Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 458 I don't know either

Tian Heng's rebel army miraculously completed the beheading operation and captured the Qi capital Linzi in one fell swoop. Of course, many variables were added to the complicated Qi battlefield, and it also brought a glimmer of hope to the Chu-Ji coalition forces who were completely at a disadvantage—if If the Chu-Ji allied forces can hold out until the follow-up Western Chu army reinforcements arrive and block the Han army's northern front corps, then with Tian Heng's support, it will definitely not be difficult for the Western Chu army to retake Qi.

However, all the good luck was not all on the side of the Chu-Ji coalition and Tian Heng's rebels, because what Tian Heng's rebels didn't know was that when they took the city of Linzi by relying on the traitors of Qi, 270 miles away On the Licheng battlefield, the situation has undergone new changes...

This point starts with the fact that the Han army successfully obtained reinforcements from the Qi fleet. After the Han army finally obtained a sufficient number of boats to cross the river, even though the weather was bad and the water level of Jishui rose, the Han army immediately launched the possibility of scrambling to cross the river. Not much, but the Chu-Ji Allied Forces, which were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength, still felt great pressure immediately, and had to immediately strengthen the defense of the river. They dared not imagine how relaxed they were before. They only sent a few sentries to monitor the ferry at night and slept at ease. They were forced to arrange troops Take turns on duty at night, always guarding against the sudden attack of the Han army.

Uncle Zhou, a military genius, also adjusted his tactics immediately. From that night on, he asked the soldiers of the Han army to sound trumpets and beat drums on the north bank of the Jishui River every once in a while to disturb the Chu-Ji coalition forces stationed on the south bank of the Jishui River. During the day, Uncle Zhou selected Han soldiers who were familiar with the water to sail to and fro along the Jishui River, surveyed the hydrology to find a suitable place to cross the river, and at the same time sent out the Han army in units of [-] people to practice at the pier in turn. Exercise, pretending that they may cross the river by boat at any time, bluffing to intimidate the enemy, making the Chuji coalition army's nerves tense, and they dare not relax for a moment.

Regarding this, not to mention Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da, even Liu Lao San was scratching his head and couldn't think of any way to deal with Uncle Zhou's despicable methods. Only Han Xin still looked relaxed and said very confidently: "Don't worry, Uncle Zhou is just bluffing. The bandit army from the state of Qi is coming soon. The weather is not very good these days. Uncle Zhou will never risk crossing the river before that. We just need to strengthen it a little bit. Some precautions are enough, there is no need to be cautious all day long, walking on thin ice."

Uncle Zhou, a military genius, quickly slapped Han Xin, the soldier fairy, and when the next night was approaching the fifth watch, taking advantage of the opportunity that the enemy on the south bank was exhausted by the self-army's harassing tactics, more than [-] selected Han Xin The soldiers of the army suddenly crossed the river by boat and attacked a Jinbei army camp on the bank of Jishui River. The rescuers of the Ji coalition army retreated by boat before they arrived, causing a lot of losses to the Chu Ji coalition army at a small price, and also avenging their previous disastrous defeat.

Although the scale of this battle was small, it was destined to not affect the overall situation, but it also made the Chuji coalition understand that the Han army really had the ability and determination to cross the river and attack, so even Han Xin dared not oppose Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da to urge Chuji The coalition forces have stepped up their vigilance, and their nerves have become increasingly tense.What made the Chuji allied forces even more worried was that at noon on the same day, Qi State General Tian Si also led [-] Qi troops to the vicinity of the Licheng battlefield by land. The Western Chu army met head-on.

Seeing the arrival of the Qi army, Xiang Guan, the general of the Western Chu Army who led [-] troops to intercept him, immediately led his troops to meet him, and took the initiative to face the Qi army head-on with a weak force. The Western Chu army may not be afraid of the [-] Qi army.However, to Xiang Guan's surprise, Qi's army, which was four times stronger than him, chose to fight in a round formation, and took a defensive position to compete with the Western Chu Army. The attack made the Western Chu army eager to fight like a tiger eating a hedgehog. They couldn't find a place to attack. On the contrary, they suffered a lot of losses when they attacked the tight battle formation of the Qi army.

