was to carefully inquire about the war situation on the northern front and understand the development of the war on the northern front, and the other was to send capable and meticulous personnel to collect information on the Qin army and understand the internal situation of the Qin army as much as possible.

Two days later, an urgent report of the military situation was sent from the direction of Dangyin, saying that the main force of the Qin army, which was slowly advancing westward, had successfully arrived at the important place of Dangyin, and the anti-Qin coalition army failed to succeed in several strong attacks, so it could only follow the main force of the Qin army to continue westward. At the same time, the young marshal army messenger who had been sent to contact the main force of the Chu army also returned to Baima and introduced the time when he sent Xiang Kang's letter to Xiang Yu, proving that Xiang Yu deliberately refused to divide his troops in advance to attack Xiang Kang's suggestion, and the young marshal army was inevitably even more furious when they heard the news, and they were more and more reluctant to continue to join forces with the overly selfish main force of the Chu army.

Another day passed, and the main force of the Qin army finally withdrew westward to the bank of the flood, and the result was that the anti-Qin coalition army was greatly disappointed that the main force of the Qin army, which had suffered enough to cross the river, learned a lesson, and was no longer in a hurry to cross the flood and retreat westward, just covering the Great Wall Corps of the Qin army, which numbered about 50,000, to retreat west across the river, and then immediately fortified the deep ditch on the east bank of the flood, preparing for a long-term confrontation with the anti-Qin coalition army, and at the same time, the 50,000 Qin troops who crossed the river also immediately entered various dangerous places on the north bank of the Yellow River, and established fortifications to protect the grain route. So that the grain of Ao Cang can be safely transported to the front line.

At the same time, the Qin army also urgently mobilized in Hanoi and Sanchuan County, conscripted all men over the age of 15 into the army, formed a large number of newly formed troops to guard the city passes, and transported grain and grass to the front line to build a flood defense line.

When these situations were reported to Xiang Kang, not to mention Uncle Zhou, but Zhou Zeng and Chen Ping's civilian officials all persuaded Xiang Kang to immediately make up his mind and take advantage of the situation to go south to Yingchuan and Nanyang as soon as possible, and take advantage of the opportunity of the main force of the Qin army being pinned down by the anti-Qin coalition forces to try to enter the pass from Wuguan. However, Xiang Kang, who has always been decisive in killing, still hesitated, and asked Uncle Zhou, who once again instigated him to take the opportunity to go south: "General Zhou, you also know the situation on the northern front, in your opinion, how will the war on the flood battlefield develop?" Will our main forces finally be able to defeat the main forces of the Tyrannical Qin, or will the main forces of the Tyrannical Qin be able to hold out until our main forces and the anti-Qin coalition forces are forced to withdraw their troops? ”

"It's unpredictable." Uncle Zhou replied truthfully: "There are too many variables, if Zhang Handpifu takes the risk of a decisive battle, then with the current morale and fighting spirit of our main force, it is very promising to directly defeat the main force of Tyranny Qin." But if the Tyrannical Qin army insists on not fighting, and the time has been confronted for a long time, and there is something omission in our main force, which gives Zhang Handpifu an opportunity, no one dares to guarantee who wins or loses on the flood battlefield. ”

"That's what worries me the most." Xiang Kang replied: "If our main force has any mistakes and suffers defeat, so that Zhang Handpifu can free up his hands to go back and forth to help Guanzhong, then even if we enter Guanzhong, it will be a dead end." ”

"Right General, fighting a war is an adventure." Uncle Zhou reminded: "If you look too forward, you are destined to miss the opportunity." ”

Xiang Kang was even more hesitant and hesitated, Xiang Kang also casually flipped through the report that Chen Ping had just personally sent to the Qin army, and the result was also a coincidence, he just took out a woodblock from the slip and glanced at it casually, Xiang Kang immediately opened his eyes, and then quickly raised the woodblock and asked Chen Ping: "Mr. Chen Ping, your subordinates made a detailed report, saying that when the Tyrannical Qin army was retreating from the Thorn Plains to Fanyang, the tyrannical Qin general Wang Li violated Zhang Han's military order and led the army back to the trapped army without authorization, resulting in a great defeat, is this information reliable?" ”

"It should be reliable." Chen Ping replied: "It was one of my subordinates who directly inquired about the news from the tyrannical Qin soldiers, and I heard that Wang Li also pleaded guilty to Zhang Han afterwards, but Zhang Han was generous and did not pursue it. However, the student estimated that Zhang Han should have had no choice at that time, and was forced to forgive Wang Lipifu for the sake of army unity. ”

A happy look appeared on Xiang Kang's face, and after only thinking for a moment, Xiang Kang made up his mind and ordered: "Order the whole army to immediately pull out the camp and cross the Yellow River in the south and prepare to go south to Yingchuan." ”

"General Right, have you made up your mind?" Uncle Zhou asked with great joy.

