A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 129: The world is in chaos, and Xiang is conquered from the east

After the Han Dynasty obtained Han Xin, they immediately asked him about strategies to stabilize the world.

Han Xin did not tell Liu Bang directly, but instead asked: "Isn't the person who is fighting with you eastward for power in the world not an overlord?"

Liu Bang didn't know why Han Xin asked this, but he still affirmed: "That's it!"

Han Xin asked again: "Then the king makes his own estimate. In terms of bravery, strength, and sophistication of the troops, who is better than the overlord?"

Liu Bang said honestly: "A few people are not as good as an overlord with many people!"

Han Xin saluted and said in agreement: "Not only the king himself, but even I think you are inferior to the Overlord."

Liu Bang's face turned a little dark, but Han Xin didn't notice and continued:
"Your Majesty knows that I once served Overlord, so I will talk about Overlord's character.

During the battle, the overlord shouted angrily, and thousands of people would tremble with fear, but he could not let go and appoint good generals. This can only be regarded as the bravery of an ordinary man. The Overlord treats people with respect and kindness, and his language is gentle. If people are sick, he will cry with sympathy and share his food and drink with them.

But when his subordinates deserved to be knighted for their meritorious service, he polished off the edges of his official seal and refused to give it to others. This is the kindness of a woman.

Although the overlord dominated the world and made the princes vassal, he did not live in Guanzhong and instead made his capital Pengcheng. After that, he violated the agreement of the Righteous Emperor and made his closest associates and favorites kings. The princes were very angry about this.

So when all the princes saw that the overlord had expelled the Righteous Emperor in the south of the Yangtze River, they all rushed to follow suit. Once they returned to their fiefdoms, they hurriedly expelled their original king and established themselves as kings. Wherever the overlord's army passed by, they were all killed and destroyed. Therefore, many people in the world resented him. The people did not get close to him and relied on him. They were just afraid of his force and reluctantly submitted to his despotic power.

Although the Overlord is the overlord of the world in name, he has actually lost the support of the people, so his strength will soon turn into weakness! Under such circumstances, if your Majesty can do the opposite and use the bravest men in the world, why worry about the enemy not being killed? If you entrust all the cities in the world to meritorious officials, why worry about their disobedience? Leading the brave soldiers who want to fight back to their hometown, why worry about the enemy not being dispersed?

Moreover, Wang Zhanghan, Dong Yi, and Sima Xin of the Three Qin states in Guanzhong were originally Qin generals and had led the children of Qin for several years. Countless people died in battle and fled. Later, they deceived their subordinates and generals into surrendering to the overlord, etc. When he arrived in Xin'an, the overlord used deceptive means to kill more than 200,000 Qin soldiers. Only Zhang Han, Dong Yi, and Sima Xin survived. It can be seen that the Qin people hated these three people.

And the Overlord used his military power to confer these three men as the Three Kings of Qin. So how could the people of Qin support them? On the other hand, when your Majesty entered Wuguan, you did not commit any crime, abolished the harsh criminal laws of Qin, and made a three-law agreement with the people of Qin, so the people of Qin all wanted to support you as king in Guanzhong.

According to the original agreement of the princes, the king should be king in Guanzhong. This is known to the people of Guanzhong. But the king lost his due title and was arranged to be king in Hanzhong. This made the people of Qin all resent the overlord. Now that the king is raising his troops to the east to attack the territories of Sanqin, he only needs to give an order to conquer the land of Sanqin in ten months. "

After hearing this, Liu Bang's expression changed from gloomy to bright, and he was very happy and proud. He grabbed Han Xin's hand and said, "I'm so lucky! I have the general, and it's like I have the world!"

Later, Han Xin proposed to Liu Bang the plan of building plank roads in secret to infiltrate Chen Cang. Liu Bang adopted them one by one and authorized Han Xin to use them as much as he wanted.

Therefore, when Guanzhong Sanqin learned that Liu Bang was building a plank road from Hanzhong to Qin, not only did he not panic, but he immediately relaxed, because within a year or two, the plank road could not be built at all.

The First Year of the Overlord of Western Chu
August
Liu Bang, the king of Han Dynasty, adopted Han Xin's strategy and sent people to repair the plank road when entering Hanzhong. However, secretly he sent Han Xin to lead an army of 50,000 to return to Guanzhong along the old route county and attack Yong Wang Zhanghan.

After Zhang Han received the news, the Han army had already arrived at Chencang County.

