Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 543 Taking Xianyang Directly
In Heyang City, five thousand elite Han troops had gathered outside the city and stood by.

At the end of the hour, three striking black smoke rose almost simultaneously from the beacon towers facing southeast and northeast. The captain of the Han Army who was in charge of watching the smoke immediately reported loudly to Li Zuoche: "General, there are beacon smoke rising in the southeast and northeast. The army has already started to cross the river at Puban and Pishi at the same time, there are three waves of fire, and there are more than [-] Chu troops crossing the river!"

Li Zuoche stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Pi's family is a suspect, and Pu Ban is the real target of the Chu army!"

After finishing speaking, Li Zuoche turned his head and told his lieutenant general Xiahou Zao: "General Xiahou, order the whole army to rush to the aid of Puban at the speed of marching!"

"Here!" Xia Houzao responded abruptly, then turned his head and shouted loudly, "The general has an order to rush to the aid of Puban at a rapid march!"

In the Han army formation, the sound of passionate marching war drums sounded. Amidst the rapid rain of drumbeats, groups of armored soldiers of the Han army began to turn around one after another, and then lined up ten columns in the direction of Puban. Driving in, billows of smoke and dust soon rose up on the road rammed by loess, soaring to the sky.

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Pi's, crossing the river assembly point.

On the river beach not far away, a row of cowhide rafts, wooden rafts, boats and large urns have been laid out along the east bank of the river.

Gao Lang turned his head and cast a questioning look at Xiang Zheng, Xiang Zheng nodded slightly, and Gao Lang strode up to the military platform with a knife in his hand, his sharp eyes swept down the platform, and the two thousand Chu soldiers assembled below The soldier died silently for a moment.

Facing the scorching eyes of the two thousand dead men, Gao Lang said loudly: "I have over 50 soldiers with ten armies from the Great Chu to attack Han, but there is only one Han country, and only one share of military exploits. Who will win the battle?" Brothers, it depends on their own abilities, brothers, tell me, do you want to win the first merit of Ping Han?"

"miss you!"

"miss you!"

"miss you!"

Two thousand dead men responded frantically.

Under the meritorious service reward mechanism, the Chu army's desire to fight is unquestionable, because military exploits mean higher titles and more rewards, and higher titles mean more abundant survival resources, which means that they can give their wives Erbo obtains a better living environment and becomes a real nobleman.

"The prince has an order!" Gao Lang didn't talk nonsense, and directly offered a reward, "The first person to set foot on the east bank of the river will enter the third rank of noble, and will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold!"

"Ow ooh..."

The two thousand dead soldiers in the audience screamed strangely like wild wolves in an instant, and the crowd was furious.

Not far away, on the large colony field, tens of thousands of soldiers of the Chu army who had gathered separately showed envious looks. The three-level honor and a thousand taels of gold are not ordinary rewards!

"Now, it's time for the Han army to see the majesty of our Great Chu Jianer." Gao Lang suddenly pulled out his horizontal knife, pointed the blade at the west bank of the river, raised his head to the sky and howled hoarsely, "Kill!"

"Kill, kill, kill..." The two thousand dead warriors echoed, and as Gao Lang's horizontal saber slashed down, each one of them rushed towards the river bank like wild horses that had run loose, and then pushed forward at the fastest speed. The cowhide rafts, wooden rafts or boats rushed to the center of the river, and when the cowhide rafts, wooden rafts or boats left the river bank, they all jumped into the raft boats and began to paddle across the river.

For a time, more than 500 cowhide rafts, rafts tied with large urns, and small boats shot towards the west bank of the river like arrows from the string. The archers of the army began to draw their bows and release arrows one after another, and waves of arrows fell from the sky like rain, and from time to time, dead soldiers of the Chu army fell into a pool of blood.

However, it takes a lot of physical strength to draw the bow, and it is even more physical work to draw the infantry's hardwood longbow. After shooting more than 500 arrows, the more than [-] Han army archers almost stopped cooking, and found that the arrows from the other side of the river It began to become sparse, and the morale of the dead soldiers of the Chu army on the raft was suddenly boosted, and they began to wave the boat with all their strength...

Amidst the chant of the waves, a small boat was the first to run aground, and the Chu army standing at the bow was the first to jump off the boat. However, before he could cross the shallows and step onto the river bank, six or seven Han troops The long halberds had already swarmed up, nailing the Chu army to death on the shallow river beach.

The second Chu soldier jumped off a cowhide raft, and was immediately crucified to death by the Han army.

The third dead soldier of the Chu army capsized in the river and swam over. When he was only a few steps away from the river bank, he suddenly surfaced. However, just as he was about to step on the river bank, a wolf The tooth-heavy arrow shot towards him suddenly and pierced his cheek. The dead soldier of Chu army screamed and fell back into the muddy river.

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The [-] Han troops stationed in Heyang Township are indeed well-trained elite veterans. It took them less than two hours to arrive from Heyang Township to Puban over fifty miles away.

The march of the army with cold weapons in ancient times is completely different from the march of the army with hot weapons in later generations. Because the army with hot weapons uses firearms, they only need to hook their fingers when fighting unless they enter a hand-to-hand battle. It can be used for marching without reservation, but the ancient cold weapon army can't do it.

The ancient cold weapon army not only had an extra heavy load (armor), but also had to reserve at least half of its physical strength to fight, otherwise, you would only die if you rushed there. Therefore, the marching speed of fifty miles in two hours is already very powerful , I am afraid that the thousands of disabled soldiers in Xiangzhuang back then could be more powerful than them.

