The western suburbs of Deng County, the camp of the Han army.

Although it was already late at night, Liu Bang's big tent was still brightly lit, the Han King Liu Bang was the chief of the high-ranking people, Zhang Liang and Chen Ping were the two major strategists, Zhou Bo and Lu Tai were sitting on the left and right, and the fierce general Liu Wei was standing behind Liu Bang with his sword, and Hou Zhou Guanfu, the champion of the Han Hussar General, was kneeling straight on the ground at this moment.

"Victory, you say, what happened to the defeat of the left wing cavalry?" Zhou Bo was so angry that his old face turned red, and he couldn't help but roar at Zhou Guanfu without waiting for Liu Bang to ask, Zhou Borong had fought more than 100 battles in his life, except for the fact that he had been defeated under Xiang Yu, he had almost never been defeated, but today, Zhou Guanfu had lost all the faces of the Zhou family.

Zhou Guanfu said with annoyance: "Father, the Chu army has a terrible bed crossbow that can be fired continuously!" ”

After a pause, Zhou Guanfu said to Liu Bang with palpitations: "King, at that time, the cavalry of the minister had already tightly bitten the cavalry of the Chu army, and saw that the cavalry of the Chu army was about to be crushed, but at this time, the Chu army sacrificed that terrible bed crossbow, and the huge arrows with thick arms were shot in rows, and we couldn't resist it at all." ”

"You're embarrassed to say it!" Zhou Bo said angrily, "Do you know how many cavalry you have lost?" ”

Zhou Guanfu didn't dare to face Zhou Bo's angry eyes, and said dejectedly: "Let's ride a few thousand more." ”

"Thousands of rides?!" Zhou Bo became more and more angry and said, "Tell you, boy, there are more than 20,000 horsemen, not counting the casualties of the Yueshi people, the Hutu people and the evil people, if they all add up, there are 50,000 horses!" ”

Today's battle. The Han army did suffer heavy losses, and the infantry army plus the cavalry army had exceeded 70,000 horsemen!

The right-wing infantry army was pressed and beaten by the Chu army from the beginning, and after a fierce battle for half a day, it suffered casualties of 20,000 small infantry, which was actually expected by the monarchs and ministers of the Han State, and the infantry of the Chu army was stronger than the Han army in terms of equipment and training. Such a result was not unexpected, and Liu Bang never expected his infantry army to overwhelm the Chu army.

However, the defeat of the left-wing cavalry made Liu Bang and his ministers somewhat unacceptable.

Liu Bang had high hopes for the cavalry on the left flank, and thought that with his absolute superiority in troops, he would inevitably be able to crush the Chu cavalry in one fell swoop with the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves. Then he took a detour to intercept the back of the right wing infantry of the Chu army, so as to help the Han army win today's battle, but the final result was not like this at all.

The result of the fighting of the left-wing cavalry is completely beyond anyone's imagination!

100,000 Han cavalry plus 100,000 Hu cavalry, 200,000 cavalry attacked 50,000 Chu cavalry, and in the end not only failed to win, but was defeated by the Chu army in turn. If it weren't for the 3,000 heavy cavalry that came out of the oblique spur and intercepted the pursuing Chu cavalry, the 200,000 cavalry would probably be finished, and then the infantry on the right flank would also collapse......

As soon as he thought of this, Liu Bang felt a little trembling in his heart, it was so dangerous, he almost planted it today!

"What? Fifty thousand casualties?! Zhou Guanfu Huo Ran raised his head, his face full of disbelief.

Liu Bang suddenly felt a trace of irritability in his heart for no reason, and waved his hand at Zhou Guanfu at the moment.

Zhou Bo saw that Zhou Guanfu was still kneeling there in a daze, and roared angrily: "Why don't you get out of here?" Zhou Guanfu shivered excitedly, and then got up and walked out of the big tent.

Wait for Zhou Guanfu to leave. Chen Pingcai sighed and said, "King, it seems that the situation is true. ”

Before Zhou Guanfu, Liu Bang had interrogated several defeated generals of the Han army and Hu Xiaowang in a row, and their statements were basically the same as Zhou Guanfu's, all saying that the Chu army used a terrible continuous bed crossbow, and the Han army and the Hu cavalry were caught off guard before suffering heavy losses, and the casualties of the left wing cavalry were six or seven out of ten under this kind of crossbow.

When I think of this bed crossbow that can shoot continuously. Liu Bang felt like he was on pins and needles. ..., at that moment, Liu Bang stood up, and paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back, and said with a depressed expression after a while: "Xiangzhuang Xiao'er, is it really heaven's help?" First he had drummed up the heavy cavalry, and now he was able to fire a bed crossbow continuously, why did these good things fall on his head? How is it that the widow does not have such luck? ”

Zhang Liang and Chen Ping hurriedly stepped forward and pulled Liu Bang's sleeves. Motioned for him to speak carefully.

Zhou Bo and Lu Tai also looked at each other, if this word spread, it would greatly hit the morale of the Han army, and even the King of Han admitted that Xiang Zhuang was the destiny of heaven and luck, and the Chu and Han wars must continue?