Zhang Han quickly led an army of 50,000 to Chencang County to stop the enemy. However, due to Han Xin's superb leadership skills, the 50,000 Han army was defeated by Han Xin's 100,000.

Zhang Han felt that the Han army numbered more than 50,000, and it seemed that he would never be able to kill them all. In the end, he was defeated and retreated to Haoju County.

Han Xin led the troops in pursuit and captured Zhang Han's defeated army in Haorian County. Zhang Han retreated again and fled to Feiqiu County.

The 50,000 rear troops led by Liu Bang also rushed to Guanzhong. Liu Bang gave command to Han Xin and ordered the pacification of Guanzhong.

So Han Xin led 100,000 Han troops to attack the city and conquer the Yongdi area first. Relying on Liu Bang's good reputation, the occupied Qindi quickly stabilized and became Liu Bang's base at an extremely fast speed.

Han Xin led his army to advance eastward and arrived at Xianyang, but Xianyang was in ruins and ruins. After sighing for a while, Han Xin continued to advance eastward, and then surrounded Zhang Han's 30,000 troops at Feiqiu.

Although Zhang Han had few soldiers, he had the advantage of occupying the city. Han Xin and his army could not attack for a long time. In order to reduce casualties, Han Xin prepared to use a siege strategy, so he left 50,000 people to besiege and took 50,000 to attack other cities.

When Sima Xin, king of Sai, and Dong Yi, king of Zhai, saw the overwhelming offensive of the Han army, they were frightened and immediately wrote to Liu Bang, requesting surrender. Liu Bang agreed, and Guanzhong was peaceful.

After Guanzhong was pacified, Liu Bang ordered Han Xin to lead troops north to attack Longxi County, Beidi County, and Shang County. These three counties were originally sparsely populated, so they were settled easily. Originally, Xiang Yu wanted to raise troops to attack Liu Bang after Liu Bang's troops left the pass, but was dissuaded by a letter from Zhang Liang. Zhang Liang said: "The King of Han only wants to get Guanzhong and will not send troops eastward." Then he forged letters written by King Qi and King Liang to the King of Han and sent them to Xiang Yu, saying that King Qi and King Liang were going to work together to destroy Chu. .

After Xiang Yu received the letter, he believed that King Qi was much more harmful than Liu Bang, so he gave up his plan to attack Liu Bang and instead sent troops out of Qi.

Xiang Yu led 100,000 troops and set out from Pengcheng with the intention of attacking Qi Wang Tianrong and Zhao Wang Xie. He also recruited Jiujiang Wang Yingbu to join the army. However, Yingbu did not send troops due to illness. He only sent his generals and thousands of people to join them. Xiang Yu was very angry with Yingbu.

September
Liu Bang has already occupied the three counties of Guanzhong, Beidi, Hanzhong, and Bashu. He is already very powerful. His territorial scope is not far behind that of the overlord Xiang Yu, but his prosperity cannot be compared.

After taking Guanzhong, Liu Bang ordered a conscription, and the people of Qin enthusiastically joined the army. Soon, Liu Bang's army reached 150,000.

While he was recuperating, Liu Bang sent generals Xue Ou and Wang Hui to lead troops out of Wuguan. Taking advantage of the convenience of Wang Ling's troops stationed in Nanyang County, they went to Peixian County to pick up Liu Taigong, Lu Pheasant, Wang Ling's mother and other brothers from Peixian County. Relatives, this is to prevent Xiang Yu from threatening Liu Bang's military morale.

When Xiang Yu, who was fighting between Chengyang and Tianrong, heard the news, he sent troops to block it in Yangxia County, preventing Wang Ling and others from advancing. Wang Ling's mother died as a result, and Liu Taigong, Lu Pheasant and others were also captured by the Chu army.

He also made Zheng Chang, the former magistrate of Wu County, the King of Han and asked him to resist the Han army. The original Han Wangcheng was coerced into Pengcheng by Xiang Yu, and then found reasons to cut off his vassal and annex Korea.

In Chengyang, Tian Rong led 150,000 troops to fight against Xiang Yu's 100,000 men. He was completely defeated and more than 50,000 people were captured. Tian Rong fled to the plains. The people in the plains were afraid that Tian Rong would lure Xiang Yu, so they killed him and captured him. The body was given to Xiang Yu in exchange for peace.

However, after Tian Rong died, Xiang Yu did not stop, but continued to patrol the land on the pretext of suppressing thieves. They burned down the houses of the Qi State wherever they passed, and killed all the captured Qi soldiers. They also plundered the old and weak women of the Qi State until they reached Beihai, "many of them were destroyed."