Seeing that the Qi army insisted on defending, and could not break the tight battle formation of the Qi army, Xiang Guan had no choice but to withdraw the troops and led the army back to the camp to rest. However, Xiang Guan was even more surprised that he took As soon as the army withdrew, the army of Qi State took the initiative to leave the spacious and flat road, trampled on the farmland (of course, the farmland of the Jibei Army) and marched towards Jishui in the north. At dusk, they set up camp directly in the wilderness, tightly alert.

He vaguely understood that the situation was not good, so Xiang Guan had no choice but to send his fast horse back to the main battlefield in Licheng, and report the situation to Xiang Zhuang and Liu Laosan. It must be his order that the army of the state of Qi should only defend and not fight. He does not expect the army of the state of Qi to break through our interception and go directly to Licheng to meet the main forces of the Han thieves and cross the river. He wants the thieves of the state of Qi to cross the river. The army first occupies a downstream ferry, builds strong fortifications to protect the ferry, and then meets his bandit army to cross the river downstream!"

"Will the traitor cross the river at that ferry?" Xiang Zhuang asked quickly.

"I don't know." Han Xin replied helplessly: "After all, Jishui is not as good as the Yangtze River. As long as the weather improves a little, there are places suitable for crossing the river everywhere, so I have no way of predicting where the traitors will be downstream." The only thing I can be sure of is that this ferry will not be too close to the main battlefield in Licheng, at least forty miles away from the ferry in Licheng."

"Why is it so far away?" Xiang Zhuang asked in puzzlement, "It's too far away, so it's hard for the bandits' armies to respond to each other?"

"Because Uncle Zhou wants to force us to divide our troops and defend." Han Xin replied even more helplessly: "Although we have returned the [-] troops who monitored the former army of the Qi rebels going south, our total strength is still only [-], and it is still the same. Less than half of the Han thieves, and we have to guard against the bluff of the Han thieves, pretending to cross the river downstream, tricking us to transfer the main force to the downstream ferry, and then suddenly launch a rush to cross in Licheng, which can only divide the army into two , to guard against two ferries at the same time, so no matter which ferry the Han bandits initiate to cross the river, we have no way to concentrate our efforts to block it."

"In other words, Uncle Zhou is learning from the traitor Xiang Kang who attacked Nanyang before." Han Xin added: "Don't be greedy for any opportunistic tricks to win by surprise, just use more troops to bully us with fewer soldiers, forcing us to dilute our troops defending the river. Heap us to death with superior force."

"Then how to crack it?" Xiang Zhuang hurriedly asked again.

"It can't be cracked." Han Xin replied with a wry smile: "Unless our reinforcements can arrive in time to reverse our military disadvantage, there is no way to crack Zhou Shupifu's shameless method. The difficulty of crossing the river for the bandits and the loss of crossing the river, as well as the hope that the water level of Jishui can rise again, and the weather has always been so bad, made it impossible for the bandits to cross the river as soon as possible."

Xiang Zhuang was silent, and said after a long while: "Then try to find a way, how long can you stop the traitors, how much time is counted."

In this way, even Han Xin could only adopt a compromise method when the ratio of troops was too disparate. He discussed with Xiang Zhuang and others and decided to add [-] troops to Xiang Guan's side to help Xiang Guan prevent the Han army from Crossing the river downstream, leaving [-] troops on the main battlefield of Licheng to deal with the main force of the Han army and protect food and supplies.At the same time, the soldiers were asked to secretly prepare fireboats between the main battlefield of Licheng and the downstream ferry, so that they could attack at any time, and set fire to the pontoon bridge of the Han army like last time. ——Of course, Han Xinxin also knows very well that Uncle Zhou will definitely learn his lesson this time and try his best to protect the bridge.

One thing worth mentioning during this period is that Liu Laosan volunteered, hoping to lead the army to help Xiang Guan, and also brazenly hoped to gain command over Xiang Guan. Unfortunately, Xiang Zhuang kept in mind the old man Fan's advice to him before departure Life and death refused to give Liu Laosan the opportunity to command the troops alone, and insisted on transferring [-] troops from the Western Chu Army and the Jibei Army to reinforce Xiang Guan, so that Xiang Guan could continue to serve as the commander-in-chief of the flanking battlefield.Of course Liu Laosan was very dissatisfied with this, but there was nothing he could do.

