——After the Lingcheng parted, Liu Bang personally led the army back to the border city, because the people of Lingcheng who had gone out of the city with them had no way to go, so Liu Bang also took them with him, preparing to settle them in other cities along the way.

By the end of the day, they had traveled for three days, less than 100 miles.

It was nearly noon, the sun was scorching, and it happened to pass through a forest, so Liu Bang ordered the whole army to rest and make a fire to make food.

After the meal, the whole army rested on the spot for a while, while Liu Bang sat alone on a rock, looking into the distance, and it was difficult to hide a solemnity in his light purple pupils.

"It's been three days...... The journey is less than 100 miles......" Liu Bang sighed softly, at this speed, it would take them thirty days to return to the border city.

"But the war in the border city is tense, and time can't drag on......," Liu Bang sighed secretly, he knew in his heart that taking those old and weak children in the mausoleum city greatly slowed down their marching speed.

But what can be done? They must not leave these people alone...... Liu Bang knows in his heart that the people's will is their most important strength, which must not be lost.

Therefore, he insisted on moving forward with a group of more than 100,000 old and weak children, and no one was left behind.

"I can only wait until I get to Hegu City, place the people there, and then march quickly......" Liu Bang comforted himself in his heart, but there is still a hundred miles of travel to Hegu City this way.

"Alas......" Liu Bang couldn't help but let out a long sigh, feeling that the road was difficult in his heart, and thinking about whether Xiang Yu and their side would be smooth.

At this moment, a sneaky figure came quietly, and approached Liu Bang's side from behind while the guards were not paying attention.

"Who?" Liu Bang let out a low sigh and looked back vigilantly.

I saw an old man slowly walking to his side, and when he found out, he immediately bowed down and saluted, and shouted: "The villain is reckless, please forgive the king of Han." ”

"Old man, please get up." Liu Bang looked back, subconsciously got up and helped the old man up, and then asked softly, "Is there anything wrong with you?" ”

The old man raised his head, looked at Liu Bang, and said with a strange expression: "The villain came without authorization, and his behavior was very wrong, but I have something to find the king of Han, and I hope that the king of Han is not strange......"

"It's okay, you can tell me something." Liu Bang said, seeing that the old man was old and wanted to help him sit down, but the old man refused in every way.

"Then I'll be blunt......" The old man paused for a moment, his eyes became serious, "I dare to ask, is the King of Han going to lead the army back to the border city?" ”

“…… Well, yes. Liu Bang hesitated for a moment and replied.

"Is the military in a hurry?" The old man asked again.

“…… Urgent. Liu Bang hesitated again and said.

"Then how is the King of Han going to settle our hundreds of thousands of widows and lonely people?" The old man asked again, "We have only old men and children here, and we have neither money nor power, and it will not do you any good, and if you eat your military rations, it will greatly slow down your march...... You can't take us with you all the time......"

"Old man, you can't say that, after all, you were forced to leave the mausoleum because of our military plans, and we should be responsible for you...... And as you said, these hundreds of thousands of people are old people and children after all, and we can't ignore it......" The old man's words were said to Liu Bang's heart, but Liu Bang still comforted the old man with relief, "So you don't have to worry, we will never leave your ......"

"Alas...... Thanks to the benevolence of the King of Han for the people, it is not always a way to take us away. The old man sighed and said to Liu Bang again.

"I know that everyone is an old man and a child, and we can't suffer from this military journey if we have been following us...... Therefore, I thought that I would take the people with me first, and then place you in the city when we passed through the city of Hegu on the road ahead. Then let's speed up the march, so that it will be good for both the army and the people. ”

Liu Bang's light purple pupils flickered faintly, and between the words, he kept looking at the old man in front of him, and he did see some clues - the person in front of him had a long beard and an old beard, but his body was erect, his appearance was mediocre, but his eyes were shining. No matter how you look at it, Liu Bang feels that he is not simple.

