Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 298 Uncle Zhou VS Xiang Yu

The cold wind is like a knife, and the face is painful. The deeper the night, the colder the temperature. Even if it is only early winter, it seems to be the scene of midwinter.

In such a cold weather, the city of Xingyang was still brightly lit, with one post at three steps and one post at five steps, and there were guarding soldiers patrolling with torches everywhere, it was extremely hard work.

Everywhere you can see Han soldiers shivering in the cold, complaining in low voices about the inhumanity of the commander, forcing himself to be on guard in such a cold winter night, not allowing himself to hide in a warm tower so that he can get a good sleep, he hates it even more The Western Chu cavalry who crossed the river during the day did not go to attack Aocang or Guangwu City in the northeast, but went to Xingyang City to prepare to attack the city, so that they had to walk up the city wall at night in winter, and beware of Western Chu The army suddenly attacked.

The generals and soldiers of the Han army have no right to complain, because no matter how cold the weather is, there are bonfires on the city walls to help them keep warm. No matter how bad it is, they can also stomp their feet to regain consciousness from their numb feet without worrying about making any noise. , to get the attention of others.

The soldiers of the Western Chu Army lurking in the dark under the city of Xingyang were far from so lucky. It was just dark when they followed the order of Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, and sneaked under the city of Xingyang to lie in ambush. Yao fulfilled his promise and opened the gate of Xingyang to welcome them into the city. In order not to be discovered by the defenders on the city, let alone lighting a fire to keep warm, even if they wanted to stomp their feet, they had to be afraid of being discovered by the defenders on the city. Relying on the whole body to fight against the cold wind at night, and even if you have to cover your mouth to dare to sneeze even if your nose is running from the cold, the hardship is naturally far higher than that of the Han soldiers in the city.

Xiang Yu and the main force of the Western Chu cavalry who were in charge of supporting them were in a better situation. They could justly sit by the campfire far away from the city wall to warm themselves up. However, there was no military tent to keep out the cold. Most of the Xichu soldiers were still so cold that their lips turned white, including Xiang Yu, they had to stick close to their horses, using the horse's body temperature to resist the cold wind.

"Ah!"

After a very rare sneeze, Xiang Yu asked about the current time again, and when he learned that it was already half past three o'clock, Xiang Yu couldn't help being even more angry, and cursed in a low voice: "Li Yao, it's almost four o'clock!" Why don't you do it? If you don't do it, it will be dawn soon!"

"Your Majesty, wait patiently." Xiang Zhuang whispered next to him, "The Han bandits are guarded too tightly. There are soldiers patrolling the city all the time. It is very difficult for him to have a chance to do anything."

Sighing helplessly, Xiang Yu could only secretly decide to reduce the reward he was going to give to Li Yao by half, while gritting his teeth and continuing to wait patiently. However, the fire in the city never appeared. On the contrary, the sound of the rooster crowing gradually came from the city of Xingyang, announcing that the night was about to pass.

In the end, the soldiers of the Western Chu Army who were sneezed in the cold lurked until dawn, and there was no movement in Xingyang City, let alone someone quietly opened the city gate to welcome the poor soldiers of Western Chu into the city.

When the sky was fully bright, Xiang Yu personally picked up Li Yao's messenger who delivered the letter across the river yesterday, and asked Li Yao angrily, why did Li Yao play tricks on the Western Chu cavalry and didn't open the city all night?Li Yao's poor messenger kowtowed and begged for mercy, insisting that he didn't know the reason, and boldly begged Xiang Yu to let him return to the city, and asked Li Yao why he didn't keep his word?
Without hesitation, Xiang Yu chopped off the head of the unlucky messenger with a sword. Besides ordering the soldiers to hurry up and make weapons for the fortification, he swore loudly with a pale face that after breaking the city, Li Yaoman, the magistrate of Xingyang County, would definitely be executed. Yixue was humiliated by him playing tricks on her last night!To avenge the hundreds of Xichu soldiers who were caught cold by the cold!
Even Xiang Zhuang, who is connected by blood, did not dare to disobey Xiang Yu who was in a fit of anger. He just made a suggestion to Xiang Yu, saying: "Your Majesty, just to be cautious, we'd better send an army eastward to meet the King of Henan, and let him take over as soon as possible." The military supplies were escorted to the front line for us to set up camp, otherwise, if we continue to sleep in the open like this, our soldiers may suffer from more frostbite."

