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

Chapter 131 Stalemate, sneak attack

Baiguo, Chaoge

Seeing Sun Yin fleeing back with only a few thousand defeated troops, Bai Qing couldn't help but feel anxious, and a mouthful of blood spurted out.

"Your Majesty!" "Master!"

After spitting out the blood in his chest, Bai Qing felt much better. He slumped down on the throne and waved his hand to show that he was fine.

Seeing Sun Yin kneeling in front of him, Bai Qing felt disappointed and ordered: "Remove Sun Yin from the position of senior general, demote him to lieutenant general, appoint him as deputy general of the army, and appoint Wang Zhang as senior general to lead the national army. "

When Sun Yin heard that he had become a deputy general, and that Wang Zhang, whom he had previously despised, had become his immediate superior, he suddenly felt uncomfortable and his eyes were filled with tears. But he hid it well and was not discovered by others.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will definitely do my best to train the army." Wang Zhang came out of the queue and saluted.

Bai Qing nodded and said: "You are from the Bai family. I believe in your loyalty, but I also know that there is a certain gap between you and those famous generals. I don't expect you to expand your territory, but only hope that you can defend it."

"The humble minister will live up to the king's expectations if he receives the order!"

Sun Yin, who was standing next to him, paid his respects and said, "Thank you so much, Your Majesty, for your forgiveness!"

Bai Qing waved his hand and ordered to retreat.

The Bai Kingdom lost 100,000 troops overnight and fell into a fragile state. Fortunately, there were 50,000 troops from the North and the 50,000 Handan Army under King Handan, which could help the Bai Kingdom stabilize the situation.

Bai Qing ordered another hundred thousand troops to be recruited.

For a time, recruitment documents were posted everywhere in the five counties of Bai Kingdom.

On the other side, Xiang Yu wanted to go east and defeat the Zhao army. Unexpectedly, Zhao Wangxie received the news and immediately withdrew his troops and crossed the Yellow River. Xiang Yu could not pursue him, but Qi Wang Tian Hengke could not escape.

When Tian Heng saw this, he immediately wrote a letter to express his fault and asked for the overlord's forgiveness. On the other side, King Zhao Xie also wrote a letter, saying that he had been bewitched by Liu Bang, and asked the overlord to forgive him for the sake of being an anti-Qin alliance in the past.

Xiang Yu saw that Chengyang was really strong and difficult to break, and Zhao State was across the Yellow River, making it difficult to attack. He also learned that Liu Bang was in Xingyang and was reorganizing his army.

So he accepted their surrender and led the army towards Xingyang.

On the other side, Liu Bang's army was defeated in Xingyang. Liu Bang went to Guanzhong and asked Xiao He to form a large army for support. After the defeated armies from all walks of life came to join him one after another, and Xiao He also mobilized the unregistered people in Guanzhong to defect to Liu Bang, Liu Bang gathered another 200,000 troops.

However, King Bao of the Western Wei Dynasty, King Sima Xin of Sai, and King Dong Yi of Zhai saw Liu Bang's defeat and believed that Liu Bang was not enough to succeed, so they all decided to rebel against Han and surrender to Chu.

Among them, King Bao of the Western Wei Dynasty broke away from Liu Bangjun and left Xingyang under the pretense of going home to visit his mother, while King Sima Xin of Sai and King Dong Yi of Zhai surrendered directly to Xiang Yu when they were defeated in Pengcheng.

Wei Bao led his army across the Yellow River and returned to Wei State. Once he returned to the feudal state, Wei Bao sent troops to guard the river pass, cut off the Han army's retreat, and rebelled against Han's peace treaty with Chu. As a result, Liu Bang's army's food route was cut off, and Liu Bang suffered terribly.

Reluctantly, Liu Bang first sent Li Shiqi to persuade Wei Bao, but failed, so he had to appoint Han Xin as the left prime minister and lead 70,000 troops to attack Wei.

But the good news is that in July, Zhang Han's army, which had been surrounded in Feiqiu for nearly a year, finally surrendered without food. Zhang Han committed suicide, and Liu Bang was completely relieved of his worries.

Here, Xiang Yu gathered nearly 300,000 troops and marched from Chengyang to Xingyang in a mighty manner.

Xiang Yu saw that the army was too slow, so he ordered Grand Sima Cao Jiu to lead an army of 100,000 people to advance first.

