Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 400

The sky finally darkened, and Liu Bang and Xiang Zhuang chose to withdraw their troops at the same time.

Xiang Zhuang had lingering fears, so why didn't Liu Bang also have lingering fears?Today the Han army was almost defeated!

Looking at the Han army retreating like a tide, Xiang Zhuang couldn't help heaving a long sigh of relief, then turned his head and said to Bailixian: "Ziliang, this time is really mysterious."

"That's right." Bai Lixian said with deep conviction, "This time I was indeed careless."

In order to win the Chu-Han War, Chu State has made sufficient preparations, but today's battle caused by the strangling of scouts almost made all the preparations of Chu State fail. Just imagine, if even Xiangzhuang's 40 main force is If it is destroyed, the other backs are just castles in the air, useless.

Back at Daying, Xiang Zhuang immediately sent Qu Bucai to see him.

After entering the big tent, Qu Bucai knelt down on his knees and said sadly: "Your Majesty, I have neglected my duty..."

Xiang Zhuang suddenly reached out his hand to stop Qu Bucai, and said in a deep voice: "Old Qu, now is not the time to pursue responsibility, you must find out as soon as possible, when and where did Liu Bang train the heavy cavalry? Why didn't you know in advance ? Also, besides the heavy cavalry, is there any more powerful backhand hidden by the Han army?"

"Here!" Qu Bucai bowed to him, then got up and went out of the tent.

Xiang Zhuang said to Meng Keng very seriously again: "Meng Keng, are you convicted?"

Meng Keng knelt down on one knee, and said with a tragic expression: "Your Majesty, I...convicted."

Today's battle was not within Xiang Zhuang's plan, it was entirely caused by Meng Keng's unauthorized actions. If the result was good, Meng Keng would still have a chance to make amends, but now the result is not ideal, Meng Keng is naturally to blame There is no escape, the Chu army has always been clear about rewards and punishments, so Meng Keng has already realized that he will be punished.

Xiang Zhuang looked at Meng Keng who was kneeling on the ground, and shouted: "Demotion to three ranks, fined for half a year, are you convinced?"

Meng Keng hurriedly said: "I am convinced." Xiang Zhuang waved his hand again, and Meng Keng quickly got up and walked away in despair.

When Meng Keng left, Bai Lixian who was sitting next to him suddenly said: "My lord, our army did not gain anything in today's battle. The losses of the Han army in today's battle are far greater than our army's. It will exceed [-], but the casualties of the Han army are at least [-], and this is not the most important thing."

After saying this, Bai Lixian said again: "The most important thing is that we know the trump card of the Han army in advance!"

Xiang Zhuang believed that if the Chu army had no idea that the Han army already had heavy cavalry and did not take precautions, then at the critical moment, the Han army's heavy cavalry would have a complete chance to launch a fatal blow to the Chu army and reverse the trend of the battle in one fell swoop. !But now that the Han army has exposed the secret in advance, the threat of the Han army's heavy cavalry has been greatly reduced.

Although heavy cavalry are powerful, as long as they are well prepared, they can still resist!
From this point of view, in today's battle, the Chu army actually took a huge advantage.

Xiang Tuo next to him said: "My lord, besides the heavy cavalry, does the Han army have other trump cards?"

"So let Wumuya investigate!" Xiang Zhuang nodded, and said in a deep voice, "Until Wumuya is investigated, and before the Sirius Army and Xiaocavalry Army arrive at Nanyang, our army must not attack rashly again. , Today's battle can be called a fluke, but next time may not have such good luck."

Xiang Tuo nodded repeatedly when he heard the words.

At this moment, Bailimao suddenly stepped into the account and said, "Your Majesty, Huainan urgent report!"

"Huainan? Is there any news from Xuejian?!" Xiang Zhuang's expression lifted immediately, and he said anxiously, "Submit it quickly."

Bailimao took two steps forward and handed a roll of secret letter to Xiang Zhuang. Xiang Zhuang couldn't help but overjoyed after reading the secret letter hastily. Xiang Tuo asked next to him, "My lord, what did you say in the letter?"

Xiang Zhuang directly gave the density to Xiang Tuo, and then said to Xiang Tuo and Bai Lixian: "Zi Yan, Zi Liang, Han Xin used the [-] army of the prince Han He as a cover, but secretly sent two groups of surprise soldiers, one led by the general Led by Cao Yu, led by Han Xin himself, they took Fuli and the camp of the Chu army, but they were all defeated by Xuejian!"

After reading the secret letter, Xiang Tuo praised sincerely: "Learning swords really deserves to be the heir of Guigu."

Bai Lixian shook his feather fan and pondered: "Xuejian didn't mention Yanzhao Korea in his letter. It seems that the Three Kingdoms are still frightened by Han Xin's despotic power, so they didn't dare to send troops to help."

"This is also expected." Xiang Zhuang said coldly, "Han Wang Han Xin and Zang Tu have their own appearances. In the past, when Zhao Guo was at the critical moment of life and death, they never saw them send troops, let alone now? Zhang Ao is nothing more than A dog of success is not enough to plan big things, so unless the Qi Huai coalition is defeated, Yan Zhao and South Korea will never dare to send troops to attack Qi."

Bai Lixian hesitated for a moment, then said: "Your Majesty, I think it's better to condemn the envoy to go to the Xiongnu..."