Xiang Yu did not reject Xiang Zhuang's good advice this time, and immediately ordered Ding Gu to lead an army back from the original road, and go east at full speed to meet Sima Ang's army who was escorting the military supplies. Ang's army arrived and immediately attacked the Han army.During this period, the main force of Uncle Zhou's troops of the Han Army, whose troops and soldiers were inferior to the Western Chu cavalry, did not dare to take any action, and honestly hid in the Guangwu camp to confront the Western Chu army.

To Xiang Yu's surprise, Ding Gu sent a messenger back to Xingyang City to contact Xiang Yu just after noon. Xiang Yu was anxious, and after meeting him, he rushed to ask, "How is it? Where is the military supplies escorted by the King of Henan?"

Ding Gu's messenger looked frustrated, and replied with a mournful face: "Your Majesty, don't be angry when you hear this. Yesterday evening, the army of the King of Henan and the Han thief Zhong Limei fought in the western suburb of Suanzao. As a result, the army of the King of Henan Fleeing in defeat, all the food, supplies, and supplies he escorted were captured by the Han bandit army, and there is no way to send them back to us."

"What?!" Xiang Yu jumped up straight away, grabbed the messenger sent by Ding Gu, and roared furiously in his single eye, "What is Sima Ang doing? His army is more than that of Zhongli Meifu It’s more than doubled, why did you lose the battle? How is this possible?!”

Xiang Yu really couldn't believe that Sima Ang would suffer such a big defeat. When they met Sima Ang briefly in Puyang, Li Zuoche once told Xiang Yu clearly that the Han army's Zhongli Mei was the same as the Henan army. A patchwork army, because almost all the main forces were lost in Nanyang before, Zhongli Mei's team has a large number of recruits from Guanzhong, and has also recruited many soldiers from the Henan army. The overall combat effectiveness is not as good as other Han armies. The army, Sima Ang also said that he was sure that he could deal with Zhongli Mei, so Xiang Yu dared to go westward without worrying about Suanzao, and let Sima Ang deal with the Han army Zhongli Mei's troops alone. Sima Ang suddenly suffered a big defeat. Of course, Xiang Yu couldn't believe that he lost all his military supplies.

"That bastard Zhong Limo is too cunning." Ding Gu's messenger introduced with a mournful face: "Before he attacked, he burned all his camps by himself, leaving no retreat, forcing the bandit soldiers to attack desperately. Everyone counts one as ten, Henan King couldn't stand it, so he was defeated."

After saying that, Ding Gu's messenger hurriedly added: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, Zhongli Mopifu only won a miserable victory. His army was almost half exhausted before barely winning. Although we robbed and burned all our military supplies, but There is no way to continue the fight, and now I have taken the initiative to hide in Suanzao to defend the city."

Throwing Ding Gu's envoy several feet away, Xiang Yu just roared with red eyes, "What's the use of killing more thieves and soldiers? This king needs military supplies now, as long as the military supplies! Without military supplies, this king How to fight this battle? How to fight?!"

"Brother, don't worry." Xiang Zhuang said quickly: "There are two cities, Juan County and Yangwu, to the east of Aocang. There are few bandits and soldiers there. We only need to take these two cities first, and we will be able to capture enough in no time." we don’t have to worry about the danger of running out of food!”

