Surabaya surging, from north to south, flowing through the north of Pengcheng, there is valley water into the Surabaya River, so that the flow of Surabaya is wider and deeper, the clear river irrigates the fertile fields, feeding the people on both sides of the river, but also indirectly created Pengcheng, the first money and grain in the county of Surabaya in Daqin, but at this moment, the mother river of Pengcheng has become the biggest obstacle to the main force of the young marshal army to attack the city.

Riding a horse and strolling on the high ground on the east bank of Surabaya, Xiang Kang tried to look at the situation on the other side with his naked eyes, his face was full of worry, but Xiang Kang's worry was not how to cross the west bank of the Surabaya soldiers, but how to seize the fighter plane, defeat and even eliminate the main force of the Surabaya army led by his old opponent Zhao Zhuang in the field battle, and lay the foundation for calmly taking the important land of Pengcheng.

The old opponent Zhao Zhuang obviously learned the lesson of the last Fuli battle, and this time the tactical arrangement was very careful, and the main camp was selected in the position of only a few miles at the Surabaya ferry, so that troops could be sent to intercept the young marshal's army to cross the river at any time, and a number of guard towers were repaired on the bank of Surabaya, and gongs and drums were set up to prevent the young marshal's army from smuggling at night. At the same time, the defenders of Pengcheng also urged the people to rush to build sheep and horse walls and fortifications under the city, clearly preparing to defend the city, and once the main force of the Surabaya County soldiers with more than 4,000 troops withdrew to the city to garrison, it would be very difficult for the young marshal army to take this important place of money and food.

The city wall of Pengcheng is more than three zhang high, the moat is wide and deep, and the northeast gate is protected by Surabaya and Gushui, and only the southwest two gates can be controlled, if Zhao Zhuangjun retreats to the city with all his strength and attacks head-on, even Xiang Kang is not sure that he will be able to take it, even if he can take it, how much price will be paid, Xiang Kang does not dare to imagine.

"It's not difficult to cross the river, but the difficulty lies in how to break the enemy." Xiang Kang once again repeated his previous prediction, and he also wished that the surging Surabaya could suddenly cut off the flow, so that his army could directly kill outside Zhao Zhuang's camp, and use the advantage of his strength and gradually accumulated combat strength to completely annihilate this enemy who would definitely flee into the city immediately when he saw that the situation was not good.

When he returned to the newly established camp of the Chinese army worriedly, the scouts who had been sent to the downstream sentry also returned to the camp one after another, and reported to Xiang Kang that he had found many ferries suitable for crossing the river in the lower reaches of Surabaya, but Xiang Kang was not happy, because Xiang Kang knew very well that even if the main force of the army could cross Surabaya unharmed, it would have no effect, and Zhao Zhuang, who had already suffered a big loss, would definitely not stay outside the city stupidly and wait for death, but would only return to the city as soon as possible. Therefore, Xiang Kang did not plan to personally go to the site to explore and find a suitable place to cross the river, but just asked Zhou Zeng: "Uncle Ya, Xiang Dian took people to collect civilian boats nearby, is there any news?" ”

"Not yet." Zhou Zeng replied: "But there should be some gains, if the violent Qin army confiscated all the civilian boats on the east bank of Surabaya, Xiangdian Xiang Qianren would definitely have sent someone back to report it." ”

Xiang Kang nodded, and was about to put aside his troubles and rest for a while, but unexpectedly, a personal soldier suddenly came from outside the tent to report, saying that the Qin army had sent an envoy to cross the river and asked to see Xiang Kang and Chen Jiyi. Xiang Kang immediately ordered to be summoned, and then in a short time, a civilian official of the Qin army came to Xiang Kang with a gift box, and said tremblingly: "The little envoy is ordered by Zhao Junzun to meet Young Marshal Xiang, Young Marshal Wan'an." ”

"You're welcome, just say, what did Zhao Zhuang send you to do?" Xiang Kang asked with a pleasant face.