Many things happened the next day. First of all, Uncle Zhou ordered Lu Kuang, Wang Ling and Xia Shuo to lead 45 troops down the river and rush to the downstream to fight The army of Qi State joined together.At the same time, the army of Qi State continued to move northward and approached the south bank of Jishui River. During this period, Xiang Guan sent troops to fight again. The army of Qi State still formed a circular formation to defend, and used the defensive force to retreat the Western Chu army, which was far inferior to its own army, and successfully arrived on the same day. After arriving at the Jishui Tucheng Ferry about [-] miles away from the main battlefield of Licheng, they immediately built a solid defense with deep ditches and high fortifications.On the evening of the same day, the Han army and the Chuji coalition army also rushed to the vicinity of Tucheng Ferry.

That night, the Han army suddenly mobilized another 150 ships to go down the river to the Tucheng Ferry on the north bank, where they were closely protected by the Han army. It was even more difficult for the Jilian army to judge where the Han army first crossed the river.

The following situation mainly happened at Tucheng Ferry. From the early morning of the second day after arriving at Tucheng Ferry, the Han army partial division began to build a temporary dock and prepare a pontoon bridge at Tucheng Ferry. The troops attacked and stormed the camp of the Qi army that had not yet been fully built, trying to defeat the Qi army and not give the Han army a chance to cross the river.

Fortunately, although the combat effectiveness of the Qi army is not very good, the defensive battle is better after all. Relying on the simple fortifications built overnight, the Qi army still blocked the all-out onslaught of the Chuji coalition forces, and did not directly kill the Chuji coalition forces. access to their camp.What surprised the generals of the Qi army was that during this period, the Han army not only sent them a batch of incomparably precious primitive grenades, but also helped them create a big surprise for the Chu-Ji coalition forces on the battlefield. He also sent the only [-] heavy armored soldiers in Uncle Zhou's hands to the south bank of Jishui, and charged back to kill the Chuji coalition forces that had almost broken through the gate of the Qi army camp, greatly improving the combat effectiveness of the Qi army.

After two days of such fierce fighting, relying on the cover of the Qi army's fighting force, the Han army finally prepared five solid pontoon bridges with floating forts as the main floating load at the Tucheng Ferry, which can connect the two sides of the river at any time to cross the river. At the same time, a giant bronze chain of sufficient length was also prepared, which could be erected urgently to block the fire boats of the Chu-Ji coalition forces that might rush from upstream, and the preparations for crossing the river were basically completed.

In the past few days, Han Xin, who is good at water attack, of course observes the celestial phenomena and hydrology every day, hoping that the gods will bless the water level of Jishui to rise again. On the coalition side, although the water level of Jishui was still much higher than usual during this period of time, there was no sign of continuing to rise. On the contrary, there were signs of a decline.

Seeing this situation, Han Xin certainly understood that the Jishui line of defense would be difficult to defend, but Han Xin still refused to give up. In addition to suggesting that Xiang Zhuang and Tian Da force Licheng civilians to step up building camps in the Jinjiling area, the highest point on the south bank, and He sneered and said, "Uncle Zhou, so what if I can't defend the Jishui defense line? As long as I can find out where you cross the river in advance, even if I can't stop you from crossing the river in the end, you will have to pay a heavy price!"

On Uncle Zhou's side, it was still at the Tucheng Ferry. When the news that the pontoon bridge at Tucheng Ferry was ready was delivered to Uncle Zhou, Li Shiqi next to him asked curiously: "General Zhou, let's talk now, which ferry are we at?" Cross the river first?"

"Doctor Li, do you want to hear the truth or lies?"

Uncle Zhou's smiling question stunned Li Shiqi. After a moment of shock, Li Shiqi hurriedly asked, "General Zhou, what do you mean? Of course the old man wants to hear the truth."

"The truth is that I haven't made up my mind." Uncle Zhou said with a smile: "That is to say, until now, I don't know where we should cross the river first."