Xiang Yu didn't bother to pay attention to Xiang Zhuang, but just roared loudly, demanding that the generals of Western Chu immediately report how many siege weapons had been built. After learning that more than two hundred simple flying ladders had been built, Xiang Yu immediately turned to the city wall of Xingyang, planning to Can Xingyang City be taken directly with the existing siege weapons?
Fortunately, Xiang Yu can't do other things, but he is a genius in war. After the generals of Western Chu waited in fear for a long time, Xiang Yu still roared and said: "Take the flying ladder and cross the chasm. Let the county and Yangwu take it down and talk about it."

Xiang Zhuang, who was afraid that Xiang Yu would order a forcible attack on the city, and the generals of Western Chu heaved a sigh of relief together, and then Xiang Zhuang couldn't help but said: "Brother, you scared me to death, I am really afraid that you will ignore it and order the attack directly. Xingyang City."

"I'm not a fool!" Xiang Yu scolded with a dark face: "Xingyang is so strong, and the city must have enough supplies to defend the city. With only two hundred flying ladders and no other siege weapons, how could it be possible to take it down? Also, who said I must fight Xingyang first?"

After saying that, Xiang Yu shouted again: "What are you still doing? Go now, first take down Juanxian and Yangwu, and seize the military supplies in the city, and then come back to settle accounts with the Han thieves!"

According to Xiang Yu's order, the Western Chu cavalry first crossed the gap again, and joined forces with Ding Gu who had returned in vain in the evening. Not to mention, the Western Chu army took down the small town of Juan County, which was only guarded by two or three hundred county soldiers, without any effort. However, military tents, quilts, vehicles, linen, and ordnance, which were necessary for the army, had already been removed by the Han army. Once the soldiers of the Western Chu army left the city, they still had to sleep in the open, and there were still no military tents to keep warm from the cold.

I vaguely guessed that the situation at Yangwu must be the same, but Xiang Yu still refused to give up, and sent Xiang Zhuang to lead an army to fight Yangwu. Although Yangwu was taken as easily as Juanxian, Yangwu City Still can't find even a military tent that can set up a camp for Western Chu soldiers, and other military supplies have also been completely transferred by the Han army.Xiang Yu was furious when he heard the news, so he could only adopt Ding Gu's suggestion, let the soldiers collect all the equipment and food available to the people, and force all the men, women, old and children in Juan County and Yangwu City to follow the army. They came to kill the troops of Uncle Zhou of the Han army defending Aocang and Xingyang.

When crossing the chasm three times, the people of Sanchuan who were expelled across the river by the soldiers of the Western Chu army were of course crying loudly. The frail elderly and young children dragged each other, and countless people died when they fell into the water. During this period, soldiers of the Western Chu army raped The civilian girl killed innocent people, the scene was terrible, but Xiang Yu, who had already killed countless people in Qidi, turned a blind eye to it. He just urged the soldiers to force the people to cross the river as soon as possible, and went to the west of Xingyang City to build a camp. The generals and soldiers of the Chu army can rest at ease overnight.

It was three o'clock in the night, and Uncle Zhou suddenly sent an army to sneak outside the Xichu army camp in an attempt to attack the Xichu army camp by night. Fortunately, the soldiers of the Xichu army who supervised the people's fortification found it in time and immediately rang the gong to call the police. Leading the army out of the camp to fight back, the Han army quickly withdrew and fled to the Guangwu camp. Xiang Yu, who was burning with anger, led his army in hot pursuit, and directly chased him to the gate of the Han army's Guangwu camp.Unexpectedly, there was a sudden sound of war drums in the Guangwu camp of the Han army, and at the same time, a series of explosions soon came from the Western Chu army camp in the distance. The main force of the Chu army returned to the reinforcement camp, and most of the Han soldiers who pretended to rob the camp also took the opportunity to escape back to their own camp.

