Chu and Han contend for the throne

Chapter 78
"Your Majesty!" Han Xin bowed to Liu Bang and said in a mournful voice, "Xiao Wang has just received an urgent report from eight hundred miles away. A group of bandits pretending to be the Han army attacked Linzi and burned the city of Linzi to the ground. Xiao Wang I am very anxious, and the overall situation in Liang has been settled, so please allow the king to allow Xiao Wang to lead his troops back to the country!"

Liu Bang struggled to lift off the white tiger skin cloak on his face, turned over from the soft couch with "extraordinary difficulty", then opened his dull eyes and said, "Well, oh, it's King Qi, sit, sit down ..." Looking at Liu Bang's powerless appearance, it really made people worry that he would not be able to catch his breath, so he just passed by.

"My lord, what's wrong with you?" Han Xin couldn't help being anxious.

Han Xin is an honest man, he really thought that Liu Bang was seriously ill.

Chen Ping blinked his eyes, and suddenly stepped forward and said to Han Xin: "Your Highness, don't worry. Your Majesty just feels a little cold occasionally, so his head is a little heavy. In fact, it's not a serious problem, and the injury doctor has given him medicine just now, and he will be fine after he sleeps." Alright, so, Your Highness should go back first, we can talk about anything after the king recovers."

"But, but, Linzi has been destroyed by the flames of war, and the whole land of Qi..." Before Han Xin finished speaking, he saw Liu Bang fell into a deep sleep again, so he could only sigh dejectedly, and went to pay the bill unhappy.

Chen Ping followed Han Xin out of the big tent, watched Han Xin ride away on his horse, and then hurried back to the big tent, and ordered Xia Houying to guard outside the big tent, and then said to Liu Bang who was lying on the soft couch "pretending to be sleeping": " Your Majesty, leave, Han Xin has already left."

"Going away? Good to go, good to go, hoo." Liu Bang let out a long sigh of relief and sat up again.

Zhang Liang sighed, and persuaded Liu Bang, "Your Majesty, it's not an option to procrastinate. Today is procrastinating, but what about tomorrow? You will have to face this matter sooner or later."

Liu Bang said unhappily: "Then tell me, what should we do about this matter?"

"Yeah, what should we do now?" Chen Ping sighed, and said helplessly, "As the saying goes, if you make a bad move, you will lose the whole game. I thought that the remnant of Xiangzhuang had already collapsed in the Dabie Mountains, but I didn't want to secretly sweep it. Liangdi, and then went to Qidi. Now the purpose of the Chu army has basically been achieved. Zhou Yin's army has stayed in Jiujiang County, and Peng Yue's army has returned to Liangdi. Once Han Xin's army also returns to Qidi, the world will be almost the same. It has returned to the chaotic situation before the conflict between Chu and Han."

Hearing this, Liu Bang had the idea of ​​retreating. After five years of hard work, he finally defeated Xiang Yu, but in the end the situation returned to the way it was before the conflict between Chu and Han. Then these five years were not in vain. What's more, Liu Bang is not young anymore, he might pass away sometime, so, hurry back to Guanzhong and enjoy a few years of happiness.

At this moment, Liu Bang really had the intention to retire. Even if he couldn't be the emperor, it would be good to be the king of Guanzhong in Guanzhong. He was originally a rascal in the market. Green smoke!In fact, Liu Bang didn't have any ambitions at first, which were instigated by Xiao He, Zhang Liang and Chen Ping.

"Zifang, Chen Ping, why don't we go back to Guanzhong?" Liu Bang said in a tentative tone, "Lv Ze guards Sanchuan County, and another general guards Hangu Pass. No matter how noisy he is in Guandong, he can't threaten him anyway." When we reach Guanzhong, we will not be young anymore, so let's take advantage of this time to enjoy a few years of happiness."

Chen Ping couldn't help being surprised when he heard this, and suddenly realized that King Han was already old. In five years, King Han would be 60 years old. As his body aged, King Han's ambitions were obviously fading. , he has realized that his time is short, so he wants to enjoy more while he is alive, which is also human nature.

Zhang Liang was also taken aback, and hastily persuaded, "Your Majesty, you have fallen short for the sake of Shan Jiuren!"

Chen Ping calmed down, and persuaded: "Yes, my lord, what brother Zifang said is right. In the struggle between Chu and Han, the king was defeated by Xiang Yu five times, and his entire teacher was wiped out twice. Such a difficult situation is difficult. Persistence has come, although there is a small setback now, but compared to the time when facing Xiang Yu, the situation is much better, my lord, what is more important is persistence."

Liu Bang rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Hehe, Zifang, Chen Ping, Gu just wants to test you, to see if you have lost confidence in Gu, since you still have confidence in Gu, how can Gu himself give up? What about it? Not to mention that the princes from all walks of life have not yet rebelled, even if they did rebel, so what? Can they be more difficult to deal with than Xiang Yu?"

Liu Bang is a person with little culture, but he is good at doing good things. He was a little bit withdrawn just now, but after being persuaded by Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, he immediately changed his mind and said immediately: "However, this matter is really a matter now. If you really want to Han Xin returned to Qidi with an army of 30, that is really not an ordinary trouble, Zifang, Chen Ping, think about it carefully, how to break this game!"

Zhang Liang pondered for a moment, then said decisively: "Your Majesty, the only thing we can do now is retreat!"