The people of Qi could no longer endure Xiang Yu's atrocities, so they gathered together to rebel. Tian Rong's brother, former Qi general Tian Heng, took the opportunity to gather tens of thousands of defeated Qi soldiers to counterattack Chengyang, and then continued to strengthen the city defenses. When Xiang Yu heard about it, he , decisively led troops to attack, but Xiang Yu was not good at city fighting, so he could not attack for a long time.

The second year of the Overlord of Western Chu
April
Xiang Yu's 100,000 soldiers were still besieging Chengyang, but Liu Bang decided to lead his army out of the pass and issued a crusade to the world on the grounds that Xiang Yu killed Emperor Yi and tyrannized the land.

Wang Bao of the Western Wei Dynasty, Wang Shenyang of Henan, King Zheng Chang of Han, Wang Qing Bai, and Wang Xie of Zhao responded one after another. With Liu Bang, the king of Han, as the main general, they formed a coalition to attack Xiang Yu. Among them, King Bao of the Western Wei Dynasty, Wang Shenyang of Henan Province, and King Zheng Chang of Han Dynasty expressed their submission to Liu Bang.

The coalition had 560,000 troops, including 50,000 troops from King Wei Bao, 50,000 troops from King Shenyang of Henan, 30,000 troops from King Zheng Chang of Han, 100,000 troops from King Bai Qing, 80,000 troops from King Zhao, and 250,000 troops from King Liu Bang of Han.

Bai Qing has 100,000 troops because he occupied Taiyuan County, Yanmen County, and Yunzhong County, giving the Bai Kingdom five counties. Including Handan King Bai Wei, there are six counties. Originally, Bai Wang had 150,000 troops, but he had to keep five. Wan was in Yunzhong County to guard against a surprise attack by the Huns, so he could only lead 100,000 troops.

Liu Bang's army of 250,000 includes Liu Bang's 150,000 troops, plus 50,000 from Sai King Sima Xin and 50,000 from Zhai King Dong Yi. If we include King Bao of the Western Wei Dynasty, King Shenyang of Henan, and King Zheng Chang of Han who were intimidated and surrendered, Liu Bang should have an army of 350,000.

Due to the sudden appearance of the coalition forces, Xiang Yu was unable to react. Zhao Wangxie's 80,000 troops crossed the Yellow River from Julu County and entered Jibei County towards Chengyang, preparing to relieve Qi's siege of Chengyang.

Bai Wangqing's 100,000-strong army crossed the Yellow River from Handan County into Dong County, and then passed through Dingtao, Xuexian and Peixian counties to attack Pengcheng.

Liu Bang led the armies of Wang Bao of the Western Wei Dynasty, Wang Shenyang of Henan Province, and King Zheng Chang of Han, plus his own 250,000 troops, a total of 350,000 troops, out of Hangu Pass, passed through Sanchuan County and Dang County, entered Sishui County, and went straight to Pengcheng, the capital of Chu State. .

Xiang Yu heard that all the princes were rebelling and ordered all the troops to be mobilized. He knew that the core of this time was Liu Bang, so he implemented his best beheading plan and ordered the 70,000 troops in Chengyang to continue the siege and hold back the Qi and Zhao armies.

He raised an army of 100,000 people and went to Xue County to resist the White Army. He personally led 30,000 fine cavalry and quickly rushed back to Pengcheng.

At this time, Liu Bang's army had arrived in Xiao County and would reach Pengcheng in a few days.

Along the way, Liu Bang was so satisfied that he actually refused to let Han Xin be the commander-in-chief and led the army himself. Han Xin had no choice but to let Liu Bang go, because Pengcheng did not have much troops at this time, only 30,000 people. Even if it was a pig, 30 Fifty thousand versus thirty thousand can be easily attacked.

April
Liu Bang's army invaded Pengcheng. Liu Bang felt that his life had reached its peak and thought that Xiang Yu was nothing more than this, so he began to stay overnight in Xiang Yu's palace. Thinking that Xiang Yu should still be in Chengyang at this time, his soldiers no longer restrained him, but instead ordered the wine cellars and granaries in Pengcheng to be opened, and the army drank freely.

When Han Xin saw this, he tried to dissuade him many times, but Liu Bang blocked him all the time. Han Xin was quite helpless when he saw this.

But what they didn't know was that ten miles away, cavalry troops all over the mountains and plains had quietly arrived.

(End of this chapter)