In the dead of night, Xiang Zhuang was sleepy and was pacing back and forth in the big tent.

At this moment, Xiang Zhuang deeply felt the trouble caused by the inconvenience of communication, Bi Shu's 200,000 army was fighting a life-and-death battle with Han Xin and Yingbu's 250,000 allied forces in Huainan, but he couldn't get any news from his side, even if it was Ebony Cliff, he couldn't pass the news of Huainan in time.

Sometimes, Xiang Zhuang couldn't help but think, how good it would be if there was a telegram?

However, Xiang Zhuang just thinks about it, with the level of science and technology in this era, it is simply impossible to make a telegram, and it may be possible to make gunpowder, but Xiang Zhuang's chemistry is really not read well, he has long forgotten what the specific ingredients of gunpowder are, and as for the formula, it is even more unclear.

The clanging sound of swords could be faintly heard outside the tent, and Xiang Zhuang was a little irritable.

You don't need to go out of the account to see it, Xiang Zhuang knows that it must be Xiang Zhi's rabbit cub who is pestering Hu Yan to learn, Xiang Zhi's kid is almost a martial idiot, except for the pursuit of higher martial arts in his mind, there is no other thought, this is good, at least it will not pose a threat to the throne, and it will not be cannibalistic with Xiang Zheng.

After pacing for a long time, Xiang Zhuang stood in front of the screen to the north again, looking at the map in a daze.

The situation in the Huainan battlefield is still unclear, but in the Nanyang battlefield, the Chu army has actually lost the upper hand.

Since the last war suffered a loss, Liu Bang sent a large number of scout rangers to strengthen the control of the area near the battlefield within a radius of 100 miles, since then, the Chu army rangers and the Han army rangers broke out hundreds of strangulations, and the Chu army has not taken advantage of anything. It wasn't until the arrival of the Warrior Cavalry that the situation changed slightly.

Ultimately. Jiangdong is still not suitable for the development of cavalry.

This has nothing to do with the strength of the country, the determination and courage of the king, and is completely determined by the environment.

First of all. Koto does not have large pastures. Raising horses is difficult. 100,000 military horses is already the limit! Although Guanzhong also does not have a large area of grassland, there are large areas of grassland in Longxi, Hexi, and Jiuyuan adjacent to Guanzhong, and the nomadic Hu people around it have a good relationship with the Han State, and the Han army almost has an inexhaustible supply of military horses.

Secondly, the barbarians around the state of Chu did not have cavalry. It was difficult for the cavalry of the Chu army to find opportunities to train their troops, but the Han state was adjacent to the powerful Xiongnu, and the cavalry of the Han army almost grew up in the bloody battle with the Xiongnu.

In the beginning. The cavalry of the Chu army was also able to suppress the cavalry of the Han army with the improved Mongolian horses and the sharp ring-headed sword, so they had the upper hand in the strangulation of the rangers. However, as time passed, after the Han army gradually adapted to the advantages of the Chu army, it soon found effective countertactics, and the Chu army rangers gradually fell into disadvantage.

The more than 60,000 cavalry of the Chu State were able to steadily overwhelm the cavalry of the Han army.

The Xiao cavalry army has the old foundation of the Great Qin iron cavalry, and the combat effectiveness is still very strong, coupled with the introduction of Arab horses by Xiang Zhuang and the improvement of Mongolian horse breeds, it is even more powerful for the Xiao cavalry, especially the two thousand heavy cavalry in the Xiao cavalry army, whether it is impact power, combat experience or training, it is obviously better than the heavy cavalry of the Han army.

However, no matter how powerful the Xiao cavalry is, there are only 20,000 cavalry, and at a certain time, 20,000 Xiao cavalry may be able to decide the outcome of a major battle, but in the vast majority of the time, the Xiao cavalry can only be exhausted in the face of hundreds of thousands of Han cavalry plus Hu cavalry.

Moreover, the inferiority of the cavalry was only one aspect.

According to the intelligence of Ebony Cliff, the Han army is building a large number of counterweight catapults in the battalion!

The counterweight catapult is the first invention of the Xiangzhuang guide bus truck, compared with the lever catapult, the structure is slightly more complex, but the range and lethality are much larger! However, there are advantages and disadvantages to everything, and soon after the Chu army was equipped with a counterweight catapult, the rest of the countries also copied the same counterweight catapult. ..., in the final analysis, the principle and structure of the counterweight catapult are not complicated, and a slightly experienced carpenter can basically imitate it with just a glance.

The two armies of Chu and Han are facing each other in the field, and the Han army does not need to attack the city, so why did Liu Bang build a large number of catapults?

Obviously, Liu Bang has been instructed by a master, this master is either Zhang Liang, Chen Ping or Bai Mo, this batch of catapults must be used to deal with the Chu army's crossbows, the crossbows are amazingly lethal, but extremely heavy, and they also need to be fixed with a special iron drill before launching, and it is indeed difficult to survive the large-scale attack of the catapults.

This brought great trouble to the Chu army, once the deterrence of the repeater crossbow was lost, Xiang Zhuang could not imagine, when the Han army heavy cavalry launched a charge from the front, how could the Chu army resist? Trench? Abatis? None of this is a good idea! Do you want the two thousand heavy cavalry of the Xiao cavalry to make a charge? The effect may not be good, not to mention, Xiang Zhuang is reluctant.

Unless the Han army's catapults can be killed, this problem will not be solved.

But the Han army's catapults must be hiding in the rear, and how easy is it to kill them without the cavalry dominating?

