Chapter 22: Fierce Battle

After Xiang Yu killed the general Song Yi, he established himself as the acting general and took command of the army. However, Xiang Yu's war in Zhao was not all smooth sailing, and it can even be said that it was very difficult.

Xiang Yu faced two of the most courageous generals of the Qin Empire, Zhang Han and Wang Li. Zhang Han has always been the nemesis of the anti-Qin revolutionary army, he completely defeated Chen Sheng, the spiritual leader of the revolutionary army, and killed Xiang Liang, the most prestigious core figure of the Chudi revolutionary army, which made all the Fuguo troops feel terrified. Wang Li, after the famous general of the Qin Dynasty, is a veritable third generation of the army. His grandfather was the stubborn old man general Wang Qian, who once led the Qin army to fight for a year, annihilated the Chu state, and won the final victory. If Xiang Yu was born in the military family of the old Chu State, then Wang Li was born and raised in the military family of the Qin State, and he was also familiar with military books since he was a child, and he was nurtured in a strong military atmosphere, and he talked about some military affairs every day. But Wang Li was luckier than Xiang Yu, Wang Li became an outstanding general of the Qin Empire safe and sound, while Xiang Yu had to face the middle of the family and run around. Now, history has brought them together.

They will face a war that will determine the course of history - the Battle of Julu.

This is Julu County, the main battlefield of the most fierce war in the country, and almost all important military forces are concentrated here at this moment. The two most elite armies of the Qin Empire, with more than 400,000 troops, were led by two outstanding generals, Zhang Han and Wang Li, who had been besieging Julu for a long time, while General Zhang Han was in charge of the overall situation in the rear. Therefore, the revolutionary army of more than 50,000 troops of the Chu State was led by the young general Xiang Yu, while the other Restoration Corps totaled hundreds of thousands of troops gathered in Julu to watch silently, and no one dared to approach. (The princes' army rescued more than ten walls under the deer, and they didn't dare to set up troops.) "Historical Records - Xiang Yu Benji")

At this moment, Xiang Yu made a decision that shocked the whole army, and this decision had a huge impact on his future life, that is, to fight against the water. Putting oneself to death and then reliving is the last resort tactic. Xiang Yu first sent Di Bu to lead the army to cut off Wang Li's grain route and block Zhang Han's army from contacting Wang Li's army. Then, he ordered all the troops to prepare enough dry food for three days, and all the ferries were scuttled to the bottom of the river, all the tents were burned, and all the cooking utensils were smashed. (Xiang Yu Naixi led troops across the river, all of them sank boats, broke cauldrons, burned houses, and held three days' rations to show that the soldiers would die, and none of them returned their hearts.) "Historical Records - Xiang Yu Benji")

In this war, the young Xiang Yu showed amazing endurance and courage to see death as if he were home, and he had put life and death aside. He, like other soldiers, only left three days of dry food, and rushed to the Qin army camp without hesitation.

He decided to fight Wang Li to the death!

On this day, the air of Julu is destined to be bloody. Seven fierce battles were fought between the two sides, and the corpses in armor lay in the middle of the battlefield, blood staining the ground red, and fighting and wailing mixed to hide fear.

The Chu army won successive battles, and the Qin army retreated.

In the end, the enemy commander Wang Li was captured, and it was rumored that he had died on the battlefield. And the other generals of the Qin Empire were either killed or committed suicide. Xiang Yu, the final victor, walked through the mountains of bones and stepped on the black and red blood, and came to the camp of the Qin State to announce the end of the war.

The Restoration Corps, who had gathered around to watch, were both excited and shocked. The excitement is that I can finally breathe a sigh of relief, the most dangerous moment has passed, and the most difficult war has ended; What shocked him was that this difficult war was actually completed by Xiang Yu, who was only 25 years old, and it was 50,000 troops against the 200,000 Qin army. They went to the camp of the Qin army to meet this brave young general, and they all bowed their knees, and they were sincerely afraid.

The tall and mighty Xiang Yu sat in the coach's seat, and his eyes projected a cold murderous aura that had not yet dissipated. No one dared to look up into these eyes, and no one dared to speak rashly, for fear of saying the wrong thing.

In this newly captured Qin State camp, Xiang Yu was jointly elected as the supreme commander by all the Restoration Legions, and his prestige has far surpassed that of his uncle Xiang Liang and all the generals in the country.

【Xiang Yu】

Now, only the last opponent remains, Zhang Han.

Xiang Yu has never been afraid, but he has never dared to relax. He thought day and night about how this battle should be fought, how he should arrange his troops. The tension of the battle swirled around his head, keeping him awake for a long time.

And at this moment, an unexpected surprise fell from the sky - the enemy general Zhang Han sent a letter of surrender, and he wanted to surrender!

Xiang Yu couldn't believe it, feeling that it was unlikely that the enemy would admit defeat so easily. He didn't know what had happened to the enemy. It turned out that after the defeat of Julu, Zhang Han was reproached and questioned by the central government of the Qin Dynasty. Prime Minister Zhao Gao controlled the government, and no matter whether Zhang Han won or was defeated, he would eventually be punished.

The last famous general of the Qin Empire finally lost confidence in the central government. In desperation, Zhang Han sent several letters of surrender in succession, rushed to the enemy's military camp, and demanded a truce between the two sides.

