Han Dang is stronger

Chapter 459 Crazy Upgrade
In order to keep the seriously insufficient troops as much as possible, Xiang Zhuang hesitated again and again, and finally adopted Han Xin's suggestion, and dispatched a fast horse to send an order to Xiang Guan's subordinate division of the Chuji coalition army on the Tuchengdu battlefield, let Xiang Guan lead the army Immediately withdraw to the Jinjiling camp that has been recruited and built before this, and stop fighting with the Han army's partial division that is doomed to be useless.At the same time, for the sake of safety, Xiang Zhuang also confessed early on that Xiang Guan was allowed to give up the camp and luggage when necessary, and give priority to protecting the army.

When the order was conveyed to Xiang Guan, the partial division of the Chuji Allied Forces who had been defeated by the Han army's counterattack had actually withdrawn to the camp on its own, so although he was extremely unwilling, Xiang Guan, who had known for a long time that his army had no chance of winning, still yelled, Humu With tears in his eyes, he ordered the allied forces of Chu and Ji to immediately abandon the camp and retreat at full speed. Before all the partial divisions of the Han army had crossed the river, and before the Han army and Qi army had time to surround his camp, they fled to Jinjiling first. Regroup the army.

Fortunately, the main force of the Chu-Ji coalition was not restrained by the main force of the Han army in the main battlefield of Licheng in vain. At least at this critical moment, the main force of the Chu-Ji coalition could continue to block the ferry and fight for the retreat of the partial divisions and the transfer of supplies for the rear army. Time, and although the main force of the Han army received the news very quickly, Uncle Zhou was not in a hurry to let the soldiers of the Han army launch a rush to cross at Lichengdu, and said calmly: "Don't worry, rush to cross now Not only is it difficult and there are many casualties, but when the main force of the Western Chu bandit army also starts to retreat, it will not be too late for us to rush across and pursue them."

It's a pity that Uncle Zhou's wishful thinking was also within Han Xin's expectation. After confirming that Xiang Champion had already started to retreat, and after waiting for a while, the main force of the Han army still did not see the main force of the Han army rushing to cross over. Han Xin immediately expected Uncle Zhou's plan. He also hurriedly said to Xiang Zhuang: "Zuo Sima, the Han thieves in Licheng haven't launched a rush to cross until now, they must want to wait until our main force starts to retreat, and take advantage of the panic of our retreat to severely damage our army. The army, the general believes that only by asking Zuo Sima to lead the elite troops to the rear can the morale of the army be stabilized and our main force retreat back to the Jinjiling camp smoothly."

Xiang Zhuang, who has never been afraid of tough battles, immediately nodded in agreement, and asked again: "Should we hold on until it is completely dark before retreating? After dark, the Han thieves are afraid that there will be an ambush like last time, and they must not dare to pursue too much. In this way, when we retreat The loss can be smaller."

"No." Han Xin replied immediately: "We have to guard against the Han bandits who come from Tuchengdu for reinforcements, so as soon as General Xiang Guan's army retreats to the Jinjiling camp, we have to retreat immediately."

Xiang Zhuang nodded silently again, and then patiently waited until Xiang Guan led the partial division to retreat to the vicinity of Jinji Ridge. Xiang Zhuang immediately ordered Liu Laosan and Tian Da to lead the main force of the Chu-Ji Allied Forces to retreat southward, while he personally led [-] troops to stay where they were At the back of the palace, when he saw the main force of the Chu-Ji coalition army begin to retreat, Uncle Zhou immediately urged the main force of the Han army to launch a rush crossing, trying his best to weaken the enemy in the field battle and lay a greater advantage for the decisive battle after crossing the river.

No way, Xiang Zhuang personally led the army behind the palace, which really played a huge role in stabilizing the morale of the army. Seeing that the Han army began to rush across, Xiang Zhuang not only did not let the army behind the palace form a formation to protect themselves, but also bravely urged the army to attack and stop the Han army. The army won the beachhead as soon as possible, and also took advantage of local strength to fight the enemy bravely, venting their anger at the loss of the Jishui line of defense.

The limited force doomed the Western Chu army to have no way to stop the landing of the Han army. Even when the Han army urgently erected the pontoon bridge, the Chu-Ji coalition forces sent all the fireboats ambushing upstream, but still failed to stop the Han army soldiers. Fortunately, Xiang Zhuang didn't need to stop the Han army for a long time. The main force of the Chu-Ji coalition had just withdrawn to the new camp at Jinji Ridge. Xiang Zhuang immediately led his army southward. Chased, but still failed to defeat the elite troops of the Western Chu Army led by Xiang Zhuang himself. Xiang Zhuang led the army to break through and successfully retreated to Jinjiling to escape the pursuit with only a loss of more than [-] people.

