If only Tian Da, the general of Qi State, could have guessed Uncle Zhou's vicious intention of insisting on forcibly rushing across the plains, or in other words, Tian Da, who became the king of Jibei by bribing Master Xiang Boxiang, could be more decisive, and understood Uncle Zhou's vicious intentions and decisively asked his garrison to abandon the camp and retreat towards the county, ignoring any grain, grass, camp tents and baggage, then the Jibei army in Qixian also had a great hope of evading the interception of the Han army and retreating to the much safer county first.

The bad thing is that Tian Da is not decisive enough, so although his order was sent to the county by fast horse when the sun set, his cousin Tian Qian, the commander of the garrison of the county, did not hesitate to act according to the order, and immediately ordered to abandon the ferry port and retreat to the county, but did not ask the garrison to give up the grain, grass and military baggage to save time, and chose to let the Jibei soldiers load all these things, and then retreat to the east.

Don't blame Tian Jian for sacrificing his life and money, first of all, Tian Da did not ask Tian to go like this, far away in Xian County, Tian Jian did not know the war situation on the side of the plain ferry, and did not know the urgency of time; In order to prevent the Han army from advancing eastward and supporting the reinforcements of the Qi State, the finance has long been lit up, and Tian Qian was reluctant to give up these precious military supplies, which was also out of loyalty and kindness to Tian Da.

After wasting a lot of precious time, it was still when it was close to the second watch that night that Tian Jian received a second order sent by Tian Da, asking him to give up everything that was not urgently needed except for weapons and retreat at full speed, and also knew that the Han army had succeeded in rushing across the plains.

"Alas, what a pity!"

Although he was distressed, of course, the army was more important than the military baggage, so Tian Jian had no choice but to immediately order the 15,000 Jibei Army under his command to give up the baggage and advance at full speed, and the same was true for the 5,000 Qi troops that Tianbe had previously sent to Qixian to help.

However, the Qiji coalition army in Qixian County was still a step late, and when they hurried to the vicinity of the Lingting, the only way to retreat to the county, the Han army Wangling, who was rushing north from the plain, had already arrived at the Lingting one step earlier than them, although they had not yet had time to build any temporary fortifications to establish a blocking position, and even many soldiers had not had time to drink a sip of water and eat a little dry food to rest for a while, but they still blocked their way!

Seeing this scene, Tian Jian had no choice but to quickly lead the army to attack the Han army, in a vain attempt to defeat the Han army and open the way.

This battle was also fought extremely cruelly and fiercely, the offensive of the Qiji coalition army that retreated in a hurry was like a rushing tide, repeatedly attacking the positions of the Han army, and the Han army, which had no fortifications and geographical advantages, relied on the hastily formed battle formation, relying on flesh and blood to confront the Qiji coalition army head-on, and the enemy fought under the cloudy night sky with flesh and blood, and corpses were everywhere.

Fortunately, although the 20,000 Han troops led by Wang Ling were only ordinary troops in the Han army on the northern front, and the overall combat effectiveness was not as good as the elite of the first line, it was easier to blindly hold on to the battle in formation than to charge and assault after all.

Seeing that the enemy tried in vain to bypass the position of the army and flee eastward, Wang Ling of course could only lead the army to take the initiative to attack, but this also hit the hands of the Qiji coalition army, Wang Ling's army just rushed to their waist nearby, the Qiji coalition army immediately stopped advancing, the waist of the Chinese army fought in formation on the spot, the front and rear armies flanked left and right, and also took advantage of the opportunity that the Han army did not have time to organize a tight battle formation, and successfully won the opportunity to fight with the Han army in close combat, which also made the battle of Lingting more cruel and bloody.

Although the Han army has an advantage in total strength, there is no need to be afraid of exchanging with the enemy, but at this time, an accident that even Uncle Zhou did not expect suddenly appeared - the Jibei Army's curtain garrison, which withdrew earlier than the enemy in Qixian County, actually turned back to meet the Qiji coalition army in Qixian County, and suddenly broke the balance of power on the entire battlefield.