Xiang Yu was indeed caught by Uncle Zhou's shameless trick again. Just when he heard the drums of the self-army camp beating, the hundreds of Han cavalry who had been ambushing in the darkness to the northwest immediately moved out, brandishing sabers with gauntlets, and Using the original grenade to open the way, they directly entered the camp of the Western Chu army. Although the Western Chu cavalry stayed in the camp and blocked them, they were not killed by the Han cavalry. The cavalry retreated before the main force of the Western Chu army returned to the scene, relying on their familiarity with the road to quickly get rid of the pursuit of the Western Chu cavalry. Although there were some losses, they were not very large.

The biggest loss of the Western Chu Army in this battle was the auxiliary combat force. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Western Chu Army being temporarily entangled by the Han cavalry, more than 1 Sanchuan people who were forcibly engulfed by the Western Chu Army escaped. Although the Western Chu army tried their best to capture them, the people still fled for nearly half of them by night, which greatly weakened the available manpower of the Chu army. Xiang Yu was furious, but he was still helpless.

Xiang Yu quickly turned his anger into joy, but Uncle Zhou and the soldiers of the Han army were not happy for long, because it was only at noon the next day, and Sima Ang led more than 1 soldiers of the Henan army to the bank of the chasm. He took the initiative to come here to make atonement for Xiang Yu—although the military supplies were gone, he still provided a lot of auxiliary force for Xiang Yu, didn't he?So the scouts of the Han army reported the news to Uncle Zhou, and Uncle Zhou, who had always been calm, showed a worried expression for the first time, and said, "This battle will be even more difficult."

"General, don't worry." Li Bi hurriedly comforted: "Although Mr. Sima Yang insisted on coming to help Mr. Xiang Yu, our scouts have confirmed that he did not bring any military supplies. The bandit army still has to spend the night in the open air. Good for us."

"Don't underestimate the Western Chu bandit army." Uncle Zhou shook his head and said: "Sleeping in the open in winter will certainly have a great impact on the physical strength of the soldiers of the Western Chu bandit army, but the bandit soldiers who can follow Xiang Yu thousands of miles to attack Sanchuan , must be elite soldiers, unless it is snowing, otherwise such weather will not trouble them, they can still pose a deadly threat to us."

After shaking his head and finishing speaking, Uncle Zhou thought for a while, and suddenly asked Li Bi, his beloved general: "Li Bi, if you were Xiang Yu, our Xingyang, Aocang and Guangwu, which one would you fight first?"

"Of course we should attack Xingyang first, and capture enough food, grass and military supplies to set up camp." Li Bi replied, "Then attack Aocang, where we have the second largest army, and finally Guangwu, where we have the largest army."

"I hope Xiang Yu will make the same choice as you." Uncle Zhou's answer surprised Li Bi, and then he frowned and said, "Otherwise, we will be in big trouble."

At the same time, the remnants of the Henan Army led by Sima Ang, also supported by the Western Chu cavalry, successfully crossed the chasm and joined forces with Xiang Yu. Needless to say, Sima Ang immediately prostrated himself on the ground in front of Xiang Yu to plead guilty , frankly admitted that he was useless and incompetent, and would be defeated by Zhongli Mo's weak force.Fortunately, Xiang Yu's anger has almost subsided by now, and he liked Sima Ang's insistence on coming to help. He scolded him and shouted: "Get up. When you attack the bandit camp next time, bring your army to sell more. Otherwise, don't blame me for the two crimes and punish you, and take your head directly!"

Sima Ang hurriedly bowed his head to thank him, and then got up tremblingly. Xiang Yu didn't bother to pay attention to him anymore, but turned to Li Zuoche, who had helped him a lot, and asked, "Mr. Cang and Guangwu, which army do you think we should attack first?"

Li Zuoche didn't dare to answer immediately, he just took a peek at Xiang Yu cautiously, and then asked: "King of Western Chu, I would like to ask one more question, has the garrison of the Han bandit army not changed? Is it still Guangwu that has the most troops, and Aocang?" The most times, the least in Xingyang?"