Xiang Zhuang was thinking hard for a while, and Qu Bucai's thin figure suddenly walked out of the shadow in the corner of the big tent, bowed to Xiang Zhuang, and then said: "King, Ziling is urgent!" ”

Xiang Zhuang casually took the secret letter in Qu Bucai's hand, and hurriedly read it, but his face changed in an instant.

Qu Bucai suddenly chuckled in his heart, he hadn't read this letter yet, could it be that the situation in Huainan had changed? When Qu Bucai was in shock, Xiang Zhuang Huo Ran turned his head and shouted: "Huyan! ”

In the sound of hurried footsteps, Hu Yan had already lifted the curtain and entered, followed by Xiang Zhi.

As soon as he entered the tent, Hu Yan waved his hand at Xiang Zhuang and said proudly: "What does the king command?" ”

Xiang Zhuang flicked his sleeves and then held his belt, and said loudly: "Quick, go and invite the military advisor to the widow!" ”

"Whoa!" Hu Yan suddenly responded and took the order, but Xiang Zhi came up and asked, "Father, what's wrong?" ”

"The Huainan War has come to an end." Xiang Zhuang patted the back of Xiang Zhi's head, reached out to dust the grass clippings off his shoulder, suppressed his excitement and said, "Han Xin and Yingbu were defeated, and our army won a complete victory, hahaha." ”

Xiang Zhi didn't react much, he only thought about the move he had just lost to Hu Yan.

After a while, Bai Lixian hurriedly entered the big tent, and as soon as he entered the tent, he asked, "King, have you won the Huainan War?" ”

"Ziliang, you're right." Xiang Zhuang stretched out his hand to stop Baili Xian from saluting, and then pulled him to the north screen, pointed to the map and said, "Huainan big victory, if nothing else, Bi Shu should be on the way to come, your trick must have been given to Jin Xiang, is it now possible to pass the book to Gao Chu Feigeon?" ”

Baili Xian said: "Since the Huainan War has been won, it is indeed time for the Bashu side to send troops." ”

Xiang Zhuang immediately took out another secret bag from his arms, untied it, and took out a secret letter from it and handed it to Qu Bucai, and solemnly advised: "Old Qu, immediately send this secret letter to Gao Chu's hands, the sooner the better!" ”

"Whoa!" Qu Bucai took the secret letter, turned around and disappeared into the shadows in the corner of the big tent.

Xiang Zhuang pulled Bai Lixian to sit down, and then instructed Hu Yan: "Hu Yan, immediately gather the generals, and then arrange for people to roast a few whole sheep, and the widow wants to drink with the generals, hahaha......" The Huainan War has already had a result, and Xiang Zhuang's heart has been put down half, and now, just wait for Bishu to arrive.

Bai Lixian frowned, and persuaded in a low voice: "King, you have to be careful that the Han army dog jumps off the wall in a hurry." ”

"Huh? Even a worm will turn? Xiang Zhuang was shocked when he heard this, he was too excited just now, which will make Baili Xian remind him, and he immediately realized that as soon as Han Xin and Yingbu were defeated, Liu Bang's foreign aid would not exist, and Chu Jun's foreign aid would probably appear, and after the news spread, Yan Zhao Han would definitely be moved! ..., in this case, if Liu Bang doesn't want to be restrained, then he can only start first!

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The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and Liu Bang can't sleep at night, so he is inspecting the baggage camp accompanied by Zhang Liang.

Although it was late at night, the camp was still brightly lit and full of people, thousands of craftsmen were sweating and building catapults overnight, and hundreds of catapult towers had been erected in the open space not far away, all of which had already been built.

"Ziliang." Liu Bang asked Zhang Liangdao as he walked, "You said that these catapults can really destroy the crossbows of the Chu army?" ”

"Absolutely." Zhang Liang replied firmly, "The crossbows of the Chu army are bulky and difficult to move, and they need to be fixed when they are fired, as long as hundreds of catapults are concentrated for continuous bombardment, they will definitely be able to destroy the crossbows of the Chu army." ”

"I hope so." Liu Bang shook his head and sighed lightly, obviously Liu Bang was still a little skeptical about this.

As he walked, Liu Bang suddenly stopped and asked in a quiet voice, "Ziliang, do you think Han Xin can win Bishu?" ”。

Zhang Liang said with a smile: "Han Xin is familiar with the art of war, and has experienced a hundred battles, although Bi Shu is a native of Guigumen, but compared with Han Xin, it is still a little tender, not to mention that the Qihuai coalition army still occupies the advantage of troops, the battle of Huainan, the minister thought that the Chu army would be defeated!" Zhang Liang has been with Han Xin's colleagues for many years, and he still has a lot of confidence in Han Xin.

However, this is just Zhang Liang's good wish after all.

Soon, Zhang Liang's assertion was ruthlessly shattered by the cruel reality!

Almost as soon as Zhang Liang's voice landed, Chen Ping's figure hurriedly appeared in Liu Bang and Zhang Liang's field of vision, seeing that Chen Ping's face showed a rare look of panic, Liu Bang and Zhang Liang suddenly sighed in their hearts, and their hearts were broken, most of the Huainan war had a result, and I am afraid it was a bad result.

Sure enough, Chen Ping walked up to Liu Bang, hurriedly waved it, and said, "King, woe is wrong!" ”

After that, Chen Ping took a breath again, and then continued: "I just received a flying pigeon from Pengcheng, the Qi-Huai coalition army fought a decisive battle with the Chu army three days ago, but was defeated by the Chu army, Han Xin, the king of Qi, has been killed in battle, and Yingbu, the king of Huainan, has been defeated and left Xiangxian County, and the general trend of Huainan and Qi has gone......" (to be continued) ......,