Li Zuoche rushed to Han Xin's big tent as soon as he received the edict.

After listening to Li Zuoche's report, Han Xin frowned and said in disbelief: "Fan Xu was defeated by the Chu army? ”

Han Xin is similar to Liu Bang, at first hearing it, he refused to believe that Fan Xu would be defeated by a defeated Chu army, no matter what, Fan Xu is also a veteran of a hundred battles, and that Chu army is just a rout, how can a rabble be the opponent of the three thousand elite soldiers led by Fan Xu?

However, the fact is that Fan was defeated, and it was a fiasco!

"Yes." Li Zuoche nodded and said, "The last general also thought that it was a disheartened rout, but it turned out that this was not the case at all, after Fan Xu's fight chased him to Shouchun, he underestimated the enemy, and as a result, he fell into the trap carefully arranged by others, and most of the three thousand elite soldiers were killed, and finally fled to Quyang with less than three hundred remnants. ”

"Shouchun!?" Han Xin changed slightly, "The Chu army actually fled to Shouchun?" ”

"Hmm." Li Zuoche nodded again and said, "It's really unbelievable to say that the remnants of this Chu army actually marched more than 200 miles in one day, and ran directly from the vicinity of Dongcheng to the vicinity of Shouchun, and what is even more unbelievable is that the remnants of this Chu army actually captured Shouchun, it is said that it didn't take much effort, and I don't know what kind of rice bucket Zhou Yin left to defend the city!" ”

"What, there is such a thing?" Han Xin immediately rolled up and paced back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back.

Han Xin is worthy of being a soldier, his sense of smell in military is unparalleled, he has already sniffed out a trace of danger from the only clues, it seems that the remnants of the Chu army that suddenly emerged from the vicinity of Dongcheng are not simple, running more than 200 miles in one day, although it is surprising but can also be imagined, after all, it is to escape for his life.

However, the next soldier took Shouchun without blood, and designed to break Fan Xu, so he couldn't help but arouse vigilance.

With only a few thousand defeated soldiers who are disheartened and demoralized, they can conquer a fortified city like Shouchun, and they can also break through the 3,000 elite soldiers of Fan Xu, which is not something that anyone can do! This not only requires extraordinary leadership ability, but also extraordinary wit and strategy, who is leading the remnants of this Chu army?

How come I have never heard of such a powerful general under Xiang Yu before?

Could it be Long He, or Fan Zeng? No, no, both of them are dead.

Seeing that Han Xin was silent, Li Zuoche took out Liu Bang's edict again and asked: "King, the King of Han has issued an edict, with the last general as the main general, with Jin She and Fan Xu as the deputy generals, and a total of 50,000 troops to attack Shouchun, will the last general be edicted or not?" ”

"Since it is the edict of the King of Han, of course it must be obeyed." Han Xin paused, and said, "However, you should take Xiang Yu's head and go, after the army enters Shouchun, and remember not to take the enemy lightly, if the opponent is really difficult and difficult to break in eagerness, then hurry up and ride back, and go to the expedition alone." ”

"No!" Li Zuoche waved respectfully and took the order.

Seeing Li Zuoche's figure disappear, Han Xin's thoughts were still not freed from the question just now, who would be the commander of the remnants of the Chu army?

##########

When Xiang Zhuang strode into the blacksmith shop, Yu Ziqi was forging an object with his own hands.

Seeing Xiang Zhuang, Yu Ziqi hurriedly handed the small hammer in his hand to the soldier next to him, and then stepped forward and waved at Xiang Zhuang for a long time, and said, "General, the object you want will be ready immediately." ”

"There's no hurry." Xiang Zhuang waved his hand and said with a smile, "General Ziqi, you are busy." ”

Yu Ziqi confessed the crime, and took the small hammer from the soldier's hand and hammered it down, the soldier picked up a large hammer weighing dozens of pounds, and under the guidance of the small hammer held by Yu Ziqi, he began to forge hard, under the forging of the two of you, the object on the anvil gradually took shape, and it was a bronze stirrup with a simple shape!