"Our main force already has a way to be invincible, and if I don't make up my mind, it will be a waste of fighters." Xiang Kang smiled, first sent someone to issue the order, and then instructed Zhou Zeng: "Uncle Ya, help me write a letter to the former general, saying that I will go to Yingchuan and Nanyang to open up a second battlefield, and find an opportunity to enter the Guanzhong to threaten the back of the main force of the tyrannical Qin, so that the tyrannical Qin court will not be able to rescue Hanoi with all its might, and surround Wei to rescue Zhao to share the pressure for him." In addition, in order to relieve his pressure on grain and grass, I also want to hand over Puyang and Baima to him, and tell him to quickly send people to take over the two cities of Puyang and Baima. ”

Zhou Zeng promised to immediately write a book for Xiang Kang, but Xiang Kang kept going, and instructed Li Shiqi and Chen Ping: "Mr. Li, Mr. Chen Ping, you should also work hard and write a letter for me to Zhang Han and Wang Li." ”

"What's the content?" Chen Ping asked hurriedly.

"The letter to Wang Li is, of course, to persuade him to surrender to us with his army as soon as possible, lest the tyrannical Qin court investigate his responsibility for the defeat in the Thorn Plain, and he will be ruined and die without a place to be buried."

Xiang Kang casually instructed the letter to the general effect, and said: "As for the letter to Zhang Han, the content is more complicated, to say that his letter has been received, so that he does not have to worry that our Xiang family children will remember the old hatred, the sword on the battlefield has no eyes, my uncle unfortunately died in Dingtao has little to do with him, as long as he can change his past wrongs, fulfill his promise to surrender to us with the violent Qin army, our Xiang family children will definitely not blame him for the past, and turn enemies into friends with him, and break the violent Qin together." In addition, tell him that as long as he can make up his mind, he can contact my brother Xiang Yu directly at any time, and I have already interceded with my brother on his behalf. ”

Chen Ping showed a wicked smile on his face and said, "General You's clever plan, this letter to Zhang Han is more complicated, let me write it." ”

After that, Chen Ping immediately picked up the pen to make a book, and quickly wrote a letter with affection according to the content of Xiang Kang's instructions, and Li Shiqi over there also carried the pen like flying, and quickly wrote a letter of persuasion to Wang Li for Xiang Kang, but after the two letters were written, Xiang Kang also personally signed and sealed the two letters, Li Shiqi remembered a major event, and hurriedly asked Xiang Kang: "General Right, how to send the letter to Zhang Han?" To whom? ”

Xiang Kang smiled but didn't answer, first personally picked up the pen and wrote down the letter cover for Zhang Han and Wang Li respectively, and then put the letter cover for Zhang Han on the text of the letter to Wang Li, and put the letter cover for Wang Li on the text of the letter to Zhang Han, and then said with a surprised face: "Why am I so careless?" Sent a letter to General Wang Li to General Zhang Han? Sent a letter to General Zhang Han to Wang Li? It's troublesome now, if General Wang Li and the tyrannical Qin court are suspicious of General Zhang Han, how should General Zhang Han fight the next battle? ”

Before Xiang Kang finished his surprised words, Uncle Zhou, Zhou Zeng, Chen Ping and Li Shiqi were already laughing loudly, and they all gave Xiang Kang a thumbs up, all admiring Xiang Kang's ruthlessness, viciousness and despicability - how immoral should this be, to come up with such a shady trick?

After laughing, Zhou Zeng was still a little worried, and said, "General Right, is this hand too ruthless?" If our discord plan works too well, the Tyrannical Qin army will directly fall apart, and our main force will annihilate the Tyrant Qin's main force too quickly, maybe it will be possible to rush into the pass before us. ”

"It's not that easy to get such good results." Xiang Kang replied: "Wang Li is not a fool, he will not directly turn his face with Zhang Han because I sent the wrong letter, at most he will only report to the Tyrannical Qin Court, even if the Tyrannical Qin Court is suspicious, it will only strengthen the monitoring and prevention of Zhang Han, and will not destroy the Great Wall too quickly, directly kill Zhang Han or risk changing generals." ”

"And." Xiang Kang added: "Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if the Tyrannical Qin Imperial Court really plans to destroy the Great Wall, it will definitely immediately arrange a candidate to replace Zhang Han, and continue to lead the Tyrannical Qin army to guard the two important places of Hanoi and Sanchuan. ”

In this way, just after discovering that there was an opportunity within the Qin army, he immediately started to divide and ensure that the main force of the Chu army could be invincible, Xiang Kang didn't even say hello to Xiang Yu, and crossed the Yellow River with the main force of the young marshal's army on the same day, and returned to the south bank of the Yellow River, and then left only a small number of troops to guard Puyang and Baima City, and immediately took the main force of the young marshal's army to gallop straight to Yangwu, preparing to go south from Yangwu directly to Yingchuan, to copy Liu Laosan's tactics of destroying Qin in history.