Of course, the situation became extremely unfavorable to the Han army, under the courageous rush of the Qiji coalition army, the Han army that had been in chaos was cut and surrounded one after another, and was forced to form three circle formations of different sizes to fight separately, and the Han soldiers who failed to meet the brigade in time were either killed, or forced to flee from the battlefield to save their lives, and the situation was quickly at a disadvantage, and gradually showed defeat.

Then it was replaced by the Qiji coalition army by surprise, when the sky was light, after finally breaking through one of the three temporary circle formations of the Han army, the soldiers of the Qi army were cheering and frantically slashing and killing the scattered Han soldiers, when the road to the west suddenly became chaotic, and there was a huge number of Han troops to kill.

In fact, as early as when the enemy in Qixian County abandoned the ferry and retreated, Xia Shuo had been keenly aware of the arrival of the fighters, and immediately used some small boats in his hands to transport troops across the river, establish a beachhead and probe the enemy's movements, and when Shen Kun rushed to the Xianxian ferry with the Han army fleet to convey Uncle Zhou's order, Xia Shuo decisively led the army to cross the river urgently, and then did not wait for the whole army to cross the river, he personally led the 8,000 troops to pursue.

The arrival of the Han reinforcements not only reversed the situation on the battlefield, but also severely damaged the morale of the Qiji coalition army, afraid that the Han army would have more follow-up reinforcements to come, the Qiji coalition army could only quickly dispel the idea of completely defeating the Wang Ling army first and then retreating calmly, and immediately retreated to the east.

In the end, because the battlefield is located in the North China Plain, and because the Qiji coalition army unexpectedly obtained reinforcements from the friendly army of the Yanmu, the Han army did not be able to get the wish to completely annihilate the enemy in Qixian County, but among the 20,000 Qiji coalition troops in Qixian County, there were still less than 10,000 people who escaped back to the county in the end, and the Jibei army also lost more than half, and the losses of the Han army were just over 4,000, so in general, the Han army still took a lot of advantage in this battle. In the end, the main force of the Han army was not allowed to launch a rush on the plain at any cost.

Unlike the partial division of the county that lost more than half, the Qiji coalition army that took the initiative to evacuate the ferry battlefield was very smooth to get rid of the pursuit of the Han army, taking advantage of the opportunity that the Han army was too tired to pursue across the river, just withdrew to the camp and reorganized the team a little, the main force of the Qiji coalition army decisively gave up the camp and retreated at full speed along the gallop road, during which the Han army that had crossed the river also took the opportunity to pursue, but because of the serious decline in physical strength, he was personally led the army to the general Tian Ji of the Jibei Army to lead the army to retreat, and did not be able to get any results. It was just the capture of the military baggage that the Qiji coalition army voluntarily abandoned.

Not to mention the Gaotang side, the retreat of the Jibei Army to the east here was originally close, and the main force of the Han army that had not yet been able to cross the Yellow River could not spare their hands to deal with them, so the Jibei Army on the Gaotang side also retreated to the Luoyin area without any losses, and joined the main force of the Qiji coalition army that withdrew from the plain. However, it is also good for the Han army, because the distance is too far, whether the four thousand defenders of the Jibei Army previously stationed in Nanpi can get rid of the pursuit of the Yan army of the Han army's servant army, it is still unknown, and the Yan army, which has an obvious advantage in strength, still has the hope and opportunity to annihilate the enemy in Nanpi.

When these situations were reported to Uncle Zhou, the time was already the afternoon of the second day after the end of the Battle of the Plains, considering that Wang Ling and Xia Shuo's army was tired and did not carry siege equipment, Uncle Zhou immediately ordered Wang Ling to withdraw his troops and return to the plains.

Li Shiqi was a little unwilling to give up, and said to Uncle Zhou: "General Zhou, our troops are sufficient, it is better to divide an army and immediately enter the front line of Luoyin and Zhuxian, and entangle the main force of the Qiji coalition army, and when our main force is freed up, we can immediately march east and fight a decisive battle with the Qiji coalition army in the area of Luoyin and Zhuxian." ”

"It's too late." Uncle Zhou replied: "As long as Tian Da, Tian Ji and Tian Bu have a little brain, they will definitely not stay in Luoyin and Zhu County, and will only retreat to Licheng after a little rest, where they will regroup to meet us, and wait for the rescue of the Qi State Thief Army and the Western Chu Thief Army. ”

In fact, just as Uncle Zhou expected, the next day, the Han army scouts sent a report, saying that the Qiji coalition army only stopped in the area of Zhuxian and Luoyin, and slightly replenished the defenders of these two counties, and then immediately withdrew to the direction of Licheng. Uncle Zhou was not surprised by this, in addition to sending many scouts to listen to the enemy's movements, there was also a rush to create various siege weapons, so that other Han army teams that did not participate in the battle of rushing to the crossing would attack the small city on the plain that refused to surrender.