"On the order of Zhao Junzun, I will present to the young marshal a handwritten letter from our Zhao Junzun, as well as a gift from our Zhao Junzun to the young marshal." The Qin army's envoy's confidence in speaking was obviously a little insufficient, and as soon as he finished speaking, he immediately said with a nervous expression: "Young marshal forgive me, the little envoy came by order, and he was forced to come by Zhao Junzun, really not to deliberately humiliate you for Zhao Junzun." ”

Xiang Kang guessed the clue, ordered someone to take the gift box and letter brought by the Qin army envoy, opened the gift box first, and the result was not as Xiang Kang expected, what was contained in the gift box was indeed a set of women's clothes, and after opening the letter, Zhao Zhuang really humiliated Xiang Kang in every way in the letter, laughing at Xiang Kang for not daring to cross the river immediately and fight with him, it was the behavior of a rural village woman who had no courage, and asked Xiang Kang to either cross the river and fight with him, or put on the women's clothes he gave and dance in public on the east bank of Surabaya.

"Dong Shi Xiao Feng." Xiang Kang sneered and said an idiom that already existed in this era, knowing that Zhao Zhuang was deliberately provoking himself and copying his previous strategy, wanting to let himself immediately launch a rush under anger to create an opportunity for him to attack halfway.

Knowing that his life and death were already in Xiang Kang's thoughts, the envoy of the Qin army who was forced by Zhao Zhuang to come over to humiliate Xiang Kang was of course immediately prostrated and kowtowed and begged for mercy, but this envoy was naturally worried in vain, with Xiang Kang's face, how could he be provoked by the provocation of the two copycats? So after just a little calculation, Xiang Kang quickly said with a kind expression: "Get up, I know that Zhao Zhuang forced you to come, of course I won't spread my anger on you." When I went back and told Zhao Zhuang, I said that I am not ready now, and when I am ready, I will definitely cross the river at this ferry and fight him to the death. If I break my promise, I will put on the women's clothes he gave me and dance a dance for everyone on the pier on the east bank of Surabaya in front of everyone. ”

The envoy of the Qin army breathed a sigh of relief, hurriedly promised to bring Xiang Kang's original words, and couldn't wait to say goodbye. Xiang Kang smiled slightly and said, "What's the hurry, you have been running so hard, how can you go back hungry?" Besides, I'm going to ask you to bring a letter back, and wait, and we'll eat first. ”

After that, Xiang Kang asked his soldiers to bring wine and food immediately, and set up a banquet in the big tent of the Chinese army to entertain the envoy of the Qin army, not to mention that he personally accompanied him, and asked people to bring five Yi gold to reward the envoy of the Qin army who took the initiative to shirk his responsibilities as soon as he came up.

Of course, Xiang Kang did not let go of this, and after a casual conversation, taking advantage of the opportunity of the Qin army's envoy's psychology gradually relaxing, Xiang Kang suddenly asked, "How is Zhao Junshou's situation recently?" I heard that after he returned to Xiangxian from Zhuyi, he had to personally supervise the soldiers to train the military formation every day, so he must have been very tired. ”

"Returning to the young marshal, this is indeed the case." The envoy of the Qin army replied truthfully: "After returning to Xiangxian some time ago, we, Zhao Junzun, personally supervised the soldiers to train the military formation every day, and it was indeed very tiring. ”

"And what about discipline in your army?" Xiang Kang asked casually: "As far as I know, your army is mostly recruits, and military discipline is not strict enough, and there will be several violations of military law every day, isn't that so?" ”

"The young marshal is really well-informed, it is true." The envoy of the Qin army asked questions casually, and then came to his senses a little, and hurriedly added: "But now it is much better, our Zhao Junzun has been on the battlefield for a long time, and the army is strictly governed, and after his personal control, there are many fewer violations of discipline by the soldiers in our army." ”

"Then your soldiers, do you love Zhao Jun more or are you in awe?" Xiang Kang asked again.

Knowing a little bit of professional ethics, the envoy of the Qin army didn't dare to say anything, Xiang Kang observed his words, and didn't ask, just smiled and said: "If it is inconvenient for your envoy to answer, then you don't need to answer." But I can also guess that with Zhao Junzun's love for soldiers like a son, the soldiers of your army must love him mostly, right? ”

The slight disdain at the corner of the Qin army's envoy's mouth did not escape Xiang Kang's eyes, but although he was disdainful in his heart, the Qin army's envoy, who was barely loyal to his duties, nodded again and again, echoing Xiang Kang's speculation and judgment, Xiang Kang saw that he was already on guard, so he didn't ask anymore, but only persuaded him to drink wine and eat meat, or after he was full of wine and food, Xiang Kang handed him his reply and arranged for people to escort him back to the dock and cross the river by boat.