Xiang Yu nodded, and Sima Ang who was next to him hurriedly said: "King of Western Chu, then we should attack Xingyang first, capture enough military supplies and set up camp, then attack Aocang, cut off Zhou Shupifu's wings, and finally attack Fight Guangwu and completely annihilate Zhou Shupifu's main force!"

"Trash!" Xiang Yu's nose was almost out of breath, and he scolded, "No wonder you can't even protect a little military supplies, and you can't even tell the priority."

"No? There's no distinction between primary and secondary?" Sima Ang was a little dumbfounded, and said, "Could it be that we want to attack the bandit army's Guangwu camp first?"

"That's right, we should attack the bandits' Guangwu camp first." Li Zuoche said hastily, "Uncle Zhou deliberately arranged only three thousand troops to guard Xingyang. The strength also buys him time to wait for the traitor Xiang Kang to lead the main force of the Han thieves back to aid Sanchuan. During our storming of Xingyang, he will definitely use the mobile force in his hand to try to sneak up on our back and delay our siege progress."

"As expected of being the grandson of Lord Wu'an (Li Mu) of the Zhao State, you are indeed the only one who is worthy to discuss military matters with this king."

Xiang Yu rarely showed a smile, but Xiang Zhuang next to him was also confused, and said in surprise: "My lord, do we really want to attack the Guangwu camp of the bandit army first? Zhou Shupifu's main force is stationed in the Guangwu camp. Is it the most difficult to fight? Why do we have to choose the easy and choose the difficult, and fight Guangwu first? Also, you also decided to fight Xingyang first, my lord, why did you change your mind now?"

"Brother, you have been fighting for so many years, why are you still not making any progress? I decided to fight Xingyang first because Li Yao said that he was going to dedicate the city, and we have a chance to take Xingyang quickly, so I decided to fight Xingyang first. Give it a try!"

Xiang Yu reprimanded angrily, and said: "But the situation is different now. We have no hope of taking Xingyang quickly. If we continue to attack the strong city of Xingyang first, Uncle Zhou will definitely send troops to attack our back. With enough troops to maneuver, people are extremely cunning, shameless and vicious are not inferior to our traitor brother, if we are not careful, we may be taken advantage of by him and suffer a big loss."

"But if we attack Guangwu first, since the Han bandits in Xingyang and Aocang don't have the courage and strength to attack behind us, we can attack Guangwu with all our strength and force Zhou Shupifu and us to attack Guangwu. Head-to-head confrontation, so that he has no chance to opportunistically, understand?"

"Not bad." Li Zuoche added: "As long as we take down the Guangwu camp of the bandit army and annihilate the main force of the Han bandits, Aocang and Xingyang, who are isolated and helpless, can be easily won without a strong attack. It can be said to be a battle." But if we attack Xingyang first and then attack Aocang, we will waste time and give the rebels Xiang Kang the opportunity to return to the army for rescue, and Zhou Shupifu, who is still alive, will take the opportunity to cooperate with the rebels Xiang Kang inside and outside, and attack us back and forth. Even if we take Xingyang and Aocang, they will be easily snatched back by Xiang Kang's rebels."

Xiang Zhuang, Sima Ang and others suddenly realized, and hurriedly praised Xiang Yu's military skills like a god and his foresight. Li Zuoche couldn't help but muttered in his heart, "This overlord of Western Chu is not good at other things, but he is not good at fighting. Up, it’s not ambiguous at all.”

In the afternoon of the next day, when Xiang Yu couldn't wait to lead the army to the gate of the Guangwu camp of the Han army, Uncle Zhou also immediately understood that Xiang Yu had made the most correct choice, and he was completely helpless. The overlord of Western Chu clearly distinguishes the priority from the secondary. There is no other way, and the next thing to do is to fight head-to-head, defending the Guangwu camp and waiting for the reinforcements of the King of Han. There is no chance for opportunism."

(End of this chapter)