This of course made Uncle Zhou very disappointed, but there was no way out. The new camp that the Chuji Allied Forces forced the peasants of Licheng to build was not only built on the dangerous terrain that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, but it was also built extremely solidly. Sufficient, the Han army dare not say that they are sure to win in one fell swoop, not to mention that they have just crossed the river and don't even have a flying ladder attached to the ant, so Uncle Zhou can only quickly recall the chasing army and protect the ferry with all his strength. Let the main force of the Han army seize the time to cross Jishui and move the camp to the south bank of Jishui.

The size of the army is too large, and the amount of food and grass carried is an astronomical figure. Therefore, it took more than a day for the main force of the Han army and partial divisions to complete the comprehensive crossing of the river and join forces. Build new strongholds on the earth.During this period, the scouts of the Han army were of course active everywhere, exploring the Licheng city and the new camp of the Chuji allied forces, and reporting to Uncle Zhou.

Uncle Zhou frowned on the information collected by the scouts of the Han Army. The fortification of Licheng, an important town in the north of Jilin Province, is still a trivial matter. As long as you give the Han Army Northern Front Corps a little more time, it will definitely not be a big problem to take down the city with a counterweight trebuchet. The most troublesome thing for Uncle Zhou was the Jinjiling camp of the Chu-Ji Allied Forces. It was built on the mountainside and highlands, and the catapults could not hit it. The Chu-Ji Allied Forces were extremely cunning and hoarded food and grass in Jinji Ridge early on, unable to confirm how long the enemy could last on the mountain, so Uncle Zhou also had to worry about such a problem-whether he could survive before the arrival of the follow-up reinforcements from the Western Chu Army. , Eliminate the Chuji coalition forces on the mountain?

What caught Uncle Zhou by surprise was still behind. At this moment, General Tian Si of the Qi Army suddenly rushed to him and brought him the amazing news that Tian Heng took Linzi and killed Tian Jia. In this situation, Uncle Zhou, who was as calm as he was, was inevitably taken aback. He exclaimed in disbelief, "Is the news reliable? How is it possible? Mr. Tian Heng has such a great ability to directly take down Linzi and kill King Qi?"

"To be honest with General Zhou, I couldn't believe it at first." Tian Si wiped the sweat off his face and said, "But the messenger sent by General Tian Wang to contact me dares to swear to God that such a thing really happened in Linzi , The end general has sent my people back to Linzi to find out the situation. Also, the end general has blocked the news so as not to affect the morale of our Qi army."

"General Zhou, we must immediately block all the roads between Licheng and Linzi." Li Shiqi who was next to him hurriedly said: "If there is such a thing, that man Tian Heng will definitely send someone to contact the Western Chu thief army. Let the Western Chu bandits know about this situation, and they will definitely stick to Jinji Ridge and wait for reinforcements."

Uncle Zhou nodded, and when he was about to give an order, he frowned again and said, "I'm afraid it's too late. The last time King Qi abandoned Chu and returned to Han, the Chu Ji bandit army responded almost two days earlier than us, which has proved that the Chu Ji bandit army There must be a faster secret contact with Linzi, if this news is true, at this time, the Chuji coalition forces may already know about this situation."

Uncle Zhou's voice hadn't finished yet, when a new report came from outside the tent, saying that the Qi army camp had sent someone to contact Tian privately, and there was an urgent military matter to report to Tian privately, with Uncle Zhou's permission, Tian privately ordered the summoning , A guard of the Qi State rushed in, and before he had time to salute, he said loudly: "General Tian, ​​something is wrong, the Western Chu bandits just sent envoys to our camp to meet you, saying that they have already I received the news that our king has been killed by Tian Hengpifu under the banner of the King of Han, and he also said that he would make you King of Qi, and advised you to take our Qi army and surrender to the Western Chu bandits."

"Make me the King of Qi?" Tian Si was startled, then immediately came back to his senses, and shouted angrily: "Take down the envoy of the Western Chu bandit army, and bring it to General Zhou immediately. Besides, tell us clearly Generals, just say that the envoys of the Western Chu bandits are trying to deceive the public, how could our king be killed by Tian Hengpifu?"