At this time, the Huns may have invented the stirrup, but they certainly did not join the promotion, let alone introduce it to the Central Plains.

The effect of stirrups on cavalry was revolutionary, and before the advent of stirrups, the only role of cavalry was to shoot horses, and it was not possible to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

The so-called riding archery, in fact, is to run to a place on horseback, and then stop to release arrows, and then run to another place, stop again to release arrows, when running on horseback, cavalry can not release arrows, because the war horse at that time is not equipped with stirrups, cavalry must free one hand to grasp the saddle, otherwise it will fall off the horse's back.

Even Xiang Yu, who was born with divine power, could only fight on foot in the melee, because horse combat was too physically demanding.

However, the appearance of the stirrup has changed this situation, the stirrup makes the cavalry and the war horse perfectly integrated, since then the hands of the cavalry have been completely liberated, not only can run while riding a horse while holding the bow and arrows, due to the stable center of gravity, the cavalry can carry out a large number of slashing actions, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry has undergone a qualitative transformation!

The stirrup completely subverted the status of the cavalry, and a small stirrup made the cavalry directly change from an insignificant auxiliary arm to a decisive strategic arm! The Huns, who had been defeated by the Qin Empire, were defeated by the Qin Empire, and because of their revolutionary use of stirrups, they suddenly became the lingering haze of the Han nation!

As a traverser, Xiang Zhuang naturally knew how important the stirrup was to the cavalry.

As early as before the battle of Qixia, Xiang Zhuang had thought of equipping the cavalry of the Chu State with stirrups on a large scale, but unfortunately the battle of Qixia broke out soon, followed by a big defeat, and then fled all the way with the remnants of the defeated army, Xiang Zhuang couldn't spare time to prepare for the stirrup, until after the capture of Shouchun, he finally freed up a little time.

The object can be formed, Yu Zi immediately picked it up with iron tongs and immersed it in water, and after it cooled, wiped off the water stains on the surface of the object with a rag, and then picked up another bronze stirrup that had already been built next to him, made a pair and handed it to Xiang Zhuang and said: "General, I finally live up to my mission, and the last general has been built according to your pattern." ”

Yu Zi period is worthy of being a famous blacksmith in Chu, although the time is short, but he still according to the pattern provided by Xiang Zhuang to create the stirrup is not bad at all, of course, due to the time and time constraints, the manufacturing process is very rough, but in terms of practicality, it will not be much worse than the stirrups that are beautifully shaped in later generations.

Xiang Zhuang happily took the bronze stirrup and strode out of the blacksmith shop.

In the courtyard outside the blacksmith shop, Gao Chu had already brought the black horse, and Jing Qian next to him was holding a saddle, which was also made by Xiang Zhuang to the craftsman, and the front part was much higher than the low bridge saddle of this era, and the low bridge saddle basically had no protective effect on the knight's abdomen, but Xiang Zhuang's custom saddle could perfectly protect the knight's abdomen.

Xiang Zhuang personally put the saddle on the black horse, fastened the bronze stirrup, and then stepped onto the horse.

"Drive!" Xiang Zhuang just urged lightly, and the black horse immediately raised his head and hissed, and then threw off his four hooves and galloped.

Xiang Zhuang believed in the reins, let the black horse gallop forward along the street, all the way out of the west gate of Shouchun, and set foot on the vast wilderness, the wind was fierce, the earth under his feet was like the tide to retreat, the mood was extremely happy, Xiang Zhuang couldn't help but look up to the sky and roared, at this moment, Xiang Zhuang had suppressed the negative emotions for a long time and finally got vented.

