Seven years.

With a flick of a finger.

When the Chu army crossed the border line that had been quiet for a long time with a hideous face, and when a blood-red banner appeared on the land of Qin, the real decisive battle of reunification finally arrived.

Although it was three years later than the four-year war between Chu and Han in history, the new Qin under Li Yuan was very different from the early Han who was exhausted because of repeated wars.

After the foundation of the old Qin people in Guanzhong was recovered by the Qin army, with the re-dredging of water conservancy ditches, the use of advanced farming, and the promotion of new varieties of high-yield crops such as wheat, agricultural production has developed rapidly, and it has become a veritable granary of the Qin State.

In the Bashu area, although the cold and damp weather will bring people the torment of illness, the irrigation area of the Dujiangyan water conservancy project is still expanding year by year, and the planting of rice, the area and the yield have also increased year after year in a stable social environment.

As for the rest of the Qin state, after the Huns fled and the internal riots subsided, there were also signs of recovery, including the ancient Zhao, the ancient Yan, and the ancient Chu places in Guanzhong, and the people here gradually began to accept the governance of the Qin state in the face of the comparison of facts.

In comparison, the people under Xiang Chu's rule had a much more difficult life. The fiasco of the Northern Expedition to Yandi, followed by the Jiangdong War with Yingbu, and the overdraft of financial and national strength again and again, made the once rich eastern Chu State fall into a dead knot of repeated entanglement. Xiang Tuo did have the ability to govern the country, but Xiang's narrowness in employing people made the Chu State fall behind in the competition.

Although they are supported by Xiang Yu and Xiang Zhuang's uncles and nephews, Xiang Sheng, Xiang Xiang, Xiang Han and Xiang Bo, these children who are outstanding in the Xiang family's ability, in the general environment of the world, their ability can only be barely regarded as average. In the contest of patience, talent reserves, and comprehensive national strength, Xiang Yu finally couldn't hold his breath.

Handan.

Because of the attack of the Chu army. Caught in the midst of tension and busyness, the former capital of the Zhao State, after being occupied by the Qin State, is reasserting its important position as an important town in Hebei. The mobilization order issued by the county government urgently has requisitioned all the county soldiers and young men from the counties around the county town to the county town.

After a year of recuperation, the people of Zhao Di expected to live a peaceful life in peace, but they didn't want to, and waited for the robbers of Chu again.

It was also difficult for Zhao Xie, the county guard, to get out of the dune county mansion, and listened to the military information sent from all over the county with a panicked expression.

Since ancient times, kings have been defeated.

There are only a handful of failed kings who can start and finish well. After witnessing the death of Shen Yang, Sima Yin, Liu Bang, Wei Bao and other former princes and kings. Zhao Xie became more and more impressed by his decision to surrender to Qin.

Zhao Xie, who is not ambitious, has a comfortable life after the surrender of Qin, the county guard of Qin has a lot of power and a lot of things, however, Zhao Xie also knows what his identity is, if he really works hard to take everything down, I am afraid that the county guard will be just after a few days, only like now. It is the right choice to be a nominal county guard, and to hand over things to the county lieutenants, county officials, and county orders below.

West of the city, sand dunes.

Important officials belonging to Handan County gathered in one place. Discuss measures to deal with the Chu army's attack.

"Chu Man is coming, my county soldiers are weak, why don't you report to Wuhou, please help?" All day long, with the yellow as a companion. Zhao Xie, who dreamed of living peacefully to the end of his life, looked panicked in the face of the attack of the Chu army. Don’t know whether to wind a watch or bark at the moon.

"The county guards and waits for relief, my Handan City is guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, and how can it be captured by more than 10,000 Chu barbarians. Now the top priority is to gather soldiers from all over the county, as well as soldiers and civilians to strengthen the city to resist the invasion of Chu barbarians. County Lieutenant Ji Xin looked cold and resolute, and comforted in a deep voice.

After returning from Yandi, Ji Xin was appointed as the lieutenant of Handan County, a position that was prominent enough locally, and it could be said that he controlled the military liliang of a county, but Ji Xin was not satisfied in his heart.

