Chapter 147: Zhang Han pondered the Fire Ox Array
One evening, the envoys of the Qin State led everyone to escort Li You's coffin to the front of Hangu Pass. But they saw from afar that the door was closed. The envoy stepped forward and said loudly: "Quickly open and close the door, General Li You's coffin is here!" The general came out and replied: "Your Majesty has an edict: the envoys enter the customs, and General Li's coffin cannot enter the customs." The messenger asked why. The general said: "Although Li You sacrificed his life for the country, the matter of collaborating with the enemy has not yet been investigated. The envoy said: "General Li You is loyal and brave, and his death has proved his innocence, and I will explain the situation to Your Majesty when I go to Xianyang!" The general said: "Your Majesty has an edict first, this is to prevent spies from mixing into the Qin State, and the body will be buried in Shangcai, right?" When the envoy heard this, he was speechless.
Li Can and Ying Xiaojun were already grief-stricken, so they said: "Although we are Chu people, our brother has been in the Qin State for a long time, and his loyalty can be seen from the sky!" Now that he has died for his country, should he let his loyal soul wander in the wilderness? The general said: "This is the meaning of the imperial court, please don't embarrass the two virtuous ladies below!" Li Can said angrily: "Donating his body and rejecting his courage, how unreasonable is the Qin State!" Let's go! So he ordered the sergeant to turn his horse's head. Li Can and Ying Xiaojun were full of grief and indignation, escorting Li You's coffin out of Hangu Pass and walking towards Shang Cai. Along the way, there were also people who took pity on Li You's loyalty, not only did not refuse to accept him because he was a general of the Qin State, but also took out good food and drink, lit incense and candles and knelt down on the side of the road to see him off. Li You's loyal spirit and perseverance finally returned to his hometown. A poem lamented:
The wind and rain warm people's hearts, and there is no way to serve the country.
There is no Taoist state affairs too much, and the loyal soul is still fluttering.
The envoy returned to Xianyang and prepared to explain Li You's martyrdom to the second emperor, but Zhao Gao had already sent someone to intercept him to the prime minister's mansion, and then killed him with poison and alcohol. The next day, Zhao Gao came to see the second emperor and said that Li You had committed suicide in fear of crime, and also fabricated a lot of things about Li You's collaboration with the enemy and treason. When the second emperor heard that Li Youguo was really treason and collaborated with the enemy, he was furious, so he convicted Li Si of treason and made him carry the torture instrument forever. Li Si was very sad when he heard that Li You had died in prison, only to know that he had fallen into the trap set by Zhao Gao, and he was extremely sad and indignant, regretting that he should not have conspired with him to establish Hu Hai as the emperor, which was simply a plot with the tiger.
Because Zhang Han was defeated and Li You was dead, the second summoned his ministers and said: "Now that Zhang Han has lost one after another on the battlefield, Li You has also committed suicide in fear of crime, and there is no one on the ground in Sanchuan, which of you wants to guard Middle-earth?" At this time, the ministers of the court were all disheartened by the deaths of Prime Minister Feng and General Feng, so the ministers pretended to be deaf and dumb and did not speak. In the end, it was the old minister Zhao An who stood up and said: "Li You is dead, Zhang Han is defeated again, if Chu Kou advances west at this time, Sanchuan will fall again." Although the minister is old, the son of the minister can lead the army to fight. The old minister asked His Majesty to pardon another group of craftsmen, led by the dog Zhao Ben, and went to Sanchuan to replace Li You. After listening to Zhao An's words, the second said yes and immediately summoned Zhao Ben.
Zhao Ben is in his early Chinese New Year's Eve, with long eyebrows and thin eyes, a square face and thick lips, and looks tall and handsome from a distance, with a burly figure. The second emperor was not happy, so he was immediately named the county guard of Sanchuan, and asked him to go to Afang Palace to pardon the craftsman. Zhao Ben accepted the order. Suddenly, another person stood up in the squad and said: "Your Majesty, Hangu Pass is the gate of the Qin State, if there is a loss, the thieves will drive straight in, and the minister is willing to guard the gate in person." If the thief comes to detain the pass, the minister swears to live and die with the country! When the second saw it, it turned out to be Yang Hui, the old minister of the first emperor, and he was very happy, so he crowned Yang Zhu as the captain of Guan Du and gave him the sword seal.
Zhao Ben accepted the order and came to Afang Palace, and took the pardon order to convey the emperor's edict. In just half a day's work, an army of 150,000 men was reorganized and weapons were issued. Zhao Ben got this army, so he and Yang Wei led them to Hangu Pass again.
Xiang Liang was in Dingtao City, and one day Fan Zengzuojie said that Li You was killed and the Qin army was defeated. Xiang Liang was very happy when he got this news, so he said proudly to the generals: "I got Fan Lao Junshi, why worry about the immortality of the Qin State?" Now that Li You is beheaded, the Qin State must be shaken. If our army drives westward for a long time, Sanchuan will be at your fingertips! He ordered Zhong Liwu and Ji Bu to prepare for the army. Marching Sima Songyi stood up and dissuaded: "Wu Xinjun, don't send troops at this time!" When Fan Lao Junshi was leaving, he repeatedly advised: He said that Zhang Han is very good at using soldiers, and he wants you to be on guard. Now that our army has been stationed here for some time, as soon as the Chu army leaves, Zhang Han will come from behind us. Zhongli and the others also did not agree to send troops at this time. Xiang Liang disagreed, and said: "Zhang Han was defeated repeatedly, fled from Dong'e to Puyang, and was defeated by Xiang Yu. Although he diverted the water to strengthen himself, he also trapped himself in the city. At the moment, he doesn't dare to cross the thunder pond for half a step, as long as the river recedes, I will catch him like a turtle in an urn! The Qin army consumes a lot of food every day, and I calculated carefully that within a month, the food will run out. The Qin army is running out of food, and it will be chaotic without a fight! Song Yi said: "Zhang Han is the enemy of our army, if you want to eliminate him as soon as possible, you should send someone to Qi State and urge Tian Rong to send troops." If Chu and Qi unite, the defeat of Qin will have a safe chance of victory! Zhaoping stood up bravely and said: "The last general is willing to send an envoy to the Qi country, and he is willing to urge Tian Rong to send troops as soon as possible with an incorruptible tongue." Seeing that all the generals agreed with the arrival of the Qi army and then marching westward, Wu Xinjun agreed to everyone's suggestion and sent Zhaoping to envoy Qi.
