Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 542

In Puban Daying Camp, Prince Chu Xiangzheng was in charge.

Gao Lang walked into the courtyard with strides, and said loudly, "Zihe, everything has been arranged."

Xiang Zheng hit Jie hard and said: "Okay, it's not too late, we will cross the river tomorrow!"

Gao Lang frowned and said: "But Zihe, I always feel that the risk is too great. Should I wait for a while to raise more crossing equipment, or wait until old general Zhongli cleans up the Shenjiang iron fence?" Once the Shenjiang iron fence and the iron chains blocking the river have been cleared, a large number of ships can be transferred to Puban and Pishi along the line, and the Chu army can cross the river in large numbers.

"No, we can't wait any longer. We will cross the river tomorrow!" Xiang Zheng shook his head resolutely. He had already calculated that it would take at least half a month for the navy to clean up the iron fences and chains blocking the river, even on land. It will take at least ten days to sail and drag the navy warship from the land into the river section from Pusan ​​to the vicinity of Pishi.

But the problem is, Xiang Zheng can't wait so long.

Counting the time, it is almost time for Pang Zheng's Qiang soldiers to enter Longxi. If the delay in Puban is too long, the first victory in the Ping-Han period may fall to Xiang Zhi, and this is the last thing Xiang Zheng wants to see arrived.

Gao Lang said again: "But our river-crossing equipment is limited, and we have to set aside some to lure the enemy elsewhere, so we can only cross 2000 people at a time! There are two thousand elite soldiers to resist the Han army's pier, Although the garrison at Dunbao is more than sufficient, if Li Zuoche is not fooled and leads five thousand elite troops to pounce on him, the consequences will be disastrous..."

"Soldiers are deceitful." Xiang Zheng waved his big hand and said coldly, "Who dares to say that he will win before the battle? Whether Li Zuoche will be fooled is only five or five, that is to say, This battle is at least half successful, my father once told me that riches and honor require you to use soldiers to learn how to survive from death, so half success is enough!"

"Okay." Gao Lang said in a deep voice, "I will lead the first wave of dead men to cross the river first."

Xiang Zheng was not hypocritical, but bowed deeply to Gao Lang and said, "Zi Liang, please!"

Gao Lang hurriedly helped Xiang Zheng up, then turned around and walked away.

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The Chu army was going to Puban and Pishi to collect rafts, wooden rafts and large urns for crossing the river. Li Zuoche on the west bank of the river soon got the news.

"Oh?" Li Zuoche pondered, "There is such a thing?"

"It's true." Lieutenant General Xia Houzao said, "The road leading from Anyi to Pishi and Puban is full of carts of all kinds, and the loads on them are either cowhide rafts or large urns."

Li Zuoche nodded lightly, then frowned and muttered: "Could it be that the Chu army is going to cross the river at Pishi and Puban at the same time?"

Xia Houzao said: "Before the Chu State navy clears the iron chains blocking the river and the iron gates of the Shenjiang River, the Chu army on the east bank of the river cannot collect too many utensils. According to the general's estimation, they will only collect 2000 people at most for crossing the river." If the Chu army wants to cross the river in two places for human cowhide and large urns, it will be courting death."

After a pause, Xia Houzao said again: "So, the general thought that one of Pi's and Puban must be false!"

Li Zuo said: "But this is not right, no matter whether Pi Shi is false or Pu Ban is false, as long as the Chu army moves, it will immediately reveal its original shape. But if we attack him, wouldn’t the Chu army be sure to lose? With Xiang Zheng’s childish character, it doesn’t seem like he should only be at this level, right?”

Xia Houzao said: "Could it be that Pi's family and Pu Ban are all pretending to move, and the Chu army still has a third crossing point?"

When Li Zuoche was silent, suddenly a soldier entered Xingyuan and reported: "General, an envoy from Chu has come to write a letter."

"Oh?" Li Zuoche's expression moved slightly, and he immediately waved, "Let him in."

The soldiers took the order and went away, and after a while they brought the envoy of Chu into the Xingyuan. The envoy of Chu only bowed slightly to Li Zuoche, and said: "According to the order of the prince of Chu, I am here to issue a letter of war to General Li. , our army will cross the river from Pishi, if the general dares to fight, he can make the Han army retreat ten li, if not, why don't you put on women's clothes?"

"Presumptuous!" Xia Houzao was furious, and he drew his sword to cut people.

Li Zuoche was also livid with anger, but he still suppressed his anger and stopped Xia Houzao.

"Farewell!" After the envoy of Chu delivered the words, he bowed slightly to Li Zuoche, then turned around and walked away.

"It's unreasonable, it's unreasonable!" Xia Houzao was so angry that he said to Li Zuodao, "Why did the old general stop the last general just now? Why didn't the last general kill this madman?"

"The lunatic is Xiang Zheng's child, so killing the envoy is beneficial?"

"Could it be that Xiang Zheng'er is allowed to humiliate the old general?"

Li Zuoche waved his hand, but a smile slowly appeared on his face.

Seeing that Li Zuoche was still in the mood to laugh, Xia Houzao was puzzled and said, "The old general is still laughing after being so humiliated?"

"Xiang Zheng, do you want to be aggressive?" Li Zuoche put his hands behind his back and laughed loudly, "This old man is not Zhou Yafu who only knows how to talk on paper, how can he be fooled by him? Hahaha..."

"Huh?" Xia Houzao said, "The old general said that this is Xiang Zheng's son's aggressive method?"