The disparity in strength is huge, of course, there is no suspense in the siege of the plains, although the plain defenders of the Jibei Army showed admirable courage and determination to defend the city, but still could not stop the continuous bombardment of the Han army's counterweight trebuchet, just held on for less than a day, the city was declared to fall, the defender Tian Hao was killed, most of the defenders were killed, and the rest all surrendered. And on the second day, Xia Shuo also took the county seat very easily, and basically cleared the remnants of the Jibei Army on the Yellow River.

The siege of the plains only lasted less than a day, but it took more than three days to prepare the siege weapons, in order to save time, clear the obstacles to enter the city as soon as possible, and successfully take the plain county, Zhou Shu made a decision to let the Han army attack Luoyin and Zhuxian at the same time in two ways. However, to Uncle Zhou's great surprise, when he led the main force of the Han army to arrive at Luoyin City, he was still preparing a large number of siege weapons, and sent an urgent report to Licheng to investigate the enemy's situation, saying that a Western Chu army had rushed to the Licheng battlefield yesterday and joined the main force of the Qiji coalition army that had taken the initiative to retreat to the Licheng area.

"There has already been a Western Chu thief army rushing to Licheng? How could it be so fast? The Western Chu thief army flew in?! ”

After a rare exclamation, Uncle Zhou hurriedly asked the person who came to report the news: "How many troops does the Western Chu thief army have?" Who is the manager? ”

"General Hui, the strength of the Western Chu Thief Army should be around 40,000." Xizuo replied truthfully: "The commander is Zuo Sima Xiangzhuang of the Western Chu Thief Army. ”

"Xiang Zhuang?!" Uncle Zhou was stunned again, and then suddenly remembered the letter he had received from Xiang Kang before, and suddenly snorted coldly: "No wonder it came so quickly, it turned out to be the partial division that Xiang Yu, the puppet king of Western Chu, had sent to Xue County to deal with Peng Yue before." was really expected by our king, Peng Yue was really not the opponent of Liu Ji, Xiang Zhuang's deputy, so he couldn't do it so soon. ”

"Don't worry, general." Cui Guang, the old man of Shangshan next to him, comforted: "The Qiji thief army has been seriously weakened by us on the front line of the big river, and there are only less than 50,000 troops left, and the Western Chu thief army has only come with 40,000 partial divisions. ”

Uncle Zhou nodded, and then showed a little smile, and said: "Okay, come on, it's just right, it's just right, the king has repeatedly reminded me that Han Xin, the general under Liu Jipifu, is an enemy that even the king and I must deal with carefully, and these words are about to grind my ears out of cocoons." Since Liu Jipifu is here, that Han Xin must also be here with him, and General Ben just happened to personally check his condition. ”

"General Zhou, don't blame the old man for being so talkative, it's best not to underestimate the enemy." Li Shiqi hurriedly reminded: "The messenger sent by the king last time, and he was entrusted by the king to tell us that our king's previous expedition to Nanyang was completely drowned by the Nanyang thief army with absolute superiority in strength, and the price actually paid in several battles during the period was greater than that of the Nanyang thief army. ”

"Thank you Dr. Li for reminding me, and please rest assured that I have never dared to forget the king's entrustment, and I will not underestimate the enemy." Uncle Zhou replied with a smile: "I'm just curious, what kind of enemy will make our king win the battle and suffer secretly, I want to see with my own eyes how much ability this horseman has." ”

The twists and turns continued, and Uncle Zhou soon couldn't laugh for two reasons, one was that it suddenly rained heavily in the Luoyin area that night, which caused a lot of trouble to the preparation of the Han army, and it may also affect the next siege of the Han army, and the second was that in the afternoon of the next day, Uncle Zhou received another news that it was too late to verify the truth or falsehood, saying that Tian Heng, the queen of the Qi royal family, who raised troops under the banner of the Han army, suffered a big defeat in the Gaomi area of Jiaodong County, and almost all the troops were wiped out. Legend has it that Tian Heng also died tragically in the chaos.