Zhang Han was trapped in Puyang, and for half a month, the river still did not recede. Because it is the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, it is the rainy season, and the river recedes slightly, but when it rains heavily, the river rises again. Zhang Han was very anxious, and sighed at the head of the city. One day, he went to the council hall of the county government to discuss a plan with the soldiers, but no matter how hard they racked their brains, they couldn't come up with a surprising way to win. When the soldiers of the Qin State saw that they could not get out of the city and were surrounded by water all day long, they complained, and they cursed those who suggested that the river should be diverted into the moat, and said angrily: "They are all cocooned and trapped themselves, it seems that the decision to divert water to flood the enemy was a big mistake and a special mistake!" Now that you can't even see the face of the rebels, how can you still fight? Seeing everyone's anxious looks, Zhang Han did not refute, but said earnestly: "Soldiers, since we came out of the customs, in general, the battle has been good, but why are we trapped here today?" It's because I underestimated the strength of the rebels. Now it seems that it is not possible to fight to the death, and to deal with an enemy like Xiang Liang, you can't use the method of forcible attack! Someone followed Zhang Han's words and asked, "What did the general say?" Zhang Han said: "You should outwit!" The generals said, "It's easy for you to say, but how to outwit it?" In the First Battle of Dong'an, we lost more than half of our chariots and cavalry, and we also lost a lot of cavalry. Moreover, it is hundreds of miles away from Xianyang, and the supply of troops and supplies cannot be replenished. More than 100,000 troops, what will happen once the food is exhausted? We are facing such a precarious situation, I am afraid that the imperial court does not know about it? At that moment, someone suddenly came in and reported: "Report! General Zhang, the southeast corner of the city suddenly collapsed because of the rain. When Zhang Han and the others heard this unexpected news, they were taken aback, and immediately came out to check, only to see that the southeast corner was the lowest, and it really collapsed. The people of the city panicked, and the people began to be in confusion. Zhang Han hurriedly ordered the soldiers to carry the earth to build the city, and personally pacified the people.
One evening, Zhang Han personally selected more than 20 warriors who knew how to water, and said to them: "The city has been besieged by the water for more than half a month, and we don't know anything about the outside world, so it is extremely difficult to get out of the city. I guess that Xiang Yu's army must not be in Puyang, you sneak down to the city in the dark tonight, then swim to the shore, inquire about the situation of the rebels after dawn, and then go to Xianyang to report and ask for reinforcements from the imperial court. "More than two dozen sailors firmly accepted the task. That night, the Qin army in the city dropped them one by one with ropes, and the Qin army swam across the river in the dark.
A few days later, the soldiers of the Qin state returned to report to Zhang Han that Fan Zeng's westward march and Li You had fought and that Li You had died, and that Xiang Liang had celebrated his victory in Dingtao all day and was drunk every night. Zhang Han was stunned when he heard that Li You was dead. He stood up suddenly, stared at the door of the mansion with wide eyes, and was speechless for a long time. The soldiers discussed: "At this time, if Xiang Liang moves westward, Sanchuan County will be finished!" Now that Tian Dan is alive, there is no way to save the situation! Alas! It seems that God is helping the Chu people! When Zhang Han heard this, his eyes suddenly darkened, and he almost fell. The generals quickly helped him to sit down.
Zhang Han felt his heart trembling violently at this time, which could be said to be heart-wrenching pain. Li You is the eldest son of Prime Minister Li Si, how big is this blow to the Qin State? Don't talk about this reason, even their personal friendship is also good, how can this be acceptable to Li Si? Zhang Han and Li You have fought side by side, and the relationship between the two of them did not happen overnight. Whenever Zhang Han thinks of the bits and pieces of their work together, he has a feeling of sadness that the rabbit is dead and the fox is sad. A general of the Qin State, a famous general of the contemporary era, disappeared in such a flash, how could Zhang Han not feel hurt and indignant? This also made him feel lonely and lost when he was over half a hundred years old. Zhang Han thought to himself at this time: How important Li Si and his son are to the Qin State, they seem to be a Optimus Pillar of the Qin State, and now that this Optimus Pillar has suddenly collapsed, can he alone save the crisis of the Qin State? Zhang Han thought painfully, so he supported his body, and walked out again with the support of the guards, and climbed to the top of the city to inspect the situation.
Zhang Han slowly walked to the enemy tower due west with the support of the soldiers, he looked at the vast water, and saw the afterglow of the setting sun shining on the wall, showing a poignant picture of tatters, the red color was like the blood of the soldiers. But at this time, he couldn't think of a good way to win by surprise, so he repeated what the soldiers had said during the day over and over again in his brain, and suddenly a sentence made him come to his senses: 'Even if Tian Dan is alive, he can't save the situation!' The sergeant who inquired about the Chu army also said: "Xiang Liang celebrated the victory in Dingtao all day long, and he was very drunk every night. These scattered words were connected together, and Zhang Han suddenly remembered the fire bull array used by the famous general Tian Dan in the previous generation, and his spirit was suddenly shocked, and the blood in his whole body also boiled.