After the envoy of the Qin army left, Zhou Zeng was of course curious and asked Xiang Kang why he treated a Qin army official so well, Xiang Kang replied: "Of course, it is to knock on the side and understand the current situation in the violent Qin army, fortunately, it is not in vain, and it is somewhat rewarding." ”

Zhou Zeng asked again what he had gained, Xiang Kang replied: "Judging from my temptation, there should be a lot of problems in the Tyrannical Qin army now, there are too many recruits and the combat effectiveness is not strong, and the military discipline is definitely not as strict as the tyrannical Qin army we met in Fuli, Zhao Zhuang blindly coerces, and the soldiers are just afraid of him but do not love him, if the head-on battle, Zhao Zhuang's current army is definitely not as powerful as the army before him in terms of battle, and in the event of a setback, it will definitely be easier to collapse than the previous Zhao Zhuang army." ”

"Then how does the young marshal plan to take advantage of these weaknesses of the Tyrannical Qin army?" Zhou Zeng asked again.

"It's a bit of an eyebrow, but it's not too sure, and I'll have to think about it again." Xiang Kang replied very vaguely, and said: "The most important thing now is the ferry, to see how many boats Xiang Dian can get us and how many troops can be carried across the river at one time." ”

When it was slightly dark, Xiang Dian, who had been ordered to collect the ferry, returned to the camp and handed over the order, saying that he had searched the east bank of Surabaya, and finally got more than 140 civilian boats of different sizes, removing the sailors needed to drive the boats, and could carry more than 1,000 soldiers across the river at a time. Xiang Kang was overjoyed when he heard the news, and hurriedly asked Xiang Dian to concentrate the ferry on the east bank of Surabaya, and sent more troops to protect it closely, and then Xiang Kang immediately sent people to call two hundred generals, and asked them to lead their team to carry drums, gongs and horns, and go to the shore of Surabaya after night to act according to the plan.

That night, the tactics of the young marshal's army, which had become Xiang Kang's signature, reappeared, and every once in a certain time, the two hundred-man teams of the young marshal's army had to blow trumpets and beat drums in the dark on the shore of Surabaya, pretending to rush across the river overnight. And because the camp was too close to the ferry, the Qin army had to obediently get up and prepare for battle every time when they heard these sounds, so repeatedly, the soldiers of the Qin army who were not sleep-free all complained, complained about the hardship, and all hoped to move the camp to another place as soon as possible, so as to suffer less from these tortures.

At the same time, Xiang Kang resorted to another despicable method, secretly sending an envoy to Pengcheng to visit Wang Yong, the commander of Pengcheng County, to give him a heavy gift, persuade him to oppose Qin and Chu, and promised that as long as he closed the city gate when Zhao Zhuang's army was defeated and did not let Zhao Zhuang's army return to the city to station, then Xiang Kang would inevitably have a heavy reward afterwards. Wang Yong, on the other hand, hesitated, neither gave a clear answer, nor did he take the secret envoy of the young marshal's army and hand it over to Zhao Zhuang, so he cut off his retreat and chose to secretly send the secret envoy of the young marshal's army out of the city, and then burned the letter written by Xiang Kang to himself without leaving evidence, and secretly swallowed Xiang Kang's heavy gift at the same time, he also made up his mind to check the style and make a decision.

Zhao Zhuang really hoped to take advantage of the opportunity of the half-crossing attack to win a battle first, to boost the morale of the army and boost morale, but the next day, Zhao Zhuang sent a messenger to cross the river, once again urging Xiang Kang to hurry up and cross the river for a decisive battle, and also released a wild promise that during the period when the young marshal's army crossed the river, he would never send troops to prevent the young marshal's army from crossing the river. Xiang Kang secretly laughed at Zhao Zhuang's wishful thinking, but still used the excuse that the army was not ready to cross the river, so that Zhao Zhuang continued to wait patiently, and then Xiang Kang arranged for Xiang Zhuang and Ding Ji to secretly select elite soldiers to prepare for battle, while continuing to exercise the strategy of disturbing the enemy's tired troops, and let the young marshal's army squad go to the shore of Surabaya at night to sound trumpets and beat drums, not giving the enemy a chance to rest at ease.