"Isn't it the method of provoking generals?" Li Zuoche laughed, "Xiang Zheng first humiliated the old man with a woman's clothes, so that the old man lost his mind in a rage, and this gave the Chu army an opportunity to take advantage of it!" After a pause, Li Zuoche said firmly, "There is a saying in the art of war, what is false is true, and what is true is false. The old man dares to assert that Pi's family is false, and the forced crossing in Puban is true!"

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Longxi County, Xiabian County.

On this day, a group of Baima Hu merchants suddenly came from outside Xiabian County. The Baima people are barbarians who settled in the mountains at the junction of Hanzhong and Longxi counties. In fact, they are the Baima Tibetans of later generations. Selling fur and medicinal materials and other mountain products outside the mountain, so the soldiers guarding the city gate did not arouse vigilance.

Until the group of Hu merchants approached the city gate, a leader of the Han army lazily stepped forward to block the way, falsely claiming to check the goods of the Hu merchants, but in fact they just wanted to win the autumn wind and gain some benefits.

The tall Hu merchant headed by turned around and groped on the cart, and a smile appeared on the face of the Han army. A bright knife was drawn from the cart, and before the Han army could react, the knife had already severed his neck.

Xiang Zhi cut off more than half of the neck of the Han army leader with one knife, and the head of the Han army leader drooped limply. Xiang Zhi raised the blood-dripping horizontal knife high, and charged at the hundreds of Hu merchants who were accompanying him. Roaring: "Break the city, no chicken or dog will be left behind!" After saying that, Xiang Zhi turned around and raised his knife, striding into the corridor of the city gate.

Behind Xiang Zhi, more than a hundred Qiang soldiers from Qiaozhuang Hushang also took out shining horizontal knives from the cart one after another, and then screamed strangely, followed Xiang Zhi and rushed into the corridor of the city gate. A dozen Han soldiers He rushed out from the gatehouse on the inner side of the city gate in a hurry, and was chopped down to the ground by the ferocious Qiang soldiers in just three or two blows.

Not far from the south gate, more Qiang soldiers had swept in like locusts.

The [-] Qiang soldiers crossed the mountains and ridges, crossed the poor and ferocious lake, and slaughtered hundreds of barbarian tribes. Although there were heavy casualties, there were only [-] people left in the [-] army, but the fighting power seemed to be stronger.

The captain of the Qiang guard, Pang Zheng, rode his horse and galloped at the forefront of the Qiang soldiers, but there was a hint of worry in his brows. The towering Gongga Mountain had already been trampled under their feet, and the uninhabited Daze was also left behind by them. , Hundreds of savage tribes on the way have been slaughtered by them, and Longxi is close at hand, but he is not happy at all.

Why is Pang Zheng worried?It is entirely because under the leadership of Shizi Xiangzhi, the 5000 Qiang soldiers under his command have turned into more than [-] ferocious and bloodthirsty wolves. Regardless of men and women, regardless of age, they were all slaughtered by them!

Just now, Shizi yelled the slogan "Break the city, don't leave chickens and dogs behind"!

Pang Zheng could completely predict what would happen to the defenders and the people in the city who were waiting to be discriminated against?I'm afraid this city is about to flow into rivers of blood!If it was a barbarian, he would kill it if he killed it, Pang Zheng didn't think there was anything wrong with it, but after all the people living in Xiabian City were from the Central Plains, how could the Central Plains people allow the Qiang people to kill indiscriminately?

But Pang Zheng knew that he could no longer stop these Qiang soldiers.

Shizi Xiangzhi may not be able to restrain these Qiang soldiers now, not to mention that he doesn't seem to want to restrain them at all. In the words of Shizi, killing can stimulate the soldiers' fighting spirit to the greatest extent. It will be the end of the annihilation of the whole army.

When Pang Zheng walked through the city gate and entered Xiabian City, the whole city was engulfed in a sea of ​​flames. In the blazing fire, Qiang soldiers were chasing and killing the people in the city in groups of three and four. Looting chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep, and if they met a slim lady, these Qiang soldiers could not help but knock down the street and rape in public.

A Qiang soldier tortured and killed a child for fun under Pang Zheng's nose. In a rage, Pang Zheng beheaded the Qiang soldier on the spot. Just as he was about to order a purge of military discipline, Xiang Zhi strode down from the horse path and faced Pang Zheng. Zheng said: "Pang Zheng, forget it, isn't it just a few thousand untouchables in Guanzhong? If you kill them, you will kill them."

"Your Majesty!" Pang Zheng frowned, "Your Majesty once had a strict order not to kill innocent people indiscriminately after entering the customs..."

"I know that." Xiang Zhi also frowned, and said unhappily, "But aren't we in a special situation? A single army hangs thousands of miles away, and the whole army is in danger of being wiped out at every turn. If these Qiang soldiers can't keep their morale high , I'm afraid it will be difficult to get out of Longxi alive, so what are we going to use to fight Xianyang?"

"But..." Pang Zheng wanted to argue, but Xiang Zhi interrupted him involuntarily.

Xiang Zhi suddenly raised his hand, and said coldly: "It's nothing, but the surprise attack on Xianyang and the destruction of Han is the top priority. Everything else is trivial. As long as Hanzhong can be wiped out, let alone a few thousand people in Xiabian County, it will be the most important thing." There are tens of thousands of people in the whole of Longxi, so what's the pity if they are all slaughtered?"

(End of this chapter)