After Liu Bang learned that Xiang Yu's army was coming towards him, he first sent a letter to Wang Ying of Jiujiang to rebel against Chu, and contacted Peng Yue to harass Chu's rear.

Cao Jiu's 100,000 Chu troops arrived in Xingyang very quickly. After several battles with the Han army, he knew the strength of the Han army. After all, the nearly 200,000 Han troops could only compete with the 100,000 Chu troops. Returning, we can know the level of the Han army.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Liu Bang quickly ordered the entire army to garrison Xingyang, no longer fighting in the field with Xiang Yu's army, and sent people to build tunnels to cross the river to obtain food from Ao Di.

Soon, Xiang Yu's army arrived and surrounded Xingyang tightly on three levels inside and outside. They continued to attack Xingyang from all sides, but Xingyang was still not captured.

Xiang Yu ordered the invasion of the corridor. Now, Liu Bang was in trouble. Without food, even if there was a fortified city, the food in the city was only enough to last the army for three months. He was very scared, so he sent people out of the city to negotiate peace with Xiang Yu, preparing to divide the territory west of Xingyang as the territory of Han and the east as the boundary of Chu. Xiang Yu originally planned to agree.

However, Fan Zeng stopped him. After clarifying his interests, Xiang Yu decided to end Liu Bang's fate in Xingyang.

Liu Bang panicked. At this time, Chen Ping, a general from the Chu camp, entered the city and expressed his intention to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side. Liu Bang personally greeted him and asked him how to survive.

Chen Ping said: "Originally Xiang Yu planned to agree to the king's peace proposal, but Fan Zeng stopped him. Therefore, as long as Fan Zeng's plan is removed, Xiang Yu will be like a beast without intelligence and will have no fear."

Liu Bang humbly asked for advice. Chen Ping explained to him how to implement the alienation plan, and Liu Bang followed it one by one.

Soon, Xiang Yu was successfully alienated, and he suspected that Fan Zeng wanted to abandon him. Xiang Yu, who was originally dissatisfied with Fan Zeng who often pointed fingers at him due to his seniority, suddenly stopped being polite to Fan Zeng.

He also directly mocked Fan Zeng at a military meeting about whether he had accepted bribes from the Han army. Fan Zeng did not expect that Xiang Yu would suspect that he and Liu Bang had colluded. He was very angry, so he resigned and returned home on the spot. Xiang Yu was also angry and did not stop him. Later, he felt regretful and sent someone to call Fan Zeng back. However, Fan Zeng was old and frail, and due to anger and anger and the bumps on the road, he died of illness on the road. Although Fan Zeng was successfully eliminated, the siege of Xingyang was still not lifted, and Liu Bang had no choice but to prepare to break out.

General Ji Xin offered to pretend to be Liu Bang and cover Liu Bang's breakout, so Ji Xin led two thousand troops in yellow cars to pretend to be Liu Bang and leave from the north of the city. Xiang Yu was indeed fooled, and the army moved to the north to surround him. At this time, the real Liu Bang led an elite brigade and galloped from the west of the city. He left, successfully broke through the siege, and fled to Chenggao.

Xiang Yu caught up with Ji Xin and found that it was not Liu Bang, so he asked, "Where is Liu Bang?"

Ji Xin laughed and said, "The king has already left."

Xiang Yu was furious and ordered Ji Xin to be burned alive.

The Chu army continued to attack Xingyang.

In August, 70,000 Han troops led by Han Xin broke through the Wei army's defenses, pacified the Wei state, and captured King Bao of the Western Wei Dynasty.

It turned out that since Wei Bao knew that Liu Bang sent Han Xin to attack Wei, he stationed heavy troops in Puban and blocked the river pass, intending to use the natural dangers of the Yellow River to block Han Xin's army.

Han Xin, on the other hand, deliberately set up more suspicious troops and arranged ships to pretend to cross the river pass. However, he secretly sent Gaoyi and other generals from Xia Yang to use wooden basins and barrels instead of boats to cross the river and raid the Wei capital Anyi.

The king of Wei was shocked and quickly returned to his army.

There were 30,000 people who crossed the river secretly, while the Wei army had 50,000 people. Gaoyi followed Han Xin's order and pretended to attack Anyi, but he set up camp on a high ground next to Anyi to block the 50,000 Wei troops coming from the west.

As soon as the Wei army at Heguan withdrew, Han Xin calmly led the remaining 40,000 Han troops, crossed the Yellow River from Heguan, and then marched eastward.