"Ziliang!" Xiang Zhuang stopped Bailixian without any explanation, and said in a deep voice, "Don't mention the matter of the envoy contacting the Xiongnu to attack the Han. The widow has said that the struggle between Chu and Han is the orthodox dispute of the Huaxia people. It’s like two brothers in a family, no matter whether it’s the eldest or the second child, they are still headed by the Chinese, but the Xiongnu is a foreign race!”

Xiang Tuo frowned and said, "Your Majesty, we just want to use the Xiongnu..."

"How do you know you didn't lure wolves into the house?" Xiang Zhuang said with a cold expression, "Don't bring up this matter again!"

Xiang Zhuang knows better than anyone that the Huns are not soft persimmons, and the Huns cavalry is really not bragging. Yes, at this stage, the Huns cavalry cannot beat the Chu cavalry and the Han cavalry, but that is because the Huns lack advanced skills. Due to the lack of smelting technology and advanced bow-making skills, if the Huns occupy Guanzhong, the situation will be completely different.

The main reason why the Xiongnu in history suddenly became stronger at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty was because of the successive years of wars in the Central Plains at the end of the Qin Dynasty. Bow skills, the Huns had advanced iron weapons and bow-making skills, and their strength suddenly skyrocketed.

However, in this time and space, due to the crossing of Xiangzhuang, although the Huns occupied Jiuyuan, they did not even get half of the Central Plains craftsmen. Naturally, it is impossible to make a leap in iron-smelting technology and bow-making skills. With the subsequent counterattack of the Han army, the Huns were expelled from Jiuyuan again.

If the Chu State and the Huns join hands, the Han State will be destroyed in all likelihood, but in the end Guanzhong will definitely fall into the hands of the Huns, because if the Chu army wants to enter Guanzhong, they have to break through Wuguan or Hangu Pass, and the Huns cavalry along Going straight to the south, they can come to Xianyang city within a few days. So, isn't the Chu army just making wedding clothes for others?

What's even more frightening is that once the Huns occupy Guanzhong, once the large number of craftsmen in Guanzhong are used by the Huns, the result will be disastrous. The Hun cavalry is definitely not something that the Chu army can resist. At that time, the Huaxia people will face an unprecedented catastrophe!

So even if Xiang Zhuang died, he would never join forces with the Huns. That would be like leading a wolf into the house!
Bai Lixian sighed and said: "Your Majesty does not want to bring wolves into the house and bring disasters to the Huaxia people, but Liu Bang may not."

"You mean the west of Shu?" Xiang Zhuang's face darkened, and then he said firmly, "I believe that Zi'ang is here. With Zi'ang, the west of Shu will surely turn the bad into good fortune, and the two counties of Ba and Shu will be safe and sound."

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Pang Yu's army was stationed in a small town named Mengshan at the southern foot of Qionglai Mountain. It was said to be a small town, but it was actually a slightly larger market town, with an earth embryo wall about ten feet high built around it, which was more than enough to ward off wild animals. It is wishful thinking to resist the invasion of indigenous cavalry such as Qiang Di Ranlong in Western Shu.

There are a large number of Qiangdi tribes living in the mountains in the west of Shu County, especially the Moshui (Dajinchuan) Valley in the west of Qionglai Mountain, which is also the Dajinchuan River Valley in later generations, and it is the largest settlement of Qiangdi. The water and grass are luxuriant and the land is fertile. There are about 20 Qiang Di nomadic here.

The Qiang Di, like the Xiongnu, are branches of the Rong Di.

The Xiongnu mounted their horses as soldiers and dismounted as their people, and the Qiang Di were similar, with a population of 20, there were almost [-] to [-] cavalry, and the Qiang Di lived in a place of bitter cold all the year round, and most of their people were brave and good at fighting. If you enter Shu County, then the big granary of Bashu will be finished.

However, almost all the troops of the Chu State are now concentrated in Huainan and Nanyang. The troops left in Bashu are less than 3, of which 1 are stationed at Jinniuguan to guard against the Han army in Hanzhong. The [-] soldiers had to divide their troops to guard the two counties and counties, and they also had to guard against the Qiang Di. The deployment of troops was really stretched.

With such a small force, it will be absolutely irresistible when the Qiang Di army is assembled and attacked in a large scale, so Pang Yu decides to take the initiative to attack, and before the Qiang Di cavalry has completed the assembly, he will send out troops first and carry out various defeats. Only in this way can it be possible to resolve the crisis in western Sichuan invisible.

If you want to attack Qiangdi in various ways, speed is very important.

So this time Pang Yu only brought [-] elite riders to Mount Meng.

However, after arriving at Mount Meng, Pang Yu discovered that the local Qiang and Di people had a very good relationship with the Shu people. Through the nearby Qiang and Di tribes, Pang Yu was even more pleasantly surprised to find that the Qiang and Di people in the Jinchuan River Valley were actually composed of large and small tribes. It is composed of hundreds of tribes, and because of the competition for pastures, the tribes often have deep grievances.

Among them, there are four largest tribes, Wuge, Yuanjian, Wuliu, and Shaodang, each with nearly ten thousand strong men. These four tribes often fight with each other in order to compete for the best pastures. The tribes are weak, and they can only rely on the wings of these four tribes in order to survive.

It is precisely because the four major tribes of Qiang and Di are hostile to each other and have deep grievances, so the Han envoys sent by Liu Bang failed to make a contribution. Shanyue and Wuxi Man had already dispatched troops half a month ago, and now they have even been wiped out However, the army of Qiang and Di has not yet been able to complete the assembly because of the ghosts and schemes of the four major tribes.

(End of this chapter)