When Xiang Liang received the news that Xiang Yu had discovered the Qin army on the south bank of the Huai River from Shouchun, Xiang Liang's army had just walked to Dongcheng and was having a good conversation with Fan Zeng.

Fan Zeng, a native of Juchao County, Jiujiang County, Daqin (now Yafu Township, Chaohu City, Anhui Province). In history, he was called "Ya Father" by Xiang Yuzun, the overlord of Chu. Chen Ping used a discord trick to make Xiang Yu suspicious of Fan Zeng, and finally Fan Zeng died on the way home.

As Xiang Yu's most important strategist at the time, Fan Zeng's death officially represented Liu Bang's removal of the last obstacle that threatened him by Xiang Yu's side. It also indicates the demise of the overlord of Chu.

Juchao County is between Poyang and Six Counties, west of Liyang County. And the reason why Fan Zeng ran to Dongcheng east of Liyang is the credit of Yingbu.

Yingbu himself was born as a bandit, and the untrained army of more than 100,000 Baiyue barbarians under his command had no military discipline at all. And Yingbu, who was leading the troops, was not restrained by Wu Rui.

Therefore, wherever the British army passed, not to mention that there were no men and beasts, at least the things of burning, killing and looting the people happened from time to time.

And Yingbu has always turned a blind eye to these things, and even robbed a number of rich women as concubines for Yinle. The reason why the Yingbu army traveled for six days from Liyang to Lu'an in a short distance of more than 100 miles was precisely because of the delayed march of looting.

When Yingbu's army passed by Juchao, Fan Zeng originally wanted to take refuge in Yingbu, but Yingbu's burning, killing and looting suddenly made Fan Zeng desperate, an army with no military discipline at all, even if it was a million people, was also vulnerable.

What's more, Yingbu raised troops from Jiujiang, Jiujiang and other places can be regarded as the foundation of Yingbu, and the burning and looting of the Yingbu army is completely conscious in Fan Zeng's view.

Because Yingbu came from the south to prepare to go north to Shouchun, Fan Zeng could only follow the fleeing people all the way east to Dongcheng County. Fan Zeng had just arrived in Dongcheng, and Xiang Liang's army arrived in Dongcheng County.

Jiujiang and Huiji are originally Chu land, plus Xiang Liang's army is basically Chu people, and the army of the Xiang clan is famous for its strictness in military discipline, so although Xiang Liang's army has only been trained for less than seven days, the army has always been in the autumn without committing any crimes all the way north.

Fan Zeng looked at Xiang Liang's army entering the city, and immediately decided that this was the Ming Lord he wanted to assist, not to mention that the Xiang clan had always been praised by the people in terms of reputation in Chu.

Fan Zeng, who was recommended by Mao Sui, and Xiang Liang met late, and talked all night, until Xiang Liang's personal guard reported that Xiang Yu's personal guard had an urgent military intelligence delivery, and the two of them were still unsatisfied, looked at each other, and laughed.

After reading Xiang Yu's letter, Xiang Liang's face suddenly became solemn, and then without the slightest hesitation, he handed the letter to Fan Zeng and said, "Sir, please take a look!" ”

Fan Zeng is not a hypocritical person, although he has never dealt with Xiang Liang before, and he has only known each other for less than a day, but I don't know why the two seem to have known each other for a long time. Maybe that's what the saying goes.

After taking the bamboo slip with military information handed over by Xiang Liang, Fan Zeng opened it and looked at it carefully.

Since Xiang Yu did not find Yingbu's more than 100,000 troops, he only found information about the Qin army on the north bank in the military information he sent, and he still didn't know how many soldiers there were and who the main general was.

"The general doesn't have to worry, I learned from the letter of the major general that the Qin army on the north bank did not find the soldiers and horses of the major general, and the general can order the major general to investigate the reality of the Qin army on the north bank before making a decision." Fan Zeng grasped the point in the blink of an eye and said.

"What the gentleman said is very true!" Xiang Liang nodded, and then ordered loudly: "Order the young general, be sure to find out the truth of the Qin army, and report it immediately!" The army is encamped on the spot! ”

Xiang Liang camped and did not move forward, there was another reason, he was waiting for news from Poyang.

On 24 April, it was said that the two groups of people who rushed out of Wu County went straight to Poyang and Wu Rui. And from Fan Zeng's mouth, he also learned the news of the more than 100,000 troops of Yingbu that was not mentioned in Xiang Yujun's newspaper.

Judging from the marching speed of the Yingbu army, Wu Rui had already gone north when he raised his army, otherwise he would not have advanced to the area of Liuxian so quickly. Fortunately, since Xiang Yu's military report did not mention the Yingbu army, it means that Yingbu has not captured Shouchun. This made Xiang Liang breathe a sigh of relief.

In fact, Xiang Liang's original plan was not really to support Xiong Xin, the son of King Chu Huai.

If he really wants to re-establish Xiong Xin as the king of Chu, then it is also not impossible for Wu County, which is the county of Huiji, to be the capital of the new Chu State. The reason why he wanted to tell Zhaotong to rebuild the Chu State after taking Shouchun was that the real purpose was to wipe out the three clans of Zhaoqu and Jing.

Shouchun is hundreds of miles away from Jiangdong, and once the state of Chu is to be rebuilt, then Zhaotong, Qu Ping, and Jing Gong will inevitably leave Jiangdong and follow Xiong Xin to Shouchun. Originally, Xiang Liang's plan was to kill these people as soon as they arrived in Shouchun, and then take the opportunity to annex the three clans.