Li Shiqi's eyes widened completely, while Uncle Zhou explained with a smile: "I did this on purpose, as long as we were ready to cross the river at the main battlefield of Tucheng Ferry and Li City at the same time, we temporarily decided to cross the river at that ferry first. That dangerous opponent, Han Xin, was unable to judge my real intentions. He had no way of judging the location of our crossing through clues, and prepared for it in advance, so that when we suddenly started to cross the river, we could kill him by surprise and prevent him from concentrating in advance. Forces, severely damaged our river crossing army."

"Then when will we decide to cross the river there?" Li Shiqi hurriedly asked again.

"Tonight." Uncle Zhou replied: "Tonight, I will take a closer look at the weather conditions before making a decision."

It was the second watch of the night. Not only did Uncle Zhou come to the North Bank of Jishui Wharf to observe the weather and hydrology in person, but also a dozen fishermen and boatmen hired by the Han army from the nearby area, who spent a lot of money, also came to the scene to help Uncle Zhou predict the weather for the next day. The hydrological situation, after some careful observation and exploration, more than a dozen fishermen and boatmen who lived on the Jishui River all year round came to a unanimous conclusion. They all predicted that there would be no heavy rain the next day. The water level should not rise suddenly, so Uncle Zhou made up his mind and ordered: "Send a fast horse to Lu Kuang and the others to pass the order. Tomorrow is the right time to cross the river in Tucheng!"

Not to mention, after returning to camp, Uncle Zhou dispatched another [-] troops overnight to set up an ambush in the narrow part of the Jishui river downstream, carrying more strong bows, hard crossbows and rockets, in preparation to intercept the firepower suddenly sent by the Chu-Ji coalition forces. Boat fire raft.

In order not to give the enemy time to prepare in advance, in addition to not making the final decision until close to midnight, Uncle Zhou also calculated the time extremely accurately, estimating that the enemy at Tuchengdu would find out that his army was about to rush across before halfway through the hour. He rushed to the Licheng Ferry to pretend to launch a rush crossing at the Licheng Ferry.

Of course, it is also possible to directly launch a rush crossing at Licheng Ferry, because the main force of the Han army not only prepared more ships at Licheng Ferry, but also prepared five pontoon bridges with floating bases as the main floating load, ready to go at any time. Really launched a beach landing battle and built a pontoon bridge to cross the river.

On Han Xin's side, he had just received the news that the main force of the Han army was mobilizing, and Han Xin knew that the real chapter had come. Afterwards, Xiang Zhuang and Liu Laosan, who relied on him as the Great Wall, immediately asked: "How is it? The Han thieves are most likely to initiate a robbery there?"

"The last general can't judge." Han Xin replied with a rare lack of confidence: "The Han bandits are ready to cross the river at Lichengdu and Tuchengdu at the same time. There are signs that they will launch a rush to cross there first, so the last general has no way to judge this time."

"It's still a disadvantage because there are too few troops." Han Xin sighed, and said: "Originally, the Han rebels were supported by Qi's rebel army at Tuchengdu, and there is a great possibility of crossing the river there. Now, the Han bandits really launched a rush to cross at Licheng Ferry, not only can we not stop the Han bandits from rushing to cross, but also the main camp and military supplies will be in danger, so we must not take this risk."

"It seems that we can only respond to all changes with the same." Xiang Zhuang said even more helplessly: "Let's send troops, first go to defend the Licheng Ferry, and then play by ear."

Uncle Zhou's tricks are not limited to this. When Xiang Zhuang, Tian Da, Liu Laosan and others led the main force of the Chu-Ji Allied Forces and rushed to Licheng Ferry where the Han army was assembled to prepare for the battle, the other side of Jishui was like a magic trick Similarly, thirty counterweight trebuchets suddenly appeared, and expensive incendiary bombs were directly used to bombard the defensive positions of the Chu-Ji coalition forces on the bank of Jishui River. Immediately, they were severely injured by the incendiary bombs of the Han army, and the arrow towers and sentry towers that had been painstakingly built were quickly ignited into the sky.