Hearing this news, even Uncle Zhou couldn't help but change his face, and the intelligence officer of the Han Army, who was busy reporting the situation, asked, "Where did you hear this news?" Is it reliable? ”

"General Hui, this news was heard by our meticulous work in Licheng." The intelligence officer of the Han army hurriedly replied: "It is not yet possible to confirm whether it is reliable, but the news has been spread all over Licheng, and the soldiers of the Chu Qi Ji thief army are also greatly boosted, and they all say that the Qi State thief army will soon send the main force to reinforce Licheng." ”

"Really? It can't be a rumor deliberately released by the thief army, right? ”

After all, it was the person who was taken by Xiang Kang, Uncle Zhou inevitably had such suspicions in his heart, and after waving his hand to let the Han army intelligence officer go down, Uncle Zhou also thought about asking Li Shiqi, Zhou Shu, Cui Guang and others present: "Doctor Li, two seniors, what do you think?" Could this news be a rumor deliberately released by the thief army? ”

"There may be rumors." Li Shiqi pondered and said: "Because it was too coincidental, the Xichu Thief Army arrived in Licheng only before yesterday, and we received this news today, and it seems that it was deliberately arranged." Ahh ”

After finishing speaking, Li Shiqi also sneezed heavily and quickly rubbed his nose.

"I'm afraid it's really a coincidence." Zhou Shu, the old man of Shangshan, said: "Because there is no need for the Licheng thief army to deliberately spread such rumors, they can boost the morale of the army by doing so, but correspondingly, we will also speed up our actions because of this news, hurry up to Licheng and the decisive battle of the Chu Qi Ji thief army, and do not give the main force of the Qi State thief army a chance to return to the division to reinforce the Licheng battlefield." ”

"The old man also thinks that this news is probably true." Cui Guang, another old man from Shangshan, also said: "I am strong and the enemy is weak, and the most correct choice for the thief army should be to find ways to stabilize us and buy time for their reinforcements, and will not deliberately release such news to stimulate us, forcing us to enter the army as soon as possible to find him for a decisive battle." ”

Considering that the enemy really didn't want him to speed up his march into Licheng, Uncle Zhou nodded and said: "The two seniors are reasonable, yes, deliberately spreading such rumors will only be detrimental to the thief army's gain time, I'm afraid this matter is really a coincidence, even if the situation on Tian Heng's side is not as miserable as rumored, the situation will not be too good, and the Qi State thief army is likely to send more reinforcements to Licheng as soon as possible." ”

"General Zhou, how should we deal with it?" Zhou Shu asked again.

"There's only one way." Uncle Zhou replied: "Let the Yan army stop going south and join us, reroute east to Jianchang City, and then directly enter Di County from Jianchang, coerce Linzi, and force the Qi State thief army to send the main force to meet the battle, and can't spare hands to reinforce the Licheng battlefield, so as to buy us time." ”

"Brilliant plan!" Li Shiqi applauded and said: "It should be done this way, as long as the Yan army temporarily restrains the main force of the Qi State thief army, we can ......, ah!" ”

After sneezing again, Li Shiqi hurriedly added: "We can concentrate on dealing with the enemy on the battlefield of Licheng without distraction, and we don't have to worry about the main force of the Qi State thief army suddenly running to make trouble." ”

The idea was come up with by Uncle Zhou himself, Li Shiqi applauded, Zhou Shu and Cui Guang also echoed, when Uncle Zhou was about to make up his mind, he suddenly moved in his heart, and said in his heart: "Slow, if I adjust my tactics like this, will I fall into the hands of the enemy?" The king has repeatedly told him that Han Xin under Liu Ji's puppet is the only dangerous opponent who can match me head-on, and if this is the case, it is impossible for me not to guess this tactical adjustment of mine. ”

When the gap between Uncle Zhou and Han Xin was gradually revealed, a guard suddenly entered the report outside the tent and said, "General Zhou, Mr. Uncle Sun asks to see you." ”