But yesterday, after a long night with Fan Zeng, in the end, Xiang Liang changed his original plan and adopted Fan Zeng's suggestion to support Xiong Xin, the heir of the king of Chu, as the new king of Chu.

Fan Zeng's method of persuading Xiang Liang is very simple, now that the remnants of the Six Kingdoms are together, if Xiang Liang kills the heir of the Prince of Chu at this time, he will not only lose the hearts of the people of Chu in an instant, but more importantly, the remnants of the Six Kingdoms will inevitably regard the Xiang clan as a threat.

Now that Great Qin has not yet been destroyed, Xiang Liang is tantamount to digging a dead end for himself by doing so. However, if Xiang Liang first supported the heir of the king of Chu as the king of Chu, took the initiative in the destruction of Qin, and waited for the general trend of the world to be decided, and then replaced him with the heart of the bear, it would be logical.

Hearing Fan Zeng's analysis, Xiang Liang couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, and decisively gave up the idea of killing Xiong Xin and the Zhaoqu Jing clan.

Xiang Liang didn't tell Fan Zeng his original plan, but Fan Zeng guessed Xiang Liang's thoughts from Xiang Liang's various arrangements. This is also an important reason why Xiang Liang was so convinced of Fan Zeng in just one night.

Late at night!

A small crescent moon hung in the air, sprinkling a little bit of obscure light.

On the north bank of the Huai River, in the mountains and forests more than ten miles away from Wang Li's army, a group of more than ten black-clothed people were rapidly shuttling through the forest, and the direction of progress was exactly where Wang Li's army camped.

Across the dense tall trees, on the other side less than three miles away from this line of black-clothed people, more than 20 sturdy men with loose hair, only trousers on their lower bodies, and their upper bodies showing explosive dark muscles were also swiftly shuttling in the direction of Wang Li's army.

The dim moonlight shone through the dense foliage, and the hideous tattoos on the dark skin could be faintly seen.

These more than 20 big men were divided into two waves, more than 100 steps apart, and marched in a straight line.

Neither side knew the existence of the other, and they were cautious and agile in the dense woods, but it was obvious that the twenty or so shirtless swarthy men were much more agile than the dozen or so people in black on the other side.

Walking in the dense forest, he was extremely agile, landing silently, and his speed was much more agile than the more than ten men in black.

"Buzz!"

The chill is shining! More than a dozen small black crossbow arrows suddenly flew out from among the dense branches and leaves, heading straight for more than a dozen bare-chested men who were agile and shuttling below. The shiny arrows of the crossbow arrows emitted a cold light.

Hearing this humming sound, the face of the bare-chested man who was shuttling through the forest below suddenly changed greatly. It was too late to react, and more than ten points of bright cold light rapidly expanded in their pupils, and then they had already penetrated into their bodies.

"Ahh

"Plop puff!"

Blood splashed everywhere, and a terrible scream suddenly sounded from the quiet dense forest, startling a large number of birds and finches inhabiting the dense forest, flapping their wings and hovering in panic over the dense forest.

More than a dozen elite men fell under the sudden attack of this rain of arrows, and the remaining six or seven people were all behind, and they did not enjoy the light kiss of the crossbow arrows.

As the crossbow bolts tore through the skin of the elite men below and drilled into their bodies, more than a dozen black shadows slid down from the tall trees, holding short swords and silently pounced towards the remaining six or seven big men.

Those more than ten black shadows were the Qin Army scouts in black armor!

The remaining six or seven elite men were extremely fierce, and they didn't care about the accomplices who were already lying on the ground, and when they saw the attackers appear, they roared angrily and greeted the more than ten Qin army scouts who were rushing over.

A sudden scream broke the silence of the forest.

More than a dozen black-clothed people three miles away saw the startled birds in the distance and quietly touched them.

More than a dozen elite men who were a hundred steps behind the dozen or so elite men who were attacked and who were also wearing their upper bodies heard the screams in front of them, and immediately scattered in all directions, and surrounded the place where they were fighting in front of them.

The battle between more than a dozen Qin army scouts and six or seven elite men had already been divided into results in just a few breaths.

The six or seven elite men who rushed over in the face of more than a dozen black shadows that slipped from the trees were extremely brave, and they were completely fighting for their lives. Four of the dozen Qin scouts fell in a matter of moments of fighting, and the elite men were all killed.

The pungent smell of blood filled the forest.

The remaining eight Qin army scouts checked the more than ten elite strong men who fell to the ground one by one and made up for the dead ones, and then carried the four Qin army scouts who died in groups of two and prepared to retreat to the depths of the dense forest, without noticing another wave of more than ten elite strong men who had surrounded them from behind.

"Whoosh" More than a dozen slight sounds of breaking the air suddenly sounded.

"Beware!"

One of the scouts in front shouted at the sound of the air breaking. Before he finished speaking, a copper needle that had been inhaled into cow hair was inserted in his face. He reached out and pulled out the copper needle inserted in his face, and was just about to draw his sword and step forward, when his body fell to the ground with a convulsion.

If there is light at this time, then you will find that in the place where the Qin army scout was shot by a copper needle, a touch of black is spreading rapidly.

"There's... Poisonous! ”

The Qin army scout who fell to the ground struggled to say two words, and a large mouthful of fishy black blood continued to vomit out of his mouth with his words, and then there was a trickle of black blood flowing down his eyes, ears and nose, and his originally convulsive body gradually stiffened.

In just a few breaths, this Qin army scout had been poisoned and died.

(To be continued)