At this time, Xiang Guan also sent a fast horse to send an urgent report to Xiang Zhuang, saying that it was found that the partial division of the Han army had started to cross the river at Tuchengdu, but Xiang Zhuang heard the report but did not dare to continue to increase troops. Chengdu could only reply: "Tell General Xiang Guan to fight on his own first. If it is confirmed that the Han bandits really initiated the river crossing at Tuchengdu, then send someone to report to me."

If Xiang Zhuang can be more decisive and send enough reinforcements to Xiang Guan in time to take a risky fight, then the Western Chu Army may have the hope of causing huge losses to the Han army who crossed the river in Tucheng, but there is no way, because the main force of the Han army At Lichengdu, it was possible to launch a rush to cross the river immediately, but Xiangzhuang, which was short of troops, did not dare to take the risk, so the Han army was on the side of Tuchengdu, and naturally they crossed the river smoothly as planned.

This is a textbook-like crossing battle in the era of cold weapons. The army of Qi State, which had been unable to hide before, suddenly moved out to protect the beachhead at the ferry. The pontoon bridge was pulled across Jishui to fix it. Although the Chu-Ji coalition forces continued to attack the ferry like crazy, trying to destroy the pontoon bridge of the Han army that was being fixed, they were still firmly blocked by the soldiers of the Qi army. After the first pontoon bridge was built, , The soldiers of the Han army immediately lined up to cross the river and charged to reinforce the friendly troops of Qi.

At this time, of course, Xiang Guan also understood that the Han army was really going to cross at Tuchengdu with all its strength. In addition to urging the army to attack with red eyes, he sent people to ask for help from Xiangzhuang again, and at the same time sent people to lie in ambush upstream. The fire boat team in the reed marsh let them rush down and burn the pontoon bridge of the Han army, and cut off the way for the Han army to cross the river with all their strength.

It is a pity that the Han army has already suffered a loss, and of course the Han army will not be fooled for the second time. Not long after the fire fleet of the Chuji allied army attacked, it was immediately attacked head-on by the ambushes of the Han army ambushing in the narrow river section. The dense rockets not only caused heavy losses to the soldiers of the Chu-Ji Allied Army driving the fireboats, but also directly ignited many of the fireboats of the Chu-Ji Allied Army, turning them into huge fireballs floating on the river in advance.

Of course, it is absolutely impossible for the Han army to ambush all the fire boats of the Chu-Ji coalition army. There are still some fire boats of the Chu-Ji coalition army that rushed past the Han army's ambush section and continued to sail downstream to threaten the Han army's pontoon bridge. However, the ships sent by the Han army earlier were fully loaded with sailors, established a second line of defense to protect the pontoon bridge, and destroyed and intercepted a large number of fire boats of the Chu-Ji coalition army. He was blocked by a bronze chain urgently erected by the Han army, and then refused to pull it away with a hook by the Han army ships that rushed to the rescue.

In the end, none of the fireboats could get close to the pontoon bridge of the Han army. The five solid pontoon bridges prepared by the Han army were all urgently built under the cover of the soldiers of the Han and Qi armies. The South Bank formed an absolute superiority in troops, which in turn defeated the Chu-Ji coalition forces that were severely understrength.

When this situation was reported to Xiang Zhuang, Xiang Zhuang's face was of course ashen, Liu Laosan and Tian Da's faces were ashen, but Han Xin smiled wryly again, and then said to Xiang Zhuang: "Zuo Sima, is it again?" The disadvantage lies in the lack of troops, there is no need to struggle to the death, please let General Xiang Guan retreat immediately, try to keep the army, retreat to Jinji Ridge and stick to the dangerous position, and then play it by ear."

"Even if there are [-] more troops, we are sure to stop the Han thieves and prevent them from crossing Jishui!" Xiang Zhuang roared with a dark face.

"If I hadn't met Uncle Zhou, I would not only have the confidence to defend Jishui, but also be sure to defeat the strong with the weak, and win the many with the few!" Han Xin also said helplessly in his heart: "But there is no way, this poor man The use of troops is too steady, without taking any risks, blindly relying on the number of troops to win, so I have no chance to catch it."

(End of this chapter)