However, when Li Zuoche rushed to the pier of the Han army on the other side of Puban with [-] elite soldiers panting, he found that both sides of the river were silent. There were activities on the bank, and more than a hundred Chu soldiers were killed on the beach on the west bank of the river, and there was nothing else.

"What's the matter?" Li Zuoche wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked the Han army captain who came to greet him.

"General, we drove back the Chu army." The captain of the Han army said excitedly, "Just now, three or four hundred dead soldiers of the Chu army tried to cross by force. The two armies fought for more than half an hour, and finally we killed 100 soldiers. Many, the rest of the Chu army retreated, and it is estimated that more than 100 people were washed away by the river, hehe."

"Three or four hundred Chu troops?" Xia Houzao said sharply, "With such a small number of people, how dare you light up three pieces of wolf smoke?"

The wolf smoke used by the Han army for communication has extremely strict regulations. If there is one wolf smoke, the number of enemy troops will be thousands, if there are two wolf smoke, the number of enemy troops will exceed [-].Moreover, the color of the wolf smoke is also particular. Black smoke means that there is an enemy attack, and white smoke means that the battle is unfavorable.

The captain of the Han army calmly said: "General Xiahou doesn't know something. Although there were less than [-] Han troops crossing the river just now, there are at least tens of thousands of Chu troops gathered on the other side of the river, and the last general also saw the big banner of Prince Chu Xiangzheng. !"

Xia Houzao was also a little uncertain, and looked sideways at Li Zuoxiang: "Old General, look..."

"It's going to be bad, it's going to be bad! It's going to be bad!!!" Li Zuoche suddenly came to his senses, and immediately said repeatedly, "This old man is playing tricks on Xiang Zheng's son. This is really hunting wild geese all day long. I was pecked at by the geese, hey, I think the old man has been in the army for many years, and has experienced countless wars, big and small, never thought that he would fall into the trick of Xiang Zheng."

Xia Houzao and the Colonel of the Han Army looked at each other, but neither of them reacted immediately.

At this moment, three strands of eye-catching white smoke rose from the beacon tower in the northeast direction, and a sharp-eyed armored soldier of the Han army suddenly pointed to the northeast and shouted: "Look, there are three strands of white smoke in the northeast!"

Xia Houzao and Han Jun Xiaowei looked at each other in amazement. There were three beams of white smoke in the northeast. The meaning couldn't be more obvious. This shows that Prince Chu Xiangzheng didn't lie at all. Shi poured all his strength into crossing the river, but old general Li made a trick of saying that what is false is true, and what is true is false. As a result, the five thousand elite Han troops rushed to nothing.

"Old general, let's retreat to Liyang quickly!" Xia Houzao was the first to react. Once Pi's family was broken through by the Chu army and the river's natural barriers were lost, Liyang would become the last barrier to protect the eastern frontier of Xianyang.

"No, we absolutely can't retreat to Liyang." Li Zuoche shook his head firmly and said, "If our army retreats to Liyang, the Chu army will attack Tongguan from the south and it will be over! Xiang Zheng joined forces, and there is no danger to defend from Tongguan to Xianyang, what can we use to resist Xiang Zheng and Gao Chu's [-] iron armor?"

Xia Houzao frowned, and asked in a deep voice, "Then what does the old general mean?"

"Retreat to Linjin!" Li Zuoche said in an unquestionable tone, "protect the rear of Tongguan."

"What if Xiang Zheng doesn't take Linjin, but takes Xianyang directly?" Xia Houzao said, "So what?"

"Xiang Zheng, he doesn't dare." Li Zuo said, "It is a big taboo for military strategists to attack the hinterland of the enemy's country alone. If Xiang Zheng really dares to lead the army to take Xianyang, the old man will cut off his retreat. , let him die without a place to bury him!"

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The Han army's ferry on the other side of Pi's has been completely captured by the Chu army.

As time went by, wave after wave of Chu soldiers crossed to the west of the river one after another. When the number of Chu soldiers who landed exceeded 5000, the Han army on the west bank of the river finally collapsed completely. More than 5000 Han troops gathered on the river beach fought More than a thousand people died, and the remaining more than 3000 people dispersed, most of them fled back towards Xia Yang in defeat.

Encouraged by their military exploits, the generals of the Chu Army chased and killed them endlessly, and the vanguard almost chased to Xiayang City.

At this time, the main formation of the Chinese army where the Chu army had just crossed the river and came ashore suddenly heard the bang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-dang-gold sound. Although the soldiers of the Chu army were full of reluctance, they had no choice but to pack up their ambitions and start returning. Regrouping on the west bank of the river requires the Chu army to have extremely strict military discipline. If they don't retreat after hearing the gold, they will be beheaded.

More than a dozen small Chu army came to Xiang Zheng and Gao Lang, and said, "Prince, General, the morale of the Han army has been lost, and Xia Yang in front can break through with one blow. Does this motivate the army to attack the city?" ?”

"Attack Xiayang?" Xiang Zheng and Gao Lang looked at each other, smiled and shook their heads and said, "No, we don't have time to entangle with the Han army in Xiayang."

Gao Lang raised his horizontal saber and shouted sharply, "Give me an order to command the whole army to go around Xiayang and take Xianyang straight!"

(End of this chapter)