After being harassed by the shameless tactics of the young marshal army all night, Zhao Zhuang and some Qin army generals could barely support it, but most of the soldiers of the Qin army couldn't bear it anymore, and begged their bosses to report to Zhao Zhuang, so that Zhao Zhuang could find a way to solve this trouble and give them a chance to rest in peace. It's a pity that Zhao Zhuang is not a master who likes to treat soldiers well, and after receiving the report from the generals, he didn't think about moving the camp at all, but just roared: "Let them bear with it honestly, the thieves are on the other side, and they may launch a robbery at any time, we are not guarding here, what should the thieves do if they suddenly cross the river?" ”

The generals said yes, and the officials of the county guard mansion who had made good contributions in the Fuli War several times before stood up and admonished Zhao Zhuangjin: "County Zun, it is indeed not a way to go on like this, our army's camp is too close to the ferry, if the thieves continue to harass like this, then within a few days, our soldiers will be exhausted, which is not conducive to the war." According to the opinion of the subordinates, it is better for us to quickly retreat to the city and station, and then be invincible. ”

"Isn't that too cheap, Xiang Kang is a thief?" Zhao Zhuang snorted coldly and said: "It is safer to retreat into the city and station, but the thieves suddenly launched a crossing of the river, how can we catch the great fighter plane that attacked halfway?" ”

"Junzun, with all due respect, it's best not to expect too much to attack this fighter plane halfway." Zuo Zhi persuaded him: "Xiang Kang is a traitor and treacherous, it is impossible not to have expected that we are stationed here, waiting for him to cross the river and suddenly launch an attack, and we will definitely try our best to force away this danger." There are many ferries in the lower reaches of Surabaya, and he can suddenly divide his troops to the south at any time to rush to the downstream to cross the river, it is difficult for us to guard against it, and it is better to return to the city as soon as possible than to wait for this difficult fighter plane. ”

Zhao Zhuang was a little hesitant, and was thinking about whether to adopt this suggestion, but unexpectedly, a personal soldier suddenly entered the report, saying that the young marshal army sent a messenger to cross the river with a white flag in his hand to present the war letter to Zhao Zhuang in person. Then not long after, Xu Shu, Xiang Kang's special diplomatic liar, was led to Zhao Zhuang, and said kindly: "Zhao Junzun, our young marshal Xiang sent a small envoy here to ask you to promise one thing, if you agree to go, then we will cross the river immediately tomorrow morning and fight you head-on according to your requirements." ”

"What does Xiang Kang want to ask this official to promise him?" Zhao Zhuang asked proudly.

"I want to ask the county to retreat your troops for five miles, give up the ferry wharf, so that our army can cross the river and set up a formation and fight you head-on." Xu Shu said respectfully: "Otherwise, the distance between the ferry and your army's camp is too small, and there is no way for your two armies to send troops to set up formations, and there is no way to fight your army head-on." ”

After finishing speaking, Xu Shu presented Xiang Kang's letter, Zhao Zhuang opened it, and saw that the content was similar to Xu Shu's oral introduction, so he said without any hesitation: "Okay, this official promises you that you will retreat six miles today and give up the position to us to arrange troops." But if you don't come tomorrow, don't blame the official for sending someone over to scold your ancestors for the eighteenth generation! ”

"Please rest assured." Xu Shu arched his hand and said: "If our army breaks its promise, our young marshal Xiang will definitely wear the woman's clothes you gave him tomorrow and dance in public on the Surabaya pier!" ”

Zhao Changchang smiled, waved his hand and sent Xu Shu back to hand over the errand, and then immediately issued an order for the army to pull out the camp and get up, and retreat five miles to set up camp again. The assistant officer next to him was anxious when he heard this, and hurriedly dissuaded: "The county is respectful and slow, Xiang Kang is a traitor and treacherous, and he must have ulterior motives for asking our army to move the camp. ”