"Hegu City...... There are still 100 miles away from Hegu City. The old man said worriedly, "Isn't this delaying you for too long?" Why don't you find a city within a few miles to settle the people first? ”

"That's what the old man said. But now Qin Chu has experienced war and chaos, and the situation is bleak, if the people are placed in a city at will, there will definitely be many survival problems, and we will be gone when the time comes, but what should these hundreds of thousands of old and weak people do? Liu Bang sighed lightly and explained, "And Hegu City was a prosperous city in Qin and Chu before, and I think the situation there should be better than other places, at least the problem of food and clothing can be solved, and I can rest assured that the people will be placed there." ”

"King Houde of Han...... The villain admires. The old man sighed with emotion, and actually gave Liu Bang a very standard courtier etiquette.

"The old man has won the award, and as the king for one term, he naturally wants to protect the health of the people of his family and country." Liu Bang looked at the old man's movements, secretly surprised, but calm on the surface, and said with a smile.

"But, King Han, your judgment may be a little wrong...... the old man raised his head, looked into Liu Bang's eyes, and said slowly, "Hegu City is actually not a good place to go. ”

"Oh, what do you mean by that?" Liu Bang wondered.

"The Han King didn't know that although this Hegu City was a prosperous city in the past, its prosperity happened to be based on the high proportion of young people in the city, because there were many young people, so it developed rapidly in all aspects, and the city was full of vitality......

But it is precisely because of this that Hegu City has suffered the most trauma in these years of war. The power of the government expropriated the manpower and resources of the cities. And Hegu City happened to have a large number of young and middle-aged people and rich assets, so it was comprehensively conquered by the Bai Qi army. ”

"At that time, the situation in Hegu City was extremely serious, the city was full of wind and rain, young people ran and died, and the rest were all arrested. Seeing that Hegu City was about to be destroyed, the old people in the city also fled to other cities with their children......"

"So the current Hegu City is almost a dead city, there is not even a little population, and the survival problems in other aspects must be only important." The old man said in a solemn voice, "So the villain thinks that this Hegu City is really not a good place to go." ”

"This is beyond the expectations of this king......" Liu Bang said with a surprised expression.

"It's a waste of the kindness of the King of Han to the people, but there is really no need to go to Hegu City......," the old man said, and then admonished Liu Bang, "But, from our current position, there is a Banyan City three miles to the west, and a Bailuo City to the south four miles ......."

"Although the cities are not big, they are all inhabited and have a certain amount of food reserves...... Especially Bailuo City, the villain heard that it seems that it has not been attacked by Yingzheng and sent troops, and it is now one of the few remaining cities in Qin and Chu. ”

"These are all better places to go, and the road is also close, and it is also a good thing for the Han King to march the army as soon as possible."

"Thank you for the old man's guidance, otherwise Liu Bang would really have to do the wrong thing in vain......" Liu Bang thought about it and felt that what the old man said was very reasonable, so he thanked him.

"King Han is serious, you are dedicated to the people, and the military situation is so urgent, and you are not willing to give up on us...... This makes us very moved, and we should thank King Han. The old man said.

"Then according to your idea, old man, I will immediately arrange to change the route and send the people to Rongcheng first." Liu Bang said. Although he was silent, he had already avoided the better-looking option of White Luo City.

Bailuo City was not breached, and of course Liu Bang, who has a dense intelligence network, knows this. But precisely because it has not been breached, but has been living in this inner country under gunfire, the long-term refusal of the city will isolate people's hearts, and the people in the city will not believe in one person or one thing outside their city now, but only want to do their best to protect the peace of their city.

If Liu Bang led his troops to send the people there, it would definitely be considered an enemy attack, and it was likely to cause unnecessary disputes at that time...... And even if the misunderstanding can really be resolved, it will not be a good thing to let these Lingcheng immigrants migrate into the city, and there may be greater contradictions.

Just imagine, now the entire Qin and Chu are facing the crisis of ruin, more than 120 cities in the country have been destroyed, and tens of millions of people have suffered the disaster of broken families, but Bailuo City has escaped by luck, and the people in the city are still living in good health...... Isn't that fair?

At least people will feel very unfair in their hearts! It's like everyone in the world has died, and their relatives have died at home, but Bai Luocheng has stayed in a corner and escaped a catastrophe.

People do not suffer from poverty, but suffer from inequality - unfairness is the potential cause of huge contradictions between society and people, and it is definitely not a good thing to let these hundreds of thousands of people go to Bailuo City.