In the final analysis, Xiang Zhuang is also flesh and blood, not a steel machine, under the repeated defeats and continuous high and forcible marches, ordinary soldiers will be exhausted and nervous, and Xiang Zhuang will also feel exhausted, not to mention, he has to think more and carry more, if he hadn't been a soldier in his previous life, he was afraid that he would have already had a mental breakdown.

It wasn't until half a day later that Xiang Zhuang rode a black horse back to Shouchun City.

This stirrup is indeed a good thing, if it is used well, it may really become a big killer weapon to turn things around, but unfortunately, there are only a few horses in the Chu army now, so if you want to use stirrups on a large scale and use cavalry on a large scale, you can only think about it, this is just a dream.

It is imperative to think carefully about how to deal with the next wave of the Han army's offensive.

This time, Liu Bang will not come in person, and the one sent will never be a brave and unscrupulous general like Fan Xu, and the number of troops will definitely not be thousands, whether the remnants of the Chu army can block the second wave of the Han army's offensive, Xiang Zhuang really has no bottom in his heart, but this battle must be fought, and if it is not fought, it must be fought, and the remnants of the Chu army have no way to retreat.

##########

Li Zuoche's army of 50,000 had already driven to Quyang County.

Speaking of Li Zuoche, many people in later generations don't know who it is, but when it comes to his grandfather Li Mu, no one knows, no one knows, Li Mu and Bai Qi, Wang Qian, Lian Po and called the four famous generals of the Warring States, its use of cavalry, in the same era can be described as unparalleled, the cavalry of the later generations of Xiang Yu's long-distance running tactics are impressive, that is just Li Mu's fur.

Li Zuoche's military talent may not be as good as Li Mu, but it will not be too far behind, when Han Xin attacked Zhao, if Chen Yu listened to Li Zuoche's advice, then Han Xin would not have won the battle of Jingcheng at all, and the battle between Chu and Han is only afraid that it is a different situation, but it is a pity that history has no ifs, but Li Zuoche's ability can be seen from this.

As soon as the 50,000-strong army set up camp outside the city, Fan Xu tied his hands and entered Li Zuoche's Chinese army tent.

Seeing this, Li Zuoche hurriedly got up and untied Fan Xu, and said with a wry smile: "General Fan, what are you doing here?" ”

Although the king of Han ordered Li Zuoche to be the main general, Jin She and Fan Xu as deputy generals, but Li Zuoche did not dare to really regard Fan Xu as his subordinate general, you need to know that Fan Xu is a henchman of the King of Han, and he is also the brother-in-law of the King of Han, and his status is almost not under the King of Qi, but he Li Zuoche is just a subordinate general under the account of the King of Qi, how dare he hold up in front of Fan Xu?

Fan Hao dodged two steps, not letting Li Zuoche loosen the tie for him, and then said with a ashamed face: "General Li, Lao Fan is really embarrassed to be thrown into his grandmother's house this time, you have to help Lao Fan." ”

Li Zuodao: "Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, why should General Fan care?" ”

"But this time it's different." Fan said hurriedly, "Our Lao Fan has won a lifetime of battles, but he was defeated by a group of rabble and Xiang Zhuang's small subordinates, it is really shameful to say that it is shameful to die, so General Li, Lao Fan implores you to send 5,000 troops, Lao Fan is willing to be the front, swear to recapture Shouchun!" ”

Li Zuoche thought to himself that Fan Xu was also a battlefield general, the previous defeat was because of the light enemy, and now that he has learned a lesson, he will definitely not make the same mistake again, so it is reasonable to give him a chance to atone for his crimes, and nodded at the moment: "Okay, this general will give you 5,000 elite soldiers, as the vanguard of the army, and Keri will win Shouchun!" ”

##########

ps: Thanks to Chu Han Zhengding, zzmhln, high mountain top, innocent little pig pig, maomaomao365, 1314 cordial and cordial, ╆ Nalan Buyi╅, zhouen1972, gloomy smile soul 2010, fate April, thirteen little demons, floating ing, 1202191844, Dongdong of the East and other generous rewards.