"What tricks can there be? The big deal is that we talk about a decisive battle tomorrow, and suddenly send troops to smuggle in tonight and attack our camp. Zhao Zhuang sneered and said: "Tonight, the officer divided the army into two teams to take turns to rest, and sent more soldiers to closely monitor the ferry, which is enough to take precautions!" ”

"But the subordinates still think it's better not to be fooled." The official looked embarrassed and said, "For the sake of prudence, we had better hurry back to the city and camp." ”

"Greedy for life and afraid of death!" Zhao Zhuang scolded sharply and said, "If you are really afraid, go into the city and hide!" Most of our army are new recruits, and they suffered defeats in Fulilian, if they don't seize the opportunity when the thieves cross the river, and hurry up to win a battle to boost morale, even if they retreat directly into Pengcheng City, they can't hold the city! ”

Knowing Zhao Zhuang's self-righteous character, the assistant officials did not dare to persuade again, and Zhao Zhuang also urged his own soldiers to go out to pass the order, but because he was fed up with the harassment and torture of the young marshal's army, he heard Zhao Zhuang's order, and of course the Qin soldiers were overjoyed, and they couldn't wait to pack up the military camp tent and load the car, and happily tidy up and move the camp, and the Zhao Zhuang handsome flag that had been hanging high at the Surabaya ferry for several days was finally put down, loaded into the vehicle and prepared to transfer with Zhao Zhuang himself.

When any army does this, there will inevitably be some chaos, the soldiers are scattered, and the attention of the generals is also distracted, especially Zhao Zhuangjun, who has a large number of new soldiers. As a result, at this time, more than 1,000 soldiers suddenly rushed out of the young marshal barracks on the opposite bank, and under the leadership of Xiang Zhuang, the most trusted young marshal army general of Xiang Kang, they rushed directly to the shore, boarded the ship at the fastest speed, and then charged to the west bank of Surabaya without hesitation!

"Bell bell crotch bell!"

After rushing to the high ground to see clearly that the young marshal's army had suddenly launched a rush to cross, Zhao Zhuang suddenly scolded Xiang Kang for his shamelessness and despicability, and he was able to say nothing to this point - although Xiang Kang had not promised not to suddenly launch an attack when the Qin army moved to camp. Then Zhao Zhuang didn't dare to be a little sluggish, and hurriedly ordered the officers and men of the whole army to stop moving the camp, go to the open space in front of the camp to line up the formation, and meet the shameless surprise attack of the young marshal's army!

Zhao Zhuang's own decision is very decisive, but it is a pity that the handsome flag has been put down, the weapons have been loaded, the soldiers and generals are even more chaotic like a plate of scattered sand, Zhao Zhuang's decisive order of course can not continue to command the whole army like an arm, the army that has received orders one after another discarded the vehicles and weapons on the spot, the armor soldiers hurriedly put on armor, the crossbowmen hurriedly looked for the vehicle, received the arrows that had been loaded and prepared to go into battle, and the chariot had to go through the chaotic camp to get out of the camp. Panicked like the end was coming.

Encountering such a situation, of course, the Qin soldiers did not have any opportunity to fight in formation, the army had not yet left the camp forty percent, the ferry of the young marshal's army had rushed to the shore of the west bank of Surabaya, Xiang Zhuang took the lead, the first to jump on the west bank, the young marshal soldiers followed suit, and then did not waste time to form a team, immediately under the guidance of Xiang Zhuang's general flag, directly killed the Qin army team that was in a state of panic.

"Look, what's in the hands of those thieves?!"

There were also sharp-eyed people in the chaotic crowd of the Qin army, and suddenly saw that among the crowd of the young marshal's army, there were many soldiers with weapons that had never been seen before, a kind of thin and narrow long knives that they had never seen before! Chopping the saber! Since the young marshal army was equipped, it has never used a powerful broadsword on the battlefield!

"Fight on the spot! Hold! Hold your ground for me! We must not allow thieves to disrupt our army, and we must not allow thieves to disrupt our army! ”

Zhao Zhuang's hoarse shout could only be a hoarse and desperate roar, because it was too hasty and chaotic, he hadn't had time to set up a flag formation and command his army remotely through the flag, Zhao Zhuang could only shout and roar like this, counting on the army that had already left the camp to hold the position, and won the opportunity for the rear army to reorganize the queue.