If he hadn't seen the fierce momentum of the Qin border army, he might have been proud of his ability like everyone else, but after seeing the dripping scenes of the border army fighting against the Huns, Ji Xin longed for himself to become a member of the army of frontier expansion, even if it was a horse leather shroud, he had no regrets.

Ji Xin is a general, the people in the land of Yan and Zhao have always been brave, and the county soldiers and young men of Handan County are not inferior to the Chu army in battle strength under Ji Xin's training. In the face of Chu Ko's attack, these peasants, who had been holding hoes not long ago, climbed the city wall after a little training and became a soldier guarding the county town.

Zhong Li's persuasion was fruitless.

The Chu army then attacked the city with rushing cars and ladders, but the soldiers and civilians of Handan worked together, and Ji Xin was at the age of young and vigorous and high-spirited, which was in stark contrast to the twilight Zhong Lifu, and the long-distance Chu army attacked the city for five days, and it was never possible to break the strong city of Handan.

When the battle of Handan City fell into a stalemate, in the area of Sanchuan County and Hedong County, the main forces of Li Yuan and Xiang Yu around the front line of Xingyang and Tiger Prison were also becoming increasingly fierce.

June 27.

Xiang Yu personally led 3,000 Chu cavalry to escape at night, traveled more than 300 miles in one day and night, captured Chaoge, an important town in the hinterland of Qin, after a burning, killing and looting, this Chu army light cavalry turned to the north, galloping towards the direction of Handan County, and had the situation of encircling the Qin army in Handan with Zhong Li's army.

In the face of the Chu army's crazy counterattack regardless of the back road, Li Yuan's choice of countermeasures was also wide open, and the five thousand Qin troops who came from Hexi from afar were led by Li Zhongxiang and chased behind the Chu cavalry all the way.

One side robbed and killed everywhere, and the other side pursued closely.

In the land of the Central Plains, the two cavalry armies were entangled in one place, as if they were inseparable like sisters, and with the passage of time, coupled with the supply ground far away from their own, the impact momentum of Xiang Yu's cavalry finally began to wilt after lasting for half a month.

July 10th.

In this cavalry chase battle, although Xiang Yu relied on his superb command skills and repeatedly counterattacked, so that the young Li Zhongxiang suffered a lot, but the gap between the two sides in the supply of war horses and cavalry quality still made Xiang Yu defeated.

After the loss of Yan Land, the pastures of the Chu State were only scattered mountains in the south, and although the horses raised in these places could also be used, they were much inferior in size and endurance compared to the high-headed healthy horses from the north.

At the same time, due to the lack of systematic training, the scale of the 3,000 Chu cavalry has reached the limit of support, compared to the Qin State currently has two cavalry corps of tens of thousands in Hexi and Jiuyuan, these athletes from the steppe almost every day gallop on horseback, many of them also have experience in fighting the stronger Huns.

Divide.

It is connected to Yingshui in the south, through the big beam, across the big river, and Pushui and Jishui in the north.

This artificial canal, which was dug in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and supervised by King Wei Hui himself, was an important waterway connecting the north and south during the Warring States and pre-Qin periods.

The retreat of the Chu army to the chasm means that it has given up the initiative to attack, and has moved to defend the Wei land around Daliang and Chenggao, and in the case of attacking the hinterland of the Qin State without gain, it is indeed a safe step for the Chu State to take a step back and keep the fruits of victory.

It's a pity that Xiang Yu's calculation is already difficult to realize.

Li Yuan is by no means a person who only takes beatings and does not fight back, and he has always suppressed Liliang before, which is just a gesture for him to win support for Vachu.

"Chu has no way, is unkind, and Xiang is cruel, only the world will punish him!" When the Chu army reneged on the oath of friendship and friendship a year ago and rushed into Qin, when a document that was looted by the Chu army flew from various counties to Luoyang, and when groups of displaced people cried and told about the destruction of their homes, the anger of the Qin army generals was also at its highest.

In the face of the humiliation of the threat to the righteousness of the family and the country, and the betrayal of trust and loyalty, the soldiers of the Qin army from different places and with different accents held high the banner of the Qin State and sang the war song of "Defend the old Qin, restore our rivers and mountains, never truce to death, never ceased to fight blood", and gathered from all directions. (To be continued......)