Xiang Yu's confidence soared, and not only did he not accept Zhang Han's surrender, but instead stepped up the pace of the attack. He did not dare to rest day and night, and led his troops to attack the enemy camp repeatedly. He wants to use the most brutal tactics to annihilate the strongest army of the Qin Empire, he wants to let Zhang Han have no chance to turn over, he wants to prove that his strength is the strongest, and he wants the world to see that this victory is cut down by one soldier and one general. He recalled his most respected uncle, Xiang Liang, who had been defeated and killed by Zhang Han's army. The hatred of the family and the country filled Xiang Yu's heart with anger, and this raging anger rushed towards the Qin army camp.

Until the day when the military rations were about to run out, Xiang Yu was shaken. He decided to put aside his hatred and accept Zhang Han's surrender. However, he made up his mind that he and Zhang Han were incompatible, and if he had the opportunity, he would get rid of him.

But what Xiang Yu didn't expect was that Zhang Han, a brave general known as the god of war by the outside world, actually cried the moment he saw him, and he cried heartbreakingly. I thought that Zhang Han was a guy who was iron-clad and not afraid of death, but I didn't expect him to cry like a child. (Zhang Han saw Xiang Yu and wept for Zhao Gao.) "Historical Records - Xiang Yu Benji")

The audience was shocked.

Especially the coach Xiang Yu, when he saw Zhang Han like this, his heart immediately softened, and the previous hatred seemed to be thrown out of the clouds. He even felt Zhang Han's helplessness, the helplessness of having to carry out orders as a general.

In the end, Xiang Yu accepted Zhang Han's surrender and promised to make him King Yong and govern Qin after breaking through Guanzhong.

【Xiang Yu】

As the supreme commander of the Restoration Alliance, Xiang Yu led 600,000 soldiers to advance to the capital Xianyang. And this includes the 200,000 Qin troops who have just surrendered.

The soldiers of the Qin army were a little stunned, and they could not accept this huge change in identity for a while. Originally, they went here as regular soldiers of the imperial court to fight the mobs, but now they are under the command of the mobs. They don't know where the direction of the next war should go, they don't know how they will develop in the future, and they don't even know how their life and death will be, and the current Supreme Commander Xiang Yu has not given clear instructions. On the march, the relationship between the newly surrendered Qin soldiers and the other legions did not seem to be harmonious. The soldiers of the other legions were indignant at these Qin soldiers, remembering that they had bullied and humiliated them, remembering that they had killed many of their relatives and friends, and that they were always looking for an opportunity to take revenge on them, and they wanted to break their bodies into thousands of pieces.

The contradictions are intensifying. Especially when the soldiers of the Qin army knew that the next direction of attack was their hometown, they were terrified. They fear harm to their parents, wives, children, relatives and friends who have settled in their hometowns. Agitation and unease spread among the army, affecting the pace of advance.

Supreme Commander Xiang Yu originally only wanted to attack Xianyang as soon as possible, but now he had to stop thinking about and solving the most important issue at the moment - how to deal with the 200,000 Qin army soldiers.

Of course, Xiang Yu wanted to take the simplest and rude way to completely solve these Qin army soldiers. What he was worried about was that with such a large number of Qin soldiers, if they did not obey orders, it would be difficult to control. Especially when it comes to Guanzhong, if it is not handled properly, they unite with the people in Guanzhong to resist, it will be even more unimaginable. Moreover, the military rations of 200,000 soldiers will also be a very heavy burden. Just let them be informed. (The Qin officials are still in the crowd, their hearts are not convinced, and they don't listen to them, and the matter will be dangerous, so it is better to kill them.) "Historical Records - Xiang Yu Benji")

And this cruel practice was approved by the cloth. The cold-blooded Tuo Bu has always killed people without blinking, and other issues are certainly not within the scope of his consideration. Soon, this cruel military order was issued, and it was carried out by the general Dubu and his troops.

This night was the most terrifying night in the history of the Qin army. They were killed in their sleep. No one knows how much time it took them to figure it out. But what is certain is that they killed people not only numbly, but also numb. His eyes were already full of bloodshots, and he ordered these Qin army soldiers to be buried in the small county town of Xin'an. (So the Chu army attacked Qin at night, and more than 200,000 people were killed in the south of Xin'an City.) "Historical Records - Xiang Yu Benji")

This scene is familiar. Back then, the Qin army invaded Changping, the capital of Zhao, and more than 400,000 Zhao soldiers who had surrendered were killed by the Qin army. And now, also in Zhaodi, more than 200,000 Qin soldiers who have surrendered have been killed, and history seems to be repeating itself.

Xin'an was a pawn, Xiang Yu completely solved the problem in front of him, and he thought that he could advance to the capital Xianyang without hesitation in the future. However, what he didn't expect was that this brutal and inhumane measure also planted the seeds of hatred among the people of the Qin State, and millions of soldiers and civilians of the Qin State would always be inseparable from Xiang Yu.

Of course, Xiang Yu hadn't thought about these problems, and he wouldn't have expected them. He didn't have much affection for the soldiers and people of the Qin State in the first place, and he didn't need to win their favor.

He only wanted to destroy the Qin Empire with the simplest and most brutal methods, and other issues were not within the scope of his consideration.

He only understands military affairs, not politics.