When the guards of the Qi army led away, Uncle Zhou and Li Shiqi immediately looked at each other and smiled wryly. Knowing that this matter was likely to be true, the Chuji coalition army immediately used the Han army's best sowing dissension to retaliate. Zhou Shu and Cui Guang, old men from Shangshan on the other side, also looked at each other quickly, but they both tightly shut their mouths, refusing to express any opinions on this matter.

After a little calculation, Uncle Zhou could only praise Tian Si for his loyal behavior of surrendering the envoy of the Western Chu Army, and then let Tian private go back to the camp to appease the army, so as to restrain the army, and then make a decision after confirming the situation in Linzi.After Tian private handed over his hand and resigned, Uncle Zhou suddenly said: "If the number of follow-up reinforcements from the Western Chu bandits is not large, then the problem is not a big deal. We can take this opportunity to annex Qi in a legitimate way. If the Western Chu bandits If the reinforcements sent by the army are sufficient, even if Xiang Yu personally leads the army, then the battle in Qidi may be complicated."

Of course it can’t be true, and soon, all kinds of news about the great changes in Qi State came like a snowflake. First, Tian Private’s cronies and old ministry who stayed in Qi State sent people to confirm the situation, and then Tian Wang sent people to come again. He came to ask for help, and then Tian Heng simply sent someone to contact Tian private directly, using Tian private's parents, wife and children in Linzi city as a threat, and using Feng Tian private as the general of the state of Qi as a bait, to persuade Tian private to surrender and support Tian Heng Tian Guang, king of Qi, suddenly stabbed the Han army in the back with the help of the Chuji coalition army.At the same time, the news of Tian Jia's murder and the change of the Qi State continued to spread in the Qi army camp and the Han army camp, which caused the Qi army's morale to be chaotic, and the morale of the Han army was also greatly affected.

Then, the cronies Tian private sent back to Linzi also brought accurate news, thoroughly proving that the news of Tian Jia's murder and Linzi's fall was true. As a result, not only Tian private and the soldiers of the Qi army were anxious, but even Uncle Zhou couldn't sink Holding back his anger, he had to discuss hastily with Li Shiqi, Zhou Shu, Cui Guang and others, and decided to seal Tian Si as Qi State Prime Minister, let Tian Si lead the Qi State army to return to Linzi first to suppress the rebellion, and not give Tian Heng an opportunity to take the big Opportunity.

After learning about Uncle Zhou's decision, Tian Si's reaction was very strange, he hesitated for a while before saying: "Thank you General Zhou for your promotion, but at the end I have the courage to ask one more question, who do you plan to make king of Qi?"

Glancing at Tian Si, Uncle Zhou replied: "We, the King of Han, must make a decision on the important matter of becoming a king. I dare not make decisions without authorization, so now I don't know who can be named King of Qi."

"Tian Xiangguo, seize the opportunity." Li Shiqi hurriedly smiled at Tian Zi and said, "You are only one step away from King Qi when you become Prime Minister of Qi. Our king naturally knows the good performance in this anti-insurgency war. "

It was only after hearing Li Shiqi's hint that Tian Si happily cupped his hands and thanked him, then left and went back to lead the army to fight the rebellion. Looking at his leaving back, Li Shiqi snorted coldly and said, "Ambition is not small. If you want to be king of Qi, of course you have a chance, but first you have to see if you can take back Linzi and restrain Tian Wang and other Qi generals who hold military power."

"Regardless of whether he can take Linzi back smoothly, we will not be able to count on the Qi army to continue to help us for a long time." Uncle Zhou was thinking about the current problem, and sighed, "Let's hurry up and attack the city." , take Licheng first, then think about how to deal with the enemies on Jinji Ridge, and finally how to solve the problem of Qi."

…………

Of course, the sudden withdrawal of the Qi army to the mainland was such a big move, and of course it was reported to Xiang Zhuang, Tian Da and others very quickly. Slapped the case and smiled: "Okay, as long as the Qi State's bandit army is gone! Qi State's bandit army will not only relieve part of the pressure, but the morale of the Han bandits and Yan bandits will definitely be affected, and the Han bandits will no longer be able to count on it. We have obtained food, grass and military supplies from the bandit army of Qi State!"

"King Jibei, is there any news from Tian Wang?" Liu Laosan asked calmly: "In time, we sent to contact Tian Wang and make him the envoy of King Jiaodong, and he should have arrived in Linzi. , he should react a bit, right?"

"This king has no eyeliner around Tian Wang, and there is no news for now." Tian Da shook his head, and said: "But don't worry, Mr. Pei, this king and Tian Wang are from the same clan who have not produced five clothes. The envoy I sent, he will show face no matter what. As soon as I saw it, this king can at least guarantee that Zuo Sima's letter will be delivered to him."