Liu Bang realized his gaffe at this time, and said with some embarrassment: "Cough, that's what the widow said." ”

Chen Ping hurriedly followed Liu Bang's tone and said: "King, the bed crossbow is just a kind of ordnance, but it has nothing to do with the mandate of heaven and luck. ”

"Imitation?" Liu Bang frowned, and said, "Can you tie that big man to Guanzhong?" ”

"The minister has already sent a message to Ziling Feige, and asked the shadow guard to find a way." After saying this, Chen Ping said again, "However, even if the shadow guard can tie up the bus to Guanzhong, I am afraid that it will be too late to build the armory workshop in a short period of time, so we have to find another way to crack the Chu army's continuous shooting bed crossbow in this battle." ”

"That's right." Liu Bang nodded, and looked around at everyone again, "Do you Aiqing have a good plan?" ”

Lu Tai had obviously been thinking about this problem for a long time, and replied without thinking: "King, although the Chu army's continuous bed crossbow is sharp, it has a fatal shortcoming, that is, it is large and bulky, and it is extremely inconvenient to move, so as long as the Chu army is not given the opportunity to calmly set up the formation, this kind of continuous bed crossbow will not play any role. ”

"Don't give the Chu army a chance to calmly set up the formation?" Zhou Bo shook his head and said disapprerovingly, "It's not easy to talk about!" ”

After saying this, Zhou Bo said again: "The old minister thinks that it is better to cut down more giant trees, and order the sergeants to step up to build heavy oars and shields, although the Chu army's continuous bed crossbow is extremely sharp, but it is also categorically impossible to shoot through the heavy oars and shields more than half a foot thick, so our army is placed in front of the army with heavy oars and shields, thinking that it is a barrier, but it is not afraid of the Chu army's crossbows." ”

Liu Bang's gaze finally fell on Zhang Liang and asked, "Ovary, what do you say?" ”

Zhang Liang said: "The king, the minister thinks that what the general and the captain said are reasonable, what the general said is offensive tactics, and what the captain said is defensive tactics, which are all feasible and good strategies, but the minister still has a countermeasure here, that is, to stick to the camp and avoid fighting, so that the crossbow of the Chu army will be useless." ”

Liu Bang said: "Does the ovary mean stick to the camp and wait and see what happens? ”

Zhang Liang nodded and said: "Yes, my king doesn't have to rush to attack, just wait for Huainan or Shuxi to change, Xiangzhuang's army will naturally retreat, and as soon as its soldiers retreat, the crossbow will become a burden. Zhang Liang's implication is that there should be no more positional warfare with the Chu army, and if the positional battle is fought, the Han army will definitely be defeated.

Liu Bang bowed his head slightly, and then frowned again: "However, Han Xin has not been able to succeed in the Huainan battlefield for a long time, and the Qiang in Shuxi has never moved. ”

Zhang Liang was silent for a moment, then sighed and said, "If things don't work out, you should retreat to Guanzhong." ”

Liu Bang's face changed slightly when he heard this, and after a long time, he said a little lonely: "Do you retreat to Guanzhong?" ”

Seeing Liu Bang's somewhat disheartened appearance, Zhang Liang couldn't bear it, and persuaded again: "King, the king of Qi has no one to reach, Bi Shu is definitely not an opponent, Shuxi Qiang is brave and good at fighting, Pang Yu's soldiers are mostly outnumbered and can't resist, our army only needs to stay up for half a month, when it can usher in the opportunity to counterattack, the general trend of the world is tied to this battle, and my king should rise up." ”…,

Liu Bang woke up in horror and said in a deep voice: "Don't worry about the ovary, you will never give up until the last moment!" Even if Huainan and Shuxi fail in major events, the widow can also retreat into the Guanzhong to hold on, but Xiang Zhuang Xiaoer wants to enter the Guanzhong but is delusional. Speaking of this, Liu Bang said again, "What's more, the widow firmly believes that Huainan and Shuxi will have good news." ”

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The fine work sent by Pang Yu to the Jinchuan River Valley has returned to Mengshan and brought back extremely important information.

"Three days later, is it the Sacred Tree Festival of the Burning Dang Tribe?" Pang Yu looked at the flickering lights on the many lamps, and said, "What is the Sacred Tree Festival?" ”

He replied: "General Hui, the Sacred Tree Festival is the grandest program of the Qiangqi tribes, once a year, very grand, just like our Spring Festival, when the various tribes will be lit in the sacred forest used to worship, all the clansmen will sing and dance around the bonfire, while enjoying wine and meat, unmarried little ladies and children will also come out at this time to choose a mate." ”

"I see." Pang Yu was silent, this was a good opportunity to wipe out the Burning Tribe.

After thinking about it, Pang Yu said again: "What about the other three large tribes in the Jinchuan River Valley, why is their Divine Tree Festival not on the same day as the Sacred Tree Festival of the Yaodang tribe?" ”

He hurriedly said: "The general doesn't know, these barbarians are different from our Central Plains people, and the sacred tree festivals of the various tribes in Qiang are all designated by the elders of their own clans at will, and they are not fixed. Xi Zuo suddenly remembered one more thing, and then said, "By the way, this time, the youngest daughter of the king, Moon Shadow Sha, will compete in martial arts to choose a mate." ”

"Martial arts matching?" Pang Yu frowned, "What do you mean?" ”

He replied with a smile: "General, the Qiang tribe is still martial, and many young ladies not only look at each other when choosing a mate, but also generally test the riding and martial arts of the younger guys, but this time the Moon Shadow Sand's competition mate selection situation is a little different, it is said that the king of Burning Dang wants to recruit a son-in-law with outstanding riding and archery martial arts skills to take over his throne." ”

Pang Yu said: "Doesn't this burning king have a son?" ”

"Yes, there are more than a dozen, but they are all rubbish. ”

Pang Yu said: "Such a good opportunity, the other three tribes shouldn't let it go, right?" ”

Hosaku nodded and replied, "There is no exact news, but I have heard a lot of rumors, and it is said that the King of Wuge, the King of the Sword and the King of Wuliu will all send their most powerful sons to participate in this competition." ”

"Good!" Pang Yu tapped lightly and said in a deep voice, "This is an opportunity!" ”