"Advance by retreat?" Liu Bang suddenly regained his energy when he heard the words, and said anxiously, "Quickly say, how can you advance by retreat?"

Zhang Liang said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, simply put your posture higher, not only let King Qi go back to Qi, but also King Zhao Zhang Er and King Han Han Xin!"

"Ah?!" Chen Ping was shocked, "If this happens, won't the situation become more chaotic?"

"Zifang, I'm afraid it won't work." Liu Bang also said, "In this way, we will really return to the Warring States Period."

Zhang Liang sighed: "When the Chu army left Dabie Mountain secretly and we didn't notice it, today's situation is already inevitable. This is a conspiracy, an upright conspiracy, although we know that Wei Liao and the Chu army What do you want to do, but we can't stop it, and now we can only follow the trend."

"Zifang, what if I seize Han Xin's military power?" Liu Bang was still a little unhappy, and said, "If Han Xin's 30 troops belong to me, I will have 50 troops. Among the other princes, Peng Yue has the most troops, but There are only 10 people, how dare they have a different heart? When I want them to go east, how dare they go west?"

Zhang Liang sighed, and said again: "Is Your Majesty planning to kill King Qi?"

"Kill Han Xin?" Liu Bang said in amazement, "I never thought about it, I just want his military power."

Zhang Liangdao: "Your Majesty, if you seize the military power of the King of Qi, you will tear yourself apart from him. If you don't kill him at this time, won't your Majesty leave behind a powerful enemy for yourself? You need to know Qi The population is far more than one million, if the king of Qi returns to the land of Qi, he can immediately summon hundreds of thousands of soldiers with a single call, so what will the king do then?"

"That's right." Liu Bang gasped when he heard the words, and said again, "Then kill him!"

Zhang Liang smiled bitterly and said: "If the king really kills the king of Qi, I'm afraid that Peng Yue, Ying Bu, Zhang Er, Zang Tu, Wu Rui, Han Wang Han Xin and other princes will immediately turn their backs on the king." , Zhang Liang said again, "Of course, the king can also plan to kill these princes and kings, but if this happens, the world will be in chaos!"

Liu Bang frowned and said, "So, there is really no other way?"

"I'm afraid it's gone." Zhang Liang said, "At this point, the only thing we can do is retreat!"

Chen Ping's heart moved slightly, and he asked Zhang Liang: "Brother Zifang, do you still have any backup options?"

Zhang Liang nodded and said to Liu Bang: "My lord, agreeing that the three princes return to the country is called retreat. This retreat is to appease the princes from all walks of life, especially King Qi. When King Zhao, King Han, and King Qi return to the country, Your Majesty Then personally bring one hundred thousand elite soldiers into Qi to assist the King of Qi in attacking the remnants of Xiang Yu, this is an advance, this advance is to break the foundation of the King of Qi in Qi!"

Liu Bang suddenly realized: "Zifang is saying that first cut off Han Xin's foundation, and then seize his military power?"

"Yes." Zhang Liang stroked his long beard, nodded and said, "As long as the foundation of King Qi in Qi is broken, and then his military power is seized, King Qi will have no soldiers in his hands, and no matter how much he can command soldiers, he will have nothing to do. Actually, the rest of the kings, whether it is Peng Yue or Yingbu, are not worth worrying about at all, they just have to find a chance to get rid of them after rewarding the world!"

"Okay." Liu Bang said happily, "That's it!"

##########
Half an hour later, the princes from all walks of life gathered in Liu Bang's big tent, and Peng Yue also rushed back from Aocang.

Liu Bang first bowed to the princes from all walks of life, and said sincerely: "Xiang Yu has no way, he is nepotism, rewards and punishments are unfair, and he does all kinds of perverse actions, so that the world is panicked and the people are full of grievances. To defeat Xiang Yu alone, Bang is here to represent the people of the world, thank you all!"

"Han King Gao Yi, we are afraid." All the princes hurriedly bowed in return.

After Liu Bang finished speaking, he got up and said: "Xiang Yu is dead now, and only a few thousand remnants of Xiangzhuang are making trouble in Qidi. Gu is very worried. After Xiangzhuang's remnants are frustrated, they may cross the river and flee into Zhaodi, or even flee westward into Handi. , Therefore, King Qi, King Zhao, and King Han should hurry up and lead their troops back to the country, and take strict precautions."

"Xiao Wang thanked the king!" Han Xin was overjoyed when he heard this.

The rest of the princes looked at each other in blank dismay, especially Peng Yue. Just before he came, Kuai Che told him that he was in danger of his life and told him not to come. He also said that Liu Bang might jump over the wall and forcibly deprive the princes of their military power. , this time the Xingyang meeting was likely to be another Hongmen meeting, but it turned out to be completely different.

After a long while, Peng Yue said, "I don't know what your Majesty's plan is?"

Liu Bang waved his hand and said: "I will leave an army of [-] troops and hand them over to Lu Ze as the commander to assist the King of Liang in attacking the rebels in Xingyang, Chenggao and Aocang City. Help the King of Qi to attack the remnants of Xiang Chu!" After finishing speaking, Liu Bang preached to King Yan Zangtu, King Hengshan Wu Rui and Yingying, "King Yan, King Hengshan and King Huainan will go out together with Gu."

"Promise." Wu Rui, Ying Bu, and Zang Tu had no choice but to get up and promise. At this time, they dare not touch Liu Bang's head.

(End of this chapter)