"Then there's no problem." Liu Laosan said with a smile: "Tian Wang and Tian Si were originally on the same level. Now that Tian private is leading the army back to the country, the Han bandits will definitely give him a promotion and let him command Tian. Wang, as long as Tian Wang is dissatisfied, the affairs of Qi State will be handled easily."

"Of course, our Tian family..." Tian Da was so happy that he couldn't choose what to say, and said with a smile: "To say something that is not afraid of embarrassment, although the members of our Qidi Tian family are all descendants of Tian Chengzi, we are all descendants of Tian Chengzi. How did your ancestors come here? Everyone in the world knows that as long as there is a chance, fighting in the nest is always more ruthless than fighting with foreign enemies."

Liu Laosan, who had heard the story of Tian Chengzi, couldn't help laughing, while Han Xin on the other side said calmly: "The most important thing right now is the follow-up reinforcements of our Western Chu Army. If they arrive before and the number is sufficient, then we must still have a chance in Qidi. If they can’t arrive before the Han thieves take Licheng, and the number of troops is less than we hoped, the situation will be hard to say.”

"Don't worry." Xiang Zhuang rubbed his knuckles and said, "According to the time, our reinforcements should arrive soon, and we should also receive news of the reinforcements. The Qidi battlefield is related to our Western Chu national fortune, brother and Ya. Father and the others will definitely not take it lightly, I think even if the Han bandits also marched in the middle and entangled our king, there would definitely be a lot of reinforcements sent to us."

Xiang Zhuang's hope came true. After more than a day, a messenger from the Western Chu army came from the rear, taking advantage of the fact that the Han army was still unable to completely block Licheng from contacting the rear, he finally arrived at Jinji Ridge, and finally gave Xiang Zhuang and others a message. People brought news of reinforcements from the Western Chu Army.When Xiang Zhuang and the others heard the news, it was as if rain came after a long drought. They immediately met the messenger, and just after confirming his identity, they immediately asked, "Where is our reinforcements? How many are there? Who is the chief general?" "

"Reporting to Zuo Sima, when the villain led the order to go north, our reinforcements had already arrived at Chengting. Counting the time and distance, we must have arrived in Boyang by this time." The messenger of the Western Chu Army replied truthfully, saying: "[-] came Commanded by General Jibu, General Xiang Ta, General Xiang Sheng, and General Xiang Han, Your Majesty has ordered them all to accept your command!"

"Eighty thousand!" Han Xin on the other side jumped up excitedly, and roared loudly: "Great! Now we finally have the strength to fight the Han thieves head-on!"

Even if Han Xin was like this, let alone Xiang Zhuang, Liu Laosan, Tian Da and others. As they clenched their fists and waved excitedly, Xiang Zhuang and others roared angrily and laughed wildly: "The [-] reinforcements, plus our [-] The army is basically the same as the total strength of the Han bandits and Yan bandits (war losses must be deducted by the Han-Yan coalition forces)! Now, even if it is a decisive battle head-on, we don’t have to be afraid of the Han bandits anymore!”

Of course, Han Xin was the one who laughed the most. Excited, Han Xin opened his arms, looked up at the sky, and said to himself, "I have fought so many battles with Chinese thieves, and finally I have waited for this opportunity. There are basically the same forces as the Han bandits, and this time, I want to see how much you, Zhou Shupifu, the number one general of the Han bandits, have, and whether you are my opponent in a head-to-head confrontation!"

…………

Han Xin laughed wildly. His current opponent, Uncle Zhou, was of course struck by lightning. After more than a day, when the Han army dispatched to Boyang, he sent the general situation of the follow-up reinforcements of the Western Chu Army to Uncle Zhou as quickly as possible. At that time, Uncle Zhou, who had not yet been able to send troops to attack due to the impact of the climate, was stunned for a while, and then slowly said: "This time, it seems that we can only fight a decisive battle with the Western Chu bandits. "

"Don't worry, general." Li Shiqi hurriedly comforted: "Even if the reinforcements from the Western Chu bandit army can arrive at the Licheng battlefield in time, our army still has certain advantages in terms of experience and equipment. Don't be afraid of them either."

"Also." Li Shiqi added: "Don't forget, the king once told us in a letter that if we are short of troops, we can ask him for help at any time. No matter what he thinks of, he will send us a number." If there are enough reinforcements, we will just ask the king for help."