At this time, the 50,000 Wei army was attacking the Gaoyi army. Han Xin's army suddenly attacked from behind. The Wei army was defeated and captured Wei Bao. He then easily pacified the Wei state and moved Wei back to Hedong County.

After conquering Wei, Han Xin sent someone to ask Liu Bang for instructions: "Please increase your troops by 30,000, your Majesty. I plan to go north to capture Bai, Yan, and Zhao, go east to attack Qi, and go south to cut off Chu's food routes." , then head west to meet the king in Xingyang."

Liu Bang thought Han Xin's proposal was very good, so he was about to agree. At this time, Zhang Liang said: "Let's not mention Yan and Zhao for now, but Bai Guo cannot attack easily!"

Liu Bang asked why?
Zhang Liangdao: "Yan, Zhao, and Qi have clearly surrendered to Xiang Yu, but Bai is still our ally. If we attack Bai without reason, we will break our trust in the world. We are at a time when we are fighting against Chu." At this critical moment, you must not make many enemies!"

Liu Bang thought: "But Han Xin's army's eastward path has been completely blocked by the Bai Kingdom!"

Zhang Liangdao: "Han and Bai are allies. As long as the king sends envoys to express his feelings and appeal for justice, the Bai Kingdom has no reason to refuse. What's more, after the defeat of Dingtao, the Bai Kingdom's vitality is severely damaged. There is no need for it at all." I believe King Bai will also understand the strength of going out to fight.”

Liu Bang said: "Who should I send as envoy?"

Zhang Liang said: "I have an old relationship with King Bai, and I would like to go!"

Liu Bang agreed and asked Zhang Liang to go back quickly. Did he still need his help here? Then he wrote to Han Xin, saying that he basically agreed with his suggestion, but that he could not attack Bai Guo. He would wait until Zhang Liang found a way to attack Zhao Yan. Then another 30,000 soldiers were allocated to Han Xin, led by Zhang Er, to support him, bringing Han Xin's army to 100,000.

After Han Xin received Liu Bang's letter, he knew the reason why he could not attack Bai Guo, so he had to obey the order, put down the letter, walked out of the room, looked in the direction of Bai Guo and murmured: "You are lucky this time."

Baiguo, Chaoge

After Zhang Liang met with Bai Qing, he said straight to the point that he wanted to borrow a road. Bai Qing asked him to tell his reasons.

Zhang Liangdao: "The foreign ministers always know the benevolence and righteousness of the Bai Kingdom, and therefore they refuse to turn to Xiang Yu, and the same goes for the king. Now the king and Xiang Yu are confronting each other in Xingyang. It stands to reason that our two countries should share the same fate, and so should your country. Send troops to help.

However, the king is well aware that your country's strength has been damaged since the battle of Dingtao, so it has not made any demands. Now we continue to open a second battlefield to contain the overlord, so we sent Han Xin to attack Chu's vassal Dai by passing through Taiyuan County. and Zhao State.

This can weaken the strength of the Chu army and also help the few kings fight in Xingyang. I hope that your country will take advantage of it for the sake of the anti-Chu alliance! "After speaking, he bowed respectfully to Bai Qing.

Bai Qing looked at the ministers. At this time, Wang Zhang said: "Now that Xiang Yu's army is strong, but our army's strength is damaged and we cannot face it directly, it will be very beneficial to our country to lend a way to the Han army and weaken the Chu army." If it’s beneficial, I agree.”

Then a few others agreed.

In the end, Bai Qing agreed to the matter, but there was a condition, that is, the weapons of the Han army must be handed over to the Bai army for safekeeping, and a large army would be sent to monitor, otherwise the Bai country would not agree.

Zhang Liang thought for a long time and thought that there was almost no precedent for the Bai country to abandon the alliance in history, so he agreed.

After getting Zhang Liang's letter, Han Xin had no choice but to collect all the weapons of the army and hand them over to the White Army who came to escort him.

So one hundred thousand Han troops, under the supervision of 50,000 fully armed Bai troops, entered Dai from Taiyuan County. When they arrived at the border of Taiyuan County, the Bai troops returned their weapons to the Han troops.

At this time, Han Xin was not in a hurry to attack. Instead, he looked at General Bai not far away, who was Sun Yin who was demoted to lieutenant general. However, Sun Yin did not know about Han Xin because he had long thought that Han Xin had been killed.

Han Xin did not watch for a long time. When the Han army was gathered together, it marched towards Daiguo.

(End of this chapter)