"Well......" The old man seemed to be very satisfied with Liu Bang's decision, and then he asked, "The villain dares to ask again, after settling the people, what route does the King of Han plan to take to return to the border city?" ”

The route of the march is a very sensitive issue. So Liu Bang naturally hesitated, but instead he still said to the old man: "I plan to take the main road, the road is open and easy to march." ”

"But as far as I know, although the road is open, the distance is quite long, and I am afraid that it will delay the military situation......" the old man asked worriedly.

"It will indeed have some impact, but there is no way, now the number of troops I lead is as high as 150,000, and it is inconvenient to take shortcuts." Liu Bang said helplessly.

"Actually, it's not impossible...... King Han is willing to listen to the villain's strategy. The old man said.

"Naturally, I would like to listen, old man, please speak." Liu Bang said.

"As far as I know, the army under the command of the King of Han is now composed of 100,000 border city troops and 50,000 enemy rebels...... Why didn't the king of Han march them separately? ”

"Separated? How to divide it? Liu Bang was puzzled, "And the two armies have just been formed together, and the sudden division of the army is not conducive to harmony and stability of the army." ”

"King Han, listen to me, the 100,000 soldiers and horses that originally belonged to the border city have been fighting all year round, with strong reactions, fast speed, and familiar with mountain roads. Divide them into twenty detachments, each led by the general, and march from different remote shortcuts, so that they can rush to the border city in the shortest possible time and at the fastest speed, and suspend the urgency of the border city. ”

"Although the 50,000 rebels who defected from the enemy camp are physically strong, they are all new troops, and they are still inexperienced, so they are suitable for running from the main road in an orderly manner, and then rushing to the border city."

In addition, in order to speed up the adaptation to the different marching conditions of the two armies, all the dry rations in the army's salary could be sent to the border city army, which saved them the inconvenience of cooking and cooking on the rugged mountain roads, and allowed them to march faster. And the accompanying grain army followed the rebel troops along the main road, which was good for both sides. ”

"Sir, you're smart!" After listening to the old man's words, Liu Bang immediately praised in shock.

"Dare to ask who is the master of the gentleman?" Liu Bang asked, although he was in a little hasty, but he really couldn't help it, this old man's remarks one after the other helped him solve the two problems he was most stressed, which was really extraordinary.

"The King of Han is too famous, the old man's name is He Su, a commoner, it turns out that he is just a prison guard in Lingcheng......" the old man said with a smile.

"Overkill! With the wisdom of a gentleman, how can he only be a jailer! Liu Bang sighed for the old man. But the old man just smiled and did not speak.

But in an instant, Liu Bang's gaze changed, and a deep gaze appeared in his light purple pupils.

It's a gaze that can see through it at a glance.

"But the gentleman is heroic and intelligent, why not find another job?" Liu Bang stared into the old man's eyes and said in a deep voice.

Before the words fell, the old man's face changed. Liu Bang's sentence of "heroic and heroic" was inserted deeper in his heart than the sentence "find another high", his expression was a little nervous, his eyes were dark, and he did not dare to face Liu Bang.

The atmosphere suddenly fell a little silent.

Liu Bang stared at the old man for a moment, and then said again: "Since Mr. is willing to help me in danger, why don't you show your true face - is it because you can't trust me Liu Bang?" ”

"No, no, no! The villain didn't dare ......," the man said nervously, and then burst out laughing again.

"It's just that in these years of war in the country, young people, both men and women, have all been captured by the army, and I can't escape without this appearance......"

The man spoke, let out a long breath, and tore off the beard and wrinkles on his face in front of Liu Bang, and in an instant, the whole person took on a new look and appeared in front of Liu Bang as a young man.

"It's not easy to live in troubled times, I'm used to being cautious by nature, I have no malice to deceive the King of Han, and I hope that the King of Han will forgive my sins."

"Then now that you have shown your true face in front of me, can this king think that you trust me?" Liu Bang looked at the man in front of him and said with a smile.

The man could only smile and praised: "I have heard that the Han King is wise and wise, and he is not only a general...... When I saw it today, He Su bowed. ”

"Is your name really He Su?" Liu Bang was tepid and angry, only with a light smile on his face.

"Heh......" The man smiled, looked directly at Liu Bang's light purple pupils, and said, "Definitely." ”

"He Su is my pseudonym, and my real name is Xiao He."