"I hope you don't need to ask the king for help." Uncle Zhou's answer was a bit lacking in confidence, because Uncle Zhou was also very concerned about the situation of the Northern Front Corps of the Han Army - first he recruited a large number of soldiers in Jindi and Daibei, and then added more troops in Zhaoguo. The soldiers, the veterans I brought from Guanzhong and Hedong have been diluted again and again, and the overall strength has not risen but declined. Although there are certain advantages in weapons and equipment, this advantage is not great and cannot play a decisive role.

Apart from these, of course, Uncle Zhou still remembered Xiang Kang's repeated exhortations. When meeting Han Xin, apart from relying on superior military strength to win, don't expect any opportunistic tricks to win by surprise.And this point, Uncle Zhou has already paid a lesson in blood.

Still no coincidence, just when Uncle Zhou was worrying quietly, a guard outside the account suddenly reported that Xiang Kang sent a messenger to contact Uncle Zhou. When Uncle Zhou hurriedly ordered an interview, a Han army messenger was quickly brought When he came in front of him, he cupped his hands and smiled as soon as we met: "Congratulations to General Zhou, congratulations to General Zhou, congratulations to General Zhou for being named the Great General of our Han Kingdom, and I'm here to congratulate the Great General."

"Make me a great general?" Uncle Zhou was dumbfounded, and hurriedly asked, "Why didn't I know when it happened?"

"Reporting to the general is a decision made after our king led the troops out of the customs, so you haven't had time to know, general."

The messenger of the Han army quickly replied, and quickly took out the general seal and ribbon that Xiang Kang had given to Uncle Zhou, as well as the imperial edict that made Uncle Zhou a general. Recite Xiang Kang's edict aloud, first praised Uncle Zhou for his outstanding performance on the northern front, and then formally conferred the title of Uncle Zhou as the No. The edict and the general's seal were solemnly handed over to Uncle Zhou.

Seeing this situation, the civil and military officers of the Han army, of course, rushed to congratulate Uncle Zhou, but Uncle Zhou was surprised and embarrassed, and took the initiative to say: "It seems that when the king made this decision, he probably didn't know that I ate a big meal in Jishui. If I lose the battle, otherwise, just because of that battle, I am not qualified to serve as the general of our Han country."

"Victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs, so why do you care about it, general?" The Han army messenger comforted him, and then said with a smile: "Besides, if our king doesn't promote you to this position, general, how can you command and restrain the king?" All the generals of the Han army sent to help you?"

"What do you mean sir?" Uncle Zhou heard something wrong, and hurriedly asked: "Listening to the tone of sir, the king sent me reinforcements?"

"It's here." The Han army messenger nodded casually, and said: "According to the time and distance, General Zhujishi, General Li Shang, and General Feng Zhong should have crossed Dongwu City by now, and they will arrive soon Licheng came to help you, General. By the way, Your Majesty still has an order. As soon as our 12 reinforcements arrive, we will immediately accept your orders, General."

"12 reinforcements?!" Uncle Zhou almost stared out of his eyes, and exclaimed, "I didn't ask the king for help, but the king sent me 12 reinforcements?"

The messenger of the Han army nodded with a smile and said: "Your Majesty said that the battle of Qidi is of great importance. You can only win, not fail! So the new recruits we recruited from Guanzhong Bashu and Hedong Jin, as well as our ability to fight in the middle of the southern line. All the troops that can be dispatched have been dispatched. I just ask you, General, to be victorious and successfully take down Qidi for our king. We will wipe out the last wings of the Xichu bandit army and send them to Qidi by the way. army."

After all, the messenger of the Han army quickly took out the letter written by Xiang Kang to Uncle Zhou, and added another sentence, "I almost forgot, we have newly formed two thousand heavy armored soldiers in Guanzhong, and the king himself did not leave a single heavy armored soldier." , and sent them all to you, General.”

With trembling hands, he took the letter written by Xiang Kang to himself and read it carefully. Seeing that the content was roughly consistent with the messenger's dictation, Uncle Zhou couldn't help closing his eyes, and his lips twitched slightly. After a long time, Uncle Zhou suddenly opened his eyes, Quickly said: "Immediately, make public the news that our 12 reinforcements are about to arrive, and spread it everywhere. Be sure to let the Western Chu bandit army know!"

"General, there's no need for this, right?" Zhou Shu who was beside him hurriedly said, "Wouldn't it be better to surprise Chu Ji's thieves when our reinforcements arrive suddenly?"

"No!" Uncle Zhou shook his head resolutely, and said with a sinister smile, "It's absolutely necessary!"

(End of this chapter)